Save the date: March 13.
Just a few weeks after drawing an SRO crowd to a Y’s Men event at the Library, Geno Auriemma returns to Westport.
The legendary University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach will appear at Mitchells of Westport.
And he’s bringing his current team.
Tickets to the benefit for Bleeding Blue for Good — the organization that provides name, image and likeness opportunities for UConn student athletes (and Connecticut charities) — are $100 each. Children under 12 (maximum of 2 per adult) are free.
Light appetizers, wine and beer will be available.
Details for ticket purchases will be announced soon.
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Messages in bottles: They’re not just New Yorker cartoons.
Former Staples High School social studies teacher Drew Coyne was out yesterday morning in Fairfield, walking snowy Penfield Beach.
Well, shiver me timbers! He spotted a bottle bobbing by the shore.
And yes, inside was a message.
It had not been bobbing long. It was sent just 4 days earlier.
Nor did it bob far. There’s a Westport connection, as you can see:
(Photo/Drew Coyne)
“Thanks to whoever passed along the car wash coupon,” Drew says.
“I’ll do my best to get out my own first message in a bottle soon.”
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Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day — and in the coffee stains.
This is what happened when Lauri Weiser spilled her mug.
Rod Serling: Eat your heart out.
(Photo/Lauri Weiser)
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Meanwhile, in the woods of Weston, Jolantha — the town’s favorite pig — warmed up for the heart-felt holiday the best way she knows how:
(Photo/Hans Wilhelm)
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Also in Weston: The History & Culture Center celebrates Black History Month and Women’s History Month with historian/storyteller Tammy Denease.
She’ll portray Bessie Coleman, America’s first African-American female aviator, during an educational and entertaining performance March 2 (3 p.m.).
The event was originally publicized with a fee. It is now free.
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It was truly a grand opening at the opening of Body Fit Training, in Compo Shopping Center.
They opened their “home” — and gym community to combat veterans of the Catch a Lift Fund.
That’s the national non-profit that helps housands of post-9/11 combat-injured veterans regain mental and physical health through gym memberships, in-home equipment, personalized fitness and nutrition programs, and a peer support network.
Westporters have a special relationship with CAL, after more than a decade of strong support.
Two Catch a Lift Army veterans in town — Jason Smith and Matt Leyva — joined Andy Berman and Gama Blanco to organize the great opening event. (Hat tip: Adam Vengrow)
Grand opening at Body Fit Training.
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Yesterday’s snow sent the Westport Rotary Club back to COVID days.
They met not in person, but by Zoom.
Guest speaker Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a clinical researcher and author on the topic of epigenetics and longevity gave great news: Scientists can now measure and influence the bio-chemical processes that control genes and the rate of aging.
She said that a program of diet and lifestyle intervention can reverse the process of aging on a genetic level in as little as 8 weeks.
Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, via Zoom.
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Longtime Westport and Weston resident Margaret (Peggy) Barton died peacefully on Sunday. She was 89.
Peggy first moved to Westport in 1963. Born and raised in Queens, she graduated from Barnard College in 1955 after transferring from Connecticut College to be closer to her future husband, orthopedic surgeon Jerry Barton.
Peggy went on to ern a master’s degree in early education from New York University, and later at the New York School of Interior Design. She taught kindergarten in the New York City public school system, chaired Big Brother/Big Sister of Westport, volunteered in the Weston schools, co-founded and spent many years with Quintessence Interiors, and later worked as a travel consultant.
Her family calls Peggy “vivacious and fun-loving, with abundant energy.” She was a graceful skier and fiercely competitive tennis and paddle tennis player, competing at the Weston Field Club and Aspetuck Valley Country Club.
Peggy is survived by Jerry, her husband of 68 years; daughter Cathy Zales (Steve) and son John Barton (Lisa); grandchildren Scott Zales (Diana), Greg Zales (Mackenzie), Graham Barton and Lucy Barton, and great-granddaughter Delaney Zales.
Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice at RVNA in Ridgefield.
Peggy Barton
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Today’s Westport … Naturally” photo, by Staples High School senior Aiden Schachter, captures the essence of this feature: an animal, plants, water and weather, all together in one shot.
(Photo/Aiden Schachter)
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And finally … if you were guessing that (based on one of the stories above) today’s featured song would be “Message in a Bottle”: Guess again.
This is a special day. So, out of the squintillion songs about love I could have picked, here are a few of my favorites.
(NOTE: These are not gender-specific. Anyone can “love” these songs — and we all do.)
PS: What are your favorite love songs? Click “Comments” below.
(Happy Valentine’s Day! We’d “love” you to support “06880.” Please click here, to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)