When I felt the floor rolling beneath my feet, Tuesday afternoon, I thought someone had slipped some catnip into my lunchtime bowl of milk. But then I noticed everyone in The Bee office frozen in place, slack-jawed, with equally quizzical looks on their faces. Apparently, The Bee was one of the buildings in town that felt the lurch of the earth from the Virginia-based 5.8 earthquake. Of course, once the initial buzz calmed down and the source of our brief rock ‘n’ roll dance was fingered, it was back to our usual work, reporting the news.

As far as models go, long legs and a sleek body are always a requirement. So is it surprising that a photographer chased down two Newtowners with those attributes in the Southbury dog park earlier this month? Except that Nicki and Jackson are two Great Danes owned by Kirsten Mawdsley and Jason Tuz. While exercising the 3-year-old giant breed dogs, Kirsten and Jason noticed someone taking pictures of the dogs. “I guess he sent the photos to his editor. The next thing we knew, he was chasing us down, yelling, ‘Your dogs are beautiful. Would you be interested in putting them in a photo shoot?’” Kirsten tells me. The photographer was Greg McMann, she said, the senior graphic designer for the upcoming autumn Ethan Allen furniture catalog, and I guess that he thought the big pooches would add that “homey” touch to the scenes.

Nicki and Jackson, a black Great Dane and a blue merle Great Dane, flaunted their stuff at a photo session on Monday, August 15, says Kirsten, during a four-hour photo shoot at the Ethan Allen loft studio in Bridgeport. “They did three sets; one with a chair, one in a living room, and one with a table and chairs,” she said. The dogs were either walking through the set, or sitting or laying in the furniture set. “Nicki and Jackson surprised me. They were so well behaved, even though the rain had kept them from their walks for two days. They listened well, and Greg called to say that they got beautiful pictures, but deciding which one will be used will be hard,” Kirsten says. The Ethan Allen catalog will be published, and mailed out to area residents in October, so be sure to flip through. How many Great Dane models can there be?

The Paproski Christmas Tree Farm in Dodgingtown will be filled with all things Ukrainian this weekend when the annual Ukrainian Festival returns. This year’s event has been scheduled for Sunday, August 28, at 5 Hattertown Road. Following longstanding tradition, the festival will open at 11 am with Divine Liturgy. The afternoon will then continue with Ukrainian and picnic foods, a program of Ukrainian dance and song (starting around 2:30), hay rides, pony rides, volleyball and horseshoe tournaments, a varenyky eating contest, an exhibit and sale of Ukrainian arts and crafts, a petting zoo, and more. The event is open to the public, and will run rain or shine. There is a requested $2 donation per person. For information, call Gloria Horbaty at 203-269-5909 or Diana or Stephen Paproski at 203-426-5487.

There is a bumper sticker that has been around for quite a few years that says something to the effect of “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.” It will indeed be a great day when our schools get all the money they need. Meanwhile, theater groups, intellectual teams, and athletes all need to do their own fundraising to supplement whatever funds they can get from the town’s budget. The NHS Cheerleaders are hoping that residents will show up with their dirty cars at Berkshire Motors, on Berkshire Road opposite the high school, this weekend. The team will be running a car wash, Saturday, August 27, from 10 am to 2 pm. Car washes will be done in exchange for donations, which will help cover some costs of the upcoming season. It isn’t all about the cheerleaders, however: Team members will also be collecting nonperishable food items, which they will then deliver to FAITH Food Pantry, located in Sandy Hook and open to any resident who needs a hand putting some food on the table. Call Karen Meisenheimer, 203-364-0063, for additional information or in the event of rain on Saturday.

Also trying to raise funds for their work this weekend will be the recently formed Newtown Police Explorers. A youth group affiliated with the town police department, the Explorers will be conducting their own a fundraising car wash on Saturday, also between 10 am to 2 pm, at the Botsford Firehouse, 315 South Main Street. The funds raised through donations made at the car wash will be used to purchase uniforms, equipment, and teaching aids for the explorers.

Here’s another place you can help out. WeCAHR (Western Connecticut Association for Human Rights), a greater Danbury 501(c)(3) agency, is planning a benefit tag sale next month and is looking for items to fill its tables. Household items, toys, jewelry and baby items are all sought for the Saturday, September 10, event at Candlewood Park, from 9 am to 4 pm. Items can be dropped off at WeCAHR’s office, 211 Main Street, Danbury. Please note the tag sale’s organizers are not accepting exercise equipment, computers, DVD players, or large pieces of furniture. For more information to arrange to drop off items, call 203-792-3540. Proceeds will help WeCAHR continue to help children and adults with disabilities live as safe, independent, and productive a life as possible.

A special bench has been dedicated at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville in honor of the late Newtown resident Francis J. Caro, a 1956 Hotchkiss graduate. Rita Frost, Frank’s widow, visited the school, August 22, on what would have been her husband’s 73rd birthday, to sit on the bench and read poetry she has written to her late husband over the past four years. The bench is placed in front of the library of the school, which was the recipient of the majority of Mr Caro’s tool collection following his death, thanks to Ms Frost. Mr Caro was a graduate of Columbia University, and former director of The Frank Caro Gallery in Manhattan. He was an avid cyclist, world traveler, sailor, Asian arts specialist and appraiser, an award-winning photographer, “and a man known for his impeccable taste,” Ms Frost said.

It isn’t too early to start thinking Oktoberfest, especially for one that’s coming in September. Botsford Fire Rescue will be hosting an Oktoberfest-style event at its firehouse, 315 Main Street South, Saturday, September 17. The full event will run from 2 to 10 pm, and live music by Fast Ricky will be ongoing after 6. Pulled pork sandwiches and bratwurst will be available for $7, and German draft beer will be $5 per pint. Soda and water will also will be available at the event, which will serve as a fundraiser for the volunteer fire company.

I don’t want to rush summer out the door, though. There is still lots of time for lazing about, final vacations, and reading some great books. If you don’t know about The Little Book Store at the C.H. Booth Library, this might be the time to visit the bargain sales department on the second floor. The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library received a large donation from the town library of educational books this summer, I’m told, and also received a lot of beautiful donations from the public of nonfiction and educational books for adults and children, that are now available for purchase. Because all of the books have been donated, they are sold for a small fraction of their original prices. All are gently used, and many are practically brand-new. The Little Book Store in the Booth Library is open during regular library hours, and all proceeds benefit the library.

If reading an entire book is just too much on these final sunny summer days, I’ll still be writing from the Top of the Mountain, so… Read me again.