Years later, she returned to the private school as an admissions officer. Both women were struck reading the applications of Bridgeport students who wanted to attend the selective school buy lacked the proper educational background. In Westport, preschool -- where children explore the world using all their senses, and learn letters, numbers, scientific observation, music, art, language, problem-solving, cooperation, coordination and many other skills -- is a given. The space is divided into learning centers filled with stimulating educational materials, encouraging youngsters to explore and learn. The holistic program will help children build confidence, acquire skills and develop character necessary to take advantage of future educational opportunities. Low-income children in Bridgeport enter kindergarten already a full 18 months behind in language skills. The school program itself will provide each child with an innovative, enriched, high-quality and individualized experience that strengthens cognitive skills like problem-solving, along with character skills like perseverance, communication and self-esteem. School personnel will work closely with parents, providing support to reinforce and extend youngsters' education at home. Adam J. Lewis will also offer advice about high-quality elementary schools (the choices in Bridgeport can be confusing).

Not a few times, Frank was Santa Claus himself for some organization looking for the perfect stand-in with a white beard and a twinkle in the eye. Taming starts from nothing and grows into a relationship that feeds the soul and swells the heart. In the story, the fox asks the Little Prince to tame him, so that his (the fox's) heart can beat fast in expectation of the Little Prince coming, and so that when the Little Prince is not there, the fox can hold him in his memory and feel. In the act of taming, one takes the initiative to do the acts of tending and caring for and the other receives and responds. [...] after only a short while, the receiving and responding become gifts equal to the tending and the caring.We know this happens if we have been parents or had pets or a dear friend or known and cared for a place that has become special. Taming, as the Little Prince and Frank Hall understand, is about treasuring, really seeing, taking time, being careful and consistent and being joyful in the fact of the one we tamed with. Through the many seasons of our lives, Frank and that church, with its windows to world, have helped us all tame and be tamed. Carol Swenson is a counseling psychologist with a practice in Westport.

The Home Team / Bitten by the blogging bug, a social media multi-tasker is born "What's social media?" I asked. When email was first introduced, I secretly hoped I'd die before it became absolutely necessary for me to learn how to make an attachment. The director of the workshop asked me to include blogging in my curriculum. [...] that, I suppose -- though I don't think we were actually using the term back then -- was my traumatic entry into the world of social media. Ironically, a couple of years after being forced kicking and screaming into blogging, I found myself the co-author of "Old School, New School." Regular readers of this column are well aware of how I feel about my dog, Ricky the Beagle. Well, here was an opportunity for me to think about my dog, take pictures of my dog, tell stories about my dog -- all the time. [...] she helped me build a cool website -- hankherman.com (Check it out). [...] not just one account, but two -- one for Beagle Man, and a personal page for Hank Herman as well. From the guy who didn't know what a blog was, I was now becoming a master of the social media universe.

What I remember most about those summers was the intense heat, when on Saturday afternoons, my father, shirt-sleeves rolled up to the elbows, washed his car. A cigarette dangled precariously off his lip as though it was pasted in place, while the news commentator shouted out baseball scores on the portable radio. After a day of being worn, other faint odors lingered, reminiscent of car wax and soap, peppermint, spice and sweat. Later, when dad switched from his short stint of cigarettes to a pipe -- a rich, smoky tobacco scent replaced the stale odor of his Marlboros. Tomato sauce from lunch at Mario's, a lipstick stain that had found its way from my mother's lips to his shirt collar. Occasionally, an ink stain from his Parker pen dripped through the shirt pocket, leaving an indelible navy-blue smudge that neither time nor vigorous scrubbing could eradicate. Bound by a work schedule that brought him into courtrooms, he stood dignified and formidable as he presented his cases in shirts befitting the occasion. Often, I dropped other activities to act as his assistant, handing him sponges and rags, and making sure the pail was filled with enough hot, sudsy water to complete the task. If a home run, was made, dad tossed the sponge in the air, soapsuds flying, and threw me up in his sturdy arms merging the pungent odor of car wax with the smell of his shirt, which by now had lost its stiffness, and was drenched in sweat from the heat of the afternoon.

A Father's Journal / What dads & grads really want Mother's Day is during the formal-dance season, but you never hear about spending 30 percent more on "moms and proms." Previous lists of things I got -- and no dad should ever get -- included neon clothing, gargoyle paperweights and a book on witchcraft. With the possible exception of the lobster rolls at Lobster Landing in Clinton, nothing is as good as it appears. The other piece of I advice I'll share comes from my grandfather, Michael Lavelle, who gave it to my mom, who gave it to me. When my mother was a young grad, she would want to go out with her friends, perhaps indulging in adult beverages. Just thank him in the most sincere way you can and remember the words of a couple of dads who busted their humps. Nothing is as good as it seems, and for God's sake, know you capacity and your companions.

The kids will be out of school, and the pleasant weather and longer days will provide opportunity for little adventures, time spent outdoors, and hopefully some travel. When I find myself recycling the same thoughts, ideas that have lost their usefulness, and walking paths I have traveled so many times that I no longer notice the way the stones are worn beautifully smooth or the dandelions are in bloom today, it's time to disrupt my routine. By leaving home and the obligations of the ordinary, my perspective changes. The discomfort of not being sure of how to speak a language, read a street sign, catch a train, or how to order a loaf of bread or cup of tea is thrilling. A couple weeks ago, a trip to the Sky Foods, an Asian market in Flushing, N.Y., taught me that in my town we have few varieties of mushrooms available by comparison in even the fanciest gourmet market. A delicious meal at Flushing's Jade Asian reminded me of Dim Sum lunches in Hong Kong, and also of a joyful feast celebrating the birth of a friend's baby girl many years ago.

[...] a couple of decades ago, some energetic townspeople decided to bring the Westport Historical Society into the Westport of the late 20th century. The Westport Historical Society mounts exhibits, offers tours, sponsors speakers, runs classes, maintains archives, and -- through it all -- plays a crucial role in a town that wants to honor its past while embracing the future. Two weeks ago, the Westport Historical Society hosted an opening reception for its two newest exhibitions. Photos and artifacts chronicle an amazing journey, from immigrant wood haulers to modern day energy experts. "In a town like this -- with well-educated people, interested in history and the arts -- we should have more members," says Ed Gerber, historical society executive vice president. Members receive discounts on tours (the most recent, last weekend, revealed a treasure trove of "hidden gardens," tucked away behind local homes), lectures, youth activities and newsletters, and a 10 percent discount at the WHS store. In a clever homage to a much-loved icon of Westport's relatively recent past, the store is named the Remarkable Gift Shop. Membership dues start at $35 for individuals ($30 for students and seniors), and range upward to $1,000 for benefactors. Dues pay for salaries of the small staff (besides Gold, there are three part-timers: education director Elizabeth DeVoll, administrator Barbara Brauner and gift shop manager Olivia Yule).

There was a time when the much-feared, all-powerful master builder of New York, Robert Moses, headed a virtually independent agency that literally removed everything and everyone in its way to modernize the City of New York. [...] I suspect, there are so many projects on the drawing boards that if all of them were to be completed, I think they would literally change the face of our town as we know it, and possibly harm the charming, much-admired New England environment which has harbored so many creative and successful people over the years. The Westport Library is reportedly planning a "transformation" of its building at 20 Jesup Road, which would expand its scope of services. Nearby, the Westport Arts Center wants to erect a new building on that long-cherished space known as Jesup Green to replace its current Riverside Avenue structure. Construction of a brand new multi-screen movie theater -- the only one in Westport proper -- is still in the early planning stages next to Tavern on Main.

William Henry Jackson's photos from his travels with the Hayden Expedition of the 1860s to survey the American West helped convince Congress to create Yellowstone National Park in 1872 -- and as such played a role in the birth of the worldwide movement to set aside special places as national parks. In a provocative essay in the Fall 1997 issue of DoubleTake magazine, activist and author Bill McKibben argued that the world has enough wildlife photography and that continuing to invade the lives of animal subjects -- given the vast oversupply of images already available -- is counterproductive to the goals of preserving biodiversity. "The real problem with wildlife photography is not that there is too much of it but that photographers ... are failing to reflect natural diversity," argues UK-based nature photographer Niall Benvie. [...] today when the average vacationer with a $500 high resolution digital SLR may just want to capture his own version of that iconic photo he has seen so many times in magazines, it might be folly to hope people won't love a spot or a species to death. [...] a recent news story about the Kani people of southern India cutting trees and using bright lights and scare tactics to capture wild slender lorises -- charismatic wide-eyed primates endemic to the region yet endangered and highly elusive -- for "managed" photo shoots with well-heeled visiting photographers only further illustrates how invasive wildlife photography can get.

Snack bar, dugouts, a "press box" on top of a dugout where the "official scorer" sat. Like Little Leagues everywhere, Westport had its share of home run hitters, no-hit pitchers and patient, caring managers. [...] the passage of time diminishes the bad memories while enhancing the good ones, so today the words "Gault Field" bring to mind only images of lazy, hazy Boys of Summer days. Kids play on beautiful, professionally manicured Little League fields, many of them clustered in a handsome complex on North Compo Road. Building a Little League field was a minor part of their contributions to town, but it's typical of what five generations have done for Westport. Robert Gault -- newly arrived from Ireland -- saw an opportunity to move goods between the new railroad station in Saugatuck, and the manufacturing plants and tanneries a few miles north. According to the Westport Historical Society exhibition flyer (from which much of this history is taken), his sons Leonard, Robert and John joined the business, now called "Gault Brothers." Always alert to new opportunities, they bought a feed and grain business, and adjacent dock, on Main Street. In 1929 they moved downstream on Riverside Avenue, providing deeper docking for the large coal and sand barges, and oil tankers, that were becoming an important part of their business.