I do have to disagree with my friends of the Old Farmers’ Almanac, who seem to be having an off year predicting this summer’s weather. “Hotter and drier than normal” does not seem to fit the bill here in New England, where temperatures were downright cool prior to this week. And I don’t know about you, but I have hustled more than once to find a sheltered spot from the rain. Admittedly, though, the forecast for a hot spell in early June was on target, as does the mid-to late-July prediction for hot weather seem to be accurate, so far. “Scatter t-storms, hot,” is the Farmers’ forecast for July 22–26, then “Sunny, cool,” for our final week of this month. Let’s see how the Almanac does.

You knew I would have to do it — check out the “Cats with Trump Hair” sites popping up all over the web. It’s just my opinion, but I think there are a few who wear that hair better than The Donald. Just sayin’.

Blue seemed to be the color for wild visitors to Kathy Gadoci’s back yard, last week. She shared this photo of a bright blue indigo bunting bird at a birdfeeder in her backyard.  That same day, this blue butterfly, known as a red-spotted purple, posed for Kathy to take its picture.

There is some interesting wildlife not too far from the center of town, too, according to Liz Talbot. Liz and her son spotted a “small bear” early Tuesday morning of this week, crossing Old Schoolhouse Hill Road toward Walnut Tree Hill Road. The bear paused for Liz to get a photo, as he passed through the yard of a residence there, but was a bit far away by the time the Talbots had scrambled for their cameras. The bear headed off into some woods back of the home, said Liz. It might be a good idea to make sure trash can lids are secure, and that a close eye is kept on pets when they are outdoors, if you live in this vicinity.

Maybe this bear was the same one that visited the Zink family, over near Marlin and Hoseye Coach Roads, Monday night. Christine Zink had a little more luck capturing this guy on film. “We were grateful to be indoors and delighted with front row seats when the adorable black bear showed up at 5:30 pm in our front yard, enjoying a delicious bird seed melange, which has been completely devoured, and since then, taken off the property,” says Christine. Apparently, this bear is known as the “neighborhood” bear, it has been spotted so many times. All I can say is, “BEwARe!”

Moviegoers have two choices when it comes to Edmond Town Hall Theatre next week, but you’ll want to watch the schedule and make sure you attend the correct screening. Two very different features are being offered at the 45 Main Street theater during the week of July 27 to August 2. At 1 and 7 pm each day, ticket-holders will be treated to Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, with Kevin James reprising the title role. That film is rated PG and has a running time of 1 hour, 35 minutes. At 4 and 9 pm each day it will be Mad Max; Fury Road. A reprisal of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic Mad Max series, Fury Road, rated R, features Tom Hardy taking over the role made so famous by Mel Gibson in three Mad Max films during the late 1970s and mid-1980s. This time Max is paired up with Charlize Theron, who is sporting quite a different look than what you might be used to. Tickets for all shows are $2, as always, and the theater is an air-conditioned respite during these hot midsummer days.

John Boccuzzi knows how to celebrate a birthday. To mark his seventh decade of life, he traveled to Europe, June 25 to July 9, with wife Vicki, their kids John and Marie and their spouses, Mike and Cynthia, and grandkids Sabrina, John, Michael, and Rose. They visited Germany for a wedding of one of Vicki’s relatives first (following up on a 2014 trip to that country and exploration of their German heritage), and then went on to Italy to learn about their Boccuzzi heritage. “It was a terrific experience both times,” John tells me. A belated happy birthday to you, John, as well!

Adults and teenage volunteers are needed for the Newtown Arts Festival. Now in its fourth year, the festival has events all during the month of September, including the two-day, Fairfield Hills celebration, set for September 19 and 20. There are lots of way you can help, whether you are artsy or not. Contact newtownartsfestival@gmail.com for more information.

We’ve seen what our town looks like from above, thanks to drone photos recently shared with the paper, and I know what Newtown looks like from my vantage point down here on the ground; but I’d like to see more photos from our readers’ vantage points. Remember to snap photos on your smartphones while you are out and about in Newtown, and share them on Instagram with #viewfromNewtown included in the photo’s description. The Newtown photos will appear on our website, www.newtownbee.com.

It’s always fun to see what kinds of wacky “holidays” come up when you Google bizarre holidays. I found it interesting that on more than one website, July 27 (next Monday) is “Take Your Pants For A Walk Day.” But I also found a site that declared that same day “Take Your Plants For A Walk Day.” Now I wonder, which is the typo? I leave it up to you to determine if you will stroll with your pants or your philodendron on Monday. I make no judgments.

Summer reading, as we learned from the success of the recent Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Book Sale, is not just for kids. The C.H. Booth Library is such a believer in this that they have an adult summer program underway — complete with prizes. All you have to do is read a book, fill out a review or summary, and pop it into the box at the library. Drawings for prizes will take place the end of August. As if the reward of reading a good book is not enough, now there is this additional incentive. For details, visit chboothlibrary.org. Happy reading!

Summer reading would not be complete, of course, if you failed to take a peek at this column. Be sure next week to… Read me again.