A visit to "Bright Nights"

A horse drawn carriage approaching a Victorian home in Forest Park. This is one of the hundreds of electrifying scenes on display at the "Bright Nights", an annual electronic display sponsored by a Springfield MA group in that city's Forest Park.

On December 29, 2004, Janet and Ralph Pace, in the company of Janet's brother, Allan, toured the "Bright Nights". It was an amazing spectacle.

The photo above, as well as the following two, are samples of the creative work done to celebrate the season. To see more pictures, try the shutterfly web site album found at http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANG7Ny0aNGzzY. Select the view as a slideshow option.

The Grinch shown doing his annual almost task.

Monopoly man as depicted at "Bright Nights" .

Our tree on Christmas Morning

Pictured above is the Christmas tree on christmas morning before we attacked it. According to instructions, we were not to give any presents (also, on Christmas Eve, we were not to have any stocking gifts). Somehow, the message was "misunderstood" by the participants.

Jeffrey, Allan, Janet, and I all enjoyed breaking the "rules". We spoke to Stephen and Barbara and Douglas via the phone to complete a wonderful day.

It even managed to snow a bit on Christmas afternoon.

Christmas Eve Dinner at 1 Whispering Pines

Janet, Allan, Ralph, and Jeffrey sit down to enjoy Duck a'la orange prepared by Jeffrey (it was great!). We wish everyone a happy and peaceful holiday.

A Determined Little Thing . . . !

With the temperature at minus 9.6 degrees (F), this little fellow still found time to pickup the droppings from the bird feeders in our backyard.

Janet Prepares tree for "Trim the Tree Party"

Janet is shown as she prepares the Christmas tree for the handiwork of our guests at our Trim the Tree Party.

Some of our Trim the Tree Party Guests

Pictured above ae Susan Kneebone, Beth Almond, Linda Moore, and Marlene Cysyk at the Pace's 5th annual "Trim the Tree" Christmas Party. Behind them is their work of art.

WTC Ground Zero

A view of the World Trade Center's ground zero from the World Financial Center.

The City at Christmas Time

Ralph and Janet enjoy a moment in the Mansfield Hotel Lounge prior to supper club at the Algonquin. They spent a recent weekend in New York, attending the Radio City Music Halll Christmas show, seeing Andrea Marcovicci at the Algonquin, enjoying a priceless evening of piano bar music at Danny's listening to Jerry Scott at the keyboard, and, see photo above, going to ground zero at the World Trade Center.

Conqueror of Everest visits McMurdo Antarctica

Antarctica scientists with Sir Edmund Hillary at McMurdo Station (Douglas is 12th from the far right in the rear). Hillary helped establish chain of posts enabling access to the South Pole.

Link

Pace Gathering in Putney, Vermont

Pictured above are some members of the Pace clan as they gathered for lunch at the Putney Inn in Putney, Vermont. From left to right, they are: Janet Pace, Herb Pace, Shirley Pace, Ralph Pace, Barbara Boland, and Jim Boland.

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Paces

The Paces of Ludlow enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner. From left to right are Janet, Barbara Ohm, Stephen, Ralph, and Jeffrey.

Stephen and Barbara visit over Thanksgiving

Over the the Thanksgiving holiday, Stephen and Barbara visited Ludlow from New Mexico. Durin g their stay, they visited the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences (VINS).
Stephen and Barbara at VINS

Ludlowites enjoy the City

Pictured above are the Ludlowites at their annual New York City theatre and dining tour. Seated at the world-renown Round Table of the Algonquin Hotel are, from left to right Susan Kneebone, Bill Kneebone, David Almond, Janet Pace, Ralph Pace, Beth Almond, Linda Thomson, and George Thomson. The group seeing "The Lion King" and dining at Il Tinello, the Sea Grill, the Rainbow Grille, and, of course, the Algonquin.

To see more photos of this annual trek to the City, click the following link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANG7Ny0aNGzuo

Some things in Vermont just don't care about Seasons

Pansies in 39 degree November weather in Ludlow

Ludlow VT House and Senate Election Results

FYI (Source: Burlington Free Press) - Ralph

State Senate - Windsor - 24 of 24 Precincts Reporting

Name Party Votes Pct

Baldwin, Fred Rep 7,848 10.74
Kimbell, Charlie Rep 8,125 11.12
MacGovern, John Rep 8,303 11.37
Campbell, John (i) Dem 15,125 20.70
Dunne, Matt (i) Dem 16,349 22.38
Welch, Peter (i) Dem 17,304 23.69

State House - Windsor-Rutland 1 - 3 of 3 Precincts Reporting

Name Party Votes Pct

Washburn, Earl Rep 1,080 46.51
Nitka, Alice (i) Dem 1,242 53.49

Genius at Senatorial Forum

Patrick Cody, LPC-TC, Tom Potter and Ralph Pace pictured at senatorial candidates' forum

The Great Ludlow Debate

Peter Clavelle, left, and Jim Douglas, right, are pictured as they respond to debate questions from, lower l-r, Susan Smallheer and Darren Allen

United Church/Garden Club Llama

United Church llama goes down the aisle for bidding

LLama Auction Nets over $89,000

The final event in the Ludlow Llama story took place Saturday, Oct 9 when all the llamas were auctioned off - drawing in more than $89,000 for Streetscape (plus 10% to start an art league in Ludlow). The biggest single bid was $10,000 for the strain-glass llama.

Douglas Clavelle Debate in Ludlow

(from the Rutland Herald, Oct 8, 2004)

By ROSS SNEYD The Associated Press

LUDLOW — Property tax bills in this ski town jumped after enactment of the state’s latest education funding plan and it became a popular topic for discussion at a debate Thursday between the two leading gubernatorial candidates.

Gov. Jim Douglas and Demo-cratic challenger Peter Clavelle also weighed in on civil unions and whether the state should legalize full gay marriage.Although they’ve talked about education funding in passing at other forums, the League of Women Voters debate at town hall offered them their best opportunity yet to discuss the issue.

It was especially poignant in Ludlow. Under Act 68 of 2003, residential property taxes went up by 43 percnet while those paid by businesses and second-home owners climbed 45 percent.Clavelle said the income tax should be tapped to pay for more of the cost of education.“I have sympathy with the taxpayers when it comes to Act 68,” the new funding system, Clavelle said.

Property taxes on nonresidential and commercial property in Burlington, where he’s mayor, increased 21 percent.“Act 68 ... resulted in the largest tax increase in the history of the city of Burlington and Jim Douglas raised that tax, Peter Clavelle didn’t,” he said. “I will place the income tax on the table.”

“So I guess Peter will raise your income taxes. That’s what I heard,” Douglas said.He said he had chosen to shift some of the burden from the property tax to another statewide tax. “I did put another tax on the table last year, Peter, and that was the sales tax,” he said. It rose by 20 percent to 6 cents on the dollar and the revenue it produced is being funneled into the education fund.

The governor defended Act 68, which he and his administration championed. “Act 68 was beneficial in the vast majority of the communities in our state,” Douglas said. “Obviously, 17 percent did not (benefit) and Ludlow is among that 17 percent. I don’t believe we’ve finished the job with Act 68.”He said he was committed to reforming the way properties are appraised, which annually has forced higher total state property tax bills because of the formula the state uses. “We’re going to work with you to do that,” he told the Ludlow audience.

The two men were asked whether they would support a desire expressed by some gay activists that civil unions should be amended to become marriage, which neighboring Massachusetts has instituted.

Clavelle avoided a direct answer to the question, but noted that he lost re-election as Burlington mayor after supporting a proposal in 1993 offering domestic partnership benefits to city employees. “It’s about time we ended discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation,” Clavelle said.

Douglas said he would not support revisiting the civil union debate, which was so divisive in 2000. “I wouldn’t make any changes to our statute,” he said.

Both men said they opposed a proposal in Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Clavelle and Douglas also differed on whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s license should be extended when it expires in 2012. Clavelle described it as “an old, tired plant. It’s time to plan now for putting it to bed,” and finding new jobs for those who now work there.Douglas said no license extension application has been filed. “I don’t have any position at this point nor does my administration on the extension of the license,” he said.

The Great Ludlow Debate

On Thursday night, Oct 7, the two principal candidates for Governor of Vermont will debate in Ludlow Town Hall. There will be a moderator, Marselis Parsons, news director for WCAX, a panel consisting of Susan Smallheer and Darren Allen, respected state journalists, plus questions from the audience.

Sponsored by the Black River Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Vermont, this will mark the first such statewide debate seen in Ludlow in years.

I have no idea how many people will turn up for the debate but have seating planned for c. 250. If there are more, it will be a standing room only crowd.

Hopefully, the next posting will cover the event.

Ralph and Janet at the former's BIG 70 splash