We hope everyone had a nice Easter. Our weather today has been much improved over what we've experienced until now - we actually felt "spring" in the air.

We went with our friends, Elizabeth and Louise, to "99" for dinner. It was a last-minute decision, made so by my reluctance to issue invitations for guests to come to our house until I knew the road was at least passable. By the first of last week it seemed safe enough, but by that time our family had made other plans, so we decided the four of us would go out.

Louise isn't a fan of buffets - she says at age 93 she wants someone to wait on her; she doesn't want to go out and have to serve herself - she can do that at home. With that in mind, and knowing we all enjoy "99" in Littleton, we made reservations there. In the picture above, we are intent on making our selections. None of us opted for traditional lamb or ham, both of which were offered as Easter specials.

We were not disappointed with our dinners. The food and service were excellent, the restaurant wasn't noisy or crowded, the weather was mild, and we were able to enjoy doing some errands at the box stores before we left Littleton.









Back at Joe's Pond, we stopped at the fishing access to check on the Ice-Out flag. The warmth of the day had hastened melting at the pond. The first pond, at West Danville, is nearly free of ice, and the middle pond is not far behind. Our third pond, which for those of you who may not know Joe's Pond, is much bigger, and they are all connected. We had noticed earlier as we were heading down Rte 15, there was open water at least to Pearl's Island - we took this picture at the head of Island Drive, looking west. We were impressed that by the time we were back from dinner a few hours later, the ice was beginning to darken in spots although not so much on the third pond, but you can see by the photos there is more water showing at the shoreline than there has been. Ice conditions have definitely changed today.

We're going to be checking the clock more regularly now - in fact, with more warm weather and rain expected this week, we will check twice a day as there's no way of knowing how rotten the ice is under the pallet - the contest could be over very quickly. We will keep you posted.

We hadn't been over Brickett's Crossing Road for several weeks due to the mud, but we were pleasantly surprised today to find it is much better than West Shore Road. For a while it was pretty close to impassable, as was W. Shore Rd., but Walden has smoothed it very well, and although there were a couple of still very wet spots, it was not all that muddy. West Shore Road, on the other hand, is full of humps and ridges - the kind that go across the road like speed bumps - and if you aren't careful to very slowly pick your way, your car will bottom out, hitting either the front bumper or the belly of your car, or frequently both at the same time.

It's not only Cabot's end of the road; Danville's isn't much better, just shorter. We're hoping both towns do some serious work on West Shore Road soon. I think the frost is sufficiently out so they can do it some good. With rain coming Tuesday through Thursday, it would be really good to do it sooner rather than later, but that probably won't happen. I keep reminding myself (and others) that other roads in town are probably as bad or worse than ours, although after driving over it today, it's hard to imagine.

On May 3rd Cabot voters will be voting to elect two additional members to the Select Board, increasing it from three to five members. Judy Pransky is seeking one position, and former road commissioner Alan Perry is running, also. I don't know if anyone is running against those two. I believe either or both would be fine additions to the board. I don't think Alan, if he is elected, will be filling the road commissioner's position as retiring board member Larry Gochey did, even though he certainly has the background for it. He has stated that the road commissioner position should be separate and there should be a specific job description, which he says he will urge the select board to write. Alan's father and his grandfather were long-time road commissioners, and Alan held the position for several years until he decided to farm.