Did you cover your tender plants tonight? I don't think we're headed for a frost - yet - but is sure feels nippy out there. The thermometer here at 9 p.m. is reading 48 degrees. Fred started a small fire in the soapstone to keep the house cozy, and it sure feels good.

I've been working on old photographs of my family today, having scanned a bunch over the weekend. Some were in pretty bad shape, and I've been using Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 to enhance them. I was amazed at the details I saw when I began working on some of them. In one there was a horse in the background of a photo I'd looked at dozens of times and never noticed; another clearly shows the farm that used to stand just beyond the school house on Cabot Plain, known as the Cate farm years ago. Several families had lived there before it burned to the ground in 1953 - I first remember it as the Badger place, and a few years later when I was in school on the Plain, a family by the name of Desmarais lived there. After that, I was away at school and lost track of it until it burned. I recently was given a photo of the farm when the Cates lived there, and I was very pleased today to see the faint but unmistakable image of the place as it was in later years, the way I remember it. It's been a day of nostalgia, working on those photos. There were lots of photos of my grandparents, my parents, aunts and uncles when they were young. Above is my Aunt Mabel Bolton taken in about 1932. According to writing on the photo, she was heading off to school in Boston - perhaps after Christmas break - in a snow storm. There is always wind up on that hill. The long high-drive to the upper level of the big barn was blown down in the hurricane of 1938. The photo we took last week shows the silos and one-story buildings built after the original barn burned in 1969. Both pictures were taken from about the same angle, in front of the still standing farm house. but I was struck by the contrast. Times change, for sure.

Did you hear on the news tonight that record companies are returning to producing vinyl records? It's the latest technology fad, apparently - and proves once again that what goes around comes around. Suddenly people are realizing that music recorded on vinyl simply sounds better than on CDs. Maybe it's due to better sound systems, and people simply like vinyl with substantial jackets, pictures and information on them. It's an interesting development, I thought.

Don't forget that Kevin Johnson's group of boys will be picking up returnables all day on Saturday; also, remember there's a Poker Paddle that day, if you're going to join the fun or be a dealer. Saturday's weather looks pretty good if the forecast holds. I'm guessing the weather may not be so great for the end of the year JPA meeting next Sunday, but with the side curtains at the pavilion, and the well-roofed BBQ, weather shouldn't be a factor unless it gets really wild. Hope to see you there.