The weather has modified a bit overnight and we have a reading of 16 degrees (that's ABOVE zero!) and there's light snow falling, but without the sun, it still seems cold and definitely dreary.  I haven't heard anyone proclaim recently, "We don't have winters like we used to."  I don't recall there being such up and down crazy swings in the weather, and my memory goes back a few years.  And of course there have been past winters with lots more snow.  However, I think most of us are content to have only ice and cold to deal with without tons of snow to move.  That said, there's more snow in the forecast, which will make the skiers, boarders and snowmobilers happy, and we all know  winter is far from over.  We still have at least 8-10 weeks more ahead of us, and I predict more surprises. 

We have some interesting stuff to report this morning.  First, many of you probably already know the outcome of last night's bb game between Danville and Winooski - and that Kyle  Johnson (Edgewood Ave.) made 1000, with ease.  Here's the writeup as it appears in this morning's Burlington Free Press:
• Danville 59, Winooski 57: Kyle Johnson scored 18 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his career and two other Danville players recorded double-doubles to fuel the Indians’ narrow win over visiting Winooski.
Brett Elliott put up 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Jason Sweet finished with 10 points and 17 boards for Danville (11-1). Eric Remick also had nine points to go along with seven assists.
Ali Omar finished with 22 to pace the Spartans (9-3)

Kyle's many fans are very happy for him.  Our congratulations to Kyle and the team.

I had a very nice e-mail from Evelyn Richer this morning.  Evelyn and Ray are between guests at their residential care home right now.  Evelyn wrote:  

. . . And so, once again, I urge anyone that may have an elder in their life that would like to come to Loon Cove to live, please contact us...
(rloonnest@fairpoint.net) If we can help in any way, we would love to do so.

All this means that Ray and I are in 'limbo' here... waiting for our next possible client...  We spend the days going out distributing brochures letting social workers know we have a vacancy now, (and enjoying our time together out of the house)

As many of you already know, both Ray and Evelyn are accomplished artists - Ray is well known for his wildlife photography.  One of his wildlife photos is on ebay - Evelyn said it is of course a "Joe's Pond loon," and is printed on canvas.  Ray also does beautiful woodwork, including building furniture, and has fairly recently begun building acoustic guitars.  (He plays them, too!)

Evelyn works in various mediums creating lovely sketches and illustrations.  She has been experimenting with wood burning, and sent this photo of a gorgeous example of her work.  I know from experience that wood burning is not easy - but Evelyn says for her it's addictive.  All I can say is, both Ray and Evelyn are very talented artists.   I'm happy they are enjoying their time "in limbo."  Click on the picture to make it larger. 



I just got an inquiry about the controversial bill, H.526 that deals with shoreline property and would likely effect Joe's Pond.  JPA has been following this bill and we have a representative, Larry Rossi, on the committee in the Town of Danville that is rewriting the town's land use rules to exempt Danville from the new state regulations. There is a similar committee in Cabot and the two towns are working together.  Tom has asked Larry for an update, and as soon as I have something further on this, I will post it here.