We went to Cabot today. There was no snow in the village at all. There was some in the fields by the Burtt farm, but as soon as we got to the blacktop road, there was none. We went up the South Walden Road where I picked up a very old (1888) school book, Harper's Fourth Reader in Two Parts, that has been given to the Cabot Historical Society by Rita Gamble. It had been used by her mother when she went to school in Lower Cabot. It was missing some pages, but I was able to fine a digital copy on the internet and have made copies of those pages to insert. They were the important first pages with the full title, publishing date and publishers' notes. I'll finish going through to see if more are missing.

There are beautiful illustrations and new word lists for each chapter of the book. At the end there is a complete list of all the new words, with pronunciations indicated by diacritical marks. Students who studied all 420 pages of this reader would have far more knowledge than just the words, as the stories cover history, nature, poetry, manners and more. I was speaking with Blanche Lamore who went to school with Rita's mother, and Blanche remarked that Thelma was an avid reader throughout her lifetime. I guess she got a good start. Blanche, too, is quite remarkable. At 97 she's still a little bundle of energy and keeps the accounts for numerous organizations in town. She's been a Justice of the Peace for years and shows up at the polling place faithfully to manage the check list.

We came home by way of Rt. 15 and Brickett's Crossing Road. The tree farm is going to be auctioned next Wednesday, December 9th. The photo on the right shows the building(s); the large one has an unfinished apartment. There is a house next to it, but apparently that has been sold separately.

As we came further along Brickett's Crossing Road towards West Shore Road, we found another house for sale. This one is owned by the Johnsons, who I believe are from Connecticut. They have come here during summers for many years. I went to the Sanville web site and found there are 17 acres with this place. All utilities are in place but there is, I believe, only a makeshift living area over the foundation. They apparently never actually finished building their dream house, but they have done a very nice job clearing bushes and underbrush. The price is $88,000.

In the village, there are at least five houses for sale, according to Blanche. There also seemed to be a lot of land for sale along Rt. 15, in the Town of Walden. There are some good deals out there right now, I'm guessing.

We were glad to get back home, in spite of having at least three inches of snow still on the ground. Tomorrow we'll no doubt be green again - or brown, depending on where you look - but we know winter will come. It's just a bit delayed.