Happy First Day of Spring!  I'm happy to acknowledge it here, but looking outside from my office window (top picture), things look very much like winter.  

We have had just about a foot of snow in the past couple of days, and it's still snowing very lightly.  We are back to 24 inches on the ground, and that is the most I've measured all winter.  We're going to have snow showers most of the rest of this week, so we may gain a little more, but also what we have will pack down a bit, so I don't expect our total depth to increase by much - unless we get another big storm in April.  It could happen!

The next picture is from our living room - looking towards the pond and Route 15.  I was checking for pussy willows a few days ago (didn't see any) and now all the trees look like they've burst out with pretty white buds, but it's snow.  If we were in December, we'd be excited that everything looks so "Christmasy!"

I've been working on the Joe's Pond Association newsletter.  I panicked a little about two weeks ago when we were having real spring-like weather, thinking we might be facing another nail-biter with the ice threatening to go out early, so I sent out my deadline notices to all our officers who make reports for the newsletter, contacted businesses for ads, and in between distributing Ice-Out tickets and everyday life, began whipping the newsletter into shape.  When temperatures dropped into the zero zone and then we were warned of this latest storm, I began to relax a bit - no way is the ice going to go out any day soon.  The good news is - the newsletter is coming along just fine, once all my reports are in by deadline Friday (hopefully) all we need is the name of the winner or winners of the Ice-Out Contest and we're ready to publish.

That said, I've neglected some of my e-mail, but I'm going to try to remedy that now.  One of the e-mails that came recently was particularly interesting.  It was Walter Ruf (Sandy Beach Rd) and was sent on Monday, March 18th from Florida where he and his sister, Mimi, spend the winter:  
Hi,YOU ALL,today is the 60th anniversary of my sisters and my arriving in New York USA.We looked forward to a new and better future after being in Germany during WW2. Coming into NY harbor on board the USS America was very exciting, and wondering what was ahead for us in a new country and with relatives we had not ever met. But all went well and we are still here and proud citizens of this country. I have to quit now because dinner is ready and a great bottle of wine is waiting to help us celebrate.  Zum Wohl! Prosit Chin Chin!!     Regards to you all, Irma (Mimi) & Walter.

 We at Joe's Pond are very happy Walter and Mimi are here.  

Early this month Karen Cobb sent a very interesting photo.  It took me a little time to figure out exactly what I was looking at - but I bet some of you who are familiar with the cottages near the familiar Gruggel/Cobb place on Narrows Drive will "get it" right away.   Here's what Karen wrote about the picture:

Have chuckled for years when I was told our camp has been called either the Castle or the Haunted House on Joe'sPond Pond!  Might have some validity though as for past 4 years an interesting apparition has been seen from the porch window along the channel side. In the past the apparent house was in muted tones of brown and gray and not as distinct as the photo I am sending. Couldn't really figure it out initially, but last year, Voile!
It is a reflection from across the big pond of the Roy camp! Know someone else owns it now, but it will always be the Roy Boys camp to me!  The kicker for me last year was seeing it from a new location on the porch as well as it being in living color for the first time!  I know Auntine is getting a kick out of it too! She was the original Gruggel owner in 1941!  Needless to say, it will be a top priority to view it again hopefully this summer when we return!

I'll give you a hint - the Gruggel/Cobb cottage is at the narrows between the middle and big pond, so their porch windows look towards the cottages accessed from Route 2.  Send me an e-mail if you are able to figure this out.  I'll give you more hints tomorrow if nobody comes up with an answer.

& & & & &

I didn't want to spoil it for those of you who hadn't had a chance to see the picture and information Karen Cobb sent, so that's why I'm putting this at the bottom of this morning's post.  Around 2 o'clock I got this e-mail:

 

Hi Jane

Mary Ellen Stover’s cottage is superimposed in the picture next to the ??? (don’t know the names of the owner –wish I had the JP directory in hand) cottage. You can tell the picture is a reflection as the addition on Mary Ellen’s is on the wrong side in the picture. Keep up all of the great work on the JP website.

Thanks

Rick Hackett

That's exactly right, and the cottage to the left is now owned by Kari Lizer.  It used to be the Bob and Ruth Wernert cottage.  Kari bought it around ten years ago, I think.  I'm not surprised that Rick Hackett got it right away - his cottage is in Mary Ellen Stover's neighborhood.