Dear Readers,

Did you have fun on Sunday?

Were you able to survive the season's first snowstorm? Or did you reach for the bottle of Allen's Coffee Brandy when your iPhone or other device no longer permitted you to look at videos of cute kittens or Halloween costumed-friends?

Did you survive without TV? If not, don't worry. St. Tom Brady and his brave band of Patriots were able to throttle Payton the Pretender and his horse soldiers.

All it takes is a few inches of the white stuff to remind us that we are not so smart. A few moments without power is enough time to realize that owning the latest iPhone is not a life or death matter.

In spite of the wintery conditions, some of us gathered with neighbors for a quick candlelight supper. We laughed at the snow, and noted the bright flashing yellow lights as the snowplows rumbled down the street.

And we nodded our appreciation as the fearless crews from Central Maine Power cleared the fallen limbs so they could reconnect the wires. It was not long after we cleared the last scrap of dessert off our plates that the lights flashed back on. Other homes were not as lucky.

Still, let's have three cheers for the plow drivers and the power company workers. We all appreciate your efforts.

A post election day note

The election is over and we know the winners and losers. The winners are smiling, and their supporters are cheering. The losers conceded and may have wished the winners well. I hope you are pleased with the result. If not, there is always next time.

The other day, in an ancient African city with the lovely name Ouagadougou (Wah-guh-Doo-goo), the capital of a nation called Berkina Faso, the army took power away from the civilian government. Citizens who objected were shot.

Think for a moment about the gaggle of TV commercials we endured during the last couple of months and all the hated rhetoric they contained.

Still, in the end, the U.S. Army did not march on Capitol Hill to remove the leadership. In Augusta, the state police did not storm the Blaine House to protect (or remove) the incumbent.

We live in an age of miracles. Physicians replace our failing knees, repair our interior plumbing and we take it for granted. We get on jet airplanes and complain when it takes more than a couple of hours to fly a thousand miles. To our grandparents, those are miracles.

But to much of the world, the real miracle the American custom of peacefully switching national and state leaders every couple of years.

When you think of it that way, maybe Sunday's early season snow was not a such a big deal after all.