The Yankee Pole Cat's annual "On Golden Pond" swap meet and picnic was held on Saturday October 2 at the home of Larry and Mary Jo Emmons. Visualize this: a narrow, woodsy paved road that ends at their property. The Connecticut trees are starting to turn their magnificent fall colors. The road and driveway have electric poles with glass insulators hold the wires - everything from a pair of CD 257 Mickeys, to a carnival Pyrex CD 234, to an unembossed CD 134, along with several others. Large porcelain insulators are scattered about holding up the fencing. A large pond surrounded by a sloping lawn. The driveway, for this event, has been lined with about a dozen large wooden cable reels to be used for holding the swap merchandise. Up on the far lawn, is a tent set up for lunch. Next to it is a covered gazebo and a huge outdoor grill. All around this open area are lots and lots of trees. Up off to the side is the Emmons' house along with his "mud barn". You can not get a more picturesque setting than this - the Pole Cats are very grateful that the Emmons have opened up their place for us to have this event for many years and have been gracious hosts each and every time. They certainly make us feel at home and let us be kings and queens for the day. It does not get better than this!!!

Phil Mayhew (left) is looking over a large piece of mud from 
Bob Fugua's (right) stash. Way in the background, in the blue shirt,
 is the swap host Larry Emmons tending to the BBQ pit and lunch area.

(left to right) Joey Mayhew, Rick Weisman, Bill Meier, & Darry Richardson 
(who is eyeing the jade Brookfield piece). The fog has lifted and a 
great New England day complete with turning trees is underway.

Bill Meier looking over Bob Fugua's table.

Milo Holland (with his ever present pipe), 
Daryl Richardson, and Marty Greco.

Rick Weisman (digging through some boxes of porcelain), 
Greg Burke (back towards the camera). Jim Frustieri, 
Kevin Jacobson, and Bill Meier. The glass belongs to Jim.

This was the first time we had scheduled the event for October, so we were all hoping the fickle New England weather would give us a nice early autumn day. The day started out with me arriving around 7 AM to help Larry and Mary Jo setup. My 1 hour drive was in and out of an early morning fog. When I arrived at the awesome home of the Emmons', a slow mist/fog was rising from the pond and everything was covered in a fine covering of dew. As we scurried about preparing the gazebo for breakfast and lunch, the fog began to slowly lift. The fog was soon replaced by smoke rising from the outdoor grill as Larry got the fire going for the lunch barbecue.

As I began to setup my insulators on my cable reel, other members started to arrive. We had members from several states including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut show-up for the day. When everyone had finished setting up, we had about a dozen cable reels filled with glass, mud, and other miscellaneous telegraph stuff. The sun came out and the colors of the insulators glistened. It sure helps to see the true colors when the glass is outside. Some of the items available included a vast selection of different porcelain pieces, colored CD 162 signals (purple, cobalt, peacock, amber), several Boston Bottle Works pieces, several threadless pieces, large and small corkscrews, and many other different CDs and colors. One piece that traded hands was an almost jade CD 134 Brookfield. Bill Meier brought along about 10 CD 133 HG CO pieces in various shades of green for display. Bill also brought his CD 1025 Hemingray spool for all to see and touch. Thanks Bill!! Some tag sales "finds" that were brought for show were a CD 149 Brookfield/New York and a CD 144.5 base embossed. I think both of these were bought for $1. Also, a CD 145.6 Boston Bottle works in an awesome blue was brought as a true find - the owner found it recently while out searching. See, nice pieces can still be found out there.

Larry put the burgers and dogs on the grill and lunch was served promptly at noon. The lunch consisted of burgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chips, and a variety of salads and drinks. We had around 35 people for lunch. As everyone enjoyed the lunch, a club meeting was held. Some of the more notable items from the meeting are the following:

• Our Spring Show is set for Sunday April 10, 2005. Once again, this will be at the American Legion in Enfield, CT. We will go back to charging for dealer space, but admission will be free. 
• There will be no membership dues for 2005 and for the foreseeable future. Our aim here is to eliminate the $10 fee to attract each and every insulator collector in New England to be a part of the Pole Cats. An increase in membership will help us build momentum in the club for doing additional things such as making the newsletter more informative, potentially having more informal gatherings, as well as looking to once again bring an NIA event to New England. We feel the more individual bodies, the better the whole club and hobby here in New England and the surrounding area.
• Our club finances are in fine shape, enabling us to offer the free membership.

After lunch, everyone slowly returned back to the swap area along the driveway. More transactions took place and there were lots of small groups of collectors talking and enjoying each others' company. At around 2:30 or so, the packing up started and people began loading up their cars and trucks. We all assisted Larry with rolling the large cable reels back to their storage area on the other side of the property (hopefully we'll get them out again next year). Everyone had departed by around 3:30, wishing each other a safe winter and looking forward to our Spring show. I assisted Larry and Mary Jo with some last minute cleanup and it was off.

Another successful day. The weather cooperated and everyone enjoyed themselves. Once again, a HUGE "thank you" to Larry and Mary Jo for making their place available to us. We sure do appreciate their hard work in preparing for our day. And thanks to the collectors who made it out - without you, the day is nothing. So, get out and support your local club's activities!!

At 7 AM the mist is rising from the pond and the fog
is rolling at Larry & Mary Jo's awesome property.