There’s not a lot to do while waiting — and waiting — for your Hook’d burgers or fries.
You can watch the other people also waiting at the Compo Beach concession stand. You can stare at your phone, waiting for your order to be called.
Or you can glance up at the ceiling.
If you do that, you’ll see — written in small letters, but clearly visible on a wooden beam — the words “Help me!”
That was the subject of last week’s Photo Challenge. (Click here to see.)
Dave Eason, Fred Cantor, Patricia McMahon, Jonathan McClure, Seth Schachter, Andrew Colabella and Beth Berkowitz have spent enough hours on line to know exactly where that image was taken. Congratulations!
Beams of a different kind highlight this week’s Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Bruce McFadden)
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The Westport Library’s recent 3-part medical series — focusing on cardiac issues — really got to the, um, heart of things. Each session drew SRO crowds.
Next up: a 3-part series centering on the brain.
Once again, recently retired physician Dr. Robert Altbaum has curated a team of experts, and will moderate each evening.
September 7: Dr. Daryl Story will discuss strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), along with how to maximize chances for recovery.
October 30: Dar. Dario Zagar on headaches and migraines, including new therapies.
November 21: Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, on new research into dementia.
Dr. Robert Altbaum
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Rachel Doran — the 2015 Staples High School graduate who died just before her senior year at Cornell University after a rare reaction to common medication — was honored yesterday in Ithaca.
Cornell Human Ecology remembered her contributions to the campus through her “intellect, creativity, warmth and sense of humor.”
Her legacy will now live on. An exhibit space in the Human Ecology Building — where she developed her talents as a curator — was named in her honor.
Friends of the Westport Center for Senior Activities — the non-profit that identifies, schedules, funds and runs an array of programs at the Senior Center — recently elected new board officers.
Pictured below (left to right): Sue Kane, secretary; Marsha Darmory, co-president; Wendy Petty, Senior Center executive director; Diane Bosch, co-president; Molly Alger, treasurer.
Lifelong Westport resident Mary Q. Bulakites died peacefully on August 4 at her home. She was 95.
Mary worked as a clerk in the Assessor’s Office for the town of Westport for many years. She retired in 1980.
Mary was a member of Assumption Church, and the Joseph J. Clinton VFW Post Ladies Auxiliary.
Mary was predeceased by her husband George, her first husband Joseph McCaffrey, her sister Kathleen Quinn Marcroft and her daughter Kathi LeBlanc. She is survived by her grandson Ian LeBlanc (Ashley) of Norwalk, granddaughter Karis LeBlanc (Dmitry) of Brookly,, and great-grandchildren Aurora and Merida LeBlanc.
A graveside service will be held this Tuesday (August 15, Assumption Cemetery. Kings Highway North, 2 p.m.). Click here to leave online condolences. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Services.
And finally … Tom Jones died Friday, at his home in Sharon, Connecticut. He was 95.
Not the Welsh heartthrob. This Tom Jones wrote the book and lyrics for “The Fantasticks.” The show opened in 1960, and ran for an astonishing 42 years.
It all started with the memorable opening number. Click here for a full obituary.
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From 3,500 feet, in a 3-seat prop plane, I got a remarkable view of our town.
I marveled at the amount of water. The compactness of downtown and Saugatuck. And the many, many trees that provided a canopy, nearly everywhere.
In 1934, a statewide project photographed every square inch of the state.
The images are housed at the University of Connecticut. They’re fascinating.
Fred Cantor found this shot of Westport:
Click on or hover over to enlarge.
Amonghe surprises, he writes, are “how many houses there were by that point in the Compo Beach neighborhood (bottom center of the photo), and the fairly large number of houses in the Compo Hill/Old Mill Beach neighborhood (just above it).
“I imagine most of these were probably not winterized, but still…”
However, Fred adds, “I expected to see more homes directly on South Compo Road, leading from the train tracks to the beach.”
Also of note: The crooked intersection of South Compo, Bridge Street and Greens Farms Road (just above the railroad tracks). It looked a bit different, before I-95 was built 2 decades later.
What do you notice? Click “Comments” below to share your observations.
(Friday Flashback is a weekly feature on “06880.” Please click here to support it — and this entire hyper-local blog. Thank you!)
Like everyone else in town, “06880” loves the beach.
The other day Andrew Brennan — our summer intern — headed to Compo. He spent some time chatting with the lifeguards (during their breaks, of course), to learn more about their jobs.
What do they like? What don’t they like? What do they do, besides sit in a chair, survey the Sound and get tan?
Click below for the latest installment of “06880 On The Go.”
The final summer meet-up for Club 203 — Westport’s social group for adults with disabilities — is Monday (August 14, 6 to 7:30 p.m.) at MoCA. The evening includes a chance to make art.
Season 2 begins September 20. Details will be announced soon. Click here for more information on the club.
As crabbers flock nightly to Sherwood Mill Pond and Old Mill Beach, they’ve lost one species: horseshoe crabs.
Yesterday, Governor Lamont signed a bill banning the harvest of horseshoe crabs in Connecticut waters.
The legislation was sought by advocates who say that the population in Long Island Sound has plummeted in recent years. Thousands of horseshoe crabs are captured each year, often for use by fishermen as bait in traps to catch whelk and eels.
Many are also captured by the biomedical industry, which uses blood from horseshoe crabs for vaccine research.
The population decline has also raised concerns from organizations dedicated to the conservation of birds, who say that migratory shorebirds like the red knot rely on horseshoe crab eggs for food during their annual migration to the Arctic.
New Jersey, Delaware and South Carolina have adopted similar bans.
Compo Beach horseshoe crab (Photo/Lauri Weiser)
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One of the most enjoyable sites for a fundraiser is the main pavilion at Sherwood Island State Park.
That’s the site for Shorefest. Set for September 8 (6 to 9 p.m.), it’s the only time of the year guests can stay at the park past sunset.
The evening includes food, live jazz piano, a silent auction (and of course, a Sherwood Island sunset).
Catering by Westfair Fish & Chips includes lobster, steak, salmon or vegetarian, plus appetizers, salad, dessert and beverages. Burgers and hot dogs are available for youngsters.
All proceeds support the habitat restoration, education and advocacy work of Friends of Sherwood Island State Park. Click here for tickets, and more information.
MoCA’s annual benefit — set for September 30 (7 p.m.) — has a special theme: “The Surrealist Soirée.”
The evening includes imaginative décor, avant-garde performers, a DJ, auction, and catering by Marcia Selden. Guests are encouraged to “dress creatively in line with the evening’s surrealist theme.” Click here for tickets, and more information.
Rosie Lundberg of Westport won gold recently, in the women’s U19 4+ race at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Paris.
Two other SRC athletes competed as well. Fairfielderes Ella Casano placed 4th in the women’s U19 8+, while Fairfield’s George Bentley was 5th in the mens’ U19 4+. Both are coxwsains.
The World competition followed SRC’s strong performance at the US Rowing Summer Nationals in Ohio last month.
Rosie Lundberg (center) and her Saugatuck Rowing Club gold medal-winning teammates. (Photo/Row2k)
If you’ve always wondered about “Uncovering the Non-Spherical Shapes of Bodies Beyond Neptune,” you’re in luck!
Darin Ragozzine — associate professor at Brigham Young University — will discuss that exact topic on next Tuesday (August 15, 8 p.m.), through the Westport Astronomical Society’s free science lecture series.
And finally, musical giant Robbie Robertson died yesterday in Los Angeles, after a long illness.
The lead guitarist and chief songwriter for The Band — the seminal Americana folk/rock/country/gospel group (including 4 Canadians, and only 1 American) — was 81.
The New York Times obituary quotes him: “I wanted to write music that felt like it could’ve been written 50 years ago, tomorrow, yesterday — that had this lost-in-time quality.” Click here for the full story.
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The large one in front of Stop & Shop — among the last survivors in Westport — was taken down a few days ago.
The removal was part of the Post Road improvement project.
We all know the gorgeous specimen on Long Lots Road. Where else in town can we see a majestic elm? Click “Comments,” with your favorite. (Hat tip: Nate Gibbons)
Sixteen members of the Connecticut Interstate Fire Crew left yesterday to fight wildfires in Montana. They flew from Bradley International Airport, on a multi-week deployment.
Among them: 2 former Westport Fire Department chiefs, Michael Kronick and Andrew Kingsbury.
Yesterday’s Westport Rotary meeting highlighted the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. President/CEO Susan Schnitzer and associate director Deo Byakisaka discussed their 105-year-old organization, which offers services, advocacy, and social, educational and life skills programming for refugees, immigrants, survivors of human trafficking and torture, and unaccompanied minors.
Deo described his own journey as a refugee, and his successful integration into the local community.
He left the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003 because of war, persecution and violence. He and his family spent 11 years in a resettlement camp in Uganda before arriving in Bridgeport in 2014.
CIRI helped him establish a productive life for himself and his children. He now gives back, working in refugee services at CIRI.
Deo Byakisaka, at yesterday’s Westport Rotary Club meeting.
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Fishermen are known for telling tall tales.
If these guys tell you they can walk on water: Don’t believe them.
(Photo/Jim Hood)
They were actually at the end of the Schlaet’s Point jetty, at Hillspoint Road and Soundview Drive, during high tide yesterday.
The best weekend on the Earthplace calendar returns soon.
It kicks off Saturday, September 30 (7 to 10 p.m.), with the “Woodside Bash.” There’s an open bar, fire pit, music by Pimpinella, and a mechanical bull. Click here for tickets.
The next day is for families. The Fall Festival (Sunday, October 1, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) includes a climbing wall, apple slingshot, donut on a string, pumpkin bowling, hayrides, a corn pool and more. Click here for tickets.
It’s been a while since the Westport Country Playhouse Script in Hand play reading series offered a good, old-fashioned romantic comedy.
But that’s next. “Maytag Virgin” takes the stage on August 21 (7 p.m.).
Script in Hand curator Mark Shanahan says, “I know our audience will fall in love with these wonderful characters as Jack and Lizzy meditate on life, love, and joys of folding laundry.”
For more information, including tickets, click here.
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The Abraham Accords, Iran appeasement, food inflation, security concerns, immigration, New York real estate — that’s a lot to cover.
But Avi Kaner did, in a wide-ranging interview with WABC radio’s Suzanne Miller.
Westporters know Avi as a former Board of Finance chair, and 2nd Selectman.
He was on the air though as co-owner of New York’s Morton Williams supermarket chain.
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