Someone sent a comment asking for the elevation where McDowell Rd. hits the Wheelock town line in Danville (and turns into Blakely Rd). As near as I can tell without having an exact house number to go by, it would be about 1600 ft. I'm guessing the town line is somewhere on Wheelock Mountain, but I don't know for sure.

I don't want to talk about the weather because it's been all over the map today. We've had a little of about everything except snow (thank goodness!). At the JPA board meeting this morning it was coolish and damp, but with the side curtains on the pavilion, we were comfortable and it was a good meeting. The first meetings each spring are always great fun. It's been months since we've seen some of our members and we all have energy and enthusiasm for the season ahead.

From that meeting, I picked up daughter-in-law, Marie, and we went to Dylan's new restaurant in the old post office building in St. Johnsbury. It was also once where Catamount Arts was - after it was the post office. We were meeting my other daughters-in-law, Theresa and Monika, for lunch and to honor Monika and the new baby we're all eagerly awaiting. Monika said she has seven more weeks to go, but we are all wondering if she'll deliver sooner.

While we were there the sun came out and it was really very comfortable - warmer than it had been at Joe's Pond. We stopped in the parking lot in back of Dylan's to chat and I snapped this picture of Theresa, Monika and Marie.

When I got home and casually asked Fred, "Anything happening?" expecting the usual, "Not much" in return, I was surprised when he told me our neighbor, Elaine Metcalf, who lives on Deeper Ruts Road, had dropped off some pictures of a good sized bear helping himself to leftovers from a winter bird feeder in their yard. This isn't the first time Elaine has encountered a bear at her house - she sent us pictures last year, too, as I recall. Another neighbor, on Brickett's Crossing Road, has had a bear visiting in the night, but when we last talked, she hadn't seen it in the daytime.

They should be getting plenty to eat now - we just heard about how much they like cowslips, sometimes called marsh marigolds, the bright green early vegetation in swamps with bright yellow flowers. I guess cowslips are fine as a salad, but a few bird seeds or suet is a real bear treat, and this guy will likely be back for more.

I had a nice surprise a couple days ago in the Cabot Historical Society mail box. There was a note from a lady in Maine saying her aunt, Gladys Wood, had died recently at age 100, and in cleaning out her things this lady had found pictures taken at the Cabot Plains School where she had taught years ago. I recognized the name immediately. Miss Wood had boarded with my grandparents Bolton in the mid 1930's. I don't recall much about her except she was a favorite of the family. They boarded several teachers over the years, and I remember the teachers always had a corner room over the parlor at the big farm house. There was a feather tick on the bed that must have been a godsend when the wind was whistling around that very exposed house high on the hill overlooking the flat were the school stood. No such thing as insulation in the walls in those days; there was nothing to hold off the wind and cold except boards clapboards, plaster and wallpaper, and a register in the floor above the wood stove in the parlor.

I can barely wait for those pictures of the school and Bolton family. Miss Woods' niece will be visiting relatives in Vermont later this summer and will let me know so we can meet and I'll receive the photos. I've promised her a tour of the area where her aunt lived and taught school so many years ago, and I'm looking forward to it.

Different subject. We've recently learned of two places on the pond that are on the market. The cottage belonging to Tom Beattie and John Dauteuil, and the log home of Jeff Downs are now on the market. Both are on West Shore Road, but Jeff's place does not have waterfront. It has a spectacular view of the pond and a lovely big corner lot. Tom and John's place is beautiful, both inside and out, and they've done a lot of work on it over the years they've had it. It has a large lot, big old trees and a sturdy waterfront - a lovely spot.

Jeff told us he's going to consolidate and live in the apartment over the store (Joe's Pond Country Store). That really makes good sense - he will be right on the premises and won't need to battle the snow in winter and mud in spring to get back and forth to work.

This seems to have been a year for lots of changes around the pond. Not just people selling their places, but people deciding to make Joe's Pond their year around home, too. It is a great place to live and the dynamics are forever changing.