Here is a very nice story about someone at least a few of you may remember. Mr. Maurice Bouchard lived in Concord and operated a store there with his father for many years. One of his daughters, Janet, worked at St. J. Dental and Fred remembers her well. Fred found the article on Main Public tonight and we thought you might enjoy it.

We've had a very quiet Christmas. We will celebrate with our family on Sunday, the 29th, so today we were content with phone calls and lots of "Merry Christmas" greetings. We are looking forward to seeing everyone Sunday.

I thought about preparing a special dinner to celebrate, but we decided against it since we will no doubt overeat on the 29th. Wednesday is pasta night at our house, therefore the day was just about like any other day except I made a batch of candy in preparation for our upcoming celebration. We watched a new Hallmark movie tonight - it was one of the new productions and not nearly as good as the older ones are. That has been the rule of thumb with most of the new ones, we think. Tonight's movie was interrupted by a phone call from Fred's brother, Tom, and that was a welcome break. I almost didn't continue with it, but then decided I'd stick with it.

We are taping "The Polar Express." I really like that movie, but haven't seen it in a couple of years. That's the one that is computer animated with Tom Hanks playing the train conductor. I enjoyed the music and the scenery - the whole thing. I was glad that Fred was able to locate it to tape. Perhaps Tangeni will watch with me.

We've had a couple of responses about the dog that seemed to be a stray in the neighborhood last Saturday night. Katie Trautz (yes, THAT Katie lives over on the Plain near the cemetery) got in touch to say we might see her dog "Max" from time to time as he's been known to wander over this way, but he's ok and finds his way home. We don't think it was Max, who wears an orange bandana around his neck, but another possibility seems very likely, and that is that the Wrights, who live at the upper edge of the big field between our house and Brickett's Crossing has a dog fitting that description. Since that is right in the neighborhood, and we haven't seen the dog since, it was likely that dog and he or she simply went calling on the neighbors, maybe looking for a treat - or perhaps confusion of old age contributed and things just weren't lining up properly to find the way home. We'll probably never know for sure.

I was pleased that the Animal Control Officer, who was out of town when our neighbor called him, came to her house on Sunday morning to see if the dog was still in the area. He found no sign of the animal, but at least he tried.

Merry Christmas, Every One.