Happy Spring!

 This is the beginning of a stretch of very nice weather that will take us through the whole week. Yesterday was sunny, but it wasn't "springlike warm," like today. Diane and I went to Littleton  Saturday, to "99" for a pre-Easter outing, and it was even chilly there. We enjoyed a very nice meal and managed to stay off throughways the whole trip, taking Route 18 to get there and then 302 to get home. We left 302 and took the road to Peacham and from there, Mack Mountain Road, which is a dirt road, but very well maintained all the way to the Cabot town line. There was a distinct change as we proceeded on the Cabot end of the road, but even that wasn't too bad. 

The grader went by here this morning, so I expect the road gang will use this week of warm weather to do some serious honing on their roads. So far, mud season hasn't been too bad. A few days of really warm weather can make it go either way -- it could turn the roads into a sea of mud in spots where the frost hasn't come out yet; or it could dry up the existing muddy spots and Mud Season 2023  will all be over without a whimper. We'll see.

I had another message from Responsible Wakes this morning about wake boats. I read the survey, and it occurred to me that the lack of wake boats on Vermont lakes and ponds was not specifically mentioned by respondents, and that is probably because many people haven't been exposed to them yet. I think people who don't live on or near lakes or ponds still aren't really aware of what wake boats are, let alone the damage they can do. I know Vermont has a reputation for being too restrictive in many ways, but guarding our natural resources is necessary if we want to keep the scenic, inviting waterways that canoeists, kayakers, hikers and vacationers in general expect and appreciate so much when they come here. The damage from wake boats will change all of that within a short period, if allowed to continue without logical regulations. So we must keep urging our lawmakers to do the right thing to protect our lakes and ponds.

Joe's Pond is still solidly frozen, but this week will no doubt change everything. We will see water along the shoreline, and there will be dark spots here and there, and the open water in the narrows and the channel will cut deeper into the larger bodies of water as the week progresses. My little pond is showing signs of opening, too. There is a large open space where water is pouring into the pond, and I'm beginning to see a dark spot at the outlet, as well. I'm also seeing a larger variety of birds around my place. Robins and crows are very prominent, and this morning I saw a fairly large grayish bird that I couldn't get a good look at before it flew off. Yesterday there was a woodpecker busy on my young maple by the house. 

This afternoon I will be working on getting my porch functional again so I can be out there to enjoy the nice weather, and I will try to take time to listen with my bird identification app on my phone, to identify the birds that are back. I don't always see them, but I can hear many of hem plainly when I'm on the porch. Often the Cornell bird app will pick up sounds I don't hear - but that's not surprising. There are lots of things I no longer hear these days!

I'm looking forward to hearing the peepers in my pond again. It's always very exciting to hear the first frog in the spring. Last fall there were so many frogs along the bank of the pond, whenever I walked there it was a continual "plop, plop, plop" as they dove into the water as I approached. Last spring there were lots of tadpoles, or "pollywogs," so it's no surprise there were many adult frogs by fall. I just marvel that frogs found the pond so quickly.

I was rummaging around in my china cupboard this morning, looking for a particular vase, and came upon the "Shirley Temple bowl" (on the right) I had when I was growing up. Shirley Temple (photo left) was born in 1928, and by 1932, she was already in movies and by around 1935, she was a star. I only remember seeing her in "Heidi." There were Shirley Temple dolls and  books, and every little girl's mom wanted her daughter to have curls just like the movie star. I guess my mother did, too. I actually had a bit of natural curl, more of a touseled look (photo below left, with the family dog, "Betty," taken in 1935), than "Shirley Temple curls," but my mom took great pride in my curls. And one day in 1937, I went with my grandfather Bolton to Danville while he got his hair cut, and somehow I came home with a "boyish bob." I had apparently asked to have my hair cut just like his, (what did I know, I was four or five years old!) and my grandfather obliged. You can imagine how my mother felt when she saw me. She took this picture to send to my aunt in Maine. I found it years later when I inherited my aunt's photo album. I don't remember much about it except I do dimly recall my mother being very upset. As you can see in the photo bottom left, taken the following summer with my young cousin, Mayo Sanborn, I had my curls back.

Of course, I never looked anything like Shirley Temple, but I guess a lot of mothers in those days did their best to capture the look for their little girls. It was while the nation was recovering from the Great Depression, and everyone needed something to lift their spirits. Shirley Temple movies did that, and those dishes, which I think were prizes at movie theaters at the time, helped. We got a lot of "free" dishes in those days by going to the movies! Whole sets of dinnerware were given away; we just had to go the the movies to get one or two pieces at a time. I wonder if anyone ever got a full set of anything.

It is amazing how finding a cereal bowl can trigger such memories.