We've been having lovely weather for the past few days and Fred and I have taken advantage of it to get some outside work done. The chimney has been cleaned, the lawns mowed, I've pulled bushels of weeds and trimmed low hanging branches off some of the trees around the house. There's still lots more to be done, but we also wanted to take a little time off from everything, so we took some friends to Littleton to celebrate the birthday of Elizabeth, shown at right as she was leaving her house.

We have all have enjoyed the Eastgate Restaurant in the past, and knew it had been closed for a few weeks for renovations, but were surprised and disappointed when we arrived to learn their beautiful big dining room is now a "function room," the fountain is gone and the setting sun shines into an empty space. Now, there is only the Bar and Grille room, windowless and dark, with at least two large screen TV's, a section with the high bar chairs and high tables that nobody over 60 should attempt to mount. Fortunately, there were plenty of normal height tables and both ladies were agreeable to giving the place a try. We were assured the chef and waitstaff were the same as before - only the menu had changed. At right, Louise, who went with us.

In spite of a limited menu of mostly fried everything, we found the food very good and our waitress was a true super woman with great good humor and boundless energy. She even sang "Happy Birthday" to our friend, Elizabeth. Everyone in the bar joined in and made the event one I'm sure we'll all remember for quite a while.

Yesterday was another interesting day for us. Fred's cousin Ora, from Rhode Island, came to visit with her friend, Kate. We had been expecting their visit for a couple weeks because they usually come just about this time each year. Kate has a camp at Newark Pond and they both enjoy spending time there away from their busy lives. It has been a tradition over the years to take Ora and Kate on some sort of adventure. They are both interested in all sorts of things so have explored much of this area as well as places south and north of us, especially the St. Albans area where Ora's father's family lived.

We try to think of local places they might not know about, so we after lunch we set off for Cole's Pond. Fred and I hadn't been there for a couple years, so it was fun for us, too. There are lots of new houses going up Cole's Pond Road. We went down Eastern Avenue, on the eastern side of the pond and found a lot of new cottages there, too. Some may have been year around homes, but looking across the pond there seemed to be several year around places there, too. There was a family of loons on the pond, and I found the old retro-fitted grader they use on their narrow roads. I remembered seeing it several years ago and was please to see they still have it. There was an interesting railroad car at the end of the road, too. Beyond the "railroad crossing" seemed to be a private road, so we didn't go there.

We took lots of pictures at the pond and coming back where the views to the west are spectacular. We continued to East Hardwick and stopped at the Hardwick Health and Fitness labyrinth Ora and Kate had told us about. We didn't know about it, but Kate knew some of its history, so we enjoyed walking through it. I think to be fully effective it should probably be a solitary trek, but the four of us happily explored it; I'm not sure we left more at peace with the world or ourselves than when we came; we were all very relaxed when we arrived. Ora and I peeked into the exercise facility in the downstairs of the building and it seems to be a very nice facility. We took pictures:
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