Date: Fri 20-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Mountain-Valentine

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

After some shameless begging last week, I finally did get a Valentine from

that sweet, sweet long-haired calico Tiger Baby, who lives with the Kearns on

Osborne Hill Road. Tiger Baby will be 16 in June, and her many years of

experience have sure taught her how to flatter an old grizzled bachelor like

me. Here's what she wrote:

Oh Mountain!

Purr, my dearest,

Put a smile upon your face.

That picture in the paper

Is an absolute disgrace.

I know that you are handsome,

With that fur so much in style.

I'll gladly be your Valentine

If only you will smile.

--Tiger Baby

Well, I can tell you, this bit of poetry really made my week. And yes, now

that you mention it, I am far more handsome than I look.

There was a big send-off at The Bee last Friday for intrepid reporter Dorothy

Evans who is planning to move with her husband, John, to the Washington, D.C.,

area. Dottie did a lot of things around the office, from writing up weddings

and engagements to getting the names and ages straight of all the kids in our

Birthday Cake in the kid's section. And she did a lot of good things out of

the office as well. Dottie particularly liked being out in nature, and her

writing showed it. Readers came to love her stories about everything from the

stones in stone walls to the birds on the wing at Christmastime. We will miss

you, Dottie. Good luck!

Sometimes when you are feeling a little blue about a friend leaving town or

the rainy weather, or for no reason at all, a little exotic experience helps

snap you out of it. For me that entails getting some Chinese take-out. So for

that reason, I was happy to see the Chinese restaurant has reopened in the

Queen Street shopping center. The name is new -- Dynasty Chinese Restaurant --

but it is still Main Moon owners James and Kim Lam who also operate the Main

Moon in the Sand Hill Plaza.

The Lams invited friends to celebrate the grand opening and a somewhat delayed

Chinese New Year at the Dynasty last week. Charles and Karen Yarish, Steve and

Cheryl Anderson (who recently moved from Newtown to Southbury), and Bob

Zarnetske and his wife, Cathy Dobbs, and other friends gathered around the

banquet table for a 12-course meal. It is hard to imagine eating a 12-course

meal but somehow everyone managed to do it and still leave under their own

power.

While I'm on the topic of good food, I should mention that next Tuesday is

Shrove Tuesday and the parishioners at St John's Episcopal Church in Sandy

Hook plan to hold their annual pancake supper in the church undercroft from 5

to 7:30 pm. The parishioners are really excited about this event because this

year half of the proceeds will be donated to the Faith Food Pantry. The

traditional meal of pancakes with homemade corned beef hash or sausage,

applesauce and beverage will be served and takeout orders also will be

available. Tickets will be sold at the door: adult, $6, child 5-12 $2.50, and

children under 5 served free.

Am I the only one that's not interested in this year's Winter Olympic Games in

Nagano, Japan, or do others feel the same way I do? Aside from the big win by

the women's hockey team, there's just not that much excitement this year.

Maybe it's because everything is happening while we're sleeping. Almost all

the events on television are on a tape delay. Hopefully, this week's figure

skating competition will heat up the games. The Olympics are over on Sunday.

John Whitten, the town's chief sewer connection inspector, has made a move.

For the past three years, John has done his sewer-related work out of a white

construction trailer parked at the intersection of Currituck Road and Hall

Lane. But workmen recently towed away that landmark, and John relocated his

office to the modern administration building at the town's sewage treatment

plant at the end of Commerce Road.

It's time for me to move on as well, but I'll be back, so be sure to...

Read me again.