Save Sunday, August 29, when Hot Shots Grille in Newtown is hosting a fundraiser for SPC Brendan Marrocco, the first quadruple amputee to survive our current war in the Middle East. Brendan survived after losing all four limbs when the vehicle he was driving in Iraq was hit by a roadside bomb, on Easter Sunday 2009. Building Homes for Heroes and the Steven Siller FDNY Children’s Foundation have partnered to raise $500,000 to build a special home in Staten Island, N.Y,. for Brendan by Christmas. The Pig Roast Fundraiser at Hot Shots, from noon to 6 pm, with a cost of $20 adult/$10 children (12 & under) includes: live entertainment, pig roast, and refreshments. Contact Hot Shots Grille, 130 Mount Pleasant Road, at 203-270-3373. For more information on Brendan, visit www.BuildingHomesForHeroes.com and www.TunnelToTowersRun.org.

Friends since grade school, Newtown High School Class of 2005 graduates Wendy Borst and Amy Robinson have not only kept in touch, but also competed August 7 in their first triathlon. The Nutmeg State Eco-Friendly Triathlon at Mount Lake Camp in Warren consisted of a half-mile swim, an 11½-mile bike ride, and a 5k run. The friends starting training for the event this past spring; they didn’t come in first, but I understand they are happy just to have finished.

So many times I see the faces of lost felines posted on telephone posts and hanging up in the lobbies of stores, and wonder, what happened? Well, I got the answer to one of those questions when I spotted a “Lost Cat” poster in the Taunton Hill area of town this weekend plastered over with a note thanking everyone for their efforts: “He’s home!” I’m a sucker for a happy ending.

He was gone for seven months, but Kyle Hensel wasn’t lost. US Marine Corps combat engineer Lance Corporal Hensel was based at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan, says his mom, with CLB6 unit, and she is thrilled to report that he has returned to the States as of Thursday, August 12 — as can be told by this banner that has cropped up in the center of Sandy Hook. “He’s due in Newtown either the 20th or the 21st,” said Karen Hensel, “just in time to celebrate his 20th birthday.” Families and friends are planning a party for the son of Karen and the late Kenneth Hensel, Jr, while he is on his three-week leave from the service. Lance Corporal Hensel will return to Camp Le Jeune in North Carolina following his R&R, to complete his last two years of duty. Welcome back, Kyle!

You can practice saluting Kyle and Sandy Hook’s other recently returned Afghanistan veteran, Rylan McCollum, and then keep that salute tuned up for the Labor Day Parade. Paradegoers have forgotten over the years that when the American flag passes by, it’s time to put down the martinis and set aside the balloons, for a moment of honor. Let’s improve our flag etiquette this year!

It’s tomato time in New England, and backyard gardeners are relishing the crop this year. And just in time, the Farmer’s Almanac is sending out a few tomato tips: Leave your tomatoes on the vine as long as possible. If any fall off before they appear ripe, place them in a paper bag and store them in a cool, dark place. Harvest tomatoes when they are firm and at peak color. The perfect tomato for picking will be very red in color. (Unless of course, it’s an heirloom variety, which means you may have to do your own research to figure out when a Green Zebra or Black Prince is ripe!) Store tomatoes at cool, room temperature, around 55°F, and out of direct sunlight. Never place tomatoes on a sunny windowsill to ripen; they may rot before they are ripe! And never, ever refrigerate tomatoes. Doing so spoils their garden-fresh flavor and texture — and isn’t that what you’ve waited for all summer? This time of year even makes it hard for me to choose: fresh tomato or fresh mouse?

Fans of the Newtown Deli on South Main Street will want to stop over to owners Annie and Artie Praino’s new Sideline Café, located inside of the Newtown Youth Academy at Fairfield Hills. “School is around the corner and the indoor activities are going to be in full swing in the fall. We’d like for the families to know about the new management and the options they have now,” Annie tells me. I’m sure we can count on quality foods that have made their South Main Street deli so popular, as well as other healthy choices for that pre- or post-workout snack. I’ll have a coffee with cream, hold the coffee, please.

Golden Opportunities director Knettie Archard’s friend, Billy, with a business in St John, Virgin Islands, writes to tell her, “It happened again. Young guy come in, says he’s from Connecticut. I tell him I have friends in a little town called Sandy Hook. He tells me he’s from Sandy Hook. His name is Jeff Stakel (his wife is Megan, I think...). After I mentioned your [Hole-In-The-Wall] Camp connection, he said a family friend, a ‘Mrs Graves’ also worked for the Camp. Next, I described where your office is, and he knows the building well, and he also said that his folks eat at the Sandy Hook Diner every Sunday….” Earlier this year, former Sandy Hook Diner waitress Shawn Smith walked into his shop….

These final hot days of summer might be just the right time to take a break and visit the reference department on the third floor of the C.H. Booth Library, where the newest in the series of oral histories from Newtown/Sandy Hook residents is available for checking out now. Newtown Remembered: Continuing Stories of the 20th Century is the third such oral history book edited by local writers and historians Dan Cruson, Andrea Zimmermann, and Mary Maki. Look for stories shared by people who have called Main Street, Hanover District, Huntington District, and Sandy Hook “home” for many years, as well as memoirs by Mary Mitchell, Harley Peck, and the late George M. Ferris.

I enjoy writing history as it happens. If you want to be in on it, be sure next week to… Read me again.