Lovely spring day - just a bit chilly with a wind out of the west, but still nice for working outside. We were on a pretty tight schedule today, but got a lot done. I guess the most enjoyable thing was stopping at Bentley's Bakery & Cafe. That is one of the owners, Nancy Frampton, behind the counter; below, I'm checking out all the goodies - and there was a BIG selection. Yummy things like bear claws, really big scones,huge cookies, cakes - all things good. The place is lovely with small tables and you can look past the counter into the bakery to see the bakers and chef working, or watch traffic on Hill Street in Danville.

Although we were there at what I'd think would be an "off" time, between coffee break and lunch, there were several people at the tables and customers came in for baked goods while we were there. We left with several things to sample - Fred got a big slice of maple mousse cake, I got a raspberry square and a chocolate biscotti, plus a coffee "for the road."

When we stopped to pick up the mail, we noticed the lunch special at Hastings Store was chop suey. It smelled so good as we entered the store, we couldn't resist and took some home for lunch. The thing is, one of Jenny's big chocolate chip cookies was included, so there we were with a generous serving of pasta and meat sauce, pickles, and combined with what we got at Bentley's, more sweets than any two senior citizens should consume in a week! We had a pang of guilt as we contemplated consuming so many calories, but that only lasted until we got to the car. We agreed this wouldn't happen "too often," and happily headed home. (That's Alyssa above, showing us her apron, just like her mom's.)

We stopped briefly at Dick Fortin's so I could give him copies of some old photos taken before the school was moved across the brook. It was originally right next to where his house is, at the end of the bridge. This is the view from the Fortin's dock. And then moved on to enjoy our lunch.

We decided to have the cookies for lunch and save the rest for tonight. We had a light supper and shared the sweets. That worked perfectly. (I think we both got a sugar high - we're still working at our computers and it's nearly midnight.)

Homer came this afternoon with some historical Ice-Out material I'm going to assemble for JPA records. He had even done some charts, which I'll copy and keep everything in an album so future Joe's Pond Association members and others can enjoy reading about previous contests.

Late in the afternoon, we got outside to do some work on the lawns. There have been several small trees blown down that needed to be taken care of before Fred could mow the lawn - not that that's going to happen real soon, but it's good to have it done. It's very wet in some spots, but things are getting into bloom just the same. We trimmed out an apple tree a bear had broken a big limb from last fall, in hopes it will help it recover. There were some cherry trees that probably the same bear broke down, too. They were all fairly small trees, but in trying to get the fruit, the bear climbed up and the tree couldn't support the weight. There was a report today that a bear killed some goats at a farm in Ryegate recently. I guess they come out of hibernation pretty hungry.