I suspect I wasted time and energy late this afternoon when I covered my tomato plants and some other tender plants just in case we get a frost. I doubt the temperature will go that low - it's still about 48 degrees right now. But we never know, and I really wanted the garden stuff to last a bit longer. I noticed when I was out there the zucchini I've been watching for a couple days hasn't grown one bit. That's unusual. I'm now wondering if it needs warm, sunny weather to continue growing. There are still lots of blossoms, but since I didn't cover them, this may be the end of the zucchinis for this year - IF we get a frost, that is. If we don't, and the weather warms up, perhaps they will begin to grow again.

It was raining this morning just as we were about to head out for a walk, so we delayed, and then we both got busy and never did go. Fred has been getting in the wood that's been drying on the back lawn for at least a year, but because of the wet weather today he worked up in the woods where he had cut down a very large poplar a while back. There will be a lot of wood from that and, mixed in with some maple and birch, it will burn well. On its own, it's not so hot. (Pun intended.)

I've been searching cemetery records today. The historical society often gets this kind of request, and sometimes I can actually help. Today went pretty well and I was able to find at least some of the grave sites.

Fred has been setting up the printer his brother gave him yesterday when we met for lunch. Tom had just purchased a new one and didn't need his HP laser printer any longer, and since Fred has been using my ink-jet printer, he jumped at the chance to have his own. Actually, I will probably use his for black and white copies as the toner cartridge is good for many more copies than my ink-jet. I'll still use my Epson for color prints - and it's my scanner and fax machine, too. So many gadgets and machines . . .

Not too many years ago I felt fortunate to have an electric typewriter and an Argus C-3 camera. With those I was able to churn out articles for the newspapers accompanied by black and white photos I used to get processed at a little photo lab one flight up in a block on Main Street in Montpelier. Regular photo shops didn't do black and white processing. Later on, by using Tri-X 400 film that I bought in bulk and rolled by hand in my special black changing bag, I could submit the film with the article and the newspaper did the processing. I'd put enough film for six or eight pictures on a spool and click the cover in place and I was ready to go. There was always a supply of empty spools at the newspaper office for my next assignment.

I remember there were times when, no matter how carefully I checked the settings on my camera, the pictures would be useless. One time in particular I went out past Cole's Pond in Walden where a woman who had written a book about the mysterious powers of semi-precious stones and crystals lived. I think I went back there three times before I got any pictures we could use. It crossed my mind there could have been some interference or negative aura emanating from those mysterious crystals. This woman instructed people about the uses of crystals and made jewelery. People would order pendants or earrings made from whatever crystals or stones were needed to help their ailments or problems. Everything from rheumatism to broken hearts could be cured with the right combination of those beautiful smooth, colorful crystals, she told me.

Her jewelery was very attractive and I always meant to go back there and buy something, but since I was both healthy and happy I couldn't figure out what stone to get; and besides that, if they were powerful enough to ruin the film in my camera, I wasn't at all sure I wanted any of them hanging from my ear or around my neck. So I never went back, and within a short time she had moved away.

I admit to being fascinated by stones, though. Mostly big ones, like the ones I find on walks in the woods or fields that jut out of the ground for no reason and that weren't there the last time I walked there. A friend of ours, Henry Menard, once told me all the literally tons of stones he used in his beautiful gardens "grew" in the fields and pastures where he lives on the family farm. His stones are magnificent and huge and sturdy under foot, manipulated into superb steps and pathways and walls and towers. Henry has a fine knowledge of those rocks gained from years of "harvesting" them, big and dirty and menacing - and making something beautiful with them.

And those stones have never once ruined a photo as far as I know. I have taken many pictures of Henry's stone work and they are all filed somewhere - I just can't find them . . . (so maybe those big guys are way more powerful than the pretty little ones?)