The weather is clearing up a little - we even saw some sun hitting the tops of the hillsides above Rte 15 around supper time. The temperature has been closer to 60 degrees than yesterday's 50, so things are looking up.

There is a picture in today's Caledonian of the Green at Danville where they've cut many of the big old trees in preparation for the extensive road project that will be in progress during the next four years. It's surely going to look different, and I expect it'll look worse before it looks better. We'll try to get pictures tomorrow when we go through on our way to lunch with our neighbors, Elizabeth and Louise. It's Louise's birthday, so we'll be having lunch at "99" in Littleton. I know she's going to ask if they have lobster rolls - but I'm betting it's still too early. They have them only in the summer, but someone always asks when we go there.

We have other stops to make, too, so it will be a nice break from our computers. I'm closing in on the final steps of getting our new Joe's Pond Directory done, and in between, have been writing and sending out notices about the barn dance that is coming up in Cabot on June 4th. I think I've covered most of the newspapers, radio and TV stations that service our area. I was thinking about it today as I e-mailed blurbs - this is going to be as much a concert as a barn dance. I bet there will be lots of people showing up just to listen to the music, leaving the dancing to the young folks. I hope the weather is good, but even if it isn't, I think the barn is large enough to hold a big crowd. I wonder how the goats will respond to all the commotion. I should have asked Martha. Perhaps they'll join in and sing a bit.

In case you missed my mention of it a couple days ago, it's to raise money to paint the church in Cabot, and will be at Long Field Farm, at the intersection of Houston Hill Road and Coit's Pond Road. Martha Rockwell and her sister, Lynn raise goats and have a lovely old barn that's empty of hay until a little later in the summer, so it's a perfect time to fill it with music and dancing. I'll have more about it a little later on, but mark your calendar on June 4th, 7 p.m., and be ready to grab your lawn chairs and follow the signs out of Cabot Village to hear the old time music of Pete Sutherland and some of his musician friends.

I came across this picture postcard today in the historical society collection - it's one that Phil Rogers gave to me a while back. There was no identification on it, but it was with other Joe's Pond postcards, so I'm assuming it was taken around the pond somewhere. It looks like a water tank for the train, or maybe a mill beside the outlet of Joe's Pond before the penstock was built above the brook. The quarry might have been out of the picture on the left side of the tracks and that could be where they loaded the granite on the train to the right of the tracks. That's my best guess, but perhaps someone knows for sure. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

I don't know how many of you read Fred's news items on home page, but there are some interesting articles there. He searches the internet every morning to find news items that he thinks might interest our readers. There's one on there about light bulbs - regular incandescent 100 watt bulbs - that will no longer be available after next January. That won't bother us much, we've been using the compact fluorescent bulbs for a long time and have hardly any traditional bulbs still in use. As soon as we switched over, when they first came out, we saw a difference in our electric bill. Back then they were frustrating because they were dim until they warmed up, and even then weren't as bright as you'd like; but now they are instantly bright and brighter. Trouble is, they aren't a good fit for lots of older lamps or lamp shades. With a little creativity and lots of patience, we've been able to work with them, though.

We've looked forward to the LEDs, but except for Christmas lights, we haven't found any that were reasonably enough priced to warrant replacing the compact fluorescent bulbs. We've come a long way from kerosene lamps and candles, haven't we?