Another dreary day. Early this morning there was just a hint of sun, but it was gone in less time than it took to pour a cup of coffee and the rest of the day has been dark and now drizzly. When I posted the information from my rain gauge this morning (.20 in.) at about 8:30, the temperature was at 38 degrees. Now, at a little past 4 p.m., it's barely 41. Not cold, but when it's this damp, a wood fire feels awfully good.

We were in St. Johnsbury this morning for appointments and to visit our friends who live at St. J. Health and Rehab. We made a quick stop at Price Chopper and picked up some small plants to take to them, and while there we bumped into our neighbors, Don and Mary Encarnacion, both looking chipper. Mary says they see us walking by and always wave, but I told her their windows are so shiny clean we can't see them, but we always wave as we go by anyway. It's good to know they are inside, returning our waves.

Later, as we were going through the checkout line, we saw Elsie Finney, a long-time friend in St. Johnsbury. Elsie is always upbeat, and we enjoyed a quick chat with her. She said her husband, Dean, seriously injured his knee recently, so has been slowed down a bit. He's doing well now, though. I worked for Dean many years ago at the radio station, then WTWN, in St. Johnsbury. Those were fun years.

Back in West Danville, we stopped for the mail and found Garey hard at work in the kitchen preparing the special of the day, chicken pie, so we got two take-outs thinking we'd have a quick and easy lunch, but when I looked at them, there was more than we wanted for lunch and we decided to have them for dinner tonight instead. There's a generous serving of squash and cranberry sauce, and lots of chicken under a big fluffy biscuit --- but wait, that's not all. We also got big slices of Garey's lemon cake for dessert! We're both looking forward to our dinner tonight, believe me.

We stopped at camp and picked up some returnable bottles left over from summer and took them up the road to Helen Morrison's so she can add them to the next bottle pickup the Cabot School kids are doing, which will be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 28th. If you have bottles you'd like to donate but might not be around on the 28th, you can leave them off at Helen's garage, just down the road from Encarnacions, and the kids will pick them up there. They are earning money for a trip in the spring to Belize, I believe it is.

Also, while we were getting our haircuts in St. Johnsbury, Julie, who works at Colonial Village, where we go, asked me to let folks know about the annual Christmas Concert the North Country Chorus gives each year. Julie sings with them and we've been told they are exceptionally good. There will be three performances the first weekend in December, at various locations. We will try to go to one of them. Here's the schedule - click to make it larger.

This afternoon we had visitors. My friend, Erma Perry dropped by to return a book I'd loaned her, and soon after she left, we spotted these two deer on our lower lawn. I think the one that was here the other day and Fred made a video of, brought a friend for lunch today. They were intent on the lush grass and ignored the crab apples just a little above them. Most of the apples are still on the tree, so perhaps they are wisely leaving them until winter when food will be harder to come by. I hope they survive the hunting season. We request that no hunters on our property. Not only do we enjoy seeing the deer, but there are too many houses in the vicinity for shooting to be going on. There is enough unpopulated area elsewhere for hunters. Hunters are good about respecting our boundaries.