Date: Fri 20-Nov-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-bluebirds

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

It's a good thing the holiday season is just about to blossom, because the

world needs a little color in it right now. With all the leaves gone from the

trees, the landscape is pretty dreary. It's enough to make you feel blue.

My friend Helen Kriger dropped me a note this week to say that the world

outside her kitchen window seemed a little blue last weekend.

Helen says that while sitting at her kitchen table last Saturday, she was

astonished and delighted to see a bluebird land on the fence directly opposite

the window. While she was admiring the visitor, two more bluebirds came and

landed in the birdbath, and two more arrived after that to investigate the

holes in the fence posts. Helen says she could see a lot more bird activity

out in the orchard, but because of the distance and a few leaves still on the

trees, she couldn't tell whether they were bluebirds. The birds stayed for

only a few minutes and then moved on. Helen wonders whether anyone else's yard

was also awash in blue last Saturday.

I wonder if Louise Tambascio has put up her Christmas village yet? Louise was

spotted leaving the St Rose craft fair with two large angels that she bought.

She said she was planning to go home and put up the village because the past

couple of years she has been too busy to do it when she waited until after

Thanksgiving.

This Friday evening there's a testimonial dinner at the Fireside Inn to honor

Gerry Frawley whose decades of community service include 22 years on the

Police Commission as well as service as a selectman. Tickets are $30 and are

available by calling Chuck Pilchard or Earl Smith.

Stephanie Nickse is going to be in New Haven on Saturday to swim in the state

open championships at Yale. Stephanie, who is on the Newtown High School swim

team, qualified by finishing in the top 18 in the state in the 50-yard

freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly.

Saturday morning, at 9:30, a Mass and dedication is being held at St Rose

Church to designate the church as a national historic site. The plaque will

commemorate the first Mass celebrated in Fairfield County, an event which took

place in Newtown during the Revolutionary War when the French forces under

Count De Rochambeau passed through the town.

They've been kidding Rick Orton down at the town garage because his picture

appeared in The Bee last week with First Selectman Herb Rosenthal at a

fund-raiser for two local kids who have serious medical conditions. The

broadly smiling Mr Rosenthal had his arm around Rick in the picture. It seems

the last time Rick had his picture in The Bee, he was shown with former First

Selectman Bob Cascella. The time before that, it was former Police Chief

Michael DeJoseph sharing the spotlight with Rick. Why are all these high-level

types seeking out Rick? Does he have some influence he's not telling the rest

of us about?

Rick's not the only one who seems to have a lot of influence. Eight-year-old

Michael Ryan Iorfino was the winner November 13 of a birthday cake from

Luigi's Italian Pastry. (Each week one of the birthday kids listed in The Bee

wins a cake.) But this isn't the first time he's gotten a call from The Bee

announcing he had won. He also won the cake for his birthday last year. Seems

he's on a sweet winning streak.

There's going to be a port wine tasting at Clearwaters Restaurant by Steve's

Liquor Store and Glen-Ro Spirit Shoppe on Tuesday, December 1, to benefit the

Regional Hospice of Western Connecticut. The $30 tickets include the donation

and hot and cold hors d'oeuvres. Call Steve's at 426-0557 or Glen-Roe at

26l-6166.

When I mentioned last week that all five of the Alexander offspring, plus

their wives and children, were home for Marilyn's 60th birthday, somehow

Stuart's name got lost in the shuffle. Stuart was there with his wife and

three children. He's now a lieutenant commander at the Oceana Naval Air

Station in Virginia Beach.

Don't ever accuse the class of 1988 of being conventional. Unlike most

classes, which hold their reunions around Thanksgiving, good ol' `88 has

scheduled its reunion in late January or February. Class president Sue

Belanger is calling it the class of 1988's 11th reunion.

The Congregational Church roast beef dinner sign disappeared from outside

Edmond Town Hall Saturday night. When members of the church went outside to

remove the sign for storage until next time, they found it gone. The

easel-type sign weighs about 40 pounds, according to church member Terri

Ferris. She said if anyone knows the whereabouts of the sign, church members

will be glad to go out and pick it up. She can be reached at 270-1406.

When Emily Warner was talking to her math professor at Skidmore about going

home for Thanksgiving, the professor asked her where home was. Newtown,

Connecticut, Emily replied. It turned out that her math professor, Barbara

Henriques, knew exactly where that was. Ms Henriques was a math specialist at

Head O'Meadow School nine years ago and even remembered Emily's younger

brother, Reid, who was in fourth grade at Head O'Meadow at the time. Reid now

is a freshman at Dartmouth.

Yes, it is a small world, and there are stories every week that seem to make

it even smaller. So be sure to...

Read me again.