After waiting most of the summer for the local tomatoes to come into their own, we are now told that some kind of fungal blight is laying waste to tomato plants here in the east. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy plants here in Newtown, and, apparently, there are even tomato plants with a sense of humor.

Lauren, Jacey, and Melanie Mattegat stopped by The Bee office this week to show off one of their tomatoes — something they’ve called The Bunny Tomato. As you can see, if you look at this fruit it does resemble a young rabbit. “The rest of our tomatoes look fairly normal,” Lauren said. Some of the tomatoes look like they’re double tomatoes — attached at the hip, so to speak — but there aren’t any other tomato “creatures” growing.

 It may only be mid-August, but three of Newtown’s annual concert series will wrap up within the next few weeks. Booth Library will host its final Summer Concert on Friday, August 13, beginning at 7 pm. River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs will perform its “spicy musical gumbo that combines traditional sounds of button accordion and washboard with a driving, syncopated beat” at The Pleasance. The new location for the library’s series has been very well received — head over on Friday to find out what all the good buzz is about.

On Tuesday there’s some competition for your musical attention because Ashlar of Newtown and The Homesteads at Newtown will both be hosting concerts, and both begin at 7 pm. The Frank Porto Band, with music from the 1930s and 1940s, will be headlining at Ashlar for its final offering in the 18th Annual Summer Sounds Concert Series. All are welcome to join the residents of Ashlar and its assisted living facility, Lockwood Lodge, at 139 Toddy Hill Road.

A tuba-flute duo called Double Play will be at The Homesteads. Amy Ridings and Patrick Scianella offer works from Bach to Broadway with their unique collaboration. The husband and wife pair offers humorous and historical anecdotes along with their music. Admission is free to this 7 pm concert, which is the second to last in The Homesteads’ Free n’ Easy Summer Series.

Rodd Blessey and Joe DeMaida have organized a concert by Christian music artist Martin Dorman to be held next Tuesday, August 17, at the Reed School starting with a mass at 6 pm. The suggested donation is $10 per ticket to help offset the cost, but the point is to get a large turnout, Rodd said, so no one will be turned away if they can’t afford to pay.

Family and friends of Joanne Zang held a surprise birthday party for her on Sunday. Joanne was appreciative but said they obviously made a mistake on her age because, after all, she is only 40. Someone pointed out that Joanne has been in charge of the Labor Day weekend book sale at the Booth Library for 28 years, but there’s no arguing with a lady about her age.

Donna McCarthy wants everyone to “save the date” of Saturday, September 18, to attend this year’s Health and Safety Fair at the middle school. The Health District director says this year’s fair will be bigger and better than ever.

Janis Gibson has a good idea for anyone trying to decide what to do with last year’s phone books (or the extra phone books that may have been delivered to their home). The Bee had more than a few extras dropped off at the office last week, so there were a lot of questions about recycling phone books. “Everyone has something they hate to pay for,” said Janis, the copy editor at The Bee. “I personally hate to pay to call information to get a telephone number, so I keep last year’s phone book in my car. That way you can look up a phone number — for a person or a business — even when you’re on the go.”

If one of the voices on NPR’s “All Things Considered” sounded very familiar this week, you shouldn’t be surprised. Stephen F. Rowley, the Newtown author behind the January release The Consumers’ Guide to Long Term Care Insurance, was indeed featured on NPR on Tuesday. Mr Rowley was interviewed by Robert Siegel on long-term health care and offered some sobering facts: The average nursing home stay has climbed to roughly 2½ years, and the cost of this varies considerably depending on where one lives. The lowest costs seem to be in Texas, with an annual nursing home average charge of $27,000, while Alaska hits the high mark at about $220,000. Connecticut, said Mr Rowley, averages $225 to $250 per day. Yikes.

Steve Driver, the town’s conservation official, isn’t ready for the nursing home just yet, but he says he is ready for retirement. He has announced he will be retiring from his post effective August 20. Gary Frenette, the town’s zoning enforcement officer, could not believe his ears. Life will be different at the town land use agency without Steve’s presence, according to Gary. The two men have carried on a long course of good-natured ribbing and practical jokes during the more than six years they have worked together.

Unfortunately, the boss says I can’t retire just yet, so I’ll be back next week, so be sure to…

Read me again.