Sometimes we hear from loyal readers whose families have been getting The Bee for generations. This week we got an email from Nancy Jones of New Milford, who said that her great, great, grandfather named George Winton began subscribing to The Bee in 1877, nearly 130 years ago when the Bee was first published. “He was a farmer, and he lived in the Gray’s Plain District on Bennetts Bridge Road,” wrote Nancy. She thought the Kearns family was living there now. Nancy also said she enjoyed reading Field Notes, especially the stories about the katydid and the little saw-whet owl. “But I miss Jean Loveland very much,” she added, referring to the longtime writer of the Over The Back Fence column.

Laura Lerman at 55 Main Street called to tell me I was off by 11 on the address of the Newtown Historical Society’s Matthew Curtiss House when we suggested a Main Street stroll to view old houses and their crocuses in bloom. To set the record straight, Laura’s house is #55 and the Matthew Curtiss House is #44. “Of course, the Historical Society doesn’t put any number up because they didn’t use them in 1750 when it was built,” Laura said. Just for the record, Laura’s house is dated at 1795, so it also ranks as one of the older ones on the street.

The Fairfield County String Teachers Association will present its annual String Orchestra Music Festival this weekend. Featured on the program are three string orchestras with more than 200 area middle and junior high school students participating… including six from Newtown. Sarah Attanasio, Rachel Fintz, Meghan Loose, and Gretchen Streett were all accepted into the 6/7 Orchestra, while Calvin Song and Christopher Teri were accepted into the 8/9 Orchestra. Students had to be recommended by their school music teachers before being selected by festival committees to join one of the orchestras. A public concert will be presented at Bedford Middle School in Westport on Saturday, April 8, at 3 pm. Tickets are $5 for adults, and free for everyone age 14 and under.

Polly Brody was back in her former hometown recently. If you were walking past the meetinghouse last Wednesday afternoon and thought you were hearing strange sounds, you were right. Inside the lower meeting room of that building, Polly was entertaining about two dozen people who were attending a Garden Club of Newtown program. Her talent for replicating bird sounds was a special part of her “Tuning In On Animals” presentation. I saw Polly for a minute after that program and she said she enjoyed herself. “I had fun,” she said, still grinning widely. “It was good to be back in town for a little while.” She said this as she was heading over to another favorite haunt — the Booth Library.

Just in time for spring, Newtown has another garden center. Dan Holmes, who has been operating his successful landscaping and landscape design company from a location in Georgetown, recently has returned to Newtown, opening Holmes Fine Gardens on April 1 at the former Payne’s Nursery site on Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville. The pansies are in full bloom there. Check them out!

Newtownopoly, a fundraiser for Newtown High School Orchestra’s trip to Italy, is extending the sales of advertising and the ordering of a localized version of the game until May 1. The box cover, which depicts a scene of Main Street during the Labor Day Parade, is illustrated by New England artist David Merrill. Cost to purchase the game is $25. Those wishing to order games or to advertise on the game board may contact parent volunteer and coordinator Linda Jones at 270-9763.

Folks around town are taking a second look when they see Dana Schubert wheeling around town in a shiny, new metallic red Mazda Miata roadster rather than his usual mode of transportation, the DARE PT Cruiser.

I donned my furry jacket and took off to the Tucker Hill Inn in Waitsfield, Vt., this past weekend for one last trip down the bunny slopes and a visit with the Truckle family, who moved from Equestrian Ridge in 2004 to become Vermont innkeepers. Alison was shocked and dismayed to hear that Dickinson Park pool had met its demise and wondered where Newtown residents would cool off this summer without it. Maybe Newtowners will have head north to cool their heels in the Tucker Hill Inn’s pool this summer.

I know where I’ll be this weekend. The Parks and Recreation Department’s annual Spring Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza is set for Saturday. Be sure to get to the park pavilion by 10 am to allow time to get organized and ready for the 10:30 am hunt. Hunters will be organized into two groups: ages 4 and under and ages 5–8. The Easter Bunny will also be on hand just in case all the sugar doesn’t excite the kids enough.

Fortunately, no one has to hunt for me. I’ll be back here next week, same time, same place, so be sure to…

Read me again.