There are many ways Westporters can volunteer to help our community.
One of the best is through Volunteer Emergency Medical Services.
It’s a big commitment. With a big payoff: helping people at a stressful time, and actually saving lives.
The next Emergency Medical Technician course begins October 5. It provides students with topics ranging from basic bandaging to childbirth and multi-system trauma care. The course runs through January.
No prior experience is necessary. For more information and to register for the EMT class, click here.
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The Artists Collective of Westport’s annual trunk show is much more than, well, art sold from actual car trunks.
There’s music and food (and easels, panels and tables too).
The next one is Sunday, October 4 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), at the Westport Library’s lower parking lot.
Bring a large vehicle, to haul away your purchases.
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Westport has a Minuteman Yacht Club. A Cedar Point Yacht Club. A Saugatuck Harbor Yacht Club.
But no “Compo Yacht Club.”
That didn’t stop Merlin Classics — the Greens Farms company that creates original designs with a retro and vintage feel, customized by city and state — from designing one.
The website calls it “Westport’s ‘finest institution since 1920,’ founded the very week the taps ran dry and dedicated ever since to seamanship, navigation and the six o’clock gun.
“The club burgee flies a martini where lesser clubs fly a star, and in 100 years no member has ever been observed actually sailing — although many tell tall tales. This is the ship’s store: everything below carries the flag, everyone who wears it holds the rank of Commodore, and dues are one olive. Every piece is printed to order in the USA, and profits support hunger relief.”
The design can be purchased on t-shirts, caps, shot glasses, coffee mugs and more. Click here to see.
And though the Compo Yacht Club does not really exist, Merlin does. And they’re absolutely donating some of the proceeds to local hunger relief organizations.
Ahoy, mates!
Some of the Merlin merchandise.
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There’s a new speech pathology service for teenagers and adults in town.
Melissa Katz recently launched Beyond Words Language & Cognition. She specializes in helping adults with communication, language (aphasia), cognitive, voice and swallowing difficulties related to neurological conditions including stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor, concussion and more.
She also provides care partner support and educational lectures regarding healthy aging and cognitive wellness.
Before moving to Connecticut, Katz worked as a Senior Speech-Language Pathologist at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia on the stroke and brain injury unit. She co-initiated the music therapy program and led the Cancer Care Committee.
“After moving to Connecticut, I realized that it can be challenging for adults and families to navigate life when returning home from a hospital or rehab after having a neurological illness. Many people who are ‘higher functioning’ may not even go to the hospital and aren’t set up with any resources.” she says. “I wanted to create a practice where therapy is personalized and focused on helping people communicate and function more confidently in everyday life.”
For more information, click here or email melissa@beyondwordslc.com.
Melissa Katz
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Huw Jones — new executive director of the 87-year-old Norwalk Symphony — spoke to the Sunrise Rotary Club on Friday.
He offered historical highlights, like the 1966 Itzhak Perlman performance of Tchaikovsky.
They’ll showcase the same work Festival in their season opener October 24 (7:30 p.m,, Norwalk Concert Hall). They will perform his “Pathétique{ Symphony, his virtuosic “Violin Concerto” with Sirena Huang as soloist, and 3 songs by Nicolas Flagello. Click here for tickets, and more information.
Sunrise Rotarian Katie Augustyn and Jim Ezzes, with Huw Jones.
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Miller Motorcars continues its support of breast cancer awareness this Thursday (September 24).
They’ll host the American Cancer Society’s annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, and the Men Wear Pink Campaign, at Maserati of Westport (5:30 to 8 p.m.).
The evening includes music from Old Exit 19, raffles, and more.
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A former Westporter, who returns occasionally, has noticed that some things never change here.
Literraly.
He writes: “In Green’s Farms, if you drive down Westway Road about 150 feet before the bridge over Sasco Creek crossing into Fairfield, a sign reads ‘Construction Ahead, Road Use Restricted, State Liability Limited.'”
“There is no actual construction, but the sign has been there forever. Google Maps can trace it back about a decade and a half.
“But I place the installation of the sign decades earlier. I think it’s been there since about 1989 or so.
“I was in grade school at the time. and the sign prompted me to ask my parents what ‘liability’ means.
“Maybe your readers remember the actual construction project it was put up for. It could be the bridge over Sasco Creek. Perhaps it can be designated an official landmark due to longevity.”
Long-lived sign.
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Michael Szeto sends today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo of a juvenile cooper hawk with its prey, on a bench in his backyard.
“Cooper hawks are agile hunters, frequently found in yards with bird feeders,” he says.
“Unfortunately, this bench is located next to my feeder. So regrettably, I have to assume that is where the prey met its demise.”
(Photo/Michael Szeto)
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And finally …. this is not a pink Maserati (story above). But it’s close:
(Another day, another Roundup … and another gentle reminder that this hyper-local blog relies on reader support. If you appreciate what we do, please click here to help. Thank you!)
