TUESDAY GOODNESS

Instead of the occasionally posted Ten on Tuesday, I'm going to switch it up a bit. We had an unusually warm winter and an early spring this year. The Bradford Pear trees bloomed really early and lasted less than a week. The tulips and daffodils and dogwood trees also has a very short blooming cycle this year. And the spring rains came with much-welcome moisture. See what I get to look out at each day?

Yesterday brought an amazing gift to me, and to John. My former teaching partner and dear friend, Jan, and her husband Bill were driving home to San Diego from a recent trip to North Carolina. On the way, Jan wanted to stop in Mountain View and Joplin, Missouri to see where her mother was born and then later grew up. We live almost exactly in the middle of those two towns and they stopped to spend the night with us last night. Oh, my goodness, how Jan and I talked, almost through the night. We finally gave up and went to bed at 3:30 this morning and then got up so they could leave for Joplin at 7:00. I had seen Jan briefly in 2008 when I went out to visit friends but she was still teaching then and we just didn't have the time to sit down for a real natter! Last night we stalked and laughed and remembered incidents from trips we took to Europe and Washington DC with our students. Oh, my, I miss those days. Jan brought along the parts of a quilt she is making and we worked for several hours on a design and I pulled a bunch of fabrics to add to her pile. They were here for less than 18 hours but the memories of laughing and smiling and just being together again will last for a much longer time. Safe travels, my friends. I love you!

And, finally, what would a post be without a quick (and I DO mean quick) snap of my Quality Control Officer here at Pieceful Harbor? Gilligan wanted to make sure that the camera is still working at optimum so he graciously agreed to pose - for all of 15 seconds!

Thanks for stopping by.