The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Campus Master Plan group invites public to sessions

schoolThe Lincoln Campus Master Planning Committee (CMPC), which will complete its work by December 31, invites the public to attend of their meetings and public forums this fall.

The CMPC is is charged with studying the basic infrastructure and physical layout of the Ballfield Road campus and informing the planning for the contemplated school building and community center projects. There are three at-large representatives as well as representatives from the Lincoln Public Schools, Board of Selectmen, Conservation Committee, Council on Aging, Parks & Recreation, the Planning Board, and Roadway and Traffic.

“The community’s awareness and involvement in this project is critically important,” said Committee Chair Carole Kasper. “The Campus Master Planning Study represents a unique opportunity for Lincoln residents to look at the Ballfield Road campus in a truly holistic manner—to examine the different ways in which we use the schools, other Ballfield Road buildings and recreational facilities and determine how we can serve our community better. We welcome the community’s attendance at any of our regularly scheduled committee meetings and also encourage residents to attend one of the public forums.”

The CMPC’s full schedule of meetings and public forums is listed below. All meetings will take place in the Hartwell Multipurpose Room unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, September 3 at 7 p.m.
2nd floor hearing Room, Lincoln Town Offices

Thursday, September 10 from 5:30-7 p.m.
Lincoln PTO Back-to-School Picnic – Lincoln School green playground

Wednesday, September 16 at 8:15 a.m.

Thursday, October 1 at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, October 7 at 8:15 a.m.

Thursday, October 15 from 7-9 p.m.
Public forum – location TBD

Monday, October 26 at 7 p.m.

Friday, October 30 at 8:15 a.m.
Lincoln PTO public forum – location TBD

Friday, October 30 at 1 p.m.
Council on Aging public forum – Bemis Hall (2nd floor)

Monday, November 9 at 7 p.m.

Friday, November 13 at 8:15 a.m.
Committee State of the Town run-through – Donaldson Auditorium

Saturday, November 14 at 9 a.m.
State of the Town presentation – Donaldson Auditorium

Friday, November 20 at 8:15 a.m.

Monday, November 30 at 7 p.m.

Thursday, December 10
Public presentation of draft final report

Service on Sunday for Peggy Schmertzler, 1931-2015

Peggy Schmertzler

Peggy Schmertzler

A service will be held in Lincoln on Sunday, August 30 for Peggy Schmertzler of Lincoln, who passed away peacefully on August 28, 2015. She was the beloved wife of Alvin Louis Schmertzler; mother of Francis Brooks Belford of New Zealand, Caleb Cushing Clapp of Gloucester and Margaretta Story Phillips of Santa Monica; and stepmother of Amy Anisimov of Newton and Michael Schmertzler of New Canaan, Conn.

Née Margaretta Stewart Bridgman, Peggy was born on November 17, 1931, the youngest daughter of Eveleth Wilson Bridgman, MD and Mary Cushing Whitridge Williams, both of Baltimore, where Peggy grew up. After graduating from the Bryn Mawr School in 1949, Peggy attended Radcliffe College, where she obtained in an AB in history in 1953. Shortly thereafter, Peggy married Samuel Francis Clapp, a Boston lawyer. The couple settled in Swampscott, where their children were born.

Following her divorce, Peggy moved to Cambridge and worked for the next 15 years in the nonprofit sector including positions at Children’s Hospital in Boston and Jobs for Youth, where she was Director of Employment and then Director of Fundraising. During that time, Peggy also received her MA in Continuing Education from Boston University. She married Al in 1974.

Peggy helped found in 1988 the Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard. She was the organization’s first president and continued working until 2014 to promote the status of—and opportunities for—female students, faculty and alumnae at Harvard University.

After moving to Lincoln in 1985, Peggy was also involved in numerous local civic, social and political organizations including the Lincoln League of Women Voters, the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee, and the Council on Aging.

Peggy is the beloved grandmother of Claire Bridgman Belford of New Zealand and Austin Bridgman Clapp, Lida English Clapp and Elizabeth Clapp of Boston; and step-grandmother of Ian Michael Schmertzler and Ethan Jared Schmertzler both of New York, and Jenny Soo Jung Anisimov of Newton.

A memorial service for Peggy will be held at First Parish Church of Lincoln (14 Bedford Road, Lincoln) at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 30. Private family burial is in Lincoln Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity.

Arrangements are under the care of Susan M. Dee and Charles W. Dee, Jr., Dee Funeral Home of Concord.  To share a remembrance or send a condolence in Peggy’s online guestbook, please visit her obituary page on the Dee Funeral Home website.

Council on Aging activities for September

bemisSeptember 1 at 2:30
Coffee with artists Victoria and Bill Pearmain
Join Lincoln-born artists Victoria Pearmain (painter) and brother Bill Pearmain (multimedia visual artist) on Sept. 1st at 2:30 p.m. at a coffee to celebrate their exhibit at Bemis Hall’s Lincoln Artists Gallery. The exhibit will include paintings, photographs and sculpture and will be on view September and October. Victoria graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and her work has been in many shows and collections. Her paintings are primarily plein-air. Bill’s studies include New England College and Brandeis University. He has also exhibited in multiple shows and collections.

September 2 at 1 p.m.
Meet with an aide to Congresswoman Clark
You are invited to Bemis Hall on Wednesday, September 2 at 1 p.m. to meet with Anthony Moreschi, Constituent Service Representative for Congresswoman Katherine Clark. He will be available to assist residents with Social Security, Medicare and MassHealth/Medicaid. You are also welcome to discuss other matters that he may be able to help with. [Read more…] about Council on Aging activities for September

Another former Celtic selling his Lincoln home

Rajon Rondo's home at 9 Fridolin Drive.

Rajon Rondo’s Fridolin Hill home.

Who wants to commute 3,000 miles each way every day? Former Boston Celtics player Rajon Rondo, whose work address is now in Sacramento, is selling his Lincoln home overlooking the Cambridge reservoir. The asking price? Nothing remarkable by Lincoln standards—just $1.99 million, dropped from $2.45 million in May.

“We especially appreciated being part of the Lincoln community, which was always welcoming and warm to us. This was a very lucky house for me, and I have nothing but fond memories of my time here,” Rondo said in this Boston Globe article. He bought the property at 9 Fridolin Hill seven years ago when he was just 22, and got along well with his neighbor, according to WEEI.com.

Two years ago, Celtics player Paul Pierce also put his Winter Street home on the market for $2.65 million after he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets.

According to Trulia.com, Rondo’s asking price pales in comparison to those of several other Lincoln homes on the market as of August 21, including 109 Todd Pond Rd. ($8.59 million), 18 Page Rd. ($7.5 million), and 7 Silver Hill Rd. ($3.5 million).

A bevy of birds (Lincoln through the Lens)

A suspicious-looking finch and female cardinal pair, a male cardinal (are they hiding from him)? and a great blue heron were photographed in recent weeks by Harold McAleer.

A suspicious-looking finch and female cardinal pair, a male cardinal (are they hiding from him)? and a great blue heron were photographed in recent weeks by Harold McAleer.

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

Letter to the editor: seniors urgently need affordable housing

letter

To the editor:

I have really had my eyes opened lately. As a new member of the Lincoln Housing Commission, I have heard of and received phone calls from senior citizens in need of affordable housing. Several of these people live in Lincoln and some in the surrounding area but all of them are about to be displaced from their housing situation and are in dire need of a place to live. It is not so much that I was not aware of this problem—just, well, not in Lincoln.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), public housing preferences are prioritized in the following manner: persons who are homeless due to natural disasters persons who are homeless due to public action; and persons with emergency needs (such as domestic violence victims, persons with medical emergencies; or homeless persons facing an immediate threat to their health and safety).

The aforementioned do not quite fit any of these categories and are not able to obtain housing. I know of other people that do fit at least one of the above categories and they too are not able to obtain housing. We continue to brainstorm and, while we have some ideas, such as a group home and/or affordable accessory apartments, we are quite honestly struggling with how to find a solution to this growing problem. Anyone with either generous purses or creative ideas on how to provide assistance, is asked to contact Pam Mizrahi at the Council on Aging (781-259-8811) or email me at Sharon.antia@gmail.com.

While Lincoln has always met or exceeded the state requirement that 10 percent of housing stock is classified as affordable, because of our small size the number of affordable units is quite limited. Currently all our affordable units are occupied but if you or someone you know is in need of affordable housing, applications are available by calling Elaine Carroll at 781.259.2613 or visiting this Town of Lincoln web page.

Finally, this fall the Housing Commission will host a forum to discuss the needs of our community, the housing work done in Lincoln to date, and solicit input for the future. At the forum we will share our preliminary research into the possibility of creating an affordable accessory apartment program in Lincoln and look forward to receiving feedback from the community. The forum will be held Saturday, Sept. 26 from 1-3 p.m. in the Donaldson Room in town hall.

Sincerely,

Sharon Antia
165 South Great Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Library invites residents to brainstorming session

The Lincoln Public Library's Tarbell Room.

The Lincoln Public Library’s Tarbell Room.

Do you want more fiction in the stacks? Do you wish the Reading Room were better lit? Do you want nonfiction out of the basement? Do you think the Young Adult section is too small? Are you tired of pink and green? Do you wish you could meet a friend for tea at the library café? Do you have to duck under the low ceiling in the basement? Do you need more Internet support or electrical outlets? Whether you rush in and out of Circulation or linger in the stacks, do you dream of improving your library in ways small or large?

Join the Lincoln Public Library Board of Library Trustees and designers on Tuesday, September 1 at 7 p.m. in the Tarbell Room to explore possible improvements and enhancements to our library. Your opinion matters and the trustees want and need to hear from Lincoln residents.

[Read more…] about Library invites residents to brainstorming session

News acorns

cow on farmLiterary walk at deCordova

Inspired by Walking Sculpture, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is offering a free ambulatory event in the Park on Wednesday, August 26 at 6:30 p.m. with poet Cole Swensen that includes readings by some of literature’s greatest walkers and responsive writings.

Lincoln Agricultural Day on Sept. 19

The second Annual Lincoln Agricultural Day sponsored by the Lincoln Agricultural Commission will be on Saturday, Sept. 19 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 alongside the farmer’s market at the front of the Lincoln Station mall. The event is hosted by the Lincoln Rural Land Foundation. If you’re interested in selling produce or other agricultural products or have an agriculture related activity or skill you’d like to share, please contact lynne@stonegategardens.com to secure your space and become part of the celebration. There are no fees for vendors or participants.

Codman Harvest Fair coming up; entries sought

If you have an amazing garden with vegetables and/or flowers, please consider entering the old-fashioned Harvest Fair competition at Codman Community Farm slated for Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20. Categories include individual vegetables, grouped vegetables, flower arrangements, herbs, fruit plates, and canned and preserved goods. Children’s categories include animals made from veggies, ugliest vegetable, sewing, paintings and drawings, and flower arrangements. Click here for a complete listing of categories, rules and drop-off information.

Tickets for the fair’s feast, catered by Blue Ribbon BBQ, will go on sale soon. The fair can’t run without volunteers, and it’s fun—contact us at info@codmanfarm.org if you’re willing to help run games, sell food, help with the Rooster Run, or collect admissions and sell game tickets.

LEAP now offering before-school care

Starting in September, the Lincoln Extended-day Activities Program (LEAP) is offering before-school care for Lincoln School students from 6:50-8 a.m. Rates below include breakfast. To sign up, call 781-259-0615 or email leap0615@gmail.com.

1 day a week $43 per month
2 days a week $85 per month
3 days a week $119 per month
4 days a week $152 per month
5 days a week $183 per month
Fall wellness clinics for all ages

Lincoln residents of all ages are invited to meet with a nurse through a free town service. Come to get your blood pressure and/or Body Mass Index checked, ask questions, or learn about wellness resources. Clinics will be held at the Community Building at Lincoln Woods at 50 Wells Road from 10 a.m. to noon on four Fridays: September 18, October 2, November 13, and December 11. These clinics are funded by the Ogden Codman Trust and provided by Emerson Hospital Home Care. For more information, please call the Council on Aging at 781-259-8811.

Beating the heat with local ice cream

icecream2Editor note: This article was submitted by Josh Blumberg, who is entering seventh grade at the Lincoln School. He submitted it to the Lincoln Squirrel at the suggestion of his writing coach, teacher Scot Dexter.

By Josh Blumberg

July was a hot, humid month and August is turning out the same way. I felt like I was melting in that sweltering summer weather! How do you beat the heat? Ever try ice cream? Here in Lincoln we are lucky. There are several excellent options available for the sweet, frozen treat. Here are a few of my favorites.

Dairy Joy in Weston is a delightful location on Route 117. There are nine soft-serve ice cream flavors and three soft-serve sherbets, all of which can be dipped in a delicious chocolate coating. Coffee is my personal favorite. Dairy Joy is a drive-in style ice cream stand with no indoor seating, so you have to hit it when the weather is right. There are plenty of tables in the sun, and only a few in the shade, so you have to eat your ice cream quickly!

Bedford Farms in Concord has marvelous ice cream. There are thirty-six different flavors on the menu, plus nine yogurt flavors for you calorie counters. They also have a killer topping bar—M&Ms, peanut butter cups, sprinkles… you name it, they have it! The Thoreau Street location is fun to visit because it’s in a historic train station right beside the commuter rail. There are plenty of seats inside for rainy days, and a few choice spots outside for viewing passing trains. Here I recommend Cookie Dough in a cone. It’s spectacular!

Finally, there’s Orange Leaf in Wayland Center. Talk about soft-serve flavors! Is 80 enough to satisfy you? At any given time, you will find 20 flavors. These rotate frequently. Plus, there are sugar- and dairy-free options. The toppings bar here is crazier than any other! Be smart about your toppings because they weigh the food, then price it. There are around ten machines and each serve two that can be mixed into a third flavor. You get to serve yourself so the younger kids love it. Parents hate the idea because you can’t put it back!

Do yourself a favor and visit any of these three ice cream places before the end of the summer. They are fun, delicious and very different, making each a unique heat-beating experience. Happy summer!

Longtime Magic Garden teacher bids a fond farewell

mcsweeney-table-adj

Peggy McSweeney with one of her young students in class.

By Alice Waugh

When Peggy McSweeney started working as one of the teachers at the Lincoln’s Magic Garden Children’s Center when it opened more than three decades ago, she had no idea she would one day be teaching the children of one of her first students.

McSweeney, who retired from the preschool last month after 33 years, started her career as a third-grade teacher in Randolph. After taking time off to raise her own children, she worked with special-education preschoolers in Concord and then as a teacher assistant for older kids.

“That’s when I realized I really loved preschool children,” she said. “Then once we started [at Magic Garden], I just said, ‘This is where I’m staying’—not knowing it would be 33 years.”

Magic Garden started in a single classroom in the Smith building and later moved into one of the Hartwell pods, sharing space with LEAP (the Lincoln Extended-day Activities Program). In the early years, there was a loft and a huge cage filled with birds that belonged to the building’s maintenance man, McSweeney recalled. The preschool has occupied several rooms in the main Hartwell building for the last 15 years.

One of McSweeney’s students back in the day was four-year-old Bowen Holden, whose grandmother used to come in and read stories to the kids, McSweeney recalled. Holden grew up, started a family and returned to Lincoln—and her own two children passed through McSweeney’s care at Magic Garden not too long ago.

Dozens of Magic Garden parents and alumni threw a going-away party in the form of a hoedown with a live band and square dance caller in the Codman Barn at the end of May. The format was chosen because she has fond memories of community square dances during summers in Marshfield growing up.

“So many families came from years and years ago—it was a big reunion of Magic Garden folks,” McSweeney said. Fellow teachers offered up an affectionate spoof and sang “You Are My Sunshine” with McSweeney-specific lyrics.

“It was absolutely fantastic—I was blown away,” she said. “I was just so touched.”

Peggy McSweeney and fellow Magic Garden teacher xxx at "Peggy's Garden" named for the retiring teacher.

Peggy McSweeney and fellow teacher Michael Graves at a school-wide dedication picnic where staff and the children named the Magic Garden area in honor of the retiring teacher.

“Peggy has abundant warmth and energy, and an irrepressibly positive attitude that has made her beloved among Magic Garden families,” said Andrew Pang, a Magic Garden parent and president of the program’s board of directors. “When I’ve told longtime Lincolnites that my sons go to Magic Garden, almost invariably the first response is, ‘Does Peggy still teach there?’”

The preschool’s board has established the Peggy McSweeney Fund for Enrichment at Magic Garden to sustain and enhance programs in art, music, movement, languages, science and outdoor learning. “These special programs complement the curriculum and, like Peggy, are particularly memorable parts of a Magic Garden education,” Pang said.

Other changes are on the horizon for McSweeney as well. She and her husband Leo are planning to sell their house in Lexington and move into a condo in the same town. The couple recently celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary.

Once they get resettled, McSweeney hopes to do volunteer work in a school, hospital or library. She keeps active doing tai chi, swimming and walking her dogs, even though she won’t be running around after toddlers every day.

“It’s just been an amazing journey,” she said.