Happy Fourth of July!

 We have had quite an assortment of weather today. Fortunately, the rain held off until after the parade was over in Cabot, but then it came down in buckets! I volunteered at the Cabot Historical Society building in the morning, and just as I was leaving, about 12:15, the heavens opened and rain poured down. A few minutes later, as I turned off Rte. 215 onto Cabot Plains Road, going past the Burtt Apple Farm, the road was completely dry. I hit another little patch of rain just before I reached my house. 

The crowd was pretty good for the parade and celebration in Cabot, and the weather was warm enough so even when the rain came, nobody seemed to care much. We had some enthusiastic visitors at the museum, and it was very nice to see how happy people were that the place was open. They couldn't have been any happier than I was - it was very nice to have it open again and see people enjoying it so much.

This evening, another rain storm rolled through our area. I was visiting Diane Rossi and we watched it closing in on us, progressing down the pond until finally the rain came down hard, there was some thunder and lightning, and a fog bank blanketed the whole pond so we could barely see the next door neighbors, and nothing on the opposite shore. I received this photo from Gretchen Farnsworth showing the storm coming down from Walden - just before it hit Joe's Pond. It shows a spectacular, menacing cloud formation. There wasn't a lot of wind, and the rain didn't last very long, so there was no damage that we know of, but watching this coming towards you would make anyone get under cover - fast! Thanks, Gretchen, for sharing that photo.

I'm back home, in for the night, and ready to settle down to watch a little TV before bedtime. Before I sign off, I have recently had two people suggest that since Joe's Pond didn't have formal fireworks this year (by that I mean, a company was not engaged to set off a professional display), it might make sense to explore possible alternatives such as a drone production. These are beautifully choreographed and are better for the environment and less harmful to wildlife and pets, and little danger of personal injury. Some cities have already changed to drone shows instead of fireworks. There is less danger of debris starting fires, and these shows are very pleasant to watch - instead of deafening booms and ear-splitting high-pitched screeches, there is music. The cost right now, at least for large displays in big cities, is very high, but over time there will likely be more competition and the price will moderate. I wonder if it might be worth considering since we will probably need to make some changes going forward. 

This video is from our fireworks last year, 2022, and came from Liz Randall.

And with that, I'll say "Good night, and Happy Fourth of July, 2023!"