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SNAPSHOT: MARY MITCHELL

Occupation: Freelance writer. I've been busy with four editions of the Newtown

Trails Book , published as a fundraiser for the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, and

most recently, working on another fundraiser, Touring Newtown's Past , for the

Newtown Historical Society. For both projects, Al Goodrich drew the maps, and

I did the research and wrote the copy. We both worked on the photographs.

How long in Newtown: After my husband died in 1985, I left Washington, D.C.,

my home of 35 years, to move to Connecticut and live closer to my daughters.

That was in the fall of 1987. I've lived in Newtown for ten years now and it

feels like home. I can tell because after I've been away on a trip, I'm always

happy to come back.

Family: I have three daughters and three grandchildren.

Pets: None. Unless you consider my begonias my pets. There are more than 200

different kinds of the rhizomatous and Angel Wing varieties, which I enjoy

ordering as "babies" and watching grow. I always order too many [from Logee's

Greenhouse in Danielson] to allow for tragedies. I don't go in for African

violets because you can't put them outside in the summer.

Hobbies: Photography and travel. I would like to take photographs in every

state and, so far, I've still got to see North Dakota, South Carolina, West

Virginia and Michigan.

I guess you could say my computer is a definite hobby, too. I started using it

two years ago and now I couldn't live without it.

Changes in Newtown: I'm a firm believer in the preservation of open space, but

I also feel it's a lot of wasted emotion to blame developers for what's

happening in Newtown. The owner owns the land and should be able to sell it if

he or she wants to.

But I do wish the developers and their architects would take more interest in

finding ways to build around and include trees in their plans, not cut them

all down. It hurts to see a great swath of land laid bare and all the tree

trunks piled high in a truck to be taken away. Planning and zoning should have

more control over this issue.

Philosophy: I've come to believe it's important in life to take creative

risks, being able to say you would do something, then do it and hope it works

out. Until my children were grown and independent, I didn't feel I could do

that. Also, I like to live and let live and try to accept people the way they

are, not try to change them.