OK, it’s Halloween. It’s glory time for black cats, right? Hardly.

Aside from never having to worry about what to wear for a Halloween costume, being a black cat doesn’t have a lot to recommend it. Every other day of the year, people constantly veer away from you rather than have you cross their path. I might as well paint 13 on my back and stand under a ladder next to a broken mirror. I’ve always had to sneak up on people, which might be disheartening for most folks, but when you’re a gossip columnist, it’s a skill that comes in handy.

On Halloween, however, when black cats are in vogue, I can hardly get noticed for all the people drawing whiskers on their face and donning ears and tails.

Before I get to feeling too sorry for myself, I want to remind myself, and everyone else, that there are people facing real problems this year, so it very important that everyone help out with the annual Thanksgiving Basket project of the Women Involved in Newtown. More than 60 families so far are on the list to be helped this year, but WIN co-president Mandy Monaco says the club is doing a good job so far getting them “adopted” so that they will receive a basket full of food for Thanksgiving. Anyone who can help with a contribution, or help assemble the baskets on November 21 in the community room at the United Methodist Church, is encouraged to call Mandy at 426-5600 for more information.

It is also Girl Scout cookie time. Don’t be surprised if within the next few weeks you hear a knock on the front door, and maybe hear a giggle or two before finding a few people standing outside the door. The children won’t be looking for late Halloween treats. More likely it’ll be Girl Scouts hoping to secure a cookie order or two (the girls are encouraged these days to use the buddy system).

Don’t know any Girl Scouts but love their cookies? Contact the Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut, and they can tell you when and where troops or small groups of Scouts will be set up around town. The council can be reached by calling 203-762-5557 or 800-882-5561. One out of every five girls between the ages of 5 to 17 in the council’s 15 towns and cities in Fairfield County is a Girl Scout. The Girl Scout Council of Southwestern Connecticut serves 21 percent of the girls in our area and is 12th in the nation in percent of population served.

All the rain we had early this week is not going to turn back the clock, since we’ve already had our first killing frost. We’ll just have to consider ourselves lucky all that moisture wasn’t coming down in the form of snow.

Frost on the pumpkin has pretty much finished off our wonderful local farmers markets, too. The Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market that we enjoyed visiting every Tuesday morning is over for the year, and organizer Mary Fellows said she was delighted with the response, and hopes for even better next year.

Those die-hards who want to eke out one more Saturday of open-air shopping can enjoy the unseasonably warm weather this weekend and visit the Bethel Farmers Market off Stony Hill Road one final time.

November 1 will be the absolute last gasp for those Bethel exhibitors who have decided to show up on Saturday morning. These include Burr Farm Garden Center, New England Beef from New Milford, the Berry Farm from Middlebury, and Paradise Foods. But don’t expect to see Linda or Frank Hufner from Cedar Hill Farm in Newtown. Last Saturday was their final day. As Linda said, “We’ve got almost nothing left to sell now but cabbages.”

Doris Bolduc has written The Bee concerning a May 23 article about the imposing cast-iron eagle monument that stands on the front lawn of Edmond Town Hall in memory of longtime theater usher Francis Hidu, who died in 1988 at the age of 83. The Bee article stated that Mr Hidu, who grew up a member of large Hungarian family in Fairfield, had three brothers. It turns out Mr Hidu actually had five brothers, and Mrs Bolduc has kindly supplied their names. They were Martin, Louis, Steven, Nick, and Benjamin. Louis Hidu is the only one of the six Hidu brothers who is still alive.

I know lots of people remember the Ramsey family –– Alice and Rudy and their kids Ian and Chris –– that was very active in town before they moved to Colorado several years ago. Well, I got an email this from Chris, who is still an athlete after all these years and is representing the USA in the triathlon at the next two World Championships in Queenstown, New Zealand, in December and Madiera Island, Portugal, next May.

That’s it for this week, and if you see me, please don’t veer away. Come right up and tell me what you know. Who knows? You may just see some of it in print next week. To find out, however, you will have to…

Read me again.