It was a wild lunch hour on Tuesday as a sever thunderstorm whipped through town at the noon hour. Lightening, thunder, hail, and high winds mixed things up in town for a while, keeping Newtown’s emergency services running between lightening strikes, traffic accidents, and downed trees and wires.

At one point in the middle of it all, someone at or near the high school thought they saw a parachutist descending to earth in the Fairfield Hills area, which set off an energetic, if unsuccessful, search for this unexpected visitor from the sky. At one point, the Hook & Ladder aerial truck cranked its ladder straight up in the air in the middle of a field so a lookout could survey the area from on high. When the parachutist was never found, there was a lot of speculation about what had actually been seen. A wayward flying tarp from a construction site? Party balloons? D.B. Cooper? At one point, the local power paragliding aerial photographer Brendan Baker got a call from authorities to see if he had taken leave of his senses to fly around town in a severe thunderstorm. Brendan reported that No, he was still sane and safely on the ground throughout the storm. The mystery, however, gives us all something to speculate about.

There are still tables available for sponsorship at the June 14 Newtown Chapter Regional Hospice of Western Connecticut fundraiser breakfast, co-chairs Janet Hovious and Marg Studley tell me. Sponsors can buy a table for $100 and invite seven friends to join them at the 8 am breakfast, being held this year for the first time at The Waterview in Monroe on Route 34. The guests are encouraged to donate “tips” to their servers that become donations to the agency. This year for the first time, tables of 12 are available for sponsorship, as well, at an additional cost of $12 per person for each of the additional four guests. To celebrate the new venue, the Newtown chapter is opening up sponsorship to corporations and businesses, with tables to seat 12 for $500. Tables for “walk-ins” are always available, too, the co-chairs say, for $10 per person. Sounds like a great way to wake up, support a good cause, and still get on the road to work by 9 am. Call Marg Studley at 426-3651 or Janet Hovious at 270-1960 to sponsor a table.

Further into the calendar, Friends of C.H. Booth Library are working on two celebratory events for the library’s 75th anniversary this year. An open house/reception will be held at the library on September 1, at which time the work of 14 Newtown artists will be on view. Each artist has been given a large tin star to decorate in the style of his or her choosing, and the stars will be displayed and sold during that event.

Plans are also falling into place for a black-tie gala, “Diamonds in the Sky,” to be held September 29 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of C.H. Booth Library. Tickets will be $100 each and proceeds from the fundraiser — which will be held at Rock Ridge Country Club — will help purchase a much-needed digital projector to augment lectures, discussions, movies. and PowerPoint presentations. Raffle tickets sold during the evening will also put funds into that Projector Fund and the four prizes to be vied for will be an iPod, a laptop, three hours of spa pampering, or diamond earrings.

The Upshurs are starting out their cross country bike trip with a bang… unfortunately. Arthur and Raleigh Upshur landed in San Francisco on June 4 and headed out to the ocean for a warm-up ride. “Unfortunately somewhere between the jet lag, exhaustion from days of limited sleep, no food to speak of for nearly 24 hours, and confusing California roads,” writes Arthur, “Raleigh managed to pull into an intersection at the wrong time and was hit by a car. Nothing serious for Raleigh fortunately. But the bike did not fare so well and is currently in intensive care at a local bike shop.” Arthur and Raleigh hoped to be able to get off to a less spectacular start Tuesday afternoon. They promise me more updates as the trip progresses, if we just stay tuned.

Elin Hayes is forming a support group for young widows and widowers in the area and is looking for additional members and feedback. She has six people who have already shown interest. The group has not yet met, and since Elin is still in the planning stages of this venture, that’s one of the things she wants to hear from people about: what is a good time for a group like this to meet? How often should it meet? Where should it meet? Anyone interested in learning more about this group and/or being part of its creation is invited to contact Elin at YoungWidow2@aol.com.

Newtown Bee reporter Nancy Crevier thought it was going to be a relaxing evening with the family at a Bridgeport Bluefish game last Saturday night, but when the Creviers arrived at the ballpark, Nancy found out that her husband, Phil, had organized a surprise 50th birthday celebration for her in one of the luxury suites at Harbor Yard. A few dozen of Nancy’s friends were on hand to yell “Surprise!” when she walked in. The surprises weren’t over for her, however. Phil had arranged to have Nancy throw out the first pitch at the game, after which the crowd at the stadium sang “Happy Birthday.” And the evening ended with fireworks. Not a bad party.

I will end, not with fireworks, but with my usual reminder…

Read me again.