Hundreds of hot but happy residents of Lincoln and surrounding towns enjoyed Lincoln’s annual Fourth of July parade. This year’s theme was “Townies: Show your Pride!” Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.
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Lincoln’s Jack Bigelow (right) fights for the ball during a recent rugby match.
By Brett Wittenberg
In spring 2004, when it came time to pick a sport, Lincoln-Sudbury sophomore Brendan Wimberly didn’t want to play baseball, he didn’t want to run track, and he wasn’t about to take up Ultimate Frisbee. Wimberly wanted to play rugby, and when he saw that rugby wasn’t among the high school’s eight choices for spring sports, he and 20 of his sophomore classmates approached then drama teacher and housemaster Iain Ryrie about the possibility of starting a team. [Read more…] about Nine years after start, rugby thrives at L-S
By Fire Chief Steve Carter, Police Chief Kevin Mooney, and Council on Aging Director Carolyn Bottum
Lincoln is a community where neighbors take special care to look out for one another. This neighborly tradition is especially important during severe storms, power outages, or other unusual circumstances when frail elders, those with disabilities and others may have special difficulties letting people know if they’re in trouble, not getting enough food and supplies, or not staying safe. In fact, residents may need assistance at any time during the year due to a fall, medical crisis, or other emergency.
Why is help from neighbors so essential? Neighbors may be the only people who’ll notice if something seems amiss at someone’s house, if a resident hasn’t been seen for a day or two, or if mail or newspapers are piling up. If the power is out, a neighbor can check on a resident who can’t be reached by telephone. If someone needs a warm or cool place to stay, a neighbor may be able to provide that quickly and easily. While Public Safety and the the Council on Aging provide other ways to check on residents and offer assistance, the more options our community has for finding out and responding to potentially life-threatening emergencies, the better.
Some neighborhoods and developments have organized or may want to consider organizing to provide neighbor-to-neighbor help. Some activities and services that formal or informal neighborhood organizations can offer include:
However, informal neighborliness can be just as essential. Many times people will not ask for help but will be grateful if it’s offered. Do you have a neighbor who might need special assistance? If so, you could offer to:
These seemingly small acts can make a big difference to someone who may be concerned about how he or she will get through a storm, power outage, or other emergency ,or who could just use some everyday cheering up.
Being neighborly has benefits that go beyond severe weather or other serious circumstances. Building a closer neighborhood makes for a greater sense of community and contributes to the quality of life here in Lincoln. And when neighbors make a point of introducing themselves to neighbors, they might find someone fascinating who becomes a friend for life!
For more information about forming an organized neighborhood effort or for general concerns, contact Public Safety at 781-259-8113. If you need help related to elder services, please call the Council on Aging at 781-259-8811.
This sign on Conant Road was partially obscured by the latest snowstorm. (Photo / Alice Waugh)
Each year around this time, the Conservation Commission puts up sandwich-board signs on a couple of roads to warn drivers that the road will be closed for a night or two to allow safe passage for amphibians. Well, the signs are now up—but they’re camouflaged by snow, which is undoubtedly also puzzling the creatures who thought spring had arrived.
Tornadoes as seen by storm-chasers. (Photos courtesy Chris Curtis)
By Brett Wittenberg
The van barreled down I-44, its occupants’ excitement reaching a fever pitch. The chase that had started that morning in Oklahoma had traveled a serpentine route across much of Kansas, and by the time they crossed the Missouri border, the chasers had almost caught up with their prey—a giant tornado.
One of the “storm chasers” in the van was Concord resident Chris Curtis, who will give a talk about his experiences on Monday, February 25 at 12:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall.
On that day in May 2011, Curtis and his team could tell by radar that their prize was only a few blocks to their north, but in the limited visibility of the accompanying rainstorm, they had yet to actually see the Class EF5 multiple-vortex tornado. But the radar clearly showed a huge tornado with a cloud of swirling debris, and it looked like it had stopped on top of Joplin, Missouri.
[Read more…] about Storm-chaser to share experiences in Feb. 25 talk
With an expanded array of bingo and raffle prizes, Bingo Night netted about $3,500 for the Lincoln PTO earlier this month.
Hundreds of people packed the Brooks gym on February 1 to compete for a roster of prizes topped by an iPod Touch. The PTO sold 440 bingo cards and more than 1,500 raffle tickets. “After the initial push, two ‘floaters’ walked between tables and sold additional tickets. The crowd also devoured 65 pizzas (though the last few were sold near the end of the evening at a discount).
Looking back from the vantage point of the Blizzard of ’13, it looks Ms. G. was right when she predicted six more weeks of winter.
Ms. G, Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog, emerged from her carrying crate on February 2 and saw her shadow, a prediction contradiction with her better-know fellow woodchuck, Punxsutawney Phil. But the dozens of observers gathered around her on the bare frozen ground didn’t mind — they showed their appreciation in the usual way, though the applause was considerably muffled by mittens and gloves. Before her pronouncement, some even briefly chanted, “Six more weeks! Six more weeks!”
 Ms. G clambers aboard her stump as she prepares to make her prediction. (Photo: Alice Waugh) |
 The crowd, some with “Ms. G for State Groundhog” signs, wait for her pronouncement. (Photo: Alice Waugh) |
Mish Michaels, Ms G’s campaign manager. (Photo: Alice Waugh)
The morning was also a campaign event for Ms. G., who is running hard for the post of Official State Groundhog with the backing of former local TV meteorologist and environmental reporter Mish Michaels of Wellesley. Michaels is helping children at the Hunnewell School as they try to move a bill through the state legislature that will, if approved, give statewide stature to the Lincoln groundhog.
“I’m her campaign manager at this point,” said Michaels, who sported a groundhog hat and campaign sign.
In addition to her political/rodential work, Michaels is creating on a children’s book with her young daughter called “A Groundhog’s Shadowy Road to Fame” and running an online children’s clothing business called Natural Cloud Cover (“organic clothing for the weather watcher in every kid!”).
After a few minutes of watching Ms. G. clamber over a tree stump in the frigid air, many of the children and their parents trooped inside to get their weather questions answered by a panel of local meteorologists. Inevitably, one of the kids asked whether we would have any more snow this year — a reasonable question during what had been an almost snowless season.
The short answer, said WBZ-TV’s Joe Joyce, was yes, though neither he nor his colleagues could predict when. “We keep getting it inch by inch. It’s been a frustrating season,” he said. Little did he know…
Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham seems to be on the Ms. G bandwagon in the drive to have Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog named as the official groundhog for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You can read her column here (which we will note appeared after two stories in The Lincoln Squirrel here and here).
By Brett Wittenberg
In Spanish, “loma” means rising ground in the midst of a plain. In Lincoln, LOMA means Lincoln Open Mic Acoustic, and once a month at the Lincoln Public Library, a small hill of musical talent rises.
LOMA has its origins in the annual Lincoln Winter Carnival, where residents have been demonstrating their acoustic musical skills for years. This coffeehouse-type performance has been a Lincoln favorite for the better part of a decade.
Over the years, more musicians performed and larger audiences listened, and three years ago, LOMA outgrew Winter Carnival. “It was hard to find space for all the people who actually wanted to attend—we were getting over 200 people,” said current LOMA organizer Rich Eilbert. It was clear that to continue, LOMA was going to need a bigger space and some dedicated management. Help came in the form of Rich Eilbert, a Lincoln resident for nearly 25 years and seasoned open mic’er as both an audience member and performer. Eilbert (who has a PhD in physics and has worked on designing X-ray equipment for airport security) offered to organize the events moving forward, and the Lincoln Public Library was settled on as the new venue.
Under Eilbert’s management, LOMA has continued to expand, even bringing in some professional acts to generate more buzz, including internationally known folk musician Geoff Bartley.
“We were really glad to get Geoff Bartley. We had a big crowd for him—maybe the biggest crowd ever. He’s a very fine musician,” said Eilbert.
Of the musician’s newest CD, folk legend Tom Paxton wrote, “Geoff Bartley has hit another one out of the park.”
Whether it’s an internationally known musician or your neighbor’s kid, what makes open-mic performances like LOMA special is audience involvement. LOMA is a community-sponsored event, and it’s the community that keeps it going. No promises can be made for the quality of the music, but the performers and the audience are guaranteed to have fun.
“There are a lot of talented people in this town,” Eilbert said, and some of them can be found at the library on the second Monday of each month. The next Lincoln Open Mic Acoustic night will be February 11 and will feature Nancy Beaudette. Other performers and spectators are welcome, and free refreshments will be served.
Brett Wittenberg is a resident of Lexington, Mass.
Larry and Nancy Zuelke with their Volkswagen Beetle at last summer’s antique car show at the Codman Estate in Lincoln. (Photo: Alice Waugh)
By Brett Wittenberg
In 1957, Chicago newlyweds Lawrence and Nancy Zuelke headed to Boston so Larry could pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard. The couple packed up their brand-new baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle with all their possessions, including a chair lashed to the roof. The Beetle, a wedding present for themselves, cost around $1,500, about the same price as a motorcycle—“pretty affordable,” said Nancy.
In the year just ended, Larry and Nancy celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary—and their Beetle’s 55th birthday. Two hundred thousand miles, more than three dozen services, and one massive restoration later, neither the Beetle nor the marriage seem any the worse for wear.
When they bought it in 1957, the car had been available in the U.S. for around a decade, but the Zuelkes’ model had a host of modern improvements: tubeless tires, a new radio, side-view mirrors as standard equipment, and turn signals that turned off automatically. Truly, there had never been a better time to be VW Beetle owner.
After giving 22 years of service, the Beetle was very much in need of an overhaul. Lawrence decided against the typical route of bringing the car to a mechanic, perhaps because he knew what he might be told. Instead, he brought the car to the automotive workshop at Minuteman High School in Lexington, which at that time allowed locals to bring in their cars and use Minuteman’s tools and equipment to perform their own repairs.
Over the next three years, Larry lovingly refurbished that sentimental wedding car. The baby-blue Beetle—now a true classic—was restored in time to present it to Nancy on their silver anniversary in 1982. “It was so good to see it like new again,” Nancy recalled.
Although originally from the Midwest, Larry and Nancy are now Lincolnites through and through. The pair made Lincoln their home in 1961 and raised three children here. Larry put his master’s degree to good use by becoming a landscape architect. Nancy served as Lincoln town clerk for 23 years, helping to ensure that her adopted hometown ran as smoothly as it could.
Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the Zuelkes’ Beetle will have to wait until next year’s antique auto show at the Codman Estate, where they appeared in summer 2012. Lawrence brings the beetle to Lincoln’s classic car show so others can reminisce about a simpler time, or at least enjoy the classic styling of a car whose features are basic by current standards, but which is more striking and beautiful today than it was in 1957.
Brett Wittenberg is a resident of Lexington, Mass.