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

deCordova scraps art classes for adults

November 5, 2012

For the first time in decades, adults looking for hands-on art instruction at the deCordova won’t see any offerings.

(This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal on September 7, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

This fall, for the first time in decades, there will be no semester-based art classes at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. DeCordova has scrapped its school in favor of a greater focus on sculpture and family-based programs. The Lincoln Nursery School, which has rented one of the art-class studios for the past two years, is moving its entire operation into the vacated studios.

The museum school closure, which faculty members were told about last November, has engendered a feeling of loss in many students and longtime deCordova faculty members.

Watson strikes new note at First Parish

November 4, 2012

Ian Watson plays the organ at the First Parish Church.

(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on August 23, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

As a boy in Buckinghamshire, England, Ian Watson was obsessed with the piano and organ—”that’s all I could ever think about,” he said. He began a distinguished musical career shortly thereafter and now, a decade after emigrating to the United States, he’s adding another piece to his repertoire: music director for Lincoln’s First Parish Church.

Watson, a self-described freelance conductor and keyboardist who lives in Hudson, is artistic director for the Arcadia Players, a period instrument ensemble based at the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. For several years, he was also director of music at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester, where he revitalized the choir and started a music festival, and conducted several major concerts a year.

Lincoln will get its own taste of period music from the Arcadia Players on October 7, when Watson will lead the group in a performance of Mozart and Hayden concertos in Bemis Hall (tickets are $20 at the door). He will also play fortepiano, the type of instrument used by those two composers.

The music from period instruments (for example, violins strung with gut and having a flatter and shorter fingerboard) “is beautifully clear and clean,” Watson said. “If Beethoven walked in, he would immediately recognize what we were doing by the style of music and the instruments we were playing.”

At age 14, Watson won a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he was awarded all the prizes for organ performance and others for piano accompaniment. He also received the Recital Diploma, the highest award for performance excellence. His first organ appointment was at St. Margaret’s, Westminster Abbey, at the age of 19, a position he held for 10 years. Watson later held several prestigious positions in London, including organist of St. Marylebone Parish church and music director of the historic Christopher Wren Church, St. James’s Piccadilly.

Until recently, the First Parish had both a music director and an organist, but after longtime music director Malcolm Hawkins retired last year, the music committee decided to look for a candidate who could do both jobs, said committee chair Mary Briggs. “The choir loft looks like it was designed for one person to do both jobs, so obviously it’s worked in the past,” she observed.

Watson’s audition was “fabulous,” Briggs said. “He blew us away with his organ playing —we’d never heard it sound so wonderful, and he got us in the choir to sing better than we thought we could. We’re so fortunate to have this musician with an international reputation joining us. I can’t wait for the beginning of the church year.”

“The First Parish of Lincoln offers an opportunity to present a wide variety of music, both choral and instrumental,” Watson said. “My intention is to build on what’s here, not to change anything for the sake of change, but to develop and expand it to the best it can be.”

Community center feasibility report issued

November 3, 2012

By Alice Waugh

If Lincoln decides to create a community center to house the Parks and Recreation Department and the Council on Aging in a single building, the most logical site would be somewhere on the Ballfield Road school campus, but further discussion will be deferred until after the town votes on the school building project this fall.

In its report presented to the Board of Selectmen on July 30, the Community Center Feasibility Study Committee examined the current and future space needs of the two organizations and presented information about seven possible sites in town that might accommodate the Parks and Recreation Department (PRD) or the Council on Aging (COA), or potentially both in one multigenerational facility.

For existing and future programming over the next decade, the PRC needs 14,600 square feet of space and the COA needs about 9,700 square feet, but having both in one building would require only 19,300 square feet (5,000 less than the sum of the two separately) because they could share some of the space.

Bemis Hall, the current home of the COA, “is not well suited for use as a senior center” because of issues with insufficient handicapped access, the configuration of the space in the historic building, and not enough safely located parking. There are a few spaces in front of Bemis that require drivers to back out into busy Bedford Road, and if they park in the church lot across the street, they must cross the same road.

While the PRD “is very happy with its current location” in Hartwell pod C, the pods have code violations and general wear and tear that will have to be addressed even if the PRD stays put, the report said. There’s also uncertainty about the process for future repairs, since the PRD is “borrowing” its space from the Lincoln School Committee. Since they are not being used for educational purposes, there is little incentive for that committee to fund repairs. However, the pods could be formally decommissioned, which would effectively transfer authority over the space.

Similarly, the town will need to spend money on Bemis Hall (which formerly housed the PRD) even if the COA stays there. The town should move ahead with short-term improvements to the building to meet the current needs of the COA and then do a “thoughtful suitability assessment” for the best uses of the building, the report said.

“One way or another, Bemis Hall is going to continue to be used,” Selectman Peter Braun said.

The committee’s report looked at the pros and cons of seven potential sites for the PRC and/or the COA: the Hartwell area (including part of the administration building as well as the pods), part of the old Smith School after new construction is completed, Pierce House, the First Parish Church, the Groves, Farrington Memorial, and Lincoln Woods on Wells Road. For each, the report includes data on the suitability of the location; the adaptability of the existing structures; renovation or construction cost; and access, circulation and parking.

The notion of whether the town even wants a one-site community center needs more consideration by officials and residents, selectmen noted.

“We need to articulate a vision and then see what happens with the schools,” said feasibility committee member Bob Sutherland, referring to an upcoming town-wide vote on the proposed elementary school building project.

“This report is not an attempt to sell the town on a need for a community center,” noted Town Administrator Timothy Higgins. “It provides an objective jumping-off point for future discussions that the town will have.”

Selectman Renel Fredriksen praised the work of the committee and the report’s neutrality, though she commented, “I couldn’t help but walk away with some very definite opinions… and I’d be really surprised if a lot of people didn’t reach the same conclusions I did.”

“This is a fabulous report. You’ve done the town a great service,” Selectman Noah Eckhouse told committee members. Though it was finished later than originally planned, the committee spent only $13,000 of the $45,000 it was allocated for its work, even with the hiring of a consultant, he added.

Historic Gropius House lives on

November 2, 2012

(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on August 2, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

The front of the Gropius House on Baker Bridge Road.

In the Lincoln of the late 1930s, Walter Gropius’ home was certainly different. Although the world-renowned architect incorporated a few New England touches into his blocky white modern house atop a hill on Baker Bridge Road, neighbors were skeptical—never dreaming that one day this “lonely little petunia in an onion patch of traditional architecture” would become a national historic landmark.

During a recent “Evening at Gropius,” site manager Wendy Hubbard offered an in-depth look at the house and its designer to a handful of visitors who toured the house at dusk and experienced the dramatic lighting effects he created.

Getting pickled at Drumlin Farm

November 1, 2012

(This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal on August 2, 2012.)

Leslie Miller of Stow fishes a pickle out of the jar)

By Alice Waugh

Summer at Drumlin Farm means loads of fresh vegetables and herbs—and some of them got pickled on a Friday night.

About 20 visitors sampled all sorts of veggies that had been pickled over the past week or so by Drumlin farm and food educator Allison Chuang, who led “Fermentation Friday: A Pickled Pageant” on July 27. Pickling isn’t just for cucumbers, she explained, as she handed out tasty samples of pickled radishes, carrots, peppers, green beans and other foods.

Before the advent of refrigeration, pickling (submerging food in salt water and allowing it to ferment) was just one of several food preservation methods people used around the world for centuries. For example, many cultures pickle cabbage to make foods like sauerkraut or kimchi. Fermentation is also used to make thing including beer, bread and yogurt.

Oldies but goodies at antique auto show

November 1, 2012

(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on July 20, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

Strolling the landscaped grounds of the Codman Estate on Sunday, visitors could take in dozens of antique cars ranging from a Ford Model T to a 1960s Dodge Dart.

The annual antique car show was sponsored at Codman for the 28th year by Historic New England as a fundraiser and a way to attract people to the estate who might not otherwise visit. Some of the cars and owners, including John Bartley of Watertown, have been coming to the show since it began 28 years ago.

Bartley’s car, a 1937 Ford Touring Deluxe, is unusual because it’s only had two owners—Bartley and his late mother. Because of rationing during World War II, she was unable to get a new tire to replace one that was damaged, so she sold the car to her son for $2 in 1943, and he’s owned it ever since. In the glove compartment, Bartley still keeps the notebook in which he jotted down the expenses incurred on a road trip to Canada on his honeymoon in 1951 ($8 for a hotel room, $3.85 for supper, $2.02 for 8.1 gallons of gas).

Bartley’s car is also unusual in that it’s had very little work done on it, since he’s taken good care of it over the years.

“I’m not into restoration. I like ’em clean,” he said.

Another car at the show that’s stayed in the family for a while was the 1975 baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle owned by Laurence and Nancy Zuelke of Lincoln. Because the odometer wasn’t working for a while, they’re not sure exactly how many miles they’ve put on it, though Nancy estimates it at “two-hundred-something thousand.”

Next to the Zuelkes’ car was another 1957 Beetle, this one in metallic gold. Some have asked owner John Henry of Dunstable, if that’s really the original color. He explained that VW offered gold Bugs for two years in honor of the one-millionth Beetle that rolled off the assembly line in Wolfsburg, Germany in 1955. For the show, Henry added a period touch with some musty old suitcases tied to a 1950s VW roof rack with twine (though he used more reliable modern bungee cords for the drive down to Lincoln).

Perhaps the most unusual customization on view was the paint job on a black 1962 Cadillac convertible. Owner John Dunton of Waltham did the painting himself, with advice from an artist friend. Radiating along the sides are subtle red “ghost flames”; because of the technique he used, the flames sparkle in bright sun but almost completely disappear in low light. Dunton even removed the door handles and other appendages from the sides of his 18-foot-long car to enhance the sleek effect.

Click on pictures to see larger versions:

Kids, crafts and tents at Codman Campout

October 31, 2012

(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on June 21, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

The Codman Community Farms entrance area was a colorful and congenial place to be on the night of June 16, as dozens of families pitched tents, ate dinner and enjoyed some campfire camaraderie during the annual Codman Campout.

For the past five years each June, members of Codman Community Farms have been invited to camp at the farm overnight after an evening of children’s crafts activities, s’mores and campfire songs. This year there were 30 tents with 86 people participating, most of them families with young children.

“We’re so happy to see that. For this event to keep going, we need these younger campers,” said Codman Community Farm board member Erica Darnall.

Like many of the other parents in attendance, Matt and DJ Mitchell of Lincoln had done some camping before they had children, and the Codman event was a chance to introduce their younger child to the experience.

“This is a test run,” said Matt, sitting in the barn before dinner with DJ and their daughters Montana, 2, and Cadence, 4, who have visited the farm frequently (Cadence is especially fond of Opal the donkey). “We’re excited about the evening, and we’re hoping for a happy and tear-free time.”

The children checked off activities on a quiz sheet to qualify for s’mores after dinner. Inside the barn before dinner, they sniffed plants in jars at the “Guess What Herb I Am” table, made paper puppets and clothespin dragonflies, found earthworms on a tray of soil, and even made “I Love Ewe” sheep out of popsicle sticks and cotton balls to give their dads the next morning for Father’s Day.

Lincoln fourth-grader Sydney Kanzer and her father Bill were at the campout for the second time. Asked what was her favorite part of the event, Sydney replied enthusiastically, “Everything’s awesome!” She later echoed many of the kids in citing the marshmallows and guitar sing-along around the campfire as being especially fun.

“The food is one of the best parts,” said Linn Elmes as she helped herself to dinner along with her husband David and their daughters Natalie, 9, and Sophie, 6. The hot buffet catered by Rebecca Leonardi of Lincoln included pulled chicken, a strawberry and goat cheese salad, and a side dish of rice, sausage and dried cranberries for the parents alongside hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and watermelon for the school-age diners.

It was a cool and crisp evening, not too warm for snuggling into sleeping bags, and everyone slept well, including the first-time campers. “Nobody cried and woke anyone up,” said Darnall, adding that the turkeys didn’t start gobbling too early, either. Shortly after 6 a.m., the roosters crowed and the campers emerged from their tents for bagels and coffee.

“It was a really beautiful evening, and everyone had a great time,” Darnall said.

(Editor’s note, July 2019: I took these photos in 2012, but generations of software have left behind the original captions. If anyone knows the names of these folks, please email lincolnsquirelnews@gmail.com.)

Kids compete by paddling, pedaling and putting feet to the ground

October 30, 2012

(This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal on June 29, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

Despite a few no-shows due to early-morning rain, 182 kids finished Lincoln’s ninth annual “Splash, Mash and Dash” kids’ triathlon last Saturday, with Lincoln residents finishing near the top in almost every age group.

Participants came from all over eastern Massachusetts and beyond, with one from as far away as Grosse Point, Mich. Forty-three of the finishers (about 24 percent) were Lincoln residents.

Before the start, kids checked in at the Codman Pool to have race numbers and ages written on their arms and legs in black marker and waterproof transponder chips attached to their ankles. Participants age 7 and up had to swim, bike and run different distances depending on their age group (although the 5- and 6-year-olds did only an “aquathon” without the biking portion).

After a stirring a capella rendition of the national anthem by Georgia and Brittany Baltay of Lincoln, the youngest kids did one length in the water (parents swimming alongside) and then dashed from the pool amid applause from the crowd to the running course marked with flags on the adjacent grassy field. Older kids instead ran to the parking lot, which was marked off in squares with spray paint for each child’s towel, bike, helmet, shoes, shirt and race bib. More than 40 volunteers plus a cohort of lifeguards helped guide the kids along the course and keep things running smoothly.

As racers neared the finish line, family members shouted encouragement, and proud parents posed their damp, tired and happy kids for photos after each was presented with a medal. Event co-organizer Karen Smyers of Lincoln acted as emcee. Using a wireless microphone, she congratulated kids as they finished with calls of “Nice finish! You got it! You did so well!”

“It was nice having a different bike route this year,” said 14-year-old Sam Hoenig of Lincoln, who finished in first place among 13- and 14-year-old boys. He noted that last year, the triathletes couldn’t bike or run on Lincoln Road (which was in the midst of a repaving project) and instead had to do laps around the ball field.

First to finish the boys’ aquathon was 6-year-old Peter Tompkins of Reading, Mass. He was so eager to run after his swim that he dashed our of the pool onto the course without bothering to don his shoes or shirt. But he comes by his triathlon enthusiasm honestly — he was one of nine cousins who took part. Three Tompkins siblings, four Smiths from Hingham and two Croteaus from Arlington entered, no doubt inspired by their grandmother, 70-year-old Pat Ryan of Medford, who started doing triathlons 27 years ago and is now a world-class triathlete in her age group.

Another top Lincoln finisher in her group was Olivia Pistorio, who came in sixth overall among the 9- and 10-year-old girls. “I think I like the biking part best, because you can glide and rest a bit and not have to use your arms,” she said. The event was more enjoyable for her this time because recent weather made for more comfortable swimming in the unheated Codman Pool. “Last year the water was freezing,” she said.

All morning, parents and kids clustered around a TV monitor showing everyone’s times, which were recorded by the transponder chips and transmitted to computers in All Sports Events van near the finish line. Complete results are available on the All Sports website (click on “Results”).

Everyone got a chance to finish the course, even if they didn’t do it strictly by the book. Smyers reported that one girl missed the route on the bike course, but organizers accommodated her request to repeat the entire triathlon without being timed. A child in the youngest age group was scared to start the swim along with her peers, “but when the race was about two-thirds over, she decided she was ready,” so organizers let her unofficially complete the aquathon, Smyers said.

Another happy athlete was 7-year-old Henry Fenollosa of Arlington, who crossed the finish line together with his twin brother Leo despite wearing a brace on his lower leg. Their mother, Catherine Fenollosa, explained that Henry was diagnosed with cancer of the spine while she was still pregnant with him. He started chemotherapy when he was one day old and is now cancer-free, though he was left with partial paralysis in one leg. When registering for the triathlon (his first), Henry insisted on competing with his age group rather than the younger kids. Successfully completing all three segments was “huge,” his mother said.

Top finishers received prizes including Timex “Ironman” watches, Saucony jackets and sweatshirts, and gift cards from Marathon Sports. There were also raffle prizes from donors including Something Special.

The first Lincoln residents to finish in each group (and their overall results for their group) were

Ages 5-6: Ginger Perry (3rd), Dylan Russell (3rd)
Ages 7-8: Sophie Herant (1st), Callum Stein (1st)
Ages 9-10: Olivia Pistorio (6th), Simon Perry (1st)
Ages 11-12: Larsen Henken (5th), Danny Hoenig (3rd)
Ages 13-14: Charlotte Sykes (1st), Sam Hoenig (1st)

Drumlin farmers show how to milk it for everything it’s worth

October 30, 2012

(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on June 14, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

Lots of people drink milk every day, but most of them don’t see how it gets from cow to cup. Drumlin Farm staff rectified that situation for hundreds of visitors on Dairy Day last Saturday, which was both educational and udderly delicious.

The third annual Dairy Day in June (National Dairy Month) is one of Drumlin Farm’s periodic “theme days,” which include Woolapalooza earlier this spring. Visitors could watch a cow being milked, taste some freshly made yogurt cheese, and even make butter in a bottle. “We wanted to give people a chance to learn more about where milk comes from and the different ways you can use it to make other dairy products,” said visitor education coordinator Renata Pomponi.

At swap table, Lincolnites can take it or leave it

October 29, 2012

(Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal in 2012 before author Alice Waugh went on to found the Lincoln Squirrel.)

By Alice Waugh

A tackle box with some rusty fishing lures inside. A wooden spice rack. Ski boots. An unopened package of cassette tapes. Bamboo window shades. A child’s bicycle. Toys galore. These were just a few of the things that could be found recently at the Lincoln transfer station’s swap table, where the town’s dedication to recycling can be seen in spades

Malene Coombs gathers up some board games for students at the Boston school where she teaches. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Lincoln residents bring their garbage and recyclable materials to the transfer station (some still call it the dump for short, although trash is no longer buried in the adjacent landfill). There are metal trailers to hold trash, paper and cardboard, glass and plastic, and metal, as well as containers for donated clothing and old TVs.

Many Lincolnites (visitors must have a resident sticker to enter the transfer station) also stop by the swap table to leave things they don’t want and perhaps take home someone else’s discarded item that catches their eye. And sometimes they may happen upon something unexpected—including, once, a Prada handbag discovered by Bernadette Quirk, a Recycling Committee member who helps manage the swap table and answers residents’ recycling questions.

“I saw this little black bag and thought, “Oh, my daughter might like that,'” Quirk said. “I had no idea what it was at first.”

Grace Sweetser checks out a discarded toy that she thought might be fun for the beach. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

Residents sometimes drop off their swap table items in a single pile, so Quirk and her fellow Recycling Committee volunteers, including Sue Stason and Janice Phillipps, sort the items, deciding what should be thrown in the trash, what can be saved and stored in the shed for another day, and what can be donated to Goodwill if no one else wants it.

“We find that when we unpack things and display them, they move much quicker,” Phillipps said.

The committee members volunteer their time to help the bottom line (“the more the town recycles, the more money it saves,” Stason said), but also for the social benefits.

“I get to see all my neighbors and say hi,” Phillipps said. “It’s a very civic activity.”

Other unusual items left at the swap table in the past have included a bag of ammunition pellets that broke open—”it was such a mess,” Quirk said—and even food, which the volunteers throw in the trash right away, along with anything broken or potentially dangerous.

One of the most memorable swap table findings was several old-fashioned enemas. “Someone must have been cleaning out their grandmother’s house,” Quirk said. “We were laughing so hard.”

The volunteers see their mission not just as sorters, but as educators. Sometimes residents don’t know where to recycle something such as brush (the answer: at the Department of Public Works on Lewis Street). Or they don’t realize that dry and laundered textiles of any kind—unmatched socks, single shoes, even moth-eaten blankets—can be recycled in the Red Cross container. Items that can’t reused for their original purpose are ground up for another use, Phillipps said.

One common type of item residents leave at the swap table are things their kids no longer use. Malene Coombs of Page Road was happy to stuff some children’s books and board games into a plastic bag for the children at the Boston public school where she teaches

“My school is one of the most needy,” said Coombs, who takes swap-table items for her fellow teachers and parent coordinators as well as her own students. “This stuff is invaluable.”

“That gladdens my heart, because there’s so much stuff that just gets dumped,” Stason said.

“It’s true what they say—one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” said Quirk.