So Much to Cover, So Little Time!

As usual, the holidays are almost here and there are important messages to send. I will try to cover at least a few this morning.

First of all, it's a beautiful sunny day here - temperature already above freezing and headed up! Later today and tomorrow will probably be a very different story, however. We are expecting rain, maybe some sleet and snow mix, and lots of wind. That said, we are enjoying the sunshine while it lasts!

Cabot has put on a Community Christmas Dinner for many years. It's free, happens on Christmas Day, and all are welcome. I have been getting these dinners for several years and always make a donation to help them with the expense of putting these delicious meals together. It takes time, money, lots of planning and work, and it is very kind of Fred and Shirley Ducharme, along with many volunteers, to do this every year. Here are the details:  

The free Cabot Community Christmas Dinner will be served Thursday Dec. 25 from 11 am - 2 pm in the Cabot School cafeteria. Fresh-baked individual deserts would still be appreciated. All donations welcome. Contact Fred and Shirley Ducharme at 802-563-2102. 
Meals will be happily delivered to the homebound. Please contact Amanda Legare at 802-426-3783 if you can think of ANYONE who might like a fabulous Christmas (Bothfeld turkey) dinner brought to their home on Christmas day.

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This next item is a special treat put together by Amanda Legare and yours truly. As many of you know, Amanda and I have been part of the Cabot Historical Society (CHS) for many years - both of us have served on the executive board in the past and we are presently doing what we can to promote membership and publicity. There hasn't been a lot of good news from CHS in the past several years, but this summer we had some wonderful old snapshots donated to us that show the construction of the Molly's Falls Dam and Reservoir (also commonly referred to as "Marshfield Dam" - although it is entirely within the town of Cabot!). These black and white photos were taken in 1926 and 27 as the land was being cleared and reconfigured to create the earthen dam we now enjoy as Molly's Falls Reservoir and state park.

When the photos came to us from the granddaughter of the electrical engineer for the project (John C. Donahue), they were curled and deteriorating. Our historical society president, Ruth Goodrich, laminated them. They were not in order, but when Ruth brought them to me last summer, I discovered there were numbers on the backs, which appeared to indicate some order - but there was no other information. 

I scanned each one so they are preserved digitally, and the album Ruth created will be kept at the CHS building when it opens next spring. It seemed a shame that our members couldn't really see this important addition to our collection, so Amanda and I got the idea of putting them into a video so that we could share them with our members and the community. It has taken some time and a bit of head scratching to get this done, mostly because of my updating my computer to Windows 11 and suddenly not having the familiar apps I was used to. Instead, I have PowerPoint, which I've never used. Oddly, PowerPoint didn't show up on my desktop, but it was on my laptop. I finally got it to load on my desktop, but the menus were different  so some things I could do on one computer but others were only available on the other one. With not really knowing how to get all the parts to equal a whole, I called on son Jamie to help. He was quickly able to get all the pieces together and we now have a wonderful video for you to watch. Whew!

Amanda and I are hoping someone familiar with the South Cabot, Molly's Brook area and/or dam building in general, will be able to help us put together more information about what we are seeing in these historic snapshots. Our thanks to Ann Donahue for sharing her grandfather's photos with us. Here is the VIDEO. I hope you enjoy it! Merry Christmas from Cabot Historical Society!

This has been a really exceptional year for people falling. I took my tumble back in September, but more recently several area folks have taken spills. Jane Milne broke her leg a few weeks ago - I tried to reach her, but had to leave a message, so I cannot tell you how she is doing. About a week ago my friend and the chair of the Cabot Cemetery Commission, Melvin Churchill slipped when going to get his mail, broke five ribs, and has a bruised aorta which landed him in intensive care. Then this past weekend, Cyndi Rouleau took a tumble in her house here at Joe's Pond and is badly bruised, but fortunately nothing was broken. All I can say is, please be careful. These things happen in an instant, without warning or reason, sometimes, and it doesn't matter if you are young or old - you can still do damage. It's no darned fun recovering from a serious injury from a fall. I wish everyone coping with these injuries the best, fastest and least painful recovery possible. 

Thanks for reading - and make the most of the few days left before Christmas and the New Year!