Around Here

This morning a crew of guys came and spread and graded a load of crushed stone to fill in potholes and otherwise smooth out the driveway.  Ben has been taking care of this kind of work for years with his own two strong hands, but with everything else we're doing around the house, it seemed best to hire it out this time.  The crew topped the driveway with blue stone and when I drove home I was amazed at how great it felt to drive on and how beautiful it looked. 

Here's the "before" photograph….

 

…and here's the new one.  Pretty nice, yes? 

While I was out taking photos of the drive I took a walk around the yard to see what plants were starting to send up shoots.  I was surprised to find this little stand of jonquils way out in the pasture. They are the only ones open so far.  The poor things are going to be cold tomorrow when we are supposed to get an inch of snow.

On Saturday I met my friend Lee Anna at a local quilt show and she gave me this wonderful little quilted piece to mark my moving to Colorado.   I love that it contains so many hallmarks of her work --the use of embroidery, beads, and words on a background of tiny scraps pieced together.  

The embellishment at the bottom is a reminder to "Enjoy the journey." I'll love having it in my studio/office in our new house.

The big push at work is to get the yearbook done early in April so we can upload it to the publisher before spring break starts.  This is always a push, but a fun one.

I didn't get much done today on it since it was Story Time, but I enjoyed reading the old classic, The Little Engine That Could.  I'm sure you know the story of the cheerful little blue engine who pulled a train up a mountain so "the good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain" could have toys to play with and good food to eat. Although other trains, bigger and stronger, could have helped, they didn't.  Only the little blue engine helped, even though she was so small and had "never been to the other side of the mountain."  And how did she do this?  By optimistic positive thinking!  "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."  I loved this story as a kid and still get a kick out of reading it to the little ones.