Summer Report 4 Fruit Trees

A dry May combined with sunny summer with more than adequate rain plus some other factor have led to a banner year for fruit trees around here. Our pear tree and our apple trees, which receive essentially no care from us, have produced abundant yields this summer.

Summer Report 3 Red Sox Game

Went to a Red Sox game. Despite it being a Tuesday night with a pronounced threat of rain, the Sox being in last place, the opposing team being the uninspired Indians, the stands were nearly full and the fans were having a great time. Some of them even paid attention to the game, between trips to the food and drink stands. An American summertime tradition is still alive and well in Boston.

Democracy in A Small Town

 In New England towns, as opposed to cities, major decisions are made by vote at town meetings. Any resident who is a registered voter has a direct say in the matter. On Tuesday I got to see a real example of direct democracy.  Because of the rural nature of our town, about 700 year round homes spread over 40 hilly square miles,  companies such as Verizon and Comcast can't be bothered to run fiber optic cable or even DSL to most residences, and a large portion of our town is saddled with poor internet and cell service. In response to this and a few other developments, the town was considering issuing bonds to help construct a fiber optic network. Well over 300 of the town's 1200 voters showed up at the town meeting to consider the matter. Most people were pretty well convinced it would be the right thing to do and it was almost a foregone conclusion the bonding would pass. Still all who wanted to, mostly opponents to the measure,  were given the opportunity to speak, and the meeting in a crowded, hot and humid town hall went on for over 90 minutes. Since it was a bonding issue, a two thirds majority was required for passage and the measure passed easily. Regardless of he outcome it was very rewarding to see such clearcut example of democracy in action.