A flock of Canada geese takes flight in Lincoln. Photo: Harold McAleer…
School hoping to buy time for building project
By Alice Waugh
The School Committee has asked for more time from the state and more money from the town in hopes of salvaging almost $21 million in state aid promised for the school building project, which earlier this month failed to garner enough voter support to move forward.
School Committee chairman Jennifer Glass and Superintendent of School Becky McFall sent a letter on November 15 to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to formally report on the failed town meeting vote on Nov. 3 and ask if the town could have more time to achieve resident buy-in before the state-funding window of opportunity closes. The MSBA had committed to providing $20.9 million of the $49 million that would be needed for major renovations and additions to the school if voters had approved the project by a two-thirds majority at town meeting and a simple majority at the polls on Election Day.
Glass and McFall asked the MSBA to give the town until the end of February 2013 to “determine whether we believe the project can garner sufficient support from he Town, and whether and to what extent revisions of the project will be necessary.”
Welcome to the Lincoln Squirrel!
Welcome to the very first post in the Lincoln Squirrel, which will feature news, photos, events and other stuff about Lincoln, Mass. For more information about this site, click on “About / Contact” in the row of links at the top of the page. This is a work in progress, so there will be new…
AKA Bistro one step closer to cocktails
(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on October 12, 2012).
By Alice Waugh
A recent thumbs-up from Board of Selectmen moved AKA Bistro one step closer to having an all-alcohol liquor license, meaning the restaurant could be serving cocktails by the end of the year.
The board unanimously voted to approve the change in license at the close of a public hearing on October 1. Once the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) issues final approval, the town will issue the license to AKA. The ABCC is expected to act within “a few weeks” and town will then act “very fast” to issue the license, said Selectman Peter Braun.
New faces at Lincoln School in 2012-13
(This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal on September 27, 2012.) By Alice Waugh Among the new faces at the Lincoln School this fall are three teachers, a school psychologist, and several instructional assistants and tutors. The faculty features a pair of new fifth-grade teachers, Maurisa Davis and Lauren Sonalkar. Davis taught fourth and…
deCordova scraps art classes for adults
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
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.
Community center feasibility report issued
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…
Historic Gropius House lives on
(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
(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.