Skating Party on the Common in Cabot

Saturday January 14^th, 1:00 till dusk

Come to skate, or to watch (and be entertained!)

Light refreshments

Skating coach Susie Socks available

for advice and demonstrations

I have the scanner on this morning - there's a misty rain falling and the temperature is hanging at just about freezing. There are reports of slippery ramps on the interstate, and a few minutes ago a warning that there was a head-on collision on Route 2 opposite the school and the road was being closed. About 15 minutes later there was a report of an accident on Route 5 somewhere north of Lyndonville in the Sutton area. Requests for sand trucks are frequent. There is almost no traffic going by our house, but I can hear plows and sand trucks over on Route 15 clearly when I'm out on the deck.

I measured another 3.5 inches of snow this morning. By noon, this rain is supposed to turn to snow, with another 4-6 inches possible. There are about 9.5 inches showing at my stake this morning. We're making headway, but slowly.

We still haven't heard from our friend who is hoping to fly out of Anchorage, Alaska this weekend. I checked yesterday and air traffic seemed to be normal, so we're hoping she will make it home to Vermont without any problems.

Northstar Monthly has a new web site. Check it out -

North Star Monthly

Kingdom Guide

Living Healthy Vermont

Features:

The North Star Monthly is now downloadable in its entirety to your desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. In fact, any device that can read PDFs for the regular newsstand price of $1.75
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NOTICE!

Jaquith Library Book Sale Date Change.

The book sale advertised for January 21st will be on January 28th. Please note the New Date.

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We are getting a taste of winter weather today. It has been snowing all day and although it seems to be letting up a bit as the afternoon wears on, there are still snowflakes in the air, lots of wind, and the temperature remains just below freezing. Road crews have been busy and I expect they'll be out trying to keep the roads from icing. This messy weather is going to last at least a couple days, from the forecast. It looks as if we'll have gained between 3-4 inches of snow, but then may lose some if it turns to rain.

We saw Diane and Don Sherwood last evening. Diane is doing very well with her injured collarbone. Her arm is in a sling, so her activity is limited, but she says she's doing ok and Don is helping out a lot. It's frustrating to be on a skiing vacation and not be able to take advantage of the new snow.

Don asked me how long I'd been doing this blog, and I guessed it had been three or four years. Fred looked it up by checking the archived blog entries and found the first entry I apparently made. Here it is:

First Blog Entry

I was surprised that it has been so long. I noticed there were a couple of comments for that first blog, but they didn't seem to be related. I was new at managing the blog then, so probably didn't realize I didn't need to publish them. In case you want to look back, you can find a list of all the archived entries at the right of this page. Scroll all the way to the bottom for the earliest. I glanced at the November entries - one about a big fire in Hardwick, and one about the new home being built by Greg and Laura Keenan on the former Clayton Smith property on West Shore Road. Lots of pictures, too.

In the Hardwick Gazette this week there was a letter to the editor about rescuing two loons - one that had become trapped on Lake Eligo when it froze over, and another that more or less crash landed on a Morrisville street during a rain storm. They believe that one mistook the glistening street for open water. Both were successfully rescued and because at least one had an injured wing and wouldn't be strong enough to fly very far, so both were transported by volunteers and released into Casco Bay in Maine. Eric Hansen, who has helped with Joe's Pond loon emergencies, said the loons should be fine after being released in the ocean.

Bill and Diane Rossi have been getting Joe's Pond perch from Everett Drew, and they report they are especially good. Everett's been getting good catches for about two weeks now, we understand. I don't know where he fishes, but if it's him we see in back of the big island, he hasn't been out there a lot - or at least we haven't seen him there much. The Fish and Wildlife Service are reporting that Newark Pond has been opened for the first time for ice fishing. They report there is an abundance of large yellow perch there.

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How about this? Green eggs on your birthday! That's what Fred got this weekend. He got other gifts, too, but I thought this was one of the most unusual I've ever come across. Here they are, in contrast to our regular store-bought eggs, and here are the girls who laid them. He received a full dozen green eggs, and they are really good - not because they are green, but because they are so fresh. In spite of what some folks claim, I think it's generally accepted that an egg is an egg, no matter what color the shell is; the difference comes with how fresh or not fresh it is - unless, of course, it's an ostrich or duck egg. We used to have ducks as well as hens when I was growing up, and the duck eggs were not only bigger, but seemed to be richer somehow. I remember my mother used to have a hard time adapting recipes when she used them in baking. We thought these green ones were pretty cool, and while I'm happy to share the pictures of hens and their eggs, we not likely to share the eggs. Sorry!

I had a very nice surprise when I opened my e-mail late last night. Some time back I'd had a note from a woman who said she was the niece of Gladys Wood, who taught school at the Plains School in about 1935. Ms. Wood had boarded with my grandparents on the farm. Her niece said she had died, and among her treasures were several photos taken during the time she was on the Plain. I was delighted when the scans came last night. Among them were several pictures of my family back then - uncles, grandparents, and there were also some of the school.

At the top, the school room as I remember it - what a rush to see the picture. At the time, the Plains School was new - it was built in 1929 - and earned a "Superior School" rating. The door by the piano led to the boys' cloak room, and there was a door from the stage that opened into that room; on the opposite side of the stage was the girls' cloak room and a similar stage door.

In the middle photo, the school is beyond the open fields, near what was then the Cate farm. The Bolton farm was up a hill at the left of the picture (bottom photo) and out of the frame on the right was the Maynard farm and the old school house where my mother first taught school. She later taught at the new school and was there when it was closed in 1949 and then she and the few remaining students then went to the village school. The big barn above burned in 1969. The smaller barn which was a horse barn, was eventually taken down when my uncle Bill owned the place. He built the present barn and erected the two silos where the cell tower is now.

It's a long trip down memory lane, but what a joy to look back and compare then and now. Many things have changed, people have come and gone and there is little that is the same except the land itself - and even some of that has been filled in or scraped away or blasted to smithereens to make new roads, a manure pit, a pond or two, or a level field. Some of the fields and pastures have grown into forests, buildings have burned or been torn down, new ones have been built and the landscape is different, but what fun to recall growing up there with neighbors like the Maynards, Barnetts, Gambles, Demaraises, Fosters, Shatneys and Stones.

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Cabot's homegrown theater company enjoyed a successful debut last year with our performance of folk and fairy tales with a twist, with a lot of kids on stage. For this spring's production, we are staging a full-length mystery thriller, and hope to involve a number of adults and teens, as well as continuing to have younger actors as well. There are also plans in the works for a possible one-act summer children's play, for kids who are interested in a smaller acting commitment. Also, TLC is doing theater in their after-school program right now, for children not quite ready for the big stage.

In "Murder Takes the Stage," a small theater in New England is preparing to launch a new production critical to its survival. The hiring of a talented but high maintenance Broadway actress to insure the show's success fills the scene with cross-currents of tension. Then, when real life murder intrudes, solving the crime requires the talents of the local sheriff and an aspiring actress to untangle the connections among the various members of the company.

Auditions will be held on Thursday, January 19, 7-9 pm and Saturday, January 21, 2-5 pm in the Cabot School Performing Arts Center (no appointment is needed). Those auditioning will be asked to read from the script, and may also prepare a monologue if they wish, but it is not necessary. Everyone is welcome to audition; for some roles only adults or teens will be considered, while others may be played by children or adults, and preference will be given to residents of Cabot. If you have questions, or would like to be part of the production staff, please contact Karen Mueller-Harder at karen@praxisworks.org or 563-2669.

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OPEN HOUSE

Saturday afternoon gathering

at the Cabot Inn

3075 Main Street, Cabot

Saturday, January 21

Noon to 2:00 p.m.

Raffle drawing for prizes at 1:45 p.m.

1 raffle ticket per attendee

Additional tickets for non-perishable

food items for Cabot food shelf

Please stop by after trash and recycling

for coffee and a light bite

Share ideas for next steps for the

historic and cultural treasure

formerly known as Goldie’s Gathering

Please stop by

Sponsord by

Cabot Chronicle

UDAG Committee

Cabot Worx Development Group