Yesterday we though spring was here for sure, but overnight the weather turned on us and we awoke to four more inches of snow, howling wind out of northwest, and really puny sun. We know it's still only February, but those few days of spring really got our hopes up.

I had a note and this photo from Ray Rouleau this morning:

Caroline & Ned came to spend a couple of days with Don & Diane, so we all had dinner at our place last night. It was good to see Ned doing so well.

Ray

It sure is a happy looking group of obvious sun worshipers. These folks always arrive at our Joe's Pond May meeting in shorts, no matter what the weather; those of us who hang out all winter here in the north, arrive pale and usually with our winter parkas and jeans, knowing even when the sun's out, May in Vermont is usually chilly.

I also had a note from Liz Randall, down across the road from us. She and John arrived on Wednesday for a few days. She took this picture of John and their dog, Riley, as they headed down to the shore to check out the pond this morning. Liz was out taking pictures of the full moon last night, as was Fred.

Bill and Diane Rossi were here for dinner last night and Fred took a couple of pictures of the moon, too. Then, as they were leaving, they saw a strange something gliding noiselessly across the sky - not a plane, nor a shooting star, but "something." It must have been "one of those nights" because our neighbor, Henretta, reports this morning that not only her car quit, late yesterday, but the lift her mom needs to get upstairs at their house on Clubhouse Circle stopped working, then Henretta's vacuum broke down and now her computer is acting up. Sounds to me like there's a motor gremlin loose. Fortunately, except for our computers, we haven't used anything mechanical during the past 24 hours except Fred did use the snowblower early this morning. Perhaps the jinx was over by then - or maybe it was just targeting certain people. So far, no other reports of hi-jinks.

Here's a picture Fred took of that old Devil Moon last night.

I was contacted by Reta Goss, the town clerk of Warren, Vermont, wondering if we knew anything about a very large flag in a photo of Cabot taken long ago. She said they are renovating the town hall in Warren and discovered a huge old flag in serious disrepair in the attic, and having seen the photo of ours wondered if we might know something about it.

I found a photo in our collection that was hanging over Main Street in Cabot in the election year, 1900, when McKinley and Roosevelt were on the ticket. That was Teddy Roosevelt. McKinley was assassinated the following year and Roosevelt became president.

I don't know what they will decide to do with their large flag, but it would seem to be a "keeper" if they can repair it. It had 39 stars, and after looking it up, I learned it was made in the fall of 1889. The flag maker, probably Annin Company, thought the Dakotas would be admitted as one state, but instead the territory was split into north and south. Reta said there were six more stars sewn on separately. One was probably when the error was evident, and the other five were added as new states joined the union.

I hope the town is able to have the flag restored, or at least will be able to keep it safe from further damage. I don't think we have anything like the flag in the picture - it was probably disposed of long ago - but we do have several old flags. That is another thing on our to-do list, come spring when we open the Cabot Historical Society museum again.

I heard from Jennifer Cowles, who now lives in Colorado. She said she is going to sell her cottage on Rt. 2. I guess she hasn't been able to get back to Vermont much and now she is getting married, she said her home base will be Colorado. Our best wishes to Jenn.