Like a curtain opening on another act of a giant stage production, Thanksgiving weekend is nearly over and the Christmas season will now be in full swing, heralded today by light snow falling.  I bet the deer hunters wish they'd had a little more snow, but at the end of today deer hunting season is over except for muzzle loaders and archery hunters, who can hunt until December 13.  

The snow is sticking in certain cold spots - the cat ice on the lake, stones and wood piles, and along the sides of the road - and we are finally going to have to face winter for real, probably within a few days. We've had an unusually nice November - more sunshine than normal and certainly much higher temperatures.  However, there have been some really cold nights, so the average temperature for the month may not be too far from normal.

We put up a Christmas tree on our deck yesterday.  It was such a nice, warm afternoon, we decided to take advantage of that and get the tree up and lighted.  We usually wait too long and do it in freezing weather.  We congratulated each other that we'd done it even though it's a bit earlier than usual.  Fred cut a good sized spruce that was growing under the electric power line and would have to be cut within a few years anyway.  It turned out to be less of a "Charlie Brown" tree than we usually put up outside.  I took down the Thanksgiving decorations and today got some Christmas greens up - and that is probably the extent of our decorating for this year.  It's a lovely time of the year and I do enjoy the decorations in stores, the music, and even the Hallmark Christmas shows on TV that seem to all have similar themes, but you gotta love that they always have a happy ending.  

In case some of you haven't been paying attention - it's just a bit over three weeks until Christmas.  You can keep track here:  Days to Christmas.

Did you know we have a newcomer in the neighborhood?  George and Pat Parizo on Sandy Beach Road sent us a picture of this cutie, "Josie," who recently came to live at their house.   She looks like a lot of fun, for sure. 

Our weather today is unusually mild.  My thermometer is reading 54 degrees, at about noon.  There's a warm breeze out of the south, and the sun is shining intermittently.  I awoke to a soft glow coming in the windows this morning and took this picture moments before it clouded over and looked dismal for most of the early morning.  The sunrise was very pretty while it lasted.

I finally got some earlier photos filed.  We were in St. Johnsbury on Wednesday and on the way there noticed for the first time the large array of solar panels at the Charter building off of Dole Hill on Route 2.  They have probably been there for a long time, but we just never noticed.  We drove up to the Charter location so we could get a better picture.

We also got some pictures of the pond as we  came by.  There was a lot of "cat ice" on the first two ponds, but only the northern coves on the big pond were partially frozen and most of the big pond is still ice free.  This warm weather will melt that ice, but the water is certainly getting cold enough so they will all be closed in soon.  The first picture is by Point Comfort, the next is of the middle pond from Indian Joe's, and the last is the north end of the pond from our house.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening.  Bill, Monika and the girls came - the others were celebrating the day on Thursday.  Fred got this picture of Tangeni, or "Boo-Boo" as she is generally known to family members, as she was reading to her best friend, Woody.  This was a new book we brought back from Maine for her, about a mermaid.  Both she and Woody were fascinated.  Even though she had never seen the book before, she read it easily, sounding out the words like a pro.  That's her mom at the counter next to the window, pouring honey in her tea, and sister Jo-Ann, "Jo-Jo" in the pink shirt.  Tangeni had picked out a special dress to wear that had pictures of cats on it.  She does love cats, and in particular, Woody.  He spent all of yesterday resting up after all the attention.

Now it's time to head out for our walk to get back on our regular schedule - and perhaps shed some of the extra pounds we've put on in the past couple of days.  Those leftovers are really good, though, and it's hard to resist.  We've frozen the pies to make them a little less accessible, but the leftover turkey and ham HAVE to be eaten up while still fresh.  If any of that goes into the freezer, I will likely never find it again until it's no longer good.  So the rule is, we have to eat it up.  I do sometimes freeze the carcass until I'm ready to make soup, but I'm going to try to make soup this weekend. 

And now it's time to get busy with Christmas plans!

Thanksgiving Day here at Joe's Pond looks like a really nice one - lots of sunshine, not too cold at 35 degrees - but it's still early and the weather could change. 

We look forward to a quiet day watching the parade and maybe some football on television.  We had our Thanksgiving with Bill and Monika and our two lovely granddaughters last night.  Today we can all chill except Monika, who will be on duty at NVRH.

Last night as we sat at the table with turkey and ham and all the trimmings, we each expressed our thanks for the life we have here in Vermont; all the things we have that make life wonderful, and for the anxiety we don't have because we live in peace and safety.  

Monika knows first hand what it's like to live in a war-torn country, having experienced that growing up during the turmoil in Namibia, Africa.  We talked about that last night - the horror of knowing her young brothers and friends as young as 12 years old might be taken away any moment to serve in the army; having friends disappear without warning and never seeing them again because they had been captured and possibly killed, or they had left with their families in the secrecy of night to try to find a safer place to live.  She is thankful her family is now safe, both here and in Africa.  We are thankful for the service men and women who keep us safe here in America and for their effort to end the strife in other countries.  It may not seem to be our business, but protecting people from tyranny, and keeping that tyranny from spreading, should be everyone's business.  

Enjoy your day, hopefully with friends and/or family, and count your blessings.

We wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Fred & Jane

Penny Hamilton

Here is the obituary for Penny Hamilton, daughter of Doug and Nancy Hamilton and sister of Pam Johnson and Billy Hamilton, all of Joe's Pond.  Penny passed away on November 20 after a short illness.  

Many here at Joe's Pond remember Penny when she was growing up and coming to the pond with her family each summer.  Penny loved horses and for several years, the Robinsons kept horses at the farm at the head of West Shore Road.  Penny won riding lessons one summer in the Joe's Pond Boat Parade, and what a happy little girl she was!

Our thoughts are with the family at this very sad time.

Today is a day to complain about the weather.  Well, for some folks, anyway.  We started the day with bright sunshine, but anyone who was fooled by that soon discovered they weren't wearing enough layers to keep out the bitterly cold wind.  It was 32 degrees in St. Johnsbury at around 11 o'clock today, the sun was shining brightly and there were snowflakes in the air.  We suspect there may have been more than a few flakes in the air here at Joe's Pond, but if that was the case, none of it stuck.  

The thermometer on the car was reading 26 degrees as we turned onto West Shore Road.  I went for my usual walk about an hour later, and it was bitterly cold.  The wind has gone down a bit now (3:30 pm) and the temperature has dropped to 20 degrees.  The sun has dropped behind the hill so it looks dreary on our hillside, but it's sunny and bright across the pond.  It's going to be a cold night - but no snow in the forecast.  I'm sure it's just a matter of getting used to it, but after the nice, warm days we've had, today has been an awakening to reality.

We didn't get any pictures this morning, but the Walker house is coming along - forms were visible for the foundation, and workers were busy there today.  That location is somewhat protected from the wind, fortunately.

I hope everyone will be able to get safely to wherever you need to be for Thanksgiving.  I was thinking today of the old song with the words, "Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go . . ." and just now looked it up.  I never knew, but I'm not surprised, it was originally a poem and was about going to grandfather's house, not grandmother's!  It's amazing what we think we know that sometimes turns out to be wrong.  Whatever your plans, travel safely.

I have very sad news today.  Homer just let us know that Penny Hamilton passed away last night around 11 o'clock.  Penny had cancer - a fast moving melanoma, as we understand it, and has been with her parents, Doug and Nancy, here at Joe's Pond since late summer.  According to what Homer told us, she was at N.V.R.H. when she died.  Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.  I will have more information later, but in the meantime, condolences may be sent to the family at Nancy's:  Nancy Hamilton, P. O. Box 193, West Danville VT 05873. 
 

It's hard to believe our nice weather is continuing - we may have a short spell of "normal" November weather over the weekend, but then we're back into a week-long stretch of temperatures a bit above normal and clear skies.  Like I've said before, we'll probably pay the piper later on, but for now, at least, let's enjoy it.

It's deer hunting time, but we've seen fewer than usual hunters on the road.  Perhaps it's due to the nice weather and no snow.  I know hunters like to have a little snow on the ground in order to track their game.  The deer should be well fed this year - the apple crop was really good.  Strangely, I haven't seen or heard as many partridges as usual this year, either.  Of course, I haven't been in the woods much, but we usually have a partridge or two in our apple trees or along the road up to Jamie and Marie's, but I haven't seen or heard anything of them.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, that means Christmas is just around the next corner.  I started thinking about Christmas earlier than usual this year, consequently I'm deep into a writing project that I hope to finish before the big holiday.  That's why I haven't been paying much attention to the blog lately.  That and the really awful cold we both had that's taken us a month to recover from, have kept me working at a snail's pace so things have piled up a bit.  Fred recovered a few days ahead of me, but I'm ok now - not even coughing today. 

We checked Shelly Walker's building project on Thursday.  I had seen a cement truck go by on Wednesday and thought perhaps it was for Shelly's place, but it doesn't look as if they are quite ready for that yet - or at least weren't on Thursday.  The good news is that they'll have a nice stretch of weather for working next week, so things should move quickly.  The Decker place next door is nearly finished, by the look of things, and is very nice.

We heard from our friends in Alaska this week.  Mike says they are well into winter mode there with plenty of snow on the ground and temperatures in the single numbers - below zero!!  There have been times when we were colder here than they were in Anchorage, but that certainly isn't the case now.  It's going to be a long stretch for them - but I'm sure they are used to it.

Enjoy the nice weather here while it lasts - we may be singing a different tune in a few more weeks.



 

Another lovely fall day, but a bit on the chilly side.  Last night our thermometer dropped to 19 degrees - that's pretty darned cold.  I had a note from Henretta Splain today saying there was a skimming of ice on the cove at her place (Clubhouse Circle). Henretta is our data input specialist for the Ice Out Contest and she said she's expecting to be very busy soon.  We have perhaps 500 tickets that have come in over the summer, and just this past week I've had requests from outlets in the Burlington area to supply them with tickets.  It's a bit early, but people are already asking for them, and we are very happy to supply them.

We have some news - the log cabin at the head of Sandy Beach Road has been sold.  The cabin has had renters there for about a year after the owner moved to Colorado.  We don't know who has purchased it, but we know the owner, John Jenkins, must be very happy.  

We were also contacted this week by Robert and Andrea MacLeod, of Barre (Andrea is Joey Calcagni's sister) telling us they have just purchased the Smith cottage - across from the pavilion on North Shore Road, and next door to Joey and Joni.  How neat is that!?  There's a "family compound" forming there with Andrea, Joey and Matthew all in a row on that road.  Andrea said they are anxious to become members of JPA, and we're very happy to have them.  We'll have everything lined up so they'll be official this spring.  I love it when people contact me to let me know they have purchased property here and want to be members. 

People along West Shore Road are happy that the Town of Cabot worked the road this week.  There were some serious pot holes forming, and it's good to get them leveled off before the ground freezes.  The town has a new road machine - it looks pretty spiffy, and whoever was operating it seemed to be turning up an unusually large amount of material, but we haven't been over it yet so I don't know if it is crowned more than normal.  With the rain coming soon, we'll find out if the water finds the ditches ok or runs down the tire tracks.  It looks great from what we can see from our mailbox. 

And speaking of roads - if you don't have your winter tires on yet, better get going.  There's lots of information out there this year about all-weather tires not really being adequate for Vermont winter driving, and we will agree to that wholeheartedly.  We ran all-weather tires for years until last year, and what a difference!  No wonder we had trouble making it up our steep driveway so often!   With the winter tires, it's a breeze.  We used to always have winter tires when we were commuting to Montpelier every day, but for whatever reason, once we retired, we depended on all-weather tires.  Now we're told winter tires are made completely differently than they were a few years ago - different tread, different type of material - and are much better than the old ones were and a world apart from all-weather ones.  We're sold.

Friday turned out to be one of those days we will not forget.  Not just because it was Friday the 13th, but because of the horrific attacks by terrorists on innocent people in Paris.  Our thoughts are with the families and friends of all those people killed or injured so  senselessly.  

There is little doubt the date was selected with forethought by the terrorists.  These latest attacks - the Russian plane brought down and now Paris - have made us more aware, more suspicious, less comfortable when traveling or in large groups of people, and perhaps especially wary on certain holidays or at special events.  We know these attacks will continue until the terrorist groups are somehow annihilated, and in the meantime, we will all be a little less trusting of strangers.  It is not the way most of us want to be, but we all have the same desire - to keep our loved ones safe and to be safe ourselves, and we brace for the next attack.  It makes me sad and angry and I wonder how the world got to this place.  

Well, this is Friday the 13th - a day some people worry through, but actually this is a special one because it apparently doesn't happen often.  I'm not a numbers person, so the significance of the consecutive odd numbers, 11-13-15, didn't register with me until someone on a newscast mentioned it the other day.  I'm also not generally superstitious, but this morning when I went to warm my coffee in the microwave, it literally growled at me.  Now I don't like to fool around with that kind of stuff.  Friday the 13th or not, those microwaves flying around worry me a little - so much we never even had one until we bought this one in 1992.  So I turned it off and yelled for Fred - who confirmed it was, indeed, growling loudly and needed more than a gentle nudge or shake to cure it.  A quick call to our go-to guy, Wayne Lewis, out in Waterford, convinced us that just perhaps we've had our money's worth from our 1992 Sharp microwave and it might be time to replace it.  Wayne fixed it for us a while back and we got an extra five years out of it, but he said he might not be able to find parts for it this time.  

I was truly not thinking of the Friday the 13th thing at that point.  My thoughts were that with the holidays coming up I really didn't want to be without a microwave.  (Whatever did we do those many years before we finally broke down and bought that first one back in 1992?)  I went on line and located what looked like a fair replacement that would probably fit fairly well into the gaping hole in our kitchen cabinets, and found the Walmart in Woodsville had that model in stock.  A quick trip and we are now back in business with a smaller (and much cheaper) model than our old one, but serviceable, nonetheless.  So if that was the worst Friday the 13th has for me, I'm relieved.  

We can report that the Don and Audrey Walker cottage on West Shore Road has been demolished, ready for a new structure to be put in its place.  We haven't talked to their daughter, Shelly, who is building the new cottage, but we understand Larry Rossi's crew is working there.  The top picture is from the road; the bottom picture was taken from the fishing access across the pond.  We'll keep you posted.  

Larry Rossi is nearly finished at the Deckers, next door to Walkers, by the looks of things.  We've had unusually good weather for these jobs, and although we're into some dreary, raw weather right now, the forecast is for another warming trend after the weekend, so it looks as if contractors will have some pretty good weather to get things closed in before winter.  Not that winter weather halts work around here, for we've seen carpenters framing up houses in the worst possible weather, but having it warmer than usual is a nice bonus.  I expect some of the men will be taking time off for deer hunting - that's almost a necessity in these parts.  Others just watch for deer as they drive to and from work and hope they get lucky.  We saw a pickup truck with two deer carcasses strapped onto the back as we drove up 91 from Wells River today.  We suspect they had been shot in New Hampshire, as Vermont deer hunting season doesn't officially start until tomorrow and runs through Nov. 29th.  New Hampshire's hunting season is a bit different.  Of course, they could have been hunting somewhere else - like Maine, for instance.  

I hope everyone has a catastrophe free Friday the 13th.  There is so much crazy stuff going on in the world today, I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will blame their bad luck on the date.  Bad stuff happens every day, but also good stuff happens every day.  We just hope the balance swings on the side of good stuff.

Here's what some of the folks who have stayed behind to enjoy fall at Joe's Pond have been up to: 

Last Saturday evening the Elks Club hosted an event for the Barre Rotary, "Dancing With the Stars & Silent Wine Auction."

I'm sure you'll recognize some of these folks who joined Bill and Diane Rossi for an evening of great food (I believe steak and lobster were on the menu!) dancing and bidding for special wines.  Diane came home with a case of wine - not sure if others in the group bid on any.  This was a special evening of dining and ballroom dancing - lessons and then a contest.  I haven't heard the results of that, but there should be a posting, with more photos on the Rotary website within a few days.

In the meantime, our nice weather holds and even though we expect rain tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to be moderate, at least until the weekend when there may be scattered snow showers in the higher elevations.  We'll see how that goes.

Fred was in Danville this morning to get our winter tires put on the car.  He also had to go to the post office to send out some Ice-Out Contest tickets, and took this picture along the way of the Green.  I thought it was really nice with all the sunshine and blue sky.


I took my camera with me this noon, just in case the clump of milk weed was still there - and it was!  Just another way to enjoy late fall in Vermont!

It's almost embarrassing, this great weather we're having.  We should be at very least experiencing dark and dreary days, but instead we've had beautiful sunshine and very reasonable temperatures.  When I went for my walk this noon, I spotted a lovely stem of milkweed pods at the side of Jamie and Marie's driveway.  The sun was hitting it and it fairly glowed.  I didn't have my camera with me, but after lunch I went back up to get a picture.  The sun was behind some big spruces, so the effect wasn't the same, and I'm sure with wind and possibly rain during the next couple of days, the ripe seeds will have left the pods - so the moment has been  missed.  I took a picture anyway - but not that impressive.

When I got back to the house, I went out in our back yard hoping there might be a similar display with the sun on it, but apparently we didn't have much milkweed around our house this year.  I should bring some of those seeds over . . .  Never mind. I noticed the apple tree is bare of leaves and apples, except for one. Wind, rain, freezing nights and sunny days have taken a toll and left this one apple looking tough as old leather.  It's hanging from a low branch, so some hungry turkey or curious deer may find it tempting after other food is buried under the snow - if the apple manages to hang on that long.

And then there's Woody.  Every now and then when I unload pictures from our camera I find a surprise.  This picture was taken sometime this weekend when I was absorbed in reading the newspaper and didn't realize Woody was apparently "reading" it, too . . . and both of us were unaware Fred was taking pictures.  I thought our cat was only interested in TV, preferably the commercials, but I guess he has other interests, as well. 

Speaking of cats - Fred found this interesting article about how cats, dogs and other animals find their way home, sometimes over long distances. We've all read about and perhaps experienced a pet having been lost for a long time and finally making it's way home.  This article sheds some light on how they probably do that.

As I was going through more photos today, I found this one.  I don't know if the car was disabled because of muddy roads, had run out of gas or had some mechanical breakdown, but oxen to the rescue!  They seemed to be effortlessly moving it along.  I suspect the Barretts were a little embarrassed, but those early motor cars with narrow wheels and not much power were often stranded on the unpaved roads of the time.  This next picture was taken somewhere in Cabot.  I have no idea where it would have been, but that is some big culvert!  These photos are from a collection belonging to Erma Perry.

Yesterday the expected package arrived from my friend in Montana with another piece, literally, of Cabot history.  I mentioned some time ago here that she had contacted me to see if we would be interested in having a woolen blanket made in the Haines mill in Lower Cabot.  The old blanket arrived yesterday and is everything I'd hoped.  This picture is just so I could examine it and make note of its condition.  I laid it out on the deck, folded in half.  There seem to be two pieces that were hand-stitched together.  I thought it was in two pieces because the blanket had been folded for a long time and perhaps the threads along the fold had let go, but when I mentioned it in an email to my friend, she told me she thinks the blanket was made up of two "end" pieces from the mill.  Turns out the woman who owned the blanket was Lelia L. Haines, of the mill family.  Lelia married Stephen Blaney Blodgett, a widower who lived on West Hill, a few miles out of Cabot Village.  Lelia became step mother to his nine children.

The blanket is a thin, all wool plaid, about 54 inches wide when opened.  It would be the same material used for skirts, shirts or other light-weight wool clothing.  Some edges had raveled and have been trimmed by cutting, and there were a few holes, but it is in very good condition for it's age - probably about 125 years.  

Lelia married into the Blodgett family in 1893, and I'm guessing had the blanket as part of her dowry.  It doesn't really matter how the pieces of woolen cloth were used - I'm just very pleased to know it was made at the Haines mill and has been in the Blodgett family all these years.  Lelia, by the way, would be great grandmother (or actually step-grandmother) to my friend, I believe.  I also found a picture of her husband, Stephen Blaney Blodgett.  We have many other Blodgetts in our picture files.  We'll be able to put more information together with photos as time goes on.  We have a great start with  the book, "The Blodgett Papers," by Rev. Fred Blodgett, one of S. B.'s sons, that we published a few years ago.  

History is like a giant jig-saw puzzle and pieces eventually fit together over time.  Right now I'm having a great time sorting through, identifying and dating old photos that have just come to us.  A winter's work ahead.

If this looks familiar, there's a good reason - it's a pastel done by Dianne Taylor Moore, who designed the poster for Spirits of Vermont, the now annual fund raising event for Pope Library.  This piece is titled "West Danville, Vt."  Below is the official notification about Ms. Moore's award:

The awards for the 24th National New Mexico Pastel Exhibit were given on October 31st, in Albuquerque, NM and this painting, "West Danville, Vt," was one of them. I won 3rd place!

"Over the years this show has come to be regarded as one of the best in the nation. It attracts artist from the states, Canada and Europe. For this exhibit judges have included many of the best known pastel artists working today."

It is an honor to be included.

I also took third place in the Vermont Pastel Exhibit earlier this year with "June Bears on Cannon Mt". Here's hoping things really do come in threes!

Both painting will be represented in our Wren Gallery exhibit "Visible Light" November 6-30, Bethlehem, NH.

Join us for the opening reception Friday, November 6, 5-7 pm.
Dy  

Those of you who have done a change of address before leaving Joe's Pond but don't seem to be getting your normal amount of mail may want to check with the U. S. Postal service to be sure the change got into the system.  Diane at the West Danville office told me today there seems to have been some problems recently.  If you did your change of address on line, usps.com, it should have taken effect immediately - however, like many government websites, it may not be functioning perfectly, so check just to be sure.  If you made out cards and left them at your local post office, the cards are sent to a central office where input specialists enter the data into the system, and apparently there is a glitch in that process from time to time.  So if you are missing mail and you think there is a problem, give Diane a call at 802-684-1158 weekday afternoons between 1 and 5 p.m. or Saturday mornings between 7:30 and 11:30.  She will try to help get things moving. 

We seem to definitely be on the other side of the colds we've had.  Today I even mustered enough energy to go grocery shopping - not that food really appeals to me much yet, but I'm sure that will change.  It's very unusual for me not to want to eat, but nothing tasted quite right during this bout.

Our lovely weather continues.  Today was even nicer than yesterday, but if the forecast is correct, it will all end tomorrow with wind and rain and cooler temperatures.  As you can see from this photo, our view of the pond is emerging. 

Fred has been taking advantage of the nice weather to clean out some of the brush that has taken over on our lower lawn.  He's looking forward to having an easier time mowing the lawn now he won't have to dodge branches and work around patches of osier.  I took these pictures yesterday as work got under way.  The middle picture is how it looked yesterday and the next one down is how it looked today.  He is doing a great job of pruning and clearing as you can see.  There's still more to do, but he may take a break tomorrow if the weather turns sour.  He was able to clear out around our transparent apple tree today, so we think next year it will do much better and perhaps we will have a really good crop from it.  A few years ago we had a good crop but a bear apparently climbed into it and managed to break off a fairly large limb and all we had left was a badly damaged tree and some bear scat.

Woody has enjoyed these nice days, too.  I watched him today in the garden by our lilac bush - he's not sleeping, he's hunting!  There was some small creature under the leaves and he was patiently waiting for it to surface.  I don't know if it ever did; he may have given up after an hour or so, I didn't wait to find out.  And nearly every evening there has been really beautiful moon rises.  This  picture was about a week ago - just before Halloween.  I didn't see any of the light shows that were supposed to be going on the first of the week, and I haven't heard from anyone in our area who did get a glimpse of the display, but the moon is always nice to see on the horizon.

This is a picture of Ray Peck, our mailman years ago.  This was taken in 1920. He delivered with this car when he could, and with a horse and buggy when the roads were bad. In the winter I remember him bringing the mail up on the Plain with a horse and sleigh.  He had a big fur robe that seemed to cover everything, and if I recall correctly, he smoked a cigar.  

He delivered to the whole town every day, I think, and was on the

job for 40 years - same route.  I was thinking about how different mail delivery is today - and how similar.  Although I doubt any of the rural carriers will be on the job as long as Mr. Peck, the young fellows or women on our rural routes still pretty much know everyone along their route and if something seems amiss, they will check in with a neighbor to be sure everything is ok.  But things have changed in most small post  offices within the past year or so - especially since the cutbacks.  Now the person at the window of our local post office may be from a neighboring town and doesn't have a clue about who lives where, so you better have the exact address on the envelope or it probably won't be delivered.  We've been fortunate to have Garey in West Danville until his retirement, and then Diane - but she has mentioned that she is often asked to fill in at some other office so someone else takes over here - and that's why the "personal touch" we've been used to is rapidly disappearing.  Things don't stay the same, and probably that's a good thing most of the time, but it's also nice to remember "when."  I do a lot of that as I sort through these old photos . . .