Now that the elections are over we can all settle down to enjoy Nature’s own slow-down month of November. The darkness comes early, the leaves have fallen, and the outside temperatures will soon be doing likewise. So this black cat is headed indoors to sleep beside a warm fire.

But first, I plan to watch the eclipse of the Full Beaver Moon on Saturday night. It begins at 5:15 pm and ends at 11:22 pm, which is perfect timing because I can see the celestial show and still make it back to bed before the witching hour.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty glad Halloween is over. With nearly 2,000 people tramping up and down Main Street, it’s a wonder my tail wasn’t squashed flat. But I did find a lot of half-eaten candy here and there, so I’m not complaining.

One couple, Saba and Joe Fiala, who live at 49 Main Street, kept precise track of their visitors. Joe had a clicker that registered 1,617 by the end of the evening –– and that was just the children, not the parents, he was counting. “We had expected about 1,400 kids, so we were OK with candy. We had purchased a lot, and then two people came through during the evening and dropped off bags to help us out, which was very much appreciated.”

Lucy Sullivan, the Fialas’ neighbor at 51 Main Street, said she thought she had about 1,400 visitors. Shane Miller, who lives with her husband George in The Budd House at 50 Main Street, thought they had the same number. “I think this year was busier than last year,” Shane commented.

The Gaston family, at 18 Main street, planned for about 1,200 kids. Jimmy Gaston’s mom purchased 1,200 pieces of candy, and the family was careful in trying to give one piece of candy per visitor. “Some people got two pieces, but not too many,” Jimmy said this week. “And then we got some donations, a few bags from some other people, so we think we had about 1,600 people come to our house.”

Actually, this has been a near perfect Halloween. Warm, dry weather for trick or treating, and Halloween falling on a Friday when people could sleep in the next day. Now a full moon rising a week later –– what more could we ask?

You never know what to expect in the candy jar that sits on the main counter in Town Clerk Cindy Simon’s office in Edmond Town Hall. Some days, the jar is full of chewy chocolate candies. Other days, it’s virtually empty. Yet, other days there are small pink, purple, and blue boxes full of tiny candies sitting in the jar. The candy jar is simpler to operate than an aquarium, but provides a similarly changing colorful experience.

Former Boggs Hill Road resident Betty Fosdick will turn 109 years old on November 16. Bill McIlrath of Appleblossom Lane says he has stayed in touch with her ever since she moved to an assisted living facility in Bloomfield, and he calls her each year on her birthday. He reports that, aside from being a little hard of hearing, she’s doing just fine.

If you wanted to lose some weigh this past summer you probably should have been hanging out with the members of The Newtown Choral Society. Membership is up, but weight is down with this group with a total of 200 pounds lost and still counting. The least amount lost was four pounds and the most was 61.

I heard from Bettina Dobbs, another former Newtowner, this week. She lives in Rockland, Maine, in a retirement center where she has been recovering from a recent stroke. She has made enough progress in her recovery to get a start on her memoirs, including recollections of her many years of teaching in Newtown schools. She says she would love to hear from former colleagues and students. Her address is: Bettina Dobbs, 20 Bartlett Drive, Apt 303, Rockland, ME 04841.

Joan Salbu dropped by The Bee last week with a couple of T-shirts for us. The shirts are alive with bees dancing around the slogan “Bee Happy!” We wanted to share the sentiment with everyone who visits us, so we dressed up our wooden newspaper boy “Rufus” in one of the shirts. Check him out in our lobby the next time you stop by.

Police Captain Joe Rios reports that the New Canaan Cannons, for which he plays in the Men’s Senior Baseball League, has won the eight-team league’s state championship. The Cannons won a best-of-three series against the Fairfield Mariners about a month ago. During the past season, league players used wooden bats instead of aluminum bats, making for a different baseball experience, Capt Rios explained. The use of wooden bats has made the league more competitive. Now that baseball season is over, it’s time to start getting ready for basketball season, he said. I wonder what wooden basketballs would do for the game?

There was a great deal of laughter at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting Monday when First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and Selectmen Bill Brimmer and Joe Bojnowski compared facial skin tones. Seems that all three have been spending a lot of time outside campaigning, but Mr Brimmer and Mr Bojnowski had noticeably more color than Mr Rosenthal, who quipped, “I don’t tan well.” That’s all right Herb. At least you got what you really wanted from all that exposure –– reelected.

I have also been reelected… to return here next week with another column, so be sure to…

Read me again.