Instagram user @chanecullens has been keeping The Newtown Bee’s Instagram photos at newtownbee.com full of photos of birds in the last few weeks. She has uploaded three beautiful pictures of birds since the end of January, but this week is my favorite: a cat. According to the post, the cat was out prowling for mice in the snow. You can see for yourself that this brave feline was certainly claw deep. Instagram users, like @chanecullens, can contribute photos to The Newtown Bee’s main website page by using #viewfromnewtown in a photo’s description. Images appear on The Bee’s website between five minutes and half an hour after uploading. Don’t forget to share where and when the photo is taken.

The squirrel population took a nosedive in Newtown last summer and fall, due to storms and low food supplies. But the long winter’s rest seems to have helped. I’ve had as much excitement watching squirrel antics on the bird feeder outside the window the past couple of weeks as I have had watching the “birdie show.” As annoying as it is to the finches and sparrows trying to get a meal, it is impressive to see the clever means a squirrel will use to access the bird food. I know I would find it impossible to hang by my hind legs upside down and shove food into my mouth.

Speaking of shoving food into the mouth… The Lenten season begins in the Christian community next week, and that means the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper returns to St John’s Episcopal Church March 4. The all-you-can-eat pancake dinner is a bargain at $9 for adults and $4 for children, 3 to 10 years old. (The littler people are free.) Eat to your hearts delight, from 5 to 7 pm.

Looking a little further ahead, Newtown Woman’s Club is planning a special Sunday afternoon event for March 9 — a Card and Game Party. The special event will run from 1 to 5 pm, at LeReine’s Cuisine, 31 Pecks Lane. Tickets are $10 per person and include games (Bridge, board games, Mah Jongg, Bunco, etc) and refreshments. There will be door prizes and raffles. Proceeds will support the club’s charity work. For tickets call 203-426-6340 or 203-262-0333.

If you have fun playing cards at the Woman’s Club event, maybe you’ll want to try you luck at Bridge. Starting Monday, March 10, Newtown Bridge Club will host a fourth weekly set of games on Mondays at 1 pm. The club will continue to play ACBL-sanctioned duplicate bridge games at 10 am and 7 pm on Tuesdays, and 10 am on Wednesdays. The club gathers at the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Station, 34 Hawleyville Road. Games are $9 for the public and $7 for members. For additional information call 203-267-4758 or visit www.Newtown-Bridge.info.

Fresh off a weekend when two Girls’ Night Out Filled With Kindness events were held, Ben’s Bells Newtown has announced that its next Girls’ Night Out will be Friday, March 21, from 8 to 11 pm. These social events are held once a month, at the 17 Church Hill Road studio, and include light refreshments and raffle prizes. Women are welcome to attend on their own, with a friend or two, or even with a group (no cats allowed…), but reservations are definitely required. There is a $10 requested donation per person, which covers the continued cost of materials for Ben’s Bells and Kindness Coins and allows the simple acts of kindness to be carried forth by volunteers For additional information send an e-mail to newtown@bensbells.org or stop in during the studio’s regular hours: Wednesdays from 10 am to 3 pm and 6 to 9 pm, and Saturdays from noon to 4 pm.

If you’re wondering how to celebrate the final day of February, let me share this with you: February 28 (I have from HIGHLY reliable sources) is Tooth Fairy Day, a day set aside to honor that little sprite who comes in the night and trades children money for a tooth slipped under the pillow. I’m not quite up to snuff on what this looks like: do I leave a piece of cake under my pillow for the Tooth Fairy? A glass of champagne? A set of dentures?

March is scheduled to come in like a lion, right on schedule, with some bone-chilling temperatures. Those 50-plus degrees of last weekend will be just a memory. I’m keeping my paws crossed that this long winter will make a point of going out like a lamb, come the first day of spring. We’ll see.

While we wait for the cold to loosen its grip, I see there are a couple of interesting musical events on the schedule at Edmond Town Hall. On March 16, Newtown Friends of Music will host the American Brass Quintet, at 3 pm. Then on April 11, at 7 pm, The Low Anthem returns to ETH for their second concert benefiting the upgrades at the historic theater. Opening for The Low Anthem will be Mark Barden and Alternate Universe. Ticket info for the Brass Quintet can be found at www.newtownfriendsofmusic.org; for The Low Anthem, go to www.edmondtownhall.org.

I slipped into C.H. Booth Library this week and am happy to report that things are looking pretty spiffy there. A lovely rug discovered in the attic has been unrolled in the old Board Room, giving an air of elegance to the space. Woodwork has been newly painted, and that certainly brightens up the place, as does the fresh coat of paint applied to the walls. Not to say our library was shabby prior to the January flood: but every building needs regular upkeep and updating, and the time had come for our library. I think the public will be pleasantly surprised when the doors reopen on March 8. (I did a little eavesdropping, and it sounds to me like the library staff is excitedly awaiting the day when they can once again accommodate the public.)

I’m excitedly awaiting next week when I can regale you with still more news to keep you on the edge of your seat. Be sure to… read me again.