We finally got some rain this afternoon. Not that we have been looking forward to it - in fact, this is not the week folks here in the Northeast Kingdom wanted rain or even cloudy weather. It's the annual Fall Foliage Week and started off today in Walden. Tomorrow is Cabot's day to host the festivities, and it looks as if we'd better keep the wood stove going at the Historical Society building so people can come in and get dried off. We always hope for sunny, warm weather, but some years have been cloudy, drizzly or yes, snowy.

I don't remember if I mentioned that Blanche Lamore, only 98 years old and still doing church suppers and serving on just about every committee in town, and who can usually outlast any of us younger folks, fell ill after working all day on the Harvest Supper a couple of weeks ago. Blanche landed in the hospital and had an operation - is doing great and should be home soon, probably ready to take on all her regular duties same as ever. Did I mention she's also a Justice of the Peace so works on all the elections, too? However, because she was chairperson of the Fall Foliage, her being ill left a big void and a bunch of us have jumped in to help make it come together as best we could. We've had to make a few changes, but we're hoping tomorrow will be a successful day and our guests will enjoy what we have to offer. We'll miss Blanche, though.

One event I doubt will happen tomorrow is the very popular hike up to Nichols Ledge. The trail is muddy and I doubt Melvin (Churchill) will attempt to lead a group there unless it clears well before lunch time, but there will be other things going on, other tours and entertainment.

We went down to check on Richard Gagne's house this morning. We think Richard was there, talking with the builders. It's looking very good. The rainy weather may slow progress down a bit, but at least it isn't awfully cold. They were doing some work on the lawn this morning, but we couldn't tell exactly what and we had to get back because we were expecting a call from our plumber, John Hammer. We had a new water tank installed today. The old one was about 47 years old and had been losing pressure. John said it didn't have much time left, so we are glad we had the new one put in. It didn't take him long at all. That's John chatting with us after the job was done this morning. He's a neighbor - lives on the Bayley-Hazen Road just past Cabot Plains Cemetery.

Fred cleaned the chimney at camp today - it's an annual chore, of course. There is a wood stove there so they seldom use the oil furnace, and we know from past experience residue can build in a chimney, especially if you're running not too hot fires. Now that job is taken care of, we're nearly ready for winter. Once we get the 2011 supply of wood here and piled, we'll be all set.

Quite early this morning I found this poor guy on the deck railing waiting for the sun to warm up his fuzzy butt so he could fly again, I guess. Lots of times bees spend the night in our purple asters, but apparently this one didn't make it to the flowers. The bees look a lot like the yellow center of the flowers the bees settle on the blossoms which close up at night and keep these little worker bees warm. I've made the mistake of cutting the flowers before the flowers open fully and the bees warm up in the sun. Once inside the warm house, the bees begin to wake up and - well, you get the picture.

This afternoon I went to Cabot Village to help Bonnie set up for tomorrow and on my way home I waited for a flock of about six turkeys to cross the road into the big field by the Burtt farm. I tried to get a picture, but I'd put my things on the back seat and it took a minute to get the camera, then when I did, I couldn't keep it on. I had our old camera while the one we now use was recharging, and there's something wrong with the switch so just about the time I had it focused, it turned off. Very irritating. Consequently, but the time I got the camera, had it on and the window down, the turkeys had gone behind a knoll. They are often in the fields by the farm, so perhaps another time, with the other camera . . . maybe tomorrow! I'll have the good camera with me for Fall Foliage Day pictures. Stay tuned.