We went to Greensboro to a meeting tonight. It is beautiful country out that way - especially this time of year. That is Caspian Lake, and below, a view of the town by the common. A really pretty little town, quiet tonight, as everything was closed. We like to visit Willey's store, but it had already closed when we were there today.

Today has been brisk - a little cooler than it has been but pretty nice most of the day. Tonight is cooler, like last night, but I don't think we're going to get any snow or really severe frost. We certainly had a frost last night, but unless someone had put out tender plants in gardens or flower boxes, there wouldn't be any damage. The perennials in flower beds are fine with a little frost this time of year.

Notice that I changed the picture at the top of the blog page - that was taken yesterday from the Plains Cemetery when I was on my way to Cabot to drop off items at the Historical Society. It was such a lovely view I couldn't resist, although I have lots of photos of that scene on file, all times of the year.

The Historical Society is gearing up and will have their first meeting on the 31st. I'll be explaining to the group how it came about that we published our first book, The Blodgett Papers. We're hoping some of our members will be inspired to either write their own journals about their life in Cabot, as Rev. Blodgett did, or they will contribute diaries or other family papers that may have historic significance. I've spoken to groups from time to time about putting their family history down on paper, one way or another, so future generations will have that record. Also, I try to impress on people the importance of identifying people in photographs. That we cannot identify many of the photos in our collection is one of the most frustrating aspects of what I'm doing for the historical society. I've been scanning photos found in a box with other papers, none of which seem to be associated, and all without identification. There are clues such as "senior year" written on the back of one obvious high school class, "sophomore year" written on another, which leads us to believe they belonged to the same person, but even under a magnifying glass, I cannot recognize a single familiar face. Of course, the pictures seem to have been taken in the early 1900's, so few, if any of the subjects are still alive, but sometimes I can match up a face to one of the photographs we have been able to identify.

The photo on the right is a different sort of mystery. It looks to me as if this is a round barn being built. Now I have to find out where, if any, there was a round barn in Cabot. Off hand, I don't know of any, at least not surviving. Someone may know about this one, though - if it was here in Cabot.

Can you imagine how cold it was for this couple standing outside in the snow? It's a wonder we have any winter photographs. Photographers made the rounds to different communities, and probably because lighting was difficult inside the house, people posed outside. It took quite a bit of time to get the photo, and according to what I've read, that explains the pained or sober expressions you often see in these old photos. Combined with cold feet, ears and hands, this couple must have been really uncomfortable. Chances are pretty good we'll be able to identify who they are - someone will probably recognize the house.

In the meantime, I try to remember to date and identify the pictures I take - but with digital photography, we take so many pictures so quickly and easily, I usually batch the ones I take, and try to go through periodically and name the keepers and dump some.

George and Judy Anderson are back, so George picked up the treasurer's stuff today. I'm "acting treasurer" while he's gone in the winter, which is fine because there's very little activity except for the Ice-Out Contest stuff. George said Judy is having knee surgery this week. We'll try to keep you posted on that. Diane Rossi is doing very well after her knee surgery. It does tend to slow these very active gals down a bit, though.

Tom Dente is due back this week, and our first board meeting of the year is coming right up, so we're all pulling together our reports and getting ready for a fun summer. It's always nice to see everyone as they come back each spring.