It was a lovely day here - well, I THINK it was. We were actually on the road early in order to take friends to the airport in Burlington, and didn't get back here until mid-afternoon, so while I don't know how the day turned out here at Joe's Pond, I can tell you it was a gorgeous day in the Champlain Valley.

From Burlington, we made a "pilgrimage" to St. Albans, where Fred grew up. We hadn't been there in a long time - we don't go to Burlington much any more, either. When we were both working, there were many reasons we had to go to both cities, but now, we have no ties in either place. Today we took Rt. 7 instead of the interstate from Burlington to St. Albans. It's an interesting drive and we saw a lot of changes, but at the same time it was very familiar.

In St. Albans, we visited the cemetery where the Brown and the Wry family lots are, drove through town where not much had changed, went past Brown family homes, now cared for by new owners, and as we were leaving, driving down Smith Street, we met a car and Fred exclaimed, "I know that man!" Of course there was no time to stop, but we thought it was neat that in just passing through town Fred would see someone he'd known growing up there. Above left is a picture of "the Smith Street house," where the Brown family lived for many years. Later they would move to Congress Street (right), and that house has changed dramatically.

Taking Rt. 15 from St. Albans to our turn in Walden, we got a wonderful taste of real spring. The fields were the bright green of early spring and there were flowers blooming, cows in pastures, farmers working the plowed fields, hikers, bikers, walkers, rushing water and vistas with mountains looming over the yellow-green haze of early budding trees.

I remember being confused when Fred's mother would ask us if were were going "down to Burlington," or if we'd be coming "down to St. Albans" to visit them; but now I understand. Burlington IS down from here. Today it was very evident that as we headed south on Rt. 15, we were climbing. By the time we were in Wolcott, the grass was not yet green in the fields and flowers were scarce. In Walden we could look through leafless trees and see patches of snow in the woods. This was home territory. The neat thing about today was that we were able to enjoy the sights and warmth of spring only a few miles from home and know that we'll be able to enjoy spring all over again in another week or so when we get a full dose of springtime here at Joe's Pond.

We checked the lake water level at Walter's today. The water was rough with a stiff breeze out of the north so it was difficult to measure, but it looked as if the level is up perhaps 2-3 inches. You can see there is a little snow left around Walter's cottage, too, and while the grass is getting green and there are signs of plants coming up in Mimi's flower beds, nothing was in bloom.

Tomorrow may bring some rain, and the rest of the week doesn't look all that great, but our spring will come - and in the Champlain Valley folks will be into summer weather already.

Fred came upon this link and passed it along to me. It's pretty interesting, and I think many people are beginning to "get it" and change their spending mind set.
Check it out: How to be a Savvy Cheapskate

Andy Rudin just sent us an e-mail about our intro to Joe's Pond that's on the web site - we will be updating that tomorrow . . . !