It’s Memorial Day weekend, and Newtown has a curious way of ushering in summer season. Hundreds of people gather around the Pootatuck River in Sandy Hook and watch a bucket loader dump a load of rubber ducks into the river. I guess if you are going to insist on ritual, you might as well make it something fun.

The annual Duck Race in Sandy Hook is sponsored, as always, by the Newtown Lions Club, and if you want to witness the phenomenon, or maybe register a duck at the last minute, be down in the center of Sandy Hook before 2 pm on Saturday. Better yet, spend the whole day down there. The annual festival runs from 10 am to 3 pm and includes lots of fun activities and local personalities.

Why did the turtle cross the road? To lay eggs, of course. Have a care for local turtles these days because the females are leaving their ponds and going cross-country to find a nesting place to lay their eggs. After ensuring that the next generation has been safely tucked into a sandy hillside to hatch a couple of months later, the turtles turn around and head for the home pond, often crossing the same busy roads they already crossed but going the other way. The best tactic if you see a turtle on the road is to stop and pick it up carefully. Then help it safely across in the direction it’s going, and cross your fingers.

It turns out there is at least one 17-year Generation X cicada in Newtown that we know about, even though most of these periodic insect hordes are emerging far south of here. Jane Bauch of Paugussett Road called The Bee on Wednesday to report that on Friday, May 21, at 10:30 pm as friends were leaving her home by the front door, a cicada flew inside and landed behind her curtains. “At first we thought it was a bird or a bat. I trapped it with a cup and we got a good look at it, and it was definitely a cicada. When we saw the picture in The Bee the next morning, we knew for sure,” Ms Bauch said. She released the cicada back outside, and told The Bee she was wondering, “if there was one cicada, could there be more?” Logic says, yes. So keep your doors closed and your eyes and ears open.

There was a lot of excitement in the photo-editing department of The Bee last Friday when Sue Leniart had a birthday and Carol Fenn made a pineapple upside down cake and Production Director Pam Ashbanian’s little Jack Russell terrier puppy, Jake, came to visit. In all the confusion of cutting and eating the cake and bringing in balloons and singing “Happy Birthday,” the puppy didn’t get taken outside when he needed to go, so he headed for nearest tree or fire hydrant and found Carol Fenn’s foot instead. She was wearing sandals and no socks so this was quite a shock. All was forgiven and the cake was delicious.

There was a sea of red hats at The Little Theatre on Orchard Hill Road last Sunday afternoon when members of the Newtown Red Hat chapter, Newtown’s Rede To Romp, and the Danbury chapter came to see the matinee performance of one of their own, Phyllis Gonzales, who plays Suzette, the cook, in Don’t Dress For Dinner. When, in Act 1, Phyllis made her appearance at the door of a country home some distance from Paris, she acknowledged the audience by wearing — for the matinee only — a red hat that she casually tossed onto a hat rack near the door. After the performance, Phyllis invited all the Newtown Red Hatters back to her house on Shamrock Lane for afternoon tea. The play has received great reviews and will wind up with its final performances this week. Phyllis is making her stage debut in this play, although she comes across like a well-seasoned actor. For 30 years she has worked on the other side of the curtain, choreographing shows and as a model/talent scout and coach.

Booth Library curator Caroline Stokes has learned that she will be presented with the Friends of the Connecticut Libraries annual award on June 5 in ceremonies at the Middletown Library on June 5.

The Garden Club of Newtown has purchased two urns that will be planted and placed flanking the front door of the library. Club members also intend to plant the walkways and will donate their time to plant the side garden.

Les Burroughs was so focused on presenting his Treasurer’s Report during last Sunday’s annual meeting of Newtown Congregational Church that he didn’t notice a car horn had started honking outside the church. A few parishioners got up to check their cars, but returned within a few moments seeing that theirs weren’t causing the distraction. Finally someone identified the offending car and told senior minister Steve Gordon, who approached the podium to announce it was a red PT Cruiser that was causing the distraction. A sheepish Les finally looked up from his report and said, “Oh, that’s me. Sorry folks.”

Even though the thermometer struggled this week to get up into the 60s and 70s, the Treadwell pool is still scheduled to open on Saturday, this weekend. The pool hours are 11 am to 6 pm on weekends, and noon to 6 pm on weekdays while school is still in session. The Dickinson Park pool won’t open until Saturday, June 26. It will be open from 10 am to 7:30 pm through mid August.

And remember, don’t go in the pool until at least an hour after reading this column. And don’t forget to…

Read me again.