Whew! It's HOT! Ok, I know I shouldn't complain after all the cool, rainy weather, however, hate me if you will but I really, really, don't like when it's this hot and steamy. I'll welcome those crisp, cool days in September and October.

This weather does spawn interesting views, though. Diane Rossi sent this photo to me this morning. Diane wrote:

The sun came up very red this morning while we were having our coffee around 6...I've been in the pond a couple of times these past few days, and it's definitely refreshing!

Thanks, Diane - that sun was hot even at 6. That's about the time it hit me through the open window in our bedroom and I scurried to lower the blind and then, realizing it was already very warm outside, closed the windows on the east side of the house. We're experimenting today, keeping the fans on and all the windows closed. We're thinking that with the weatherization we had done last winter, the house should retain the coolness from being open all night. There is a nice breeze, though, and that's hard to resist.

We took our neighbors, Don and Mary Encarnacion, for a ride around the pond yesterday. Fred took pictures along the way, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the sunshine and the water. Take a look: Boat Ride

The photos in this slide show were taken at a higher resolution than we normally use, so if anyone has a problem opening them, please let us know.

The boat ride with Don and Mary used to be a yearly ritual, but for one reason or another, we'd taking them for a couple years, so this was a particular treat for all of us. You notice changes from the water you don't see from the road. Fred spotted a "new house" high in the hills above Rt. 2 towards Molly's Pond. He put lots of zoom on and although the photo is dark, you can see details of the house.

With summer closing down, kids getting back to school, our final Joe's Pond Association meeting coming up on Sunday at 2 p.m., there's an air of sadness around the pond. While there are always a few folks left well into the fall, and some of us are year 'rounders, there's an abrupt decrease in activity, especially during week days. Weekends will stay busy for a while, but then that activity will drop off, too. By the time the leaf-peepers get here at the end of September, things will be pretty quiet. That's when I plan to get Fred out in the kayak to enjoy the cool crisp fall days and perhaps we can explore nooks and crannies with the camera you wouldn't otherwise see.

Taking the kayak out reminds me of one Sunday in late October years ago when Fred and I were living at camp and we took Clint, our rather large black lab mix with us in the canoe. It was a fairly windy day, plus, at the northern end of the pond, where Nancy Hamilton and Eileen Morrison are, someone had several fairly large dogs, I think they may have been malamutes or something. Everything went well until we were paddling along behind the islands and those dogs spotted us and began to bark and run along the shore. Clint began to bark and was ready to jump overboard. We had all we could do to contain him and keep the canoe right side up. We decided never to take him with us again in the canoe.

Enjoy the day. We're still cool inside, and that's probably where we'll stay for most of the day. Fred is taking another computer course; I'm getting ready to publish another book for the historical society - a replica of a notebook kept by Dr. Burbank when he was chairman of the building committee for the Willey Memorial Hall, about 1919. It's interesting that the building cost a little over $11,000.00 plus donated materials and time, and was finished in 1921. Today Willey Memorial Hall houses the town offices, the library, and a large auditorium. It now has a new heating system, new office space and vault for town records, improved electrical system, an elevator and a handicapped-accessible entrance to bring the building up to modern building codes, all of which cost $300,000 1996.

How times change.