Wednesday morning wasn’t a very good day for making your way across Newtown. I started by heading down The Boulevard and had to take a detour up Hall Lane to Hanover Road because of road work on The Boulevard. On Hanover Road, however, they were cutting down trees, so I had to continue up Hall Lane to Currituck Road where I ran into some more road work near Sedors’ farm. Finally, I made it to Hawleyville and tried to wend my way west on Route 6, but –– you guessed it –– the road was closed there because of a big tractor-trailer rollover. I gave up and went home; some days it doesn’t pay to get out of bed.

Jack Zamary, who for years struck up the band at Newtown High School, this week was striking up conversation with elementary school children. Jack has spent the last few years since he left the Newtown school system in 1998 first as the music director of the Pomperaug School District in Southbury and Middlebury and then as the district’s director of fine arts. This week, the Pomperaug school board announced it had selected Jack as the new principal for the Middlebury Elementary School.

Laura Lerman says the Newtown Choral Society will be beginning rehearsals on September 10 at the middle school for its annual winter concert. There are openings for all voices. All that is asked is that a prospective member have a love of learning and a willingness to learn. Anyone who is interested can call Laura at 426-3769 for more information.

Dan Riccio reminds everyone that his salon and spa will be hosting a fundraiser on Monday, September 15, from 4 to 8 pm, for Kevin’s Community Center. All proceeds from haircuts, chair massages, manicures, and makeup applications will be donated to the new clinic for Newtown’s uninsured and low-income adults. Call Ricci’s at 426-1611 for an appointment.

Lots of late summer and early fall produce including many varieties of heirloom vegetables are now available at the farmers market that is held every Tuesday from 9 am to 1 pm in Sandy Hook center on the hill behind St John’s Episcopal Church. There are also pony rides from 10 am to noon and a clown who does a free show for children from 10:30 to 11:10 am.

If former superintendent of schools John Reed thought he could quietly buy a house in town for his retirement, he may be rethinking that ever since the Newtown Woman’s Club featured his house on Main Street on its annual pewter Christmas ornament. The Reeds are living in what was the John Beach Memorial Library from 1900 until it was replaced by the Booth Library in 1932. The ornaments will go on sale at the Labor Day Parade for $8 each.

Danny Amaral may be exasperated by how slow the state’s emissions program has been in delivering testing equipment to his garage on South Main Street but he’s looking forward to offering the new service. He figures that while customers wait in his new car showroom for their vehicles to be tested, they will get a look at the new models and might decide to buy one.

Even though she’s been doing this for 28 years, Friends of the Booth Library Labor Day Book Sale Chairman Joanne Zang is always grateful for a new wrinkle, something to enhance the sale. “This year, I’m so thankful for Ken Johnson. He’s made new category signs for all the tables that actually don’t fall down. They’re the first new signs we’ve had in 20 years,” Joanne said.

Another bit of book sale gossip is that all the volunteers have been losing weight from all the lifting and carrying, often in saunalike conditions of heat and humidity. Except for Maureen Armstrong, who bemoans the fact that since she’s been spending so much time every day at Bridgeport Hall organizing the Biography Room, she hasn’t had the time to work out on her treadmill. “So I’m the only one gaining, not losing,” Maureen said.

Mary Fellows says everyone should be on the lookout for the big red tomato sign that sat in Sandy Hook center to advertise the farmers’ market held there every Tuesday morning. Someone apparently swiped the sign over the weekend. Two youths also were spotted throwing the bench from the small park at Church Hill Road and Washington Avenue into the Pootatuck River, but it has been retrieved.

Purple loosestrife is taking over the Ram Pasture again, just like it does every year. According to Bent of the River Audubon Center’s Director of Bird Conservation Patrick Comins, we should all be down there on our hands and knees pulling it out by the roots. “It’s invasive, it crowds out the native cattails, and it fills up the entire marsh so that endangered species like grebes and bog turtles don’t have a place to feed. Garden centers are selling it, but don’t buy any,” Mr Comins advised a group visiting the Southbury center on Sunday. Okay, we promise. Too bad, because it looks so pretty.

Well, I hope to see everyone at the Labor Day Parade on Monday. It starts promptly at 10 am. The theme this year, “Newtown’s Faith In The Future,” is a celebration of the youth of Newtown. Unfortunately donations are still needed to cover the costs of this year’s parade. (There’s a coupon in The Bee to use to send tax-deductible contributions to the fund at Fleet Bank.) Be sure to look for me along the parade route. Oh yeah, and be sure to…

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