With a little bit of rain, a lot of wind, and a sudden chill in the air, fall moved into its last stages this week. It sure looks like November out there.

All this early evening darkness must be good for something. If you’ve got a good, unobstructed view of the sky looking east, you can’t miss seeing the big red planet Mars. It shines well above the horizon after sunset. It won’t be this bright again until 2018, so don’t miss it. Later in the evening, you might also spot a shooting star or two as meteors are flying out from the constellation Taurus during the latter half of November — and that’s no bull.

Actually, this is the time of year that almost anything can happen — like alpacas can come to town. That’s what’s happening down at Lexington Gardens on the weekend of November 19–20. Tom Johnson has arranged for a small herd of the South American camel-like ungulates to make a guest appearance at his Church Hill Road business. Tom says he wanted to get reindeer, but he couldn’t find any. The alpacas are really cute, he insists.

One of the nice things about having so few actual contests on Newtown’s election ballot is that nearly everyone wins and, consequently, everyone can have a victory party. Still, without much anticipation and tension about the results, the partisan parties this year seemed to lack the jubilation I remember from years gone by. I went home early and watched House on TV to quench my sudden craving for sarcasm.

Recent articles on the history of Taunton Lake have prompted a few memories among longtime residents. Caroline and Bob Stokes moved into Sandy Hook in 1946, and until moving to Southbury last year, Caroline had lived here for nearly 60 years. On Monday, she called The Bee to tell a story from when their oldest daughter, Nancy, was only 4 years old.

“We were invited to go row-boating on the lake by a family that owned a cottage down by the water. They wanted Nancy to try fishing so she stood on the little dock, and she actually brought up a turtle. We had such a hard time explaining this wasn’t a fish.” Caroline also recalled a couple of hard winters in the 1960s or 1970s when she and Bob skated the entire length of the lake. “We did it twice, and it’s a mile long.” Caroline remembered seeing cows from Paul Allen’s farm grazing along the shore. Paul’s wife, Dolores, also remembers those cows. “One fell through [the ice] and my husband and brother were struggling to get her out. Finally, the fire department had to come help with the rescue,” Dolores recalls.

While foster parenting a greyhound from the Plainfield racetrack last spring, Dawn Adam’s heart was captured by the dog’s personality and she ended up adopting the dog. Now, she finds herself falling in love with her newest foster greyhound, so it looks like her family of dogs may be growing. If this keeps up, Dawn may end up with her own stable of race dogs. They don’t chase furry little cats, do they?

Newtown High School Class of 1980 is holding its 25th reunion on Saturday, November 26, from 7 to midnight at the Fireside Inn. The reunion committee is still searching for almost 100 missing classmates. For more information about attending the reunion contact Wanda at 743-4022.

The high winds and rains of past weeks left a cedar tree hovering over Pepperidge Lane, but Marty LaMarche observed on her walks that the big branches were held aloft by mighty vines of bittersweet twined about it. Some of the vines, she reported, are nearly four inches thick. Even though road crews have recently pushed the cedar back, the vigorous vines remain tightly wrapped about the trunk. It’s amazing, how mighty the small things in nature can be.

Not everything in nature is small. For example, the elusive black bear of the Hanover district has a really huge appetite. He was seen again this week. Alex Aitchison of Lake Road called to say that the bear had been raiding bird feeders in his neighborhood before wandering down toward Pond Brook Cove and later disappearing back into the forest.

Time for me to disappear, but I’ll be back next week as big as a bear, so be sure to…

Read me again.