Good Morning!

The water in the pond has cooled down considerably in the past few days. When Fred got up this morning around six o'clock, the thermometer read 16 degrees! That's getting down there into ice-making territory. A little later (actually about two hours later), I took this picture from our deck. The sunshine is bright today and you can see the glaze of ice on the water in back of the islands. A few more nights like the last one and we could be close to how it was only a few years ago, with the pond frozen over by Thanksgiving weekend.

I had a note this morning from Sherry LaPrade in Florida. She said yesterday it was so cold she woke up thinking she was in Vermont! She and Andy will have a large crowd at their house for Thanksgiving, and she anticipates an even larger group for Christmas. Perhaps she'll send some pictures of everyone!

Fred's brother Tom and his wife, Ellie, are leaving Laconia for Colorado this week. Tom is retired, but teaches skiing at the resorts in Colorado each winter. I think this is his third or fourth year. They will go to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with Dean, Sarah and baby Hannah (who has already been out on her first shopping trip with Mom), and then on to Colorado. Ellie's sister is in Iowa, so they spend a few days there. Tom has promised to send photos of their trip this year, so perhaps you'll be seeing something a little different here soon.

I believe this is the weekend that Henry and Thelma Mills are moving up from Long Island to their home on Joe's Pond. They bought Carlyle and Terry Pierce's. Their daughter, Henretta Splain, (my next-door neighbor) said they are excited to be having their first Thanksgiving here. I hope they won't be discouraged by all the snow . . . but I guess they know what we're all about here from visiting Henretta over the years.