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More things to do in Lincoln this month

Theater now, music later on at L-S

The LSB Players at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will stage the final two performances of The 39 Steps tonight and tomorrow, May 2 and 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Kirschner Auditorium. Based on the classic Hitchcock movie, The 39 Steps is an hilarious farce of mistaken identity, who done it, and deadpan humor. Produced in conjunction with the English Department’s Drama in Production class, the show will incorporate complex stagecraft sure to be crowd-pleasing. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Go to the LSB Tickets webpage to reserve seats.

Also at L-S in May, the Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra (LSCO) will wrap up its 2013-2014 season with its spring concert on Friday, May 30 at 7:30 p.m. Interim Conductor Ray Daniels will direct the orchestra in the overture to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, Gabriel Faure’s Pavane for a Dead Princess, Alexander Borodin’s On the Steppes of Central Asia, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony (#5). L-S senior and Sudbury resident Emily Liang is the featured soloist in the Concerto in A minor, RV 356, by Antonio Vivaldi. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 for adults or $5 for students and senior citizens. A reception will follow the concert.

LSCO is a volunteer community orchestra comprising high school students and adult community members who share a love for preparing and performing substantial orchestral repertoire. The members have classical music training at the intermediate to advanced level and rehearse weekly. Neither professional performing experience nor residence in Lincoln or Sudbury are requirements for membership. Daniels also serves as associate conductor for the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra and has conducted symphony orchestras throughout the U.S.

For more information about this concert or about participation as a performing member, contact the orchestra at lscivicorchestra@gmail.com.

Spring cleanup at Codman this weekend

Please join us for Codman Farm’s Volunteer Spring Cleanup Work Day  on Saturday, May 3 starting at 8:30 a.m. Come for the day or come for an hour. Volunteers will be treated to a great lunch. We’ll find a task to suit your energy level and time commitment. Tasks include:

  • Barn cleanup
  • Refrigerator shelf cleaning
  • Brush burning
  • Wood pile moving
  • Wood chip spreading
  • Sugar shack cleanout
  • General trash pickup (tell the kids it’s a hunt!)
  • Painting
deCordova

Dance Spot at deCordova.

Dance outside at deCordova on Sunday

Try out your moves on outdoor dance floors in the deCordova Sculpture Park on Sunday, May 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Multimedia artist Elisa H. Hamilton pairs colorful diagrams, site-specific dance routines and songs in her participatory installation Dance Spot. Free with admission or membership.

Also on Sunday at the deCordova: celebrate jewelry artist Wiwat Kamolpornwijit, Artist of the Month at the deCordova Store for May 2014, during a drop-in weekend reception at 2 p.m. Admission to deCordova Store is always free.

Garden Club fundraising sale is on May 10

Get out your trowels and potting soil—it’s time for the Lincoln Garden Club’s biennial fundraiser plant sale on Saturday, May 10 at the Codman Barn. There will be something for every type of garden including perennials from local gardens, rare and unusual specimens, patio planters, herbs and shade plants. This year we have an abundant number of peonies and unusual lilies and irises, as well as hostas, ornamental grasses, echinacea, daisies, geraniums, anemones, spirea, trillium, astilbe, bee balm, bleeding heart, coriopsis, rubeckia, and much more. To entertain the kids, the Garden Club has a fun hands-on craft planned that will make a perfect Mother’s Day gift.

Plants will be sold from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., so plan to spend the morning browsing for plants. This fundraiser supports the Garden Club activities such as the planter in front of the library, floral arrangements for home-bound residents, and public lectures on gardening topics. Questions? Email Belinda.gingrich@verizon.net. Learn more on the Lincoln Garden Club website and hear news about meetings and events.

frog

A capella night to support LEAP

Join fellow Lincolnites for a night of a capella at Bemis Hall on Friday, May 16 from 7-10 p.m. to support LEAP (the Lincoln Extended-day Activities Program). There will be food, drinks and fun, as well as a silent auction and raffle to support LEAP, Lincoln’s longtime afterschool program. Prizes to bid on include dinner and a movie with babysitting, gift certificates to salons, a basket of wine, a loaf of bread every month for six months from Nashoba Valley Bakery, 18 holes of golf, Red Sox tickets, and more. Tickets are $25 ($30 at the door). Come to LEAP to purchase tickets in advance. Child care for the event will be provided at LEAP for $10 per child. Reserve a spot by May 14. To donate something to our benefit auction or raffle, please contact Kathryn Hawkins at978-505-8751.

Pie bakers

Rev. Daniel MacDonald and Eva Elder of St. Anne’s show off their pie-baking skills.

Pie-baking competition at St. Anne’s on May 16

St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church  is hosting a pie-baking competition as a fundraiser for the youth mission trip this summer. The event takes place starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16 in Flint Hall. We’ll have pies for judging, pies for eating and pies for buying.

You can submit a pie to be judged in any one of four pie categories (fruit, custard and cream, savory, and exotic); prizes will be awarded for each category as well as Best in Show. Register online at www.stanneslincoln.org. There will also be a pizza pie dinner and live music with admission to this fabulous event. Come hear more about our mission trip to New York City in July, and help support its funding by entering a pie, or buying a pie, or just coming to enjoy the festivities.

“What Makes Me White?”

The Lincoln METCO Coordinating Committee (MCC) will present the 45-minute film What Makes Me White? on Monday, May 19 at 6 p.m. in the Brooks Auditorium. The documentary discusses the role of race in the daily lives of white people. Designed as a gentle tool for the classroom, boardroom, and house of worship, the film avoids blame, guilt, or “political correctness.” The hope is to inspire individuals to reflect on the invisible influence of whiteness on personality and life. The audience will engage in a discussion of the feelings and thoughts raised by the film. Students in grades 6-8 can also see the film on Wednesday, May 21 at 12:40 p.m. Lunch will be provided courtesy of the MCC.

Council on Aging events for May

bemisHere are the events scheduled for May by the Lincoln Council on Aging.

Sublime sunflowers: pastel paint like the masters
May 2 at 1 p.m.
The COA is pleased to present award-winning pastel artist Greg Maichack who will offer his new hands-on workshop for beginners to advanced artists in pastel painting on Friday, May 2 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Bemis Hall. Maichack will provide insights into the lives of sunflower painters van Gogh, Monet and O’Keefe, and then participants will be coached to create their own sunflower paintings. The workshop is free, but please call the COA at 781-259-8811 to sign up. This workshop is supported in part by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

[Read more…] about Council on Aging events for May

Library to be closed for five days

libraryThe Lincoln Public Library will be closed from April 28 through May 1 so insulation can be installed. Fines for materials due during that time will be waived. The library apologizes for any inconvenience.

Early May is packed with Lincoln events

calendar4Here are just a few of the events coming up in Lincoln early next month. Click the links for details in the Lincoln Squirrel calendar or on the website of the group that’s running the event.

May Day Merriness — Thursday, May 1
1-2:30 p.m., Drumlin Farm
We’ll make and decorate May baskets, then gather flowers from spring’s bounty to fill them. Plant some flower seeds in the garden and some to take home. This is a great family program for all ages. Registration is required; $12 for Mass Audubon members, $15 for nonmembers. More info…

[Read more…] about Early May is packed with Lincoln events

Obituaries

candle2There will be a memorial service in Bemis Hall on Saturday, April 26 at 2:30 p.m. for Martin Mills Jr., 95, who died on March 14.

Other recent Lincoln obituaries:

Lorraine C. Dean, 87 (April 8) — past master of the Lincoln Grange.

Sarah Lerner, 95 (April 9) — an accomplished artist who took great joy in solving crossword puzzles in ink.

Edward Rolfe, 94 (March 27) — former member of the Lincoln Planning Board and the First Parish music committee.

Barbara Silva Fairbanks Radden Walker, 96 (March 9)  — preschool founder and advocate of special education in the Boston.

Codman Community Farms news

Club Codman is Saturday, May 10

The dance event of the season is also an important fundraiser for Codman Community Farms. Club Codman turns on the disco lights on Saturday, May 10 from 7-10:30 p.m. Groove to the wildest dance tunes from the ’70s, ’80s and beyond, and prepare to be amazed at lip-synch performances and shredding air-guitar solos throughout the evening. Go to this CCF web page to purchase tickets ($30 apiece) and send your song requests through our new online survey.

"Moms Gone Bad" at a previous Club Codman.

“Moms Gone Bad” at a previous Club Codman.

New president, board members elected

The Codman Community Farm board of directors elected new members at its annual meeting in March. Andy Stevenson has stepped up to be the board’s new president. New members on the board are Chandler Fritz, David Alperovitz, Erica Mason, and Drew Shilling. Past president Marshall Clemens will continue on as a board member, but we bid farewell to members finishing their terms: Sarah Killick (past CCF board president), Lindsay Clemens, Jeff Patterson, and Andy Ory.

Membership renewal time is now

All Lincoln residents received an invitation to become members of Codman Community Farms or renew their membership for 2014. Membership dues greatly support the activities of the farm and allow you visit all year. If you live outside Lincoln or simply lost your mailer, you may sign up for membership online.

Experts to speak on tick control, disease prevention

deertickThe Middlesex Tick Task Force will present experts on tick-borne diseases and landscaping ideas to reduce tick exposure at “Let’s Talk About Ticks: One Bite Can Change Your Life” on Wednesday, April 30 from 7-9 p.m. in Brooks auditorium.

Dr. Alfred de Maria, an epidemiologist with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, who will answer questions about awareness and prevention of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease as well as babesiosis and anaplasmosis, two other preventable tick-borne illnesses. Kurt Upham, president of ohDeer Inc., which offers safe spraying for deer, tick and mosquito control, will discuss ways to landscape your yard to cut down on tick exposure.

Also at the event, Dr. Stephen Rich of the UMass Laboratory of Medical Zoology will discuss a new tick-testing program for some Massachusetts residents. Depending on what town you live in, if you’ve been bitten by a tick, you can submit the tick for free or low-cost testing to see if it carries the pathogens that cause Lyme disease, babesiosis or anaplasmosis. For more information, call the health department at 781-259-2614 or Lincoln Public Health Nurse Maureen Richichi at 781-259-9407.

The Middlesex Tick Task Force formed in 2012 with representatives from Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, Waltham, Wayland, and Weston. The  group’s goals are to increase awareness of tick-borne diseases in our towns, to educate residents about effective prevention measures, and to promote inter-town collaboration  about these diseases in Middlesex County. The Task Force recognizes that tick-borne  diseases are now endemic in our towns and that residents need information about effective prevention measures they can take to protect themselves, including knowing the signs and  symptoms of disease, the life-cycle of the deer tick, how to do a “tick check” after being  outside and to safely remove an embedded tick, and the importance of self-advocacy and early medical treatment for tick-borne diseases.

Holy Week and Easter services in Lincoln

One of the earliest known depictions of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (Rabbula Gospel illuminated manuscript, 6th century). Source: Wikimedia Commons

One of the earliest known depictions of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (Rabbula Gospel illuminated manuscript, 6th century). Source: Wikimedia Commons

Here is a list of Holy Week/Easter services at Lincoln’s churches.

St. Julia/St. Joseph
  • Palm Sunday (April 13) – regular Mass schedule
  • Holy Thursday (April 17) – Mass of the Lord’s Supper, St. Julia Church, 7:30 p.m.
  • Good Friday (April 18)
    • Stations of the Cross: St. Julia Church,  2 p.m.; St. Joseph Church, 3 p.m.
    • Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion and Death: St. Julia Church, 7:30 p.m.
  • Holy Saturday (April 19) – Easter Vigil Mass, St. Julia Church, 7:30 p.m.
  • Easter Sunday Masses (April 20)
    • St. Julia Church – 9 a.m. (church), 9 a.m. (hall), 11:15 a.m. (church), 11:15 a.m. (hall)
    • St. Joseph Church – 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon

There are many opportunities to help with the services of Holy Week and Easter such as foot washing, lighting candles for the procession of the Eucharist to the repository, setup of certain services, etc. If you’re interested in helping, call the parish office or visit www.stjulia.org/lent.

St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
  • Palm Sunday (April 13) – dramatic reading of the Passion Gospel at the 10 a.m. service.
  • Maundy Thursday (April 17) – service with foot-washing at 7 p.m.
  • Good Friday (April 18) – service at noon.
  • The Great Vigil of Easter (April 19) – service at 7 p.m.
  • Easter Sunday (April 20) – services at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

St. Anne’s welcomes everyone to join one of their two worship services Sunday mornings: Holy Eucharist at 8 a.m. and Holy Eucharist with choir at 10 a.m. Nursery care is available from 9-11 a.m.

First Parish in Lincoln
  • Good Friday (April 18) – service at 7 p.m.
  • Easter Sunday (April 20)
    • Sunrise Service led by Rebecca Hinds in Flint’s Field at 5:55 a.m.
    • Childcare (nursery) starting at 8:45 a.m.
    • Easter Service led by Rev. Roger Paine at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

AKA Bistro to reopen by end of April

AKA Bistro co-owner Christian Touche inside the restaurant, which is being renovated after a flood.

AKA Bistro co-owner Christian Touche inside the restaurant, which is being renovated after a flood.

By Alice Waugh

AKA Bistro expects to reopen by the end of this month with an all-new menu and other improvements.

The restaurant has been closed since December, when an overhead water pipe ruptured and caused extensive water damage. Most of the dining room interior as well as much of the kitchen equipment has been torn out and replaced.

It’s been a battle for co-owner Christian Touche, who has had to fight for compensation not just for the renovations but also for business-interruption insurance payments. He said his insurance company was initially reluctant to compensate him for what his staff would have earned in tips as well as their $2.63 hourly salary while the restaurant was closed. Touche decided to pay them out of his own pocket while discussions were going on so he could keep the staff available to return to work when the restaurant reopens.

“We’ve developed a really nice team,” Touche said. “It sounds like a cliché, but we’re really like a family.” AKA Bistro has 25 employees, 12 of whom are wait staff, he added.

When customers return, they’ll notice a few changes, such as a menu that now lists traditional French and Japanese dishes together, rather than on separate pages. There will also be lots of salads and new dishes, Touche said.

Other changes were made for the comfort of diners. The biggest complaint before the closing was the conversation noise level, so workers have installed sound-absorbing foam beneath the new floor, custom-made cloth wall panels, thicker ceiling tiles and even soundproofing behind the pictures on the walls. There will also be better window shades and improved air flow, Touche said.

“We took the time to reinvent ourselves,” he said.

It didn’t make sense to reopen the restaurant in a new location, Touche said. “I feel at home here, and I think people [in Lincoln] deserve a decent restaurant. I hope they’ll give us another shot.”

The reservation line at 781-259-9920 should be back in operation by next week, he said.