Earlier this year, an abandoned tiger-striped cat set up residence in a Westport resident’s garage.
Town animal control officer Peter Reid reached out to long-time Westport Animal Shelter Advocates volunteer Sandy Young to assist with trapping.
WASA is the volunteer group for Westport Animal Control. The cat was trapped, and set up in Young’s home as a foster.
While recuperating, it gave birth to 5 kittens. She’s been a loving and protective mother, but now it is time for the 2-month-old young ones to find homes.
It is hard to get good images of kittens for social media. But Staples High School Photography Club student Andrea Jaramillo and advisor Stacey Phelan organized a photo shoot.
Reid and WASA president Julie Loparo got the okay to use the Westport Police Department classroom. Club members Hazel Rossi, Elizabeth Stauder and Beatrice Schwabe joined Jaramillo and Phelan, to calm the babies and capture their best sides.
Interested in adopting them? (The kittens, not the girls.) Call 203-557-0361, or email wasa1@optonline.net. To support their care with a donation, click here.
During the photo shoot, and …
… one of the 5 kittens.
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Next month’s Westport Country Playhouse Script in Hand show is very timely.
“What the Constitution Means to Me” takes center stage December 1 (7 p.m.).
At age 15, playwright Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition by competing in Constitutional debate competitions across the country. In this play that is “hilarious, hopeful, and achingly human,” she revisits her teenage self to explore how the document has shaped her family, her future — and our nation.
Click here for tickets, and more information.
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Black Friday shopping events — once confined to the day after Thanksgiving — has morphed into multi-day affairs (on both sides of the holiday).
Now, Sorelle Gallery takes things even further.
The Church Lane shop offers hundreds of original work, by local and national artists, at reduced prices.
The “Black Friday” sale has started already.
And it’s on through December 2.
Even better: A proportion of the proceeds will be donated to Sustainable CT.
Click here for details, and to view art on sale.
Ned Martin’s “Common Core” has been reduced from $13,100 to $5,000.
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Speaking of the holidays: The biggest toy drive in town returns next month.
The Westport Police Department, Police Athletic League and Westport Police Benevolent Association will once again collect new, unopened and unwrapped toys for all ages and genders — along with cash donations — in the ASF Sports parking lot.
The dates are Saturdays and Sundays, December 6-7 and 13-14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
From December 1 on, there will be collection boxes at ASF, Westport Police headquarters on Jesup Road, Awesome Toys and Gifts, and the Toy Post.
Mark the dates. And start shopping!
Westport Police, PAL — and Yogi Bear — collected toys for underprivileged youngsters last year, at ASF. (Photo/Cat Malkin)
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The Saugatuck Rowing Club celebrated the 25th anniversary of its boathouse yesterday.
Owner Howard Winklevoss; his sons Cameron and Tyler, who began their Harvard and Olympic careers there, and founder James Mangan were among the many current and former rowers and coaches who joined in the festivities.
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker offered her congratulations too, for SRC’s success in putting Westport on the “national and international” rowing map.
From left: Howard Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, James Mangan, Cameron Winklevoss. (Photo/Dan Woog)
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Also last night: Over 400 people packed the Westport Library to celebrate 60 years of the Grateful Dead. The Spadtastics — a Darien tribute band who themselves have been playing together for 40 years — starred in the Trefz Forum.
The modified Supper & Soul concert-only show was sponsored by the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce and the Library. Three restaurants offered Dead- inspired drinks, with Basso creating the “Grapefruit Dead” gin-based concoction.
The Spadtastics, on stage. (Photo/Matthew Mandell)
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The Westport Project — the new fully sustainable home going up at 16 Westport Avenue — has just added a 9th episode to its video documentary series.
The shows — starring builder Chris O’Dell of the O’Dell Group design/build firm, and designer/actor Eva Amurri — have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
The latest episode — featuring the appliances planned for the new home — should be of interest to all Aitoro fans. Who doesn’t love the Norwalk appliance store, known for its huge selections, customer service, and community service?
Click here or below to see.
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Speaking of the environment: Aspetuck Land Trust’s “Lunch & Learn” webinars are always intriguing. And educational.
The next one is “Mini-Forest Revolution: Rewilding our Communities for Climate Resilience” (November 20, 12 noon).
Mini-forests support hundreds of species, are many degrees cooler than its surroundings, soak up stormwater, take up spaces no bigger than a tennis court, and become maintenance free within a few years.
Featured speaker Hannah Lewis has planted 7 mini-forests in Bridgeport. She’ll soon add the biggest one in New England. Click here to register, and for more information.
A typical mini-forest.
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A new artist has been added to George Barrett and Brian Keane‘s show at the Westport Library next Sunday (November 16, 2 p.m.).
Sarah Gross is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter. She has performed with Zach Bryan, and won Jimmy Fallon’s “Battle of the Instant Songwriters.”
Barrett — the 1973 Staples High School graduate (and former Orphenian) who grew up here in a home filled with classical, folk, rock, blues and jazz; whose influences include Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Sting and Norah Jones, and whose new album, “Rearrange Things,” is released this month — will be joined by Grammy-winning musician/composer/producer (and Staples ’71 grad) Brian Keane, plus other guests.
Before the show, Barrett and Keane will chat about their unique life journeys and unexpected reunion. The conversation will be hosted by “06880”‘s Dan Woog, who has known both for over 50 years.
It’s a fundraiser for the Library. Tickets are $20. Click here to purchase, and for more information.
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Congratulations to Lina Elwood. The Westport resident and Hopkins School sophomore is a winner in the Music Teachers National Association Piano Competition. She’ll move on to compete in the next round: the Eastern Division. Those winners move on to the national finals.
Lina has won top prizes at numerous state, regional and international competitions. She has also played with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and Norwalk Symphony Orchestra.
Lina Elwood
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Long-time Westport resident Edith Zwick Evans (formerly Edith Shufro) died on March 22 in Hamden. She was 99.
Edie was born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1925. Her family fractured when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. Her mother and a sister died in Treblinka.
A year after the arrival of the Nazis, Edie escaped Austria on a Kindertransport train to the Netherlands. She was taken to England and lived there until 1943, when she sailed to the US in the midst of the war.
Edie earned a bachelor’s degree at Antioch College, and a master’s in social work at Columbia University. A friend from Antioch introduced her to Arnold Shufro, a textile salesman in New York City.
They married and moved from Manhattan to Westport after their first 2 children were born. They raised three children on Crestwood Road.
Edie regularly attended French club luncheons with Westport friends and studied sculpture at the Silvermine Arts Center in New Canaan with Stanley Bleifeld, of the National Academy of Design. I
n the mid-1970s Edie returned to part-time social worker at High Meadows School in Hamden.
Eventually she and Arnold divorced, and Edie married Robert Evans. The couple became innkeepers at the Sedgwick Inn and restaurant in Berlin, New York.
After Bob died, Edie lived in Williamstown, Massachusetts, then spent her final decade at the Whitney Center in Hamden.
Edie is survived by her daughters Cathy and Carol Shufro. Her son Mark died of a chronic illness in 2022. Her grandchild Sarah Shufro Mandelkern died as a child. Edie’s survivors include daughter-in-law Lisa Kerpen Shufro, 6 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
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Most of our “Westport … Naturally” feature photos of deer show them in profile. The creatures seldom engage with humans.
But today’s image — by Dana Kuyper, from Over Rock Lane, off Compo Road South — shows this one staring straight at the camera.
They’re so handsome. Until they start devouring our plants.
(Photo/Dana Kuyper)
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And finally … today is the birthday of Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. The beautiful woman with the beautiful voice — who was born in 1936, and died in 2009 at 72, from leukemia — had many Westport connections.
(“06880” is where Westport meets the world. Mary Travers was part of our Westport world too. If you enjoy connections like these — or just our daily songs — please click here to support us. Thanks!)
Here’s a suggestion – perhaps Aspetuck Land Trust or Earthplace could step up and provide 1 acre of flat, clear land for a community garden, saving Westport Town property for affordable housing.
I walked into Danbury Hospital one day many years ago and a very familiar receptionist asked me if I needed help. After a moment, I realized it was Mary Travers, a volunteer and patient of a doctor friend of mine. It was unexpected and a total delight. She was a very special person and a memorable performer. That day she became a real person to me and will always be just that.
Thanks for the story about Mary Travers. The group’s music has gotten me through many tough times over the years. As a product of the ’60s, I still regularly listen to their music. They helped change our generation. Sadly, many of the things they advocated for and cared deeply about have fallen out of favor with subsequent generations. Hopefully, we’ll return to the values that they advocated. A boy can always dream.
Cool pic of the deer. Any second now Jack Backiel will ask if Lina Elwood is related to the folks from Elwood’s Diner..(Post East circa 50’s and 60’s). LOL
Gorgeous picture of that beautiful buck, Dana!
The Rowing club has changed the lives of many adults and of course teens. The Winklevoss twins were really accomplished rowers, world class, but I must say that it is their father Howard Winklevoss, who along with the phenomenal training staff, all credit goes to.
Thank you Howard and your staff for giving us this incredible club and opportunity that changed so many lives.
As expats living in Liberia in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, my very young, cool Dad used play Peter, Paul and Mary for us, on his Reel to reel.. lol.
I never knew about the Mary connection. How cool.
Thank you Dan for a nice trip down memory lane. I will send him all these songs.