Did you know that the 2012-13 school year starts in just over a week?
The first day of school is Thursday, Aug. 30. All teachers report for their first day on Monday, Aug. 27, there’s a professional development day on Tuesday, Aug. 28, and students in grade 6 and 9 get their orientation on Wednesday, Aug. 29.
How do I – who has no children – know all this? I found a handy little link on the school system’s website. It is called “A Family Guide to the Fairfield Public Schools 2012-2013″ and it is contained in something called “virtual paper.” Isn’t it amazing how far technology has come?
The electronic booklet is 63 pages and answers just about every question parents and students would have about the school system. The pages turn easily on the screen and they can be magnified for closer reading.
It’s actually pretty cool. And I suspect that with 10,000 students in the Fairfield Public Schools, it’s a money saver where paper and postage are concerned. (Who would have thought the school system knows how to save money? Sorry, I digress.)
Wth summer nearly over and school about to commence, it’s a good idea that parents and their children all get on the same page now.
On the same page
Time to remove the hazards
Every time the town Solid Waste and Recycling Department sponsors its Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day, I’m never prepared, so I miss it. I can’t say that I have a lot of hazardous waste in my house that I need to discard, but I do have two 1-gallon containers of gasoline; one of them has a gas and oil mixture.
The gasoline container is from the days when I used to mow my own lawn. Now I have a lawn service, so that gasoline is pretty old. The other container is for my garden rototiller, which I use once a year in the spring. I never use the whole gallon of the gas-oil mixture so it just sits there until the next year.
The fact that they sit in my garage scares me. On really hot days, I can smell them. I could have taken them to the Hazwaste Central place in New Haven, but the thought of driving on Interstate 95 with two gallons of gasoline in the back of my car scares me more than having them sit in my garage.
So this year I am ready for the collection day, which takes place on Saturday, Aug. 25, at Veterans Park on Reef Road from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. I plan on getting there early because from what I’ve seen from past reports, the line can be long. To save time, the town department has online the form to fill out prior to arriving at the collection site. You can access it here.
Also, the department is looking for volunteers to help from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers do not handle any of the hazardous waste. To volunteer, contact Michael Zembruski at 203-256-3023 or MZembruski@town.fairfield.ct.us. For more information about anything regarding solid waste or recycling, go here.
Congratulations to the home team
As Fairfield Citizen Sports Editor Pat Pickens wrote in his article, “Fairfield American will be going back to Little League’s grandest stage.” What a terrific achievement for a group of young men who know what it means to be a team.
Our team triumphed over Bedford, N.H., 14-0 in the New England Regional final on Saturday, giving them a slot in the Little League World Series. Fairfield will open its series play against the West Regional champion, Petaluma, Calif., on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Lamade Field in South Williamsport, Pa.
Fairfield American is going to the World Series for the second time in three seasons.
Congratulations to Fairfield American. They’ve made a whole town proud.
For two great articles on the team’s winning game and a look at its talent, go here and here.
Classic car cruise night Saturday
If you are looking for something different to do this weekend, head over to the Brick Walk promenade, 1215 Post Road, on Saturday, Aug. 11, for the Classic Car Show, which will include a free live concert. The event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m.
Attendees are invited to bring their classic cars to the parking area behind the shops. Trophies, prizes and food also will be featured.
The event is hosted by the Connecticut Seaport Car Club and sponsored by Fairfield County Bank. More information can be found at www.klebanproperties.com or www.ctseaportcarclub.com.
The Connecticut Seaport Car Club is based in Fairfield County and formed in an effort to make owning and restoring classic cars fun, says its website. Most of its members own and restore vintage autos, street rods, trucks, customs, stock original cars & antiques. “The purpose of this club is to go to area car shows and cruise nights together,” states the website. The club hosts its own weekly cruise night on Thursdays from May to October from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Fresh Market store, 605 Post Road East, Westport.
A gardener’s lament
My garden has taken quite a hit. The heat and humidity, and long periods without rain, have just about taken the life of everything in the plot.
Even though I was diligent about keeping the plants watered, it wasn’t enough without regular steady rain. And then the hot temperatures just wilted all that looked so healthy back in the spring. Also, I have had a white fly infestation; a pesky woodchuck, which has eaten a zucchini and some tomatoes; and some other pest, probably beetles, that have decimated the basil. All that hard work and expense gone.
The only good news is that I have been able to pick some beans and cucumbers. I guess nothing kills them.
If your garden has been hit like mine, perhaps master gardener Diana Ringelheim can shed some light on what went wrong. She will be speaking at two session – 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 10, and Sept. 14, at Fairfield Woods Branch Library, 1147 Fairfield Woods Road. The August session will focus on recognizing symptoms of heat and water stress and dividing certain perennial plants. In September, she will discuss planting daffodils and tulips in the fall for spring flowers and sowing vegetable seeds until mid-December for early spring harvest. She graduated from the Connecticut Master Gardener program in 2000, and became an advanced master gardener in 2003. She also has a certificate in field botany from the New York Botanical Gardens.
The program is free. For information and to register, call 203-255-7308 or visit www.fairfieldpubliclibray.org.
Who doesn’t love a tag sale?
Last weekend, we had the much-anticipated and -attended Pequot Library Summer Book Sale. Thousands of people browsed and bought, all in an effort to find the right reading materials and at the same time raise money for the library.
This weekend, Operation Hope’s 23rd Community Tag Sale takes place on Aug. 4 and 5 at First Church Congregational, 148 Beach Road, in its parking lot and inside its auditorium. Operation Hope, which runs homeless shelters for men, women and families as well as associated services and programs such as a food pantry and community kitchen, has its offices right next door to the church.
Individuals, businesses, religious and civic organizations have donated numerous items to be sold to help raise money for the social service organization, which is so vital to our community. We all know that nonprofit groups always need an influx of money to keep their services and programs going, so the more you buy, the more people who are helped.
The tag sale hours are Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For information, call (203)-292-5588 or visit Operation Hope’s website.
Explore the War of 1812
The Fairfield Museum and History Center, 370 Beach Road, will chronicle a major part of Fairfield’s and Connecticut’s past with its exhibit “The War of 1812 at Sea: Marine Paintings from the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery Collection,” which opens today, July 28, and continues through Sept. 9
The exhibition explains the great sea battles of the War of 1812, many of which occurred off the Connecticut Coast, and features marine paintings from the collection of art dealer and collector Russell Jinishian. Featured artists include Robert Sticker, Paul Garnett, William Walsh, Patrick O’Brien and Lloyd McCaffery, a model maker. For more information, start here.
Additionally, two more programs related to this era will take place later. “Historic Sites of the War of 1812″ will be offered on Sunday, Aug. 26, at 2 p.m. The free program features a tour of the Powderhouse, behind Tomlinson Middle School. Attendees will learn about the role of Fort Union and Fort Defense by Betty Oderwald of Fairfield, the president of the U.S. Daughters of 1812, CT Chapter. The Powderhouse, which was built in 1814, was used to store ammunition in case of British attacks. After the tour, participants will reassemble on the Town Green at 2:45 p.m. to learn more about the celebration of peace following the end of the war. Then at the Old Academy, there will be a tour and refreshments.
On Sunday, Sept. 9, the War of 1812 will be explored in a free program cosponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the U.S. Daughters of 1812, CT Chapter. Oderwald again will be the facilitator and she will discuss the sea captains and Fairfield’s maritime history and its relationship to Southport and Black Rock harbors.
To register for both programs, call 203-259-1598.
Honoring and helping cancer survivors
In 2005, the Connecticut Challenge Bike Ride hit the streets for the first time. It was an immediate success, and has grown ever more since then.
It began with Jeff Keith, a cancer survivor and athlete who also has raised tons of money for research, and his friend, John Ragland, a businessman and cyclist. According to the ride’s website, in January 2005, Jeff visited “the David B. Perini Quality of Life Clinic at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston – a clinic for pediatric cancer survivors – and felt strongly that adult cancer survivors needed access to the same type of resource in Connecticut. He approached, Dr. Richard Edelson, Director of Yale Cancer Center, with the proposition to fund a survivorship clinic at the newly planned Yale Cancer Center facility in New Haven. Dr. Edelson and his colleagues at Yale were very enthusiastic about the concept and signed on.”
Then the CT Challenge Bike Ride was born.
To give you an idea on how successful it has become, in 2011, 113 teams participated. That’s just teams, and doesn’t take into account the single riders who joined in and raised funds.
The mission of the Connecticut Challenge “is to empower cancer survivors to live longer, happier, healthier lives, by creating and funding programs, offering credible resources, and building a community of support.” But that has grown too. Instead of cancer survivors traveling to one location for services, “the CT Challenge supports hospitals and community organizations across the state so that survivors can receive the unique care they need right in their local community.” Toward that end, the CT Challlenge broke ground last year on the Center for Survivorship, which will open in September at 250 Pequot Ave., Southport, and provide survivors as well as their families and other caregivers resources in several areas, such as exercise, nutrition and psychosocial support.
All this started with two friends talking. Amazing. For more information on the organization, visit its website.
This year’s ride begins Friday, July 27, with a pasta dinner from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Fairfield County Hunt Club, Long Lots Road, Westport, which is the base of operations for the 2012 challenge. On Saturday, July 28, the eighth annual ride takes off at 6 a.m. when registration opens. From 7:35 to 7:55 a.m., there will be opening ceremonies, the national anthem, a survivors’ walk of honor and the release of butterflies. At 8 a.m., the ride begins. Various distances are chosen by participants. They start in Westport and go north. By 5:30 p.m., riders return to the hunt club. At 7 p.m., the festivities conclude.
For information on how to participate, visit the ride website.
To read heartwarming and inspiring reasons why people participate, start here.
And for more information on the programs funded by Connecticut Challenge and their impact on survivors, visit the website.
