Weather report and news from America

This morning was bitingly cold and to prove it, there was snow on the hills - and a tree has fallen by the new bridge, a sad sight

On a slightly cheerier note, here are chairs stacked outside the Cafe du Pont.

News from the larger world - from Barbara, still missed here - 

Our daughters [Larry and Barbaras] were here Friday for the annual  meeting of the Chamber of Commerce women’s group. The women were honoring me as a “sustainer”, mostly for my  having started the local Food Bank  thirty some years ago.
I led it for twenty some years. Glad to turn it over to others as it grew complicated.  We serve a regular food order to 45 families  three days a week now. That gives one a clue to the odd politics of the year. Wages are stagnant for many and too low for the costs of living. The working class in a town like this are living precariously and the middle class are worried as incomes level off and jobs fade away. We have a second food program for the elderly who get a large  food order once a month.  Many were mill workers or agricultural workers and their Social Security benefits are very low. This was a textile mill town for most of its existence, surrounded by fields of cotton. Only two mills still here and only a couple farmers bother with cotton. We are hilly  country and the cotton farmers let most of the good soil wash away into the streams . People mostly farm trees now. The hospital is now our biggest employer although Fuji has five plants here and there are several other good employers. All these new plants, however, are using modern machinery and fewer people and those employees need to know math. The world is changing very fast. France has similar problems although its more extensive government benefits hold things together.  The world economy has changed life for every country.

Congratulations to Barbara. A lifetime of selfless work being recognised - proud to know you :)