It is always amazing how quickly Newtown manages to change from winter to summer. All it takes is 25 minutes on a Saturday morning in May, a town fire truck with extension ladder, several sturdy volunteers from the Lions Club, Main Street flagpole keeper Dave Lydem and, of course, a brand new 20-foot by 30-foot American flag.

This feat of taking down the winter flag and putting up the summer one is repeated every year, and the sheer size of the summer flag always takes me by surprise when I see it again after a long winter. Somehow, the slow, lazy rhythm of its endless furling and unfurling on the breeze is for me the perfect herald of summer. It’s a little bit hypnotic. It makes me want to retire to a spot in the sun to plumb the depths of lassitude as only a cat can.

Shutterbugs always wait for the return of the big summer flag before they resume their fusillade of snapshots of Newtown’s scenic flagpole from all angles. I’ve always thought it would be nice to get a picture of the flagpole at night with a full moon behind it. An even rarer photo would be the flagpole with a full moon in the throes of an eclipse. We missed our chance with the eclipse last Thursday night –– the sky was too cloudy.

They came to The Inn at Ethan Allen on Saturday night to toast and roast the Rev Robert Weiss of St Rose, who was celebrating the 30th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. But Father Bob trumped them all by showing up wearing angel wings and a halo.

The Methodists know a good opportunity when they see it. The members of the United Methodist Church on Church Hill Road are holding a tag sale all day Saturday while the annual Pootatuck Duck Race is taking place. The tag sale will raise money for missionary work with the children of Africa. If it rains, the tag sale will be moved into the Fellowship Hall. The Methodists hope to raise at least $1,500 to meet their pledge.

Dick and Marie Sturdevant vacationed with Liz and Bill Meyer and Nancy and Scott Conover at Hilton Head Island last week. It was a week of golfing for the guys and a week of relaxation for the gals. In between all of this activity, Dick hit a hole in one at the 170-yard fifth hole at the Shipyard Course. Thank heavens Scott and Bill were there to witness it! Dick is one happy camper; this is his second hole in one. Also while there, Nancy celebrated a birthday and she and Scott celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary. It was a week to remember.

Jim Ferrara, a 2001 graduate of Newtown High School and self-taught guitarist, has gotten his first professional gig. Last week Jim, the son of Shirley Klinger, successfully auditioned for the band Rezin, which has played at Shenanigans in Norwalk and will be at Roxy this summer.

Charlie Coviello, who lived for a time on Old Green Road in Sandy Hook, has filed his election committee application to run for mayor of Bridgeport. The latest entrant into the crowded mayoral race in Bridgeport, Charlie ran for mayor of Bridgeport 22 years ago when he was in the Democratic primary in 1981 when John Mandanici was elected.

Newtown’s three youth resource officers spent time in Danbury Friday during the fifth annual Child Abuse conference at Danbury Hospital. Officer Schubert, Pisani, and Ketchum were barely recognizable in their street clothes.

Three new police patrol officers are on duty with the town police department, learning the ropes of law enforcement from a variety of field training officers. The new officers are Michael Riccio of Newtown; Leonard Penna of Trumbull, and Amity Robinson of Danbury. The three officers recently completed a 20-week law enforcement training program at the Connecticut Municipal Police Academy in Meriden. During their 14-week field training period, the new officers will be accompanied on their rounds by town police training officers, who will explain local law enforcement to the recruits during stints on each of the three police work shifts. By late August, the new officers would assume solitary patrol duties.

Danbury students must have been a bit disappointed when they loaded their buses to go to Sandy Hook School to meet the pen pals they have been corresponding with since November. The students, ready to enjoy a nice long ride among friends, asked their teachers how many hours it would take to get to Newtown. The 10-mile ride takes only about a half hour in a school bus.

Bee reporter Tanjua Damon will be saying farewell to Newtown next Friday as she pursues a teaching certificate this summer. She says has truly enjoyed working with the community and exploring what has been taking place in the schools the last three years. But you never know, the world is small and maybe she’ll come back to Newtown to teach some day and be the focus of an article in The Bee.

I’m going to miss Tanjua. She always managed to come up with some of the best inside information about the schools, which she always shared with me –– and I always shared with you. She has one more week to go, so I hope next week she’ll tell me all the stuff she’s been holding back. So if I were you, I’d…

Read me again.