Former Newtown Bee education reporter and present day Hoosier Susan Coney stopped by The Bee offices last Friday. Susan was in town to visit old friends, and while we were lamenting the cold rain, she was feeling most appreciative of our New England weather. When she left Indiana on Thursday, it was whiteout conditions and the temperature was in single digits. But I’ll bet the warmth radiating from that sparkling diamond on her left hand is keeping her warm. Congratulations, Susan and Dave!

The gingerbread replica of the Botsford Drive-In that won Diane Orlando first place in the Individual Adult Division of the NYFS Holiday Festival gingerbread contest in December has found its home at, surprise, surprise: the Botsford Drive-In. Rumor has it that Diane went to visit her creation this past week and was dismayed to realize that she had forgotten to replicate one of the doors on the building. Maybe somebody ate it?

Loreen and Stephen Lewis report that the launching of The Amazing Fun Bus at the Western New England Home Show in Danbury this past weekend was a great success. The mobile party bus attracted lines of people, Loreen told me, and was very well received. “We rocked the house,” declared Loreen.

NHS graduate and Temple University student Wendy Borst is spending a semester in Rome, Italy. Her mom shared some of Wendy’s extensive blog with me (so that I could turn green with envy, I guess). As if being in Rome isn’t exciting enough, Wendy has just returned from an academic trip to Tunisia, Africa. The trip impressed upon her the “joys” of a dictatorship nation, with armed guards ensuring that none of the students even thought about taking photos of president Ben Ali’s home, and billboards everywhere promoted Tunisia’s ruling body. Despite that, Wendy reports that northern Africa is an amazing place. “We walked through the Medina, which is the shopping center, with all of the shopkeepers that come outside and try to convince you to come into their shops and buy their wares, and everything is ‘one dinar!!’ We walked up through the Medina, past the Grand Mosque Ezzituna, to the Qasbah. Which caused me to have ‘Rock the Qasbah’ stuck in my head for the better part of the trip,” blogs Wendy.

She also had some time to visit a local perfume maker, sampled some Tunisian cuisine and an apple tobacco hookah, and viewed the collection of Roman mosaics at the Bardo Museum. The group visited the ruins at Carthage and some Roman baths, too, and Wendy said a solemn visit to the American Cemetery In Tunisia, where 2,800 World War II American soldiers who lost their lives in North Africa are buried, was quite impressive. Wendy is back in Rome, now, but she is preparing to put on her traveling shoes again to visit Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam over spring break and Budapest, Hungary. Plus, she says, she just bought a ticket to Vienna…. Newtown is going to seem awfully small when Wendy returns.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers some tips for the influenza season that is in full swing right now. It has been mild through December and January, but as tradition dictates, the flu hits with a hard right hook in February. A flu shot in the fall was the first bit of advice that the CDC hopes everyone followed. It doesn’t protect against all of the strains of flu, but it can lessen the symptoms in many cases. Most importantly, and so easy to do, wash your hands thoroughly and often to avoid transmitting germs. The CDC agrees with your mom, too: cover your mouth when you cough (and wash your hands again!) and have a tissue handy for big sneezes. Germs are spread by pawing at your mouth, eyes, and nose, so keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. Trickier advice to follow is that of steering clear of sick people… but if we all followed the final tip from the CDC that would be a snap: stay home when you are sick. Don’t spread the wealth.

Maggie Mahoney tells me that husband Ken is loving his new job with ProActiv in southern California, and the warm weather, too. But he is missing the warmth of his family. Maggie, Ben, and Molly will get Will all set for college when school is out, then pack their bags and join Ken in the warmer climate. It’s just another adventure, says Maggie. The family took some time away from Newtown a few years back to live in England. California doesn’t seem so far, compared to that.

The NHS Snow Ball is scheduled for this Friday night at the Amber Room in Danbury, and the NYFS Job Bank Blizzard Brigade is underway, but the few flakes of snow I’ve seen lately hardly add up. Maybe a flood pumping brigade and a Waterfall Ball are better bets. Global warming? Nah…

Speaking of celebrations, Cheryl Moulthrop got her birthday plans all mixed up this year. Instead of letting husband Bruce take her out to dinner for her birthday earlier this week, Cheryl and Bruce were instead behind the counter at St John’s Shrove Tuesday Pancake Breakfast. Hey, Cheryl’s been celebrating Shrove Tuesday at that church since she was born … how many years ago? I won’t tell, but I can tell you that she looked pretty pleased to be part of all the activity on Tuesday night. Birthday dinners can be done early or temporarily postponed, but there’s no turning back the dozens of people who count on their pre-Lenten dinner at that pretty little church on Washington Avenue.       

 “Forcing” forsythia seems like such a harsh term, but I think that in a very short while I will be able to cut some branches and trick them into blooming indoors. Put the cut branches into a bucket of warm water and recut the stems underwater. When they have been in the warm water for a few hours, change the water, recut the stems once again, and put them into a vase of cool water in a sunny spot. Voila! A taste of spring.

It’s something to think about, anyway, until next week when I hope you will…. Read me again.