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

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.

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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.

Route 2 landscaping still a sore point for some

Controversy began when trees were cut alongside Route 2, as seen above in this photo from spring 2013.

Controversy began when trees were cut alongside Route 2, as seen above in this photo from spring 2013.

The town has received a guarantee of additional landscaping work on the Route 2 project, but some of it probably won’t be done until next spring.

The $65 million project to create a flyover ramp at Crosby’s Corner and add service roads along Route 2 in Lincoln was originally set to be completed by next summer, but that has slipped by three months into fall 2016 due to the unusually harsh weather last winter, said Town Administrator Tim Higgins. However, some landscaping work such as construction of stone walls will begin this fall, he added.

Many Lincoln residents who live in the Route 2 area have complained since work began more than two years ago when the contractor removed more trees than necessary. More recently, some are also unhappy with some of the planting that has already been done in the Brooks Road and Oak Knoll Road that has since gotten patchy or died because they were planted at the wrong time of year or not properly maintained.

Town officials have been meeting regularly with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) seeking remedies to address these issues. “We presented a parcel-by-parcel request with MassDOT has approved with very few changes,” Higgins said last week. “We’re pleased with how accommodating MassDOT has been.”

The negotiated landscaping work costing $600,000 will be funded by federal money that made its way to state coffers after some delays.

“We’re in the countdown phase to project completion, and we’ll be hiring our consulting landscape architect to come back and run alongside the process” to make sure all landscaping work is done according to the agreement with the town, Higgins said.

But several weeks earlier at the June 30 Board of Selectmen meeting, residents were far from pleased with the landscaping situation and what they saw as lack of communication from town officials. The complaints and sometimes heated responses from the board resulted in some fireworks several days before the Fourth of July, as selectmen expressed frustration at being caught between unhappy residents and an often slow state funding and approval process over which the town has no control.

Although the town’s consulting landscape architect said plantings needed to be completed by mid-October, work in the Oak Knoll Road area in both 2013 and 2014 was not completed until mid-November, “and the result was dead saplings and trees, grass failing to grow, and bare patches in vast areas with nothing but weeds,” said Oak Knoll Road resident Eoin Trevelyan. “We’re still waiting for an explanation.”

“I feel like you’re accusing this board of the transgressions of the DOT,” Selectman Noah Eckhouse said. “It’s outside of our jurisdiction. Help us understand what you would like this board to do.”

“My aim was to bring to your attention questions about the wisdom of relying on the notion that it we have a  landscaping project] budget and a timeline, that it’s necessarily going to happen,” Trevelyan replied.

“I feel this phase is very accusatory,” Eckhouse said. “If  we get super-aggressive about this one point right now, we could put this whole change order—which, let’s remind ourselves, was outside the scope of the entire project—we could put that at risk. Half of it’s been approved and none of it’s been implemented or scheduled… We’re trying to carefully balance the big picture. If we get too aggressive, we could lost their goodwill.”

Trevelyan responded that better communication between affected residents and town officials “would be a big help,” adding that the Route 2 Oversight Committee had not formally met since April 2014 and that the annual report issued in March said “there had been no communication in the previous 12 months.”

Eckhouse and Selectman Peter Bran bristled at the implication that the town had not been forthcoming with residents about the project, saying that there had been plenty of communication via email, phone and on site. “Did you send Tim an email and did he respond? Did Tim respond? It’s a really simple question,” Eckhouse said to Trevelyan. “You can’t even answer a question. You’re coming in here and you’re accusing town staff and volunteers of behavior we haven’t conducted. This is out of line here.”

“We were being misleading in our annual report? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Braun exclaimed. “Do you expect us to treat you with respect? There’s been a lot of communication.”

“I don’t think a week goes by that I’m not in communication with a resident and not two weeks go by that I’m not out in the field at someone’s property trying to resolve an issue,” Higgins said. “The reason why the committee hasn’t convened a formal meeting in over a year was because the watermark period was getting approval of the plan and getting everyone on the same page… It doesn’t mean in between meetings there’s radio silence.”

“You told us we were being misleading in our annual report. I think that’s repulsive,” Braun said. “It has no factual basis. This is just completely inappropriate. This has always been a delicate balance. We started from nowhere with exactly no leverage and we have created it. We have won on this, OK?

“We’re absolutely on it, they know we’re watching — as soon as we have information, we will provide it,” Braun added. “Your interests and the town’s interests have always been front and center every single step of the way.”

“The notion that there’s blind trust of the DOT couldn’t be further from the truth,” Higgins added.

The selectmen offered to schedule a meeting with residents as soon as there was something new to report from MassDOT.

Letter to the editor: kudos to Sen. Barrett

letter

To the editor:

Thanks to the leadership of Lincoln’s State Sen. Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), the new state budget now provides funds to test the water quality of the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers. Sen. Barrett’s $25,000 amendment, approved as part of the fiscal 2016 Senate budget, debate, paved the way. Although vetoed by the governor, the House and Senate voted to override the veto on Thursday, July 30. The money will be used to support water quality monitoring to measure progress in complying with state water quality standards.

The amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Jamie Eldridge and supported by Senator Richard Ross (representing Wayland and Natick), will ensure that the quality-controlled data will be available to municipal, state and federal decision-makers so that decisions can be based soundly on science.  Monitoring has shown that for a key pollutant, phosphorus, the substantial municipal investments in wastewater treatment have been paying off. In recent years, the three rivers have become significant recreational and wildlife resources. The Assabet River, once referred to as the “cesspool of Massachusetts,” is now an asset to the towns it flows through.

There is much work ahead to ensure that the rivers meet the goal of being “fishable and swimmable” and remain healthy in the face of climate change and stormwater pollution. This work should be based on scientific information. The determined commitment Sen. Barrett has shown to our environment by securing these funds is very much appreciated.

Laura E. Rome, President
Alison Field-Juma, Executive Director
OARS for the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers
Concord, MA

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.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.

News acorns

walkingCirque de Cordova this Saturday, mushroom foraging on Sunday

Inspired by the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum’s Walking Sculpture exhibition, try out these playful walking strategies with trained Simply Circus instructors on Saturday, August 8. No experience necessary. For ages 8 and up.

  • Stilt-walking lesson and tour — 11 a.m. Experience the Sculpture Park from new heights! Lesson is followed by a guided stilt tour of the Sculpture Park. $12 for members, $20 for nonmembers. Register online by August 5.
  • Tightrope walking lesson — 2 p.m. Test your physical and mental balance! Lesson includes walking tightropes at varied heights in the Sculpture Park. $12 for members, $20 for nonmembers. Register online by August 5.

On Sunday, August 9 at 10:30 a.m., join Walking Sculpture artist Wendy Jacob and the Boston Mycological Club, the oldest mycological club in North America, for a mushroom hunt in the Sculpture Park. Search the grounds for mushrooms and other fungi at 10:30 a.m.; reconvene at noon to identify findings. Bring a basket and a brown bag lunch. Free program for all ages.

Films of Marguerite Duras

August begins a new Lincoln Library Film Society series called “Authors on Screen” with a program of films written, adapted from, and even directed by the French writer Marguerite Duras (1914-1996), an accomplished French playwright, film director and screenwriter. Screenings are at the Lincoln Public Library on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. For more information, email lincolnlibraryfilmsociety@gmail.com

  • Tuesday, August 4 — Hiroshima, Mon Amour. France and Japan, 1959. In French, Japanese and English with English subtitles (90 minutes).
  • Tuesday, August 11 — The Sea Wall (Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique). France and Cambodia, 2008. In French with English subtitles (111 minutes)
  • Tuesday, August 18 — The Truck (Le Camion). France, 1977. In French with English subtitles (75 minutes), preceded by Black Night, Calcutta (Nuit Noire, Calcutta). France, 1964. In French with English subtitles (24 minutes)
  • Tuesday, August 25 — Mademoiselle. France, 1966. In French and Italian with English subtitles (103 minutes).

Campus master plan design consultant approved

The Community Center Study Committee's "preferred option." Click on the image for more options and interior design ideas.

The Community Center Study Committee’s “preferred option” for the site of a new community center on the east side of the Lincoln School campus (see the Lincoln Squirrel, March 26, 2015).

The Campus Master Planning Committee (CMPC) has selected LLB Architects of Pawtucket, R.I. as the design consultant for the Ballfield Road campus, where the town hopes to build a new community center and renovate the Lincoln School.

The School Committee and the Board of Selectmen, which jointly appointed the CMPC, approved the hiring in mid-July.

“LLB brings a wealth of experience and a talented team of experts to the campus master planning project,” said Town Administrator Tim Higgins. “This is one of the most important projects facing Lincoln right now. We recognize that the plan will need to accommodate both the current and future education and recreational needs of our town’s resident population. I’m confident that LLB will be able to successfully assist the Campus Master Planning Committee in their charge to study the basic infrastructure and physical layout of the Ballfield Road campus and inform the planning for the contemplated school building and community center projects.”

“LLB’s technical experience, team-based approach, community focus and ability to see the ‘big picture’ make them a solid choice,” said School Committee Chair Jennifer Glass. “The project team, led by Project Executive Greg Smolley, has completed more than three dozen publicly bid projects in the Commonwealth in the last five years.”

LLB Architects, formerly Lerner Ladds Bartels, was founded in 1936. Their portfolio features design work on the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles and several projects at Brown University and the University of Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, the firm has done design work on public libraries in Bolton, Maynard, Scituate, Walpole and Watertown as well as the town halls in Acton and Harvard.

A report by Abacus Architects and Planners last March estimated that a community center just east of the Parks and Recreation pod on the Hartwell side of the campus would cost about $13 million, including a new access road, parking lot and repairs to the pods. The new building would be home to the Parks and Rec and the Council on Aging as well as various community groups.

For the rest of the summer, the consultants will review data on the campus’s physical and geographical conditions (roads and parking, wetlands, septic systems, major trees, etc.) and establish the short and long-term programmatic needs of all potential stakeholder groups. They will present their initial findings at a public workshop in October, where they will also gather public input and “identify conceptual options and present positive and negative aspects of each,” according to the firm’s preliminary project approach and timeline.

LLB will also make a presentation and gather input at the State of the Town Meeting on November 14 and at another public workshop in December before submitting their final report before the end of the calendar year.

“Lincoln is a community that values its historical buildings and spaces and engaging the public in setting direction for the future,” said LLB Project Executive Greg Smolley. “All of us at LLB Architects treasure the history of New England and have built the firm on a wide range of civic and public projects. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with everyone in Lincoln and are looking forward to getting started.”

For more information, residents are encouraged to attend any of the committee meetings, which are posted on the CMPC web page.

Thomas Rhines, Jake Fox become Eagle Scouts

eagle pledge-adj2Thomas Rhines (left) and Jake Fox recite the Eagle pledge as they become Eagle Scouts on July 16 at a ceremony by Lincoln Boy Scout Troop 127 at the Codman Farm Barn. Eighty-five friends, family, Scouts and town officials joined in the ceremony and celebration.

For his Eagle project, Thomas created digital trail maps and photographs for the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, enabling trail users to have interactive access through their cell phones and the Google Earth app. Jake’s project was preserving gravestones in the town’s historic Town Hill Cemetery for the Lincoln Cemetery Commission as well as documenting and verifying burial records.

Watch the ceremony via this indexed video on the Town of Lincoln website.

Council on Aging activities in August

bemisDid you enjoy the strawberry social? Come hear more jazz!
August 6 at 2:30 p.m.
Did you hear the Lincoln Traditional Jazz Sextet belting it out while you munched away? Did you like what you heard? Well, there’s more where that came from. The sextet will be back at Bemis on Thursday, Aug 6 at 2:30 to give you their renderings of those tunes and others like them. So come on down, put your feet up or tap them to the music, and hum along. What better way to spend a pleasurable hour on a summer afternoon?

Veterans summer BBQ
August 10 at 12 p.m.
Veterans and their spouses are invited to a special barbecue on Monday, August 10 at 12 p.m. at Bemis Hall featuring a delicious lunch of barbecued pork or chicken. The COA is hoping to create a dynamic veterans community here in Lincoln and would love to see you and your spouse at the barbecue. You must sign up by calling the COA at 781-259-8811 by August 3 so that they will have enough meals. Unfortunately, they will not be able to accommodate those who do not sign up. A $5 donation is requested.

What you need to know about rescuing animals
August 17 at 10 a.m.
Lincoln residents share our backyards, our conservation land, and more with animals who come from the wild or, sometimes, may have been bought as pets but then left on their own for one reason or another. Knowing what to do when you encounter an animal, especially one who may be sick or who is in danger, is essential to your own and the animal’s safety. Find out about the animals you may come across in Lincoln and what to do when you would like to help but do not know how. Daniela Caride, President of the Board of Phinney’s Friends, comes to Bemis Hall on Monday, August 17 at 10 a.m. Caride will also discuss the mission and services of Phinney’s Friends, a Lincoln-based nonprofit dedicated to helping people keep their pets in times of crisis.

Searching Consumer Reports online free
August 20 at 10 a.m.
Consumer Reports has information about products from cars to airlines to cleaners to shoes, food, insurance, and everything in between. Because the Lincoln Public Library has a subscription, any Lincoln resident can search for product reviews from their homes on their computers for free! Get a demonstration of how to do this when Kate Tranquada, one of Lincoln’s reference librarians, comes to Bemis Hall on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 10 a.m.

Is your home safe for your pets?
August 24 at 10 a.m.
Sometimes even the most loving home can be dangerous for pets. Food, plants, medicine, and household chemicals can be toxic. Furniture with sharp edges can cause injuries. Pets can get locked into rooms, dryers, and other places. Buttons and strings can cause choking and more. Find out what you need to know to make sure your home is safe for your pets when Lincoln veterinarian Doug Meade comes to Bemis Hall on Monday, Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. Doug will let you know what to look out for and answer your questions.

—Hold the date: Friday, Sept. 25—
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate
Learn about the U.S. Senate in an interactive and exploratory way on a trip to the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate on Friday, Sept. 25. After a short introduction, folks can independently wander through the museum with a tablet which allows them to engage fully in the democratic process. An issue of the day also enhances the experience. A full-scale replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber and other exhibits are also on view. The Institute opened this past March to rave reviews. Note that this is a self guided tour with quite a bit of walking, but that there are places to sit throughout the building. The tour lasts between an hour to an hour and a half. The bus will leave the Lincoln Mall at 9:30 a.m. and return about 3 p.m. The cost is $15 per person. Lunch is still to be arranged. For more information about the Institute, go to https://www.emkinstitute.org. Signup begins in September.