March is in full swing and so is Spring. The trees are budding, some bushes are flowering and the bulbs are up bright and cheerful. Another sure sign that Spring is here to stay is that the birds are back. Now when I wake up I can hear the birds singing outside my window. Nice.

Yesterday morning I came to work at the Club House and found a surprise waiting, Pat Taylor. She was sitting in the great room waiting for the coffee to begin. We checked the calendar and saw that she was a week early so we decided to have coffee and visit anyway. We were soon joined by Trisha Braun who also was confused about the date.

I had never met either of these ladies before but we had a great visit. They are part of an organization called the Joplin Area Welcome Club. Anyone from Carthage, Webb City, Joplin and even some towns in Oklahoma is welcome to join if they haven’t lived here more than 5 years. After you join, you can remain in the club forever. It is a pretty active club with coffees, game dates, book club, and evening activities. There are about 80 members of all age groups. Both Trisha and Pat told me about how they learned about the club and the difference it has made in their lives. I left them to continue visiting and returned to the office renewed after meeting such nice ladies.

Dinners for Volunteers

Curb Machine

Of all the signs of Spring I have seen this week the one I am most excited about is blacktop,asphalt, a road! We have been developing the lots south of the Club House all winter. We have graded and moved dirt forever, put in gas, plumbing and telephone lines, poured cement for the alley and curbs and we finally are finished. It looks great. We are now ready to begin building again. A good sign of Spring.