We had an interesting letter recently from someone in Illinois - this person was asking about a book he wanted to buy, but also asked if we were aware there is a town named Vermont in Illinois.  None of us knew that, but I checked, and sure enough, there is!  Vermont, Illinois, exists, named, according to our informant, by early settlers from New England.  Who knew?!  

I also had a nice note from Pat Karnady, who now lives in Florida with her husband, George.  The Karnadys were Joe's Ponders for 25 years, Pat said; they've been gone from here for 10.  George loved fishing and hunting, and still comes to Vermont for deer hunting.  It was very nice to hear from them, and although we miss them here at the pond, we wish them well and understand their wanting to by away from the cold winters.  If the weather continues to produce milder winters, perhaps they, and some others we've lost to warmer climes, will migrate back north.

Speaking of migrating, Tom and Camilla Dente watched a very large gaggle of geese in front of their camp this morning.  Tom sent this picture.
We all know every group needs a leader in order to make any progress, and this group surely has one.  This seems to be a mix of adults and youngsters.  This article about "moulting geese" may explain not only the apparent diverse age/size of these birds, but also how they happen to be here this time of the year instead of having flown further north.

Thanks to Tom and Camilla for the picture.

I recently had a request for information about a restaurant in St. Johnsbury that existed some years ago.  That started me looking for answers, and fortunately, I went to the right person.  Bryce Montgomery (long time Joe's Ponder who hailed from St. Johnsbury) knew exactly what we were looking for.  It was a "beer joint" that was under the Portland Street bridge, called "Onie's" that was owned by Onie Delosa, until perhaps sometime in the 40's, Bryce thought.  He said although it was kind of a rough place, the spaghetti was very good, which agreed with what my friend was remembering when he said it was almost as good as Bove's in Burlington.  Bryce told me where the restaurant was was called the Boomer Block, and there had been a dance hall upstairs called the "Bucket of Blood."  Now, doesn't that sound like a great place to spend a Saturday night?  He also remembered a dance hall upstairs in the Mruphy's warehouse, which he said he thinks is still pretty much the same as when it was used for dancing.

Years ago there were lots of "upstairs dance halls" or  meeting halls, often beautifully finished with a stage and painted curtains.  I took dancing lessons years ago in one of those upstairs halls in St. Johnsbury.  It was in the Pythian Building, I think it was on the third floor, and there were two large halls divided by a partition that had big sliding doors that rolled back into the walls so the rooms were more or less joined.  Mrs. Doyle taught tap and ballet, and later I learned she also taught ballroom dancing, and when I married and went to live in St. Johnsbury, I often met people who had been in her dancing classes.  Don Mullallay at the radio station was one, my husband, Ray Dimick, was another.  They were both great dancers, but their wow factor was the jitter-bug, not so much ballroom.  There were lots more places to go dancing in those days, too.  Harvey's Lake, Point Comfort (click on picture at left to see it better, that's the dance hall in back of the restaurant), Cole's Pond, Forrest Lake in N. H., Shadow Lake and lots more I can't recall.  Then there were the barn dances - Frye's Barn and Robinson's come to mind.   It was great fun to dance to live music, and there were lots of bands and combos around that played big band swing or country music - take your pick.  Great fun, good memories.