We had a very nice day yesterday with our two neighbors. They particularly like the "99" restaurant in Littleton, so that's where we went. We had errands to do at Staples and Walmart, then stopped at McDonald's for ice cream. Back in St. Johnsbury, we stopped at White Market on Portland Street to pick up a few items.

The weather wasn't great, but not bad, either. By the time we got back home, around 4 o'clock, there was a little sunshine, but we needed a small fire to take off the chill during the evening. Today started off with some sunshine, but quickly changed and now we're having showers off and on, with a pretty solid cloud cover. The thermometer is reading 48 degrees and there's a brisk northwest wind.

Yesterday the black flies were vicious here when we dropped the ladies off. I don't expect that situation will change any time soon with all the wet weather. We'd hoped that since they arrived very early perhaps their season wouldn't be quite as long as usual, but that may not be the case. With a good wind, they don't bother as much; I guess they get blown off course.

We thought we saw a humming bird yesterday at Elizabeth's. We'll put our feeder out, just in case. Usually the ones that come here each year come to the big picture window as if to announce their arrival back and tell us to get out the feeder, but we haven't seen one here yet. It's past time, though - usually about May 10-12 we've seen them before. There are more flowers out than usual so perhaps they aren't that hungry for artificial food.

Our new grand nephew has arrived. Benjamin Dean Brown arrived on Wednesday evening. He and his parents, Sarah and Dean, are thrilled to have a little boy. He joins a big sister, Hannah, who is almost 3. Ben Brown is cute as can be - we've seen a video from Grandpa Brown - and will post some pictures after the family has had a chance to settle in at home and Hannah gets to know her baby brother a little.

Now I have a million things to do, so I'd better get busy.