The message this month is something most of us have heard before "Keep It Simple" and "Just Do It."

With all the excitement and signs of the recent holidays now out of sight and mind, the atmosphere around Wake Robin is one of starting anew.

Remember the disappointing news that came out of Copenhagen almost a year ago today?

Before my teenage daughter Scarlett and her friend Annie went to a dance on Saturday evening, I corralled them into joining me for dinner at Junior's Italian in Colchester. Mum's offer of pizza was not a tough sell. However, to accommodate the girls' plans we had to go early.

The entire town is invited to an afternoon in celebration of dogs. From 1-4 p.m. the Breeding Barn at Shelburne Farms will turn into a fur fest with dogs and humans alike to benefit the Shelburne Village Dog Park.

Sparkling jewelry, shimmery glass candlesticks, crisp patent leather children shoes, a cozy woman's cashmere sweater, silky colorful scarves, a dapper designer men's tweed suit, Eileen Fisher skirts: all of these high quality gently used treasures and more are items you might stumble upon when you visit our local resale shop SCHIP's.

After the first few days of engagement bliss it is easy to feel overwhelmed. There are so many things to do. If you don't have a wedding planner it's usually the bride's responsibility to contact the following: venue, DJ or band, florist, photographer, wedding officiant, a caterer, and more.

Libraries, by definition, are green institutions. At the Pierson Library located in the center of Town, our local librarian Kip Roberson sums it up nicely. "Instead of buying mountains of books, DVD's, newspapers, and magazines that you may view only once, check out the materials at your local library.

Lydia Maitland, Gabriel Booth, and Hadley Crow are three Shelburne girls, friends, and artists in their own right.

Current owner Jerry Fisher's earliest recollection of the building that houses The Old Shed in Shelburne Shopping Park goes back at least 60 years. "It was the milk house or the hen house for the farm that was owned by Tink Strong," Fisher recalled.

At 90 years old, there comes to some people the ability to self-diagnose personality traits with piercing accuracy. Artist Raimond del Noce Senior is a self described "impatient man."

The second annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival held last Sunday at Shelburne Farms brought together over 1,500 cheese aficionados from throughout the Northeast. Hosted by the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, and the Vermont Cheese Council, the festival offered the 1,500 people in attendance an opportunity to sample and purchase over 100 types of cheese from more than 40 different cheesemakers.

The 37th season of the Vermont Mozart Festival opened on a beautiful July evening at Shelburne Farms on Sunday. Nothing epitomizes a picture-perfect Shelburne night as much as this: Lake Champlain in the background, the Inn at Shelburne Farms in the foreground, a picnic dinner at your side, and the Vermont Mozart Festival filling the air with classical music as the sun goes down.

The reason for this article's title was my observance of fellow diners at Leunig's last week. It was a heavy couples crowd of all ages.

July seems like a good time to offer a more personal reflection for my monthly column. I also want to report on some of the changes I have observed in our community that appear to be moving us in a positive direction.

Each year we see increasingly more ticks in Vermont. Although disease caused by ticks is much more common in places like Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut we are seeing it in our area. People also travel more with their dogs, which may be contributing to this trend. Most dogs will fight off the disease without ever developing clinical signs, but about 10-15 percent may become sick.

Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery in Shelburne will be showing "Montage: the 18th Annual Summer Group Show" from July 9 - August 10.

Electra Havemeyer Webb was a pioneering collector of folk art at a time when most serious collectors overlooked it entirely. Rutland author Valerie Biebuyck will be at the Flying Pig Bookstore on Thursday, July 15 at 7 p.m. for a talk about Electra and her passion for folk art, collecting, and the museum she created for her treasures.

Bella the bulldog is our Director of Hospitality here at Wind Ridge Publishing, parent company of Shelburne News. She is often seen leisurely strolling around Shelburne, making friends wherever she travels. This summer, benevolent Bella would like to give out some extra Mozart Festival tickets that she has acquired.

As a child, I remember coming back from summer's school break and most of my classmates had exotic tales to report to the teacher and class, but I usually reported that I'd worked on the family farm the entire time.

Every pet owner wants to know that when they go on vacation or when they are at work five days a week that their special cat or dog is well cared for. In Shelburne, Prima Dogga does just that. Liz Weir and Garth Kauffman, husband and wife, purchased the former "O'Neil's Kennels" and reopened its doors anew about one year ago.

Fresh vegetables from Lewis Creek Farm, Leonardo's Gelato, American Flatbread Pizzas, cider from Champlain Orchards, and Alex's spicy pretzels... Although it looks like a list of menu items at one of our local restaurants, it is actually a sampling of the wide array of food choices students have access to in the Redhawk Café, Champlain Valley Union (CVU) high school's cafeteria. When Leo Laforce, CVU's food service director shared the long list of products he and his staff purchase locally for the meal program, my reaction was how fortunate the students are to enjoy good food produced locally.

John Freeman has owned the Small Boat Exchange in Shelburne for 26 years. The small boat dealer sells boats that can fit on a trailer or car top: from sailboats to powerboats, canoes to kayaks, Freeman is an expert in helping his customers pick out the boat that is right for them.

Shelburne Shipyard has been recognized by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as Vermont's First Clean Marina. This recognition is for the marina's ongoing efforts to protect and enhance the quality of Vermont's environment.

Last week Shelburne Vineyard planted five acres of its property with a method only used the second time in Vermont: a state-of-the-art German manufactured laser-guided planting rig.

Shelburne resident Jim Edgerton is the fourth generation in his family featured in a famous Norman Rockwell illustration. The artwork to the far right features young Jim Edgerton as the youngest boyscout. The other three boyscouts are his father, completing the four generations of the Edgerton family posing for Rockwell illustrations and paintings. Rockwell lived next door to Jimmy's father, James "Buddy" Edgerton, and his family in West Arlington, Vt. for 10 years, (1943-1953).

The Shelburne Farmers Market had such a plethora of artisans wishing to ply their wares that Holly Boardman, creative director at Shelburne Art Center (SAC), and Tod Whitaker, president of Shelburne Business and Professional Association (SBPA) and organizer of the Shelburne Farmers Market, got together and decided it was time to give the artisans their own summer market.

Sitting on the veranda of the Inn at Shelburne Farms, overlooking the rolling lawns and shoreline of the lake is in itself something of a magical experience. Couple that with the anticipation of having dinner served in that setting and the effect is wondrously compounded. That feeling was shared among my dining companions the other evening.

Two Shelburne artists will grace the Burlington art scene with their work this summer. Their opening receptions are on the First Friday Art Walk on June 4.

Out of 100 essays from Chittenden County residents, Tom Tucker of Shelburne won third place in a Lawn to Garden contest sponsored by the Lawn to Garden Campaign. The Lawn to Garden Campaign is an Intervale Compost Products initiative in partnership with Chittenden Solid Waste District, Burlington Permaculture, Grow Team O.N.E., Gardener's Supply Company, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and Red Wagon Plants.

The local food movement continues to gain momentum as people become more aware of what they are eating, where it comes from, and the circumstances under which the food was raised or cultivated.

If you have ever wanted your child to get to experience a preschool program before actually enrolling them as a student, here is that chance.

Eighteen-year-old percussionist and Rice Memorial High School senior Nicholas Bonaccio of Shelburne will appear on an upcoming episode of "From the Top," the NPR radio program featuring

Lilac walking tours, lilac planting, and vegetable gardening workshops are just a few of the many fun things to do on May 16 at Shelburne Museum's Lilac and Gardening Sunday.

It was Wednesday night and La Villa was full of locals. Matt and I were joined by friends Robert and Kara Grist of Charlotte for an informal dinner, and La Villa is one of my regular haunts for such an occasion. Owners Jill and Adam Spell were in Florida for a much-needed vacation, but they'll be happy to hear the place ran smoothly in their absence.

Double your Saturday morning pleasure this summer: find locally produced food for the body at the Farmers Market on the Village Green and locally produced "food" for the soul at Shelburne Art Center's (SAC) Courtyard Artists Market.

The poet T.S. Eliot wrote "April is the cruelest month" but on reflection we find it difficult to agree. Yes, there are the warm and sunny days, which tempt us into believing that winter definitely is a memory, and then we wake up to find ice on the birdbath.

The Shelburne Players production of "Born Yesterday" opened this past weekend to enthusiastic audiences. When a character yells, "I'm couther than you!" and the entire audience bursts into laughter, you can count the play a success. When tycoon Harry Brock's former chorus-line girlfriend, Billy Dawn, lets loose with this indignant and flustered response, it seems only fitting when she finally decides to stand up to him.

Shelburne area quilter, Hope Johnson, has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2010 American Quilter's Society (AQS) Quilt Show and Contest, April 21-24 at the Paducah Expo Center in Paducah, Ky.