Only a little more rain today - and sprinkling tonight.  Seems like the rainy weather may be slowing down a bit.  It was actually pretty nice today - lots of people around for the holiday week.  John & Liz Randall arrived yesterday.  They are celebrating the birth recently of their first grandchild, a baby boy, born to Jason, their older son and his wife, Kerrin.  We'll have more information and a picture later.

I received a picture tonight from Henretta Splain on Clubhouse Circle, of a bagpiper who was playing the pipes at sunset.  As Henretta says, "Anything can happen here at Joe's."  Bagpipes can be a mournful sound - appropriate for heralding the end of one of the few pleasant days we have had so far this summer, I suppose.

I think I can hear thunder rumbling outside now.  Not surprising since it was pretty hot and muggy today.  I went to the Historical Society to help get ready for the Fourth of July - that is always a busy day for us with lots of people visiting.  It's always fun to see people I know, especially those I may see only once a year when they visit the Historical Society!  

We have some new and interesting things on display this year.  We are concentrating on the Civil War era since David Book will be doing a presentation later this month about two men who served from Cabot, Abel and Edwin J. Morrill.  Both died during the war.  Their family lived in the house where Amanda's Greenhouse is now.   We have photographs of both men, and now have Capt. Edwin Morrill's small bible with his hand-written instructions in the back, as to how he wished his body to be returned to Vermont as soon as possible.  He had been shot while attempting to escape after being captured at Weldon Railroad, and died soon after from his wounds.  Before joining the 11th Regiment, Morrill had worked for the Fairbanks in St. Johnsbury.  His body was returned to Cabot and was buried not far from the family farm, in Durant Cemetery.

Edwin's brother, Abel, had died at Wilderness two months before Edwin's death in July, 1864.

David Book researched carefully the men from Cabot who served in the Civil War, and wrote a very informative book titled after an inscription on the Civil War Monument on the common in Cabot Village, It is Sweet and Honorable to Die for the Fatherland.  According to David's research, 35,000 Vermonters served in that war during the four year period, and at the time "the population of Vermont was only 315,000 men, women and children."  In 1860, 267 men between the age of 20 and 50 resided in Cabot, according to the census figures.  I counted 135 names of soldiers from Cabot David had researched and listed.  We have a similar list with approximately 150 names - our list includes some who lived in Cabot but on official records were credited to other towns.  It is particularly interesting that when David was researching for his book, he traveled to Washington, D. C. to find official records;  he then located as many grave sites of Cabot men as he could and sprinkled some Vermont soil he'd brought with him on their graves - so there would be a bit of home with them always.