Keeping up with the mail!

Here are a couple of messages I received today:

From Liz (Pearl) Sargent - on a recent blog story about the cottage on the Randy/Marlynn Rouleau property that was recently demolished. That little cottage had originally been on the small island, now known as "Pearl Island" - but also known to old timers around here as "Joe's Island" or "Sim's Island." Liz wrote:

"Brother John and I closed up the island way too late this year and had to break some shore ice to get the rowboat in the water!

We noticed that Sim's camp was gone and were sad. John's comment was "the only thing left of Sim is on the island, his wood shed and his outhouse (only he used another word!) Both of those buildings are now part of our camp. I dreamed about the old cottage going back to the island but that would have taken a huge lottery win, not to mention the fact the island grounds would have needed lots of work before that happened!

John remarked that he thought Sim's camp had an "up" staircase to the second floor and a "down" staircase from the second floor? I wish I had known it was coming down, I would have loved to have seen the inside.

I printed out the blog with pictures you posted so Dad [Bud Pearl] could read and see it. He was quite interested, but sad also that "Sim is gone."

Merry Christmas, Liz

For those of you who may not know, the story of Sim Whittier can be found under "Joe's Pond History" on the home page.

I also had an e-mail from Don and Diane Sherwood:

Dear Jane,

We've loved the pictures and especially your blog. It sounds as if Burke will have a great opening tomorrow. Wouldn't you know it- we're off to Aruba early Sunday for a week (friends invited us to come with them to use their time share). I guess we "can't have our cake and eat it too"! We are looking forward to some R&R on the beach, but will be up to Joe's Pond on the 26th. Please keep the snow for us!

Have a very Merry Christmas.

Diane and Don

I've told Don and Diane I am pretty confident there will be plenty of snow for them when they arrive. For the last couple of years they have had less than perfect conditions when they came north, but this is shaping up to be a great ski season - unless there's a "January thaw" that could ruin everything. At the other extreme, we sometimes get temperatures well below zero around the holidays - but Don and Diane are hardy souls and will still ski, no matter what the weather. It's anyone's guess what conditions will actually be, but we'll be happy to have them back at the pond for a ski vacation. Anyone checked the "Old Farmers' Almanac" lately?