I’ve been staying in at night for the past few weeks. It’s been so cloudy that the nights have been darker than dark, and when you’re a black cat wandering about on a pitch black night, you tend to lose your edges. It’s hard to tell where you stop and the rest of the universe begins, and when you’ve got an ego like mine, that can be pretty scary. So it was with great relief that I noticed the full moon peeking through the clouds on Tuesday night.

Night sky watchers have more than a full moon to celebrate. The planet Mars is making its closest pass by Earth since the telescope was invented in 1608, yet we won’t need a telescope to find it. All we have to do is simply step outside around midnight, face south and look up. If the night sky is clear, Mars will be shining brightly with a light that is more yellow-orange than red. The 2003 Old Farmer’s Almanac says that ever since January, Mars has been “rushing straight toward Earth,” and it will continue to look bigger and brighter until August 27, when the closest point is reached. By autumn, Mars will have gone past us and lost half its light, so don’t miss the show.

I’ve been so long without a vacation that I find myself daydreaming about mountain streams and picnic baskets. The boss, on the other hand, seems always to be dreaming about revenue streams, and how to open up new ones. His latest idea is to start printing email stamps. It sounds like an idea with some potential, but I’m not sure where one would paste an email stamp –– on the computer screen?

Sunderban Restaurant on South Main Street has new owners, Jose Pullopilly and Senthil Rajamani who also own Coromandel in Darien and Dashin in Stamford. The Indian restaurant will be renamed soon and will have a new menu but in the meantime it remains open, serving the popular luncheon buffet and dinner daily except Mondays. 

There was a lot of celebrating going on at the Humeston house recently. Joe celebrated his 66th birthday cancer-free, and he and Ginger celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary. But most importantly –– let’s put things into perspective –– he won the golf championship at Newtown Country Club.

Kurt and Pam Schneider were back in town this week for a family wedding. They both look pretty much the same as when they left Newtown for Newville, Penn., several years ago. They evidently are enjoying life on Stonehurst Farm, where they raise Morgan horses.

I can report this week that First Selectman Herb Rosenthal has won the election. No, not that election! He was recently elected treasurer of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) for 2003–04. Last year he was CCM’s secretary.

Speaking of politicians, State Rep DebraLee Hovey (R-112th) attended the Republican Town Committee meeting Monday night on crutches, recovering from recent surgery. Because of her temporary disability, she agreed to ride in an antique car in the Labor Day Parade. “I’ve got signage,” she told the committee.

Noting that her husband has been helping her out, driving her around and doing other tasks, Rep Hovey noted, “This is not a one-woman job. It’s a couple’s job.”

The Nizolek family has a new pair of puppies, all because Ryan, 7, saw Star and Bow, The Bee’s golden retrievers, when he came with his mother to place an ad recently. Ryan was so taken by Star and Bow that he started telling his mom, Loretta, that he really needed a puppy. Fate stepped in soon afterward as Ryan and his mom were driving through Brookfield on their way to get brakes for his inline skates. They saw the mobile North Shore Animal League van at Petco. They stopped, and brought home eight-week-old puppies, sisters, who are shepherd-Rottweiler mixes. The puppies’ names are Morgan and Bo. Ryan’s mom said the family always adopts their pets in pairs “so that when we are gone, they have each other.”

Well, I hope you have someone to keep you company until this time next week, because I gotta go. I’ll be back, though, so be sure to…

Read me again.