On her way home for lunch from The Bee, Bridget Seaman was heading along Hanover Road on Monday when she spotted a black bear sitting on the side of the road. Naturally she slowed down. "He looked at me. I looked at him." Then he went scurrying off into the woods... Possibly to Tamarack Road?Facebook page for updates and details.newtownplayers.org online, or e-mail info@newtownplayers.org.

Jim Wright of Tamarack Road tells me there was a disturbance at his home around 9:45 pm Monday. As the Presidential debate was on, Jim noted something interfering with the light post located across the driveway about 50 feet from the house's rear deck entry. Two bird feeders are mounted on the post. "I went charging out the back door into the night to drive off any raccoon. It wasn't a raccoon. In the dim of the night I suddenly was facing very close a large black bear. As I backed off he pulled down and out of the ground, post, feeders, and all. One is a large feeder recently refilled. The bear spent the next hour-and-a-half dining on sunflower seeds and rolling on the grass. Finally about 11:15 pm, out of seeds, he begin pawing the light. That was too much. I banged the back door a couple of times and he ambled off toward the woods and into the night." I'm sure glad everyone is safe! Jim shared a photo of the aftermath, showing the lamp post and feeders on the property.

Speaking of the Presidential debate, Newtown High School 2014 graduate Michelle Zarifis, now a junior majoring in political science and drama at Hofstra University, volunteered Monday evening during the debate, as the university hosted the event. Hopefully Michelle had less disturbance during the evening than Jim back in her hometown did!

The Ben's Bells Kindness in Action Speaker Series is coming to Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), 181 White Street in Danbury, on November 2 at 6 pm. Registration is now open for the event. Ben's Bells Founder and Executive Director Jeannette Maré will lead an in-depth discussion of the challenges and opportunities encountered in the effort to strive for kinder communities. During the presentation, Jeannette will also reflect on her own personal experiences with kindness in the face of devastating grief, will share her work with Ben's Bells Project, and will discuss the emerging body of research on the science of kindness. Tickets are free for WCSU students with identification, $5 for WCSU faculty and staff with identification, $5 for all other students, and $10 for the general public. All proceeds from the event will support Ben's Bells community programming. Registration is available online at bensbells.org, by clicking on Speaker Series. Meanwhile the Ben's Bells Connecticut studio continues to draw volunteers and members of the public on a regular basis. Now located at 32 Stony Hill Road in Bethel, all ages are invited to drop by the studio Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays between noon and 8 pm, or on Saturdays between 10 am and 2 pm. You never know which project coordinating volunteers will need help with, but they are always happy to have the company. Call 203-501-9999 or find the studio's

I have to say I have never needed help shredding (as having claws has its perks), but a Shredding Day is set for this Saturday, October 1, from 10 am until 1 pm, at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street. The fee is $10 per box, or $5 for seniors with boxes. Oversized boxes will be charged an additional fee at the discretion of organizers. The event is sponsored by the Commission on Aging and Friends of Newtown Seniors.

Newspaper offices regularly get phone calls from gardeners bragging about their big zucchini and cucumbers. This time, it is sweet potatoes that survived in the busy traffic island at the junction of Queen Street and Church Hill Road. Town & Country Garden Club members are the folks who plant and maintain the three traffic islands in the center of town. On Saturday, September 17, Jane Sharpe tells me, a team of nine garden club members snipped shrubs and plants, pulling out annuals on Island 1, as they call it. Turning the soil, they found nearly a dozen sweet potatoes after removing the chartreuse-colored sweet potato vines. Mary Ellen Weiner, co-chair of the Island 1 Team, said, "Cutting it back may have given more energy to the roots." Joy Kopesky, who took the big ones home, noted that one tuber was about 3½ pounds. She didn't cook it. Unfortunately, this kind of sweet potato is not tasty. But they do provide 200 percent of daily roughage requirements! Or they can be kept to sprout new potato vines the following year.

Ornamental sweet potatoes are from the same species as the more edible kind, but are selected for their interesting foliage, not tasty roots. Participating in the cleanup and replanting that day were Ann Astarita, Josie Schmidt, Marg Studley, Kathryn Simonds, Sandy Haydon, Jan Gardner, Joy Kopesky, and Island 1 Co-Captains Mary Ellen Weiner and Terri Doern. The island is planted as an organic garden. It was recently redesigned to feature drought-tolerant plants that attract pollinators. All waste is composted in the town's new compost program.

What kind of mysterious cat would I be if I passed up mentioning this Friday, September 30, is opening night for The Town Players of Newtown production of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie? It is directed by Gene Golaszewski and runs through October 22. Curtain times are 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 pm for Sunday matinees, all at The Little Theatre, 18 Orchard Hill Road. Tickets are $22 for evening shows and matinees are $18. For more information call 203-270-9144, check

I like to run, and I'm quite fast, but I was impressed with our town's two-legged runners this past weekend. There was the Iron Horse 5K, a run/walk in support of the Second Company Governor's Horse Guard - a first-time event - and the Winding Trails Invitational, in Farmington. What a job by Newtown High School's girls' and boys' squads, both of which won their races at the invitational.

I promise not to run away, as long as you promise next week to... Read me again.