We didn't get the serious storm that was forecast.  I recorded just under half an inch of rain this morning, and the wind never made it to dangerous velocity as far as we could tell, and we checked around midnight - all was reasonably quiet at that hour.

Today has been nippy compared to the last few beautiful ones.  Still bright sunshine, but the thermometer stayed in the low 50s here and as soon as the sun went down, it dropped significantly and now, at 10 p.m., it's 39 degrees and still falling.

 We spotted this rare (around here) animal on our lawn today.  I know, gray squirrels are not unusual in almost any town around, but for whatever reason, we don't have many here.  We see them sometimes where there are beech trees or other nut bearing trees, but there isn't a large population.  

This guy seemed to have a destination in mind.  He came from our lower lawn, from the general direction of where the logging is going on next to our property, and headed in a straight line across our front lawn towards Jamie and Marie's.  I don't know if he was looking for Brickett's Crossing Road or the high country on the Plain, but that was the direction he was headed.  We wondered if he was having to relocate due to the logging below us.  We were glad he kept moving and didn't decide to hang out near our house.  The squirrel population is kept pretty low by Woody, and even though grays are considered major pests in most communities, I would not want our cat to be responsible for doing this one in.  Fred took the picture through the kitchen window where there's a screen, thus the checkered quality.  Woody was pretty interested as he watched from the living room window, and wanted to go outside immediately, but we kept him in and after about 10 minutes of teasing, he gave up and took a nap.

Don't forget the community visit from the Vermont Rural Development folks at 2:15 at the Willey Building on Tuesday, and then the free community dinner at 5 o'clock.  Then there's the chicken pie supper in No. Danville on the 29th. (see poster at right);  and a week from Tuesday, October 2, is the Fall Foliage turkey supper in Cabot (takeouts available).

Fall is a great time for wonderful home-cooked meals in so many of our communities.  No wonder the tourists love to come here!  We need a little more color in our maple trees to make it a perfect foliage season, but a week can make a big difference so by next Monday (October 1st) when the Festival begins in Walden, we should have a pretty nice display.

I had a pleasant surprise a couple days ago.  I was talking with Marvie Domey about the silent auction preparations for the Apple Pie Festival coming up on October 13th.  After we finished, she told me she'd recently been contacted by someone in California on cemetery business (Marvie is sexton) and asked me if I remembered Elinor Wheeler.  I have so often wondered where Elinor disappeared to.  We were good friends when we were in high school together, but she transferred to another school and I lost track of her.  Marvie said after she left Cabot and graduated from high school she headed west with a couple other girls and never returned to Vermont.  But she remembered after all these years that we'd gone on a double date with a couple boys from our class, and I had nearly forgotten that -- I just realized it's been something like 65 years since we were in school together -- but I do recall we went to a carnival on the Barre/Montpelier Road one hot summer night and I got sick - a combination of heat, whirling rides and fried food, I suppose.  That must have been what she remembered -- as for me, I've tried hard to forget.  I must remember to thank Elinor for reminding me of that painful experience.  I hope we can reconnect, though.  We shared some good times all those years ago.