The first day of spring is finally upon us, and no one is happier about it than Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff, who was growing a little weary of the 5 am conference calls with other superintendents in the area on snowy school mornings. Dr Pitkoff, who doesn’t like to think of himself as a weather wimp, always hated to call off school. Mother Nature forced his hand several times this past winter, but not enough to cancel the school district’s April vacation this year. The April 14–18 break is still on, though students will be attending classes a few extra days in June to make up for some of the snow days.

Denise Myslewski is also happy about the return of warm weather. She is Dr Pitkoff’s snowy morning Paul Revere, who gets up in the early morning hours to alert all the media about Newtown’s school closings. For the next eight months, anyway, Denise gets to start her work day with everyone else.

The Mattegats are also glad the winter is finally over. Carol took a spill on the ice and broke her leg so George has been pushing her around in a wheelchair. George hasn’t gone back to work at the dog pound as he is still recovering from hip replacement surgery. And Jay Mattegat had to postpone his second knee surgery because his wife, Melanie, fell and their daughter, Jayce, also broke her arm.

Yes, spring is here, but there isn’t much green around yet –– unless you want to count all the green that always appears so suddenly on St Patrick’s Day. There was definitely “wearing of the green” in Canaan House on Monday. No matter where you looked, someone was wearing something green. Maureen Schaedler, administrative assistant of the Newtown District Department of Health, was no exception.

Maureen also received a mysterious St Patrick’s greeting in the form of two green balloons that appeared on her car after she had entered the building. When she received an anonymous call informing her of the new addition to car, she immediately guessed that Zoning Enforcement Officer Gary Frenette was behind the sneak attack. Gary, shown here with Maureen, soon fessed up.

The dean of the New York Medical School has named Dr Bob Grossman an assistant professor of surgery at the New York Medical College based on his many years of service and contributions to the field of surgery. Now at Rotary meetings, the good doctor is responding to both Dr Bob and Professor Bob.

Carol Foss is looking for other graduates of Darien High School Class of 1963 for the 40th reunion that will be held on June 27–29. She says information can be found on the class website at www.dhs1963.darien.org or by emailing dhs1963@hotmail.com.

People’s Bank is celebrating the wedding of two staff members this weekend when Angela Howe marries Kevin Cocchiola, Jr. Kevin is financial services manager at the bank’s branch at Sand Hill Plaza and Angela is a customer service associate at the branch in the Queen Street shopping center.

This week’s Good Sports Award goes to members of the Town and Country Garden Club who found themselves closeted in the back room of the senior center for more than three hours last Wednesday night through no fault of their own. Due to a scheduling snafu, the Board of Finance and nearly 100 education supporters had gathered in the large multipurpose room for a public hearing at the exact same time the garden club had come to hear a guest speaker talk about “Working with Diminutive Flowers.” The good-natured gardeners and their speaker obligingly gave way to the town officials and public. They heard the lecture and they ate their refreshments without access to the kitchen, remaining behind a closed door until it was time to go home. Finally, club members knocked loudly to announce they needed to pass through the meeting room in order to leave. As they paraded out the door carrying their flower arrangements, the tension over the proposed education budget broke as the public clapped enthusiastically. “We had no idea they were so interested in miniature flowers,” joked club member Liz Arneth afterwards.

Jill Dunham, who works in The Bee’s antiques advertising office, has been practicing her autograph signing technique this week. Jill has advanced into the semifinal round of the “Mall Idol” competition sponsored by 98Q and the Danbury Fair Mall. Jill’s next performance will be at 7 pm Friday evening at the mall. Be there to cheer her on –– and be sure to ask for her autograph. Also watch for Michael Palumbo of Sandy Hook and Laura Wray of Newtown at the competition and support them in their efforts to win the trip to Hollywood, a $1,000 shopping spree, and studio time at a NYC studio.

If you are reading one of the freebee copies of April Morning historical novel as part of the Newtown Reads program, the librarians at the Booth Library want to remind you that you don’t have to wait for an April morning to return it. There is a long list of people waiting for a copy to read, so turn your copy in as soon as you are done with it.

Speaking of turning in copy, I’ve got to get this column to the editor’s desk now, but there’s plenty more where this came from, so be sure to…

Read me again.