We walked this afternoon along Sandy Beach Road. We were struck by how blue the water was. There was bright sunshine and even though the thermometer was only at about 42 degrees, it was very pleasant. We also noticed there are several leaning trees in that area. We took pictures of Pearl Island where there is a dead fir tree about to topple into the water, and on the point at Rachel Lewis's, there's what looks like a couple of dead (?) birches hanging out over the water. We have had some strong winds lately, and perhaps that has taken a toll, although if they are dead and they've been ailing for a while, maybe gravity did them in.

Then there was this cedar tree. Those seem to prefer a cantilevered position over water. You'll see any number of them along the shoreline, alive and well, but seemingly barely hanging on. If you try to remove one, though, you'll find it's actually well attached and will give you a good fight every time.

The sun was shining directly on the east shore, and Fred got these pictures looking towards Rt. 15. The first picture is actually looking north towards Channel Drive. You can see the Morrison and Hamilton homes, and on the hill in the background, Gerry Prevost's, and just below it Cynthia Donlon's home. These people all live here year around. In the next picture is of the two Powers cottages, and the larger one is the Silloway place, then Caplan's in the woods. On the hill in the background, the homes across Rt. 15. By the way, Terry Powers has been a year 'rounder for a while now, too. There are so many people living at the pond all year now, lots of the roads around the pond are kept open all winter. I think Sandy Beach Road on the Cabot side of the pond is the only one I know of that's plowed by the town. Those on the Danville side are plowed each winter by home owners who either do it themselves or hire it done. Lots of our members who go south during the winter actually return several times during the winter to go skiing, for the holidays or just because they miss Vermont and the snow, I guess.

Of course, you Joe's Ponders recognize our pavilion in this picture. It's certainly a far cry from the shack that used to serve the Joe's Pond Association years ago. It wasn't too long ago the Association was searching for local folks who would build picnic tables and benches for our meetings. They were ok, but we had to be careful of splinters - you know where - and they weren't very comfortable. But everyone had a great time, all the same.

When we got home from our walk we put the flag pole back up. I didn't put the flag out, it was getting dark by the time we finished, and we're expecting some rain, freezing rain, snow in the next few days so I'll wait and see what the weather is tomorrow. Sometimes I put up a decorative flag instead of the stars and stripes during the winter because I don't like to see the flag take such a beating from the weather; but I do like to see our American flag flying overhead. We'll see how it goes.