I don’t want to be a nag, but remember that this is the weekend that Daylight Saving Time begins, so “Spring ahead” one hour on Saturday night. Sure, it will be a bit dim again in the early morning, but how great will it be (for many) to arrive home after work and still be able to enjoy some daylight? You know that this means the start of poking around the gardens and preparing the garden tools for the upcoming season.

If you are planning to attend the NHS production of Gypsy on Sunday of this weekend, be aware that there was a “boo-boo” in an earlier choral group web listing, and in The Bee last week, regarding the time. The Sunday performance takes place at 2:30 pm, as it is now listed, not in the evening. The other productions are in the evening. To reserve your tickets — just $10 for a fabulous show — visit NHSChoral.com and click on Musicals.

If theater isn’t your cup of tea (of if you make it to an earlier performance of Gypsy and are looking for more culture for your weekend), this Sunday offers a number of activities for those who love music and/or unique art. It’s almost too many opportunities at once, but three concerts are being offered on the afternoon of March 14. At 3 pm, Newtown Friends of Music will host a concert by the pianist Tom Poster and the violist Jennifer Stumm, who will perform works of Clarke, Britten and Schubert. Call Ellen Parrella at 203-426-6470 for details and last-minute reservations for that one. Also at 3 pm, the Connecticut Master Chorale will offer its winter concert at St Rose Church (call 203-743-0473 about that one). And at 4 pm, Trinity Episcopal Church will host “A Festival of Purcell and Britten,” with sacred and secular music being performed by two of the church’s choirs (call 203-426-9070, extension 11). Meanwhile, artist and resident Paula Brinkman will be celebrated over at Good News Café & Gallery in Woodbury. Paula’s spirit dolls are being featured in a new exhibition called “All Dolled Up,” which will have its opening reception on, yep, Sunday afternoon from 3 to 5 pm. Hopefully at least one of these special events will capture your artistic interest.

Congratulations to the Newtown High School Chamber Choir. The Connecticut Music Educators Association has selected the choir, under the direction of John Harned, to perform at the CMEA In-Service Conference, running April 8–10 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. This is an honor that goes only to four to six singing groups from the state each year. Looks like the Chamber Choir has hit a high note!

Visitors to the editorial department of The Bee this week may have heard the sweet melody of “In The Good Old Summertime” drifting about the office. It wasn’t the staff getting in the mood for warmer weather. Associate Editor Shannon Hicks was charmed into an eBay purchase of a 1966 Fisher-Price toy Ferris wheel. As a disgruntled looking plastic Fisher-Price carnie cranks away, the happy molded carnival goers go around and around to the merry tune. It seemed to have an enchanting effect on the good Miss Hicks….

Subscribers to Barnes & Noble’s e-book, the Nook, may already be privy to this: The February 24 entry of Daniel Menaker’s “Grin & Tonic” humor column published on the Nook features a name you might recognize. The co-author of the humor essay, “Traffic Report,” Edward Small (aka Eddie), is the son of Sue and Steve Small, and a 2006 graduate of NHS. It’s a big, long link, but if you plug it in and scroll down, you can read Eddie’s essay here: http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Grin-Tonic/bg-p/grinandtonic/date/2-1-2010;jsessionid=0F3D8978D1F544E7E3F256C6275D1F4A.

If you are more of a coffee person than a tea person, here’s a chance to check out the Coffee Party Movement locally. Ben Roberts of Sandy Hook is hosting a kick-off meeting on Saturday, March 13, from 3 to 5 pm, at Mocha on Glen Road, one of many around the country that day. The Coffee Party is a nationwide movement forming that aims to foster civil and respectful dialog with the goal of getting government to function for the people, Ben says. It is an “un-Tea Party” sort of group, apparently. To find out more, visit CoffeePartyUSA.com. And if you want to see what it’s all about on the 13th, RSVP to Ben at ben@consciousfinancialdirections.com.

NHS senior Alyssa Rodriguez has a photo of her ceramic sculpture of a buffalo, “Thunderfoot,” published in the Davis Publication’s Exploring Visual Design textbook, one widely used by high schools around the country. Hats off to you, Alyssa.

If you enjoy cooking or just reading about cooking, check out Sherene Fuller’s blog, “The Intrepid Spoon,” documenting the soon-to-be Mrs Brendan LaMarche’s forays into cooking. You can follow her blog, her “Topics of Tastiness,” or even “Tweet on with the Spoon,” if you so desire. Sherene will become the daughter-in-law of Newtown residents Marty and Bob LaMarche this month, and it looks like she has been stirring up some creative meals for their son, and having fun.

I know that some Newtown residents have been so delighted by photos that have appeared in the paper that they have been busy shopping at the NewtownBee.com photo gallery. If you’re looking for a very special graduation, shower, birthday, or “just because” gift (or are one of those VERY early holiday shoppers), don’t forget that by going to our website and selecting “photo galleries” from the Services, you can not only look at photographs taken by Bee staff, but purchase them as prints, mugs, and all kinds of fun stuff. Of course, you can always just have fun looking around those photo galleries too. They include staff photos that appear in each week’s issue of The Bee, and usually a number of photos that were shot but did not make it into print.

Don’t hold your breath, but I have it on pretty good word that the opening of the new Hawleyville Post Office facility on Barnabas Road is truly just around the corner… Dare we hope?

Meanwhile, just in time for spring, the Newtown VNA Thrift Shop has what Mae Schmidle promises is “a lavish assortment of spring dresses in a full assortment of colors,” as well as larger sizes. The majority of the dresses are new or nearly new, in a variety of styles, as well as “colorful dress shoes in exciting new heel heights.” These seasonal treats began being featured in the shop this week. The store is in the lower portion of Edmond Town Hall, accessible from the building’s rear parking lot at 45 Main Street. VNA members are at the store on Wednesdays from noon until 3 and Saturdays from 9 am until noon. Call 203-270-4377 during those hours, or leave a message at that number any time.

Something would be amiss if I did not wish a Top o’ the Mornin’ to all of the Irish and would-be Irish who will celebrate St Patrick’s Day next Wednesday. And while all of you are dancing the jig and partaking of all things Irish, I’ll be wishing on a lucky shamrock that next week you will…. Read me again.