Mark Twain’s words certainly have been ringing true so far this month: “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.” March roared in with nine inches of snow, then teased us with springlike weather all weekend, and then turned around to spatter us with a cold rain and even some chunky snowflakes on March 9. I’m exhausted trying to keep up with it all.

Or maybe it’s the time change. Were you confused about our Daylight Saving Time notes last week? We had three announcements into The Bee about the impending return of Daylight Saving Time, but only two of the three were correct. What can I say? Cats may have nine lives, but we’ve got nothing when it comes to telling time. For further confusion, passersby along Church Hill Road had their own bit of trouble figuring out the correct time Friday afternoon. Our clock master was heading out of town for the weekend and wanted to make sure the large green clock outside our front door was correct for Sunday morning, so he took care of the clock for us… on Friday. Oops.

Maybe it was Daylight Saving Time that prevented Mary Andreotta from making it to church last weekend. She was absent from worship services at Newtown Congregational Church and everyone knew it because Pastor Matt Crebbin and Jerry Cole, the chairman of NCC’s Human Services Committee, announced her name as the winner of the 2009 NCC Chili Cook-Off and everyone in the sanctuary started looking for her. Jerry was left holding this year’s trophy in Mary’s absence, although I noticed his wife Sheila was enviously eyeballing The Golden Spoon when Mary wasn’t there to claim it herself. Oh well, whoever has the trophy in his or her possession at this point, congratulations to the newest Chili Champ.

Bernadette Addessi and her sister Patty Gillen McQuail have been wondering “Hoo? Hoo?” is living in the old apple tree on Phyllis Lane. It turns out it is a great horned owl that Bernadette and Patty have been seeing on their walk each day. “It lets us get pretty close as long as we’re quiet,” Bernadette tells me.  She sent this picture of the owl, “hoo” appears much smaller sitting in the cavity of the tree than he probably really is. The owls, generally active after nightfall, can get to be two feet in length. (And this is why cats like me stay in at night!)

I hear that Rich Delollis, former president of the Newtown Board of Realtors, and his wife Debbie are moving to New Jersey. We wish them the best of luck in their new locale.

A note from former Bee assistant editor Kaaren Valenta tells us she has been having lots of fun in Florida this winter, where she and Jerry now live, playing with all of their Newtown friends who fly south for the winter months. Liz and Paul Arneth, Ginger and Joe Humeston, Carol and Charlie Foss, and Cindy Landin are just a few of the snowbirds making merry with the Valentas in recent weeks. Kaaren tells us that she actually sees more of her friends when she is in Florida than when she is in Connecticut. Go figure….

You don’t have to head south to have fun, though. Nunnawauk Meadows will host an Irish music and dance performance on Wednesday, March 18, at 4 pm, in the Community Building, 3 Nunnawauk Road, for those who don’t get enough celebrating on St Patrick’s Day. Admission is free for the live performance by Mo & Jo and refreshments will be served. It also provides a great opportunity to pop in and see how David Merrill’s latest mural project is progressing. The painting depicts the creation of Nunnawauk Meadows, along with some of the institutions in town that were helpful in developing Newtown Housing for the Elderly, Inc. David has been working each weekday since early January inside the Community Building, which is where the Irish program will be held. Call 426-5000 for additional information.

Women Involved in Newtown have been putting Easter baskets together for a number of years and Mandy Monaco, who hosts an Easter Basket Assembly Brunch Party at her home each year, has already heard that one church in town needs at least 20 baskets this year. That’ll be on top of the more than 200 baskets the group has traditionally arranged for Newtown Social Services, Healing Hearts, Harmony House, and AIDS Interfaith Ministry in Danbury. The women buy the candy for the baskets and rely on a lot of donations for the baskets themselves, along with filler grass and gently used stuffed animals If you have any of these Easter basket “ingredients” available, donations can be dropped off at The Bee (5 Church Hill Road) any time Monday through Friday between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm, or left in the vestibule to the right of the front door. If you’d like to get items to Mandy directly, give her a call at 426-5600. But hop to it — this year’s assembly line be Thursday, April 3, so donations should be dropped off by Tuesday, April 1.

Once again, Newtown rises to the occasion. An anonymous benefactor has offered to pay the Labor Day weekend NYFS Road Race registration fees for the first 100 people who sign up to volunteer at an NYFS event before then, says race director Steve Meeker. The first NYFS event at which you can take up on this offer is the Saturday, April 25, Independent Living Day. If this event attracts fewer than 100 volunteers or volunteers are not interested in running in the race, the offer will extend to a later event. Hmmm. Help people, promote volunteerism, free registration… Sounds pretty sweet to me. To volunteer for the April Independent Living Day call Jessi Zeigler at 270-4335. Quick!

Bob Nolte, RIS band director and director of the newly formed Community Band, tells me that there was a good turnout of instrumentalists of all ages eager to make some music at the first meeting. The Community Band will continue to meet each Tuesday evening at 7 pm in the RIS band room, and hopes to pull together a concert by June. It’s not too late to join, he says. Contact him at nolter@newtown.k12.ct.us. At last, a chance to toot your own horn.

Well, it might be tooting my own horn, but I think that you’ll miss out on quite a bit if you don’t take time next week to… Read me again.