I may as well start off with a weather report - the weather is what most of us here have on our mind these days. Yesterday wasn't a bad day - just a little snow in the air and temperatures in the 20's. We got an inch of new snow, and today that, along with a couple more we've accumulated over the day is being blown around so it looks like a real blizzard sometimes. It isn't too cold, about 22 degrees, but it hasn't been higher than that all day. Fred just came back from a quick trip to Cabot Village and he said on the Plain it's really wintery. He took pictures. Windy Day on Cabot Plain

Christmas is almost here - I hope you are all ready with your shopping done and packages wrapped, cookies made and plans with family and friends going well. If you are traveling, we wish you a safe and pleasant journey.

As some of you know, our family gets together on Christmas Eve, and we take turns hosting a pot-luck meal. This year it's Jamie and Marie's turn, so Fred and I will probably walk up the hill. It's a climb, and while Fred runs up a couple times a day as part of his exercise routine, I try hard to avoid it; however, I know it's good for me to climb it and I will try to do that more often than I have in the past, just to keep the old ticker and lungs healthy.

We went to St. Johnsbury yesterday to meet Fred's cousin and his wife from Cape Cod. They were bound for Toronto, Canada for the holidays. It's always fun to see them. We went to Anthony's for lunch and they were impressed with the onion rings . . . I had a western sandwich which was good, too. Anthony's isn't fancy, but it's warm and comfortable and we never feel rushed, so it's a good place to go to meet folks when you want to sit around and talk for a while. They were busy when we first got there, but we felt comfortable lingering over our lunch and talking because they seemed to have plenty of space and no customers waiting. The cousins had left Cape Cod yesterday morning and said it was just beginning to snow there. I think they got out at about the right time.

I have a new phone to program. I think I may have mentioned we have taken out all our cordless phones and reinstalled corded phones; however, my office phone didn't have caller id and a couple other features on it, so we got a new one. There are times when I don't want to be interrupted when I'm working so I really like caller id and voice mail. Although we are on "do not call" lists so that telemarketers won't call, some still slip by, and then there were those political calls . . . I'm glad that's over for a few months. I need to read the directions and get my speed dial working and find out what other tricks this new phone will do.