By David Fortier 

Come Sunday morning, the temperature will have dipped to around 0 degrees with a wind chill of –7 degrees. It makes the walk to church, a short walk, invigorating. But then Saturday things weren’t much better. It’s tough not to look at the weather app on my phone, not that it makes much difference. The weather is the weather. 

Checking the weather, though, did affect my plans for Saturday, meaning that I wouldn’t be going anywhere. I had grading to do, anyhow, so I hunkered down—in front of the tv, ending up watching the first football game this year—Cincinnati versus Las Vegas. Some background noise and viewing helps keep me in one place long enough to get through a bunch of essays. 

Aside from that and work, the week was filled with texts from family members, several of whom contracted COVID-19 and were quarantining. The symptoms were mild, thankfully. And yet, each time another person gets the virus, I am reminded how insidious this thing is—it is everywhere. And as much as Omicron is supposed to be less deadly, I heard of one more death of a family member from a co-worker. We have to keep doing our best to rally around vaccinations, booster shots, and masking. 

Of course, there was a council meeting earlier this week. We covered the meeting, but we heard from one reader who told us our report missed one important issue—among the items being taken up by Charter Revision is the proposal to expand each City Council district to three members each, which would then mandate (by State law) minority representation. That is big. 

It’s always good to hear from our readers. As a community, citizen-run news venue, we rely on you to help us out. An email, a brief note—it’s all good. Along those lines, I hope you were able to read Rit Carter’s latest piece about the Rev. Beussel and his sedition conviction back 1918. It’s a good read, but set aside some time because it will take some time.  

Bakery on Maple co-owner Erika Stirk is featured on TV8’s “Nyberg: Bristol bakery owner shares her journey from the emergency room to the kitchen.”  Click here.  It’s nice to see a focus on Bristol people and their enterprises.  

I meant to mention this one earlier. Connecticut Public Radio’s “Seasoned,” a cooking show featuring Chef Plum and Marysol Castro airs Thursdays at 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. Back in mid-December, “Seasoned” had a short interview with Bristol entrepreneur/craftsman Steve Yopp’s Timbercraft Designs. Yopp does magic with wood. Click here. 

This week’s reading/viewing try this. Al Franken, the SNL writer/comedian and former U.S. Senator from Miinnesota has a podcast. In this one, Franken chats with David Letterman. It’s just fun to listen to two pretty smart people talk about their history and good times. Note: Scroll down the page to the appropriate link once you get to the page. Click here.  

Enjoy your week, weather notwithstanding. 

“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org.