Darien Morning Briefing: Dec. 15, 2011

Today is Thursday, Dec. 15, the 347th day of 2011, 10 days before Christmas.

HEADLINES

Holiday-related:

• 
   
• Gift idea: "Amid the Cold of Winter": "The Darien Tudor Singers' Holiday CD "Amid the Cold of Winter" is available now for $15. Featuring studio recordings of 16 holiday and seasonal favorites performed by the 2008-2010 Tudor Singers, the album is a great way to celebrate the season while supporting choral music at DHS. The CD may be purchased from Mr. Andrade and is also available at Barrett Bookstore. Checks should be made payable to 'DHS.'"—Darien High School website (and you can listen to a short mix here.)
• Gift idea on Video: Miss Elisabeth & Children's Library suggest three books that make great gifts.

EVENTS & REMINDERS

Adults:

• The Catherine Lindsey Actors/Playwrights Workshop will present a series of workshops at Darien Library in February, March and April. "Interested playwrights should submit ten pages of their scripts to Robert Cusack at robert.cusack1@att.net by Feb. 1, 2012. [...] The workshops will allow the playwrights to refine their scripts, which will then be submitted to the Darien Library Selection Committee. On Sunday, June 10 at 2 p.m., the Actors/Playwrights Workshop will present the first public-staged reading of selections from the plays in the Library’s Community Room."—from the Library website.
• : 7 p.m. , 178 Oenoke Ridge Rd., New Canaan. "Many potential job offers falter simply due to unintentional breach of manners. Individuals that take time to polish their subtle and overt executive presence can make others feel comfortable. This may be the most crucial building block for being remembered for the right reasons."—from the Patch events listing.
• Holiday Gingerbread Tree at Town Hall "decorated with colorful paper Gingerbread people describing various ways to help  children, families and seniors in Darien, who are in need.  There is also a Gingerbread tree at the Darien Rowayton Bank on the Post Road Pick a Gingerbread tag, fill a wish, and drop it off at Social Services, Rm. 109. For more information on making a donation you can call 203-656-7328."—Town website

Kids:

• IMAX movies at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk: 12 p.m.; , 1 p.m.
• Drop-in Baby Lap Time at Darien Library: "Pre-walking babies and caregivers participate in a lapsit storytime," according to the library website. From 9:30 to 10 a.m.

TEENS:

Darien High School: 

• Schedule: for an A Day, periods will be: 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Homeroom | 8
• TUESDAY: Free tutoring: The Darien chapter of the National Honor Society offers free tutoring after school every THURSDAY in the English/Social Studies Learning Connections Room and every Tuesday after school in the Math/Science Learning Connections Room. No appointments needed
• Announcements:

• Audition prep workshops: "Theatre 308 is looking for new talent to perform in its winter musical, the fabulous West Side Story. To encourage and support anyone interested, 308 will be holding two audition preparation workshops.   Sessions will be Monday and Tuesday, December 19th and 20th, after school in the Little Theatre, and will provide a supportive and fun environment to help prospective actors prepare to sing, dance and act at auditions. If you have ever had an interest in being on stage and joining the fun, now’s the time!  We are especially looking for boys for this exciting and well-known show, so mark your calendars and come next Monday and Tuesday and see what it’s all about. Final auditions for West Side Story will be held Jan. 3 and 4, the first 2 school days after the Holiday break."
• "Current invites you to Fireside Fiction, our winter evening of short stories, this Friday, December 16th at 6:00 PM in A206. Would you like to read a story you've written or an old favorite? Email it to us at current@darienps.org, or talk to your favorite Current staff member. Fireside Fiction -- come for the free food, stay for the stories and the songs. We hope to see you there."

• DHS Music Honors Society's Musical Instrument Drive: "Dec. 12-23 to benefit 'Horns for Kids.' Instruments may be dropped off before school to the DHS Band Room or MMS Rotunda. The will also accept instruments on Dec. 17-18." (See the announcement on Darien Patch.)
  

The Depot:

• SATURDAY: Pancakes for Planks fundraising event from 8 to 11 a.m. at Phil's Grill. Proceeds go toward fixing the Depot dancing floor. $10 per person. 
• STARTING SATURDAY: Giftwrapping at the Depot from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. You supply the gifts and the Darien Depot Elves supply the wrapping paper and the "elves" to do wrapping. Through Dec. 23.

Darien Library:

• Useless Trivia: 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Teen Lounge
• JAN. 28: Talent Competition of bands and other acts from Darien High School. The free event will feature free food. "A $350 first prize and $150 runner up prize will be offered to the best acts, chosen by members of the Darien Teen Advisory Board (Caroline Farrington, Katherine Feehan, and Dylan Gabriel ). Come to see all of your friends perform or come and be in the show! If you are interested in being an act, talk to any of the judges, Caroline Farrington, or Danielle Tilford."—from the Darien Library website. Here's the application form to download and fill out.

DARIEN PLAYHOUSE SHOWTIMES

• The Muppets: 6:30 p.m. (1 hr. 38 min.) — IMDb—trailer—trailer—website—Rotten Tomatoes
• New Year's Eve: 7 p.m. (1 hr. 57 min.)—IMDb—trailer—website—Rotten Tomatoes

GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

All meetings take place in Town Hall, 2 Renshaw Rd., unless otherwise noted.

There are no meetings scheduled for today.

FORECAST as of 6:23 p.m., Wednesday (update)

• Thursday: "A chance of showers, mainly after 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 54. South wind between 9 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent."
• Thursday Night: "A chance of showers, mainly before 11pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 46. West wind between 9 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible."

INTERSTATE 95 TRAFFIC CAMS

• Stamford: southbound, Exit 8 - Elm St.

• Stamford: northbound, south of Exit 9 - Lockwood Ave.

• Darien southbound, north of Exit 9 - Darien Service Plaza

• Darien northbound Exit 12 - Tokeneke Rd.

• Darien northbound, south of Exit 13 - Darien Service Plaza

• Darien southbound, Exit 13 - Rt. 1 (Boston Post Rd.)

• Norwalk southbound, Exit 15 - Stuart Ave.

• Norwalk Rt 7 south of Exit 1 - Connecticut Ave.

• Norwalk northbound, Exit 15 - Rt. 7

TIDES & TIMES

• High tide: 2:12 a.m. (6.9')
• Sunrise: 7:12 a.m.
• Low tide: 8:26 a.m. (0.4')
• High tide: 2:24 p.m. (7.2')
• Sunset: 4:26 p.m.
• Low tide: 8:57 p.m. (-0.1')

Forecast obtained from the National Weather Service; tide information obtained from saltwatertides.com (calibrated to Long Neck Point).