We saw some sunshine today, but it was best enjoyed from inside a toasty warm house.  The thermometer was registering something like 13 degrees around noon, but the wind was whipping out of the northeast - or maybe it was more north, I'm not sure.   I do know for sure that as soon as we got to the end of our driveway and headed north to get to Jamie and Marie's driveway, it was bone-chilling cold.  There are trees sheltering the driveway and around their yard, so it was pretty comfortable once we got a little way along our usual route, but even coming back it was bitterly cold at the foot of our driveways.  One of those days when it doesn't matter which way you head on West Shore Road, you're facing into the wind a good share of the time.  I think the currents bounce off the hillsides or something.  It was so good to get back inside.
    We had taped the 1976 film, "The Shootist" before we left, so we watched it this afternoon.  I'm sure some of you know that was John Wayne's last film - he died in 1979, of cancer. Some say he and many others who had worked in 1955 on location in Utah where atomic testing had been done in nearby Nevada, contacted the cancer there.  Sadly, Wayne apparently knew all too well while filming that movie what his character was going through.  In reality, he was fighting cancer just as his character was.  The film had some great actors - Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Harry Morgan, Richard Boone and Hugh O'Brien plus others.  It must have been difficult for all of them to watch what was happening to Wayne.  Here's some background on that film.
     Well, cold or not, things are beginning to wake up around here.  I've had two requests today to let people know about events happening in Cabot.  The Maple Festival is coming up on March 21st.  You'll hear more about that later, but mark you calendar.  It's a sure sign of spring!
    Also, there a chili contest coming up in Cabot.  And that's much sooner - on February 1st.  Click on the poster to learn more about it - a good chance to win some money if you make a great chili.  Perfect for the cold days ahead - start experimenting and perfecting your recipe now so you'll be ready.  Good luck.  
    Normally at this time of day we might say something like, "As the sun slips behind the western hills, darkness envelops us."  Instead I'm going to sign off with, "As the thermometer slips once again below the zero mark, blanketing Joe's pond with a deep, icy darkness that's interrupted only by a few dots of light from warm houses on the shore or a lonely automobile gliding along bordering highways or perhaps some late snowmobile rushing homeward, I say - this is at least a three-dog-night."