Just so you folks who have left the area for warmer climates can see the kind of weather we're having, I have a short slide show for you.  The pond has been completely frozen over since about the day after Thanksgiving; then we had some rain and warm weather that left a whole lot of water on top of the ice.  Most of that ice is still intact tonight as the temperature is dropping rapidly past the freezing point to envelop us in a wave of cold air that will last at least through the weekend and perhaps into next week.  The only open water we saw today was in the narrows between the big pond and the middle pond; but without a doubt, the ice that's left is very thin.  However, if we don't have wind or snow, there will be an almost uninterrupted sheet of very clear, smooth ice covering the pond - which I mention only because that is rare.  We usually have ripples from wind or roughness from snow mixing into the water as it freezes.  We'll see what happens overnight.

We are wondering if anyone knows if this photo was taken in West Danville, and if so, who are these people?  We believe it was some business in West Danville, but what?  Or, I suppose it could be a family.  They include their horses, and that would indicate it's a family - they were very proud of their horses in those days - not every family had horses.  The two women cold represent two different generations, and there is such an age variation among the men, they could be brothers, uncles, etc.  I think the man on the far right moved just as the picture was taken - he seems to have two faces.  The picture came to our history committee from Dot Larrabee, but she doesn't know the origin.  Click to enlarge the image.  If you can help, e-mail me at janebrown@fairpoint.net.

Still no word from Namibia, but we expect Bill and family are fine, just probably either on the move or not where they can access the internet.  I expect we'll hear something from them this weekend.