After a professional development day, winter break, then 2 more blizzard snow days, Westport schools were finally back in session this morning.
It did not start out well.
A parent of a student reports, “Cars were driving 5 miles an hour on the way to school. Many were sliding all over the place. Scary!”
A Staples High School senior adds, “Wild school opening. 4 students in my first period class. Roads covered in snow. Couldn’t see the center line on the Post Road.”
The good news is: The sun will peek through this afternoon. The temperature will be about 40.
The bad news: Snow showers are predicted, Sunday through Tuesday.
Car and school bus navigate snow-covered roads very carefully this morning. (Photo/Dayle Brownstein)
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The Board of Education “Community Conversation” scheduled for noon today at the Westport Library has been postponed.
A new date will be announced soon.
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And 2 delays: The Senior Center will open at 10:30 a.m. today, 2 hours late.
The Westport Library opens at 11 a.m.
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Residents caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or other dementia often feel alone.
There’s help available. The Residence at Westport and Westport Library are collaborating on a monthly support group, with professional facilitators.
It’s a chance to share stories with others who understand the challenges, in a safe and supportive environment.
Educational presentations may be provided, and participants will help choose discussion topics.
It meets the second Tuesday of every month (11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Westport Library). No RSVPs are necessary; it’s a drop-in group.
Questions? Email mledney@residencewestport.com.
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For the second time this winter, SCA Crowley lent a clean-up hand.
The property management firm and Penna Construction — both longtime Westport-based firms — lent vehicles and crews yesterday night. Together, they cleared some of the snow that remained on downtown streets and sidewalks.
It takes a village. Thanks, SCA and Penna, for helping make ours a little less treacherous!
(Photo/Andrew Colabella)
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Also downtown: S’mores — courtesy of Nômade — are a winter Holiday Stroll favorite.
But they made an appearance yesterday, on the Main Street sidewalk.
And you thought nothing good would come out of that blizzard …
Who wants s’mores? (Photo/Sal Liccione)
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Many Westport Country Playhouse Script in Hand play reading selections are contemporary works.
The next one is a classic — and an encore presentation.
“The Subject Was Roses” — winner of the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and a Tony Award for Best Play — comes to the storied stage on Monday (March 2, 7 p.m.).
It was produced at the Playhouse in 1966, then again in 1982.
“Roses” is set in May of 1946. As World War II draws to an end, a young soldier returns to the Bronx apartment where he was raised. Hoping his homecoming will repair his parents’ troubled marriage, he presses for small acts of reconciliation, only to expose years of resentment and emotional distance. As tensions rise, the family confronts the truth of their relationships and the life they share.
Tickets are $35. Click here to purchase, and for more information.
Etai Benson stars in “The Subject Was Roses.”
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Cohl Katz loves her Smith Corona typewriter.
But it jammed up — and she has no idea who can fix it.
If you know a typewriter repair person — or can do it yourself — email cohlita@yahoo.com.
Who knows — she may write a nice thank-you note on it!
Kids: Do you know what this is?
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Dogs in a Pile — the 20-somethings band with “old souls and limitless chops,” brings their psychedelic-tinged jazz/funk/rock to the Levitt Pavilion on July 17.
Touring is in their blood: They’ve averaged 130 shows a year since 2022.
Tickets go on sale Friday (February 27, 10 a.m.). Click here to purchase, and for more information.
Dogs in a Pile
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From Dogs in a Pile to a red-tailed hawk in a tree … here’s today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature photo:
(Photo/Todd Ehrlich)
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And finally … on this date in 1873, 4 years before the invention of the phonograph, Enrico Caruso — the most popular operatic tenor of the early 20th century, and the first great recording star — was born. He died in 1921, at 48, from peritonitis.
(Where else but “06880” can you find Dogs in a Pile and Enrico Caruso in the same place? There’s lot more every day too, on your hyper-local blog. Please click here to support our work. Thanks!)
This morning was reckless and I would imagine our Superintendent did not drive in to work.
Yep. And the BOE postpones a “community conversation” on a day that schools are open.
The problem is the Superintendent needed a 30% raise in salary!! Then things would have gone differently!
Westport connection to Enrico Caruso – Francis Coppicus, general secretary of the Metropolitan Opera in the early 1900s, later managed Enrico Caruso among other famous opera stars. Francis Coppicus lived at 26 Calumet Road in Westport from the early 1950s until 1963, when he retired as Director of Columbia Artists.
I remember when I was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, about a half hour from the base of Mount Washington in Pinkham notch, we waited out at the road looking through the near white out snow storm conditions and we would see the headlights and the flashers of the school bus on its way toward us to pick us up and bring us to school. A few times when we had to go up the long curving hill near Humphrey’s Ledge on West Side Road, the bus driver would stop a ways from the bottom of the hill. He would then direct all the kids in the front half of the bus to go towards the back over where the back wheels were. We would sit on top of each other at the back of the bus. He then told us when he yelled out, “NOW!” we would have to start jumping up and down. He threw the bus in gear and we quickly made our way to the long hill. Once we starting to go up the hill he yelled “NOW!” and we started to jump up and down making the back of the bus go up and down and making the tires dig in the deep snow! We fish-tailed slowly back and forth as the bus continued to climb up the long curving hill. Once at the top, the bus driver stopped and stood up and yelled “WE DID IT!”. We all started to yell and clap and high-five each other. We went and sat back where we were and continued on our way to school on a stormy winter day.
One day a week, we would bring our skis, poles, and boots to the school bus and put them in the rack on the side of the bus. We would get dropped off at school and while we had class, there were guys in pick up trucks that would come and bring our skis to Cranmore Mountain. After an early lunch, we would board the school buses and they would bring us to the mountain for our ski lessons for the rest of the day at the Hannes Schneider Ski School located right at Cranmore Mountain in North Conway. What a way to grow up!
What great memories of going to school in the winter up there!
Although my kids are grown, when I see a daytime meeting I think of all those working parents. Should these conversations sometimes take place after work? Are they recorded?