We may complain about the weather some, especially when it's been as hot and humid as the past week was, but those conditions spawn some incredible skies - we just have to be in the right place at the right time. I received this picture from Sue Quatrini today. Here's what she said:

Jane, this was the most fabulous sunset...the clouds behind the hills looked like roof tops of a distant city, and the color was spectacular..no photo-shopping! Sue

Click on the photo to enlarge it. Thanks, Sue, that is a great picture.

We were at the State Fishing Access this morning to meet Pam Hebert and get some information for the new page we're going to put on the web site that will have all sorts of information about milfoil an other aquatic plants - how to identify them, the latest news and reports about our pond and the young people who are dedicated to watching out for invasive plants to keep our lake clean. Vinnie Calcagni is one of Pam's crew of inspectors, and we got a picture of him at "the box" - the shelter set up for them at the access area. If you look closely, you'll see there's a fishing pole in the corner - I don't think Vinnie and his fish pole are ever very far apart, and he catches some nice ones, too. We'll have the invasive species page ready in a few days.

We were in West Danville to pick up the mail and saw Garey and Alyssa (below). Jenny showed us the nice supply of Indian Joe and Molly books on hand. I wasn't aware there were two books about Indian Joe, but I have both now and the one on Molly, all written by Jane Hastings Larrabee's uncle (or maybe great uncle, I'm not sure), William Parker Neal, and published around 1976. They are great little books, $3.95 each, and have lots of local history in them. You can find out more about them on our web site, Local Products page.

In the parking lot across from Hastings Store, we saw this neat red van and a very relaxed (and very large) dog watching us. We don't know where his/her family was - they might have been at Hastings or getting a bite to eat at Joe's Pond Country Store, but this seemed to be a perfect way for this canine to travel, in luxury, perfectly comfortable waiting for his folks to return.

We also spotted this strange animal. Any ideas what it is? We've seen monsters in the water, but this one seemed quite at home on the grass. It was a big whatever, too. We think we caught it in an unguarded moment and after we went by it returned to a watery home. I bet it takes a lot of fish and who knows what else to keep this creature going. Maybe it was after some delicacy on the shore - I just hope it got back into the water ok.

And below is another picture you'll like, I'm sure. Fred went to St. Johnsbury with Bill Rossi this afternoon and came home with this picture. You can trust Bill and Fred to find interesting photo ops. This is one of our Joe's Ponders and a fishing buddy, and that's all I'm going to tell you now. Perhaps you will recognize at least one of these guys. Nice fish, fellas.

Have you noticed there are signs of summer's end? I'm not kidding. Our hydrangea bush is busting out earlier than usual, there are lots of leaves coming off our apple trees, especially the ornamentals, the daylight hours are getting a little shorter every day - pretty soon we'll be hearing crickets and watching the maples turn. Not only that, Danville Fair is only three weeks away. Once August is here, it's down hill all the way to red foliage and snowfalls. Well, maybe we'll have a few more weeks of nice weather, but we are well on the way to fall, you know. Of course, August can offer up some really nice weather, so don't let my downbeat observations spoil your vacation.

Now I've probably ruined your day, I'd better get back to work.