Hopkinton 5 Things You Need to Know Today: March 20

1. Today is the first day of spring. "Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer."  ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth, author of A Gardener Obsessed: Observations, Reflections, and Advice for Other Dedicated Gardeners. Have a favorite gardeing book? Post it in the comments. (Mine is The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan - not a practical book except unless you're looking at the BIG picture.)

2. Campaign! Whether you're for or against building a new K-5 school on Fruit Street, get out on a street corner with your sign, start waving and get those horns honking. Town Meeting discussion and vote is Monday night at Hopkinton High School, starting at 7. Email or call the Hopkinton Parent Teacher Association's Beth D’Alleva secretary@hptaonline.com  508-435-7393 with the ages and number of children attending if you need babysitting.

3. Free coffee when you buy breakfast. Be more caffeinated! Country Farms at 3 Cedar St., (Route 85) in downtown Hopkinton is a full-service convenience store with a Subway sandwich shop inside.

4. Put on your boots and walk around the future Legacy Farms site. Take yourself on an unguided tour of the land on which Hopkinton's coming state-of-the-art residential development will be built. It is beautiful land and developer Roy MacDowell says he plans to keep it that way by intense development on small parcels and leaving as much open space as possible.

The site is huge but one genraall undiscovered gem: Very Slowly (it gets bumpy and there are children on the street) go down Curtis Street (south across from the entrance to Weston Nurseries) to the end. There is a cleared area to park in on the right.

You may see a few surveyor's stakes but besides that it's open land on a beautiful day. Step carefully - the ground is ungraded and rutted from old nursery access roads.

5. Bobby Orr is 63 today! Can you believe it? His career was short but he was the greatest hockey player ever. Not Wayne Gretsky, not Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau or Patrick Roy.

The Bruins' Bobby Orr regularly took the puck in his own zone, skated behind his net to wind up - the crowd would wind up too and the defenders must have thought "not again" - skate the length of the ice through the other team - the Garden crowd would be screaming louder with each stride - fake the pads off the keeper and HE SCORRRRRES! Ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Orr!

Gee, that was a long time ago. (Think Tiger Woods without the scandal. That's what Bobby Orr was to the NHL. He was and still is a self-effacing, true gentleman and lives not too far from Hopkinton.) Happy Birthday to him and anyone born today!