This black cat is always on the alert for strange birds passing through Newtown on their way south. I was totally unprepared, however, for the sight of 40 pink flamingoes grazing on Cindy Carroll’s front lawn at 77 Birch Hill Road. The fact that Tuesday, November 25, was Cindy’s 40th birthday might have had something to do the timing of their migration, since I learned from Cindy’s older sister, Mary Edmond of Brookfield, that the flamingoes had come to roost under cover of darkness the night before. “She hasn’t been looking forward to this one, so we sent in the flamingoes to cheer her up,’’ Ms Edmond said.

I’ve heard of sending in the clowns, but sending in the flamingoes? That’s a new wrinkle. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Cindy!

Willard Scott missed one local resident during his birthday announcements recently. Arthur Barrow, who lives at Ashlar of Newtown, celebrated his 103rd birthday earlier this month. That’s certainly cause for celebration, which explains why Mr Barrow was seen with balloons tied to his wheelchair for quite a few days. Those balloons made it easy for me to spot him coming, because Mr Barrow is still able to get around quite well so I have to keep my tail curled in whenever I’m around him.

The Knights of Columbus will be sponsoring a dinner for needy and lonely people in the area at St Rose Church on Thanksgiving Day. The Knights will also be delivering meals to a number of shelters in the region as they did back in March. They already delivered a number of frozen turkeys to the Daughters of Charity in Bridgeport last Saturday as part of this event. The event is being co-sponsored by the Congregational Church and the Congregation Adath Israel, with volunteers from all three churches, and with help from volunteers from surrounding towns including Danbury and Southbury. Anyone who would like to help should contact Frank Middleton at 426-0098.

Finance Board member Kelley Urso was honored at the end of the board’s meeting November 20. A unanimous resolution offered Kelley the board’s thanks for her service on the board. Ms Urso did not run for election this year. She was appointed by the Board of Selectmen at the time the board was originally appointed on January 7, 2002.

Edmond Town Hall is moving into its holiday movie schedule this weekend. Tom Mahoney has scheduled plenty of extra matinees for Freaky Friday, which will open on Wednesday night, November 26. There won’t be any shows on Thursday, but there are regular shows every night at 7 and 9 pm until next Thursday. There are also matinees on Friday and Saturday at 11 am and 1:30 and 4 pm, at 1 and 4 pm on Sunday, and even the regular Tuesday afternoon matinee at 1 pm. The film is a fun update of the 1976 Barbara Harris-Jodie Foster film of a mother and daughter who switch bodies and live each other’s lives for one crazy Friday. The new film, which came out in August, stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, along with Mark Harmon and Chad Michael Murray.

Singer/songwriter Melissa Cartoun, daughter of Bonita and Sandy Cartoun, will be performing with her Dad’s bluegrass band, BigApple’achia, November 29 at The Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport.

If you are a kazoo aficionado (and who isn’t) The Newtown Choral Society’s Holiday concert could set your heart aflutter. The society will be performing PDQ Bach’s “Good King Kong Looked Out,” replete with kazoo interlude. Also on the program will be Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and an audience carol sing. The concert will be at The Meeting House December 6 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the door.

Another program of sacred and seasonal music, “The Heavens Are Telling,” will be performed by the combined music ministries of St Rose Church on Sunday at 4 pm in the church. Everyone is invited to attend. A suggested $5 donation will help fund the choir’s upcoming trip to Rome.

Bob and Mae Schmidle are trying to figure out what to do about a squirrel that decided to make itself comfortable in their family room last week. Bob came downstairs to watch the evening news on television and saw the squirrel sitting on the couch, watching him. Chasing the critter with a butterfly net didn’t work, as the squirrel managed to avoid all of Bob’s efforts. Finally it disappeared into the fireplace. Last I heard, they weren’t sure if it had left or was still in hiding.

Mark and Susan Dennen also had an unexpected visitor when a finch that was nesting in a wreath on their front door decided to come in when the door was opened. Mark opened windows and chased the finch all over the downstairs trying to encourage it to fly out, but it decided to go upstairs instead. Finally he trapped it in a bathroom but it still wouldn’t fly out the open window.

“When it got exhausted and landed behind the toilet, I grabbed it in a pair of sweatpants and released it outside the window,” Mark said, “but it immediately zoomed past my head like a bullet back into the bathroom!”

Finally Mark captured the bird again and this time he only opened the window partway, pushed the finch out, and immediately cranked the window shut so it couldn’t get back in.

Well, once again it’s time for me to fly, but leave the window open for my return so you can…

Read me again.