Actually, I was on vacation, and then we had a holiday, and then I broke my martini shaker, and then the weather was so nice, I didn't feel up to it for a few days. (These blog entries take days of preparation, you see.)

Anyway, I swung by Greenfield Hill on June 11th for the eighth annual Rose of Hope luncheon in Tom & Patti Keegan's backyard.

Marcia Gay Harden (Bad News Bears, Pollack, etc, etc.) was the speaker this year. There wasn't a dry eye in the tent when she was through.

Here are some photos from the event...

Last year, if you recall, they had a couple sexy Latin dancers over to spice things up.

This year, the event took place at the Southport horse farm of Joan & Jim McMahon, and -- as you might expect -- the event had an Old West theme. There were even a few horses there -- although they were a little small for John Wayne.

Here are some photos from the event:

The chairwomen for this year's event are the same as last year -- Heidi Prom, Jessica Selden and Nancy Kennedy.

Below is the official unexpurgated release, which has all the details. They pay me the big bucks here at the Post to re-write this stuff, but I decided to leave everything as Heidi wrote it (although her prose is a little florid here and there).

I also can say that the dogwoods are indeed blooming up on Greenfield Hill.

There's also a short film clip of the three of them discussing the 2008 festival.

GREENFIELD HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 73rd ANNUAL DOGWOOD FESTIVAL

The blooming of the dogwoods has begun!

Hundreds of trees with thousands of pink and white blossoms stand like soldiers along Bronson Road in Fairfield, welcoming spring and the thousands of visitors who will participate in the celebration of the season at the 73rdAnnual Dogwood Festival. This annual harbinger of spring is scheduled each year over Mother’s Day weekend, May 9 -11th in historic Greenfield Hill. The dramatic beauty of pink and white flowering trees look like tufts of cotton candy, dotting the landscape and providing the backdrop for this family friendly, old fashioned festival that boasts “a little something for everyone”.

The weekend’s events offer a multitude of attractions. The festival hours are Friday and Saturday, May 9-10th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, May 11th from 12 noon until 5 p.m. All proceeds raised go to charity.

Activities include one of the area’s largest tag sales, Kate’s Korner, will open in the expanded location of the Greenfield Hill Grange, located at 1873 Hillside. Thousands of bargains are available with free shuttle transportation from the Church to the Grange offered daily.

The town greens adjacent and across the street from the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church will be filled with over 40 crafters, offering handmade, specialty items all weekend long. An art show will be featured in the Grand Tent on the green as well as a beautiful selection of blooming plants and herbs.

Musical entertainment is offered throughout the weekend with the Sandra Shaw Murphy Duets performance on Friday, May 9th at 1:30 p.m.; the Church Choir and Men’s choir’s performance on Saturday, May 10th at 1:30 p.m.; and the beloved Pitchpipers’ performance at 2:00 p.m. All concerts are free and will be held in the church sanctuary.

The Family Fun Night will be held at Dwight School on Redding Road, Fairfield, on Friday, May 9th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.. Pie eating contests, games, face painting, arts and crafts are just a few of the many activities planned for this event. A special appearance by Mary Ann and Emily Hall of Music for Children is planned. And, a hip hop demonstration by D’Valda and Sirico Dance Center will also be featured. The evening is generously sponsored by Tallman Building Company, Inc., Yankee Electric and J. P. Franzen Associates Architects, P.C.

The 2nd Annual Dogwood Dash and Dogwood Mini-Dash will be held on Saturday, May 10th beginning at 9:00 a.m. The Dash is a 2 mile fun run/walk around historic Greenfield Hill and is sponsored by Al Filippone Associates, Real Estate and William Raveis Mortgage. The mini-dash is available for children ages 2-7 with prizes for all age groups and gender. This event is sponsored by Dr. Thomas Christie, Orthodontist and Dr. Jon G. Davis, Dentist. Registration forms are available by visiting the website. Registration is on the church green on Saturday, May 10th at 8:00 a.m..

A Western BBQ Party is scheduled for Saturday. May 10th from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. in the Grand Tent on the Green. The Mill River Band will play and barbeque will be served from the Cook House. A premium wine bar will be featured along with Harpoon Ale beer. A silent auction featuring great Mother’s Day gifts is also a part of this great new event. The party is open to the community and is sponsored by Tallman Building Company, Inc., Yankee Electric and J.P. Franzen Associates Architects, P.C. Tickets are available by calling 259-5596.

New to the festival this year is the Blessing of the Animals. Dogs, cats and other four-legged friends are welcome to this special service to be held Sunday, May 11th at 11:30 a.m. in front of the church. All are invited.

Traditional highlights include the children’s area where there is fun and games, face painting and crafts throughout the entire weekend. Walking tours through the historic gardens and properties around the area, showcase the rich history of Greenfield Hill and are scheduled many times daily.

The SPF Grill will once again feature the best grilled burgers and hotdogs in town or you can grab a sandwich or fresh salad, prepared by Garelick and Herbs in Westport at the Blossom Café. A fresh, home made assortment of baked goods will also be on sale.

For tickets and information, visit www.greenfieldhillchurch.com or call the church office at 203-259-5596.

The GBS has cooked up a truly special fundraiser -- Dancing with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Stars, which will take place in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Downtown Bridgeport.

Tickets are only $125 for the black tie event, and include a cocktail hour with hot & cold hors d’oeuvres, beginning at 6:30.

Then, there's a full course dinner, dancing -- and get this -- a spectacular show by the ballroom fraternity’s show dance superstars Dmitri & Svetlana Ostashkin, the
Latin dance champions of Eastern Europe. Call 576-0263.

For those of you who have been under a rock the last few weeks, the event on May 3 comes on the heels of what could be argued as the finest concert that has taken place in Connecticut since the Civil War. Maybe of all time.

OK, I know the followers of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra will take issue with what I have to say. Well, too bad for them, and everyone else who missed the GBS's performance of Carmina Burana on April 12, backed up by the 103-member Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut.

Carmina is a soul-stirring, sometimes rousing piece that depicts the very raw materials that make up the human spirit -- lust and love -- combined with the capricious forces that shape or fragile lives on this planet. It wanders from medieval plainchant to folk song to romantic opera, all with stunning effect. It belongs in everyone's music collection, along with Kind of Blue.

But playing it your hi-fi is one thing, seeing and hearing it is quite another matter.

The choir was anchored by three stunning soloists -- soprano Deborah Selig from Washington, D.C., and, from New York, countertenor Jeffry Mandelbaum and baritone Robert Gardner. They came through with jaw-dropping performances.

The choir was conducted by Carole Ann Maxwell of Fairfield University, and the whole production was under the baton of Gustav Meier. The production received a moving 10-minute standing ovation from the packed Klein -- perhaps the longest in the history of the auditorium.

This was a fitting end to the 2007-8 GBS season. Tickets for the 2008-9 season will go on sale in September. I don't know how they're going to top their Carmina, except maybe with my favorite -- Gorecki's heart-wrenching "Symphony of Three Sorrowful Songs."

So, show your support for the arts -- support the GBS. Here are some pictures from the Green Room after Carmina:

First, the Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden will be the featured speaker at the upcoming Rose of Hope luncheon set to take place at a private residence up on Greenfield Hill.

Marcia Gay Harden's official press photo.

The party, “Connections”, raised more than $12,000 for the museum’s educational programming that night, and as importantly, the preceding five weeks of programming raised awareness of The Discovery Museum as an important technology resource in Southern Connecticut.

Here are some photos from the event, which features the affable David Pogue, the NY Times techno-guru, who got a laugh out the camera I was using.

I mean, the thing is a year old, after all.

I finally figured out why Jack has to get back to the island.

He has to go there to get all of the mind-altering drugs that Charlie left behind!

Anyway, my good friend Jennifer Butler is planning a huge fashion show at the Fairfield Theatre Co. in downtown Fairfield.

The date is Feb. 28 - a Thursday -- at 7:30 p.m. And get this -- tickets are only $22.

Here are some of her creations, along with a short vlog of Jennifer...

Kid from Westport: "Hey, you -- yeah I'm talkn' to you, Weston creep!"

Kid from Weston: "Oh yeah? Well, whatcha gonna do about it, you Westport pin head?"

And so it went. (OK, a little revisionist history, I admit.) So, she decided to create the County Assemblies. Where she got that name is anyone's guess, but the idea was to promote inter-town friendships, instill social graces, and provide financial support to organizations benefiting adolescents.

She's also credited with the decline in the used of the word "creep" over the years.

Today, the County Assemblies Board of Directors is comprised of 22 dedicated women from the four towns of Fairfield, Westport, Weston and Wilton.

This year, the Red & White Charity Ball was staged on Jan. 11th had 674 attendees, and the County Assembly Charity Ball was held on Jan. 18th had over 700 attendees.

This was the 70th anniversary of the dances for public high school girls and their escorts from Fairfield, Westport, Weston and Wilton.

Here are some pictures from the dances -- most are from the Jan. 18 event, but a few are from Jan. 11: (Names are L to R.)

Tho whole idea is to bring the power of technology to the people -- like you geezers out there who have yet to give up your Sony Walkmans.

The event will culminate with a special benefit and auction at the museum on the evening of March 15.

Here, James D, Pelgrift, the museum's new president, talks about Digital Discovery.

As you might expect, he was peddling his new book, "Life on Mar's: A Four Season Garden," which is filled with lots of entertaining, cooking and decorating ideas.

As most of you know, that other (former) Westport decorating and cooking icon had some ...uh ... difficulties with the natives, but not so with Mar. In fact, his lovely next-door neighbor, Barbara Mathias (shown here with Mar's territorial little Schnauzer, Corky) actually opened up her house as a place for people to check in and buy the book.

Barbara Mathias with little Corky.

With gift-giving season upon us, here’s a request from a former paperboy: Give your newspaper carrier a generous tip.

If you’re like most people, you get your paper delivered by a person you have almost no contact with, except for that humble Christmas card that comes with your paper, usually one or two Sundays prior to Christmas.

As for me, I'm looking for a badminton shuttlecock tree ornament. You're probably looking for a similarly important and vital item.

So that's why you ought to make plans for the 2007, 26th annual Fairfield Christmas Tree Festival at the Burr Homestead. It starts with a festive gala/preview party on the 29th, and on the following three days, the Burr home will be open to the public for the sale of all of the decorations that didn't make it out the door during the preview party. (Trust me -- there will be plenty left over.) Like last year, they'll be raffling off some ice from Tiffany's, I was told.

The event is also a fundraiser for Giant Steps (their Web page is under construction), the special needs school in Fairfield for children with autism and related disorders. There are many worthy causes out there, and this is one of them.

There also are events for those young enough to "truly believe" - like a children's film festival at the Community Theatre -- featuring this year's Xmas hit, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium."

(That's Natalie Portman, BTW. The film also stars Dustin Hoffman and Jason Bateman.)

Also, there will be a visit from Mr. C himself! There are other activities, too.

I know I'm going -- I just know I'll find my badminton ornament. After all, the theme this year is "The Magic of Badminton". No -- just kidding. It's really "A Season of Promise."

One more thing -- if you want to go to the preview party, you'll need an invitation. Visit their Web site, www.fairfieldchristmastreefestival.org, for more information and to get on the invite mailing list.

The three chairwomen this year are Kate Crooks, Kathleen Featherston and Clea Newman Soderlund. Chatterbox caught up with Clea the other day, and here's what she had to say...

This time around, with Halloween only a few days away, the venue was The Chimneys mansion in Black Rock, where the party-goers, most dressed in 1920s attire, had to solve a murder mystery.

In case you've been under a rock, The Chimneys -- the city's most opulent and largest surviving home -- has been decked out for a designer show house. It's still on display by the way -- at least through Sunday, Oct. 28.

So, the museum decided to take the opportunity to piggyback on the Show House fundraiser to stage a fundraiser of its own. It was a sold-out event -- over 250 people were there. One problem though -- they never revealed the real name of the corpse at the bottom of the pool.

Another thing about this event -- it attracted a lot of people who were new to the "Discovery" crowd. Hmmm...that reminds me -- I didn't see Martha Gesswein or Alloe Stokes there -- (they're among the museum lifetime trustees). But Board Chairman Phil Rubin was there, and Executive Director Linda Malkin was there, too.

Here are some of the party-goers -- all names are left-to-right:

This time around, with Halloween only a few days away, the venue was The Chimneys mansion in Black Rock, where the party-goers, most dressed in 1920s attire, had to solve a murder mystery.

In case you've been under a rock, The Chimneys -- the city's most opulent and largest surviving home -- has been decked out for a designer show house. It's still on display by the way -- at least through Sunday, Oct. 28.

So, the museum decided to take the opportunity to piggyback on the Show House fundraiser to stage a fundraiser of its own. It was a sold-out event -- over 250 people were there. One problem though -- they never revealed the real name of the corpse at the bottom of the pool.

Another thing about this event -- it attracted a lot of people who were new to the "Discovery" crowd. Hmmm...that reminds me -- I didn't see Martha Gesswein or Alloe Stokes there -- (they're among the museum lifetime trustees). But Board Chairman Phil Rubin was there, and Executive Director Linda Malkin was there, too.

Here are some of the party-goers -- all names are left-to-right: