News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.
Bunny Bonanza at Pierce House this SaturdayAll Lincoln School families are invited to hop on over to the Pierce House on Saturday, April 4 at 10 a.m. for the Lincoln Family Association‘s Bunny Bonanza. Welcome springtime with musicians, refreshments, and of course a massive egg hunt for all ages (please bring your own basket). Festivities begin promptly at 10 a.m. LFA members are free; non-members are $10 per child.
Conversation with inventor Jim Nicholson
April 3 at 10:30 a.m.
Have you ever spent time in a hospital bed and they put those big white stockings that inflated and deflated around your legs every so often? Well, come and hear your neighbor Jim Nicholson, an MIT graduate inventor and holder of over 50 international patents, tell his story of how he created this life saving system which has saved probably tens of thousands lives from a deadly blood clot on Friday, April 3 at 10:30 a.m. Jim will be interviewed and videoed taped by Harold McAleer and there will be time for discussion after he tells you his story.
Choosing the right home contractor
April 3 at 1 p.m.
Whether you need ice dam removal, a renovation, or something else, learn to choose and work with the right contractor when Dan Walsh, Lincoln’s Building Commissioner, comes to Bemis Hall on Friday, April 3 at 1 p.m. He’ll explain about the process for getting good estimates, determining a contractor’s credentials and insurance, criteria for choosing a contractor, legal requirements for contracts and permits, inspecting the work when completed, and what to do if you have a problem. [Read more…] about April activities offered by the Council on Aging
Backyard chicken keeping expert Terry Golson will discuss the pros and cons of keeping hens with honesty and humor on Thursday, April 2 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Audubon Shop at Drumlin Farm. Golson is author of The Farmstead Egg Guide and Cookbook and the website HenCam.com. If you’re thinking about getting a flock of your own, Golson will help you sort out whether poultry is right for you. She’ll also talk about the good eggs that backyard hens produce and how special they are to cook with. Samples and copies of her book will be available. Free for Mass Audubon members, $5 for nonmembers.
Child care is available at the Parish House starting at 8:45 and 10:45 a.m.
An eight-week series programs for children and for families beginning on Monday, April 6 includes “Polliwogs and Frogs,” “Tails and Trails,” “Drumlin Detectives,” “Old McDrumlin’s Farm,” “Hand in Hand” and “Farm Family.” See the Drumlin program schedule at massaudubon.org/drumlinprograms for availability and how to register.
Come see Shrek the Musical at the Wheelock Family Theater on Sunday, April 19 at 3 p.m. in an outing sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging. With wit and a mischievous humor, we follow our misanthropic green hero as he learns about the power of friendship and the magical nature of love, all while thwarting a dastardly villain.
Tickets are available for residents of all ages and are now only $8 per child and $18 per adult and must be purchased by Wednesday, April 1. Meet the Lincoln Mall parking lot at 2 p.m. to board the Doherty’s school bus and plan to return about 6 p.m. To reserve your place, send a check made out to “FLCOA Trips” to Sally Kindleberger, 14A North Commons, Lincoln MA 01773. Please write your email, home addresses and telephone number on the check. Questions? Call Sally at 781-259-1169.
The second annual “Celebrate Asia!” festival will be held at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Saturday, April 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The family-friendly event will celebrate the diverse cultures that enrich our school and town communities, and will serve as a fundraiser for the L-S Memorial School, our sister school in Battambang, Cambodia. There will be crafts and activities for kids, cultural performances by a variety of dance and music groups, martial arts exhibitions, henna tattoos, tai chi, yoga, Asian goods and gifts (for early Mothers’ Day shopping!), and some of your favorite Asian foods.
Admission is $10 per family, and tickets will be sold around town or at the door. All activities covered by the admission price, including a special puppet show at 1 p.m. For more information, contact Danielle Weisse at danielle_weisse@lsrhs.net.
Amy Herrera is the featured performer at the next Lincoln Open-Mic Acoustic night on Monday, April 13 from 7-10 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library’s Tarbell Room. This date will mark LOMA’s five-year anniversary, which will be the theme for the evening. Open mikers are encouraged to seek inspiration along this theme. Admission is free and refreshments are provided.
Herrera, whose contemporary folk music is known for its warm vocals, wide-ranging styles of songwriting, and supportive guitar work, will perform a half-hour set starting around 8:30 p.m. She has three CDs to her credit, including the newly released Goodnight, Nobody. Her alluring sound is evident on a sample song, Stumble Into You.
LOMA is a monthly event. Performers can sign up at the event or email Rich Eilbert at loma3re@gmail.com before noon of the open-mike day for a slot. Names of those who are signed up by 7:15 will be drawn at random. We have a sound system with mikes and instrumental pickups suitable for individuals or small groups playing acoustic-style.
At the next meeting of the new “Who Picked This Book?” Club at the Lincoln Public Library on Monday, April 6 at 7 p.m., participants will discuss Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. The group meets on the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. and will reads fairly current fiction (maybe even nonfiction) that will be entertaining and well written. Copies in various formats will be available two weeks prior to each meeting. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Lisa Rothenberg at lrothenberg@minlib.net.
The Lincoln Library Film Society presents “Hand-Picked Films: Odd Jobs” on Tuesdays, April 7 and 14 from 7-8:30 p.m. These public screenings, accompanied by snacks and coffee, are open to movie-lovers of all ages. For more information, call 781-259-8465 or email Lincolnlibraryfilmsociety@gmail.com to sign up for the mailing list.
Diane Edgecomb
All Lincoln residents middle-school age and older are invited to a free performance on Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m. at Bemis Hall of “One Thousand Doorways: Journey among the Kurds of Turkey,” the true account of storyteller Diane Edgecomb’s decade-long quest to document the vanishing folk tales of the Kurds of Turkey. This solo performance, based on true events, sheds light on the Kurds’ struggles and their ancient culture.
A chance meeting with a young Kurdish refugee set Edgecomb on a quest of danger and discovery to bring to the world the ancient legends of this oppressed culture. This is a deeply moving, richly entertaining story of her journey through the remote mountains of Turkey and of the extraordinary people who shared their lives and their stories. Share her experiences from her first humorous meetings with carpet dealers and chain-smoking elders to her travels up sheer mountain passes to remote villages usually forbidden to outsiders.
A featured performer at festivals and theaters throughout the country, Edgecomb is known for her ability to embody the various characters in her pieces. She has been hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “a storyteller in the grand tradition, a virtuoso of the spoken word…an entire cast rolled into one.” Her storytelling was recently featured on NPR’s “Living on Earth” program.
This event is supported in part by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information, call the Lincoln Council on Aging at 781-259-8811.
By Alice Waugh
One of the Community Preservation Act requests that will come up at Town Meeting on Saturday is $290,000 to reconstruct the Bemis Hall basement to add 1,200 square feet of usable space and install a fully handicapped-accessible bathroom, which the building now lacks.
[Read more…] about Bemis Hall basement to get makeover if voters approve
The Community Center Study Committee’s “preferred option.” Click on the image for more exterior and interior design ideas.
By Alice Waugh
Residents on Saturday will have the chance to hear the final report of the Community Center Study Committee (CCSC), which proposes a community center to be built on the Hartwell campus at a total cost of about $13 million, including roads and other site work.
[Read more…] about Community center on Hartwell campus would cost $13 million, panel says
Arabic Conversation
March 2 and 16 at 9:45 a.m.
Ms. Azza Omer from Sudan has generously offered to teach a free informal, light and easy conversational Arabic language class on Monday, March 2 and Monday, March 16 at 9:45 a.m. at Bemis Hall. Learning something completely new is great for brain fitness and for having fun. You’ll learn the alphabet and some common words and phrases. Come give the class a try!
Meet with an Aide to Congresswoman Clark
March 4 at 1 p.m.
You are invited to Bemis Hall on Wednesday, March 4 at 1 p.m. to meet with Natalie Kaufman, Constituent Service Representative for Congresswoman Katherine Clark. She will be available to assist residents with Social Security, Medicare, and MassHealth/Medicaid. You are also welcome to discuss other matters with her that she may be able to help with. [Read more…] about Council on Aging activities for March
Two previously announced COA events have been rescheduled to the following dates and times.
Join Jai Kaur Annamaria San Antonio on Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bemis Hall (rescheduled from Friday, Feb. 13) for a delicious and auspicious time (just past the Valentine’s Day/midwinter mark), sure to warm the cockles of your heart and throw off the winter doldrums! According to Ayurveda (the traditional health care system from India) and yogic philosophy, a holistic approach to heart health requires you to nourish the emotional heart as well as the physical heart. The heart is not just a pump — it’s the fountainhead of all emotions, whether it’s joy and exhilaration or sadness and frustration. Mental and emotional stress can disrupt the emotional heart. Both modern medicine and Ayurveda concur that there are things you can do every day to keep your heart healthy. Practicing meditation daily has been shown in research studies to help in lowering blood pressure, reversing arterial blockage and enhancing resistance to all types of stress. Share heart wisdom, lore and meditation that focuses on healing and opening the heart. Delicious heart-healthy treats and a sweet will be served. If you are so inclined, bring a favorite poem or song to share sure to pluck the heart strings and keep love in your heart at all times. May the great thaw begin! Please sign up by calling the COA at 781-259-8811. A donation is requested to cover the cost of the food.
Join Lincoln illustrator and muralist Ed Koehler on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall (rescheduled form January 27) for “Coffee with the Artist” to celebrate his exhibit, which will end after the coffee, in the Bemis Hall Artists Gallery. Koehler has been drawing since he was eight years old. His commissions include architectural and artistic projects such as murals, portraits, historic scenes and varied drawings. He was an architect in Boston and Cambridge for 55 years while maintaining partnerships and independent commissions. A veteran of the Korean War, he is presently working on murals at the VA Hospital in Bedford.
Left to right: Evan Lee, Katherine Feng, John Dale and Jada Edwards.
At a January 31 audition, four Lincoln School music students qualified for the Eastern District Music Festival in March: violinist and concert mistress Katherine Feng and second violinist Evan Lee (orchestra), second trumpet John Dale (band) and soprano II Jada Edwards (chorus). Also auditioning were Kent Mashimo, Kevin Sheppard, Tara O’Malley, Jaelynn Rodney and Colin Christian.
Students in the Lincoln School’s Model UN extension were recognized for excellence at events in recent weeks. At the United Nations Association of Greater Boston (UNAGB) conference at Northeastern University for over 450 students, Lincoln seventh-graders Tara O’Malley and Darcy Flaherty were assigned to the World Health Organization (WHO) committee. As delegates from South Korea, they received a perfect score for their position paper on pandemic response. Eighth-graders Elena Christenfeld and Irene Terpstra and seventh-grader Keith Hylton, representing Nigeria, were also in the WHO committee. They earned Best Delegation award—the highest award possible—for a combination of the work they did on their position paper and negotiating skills during the conference. Then at the December Invitational Model United Nations (DIMUN), 80 students from all over New England had to respond to a pandemic outbreak using real-time information that would change the experience throughout the day for students. At the end of the day, Irene received one of six awards for Best Negotiator.
Six Lincoln School students made honor roll in the AMC-8 exam sponsored by the American Mathematics Competition. The Lincoln School also made the the School Honor Roll, which is unusual for such a small school. The awardees were seventh-grader Zachary Tam (distinguished honor roll); honor roll awardees were eighth-graders Irene Terpstra and Howie Tsang, and seventh-graders Laura Appleby, Piper Bau and Collin Graf.
For the second year in a row, the pleasure of your company is requested by the Pierce House Committee at a screening party for the final episode of Season Five of Downtown Abbey on Sunday, Feb. 22 from 7-10 p.m. Join your fellow Lincoln Downton-ophiles to watch the popular drama together in the elegant parlor of historic Pierce House. Hats and gloves optional; tea, champagne and sweets will be served. Admission contribution is $10 at the door. Seating is limited, so contact Virginia Rundell (vq@verizon.net or 781-259-0201) to reserve your place now.
Council on Aging events rescheduledThe Better Business Bureau presentation scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30 has been canceled due to the predicted snow. We will reschedule for the spring. The Artist’s Coffee that was canceled on Tuesday, Jan. 27 has been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m.
“Orcadian Rhythms: The Films of Margaret Tait”
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, the Lincoln Library Film Society presents a night of short films by pioneering filmmaker Margaret Tait, whose transcendental, homemade films speak of the poetry of Scotland, and specifically of Orkney (a bit of Scottish and a bit of the Norse). Then, after a two-week break, the group will reconvene on February 17 to begin a six-part retrospective of Ukrainian poetic cinema. For more information, email lincolnlibraryfilmsociety@gmail.com.
Fischman and O’Hanlon at LOMA
The Friends of the Lincoln Library and Lincoln Open-Mic Acoustic (LOMA) will welcome featured performers Peter Fischman and Deb O’Hanlon at the next LOMA event on Monday, Feb. 9 from 7-10 p.m. in the Tarbell Room. They will perform a half-hour set starting around 8:30 p.m. The duo has several CDs including their latest, In His Own Words, featuring original songs on topics such as life, home, commuting and vegetables. To hear samples of their music, visit Reverbnation or see their website.
“Voices from the Back Stairs: Domestic Servants in 19th- and 20th-century New England”
Jennifer Pustz of Historic New England will speak about life for domestic servants, with special attention to the servants at the Codman Estate, on Sunday, Feb. 8 from 2-4 p.m.
ICA sculpture-making for kids
Artist educators will lead the sculpture making project related to the Institute of Contemporary Art’s architecture and design concepts on Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 2-3 p.m. for children ages 5 and up. Each child will leave with her or his own sculpture! Signup in advance is necessary; call 781-259-8465 x205.
Robots on the run: build a robot
The Rhode Island Computer Museum presents this workshop for kids ages 10 and up on basic circuits and simple robot making on Thursday, Feb. 19 from 2-4 p.m. You’ll learn programmable electronics and instructions for making a robot with working lights and sounds and a running motor. Learn about interactive software called Arduino and create your own sample robot. Registration in advance is required; call 781-259-8465 x205.
Jump into improv
Come and learn the joy of improvisation on Tuesday afternoons from February 24 to April 7 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. for kids in grades 4-7. During improv exercises, participants create characters and stories and act them out. There are no lines to learn—no staging, just lots of creative fun. Learn acting games and skills. No previous experience needed. Lots of fun, laughter and creativity involved. The class will be taught by actor/teacher Sally Kindleberger. To register: visit or call the library at 781-259-8465.