A number of Newtown residents are members of Washington Summer Chorus, which will be offering a free concert this weekend in Washington Depot. Jay Trott will direct a concert on Saturday, July 23, that will have “Back To School” as its theme. The concert will begin at 7 pm and will be performed in Salem Covenant Church, at 96 Baldwin Hill Road. Susan Klein, who grew up in Newtown and is the accompanist for Newtown Choral Society’s two annual concerts, will accompany the Washington group. Donations will be accepted for the United Way, and refreshments will be served following the performance. A summer Saturday evening in Washington Depot with some of our town’s talented musicians? Sounds like a nice way to pass what will probably be another hot July evening in coolness and comfort. Call 860-868-2794 if you need additional information.

Here’s a picture to get you thinking about our Labor Day Parade, if you haven’t already. From left are Karen Tracy, Marlene Warren, Eileen DeFelice, and Maureen Briden, members of the Newtown Savings Bank Labor Day Hat Committee, modeling the baseball caps made to commemorate the parade’s 50th anniversary this year. The parade will take place on Monday, September 5, and in celebration of the milestone, volunteers at NSB (a platinum sponsor, by the way) have designed a navy blue baseball cap to help raise funds to support the parade. The hats are available exclusively at either the NSB main office at 39 Main Street, or at the Sand Hill Plaza NSB office at 228 South Main Street. The hats are a bargain at $10 each, but quantities are limited, I’m told, so hurry on down! For more information, contact Brian Amey at 203-426-4440, extension 3100. I’m thinking, if everyone on the parade route wears an anniversary cap, we might have a little Where’s Waldo? thing going on.

“Jumpin’ Jim” Beloff, left, and his wife Liz Beloff, of Clinton, were at Sticks and Stones Farm on Huntingtown Road recently, strummin’  and singin’ after they completed the beginner and intermediate Ukulele lessons there. Apparently, the number of people in the Newtown area longing to connect with their Hawaiian roots (imagined or otherwise) is so great, that Sticks and Stones owners Annie and Tim plan to start a “donation only” Ukulele Club, meeting in the  stone barn there, once a month.

Rosalie (Griffin) Varisco, who grew up in town, has a collection of her art on view this month in the upper concourse of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The concourse is a hallway that runs under I-84, connecting the Legislative Office Building and the Capitol Building, and offers 150 linear feet of wall space that Rosalie has filled with four dozen of her favorite paintings. The artist, who now makes her home in Bantam Village, said she went on a trip to the capitol with a senior group a few months ago and thought she would bring along some photos of her work… just in case.

“I knew that most big places take exhibits, so I spoke with a couple of state representatives who were walking around during our group tour. I asked one of them if it was possible for me to have an art exhibit here,” she told me. “He sent me right upstairs, where I met a lady named Liz, and spoke with her and showed her some of my pictures of my photos. She put me down for this show right away.” Rosalie, who says she loves to paint villages filled with people and activities (think Grandma Moses), picked 48 paintings, plus a collage of photos showing some of Rosalie’s paintings that have been sold. She also prepared an artist’s statement for the exhibition. “It’s really exciting,” she said. “It’s quite a thrill to have them there.”

It’s a little early for Halloween, but this masklike face has appeared in a yard not far from Newtown Country Club’s golf course. Golf ball eyes, a mossy toupee, an ivy beard, and a leaf “pipe” hanging out the side of its mouth give this visage a jaunty, rather than haunted, look, I think. It reminds me of someone, but I just can’t put my paw on it right now.

The buzz around The Bee office is this Saturday’s tag sale. From 8 am to 3 pm, staff members who are participating in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night event in September are holding a tag sale, in the parking lot of The Newtown Bee, on Church Hill Road. I’ve been prowling around the conference room where donations have been piling up this week, and I can tell you, there will be some sweet deals. Plus, other tag sale vendors will be sharing our space to sell their wares. All of the proceeds from the rental of table space and goods donated by Bee employees will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Be sure to check it out — before you flee to the pool or beach.

That’s right. Summer is bearing down on us in full force for the next few days. As a matter of fact, First Selectman Pat Llodra, Newtown’s Emergency Management Director Bill Halstead, and the Newtown Health District have activated the Newtown Municipal Center at Fairfield Hills as the Town’s Cooling Center, Wednesday through Friday, from 7 am to 7 pm. Other cool places in town (in case you didn’t already think so) are the C.H. Booth Library or the Newtown Senior Center, during regular hours; and the Edmond Town Hall Theatre, during matinees and movies. This might be the weekend to make shopping in one of the local air-conditioned supermarkets a leisurely event. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and don’t forget that pets experience the same ill effects of overheating, so be sure to provide Fido and Felix with lots of cool water and shade.

A certain Main Street resident probably didn’t see me lurking nearby when he burst out of his door one morning this week and shouted, “Look out world! Here I come!” I think it’s great that some people still great each day with such exuberance.

Well, look out Newtown! Here I come! So don’t forget next week to… Read me again.