Thank you from the Gaberts

 Jim and Carla Gabert asked be to thank everyone who expressed interest in the items they were selling because they have sold their cottage. The sale ended today (Friday) and apparently the items have all found new homes. 

I have to say, today has been a strange one for weather. It was kind of all over the place. We had showers off and on, but they seemed to move by quickly, and behind them is the cooler (and I mean fall-like!) air. My thermometer is reading only 52 degrees now (at about 8 p.m.), and when I was outside a few hours ago, it felt much chillier than that. I've had the heat on most of the day.

My friends, Ora and Kate came for lunch with me today, and that was very nice. They have been going to some of the fairs in the area and a few minutes ago Ora sent me a short note and this beautiful picture she took at Barton fair yesterday. She had some nice ones she shared over lunch. It is always great to see them.

My pond is filling slowly but steadily. I had a bear visiting night before last. I have my game camera set up in the back yard now that all the human activity during construction is over, but I didn't get a photo of the bear. The camera wasn't functioning. But I found skat in two places, so I know he/she was right beneath my bedroom window. I have reset the game camera and hopefully I will get some pictures one of these nights. 

Jamie and Marie have finally convinced me to upgrade my phone. I've had a small flip phone for a few years now, and I almost never use it. I find it very difficult to read anything that's on it, and the keyboard is so small I have trouble dialing, and texting is really beyond me - I get all sorts of gibberish when I try to compose a message. For that reason, I only gave my cell number to family, in case of an emergency. But since I seldom had it with me, and if I remembered to take it, I often forgot to turn it on, it was fairly useless. I try to have it with me if I'm heading out of the house for a walk or something, just in case I need it. Anyway, my new phone is here and Jamie is going to give me some lessons on how to use it. I'm excited, I guess, but even though friends and family say I'll really enjoy having something I can do more with than the old phone, I'm not quite convinced. That's just being an old fogey, I know, but I really see no need to be attached to a device like that. The phone is something to be used for necessities, and I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time on a gadget like that. But I have to admit, Ora and Jamie take some great pictures with their i-phones, and I've been less than impressed with my camera lately - I tend to inadvertently move the settings and also, it's bulky. I'll see how this new phone works out. More on that another time.

I was at Burtt's Apple Farm recently, and gosh, they are an impressive young couple. I really like their building - clean and roomy. It's too bad the barns across the road are in such disrepair. It's nice to see the orchards flourishing, though. That farm used to be a real showplace back in it's day. The house and barns were beautifully kept when the Walbridge family owned it. Later, as I recall, Bob Davis bought it when he was president of Cabot Creamery. I think they may have rented the house to someone, but it was never the active farm that it had been before that. Mrs. Davis incorporated the maple orchard into their maple production business at their home on Cabot Plain. The Walbridge farm was called Maple Glen, if I recall correctly.  I think the sign is still on the barn, or it was a while back. They were known for their maple orchard and the syrup they produced. Also parts of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Trouble With Harry," were filmed there in 1955. I think it was the sugar woods and the view beyond that showed up in the film. Shirley McClain and John Forsythe were in that, among others. The cast and crew stayed in Stowe during the filming in Cabot and surrounding towns - like Craftsbury, and other towns.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a really nice day - even a little warmer. We must take advantage of it because it's obvious our summer is disappearing rapidly. I noticed quite a bit of color in the maple trees on my way to Burtt's. It won't be long now!