We've had quite a variety of weather over the past few days. It was freaky warm and sunny on Monday and felt like spring. Yesterday was dreary, rainy and chilly, and last night we had a sifting of snow. The temperature is in the low 30s and may not rise much during the day. There is a south wind, and who knows what kind of weather that will bring in - probably rain, freezing rain and sloppy snow. 'Tis the season!

I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me in various ways - so many cards, phone calls, emails - with such kind messages. I am discovering a whole new dimension of Fred I never really thought about before, and that is how he was perceived by our friends and even people we really didn't know but who knew him casually, through JPA, business or the website. Fred was an unassuming, modest person, and I'm sure he would be very surprised at how people saw him. I guess I thought I had insight nobody else had.

I'm sure some of you are wondering what will happen to the Joe's Pond Association website. It is my understanding it is being redesigned and updated (as it should be!) and will continue to be there for all of us moving forward. Fred planned for the transition - and it will happen in due course. I'll be excited to see the new version. 

It seems like next summer at Joe's Pond may be close to being back to normal if the vaccines get distributed as expected - and enough people get the proper immunization shots. I'm amazed that there are people who are against getting vaccinated.  That doesn't make good sense to me, but I'm sure they have their reasons. I look forward to being able to be at meetings again - perhaps not in too close quarters for a while, but being outside at JPA meetings would be so nice to do again. I'm thinking we might even be able to have our book launch next summer, as originally planned. We aren't quite ready for the manuscript to go to the graphic designer yet (I'm afraid I've held things up a bit, but now I'm working on it a little every day) and we are very close to being finished with writing/editing, so I'm thinking we should be published by spring.

With the pandemic raging again right now, we all need to be extra careful to wear a mask when we are out and about, stay away from crowds, and keep our distance from people not in our own household or "pod". It is the sensible, courteous thing to do to protect your friends, family and yourself.