It’s that time of year again when the temps start to rise and you begin to think about opening your pool. As a fundraiser for the company, Botsford Fire Rescue has been delivering pool water to the local area for a number of years and its ready to begin doing so again this year. For more information, including where to send donations or to schedule a delivery, call 203-364-4135.

There is so much to celebrate this weekend! The annual Earth Day Festival returns to Newtown Middle School’s front lawn on Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, with plenty of activities and lots of information about how you can be a better steward of the Earth. Then, stop by Sandy Hook Center between 11 am and 4:30 pm, as the Sandy Hook business owners present a day of fun there, with the Spring Fling event. Of course, you will have stopped by the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard off of Trades Lane earlier in the day to fill your buckets with free manure… Bubblemania returns to Newtown at 1 pm, in the Edmond Town Hall, for a magical look at the chemistry of bubbles. If you need to just relax and enjoy the evening after all that excitement, stop by the meeting house on Main Street for the Newtown Choral Society spring concert, 7:30 pm. Tickets are just $10 at the door ($8 seniors/students).

Instead of a birthday party this year, Molly Connors, who marked her 9th birthday on Monday, April 22, asked to have a lemonade stand with a few friends at Dickinson Park, with all proceeds going to the Newtown Parks Gift Fund, in honor of Sandy Hook School. Molly’s lemonade stand is scheduled to be open Saturday, April 27, from 1 pm to 3 pm, near the playscape at Dickinson Park. Happy belated birthday, Molly! And good luck this Saturday.

Sunday brings more good things, like the Stray Kats performance of Seven at Edmond Town Hall. Tickets at www.StrayKatsTheatreCompany.org. And of course, the EverWonder Experience at 31 Peck’s Lane is open Sunday, noon to 3 pm (as well as on Saturdays, from 10 to 3). Visit www.everwondermuseum.org for more information on this temporary children’s museum exhibit. And then Sunday afternoon The SHACK, the children’s arts center in Sandy Hook Center, will host one of its biggest fundraisers to date: “Visions of Tomorrow,” an auction of art by local children and celebrities, along with refreshments and live music.

I could go on, but if you check the full calendar at www.newtownbee.com (as well as on page A-2 each week), you can see that there is something for everyone, just around the corner.

A little further down the road, don’t forget about the sixth annual Nature Walk, when members of the Town & Country Garden Club will conduct guided tours of Orchard Hill Nature Center, 22 Huntingtown Road, on Sunday, May 5, from 2 to 5 pm. Lions Club member Bob Schmidt was busy this week, cleaning up and repairing signage to be posted along the trail. Tours will begin in the parking area on Huntingtown Road. Town & Country guides will take you through the forested area toward the waterfall. A history of the dam, waterfall, and geology of the area will be included in the 45-minute walk.

There was the soft buzz of sighs around the Bee office last week, when staff from the Foundation for Wellness in Brookfield offered some much needed free massages, as well as bone density and blood pressure checks, to any worker Bee. I had no trouble getting off my cushion for a gentle rub behind the ears. The staff provided fresh fruit, veggies, water, and lots of good advice, too. I think I speak for all in saying “Thanks!” We’re starting to feel a little pampered: last month, our coffee drinkers stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts, only to find that the Medicine Hat School in Alberta, Canada, was footing the bill that morning. (Not to mention some delicious homemade apricot and chocolate biscotti left here by a certain Senior Center yoga instructor earlier this week!)

The Newtown Bee is the hometown newspaper of Frisky Barber, according to the well-read feline’s mom, Lois.  Frisky appears to enjoy keeping up to date on the news about town, and agreed to let me print his handsome face in the paper — as long as everyone solemnly promises it won’t end up lining the bottom of a bird cage.

Here’s another date to mark on your calendar: Friday, May 10. I understand anyone tuning into TLC at 10 pm that evening will notice Julie Allen Bridals, on South Main Street, featured on an episode of I Found The Gown.

Newtown High School student and Connecticut State Poetry Out Loud Champion Kamryn Harmeling is among 53 high school students from across the country who will compete in Poetry Out Loud, the nation’s largest youth poetry recitation competition. The semifinals take place on Monday, April 29, from 9 am to 8 pm, when high school students from Eastern, Central, and Western/Pacific regions will compete in three, separate semifinals, in Washington, D.C. Nine students (three from each semifinal) will advance to the National Finals on Tuesday, April 30, between 7 and 9 pm, to compete for the title of 2013 Poetry Out Loud National Champion. I’m keeping my paws and claws crossed for Kamryn!

You can read my poem Out Loud, too, if it gets you through the week: I seek monkeyshines about our town / I write them down / And then / I hope next week you turn the pages in order to… Read me again.