And the snow came, and came and came. The news had been predicting it for 48 hours, but then came the rain, which turned to ice and today more snow. The roads here in town had received great care but I had to call my plow guy to come again so my car would be easy to get to. A cane without a spike on the end is what I don't have.

Peggy Aker let me know that brother Tom came from Raleigh on the day before Thanksgiving to enjoy an annual oyster roast with them. On Thanksgiving Parker and his family arrived for the feast, where there were a total of 10 at the table. On Friday the Akers went to Sparta, N.C. for the Christmas tree hunt, then on to spend some time with Greg's mom. That Saturday they had seven more when Greg's cousin and family visited. That provided a crowd to watch the Virginia Tech football game and on Sunday they went to the Carolina Panthers' game. A very busy week. Brooks and Greg went to Jacksonville, Fla. for the ACC championship game, which was part of Brooks' 16th birthday gift, and yes he is now a driver. With their house in the midst of some remodeling of the downstairs, Greg inflamed the tendons in his forearm from removing lots of paneling and it is in a splint! Seems this time of the year is tough on Greg.

Richard Phillips in an e-mail about the private float ended with the fact that at the Hastings Thanksgiving gathering there were five kinds of pies, apple, mincemeat, pumpkin, pecan and chocolate pecan. Yikes! He indicated a list of things he thought needed attention at the float, which gives a sort of blueprint for our members to consider. Thanks.

Susan Reece chimed in with the fact that there were 17 adults and eight dogs at the Hastings turkey day bash. All her sons were there, plus Duncan's wife Valerie for some part of the holiday and Duncan left for Prague on that Friday. He is doing a consulting project through the Tuck School for about a month. Budapest is another stop, and he'll return in time for Christmas.

Evan Reece and his partner Ron Schneidermann hit the big time with an article about their business in the Boston Globe. It is a Web site called Liftopia, which lists ski areas where you can get cut-rate lift tickets from ski areas for midweek periods. "With the financial help of family and friends Liftopia began operation last year with seven resorts willing to take a chance on their `merchants model' business plan It was hard getting ski operators to actually jump on board," but now after a year of experience and a new Web site design, they expect to offer special pricing from 50 mountains nationwide. "Customers can narrow their choices by requesting prices for regions, resorts, or dates." The one fly in the ointment is that reservations are non-refundable (does that sound like an airline?). Susan sent the article by e-mail, and I'm hoping she will follow-up with a real copy for the island album. It is so nice to know that our young adults are hopefully on their way with a great idea. Currently there were no listings in Maine, but with so many mountains within driving distance of Boston, Liftopia should be able to garner spots in Maine. We hope so, anyway. That article was in the Globe on Nov. 29th.