Since cats have a fondness for fish, it seemed the best place to be last weekend was in Manchester Center, Vt., for the annual meeting of The American Museum of Fly Fishing and the Sporting Collectibles and Antiques Show. As it turned out, most of the fish were not worth a whisker, having been caught and stuffed many years ago or carved out of wood.

I did, however, run into some friends, Michael and Debbie Osborne, which made it worth the trip. While they did not buy anything at the show, Michael spent his time on Saturday at the meeting, serving as a member of the board. Debbie probably had a good time as well, shopping the many outlets in the quaint Vermont town.

No matter how quaint the towns in Vermont get, I still like Newtown better because of people like Marty Maciag. Marty has helped out at the Blessing of the Bikes at the Newtown United Methodist Church over the past seven years. This year he found a new way to publicize the event, which took place at the United Methodist Church last Saturday.

He was cleaning out his garage recently and came across a couple of ancient two-wheelers (he called them “vintage bicycles”) that he decided needed to go to the dump. After getting a second opinion on one of them, he took it to a bike shop to see if it could be repaired and sold. The other one was in the back of his car. “I happened to be driving into the church parking lot, and I suddenly realized, why not put it out by Church Hill Road attached to the sign advertising the Blessing of the Bikes, and see if it attracts more people to the event.”

Sure enough, people got the message because this year, despite the threatened rain and cloudy skies, they saw a lot more families with two-wheelers who rode in to be blessed by the Rev Terry Pfeiffer. Even so, the motorcycles still outnumbered all other vehicles. Which somehow reminds us of the 1960s Arlo Guthrie song titled, “Motorcycle.”

I don’t want a pickle,

Just want to ride my motor-sickle.

I don’t want a pie,

Just want to ride my motor-cy……..cle

Sarah Evans was up bright and early last Saturday morning, joining millions of readers around the world eager to receive their copy of the new Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix. Rather than face droves of people at local bookstores, however, Sarah had taken the precaution of ordering her book online from Barnes & Noble.

When a FedEx driver showed up at Sarah’s door with her book delivery, she told him she was thrilled to see him. The FedEx driver told Sarah that most of the people on his route that day were just as happy to see him show up at their doors. He had, he told her, more than 60 deliveries to make of Harry Potter books alone.

Shelley Solheim was startled to see the photo on the front page of last week’s Bee. It was a photo of Shelley, or more accurately of her graduation cap. Shelley knew it was her cap because it not only had the letters she applied spelling out 2003 NHS, it also had a small megaphone to represent the fact that she was a cheerleader.

 Father Bob Weiss is encouraging everyone to pray and hang their plastic rosary beads outside so there will be good weather for the annual carnival that begins Tuesday, July 1, at 6 pm, on the parish grounds. Father Larry Larson will be transferred during carnival week to his new post as parochial vicar at Assumption Parish in Stratford so there will be a special Mass at noon this Sunday at St Rose followed by a reception on the church grounds. His replacement, Father Milan Dimic, the administrator of Holy Cross Parish in Fairfield, is scheduled to arrive on the same date. A Mass and reception for Father Peter Towsley, who also is being transferred, will be held on July 27. Because Father Peter is away visiting his mother in Canada, his replacement, Father John Inserra, has already arrived at St Rose to begin his work in Newtown. A seminarian, Ed McCauley, also has been assigned to St Rose for the summer and is scheduled to start on July 1. Father Bob says that with all the comings and goings, don’t be surprised if there are some tents pitched in the backyard of the rectory long after the carnival is over.

Time for me to break camp for another week, but I’ll be pitching my tent right here again next week, so…

Read me again.