Blogging Westford

Step Right Up

2010-05-16T20:15:00.003-04:00

A view of the Apple Blossom Festival at the Abbott Middle School today:

Westford's Stony Brook Reservoir Dam

2010-04-22T09:02:00.002-04:00

Today's moment of Zen brought to you by Pak Photog:

Save Roudenbush

2010-04-07T08:20:00.005-04:00

In case it slipped your notice (as it slipped mine until it was pointed out to me today), the Town of Westford was legally required to issue a Request for Proposals to lease the three town-owned buildings that currently house Roudenbush:

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR LEASE OF TOWN OWNED PROPERTY

On February 8, 2010, the town of Westford, by and through its Board of Selectmen, requested proposals from organizations to operate the premises located at 65 Main Street, 73 Main Street and 170 Plain Road, collectively consisting of approximately 24,864 net usable square feet, with associated parking and grounds. The town seeks to have the proposer offer programs similar to those currently offered at the Roudenbush Community Center, such as community education, preschool, after school, gymnastics, licensed day care, and child and adult classes. The town received approval to lease the properties at the May 9, 2009 Annual Town Meeting. The town’s objective in soliciting proposals is to identify a responsive and responsible proposer that provides the best value to the town, whose proposal is compatible with the town’s Parks, Recreation and Cemetery Department operations, and also provides a benefit to town residents.

There is a competitive bid from Springboard, which is a national afterschool care chain. If you have benefited from any of Roudenbush's programs or events and agree that they're worth saving, please consider signing this petition to show your support for the Roudenbush organization:

In response to the proposals for lease of town owned property:

We, the residents of Westford, believe that the town's best long term interests are best served by an organization that is non-profit, whose goal is to satisfy it's customers and an organization that solely operates in Westford.

We, the residents of Westford, prefer the pre-school educational approach that is exemplified by the Roudenbush Community Center teachers.

We, the residents of Westford, urge the Board of Selectman to vote for Roudenbush Community Center to continue to operate in Westford.

You can also help by linking to this post on your own site or via Twitter by retweeting this status update.

A Quick Video Tour of Westford

2009-11-30T10:22:00.003-05:00

Here's a fun, quick tour of Westford, found in the Westford Flickr group:

Played at 8x speed, this is the drive from Rt. 27 (Acton Rd.) to Groton via Rt. 225.

Running Boston Marathon for Cancer Research

2009-10-08T08:08:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago, I started a new training videoblog. Beyond moving all running-specific chatter away from my main personal site, I had another specific purpose in mind, which I didn't reveal at the time because my plan required acceptance of an application I'd filed on that same day. I received that acceptance last week, and I'm excited to share the news with my followers here, in the hopes that you'll also follow and support me over there.

First, a little background. Training for and running the San Francisco Marathon this year was incredibly important and rewarding for me, and the experience made me want to use a similar opportunity to do something even more important for others. I want to take on a challenge much bigger than anything I could accomplish solely for myself.

As you may remember, Kristina has participated in the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge twice, and each time she inspired me by her commitment, passion, and success. Her athletic accomplishments inspired me to run San Francisco, and now that she’s not applying for DMFC herself this year, her charitable achievements have inspired me to carry the torch that she started. I have been truly moved by her work for DFMC, which has highlighted the research her contributions have funded. It’s an effort I want to be a part of myself.

So, I was thrilled and honored to be selected among many applicants to run the Boston Marathon in April to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Though I must raise at least $3,250 to support research that will help eradicate cancer, my personal goal of $6,000 is significantly more ambitious.

The DFMC raises funds for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The DFMC directs 100% of funds raised to the Barr Program, which enables gifted young scientists at the leading edge of discovery to achieve better cure rates and to enhance patients' quality of life. I hope you will support my challenge by giving a gift to my run and, in doing so, help bring an end to the challenge of cancer.

For more details on why I'm running for DFMC, check out my About page and consider following me on my training blog as it also begins to document my fundraising efforts for this cause that's so much bigger than my own humble performance. Thanks in advance for any donation you're able to make, and I look forward to seeing you around there soon (or, actually, you seeing me around there, I suppose). I truly appreciate your support.

Walking Westford - all dead ends

2009-07-04T06:16:00.004-04:00

Well let's start with the MOST important aspect of the walk, which is not where we walked but the fact that I could actually SEE MY SHADOW! WHOOHOOOOOOO! The sun came out! Oh were we psyched!

OK, now down to the business of the walk. We started off on Baldwin Dr., which is off Main St. near the Chelmsford line. Nice neighborhood, very late 1980's, HUGE houses, but quite varied, with vast porches (which I greatly envy), and tons of well thought out and executed landscaping. Love the long collection of trees that lines the road.

All of the lollipop roads that come off it are not actually roads but shared driveways with rather annoying "Private Property, stay away, we don't want your kind here" signs. Fine with us, less road to walk!

So Baldwin was really short, especially given the lack of tributaries. So we got in the car and hopped over to Buckboard Dr. This had a classic Hicks feel to it, lots of farm houses, horse related names, etc. It's a really big neighborhood actually with over 50 houses. They had this very cool garden area with granite benches. It looked like it was a community spot, very well maintained, trimmed bushes. See pic below. MUCH more inviting than the road signs over at Baldwin.

This was a pretty short walking day since my mom had 4th of July prep to do and I had a brick oven to work on. Never the less, the peanut gallery were chirping about how sore their legs were, how tired they were, are we nearly done yet, etc. I told them if this is how they handled a flat, quiet walk in their home town, then Mt. Monadnock was really going to give them a treat when we climb it later in the year. Anyone want to join us? Oh, come on! It'll be fun!

Roads walked: Baldwin Rd., Buckboard Dr., Stonebolt Way (love that name!), Carriage Way, Haywagon Circle.

CommunityWalk Map - Walking Westford

Walking Westford - Graniteville

2009-06-27T07:30:00.004-04:00

Like everything else this month of June 2009, Walking Westford has been suffering from too much rain. It's also suffering a bit from the brick oven I am working on, which vies for my incredible lack of time. But we did manage to get a walk in, and the sun almost came out!

Now that school is out we have all three of my daughters in tow, so we are back to a chorus of "I'm hungry, can I have a snack, I'm tired, are we almost done yet". It's really quite musically and I highly encourage all of you to collect a few young friends and give it a try. No, really.

So we walked Graniteville, probably the most tightly packed and congested section of Westford. It's really quite beautiful. Most of the houses are unique in structure and people do a very nice job of caring for their small patches of land. My first boyfriend ever, Mark Malek, grew up there. Sixth grade. Let's see, that's about, maybe 12 lifetimes ago. Currently his old house is for sale we noticed. Our Dads worked together at Hewlett-Packard back in the day. He was a really nice kid. I wonder where he's gone off to.

We saw the Sargent School which neither my mother nor I ever knew where it was located. It's run down looking now. Appears as though it has housing in it... elderly? Anyone know? There were a few other buildings around it that seemed like they were the same thing only newer.

There is a quaint little park between the Methodist Church and the Mill Pond, peaceful though buggy (another gift of so many wet, raining, miserable, overcast, lack-of-sun, where-the-heck-is-summer days). We saw a HUGE blue heron (I think it was blue, or was it grey?) at the base of the water-fall on Broadway. He just stood there, apparently waiting for a school of fish to come flopping down the falls. He eventually looked up at us, as if to say, "Bugger off will you, I am busy here."

There was also the obligatory Westford Poison Ivy collection along the sides of Broadway. That stuff is insidious. It was growing out of of the pavement right in front of the old mill. Evil.

Roads walked: First St., Second St., Third St., Fourth St., Broadway St., School Lane, Church St., Cross St.

CommunityWalk Map - Walking Westford

Cruise Night Returns to Kimball Farm

2009-06-05T17:10:00.000-04:00

Last night, Cruise Night returned to Kimball Farm, and my boy and the boy in me were there to welcome it back (we went a couple times last summer). I paid my $3.00 and he got in free (as does anyone under age 12).

After we ate our burger, hot dog, chips, and watermelon (it says a lot that my son wanted to wait for his ice cream), we went straight out into the field of classic, antique, or otherwise unique vehicles. Amazing what a few muscle cars will do for a kid's attitude on a pleasant summer evening.

Here's just a sampling of a few of our favorites:

When we'd been around the field enough to get a good look at each car, motorcycle, or truck more than once, we finally got around to indulging ourselves at the ice cream sundae bar and were ready to fully appreciate the live band that had served as the evening's soundtrack. Last night's lineup featured The Usual Suspects, who seemed to be appreciated by all, especially the young ones:

Weather permitting, the cars, music, food, and fun will cruise on into Kimball's every Thursday night at 5:00 until September 3. If you're into any of those things, I highly recommend you find a date or more in that window that works for you and your family to attend.

Asphalt Plant Coming to Groton Road?

2009-05-21T08:46:00.009-04:00

According to an article in yesterday's Westford Eagle,* Newport Materials LLC is seeking to construct a four-acre manufacturing facility on Route 40 (adjacent to Fletcher Granite, across the street from Domino's Pizza and Ace Hardware) that would produce 300-400 tons of asphalt every hour (including both daytime hours and operations at night). Residents are obviously concerned about the effect of the plant on noise, environment (emissions), and traffic. A post on the Westford Forum indicates that the plant "would be in a water resource protection overlay district."

The Lowell Sun reports that close to 50 residents of Westford and Chelmsford showed up at the Board of Health meeting at Westford Academy on May 18, then moved on to meet another group that was already waiting at the Planning Board meeting at the Millennium School to protest the proposal in a public hearing:

While the Planning Board's role in evaluating the project is clear, the Board of Health is in a different position. Members of that board said they had never been confronted with an issue like this and are trying to determine exactly what authority they have.

In the absence of certainty about their role, Health Board members urged those in attendance to make their concerns known to every appropriate board in town, starting with the Planning Board. Board member Joanne Martel suggested that they look at the successful effort in the 1990s to block a Wal-Mart from opening in town as a model for how to proceed.

Westford resident Peter Severance spoke before the Board of Health and drew on his experience at the Harvard School of Public Health. He said that one thing "had crystallized for him" regarding all the development in Westford. "No one has really looked hard at air pollution -- maybe it's time we did."

The hearing, to determine whether to grant site-plan approval and issue a special permit, will continue on Monday, June 8, at 9:15 p.m.

A reply posted on the Westford Forum notes that Alisa Nakashian-Holsberg has set up an email list to keep interested residents informed of meetings, events, and news on this issue. Sign up at route40cleanaircoalition@gmail.com to receive updates.

UPDATE

The Westford Eagle has set up an online poll for this issue:

POLL: Do you support a proposal for an asphalt manufacturing facility? - Westford, MA - Westford Eagle

UPDATE 2

It's very short notice, but I just received an email from Matt Hagerty, a representative from Newport Materials, inviting me and any interested parties to attend an "Information Meeting" tomorrow night, June 2, at 6 p.m. at Nabnasset Country Club, 47 Oak Hill Rd., in Westford. RSVP by emailing matt@newportmaterials.com or calling (978) 392-1511.

UPDATE 3

Because it's important to share all sides of the issue (disclaimer: I haven't researched the claims of either side myself), I'm posting this Fact Sheet, distributed by the Route 40 Clean Air Coalition, which is hosting a community organization meeting on Monday, June 15 (click on Fact Sheet for larger image and details):

* A similar article, with most of the same content but focusing on the impact on nearby Chelmsford also ran in the Chelmsford Independent.

Walking Westford - Jean and Gary's neighborhood

2009-05-08T12:12:00.002-04:00

OK... not too bad - only a 2 week lag since the last post. Today we walked Jean and Gary's neighborhood, otherwise known as Lakeside Terrace and it's tributaries. I recall when this was built, how vast and empty it seemed... wide open space with houses sticking up like bumps. But now, a dozen years later, it's really very pretty, lots of ornamental trees grown to size. There is a nice selection of home styles, some of the them were gorgeous and all of them are huge.

I didn't actually know this was Jean and Gary's neighborhood until we passed Jean on her way home, right in front of her house. She stopped, and said, "Hey I know you guys!". We all take Power classes together at Westford Racquet and Fitness. Jean's sister Joanne teaches the class and she ROCKS! Love her! I highly recommend you try out the hour of power, even once or twice a week, beating the crap out of your muscles and wondering just how many days of soreness you might face. It's GREAT!

Anyhow, I digress. We all had our Walking Westford shirts on today - Granny, me (mom), and Lily - three generations! The weather looked iffy, but it held out really nice. We parked one car on Blue Heron Drive and one at the other end of Lakeside Terrace. It was a fairly quite walk. It always surprises me how dead quiet neighborhoods can be in the middle of the day. We only saw a few cars and two other walkers.

There are some seriously nice views of Nab Lake from that neighborhood, especially from Pond View Circle and from the houses high up on Eagle's Nest and Shipley Circle. There was a house on the corner of Lakeside and Gooseneck with fabulous landscaping - stonework , pergola, shrubs, it was beautiful. Nice work folks!

Roads we walked: Lakeside Terr, Shipley Cir, Blue Heron Dr, Eages Nest Rd, Fawn Ln, Pond VIew Cir, Jack Rabbit Ln, Grassy Ln, Loon Way, Birchwood Dr.

wow that's a long list! It was ~3.7 miles with the backtracking. And Lily walked a good bit of it too! Which is great, because to be honest, pushing that stroller with 40 lbs in it up those hills, was a chore!

Walking Westford - back on the road!

2009-04-17T11:00:00.003-04:00

Yes! We're baaaaack! Apparently some of you have missed the Walking Westford blog, so to you (few) I apologize humbly for the vast delay in posts and promise to make this walking season generously more fruitful than the last. With a little luck, who knows, maybe we'll finish it this year! Still a bit of a pipe dream, but stranger things have happened (have you seen this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY ).

Today was the first truly gorgeous, warm day of 2009 and since I was a slug and didn't make it to my 5:45 am Power Class (sorry Tara, without your inspiration it's not as enticing!), we decided to kick off the 2009 Walking Westford season. So Mom, Lily and I headed first for St. Catherines to leave a car, and then on to the Harde's house as they generously agreed to allow us to park the other one there.

We started the walk off with a bang as Mom took a header off the sidewalk right into the west-bound lane of Main St. She was merely scraped, no real harm (thanks to those Power classes!), and a very nice lady pulled over to ask if she was ok and if we needed a ride anywhere. We thanked her and told her we were walking Westford, though so far, not very successfully.

And off we went... down Graniteville Rd - which SOME of you might know was recently mentioned MORE THAN ONCE on Fringe, a really good new show on Fox Network. Seriously, it went something like "Agent Duhnam's vehicle was found on Graniteville Rd in Westford." HAHHAH! SO COOL! In another episode Agent Dunham pointed to a map of Westford talking about some place called Little Hill Field (which is fictional) but SHE POINTED TO MY HOUSE! NO JOKE! You can watch it on fox.com, and you darn-well should. It's not often that Westford is mentioned in a nationally broadcast TV show!

anyhow.... We picked up Randolph Circle, getting a spectacular view of the back of the old Abbott estate... man that's a fantastic house and property. From here we headed down the hill and caught Patriot Lane, where a kid called Eric Anderson used to live - Hi Eric. We passed the Blanchard Farms condos (with all their friendly "PRIVATE PROPERTY DO NOT ENTER NO TRESPASSING GO AWAY WE WONT SHARE OUR ROADS WITH YOU LOT!" signs... nice.

We found a utility knife on the Rd. near the intersection of Graniteville and Cold Spring. I was going to chuck it but Mom said it was worth $15 and in perfectly good shape, which it was. So if you can prove it's yours my mom has it.

When we reached Graniteville village area, we turned left on Bridge St... there are kind of scary looking old foundry type buildings back, lots of asbestos, rust... ugly... but well hidden and right next to the tracks, so no big loss I guess.

We took Bridge to North Main St and picked up Hillside on the way back to the church. It's aptly named... SERIOUS hill... older neighborhood. We met a very nice gentleman who explained his lawn to us. You see, it looked entirely and uniformly dead... a smooth tan color, very soft in appearance. We asked him what happened to his lawn and he said, nothing it was fine and would green up by mid-June or so. He showed it to us more closely and explained that it was some strange type of grass that he knew not the name of, apparently his wife does though she wasn't there so we couldn't ask her. It's kind of a weed really but it's soft and thickly carpeted, appears like a fine lawn. He said it spreads and take over everything but no weeds grow in it. He doesn't use any fertilizer or herbicides on it, but he does have to trim it back a few times a year or it will overtake the walkways. Anyone have any ideas on what it is? We plan to go back and check out in June when its green.

Then it was back to St. Catherines to get the car. All in all a very nice walk. Felt good to be out there again. We will try to pick up speed on the walks as the weather continues to improve.

Hope someone out there reads this!

Roads walked: Graniteville Rd, Randolph Circle, Patriot Lane, Hillside Avenue, and a bit of North Main St.

A Cold Bluebird

2008-12-20T10:28:00.001-05:00

Bluebird
Originally uploaded by agentbillo

I don't think I've ever seen a bluebird in Westford, but now we have a little crowd of at least four that are hanging around Depot St.

Ice Storm Photos

2008-12-18T12:56:00.006-05:00

Some good photos of the recent ice storm (which left me and others without power, heat, water, or even cellphone service for four days) have appeared in the Westford Flickr group, illustrating the beauty, damage, and community spirit seen in town this past week.

(by me)

(by Zilya.)

(by CheDyer)

(by herzogbr)

If you have others, please feel free to add them to the pool.

STM October 27

2008-10-27T09:12:00.001-04:00

I'm going to try live-blogging special town meeting tonight. Hopefully we'll get quorum or it will be a pretty brief post.

[To be continued later today...]

7:11pm: waiting for quorum, at 192

Article 8 from last week was approved by a majority.

Someone made a motion to reconsider article 8. That motion was deemed invalid because the person making the motion had voted against the article which had carried. Wow, cool rules of order already.

Article I is back on the floor for discussion. The issue seems to be the proposed renovation of Town Hall. The speaker at the mike (Ken? Kent?) is making the case that the historic town hall building is not worth the expense vs. cheaper more modern commercial real estate. The particular item is for the $31,000 for a design plan for the renovation of Town Hall.

Someone from the community preservation committee is speaking to the point that the money can only be used for a historic building, since it is "community preservation" money. If I'm understanding that correctly.

7:20pm

Paul (Culley?) is now making the point that the output of the design process would lock the town into any single design.

Someone asked the question if there is some kind of time window that the town hall could be considered abandoned. The town building inspector answered the question by saying the building is not abandoned because it is still being maintained and used even if not occupied.

There seems to be a faction that is opposed to proceeding with renovation at town hall. Huh.

It's now being discussed that a year ago the town looked into buying another property to use as town offices, but it didn't pan out.

Bob Jefferies is now speaking to the question of building/fixing town hall vs. buying/renting/building other commercial property. Bob says that nothing is ruled out, but the main focus is getting town hall fixed. We don't really know how big that is, he says.

7:30pm

Called to a vote. Carried by majority of a hand vote.

Thursday Nov 6 at 7pm the selectman will be holding a meeting at the JV Fletcher Library to discuss the town hall project with the public.

Article 4 is now before town meeting.

"Reduce Amount Raised by Taxes in FY 2009"

Called for vote: passed by non-unanimous vote.

7:35pm

Selectman move to dismiss Article 9. Bob explains that we don't need the appropriation because the money has already been approved by the CPC (community preservation committee).

7:39pm It's hotter than the surface of Mercury in here.

Article 9 withdrawn by non-unanimous vote.

Article 10 is now before TM.

Jodie Ross, our new(ish) Town manager is talking about Article 10. The proposal is to improve Trench Safety by giving the building inspector authority to regulate trenches. I'm sorry but if you're not in favor of Trench Safety you must be some kind of communist. Trench Safety and America will defeat terrorism, drugs and the scourge of poor quality burritos in central Mass.

Article 11: accept some streets. Unanimo, baby.

7:42 pm We are rolling now.

Article 12: Stepinski Land allocation. It's been 5 years that the town has been trying to get this land, we have it now. This article divides the authority over land among the Water Dept, the Recreation Dept and the Conservation Commission. Leslie Thomas is noting that the committee started 10 years ago to get all this rolling. There will be permanent restrictions on the portions of the land purchased with CPC funds and Water Dept funds.

7:47 "Our water in Nab tastes really bad."

There's a question about what is being done to protect the watershed. The answer is that any construction that must take place requires permitting process before the planning board.

Diane Weir is offering an amendment to split the question, splitting the question into Water Dept/Conservation on the one hand, and Rec Dept on the other hand. The motion has been seconded. Now discussing whether we should divide the question.

Motion to divide: fails by majority.

Back to main motion to divide the parcels. Voting to end debate: passes.

7:53: call for vote requires 2/3 majority. Voice vote first. Only heard 1 nay, so passed.

Planning Board Mtg at 8pm at Millenium; Selectman's meeting at 8:30 at Millenium.

That's all folks.

Walking Westford - Anyone out there reading?

2008-08-25T16:46:00.004-04:00

Man it's quiet here, huh?

I'd like to say that while the summer flashed by faster than it takes my Wii to load Lego Star Wars, we FINISHED walking Westford! But alas, this just isn't true. The truth is we haven't walked at ALL in weeks... upon weeks. Until Saturday. Finally we got back to it! A nice 3 mile walk from the Rte. 110 Post Office, down Concord Rd. to Old Lowell Rd., picking up a few off-shoots and then to my mom's house. Nothing overly exciting to share. This is the territory I grew up in so most sites here are nothing notable for me.

We did pass the swan pond that Mr. MacDonald keeps up and noted how cool his new stone bridge looks. It's such a beautiful spot: lush green fields, beautiful gardens, two stark white swans swimming on the pond. My daughters love it there, since Mr. MacDonald is kind enough to allow them to visit with my mother periodically. Thanks Bernie!

I passed a mailbox on Concord Rd. that I actually painted the numbers on many years ago... let's see maybe like 12 years ago. Sturdy mailbox. But that's all another story. :)

We looped around Jennie Richards Rd. There is one house still on the market there. HUGE place... same builder/style as ours but larger and with a considerably larger price tag. Really nice place. We love our house... Roddy Palmer was the builder. Real high quality details. Wish he'd finish our road though as the driveway is cracking away to oblivion each winter. Roddy? You out there?

Anyway... we do still exist... we are walking, eventually. The fall is a good time right? Maybe with the kids in school we can find the time. Maybe we just need some encouragement! A little peer pressure! Come on! Who's out there? Lay it on! The guilt, the jeers, anything!

Roads walked: Concord Rd, small chunk of Powers Rd, Old Lowell Rd, Jennie Richards Rd, Black Bear Rd.

100th Anniversary Fireman's Muster

2008-07-17T12:28:00.006-04:00

The Westford Community Notebook just set my schedule for Saturday:

100th Anniversary Fireman’s Muster, July 19th at the VFW Field, West Prescott Street. Fire Truck Parade will begin at Station 4 at 14 Oak Hill Road and will go through the villages to the VFW Field. The Parade begins at 10am and the Muster begins at 12pm. Lots of food, Fire Trucks, The Safety Trailer for kids and lots more!

I'd tell you to look for me as the one with a three-year-old on my shoulders, but I have a feeling that description would be nowhere near specific enough.

UPDATE: Well, I'm not sure what actually began at noon, but the actual pumping didn't start until 1:00, which was a real shame. It could have been fun, but it was way too hot today to wait an extra hour in the sun. Still, we got to see some neat old fire engines before we had to retreat from the heat.

Walking Westford - forgot to post a couple roads - oops!

2008-07-01T09:50:00.003-04:00

Eek, even with Andy pestering me to get to work and get some more Walking Westford posts up, I simply forgot to post the latest walk. (Sorry Andy, hoping to get better starting this week!) This speaks merely to the busy life I lead with three young kids and NOT to my mental capacity diminishing as I round the peak of the mid-thirties... REALLY!

So we did three short walks totaling about 1.7 miles. Banbury Drive, King's Rd, Woodbury Dr, Snow Rd (which I thought was Drive, but the map says Road).

It was at least a week ago, which might as well be a year ago for all I can remember. I had to label it "June ??, 2008" on the map in case you were wondering when you see it. I suppose this pretty much disqualifies any scientific ambitions I might have had for this project... oh wait, I didn't have any. We're just doing this, BECAUSE WE CAN! And no one else has yet, and hopefully they won't by the time we eventually finish, but at this rate, that's pretty iffy I suppose. (Wow, "iffy" is apparently a legitimate word, because the spell checker let it go. Cool.)

Not much to tell about the roads... Banbury was really a nice little neighborhood. The kids whined, we saw poison ivy, a few dogs barked at us... all the basics on this one really.

Anyone out there want to request that we walk their road next? Or let us park in their driveway? Sometimes I have trouble deciding where to go next. It can be tricky to find a place to safely park the car (or two of them if we are trying not to backtrack). Also it's summer so we have the kids with us for most of the walks, and it's getting harder to find neighborhoods to walk in. Soon we will be left with only the "busy" roads, and the "poison ivy" tunnels.

Walking Westford - few and far between

2008-06-18T07:26:00.004-04:00

Well, the plan was to start the summer off strong and get TONS of walking in. So much for plans... between school ending, swimming lessons, camping trips, and Power Classes at the gym (I've become an addict) our walking has suffered dramatically. But wait! What's that I see over yonder? A new leaf! I shall go and turn it over! (Yeah, we'll see.)

We did get a walk in recently. It was a fabulous early summer day, as in, NOT one of the 98 degree, 70% humidity days, which we cheerfully spent in Granny's pool. We had all my girls with us so we had to choose a neighborhood kind of walk, which we are beginning to run out of actually. So I called my friend Katie and told her we were coming to do her neighborhood - Mark Vincent and the roads that touch it.

Here is a summary of the walk:

Can I have my snack now?
I'm tired.
My foot hurts.
Can I have my snack NOW?
Mooooom, can you empty my shoe?
It's hot.
Can we have our snacks?
My foot hurts.
This is a loooong walk.
Can we have our snacks, now?
My foot REALLY hurts! Can I take my sock off?
I'm hungry! Can I have my snack?

Get the idea? I finally gave in, presented them with their snacks, and took their socks off (though I have no idea how it's MORE comfortable to walk barefoot in Crocs than to wear socks with them).

Next it was this:

Are we almost done yet?
Can you carry me?
STAY AWAY FROM THE POISON IVY!
Where is our car?
Can I have a piggie back?
STAY AWAY FROM THE POISON IVY!
I'm tired.
Are we done?
STAY AWAY FROM THE POISON IVY!

The all caps text is me, if you didn't figure that out. Unfortunately, we chose to walk down part of Griffin Rd to save time (and relieve the whining) but it was LINED with poison ivy, just like every other beautiful country road in this town these days. I am hugely allergic to the stuff and I don't want my kids to get exposed, but I don't see how I can save them from it living around here. It's totally taking over the town! It's one thing not to have sidewalks, I can live with that. But to also not be able to step onto the shoulder of the road because doing so will cause weeks worth of incredible itching, bumps, rawness, and pain... not ideal. I say we get a few tanker trucks full of round-up and blast the evil plant to oblivion! Either that or we let thousands of goats loose on the town and see how much they can consume.

Most noteworthy site on this walk: a wonderfully creative garden at a home on Colonial Drive with an arbored entrance on the sidewalk. It was like a secret garden that wasn't really so secret, nice stone work, a (non-running) water feature, long strawberry beds... just a very serene setting. I thought it was generous of the owner to have it open to the sidewalk so passers-by could enjoy the beauty of it. Very cool. The above photo is of my girls standing at the entrance. It's the only pic I managed without Lily grimacing, a favorite pass-time of hers whenever anyone tries to snap a photo.

Roads walked: Mark Vincent Drive, Steven Circle, Parker Circle, Colonial Drive, and Griffin Road. (And on some maps there is a piece of Colonial Drive called Demogenes Drive, right in the middle of it, very odd.)

Walking Westford - Is it Academy Dr. or Fisher Way?

2008-05-04T07:17:00.005-04:00

OK! We got two walks in this past week. The first was in the center starting out from Roudenbush after dropping Emma and Bella off at preschool. With Lily in the stroller we headed down Depot, all the way to Fletcher Rd, back up the hill a bit and turned down Crest Dr., which we took to Cummings Rd., then up to Depot again, which brings us to the question... is the road that goes in front of the Abbot called Academy Dr. or Fisher Way? Google seems to list both names... Fisher Way being just the right hand side of the driveway in front of the Abbot and Academy Dr. being the rest. But there is a house for sale way up at the top of the hill and I am pretty sure the listing claims that it's on Fisher Way. Anyone know the story here? Did the road change names? (Post note: drove by the road today and the street sign at the top of the hill on Depot says Fisher Way! So what's up with Academy Dr. on Google?)

Anyway, after that we did the center proper, including Lincoln St. and Connell Dr. I was thinking maybe we should have saved that for the FINAL walk! To finish in the town center might have been poetic in some way. But I've decided a much better finish line will be Kimballs! Stay tuned... we'll let you know when the big Kimballs finish will be, with any luck the end of this summer! OK, well, not luck exactly, more like, if we get our butts in gear... but honestly the rainy Saturday mornings are not helping us achieve our goal. Although, we DID walk this Saturday and only got drizzled on at the end, my hands were like blocks of ice by then end.

Saturday we walked with my friend Katie. We parked at Norman E. Day School, left two cars there and then headed to Meadow Lane, where we parked and started walking. None of us had ever walked this section of town before, barely having been there much at all. Just a few trips to see plays or soccer matches at Blanchard. We walked to the Groton town line, then down West St. to Stoneview Dr., Maura Circle, and Carver Circle. We were wondering if this last neighborhood was a 40B project or not - the houses were small, close together, and most had no garages. Anyone know? It was very nice... INCREDIBLY well landscaped! Seems like most of the people in the neighborhood have green thumbs.

As we reached North Main St., we turned right past St. Catherine's church, which I attended a few times when I was younger... most notably for my father's funeral 11 years ago. That section of town more often than not reminds me of that time... between the Healy Funeral Home and the Church. It's not all bad though... losing such a close loved one has a way of bringing other people in your life closer together. Also, I recall looking out the window of the car as we drove to the funeral home and seeing some beautiful spring visions... it was May then as it is now.

Just as we reached Daniel Dr. it started to rain, and naturally I left the golf umbrella my husband told me to bring in the car. No biggie, it wasn't a hard rain. Finally, 3.23 miles later, we reached Norman E. Day again, which I attended for 6th through 8th grades - my fondest memories of which were laughing until I fell off my chair with Patrick Lynch and Jimmy Hasseltine. They were great kids. Jimmy moved away softmore year of high school, and Pat died at a horrifyingly young age in college. I think of him every time I drive by his parents house in town, which is actually several times a week since it's very near my mom's house. I always think I ought to knock on their door and say, "Hi. You don't know me, but I thought you should know that I think of your son regularly and how much he made me laugh and even though it was over 20 years ago his memory still brings a smile to my face." But I always chicken out in case having a stranger knock on their door and bring up their dead son isn't high on their list of welcome events. On the off chance that they read this I hope it makes them feel good and not sad.

That's it for this week...

Roads walked: Depot St., Crest Dr., Cummings Rd., Fisher Way/Academy Dr., Connell Dr., Lincoln St., Main St., North Main St., East Prescott St., Daniel Dr., West St., Meadow Lane, Stoneview Dr., Maura Circle, Carver Circle

Walking Westford - Landmark Rd et al

2008-04-11T07:45:00.004-04:00

Oh, YEAH! We walked yesterday... what a GREAT day! The first feeling of spring this year! We had all the kids with us so we needed a quiet place to walk. We hadn't really done much of the southeast side of town so we chose Landmark Rd and it's attachments right on the Carlisle line. We parked one car at the end of Landmark Rd and headed for the other side of the neighborhood, Vose Hilll Rd. As we drove along, up a steep hill, around tight bends, down the hill, passing several lollipop deadends along the way... we started to think... hmmm maybe this is a bit too much to tackle in one walk with all three preschoolers in tow. But like I said, the weather was just fantastic, and it inspired us to give it a shot!

So leaving the mini van at the end of Vose Hill Rd we set off, Lily in the stroller to start, with our map to check the roads off and some snacks that might come in handy to fuel the troops, though we had JUST eaten lunch.

3-4 steps up the hill... "Mooommmm, can I have my snack now? I'm hunnnngry!"
"You JUST ate."
"But I'm hungry!"
"Let's get up the hill first, THEN we'll have a snack!"

This is a really nice neighborhood. (That seems to be a common sentence in this blog. Is it because Westford is just chock full of "really nice neighborhoods"? Or because I don't want to insult my readers but commenting that THEIR neighborhood is the armpit of town? I'm SURE it's the former! And this REALLY is a nice neighborhood - there was one house for sale btw.) My mom thinks she recalls the neighborhood being build ~15 years ago, maybe a bit more.

"Can we have our snack, now?!"
"Not yet!"

They seem like very large homes for the most part, varied style with interesting yard settings, in part due to the hill. The top of the hill offers truly great views (we saw the Wang building we think), although the tall oaks probably hide much of it in summer months.

"We're at the top, can we have our lollipops?"
"Who said anything about lollipops? I never said lollipops?"
"Yes you did! You said we could have lollipops!"
"I don't have any lollipops."

We could see a cleared path from the top of the hill, very wide, sort of like power lines, but with no power lines visible. Looking on maps.google it appears to extend all the way through Carlisle, bisecting Great Brook State Park. Is this a walking path? Is it maintained by someone? Anybody know? (See the inset map for details, I put a photo up of it.)

"We're hungry!"
"Here are some oreos, two each. NO MORE WHINING!"

Finally, we began to descend the hill. All three kids had climbed most of the way themselves (Lily did a bit of stroller time). So I am thinking, "Great! Smooth sailing now, they've had a snack, it's downhill, we're more than halfway there..."

"I have to pee!"
"My foot hurts!"
"I have rocks in my shoe!"

...and to think, I have grandiose plans to get these three to the top of a mountain by the end of the summer!

Roads walked:

Landmark Rd, Vose Hill Rd, Abby Rd, Walter Circle

WEF Big Event Auction Items

2008-04-03T16:41:00.002-04:00

The Westford Education Foundation is hold the annual Big Event this Saturday. An auction is part of the evening, and there are some sweet items up this year. If you are going, or know somebody who is, you should take a look. Hopefully, I'll see you there!

RED SOX TICKETS/CHARLES HOTEL OVERNIGHT - 2 Tickets (Grandstand, Sec 26) to see the Texas Rangers play the World Champion Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Friday, April 18. Spend the night in Cambridge at the luxurious Charles Hotel in the heart of Harvard Square. In the morning, enjoy complimentary breakfast for two at Henrietta's Table, the hotel's award winning restaurant. Value $570, opening bid $275

INTIMATE TUSCAN EVENING IN WESTFORD - Dinner for 8 prepared by chefs Tom Peacock and Mike Harde at historic "Bistro 39," the Main Street home of Mike and Ellen Harde. Tom (former executive chef at Harvard Law School) and Mike will prepare a gourmet five fouce Tuscan meal. Package includes dinner for eight, two bottle of wine and a tour of the historic Cameron home and Windmill in Westford Center. Value $750, opening bid $400.

GOLF AT THE KITTANSETT CLUB IN MARION - The Kittansett Club is one of the nation's most prestigious member-only golf clubs and one of a few true New England seaside courses. Consistently ranked in Golf Digest's top 100 courses, the Kittansett course is a scenic and demanding test of golf. The lucky winner and a friend will be the personal guests of Peter DiMaggio. Value - Priceless! Opening Bid $350.

BEACH PORTRAIT SESSION WITH BARBARA PEACOCK - Massachusetts Photographer of the Year 2004, 2007. Your session will be in the rich afternoon light at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. We will include and 8x10 print of your choosing from your session, and a gourmet beach picnic. Value $800, opening bid $400.

THE CHEF'S TABLE AT VIA MATTA RESTAURANT - Dinner for 10 at Via Matta in Boston's Back Bay, named Best Italian Restaurant by Boston Magazine in 2006 and 2007. You will join Chef Michael Pagliarini at the Chef's Table in his kitchen for an incomparable dining experience. Watch him prepare your meal first hand and enjoy wine pairings chosen especially for your dinner! Mick Jagger enjoyed it so much on his first night, he came back for a second night when the Rolling Stones played Fenway Park. Value $2000, opening bid $1000. Get together with your friends and bid on this!

PRIVATE VIP TOUR OF FENWAY PARK AND 4 RED SOX TICKETS - VIP tour of the ballpark includes watching batting practice on the warning track, a scoreboard message during the game and an autographed item. Tickets will be for a mutually agreed upon date, not to include Opening Day, Patriots Day, Yankees or interleague games. Tour must take place on game day. Value $500, opening bid $300.

Thanks to the following Westford Education Foundation Auction Partners:

The Boston Red Sox Baseball Club
Peacock Photography of Westford
Taylor Investment Counselors
The Charles Hotel
Via Matta Restaurant
Mike and Ellen Harde
Tom and Barbara Peacock

Walking Westford - Robinson to Flagg, with Starrs and Alcorns along the way

2008-04-02T13:52:00.004-04:00

The sun is out! HEY! The sun is out! OK, the wind is out too, in full gale force, drastically reducing the enjoyment factor of the sun, but still it was a worthwhile walking day. Today it was me, my mom and Lily in the stroller. We dropped my moms car off at the end of Alcorn Crossing and then parked my van at my cousin Brian's house on Robinson Rd. Since we had eaten Banana splits from Kimballs for lunch (it's opening day!), we thought we should maximize our uphill walking to make up for the indiscretion.

Our first notable observation on the walk was a hoard of teenagers walking down Robinson in the opposite direction. It was like we were salmon swimming against the stream. They were very a polite stream however, even if they were woefully underdressed for the weather... skinny teenage girls with short sleeves on. I mean it was 43 degrees out with a significant wind chill factor dropping the perceived temp down to something more like 25! Oddly enough, the boys, with a lot more meat on their bones were considerably more adequately dressed. I am obviously missing some fashion rule here. Man, I must be old now!

Moving along, we walked down Starr Circle and I showed my mom one of my favorite houses in all of Westford, the brown one on the hill at the end of the circle. I LOVE that house! Next it was on to Flagg Rd (since Noonan Way is private). Flagg is a nice walking road in that it has a very country feel to it. Flagg is not a nice walking in that it's fairly narrow and twisty with once of the worst blind curves in town.

Finally, we walked Alcorn Crossing, back to mom's car. I thought this might be the time we end up in the police log for "suspicious white vehicle parked on roadway" or something, since the house we parked in front of had a State Trooper car parked in it. Thankfully, he didn't apparently find us to be suspicious. Maybe he reads the Eagle.

Walking Westford - Preservation Way in the bitter cold wind

2008-03-24T15:52:00.002-04:00

...and their off!

The 2008 Walking Westford season has officially begun! We took our first walk on Friday, which at first glance looked to be a promising sunny event. However, the insipid winds were playing at holding on to winter just a bit longer and we were bitterly cold. Luckily it was a short walk along Preservation Way, a really nice small neighborhood with anything-but-small homes.

There really isn't much to tell, other than that it was really freezing cold and the houses were nice. Sorry.... hopefully the next walk will be longer and offer more blog fodder.

Oh, on Easter Sunday we put forth a great effort with a nice brisk post-dinner/pre-dessert walk through StoneRidge estates (can cram more food in that way you know). We got most of that neighborhood finished, and were feeling quite proud, until later I checked my town road list and realized that it's all private roads. I should have known this already really, given that all the condo complexes are like that, but I suppose my skills are rusty after a long winter of no use. Oh well, onward and upward!

See you on the streets of Westford!

Walking Westford - the new season is NEARLY underway

2008-03-20T13:51:00.003-04:00

Hello all!

Well, we nearly began our 2008 walking season. The weather is just barely inviting enough to start (well it was for ONE day this week at least) and the edges of the roadways are showing themselves after months of hiding beneath the snow banks. Anyway we THOUGHT about walking on Tuesday, but we got sidetracked making maple syrup at my mom's house. She and my dad planted a sugar maple 30 years ago so that one day they could tap it and make their own syrup. Well, sadly, my dad isn't around anymore to enjoy the project so my girls and I joined in. None of us had ever done this before so it was really a fun and interesting experience.

For a few days, my mom and my daughters collected the sap pouring from a tap my mom hammered into the tree, pouring it from the collection bucket into a larger container every so often. After only a few days there was over 5 gallons of liquid. The liquid was very clear in color, like water, and tasted only mildly of sweetness. Since Tuesday was a beautiful day and what seems like every day following it was destined for rain, we brought the sap out to the driveway, found an old metal trash can, and started a fire in it. We found a round grate from an old charcoal grill and put it on top, then placed a large lobster pot on top of that and added some of the sap.

We had no idea how long it would take to boil down 5+ gallons of sap into a thick, yummy, maple syrup. I was guessing she'd be standing there tending the fire long after I'd gone home and tucked my girls into bed. But alas, after only an hour we were really cranking and had already poured several more buckets of sap into the lobster pot. Eventually, I did have to head home with my kids, but it didn't take much longer than ~4 hours from the time we lit the fire till the syrup was pronounced ready. Later, my mom filtered it through flannel (apparently they make special flannel filters for this purpose but she just used a flannel pillowcase and it worked great).

The end result: 3.5 cups of clear, golden colored, delicious maple syrup! It was a really great time and I was psyched for my kids to see where their food comes from... well, where one of their many sugar sources comes from anyway. I highly recommend any of you out there with Sugar Maples give it a try. If you do it a bit later in the season you'll get the darker syrup apparently.

Coincidentally, on the news that very night I saw a story about how New England used to produce 80% of the world's maple syrup and Canada 20%. Apparently now those numbers have flipped, and they blame the change on New England winters averaging 3 degrees higher in temperature in the last so many years. For the sap to flow, you need cold nights and warm days and the ratio isn't as good as it used to be for the Sugar Maples liking.

In any case, look for new Walking Westford postings very soon... hopefully next week, assuming we don't get sidetracked learning to make marshmellow or collect honey from bees. Cheers! See you on the roads of Westford!

The View At the Bottom of Our Driveway

2008-03-02T20:37:00.002-05:00

Do we have the least plowed public road in Westford?

Remember to Vote

2008-02-05T08:17:00.000-05:00

Here's Westford's street precinct information and polling locations (in PDF format, courtesy of Westford.com), in case you don't know where to go.

Westford Museum: The Friendliest Place in Town I've Yet to Visit

2008-01-20T09:41:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to check out the Westford Museum since moving to Westford, but their limited hours (open Sundays only, from 2-4) have made scheduling a visit difficult.

On Friday, my mother (visiting from out of town) decided to take my son to the J.V. Fletcher Library, but found it closed when she got there (which has happened to me on a few occasions myself, their hours thinning and changing as often as they seem to do). Looking for something else to do to kill the hour before the library would open, she decided to check out the museum. Obviously, she found it was also closed when she got there.

But as she was looking around outside and just beginning to think of yet another place to go, a kind woman from the adjoining house asked if she could help with anything. My mom said something like, "Oh, I just noticed the museum was closed. I'm visiting from out of town and was just looking for something to do with my grandson." Hearing this, the woman (whose name my mom did not catch) confirmed that yes, the museum was closed, but she had a key and would be happy to let her in if she wanted to take a look around.

This alone would have been more generous than I would have expected of anyone, but the woman's hospitality did not end there. After letting my mom and son into the museum, the woman proceeded to give them a guided tour of the entire place, pointing out many exhibits and points of interest that make me want to make a priority of going myself now.

The purpose of this post is to take a moment to publicly thank the friendly woman who donated her time and knowledge of Westford so readily to my appreciative family. I hope to be able to thank you in person very soon and, like my mother, leave a little donation on my way out. Places and people like this make me proud of this town I call my home, and I want to do my small part to help make sure they stick around.

One Stop Fun

2008-01-13T18:34:00.001-05:00

I am not a hamster. I never thought taking a trip to One Stop Fun would put a fine point on this distinction, but my visit yesterday proved just that with painful precision.

First, some background. With feet of snow on the ground that just won't go away and a stir-crazy three-year-old in the house, I pretty much fell in love with Perpetual Motion in Lowell. "What a great idea! Why aren't there more indoor playgrounds like this?," I wondered aloud.

So, being vaguely aware of the possible indoor wonders of One Stop Fun since said three-year-old took swimming lessons there last summer, I thought it was time to see what fun might lie inside. Without researching too heavily, I admit I was expecting something much more like Perpetual Motion, with a sandbox, stackable blocks, some climbing opportunities with corresponding slides, etc. What we found when we go there was this:

As it turns out, it was very good that we were the first ones there, arriving as we did just before they opened at 9:00 a.m. Since they confiscated my charge's shoes at the door, but not mine, I assumed adults were verboten from the play structure that really can only be described as a multistorey hamster maze. So, I allowed my charge into the maze and quickly lost him as he climbed higher and higher. Calling for me as he got lost, I could hear him but could not tell where he was. Asking a staff member if I could go in after him, I was assured that this level of "supervision" was acceptable and pretty much expected, so I entered the maze and began climbing. My knees and neck were none too pleased with the hour that followed, though I must admit that my charge appeared to have the time of his life.

When 10:00 arrived, the place was flooded with older, more aggressive kids and their parents, who could comfortably relax in the foyer with their snacks, conversation, and free wifi. But I still needed to go everywhere my three-year-old went, a circumstance which very well could have annoyed the kids as much as it pained me. Since the two of us were pooped anyway, it seemed a good time to go home. At least one of us has fond memories of the event, but I'm very glad I didn't send my mother with him without checking the place out first. This was definitely not his grandmother's (either of them) scene, and I wouldn't wish it on either of them.

So, if I ever bring him back, I'll bring my kneepads. As much as it pains me to say it, a return may be inevitable, because the boy hasn't stopped talking about it yet. But oy, my knees haven't recovered yet either.

Walking Westford - Cold Spring and one tributary

2007-12-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

Well, you might actually think we've given up on walking for the year given the lack of posting, but you would, in fact, be wrong. Admittedly, we've hit a dry spell. My youngest daughter brought home the most wonderously powerful cold virus... a real whopper. Knocked us down like bowling pins and it was a full 2 1/2 weeks before anyone had enough lung capacity to go out and get the mail, let alone wrack up Walking Westford miles. Alas, we are now all back to good health (for today at least), but the cold and impending Christmas season have curbed our walking enthusiasm briefly. I assure you the quest continues, but the winter months will bring sparse walking opportunities.

Meanwhile, here is the report on the last walk we did, sometime back in early November... I think... my brain capacity for remembering details is fading fast and I no longer tease my mother for this small fault.

The walk consisted mostly of Cold Spring Rd, with Pierce Ave, a tad of Depot St, and a smidgen of Fletcher (which had already done, but it offered a nice out of the way parking spot). The most notable part of the walk was the massive natural gas odor at the corner of Cold Spring and Blackthorne Dr. At first, it was a just a faint smell, but as we took a few more steps it seemed serious enough to put a call into the police and let them know. Of course, I had no idea what the non-emergency number was so I called 1-800-FREE-411 on my cell. Ever tried it? FREE... ok this is true, as long as you wait a few minutes listening to the once in a lifetime offer for a trip to the Bahamas (hold your breath during this so you dont accidentally make a noise that sounds like "yes" and your call gets whisked off to an operator to take your credit card number). Anyway, I eventually got the number, which I can no longer recall (see above note about increasingly poor memory recall). I called in the odor and the police said they had heard already and Keyspan would be out there soon to deal with it. I have to say, if I smelled gas that bad outside my house, I would be hounding Keyspan in a really big way to get their natural-gas-leak-fixing behinds out to fix it... or I'd evacuate my kids. It seemed pretty bad to us... but the Eagle never reported any explosions the following Thursday so I guess everything is fine now.

So Cold Spring Rd.... not a lot else to note, saw a few nice hidden houses I'd never noticed before, passed by a high school friends house where I once recall playing Dungeons and Dragons (it was the 80s!)...

Anyone know what's up with the "Tree Farm" there? It's near Blackthorne I think. Is it really a tree farm? I've always wondered about it.

anyway, I'm off to my annual Christmas cookie bake/swap. 13 women baking several dozen cookies a piece... mmmmm... you do the math.

stay tuned... we WILL walk again!

p.s. I havent time to fix typos today so they bother you wait a few days and re-read it.

Westford Tree Lighting

2007-11-26T08:14:00.000-05:00

In case you missed it last night, here's a quick video of the tree lighting ceremony last night:

There were fewer trees to light this year (see Bill's video of last year's lighting), but other than that, everything went pretty much as it did last year, including Santa's arrival via fire engine. Check out pictures at Westford.com.

Hill Orchard Fox

2007-11-05T09:12:00.001-05:00

Andrew Bourget caught some nice pictures of a fox at his home near Hill Orchard.

Sunset and Rainbow

2007-11-02T09:04:00.000-04:00

At my daughter's soccer game yesterday, we saw an amazing sunset and rainbow. I only had a lousy phone camera, so the pictures don't really do it justice. But it gives you an idea.

More photos of sunset/rainbow.

Walking Westford - three more walks

2007-10-23T16:02:00.000-04:00

Well, we've been walking just fine, but I've been very lax about writing about it. This will be a short one, because we are in the midst of a ladybug infestation, which most might find undesirable, but we LOVE! My daughters have been catching, holding, playing with, "feeding", protecting, and saving ladybugs for days!

The first walk was an older neighborhood off of Rte 225. We started on Tallard road, which is really a very desirable family neighborhood (can I get an endorsement from any realtors for this sort of plug?). There was an incredible house on Royce Lane, just off of Tallard that really stood out. Great yard! And there was a house on the corner of Dutchman for sale by owner that a friend of mine had looked it. She said it was really nice. (Any kickback for that one?) Then we moved on to Phillips Drive, where an old high school friend of mine grew up. Martha, if you are reading this: Hey! Big lone hen had IQ 1024 / 684 + 1. (The rest of you bloggers can ignore that, you HAD to be there!)

Roads walked: Tallard Rd, Dutchman Lane, Royce Lane, Phillips Dr, Concord Rd

The second walk was right next door to these two neighborhoods, but much newer. The spring months neighborhood... April, May... er and Lanes End. I don't recall much from this walk to be honest. Nice enough place. Sort of the typical modern Westford neighborhood. Some houses too close to 495 for my noise standards, but nice location, nice homes.

Roads walked: April Lane, May Rd, Lanes End

The third walk was just me and mom so we hit a major road - Carlisle Rd and it's tributaries (can you use that word with roads?). We hauled on this one because it was 34 degrees! We were both impressed with Melissa Drive and Fieldstone Drive, quaint little Oasis behind Westford Marketplace, hidden, convenient, cute homes. We also walked down Lyberty Way and watched the Comcast fleet head out. They have TONS of vans. Just how many people are signing up for cable on a daily basis? Impressive.

Roads walked: Carlisle Rd, Lyberty Way, Melissa Dr, Fieldstone Dr, Whitney Dr, Applewood Dr.

Our last walk was in Nab, and I'll use this entry as a shameless plug for the J.V. Fletcher Library! I don't how many of you use the library, but it's a terrific place! The people there are wonderful, helpful, and hugely friendly. If you are not a member of the Friends of the Library, you should join right away! One of the librarians, Holly, mentioned to me that the BookMobile would be in her neighborhood on the 14th of October, if we happened to be walking by then. Well, I couldn't pass up a chance to please our fans! So we made an appearance, checked out a couple books, said "Hi" to Holly's husband Tom (who, by the way, I've seen around town for more years than I can count but never had a clue who he was until Walking Westford made the connection for me - Man! This is fun!).

Anyway, we are walking, so look out for us and say hi!

Roads walked: Torrington Lane (where the guy we bought our camper from lives, Hi Howard!), Wilshire Ave, York Ave, Woodbine Terr, Plain Rd, Williams Ave.

Liveblogging Special Town Meeting Tonight

2007-10-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

In case you can't make the special town meeting tonight, I'm going to give live-blogging a try. Of course, live-blogging if no one is live-reading is if questionable pointfulness. See what fun it will be? I've already made up several words, and I'm not even punch drunk from hearing silly motions yet.

Keep refreshing this post for updates: I'll add them bottom-to-top below this line.

10:07 OK that's a wrap. I'm back home. Thanks everybody for live reading. Bring your friends next time.

9:54 article 9. Tony Martinez makes a quorum call. There's no way we're going make it. I guess 171. Andy guesses 185. HE NAILS IT!!!!! He's like Rain Man or someting. Meeting over (actually continued until tomorrow night.)

9:53 Discussion continues about the police thing. George Murray isn't happy that Massachusetts' law that requires police details on traffic control. Vote. Motion Carries.

9:45 Vote. Motion carries. We move back to the previous town meeting Article 8: allow retired Westford police to be appointed as special police. Deputy Chief answers question about what a special police officer is: it's one way of keeping a reserve force without having to hire new reserve officers and pay for all the training; the retired officers are basically responsible for their own training.

9:39 questions: who would administer the management contract? answer: norman komalu; who would have naming rights to the camp? answer: haven't thought about it. Who on the BOS opposed the petition and why? Dini Healey-Coffin did, and got up and talked about the subcommittee that is working on this, and that things are going very well.
She said she opposes the motion because it's unnecessary, and almost everything on the motion is already being worked on.

9:35 Richard Gagnon makes a point that since the land is now owned by the public and not by a private foundation that we need to manage the camps differently. Bob Jefferies makes a point that the management contract structure is desirable because money flows to the town and is then paid to the manager of the camp, which lets the town avoid being in the position of needing to cover a shortfall, which is it constitutionally prohibited from doing.

9:33 an amendment was proposed to strike the "up to 5 years" from the authorization. It failed.

9:25 it's pointed out that this article only AUTHORIZES selectmen to get the RFP process going, but does not REQUIRE them to do so.

9:22 discussion continues on article. someone asks: since the result of article 11 gives control from selectment to CC, and this article tells the selectmen to pick a camp, what happens? town counsel points out that the transfer isn't official until the state legislature approves it. Furthermore, the CC and selectmen plan to work together to manage the camp program.

9:22 amendment vote. fail.

9:19 Tony Martinez says that the idea that the camp is for low income kids from boston, is a "big lie." That the camp is actually for the descendants of the people who started the camp. Wow.

9:17 Paul Culley: don't like the amendment, narrows focus. Let the bidders suggest the program. DO NOT WANT.

9:15 Amendment proposed that the camp program include a program specifically to teach about conservation, ecology, environmental education, and cheese making. (Actually I just made that cheese part up, sorry.)

9:13 I can't feel my legs. Stupid bleachers.

9:10 Somebody [ed: Bill Harman] from chamberlain road told an anecdote about meeting best buy manager at the store, and how the guy had gone to EBC when he was a kid, and that it was just a tranformative and wonderful part of his life.

9:06 I'm not actually sure what the opposition is in town regarding the desire to continue camps on the east boston camps property. Sounds like apple pie and chocolate cake to me. So I'm waiting to hear what the opposition actually has to say.

9:02 we move to the second special town meeting. Two for the price of one, wow. There is a article by petition to ensure that camps happen at EBC. The main goals, as explained by the lead petitioner: run the camps at no net cost to the town; it's been a tradition for over 50 years; it's had a big impact on a lot of kids' lives; it's great to have a low-cost camp in town for Westford families. The articles lays out a schedule to get the RFP done soon (by Dec 2007) so whatever entity takes control of the camp has time to plan for the summer.

9:00 Tony Martinez makes a motion that Ellen Harde recuse herself because she is on the westford land preservation trust. She declines, and suggests that a motion can be made for her to stand down. The Moderator has the strongest Kung Fu.

8:56 somebody [Ed - Amber Brown] asks for a secret ballot. Wow, that's cool, and scary. But apparently you need twenty people to do that, and only 9 people stand up for it. So no secret ballot. Then there's a vote for article 11, which passes by 2/3 majority.

8:55 Valerie Wormel quotes that master plan already says that the CC would work with the rec department, then asserts that the intent was that both be involved in care and custody. There is a general groan of dissent against that assertion, to my reading. Ellen Harde calls a vote on the amendment which then fails.

8:53 Leslie Thomas opposes the amendent; somebody else (sorry missed the name) opposes the amendment; somebody from rec commission stood up and said that the rec commission really hadn't consider taking care and custody of the EBC.

8:50 Someone made an amendment that parks + recreation commission be added to the article. Now we're in trouble.

8:45 Town counsel is answering a question: to transfer control between town committees, we need 2/3 vote at town meeting, then the state legislature has to approve it.

8:42 Someone asks what the CC would do regarding administration and RFP for running the camp at EBC. I don't understand the issue very well; Bob Jefferies answered the question and suggest that whoever runs the camp will be under a management contract and will work with Norman Komalu (asst town manager) as the primary contact with the town.

8:35-8:40 Nancy Rosinski talked about how much work and thought had gone into the master plan, and that the conservation commission has a lot of experience in managing lots of conservation land in town. A question was asked about land slated for use as athletic fields: apparently this land is under control of parks and rec dept, and this article does not apply.

8:33 george murray moves that we take article 11 out of order to beat the 9pm deadline. Article 11 is the motion to tranfser care and custody of east boston camps to the conservation commission. Conservation Commission rep says: The Master Plan which was accepted at the annual town meeting proposed that care of EBC be transferred from the board of selectmen to the CC.

8:31 article 17: $3,248,358 from free cash to reduce amount to raised in taxes. passes nearly unanimously (one nay)

8:30 article 16: accept starr circle and allocate money to pay for paving. passes by 2/3 vote.

8:25 doug deschenes points out that the drainage to the pond is affecting LSF pond, and the resident will pay it back. Valerie Wormel points out that the town has to pay th emoney up front and gets paid back over 20 years by the abutters. Vote called. Article passes by show of hands.

8:19 article 7: $200k betterments on pond road; it is to be assessed against the abutters. Tony Martinez asks why the fincom doesn't support; fincom answer that the town will still have to pay about 25%. Question: what does the $200k cover? Engineering dept says the plan is that it would cover the whole cost.

8:18 judy culver points out that this item is not recommended by the fincom or selectment, and should perhaps be considered at the annuall town meeting. Ellen Harde calls for the vote. Motion fails to get majority.

8:17 chris romeo suggests that this should be considered in the context of the 40B project that is happening nearby, instead of paying for this out of our pockets now.

8:15 Score for Chip Barrett: "That ledge up there is hard as a rock." Brought a good laugh.

8:11 somebody asked about liability to the town; Ellen Harde asked how many students are on the street; answer: about 7. Town Council says that unless the problem is caused by something the town has done (i.e. not just natural rain accumulation.)

8:10 Diane Wier is in favor of spending money on this article. Wow, that's something. :-)

8:03-8:07 momentum fading. apparently there are gators in the puddle.

7:57 golly we are FLYING. Article 6. A petition to raise $200,000 to improve drainage on Hillside Avenue. Apparently it's been a big problem for 52 years and hasn't been fixed. Fincom does not support the article. The Selectman don't recommend passage. Paul asks "why not?" Fincom: "other areas would be better served by that money." Judy Culver asks highway dept to explain the situation. Richard Barrett: (paraprhasing) hillside is in graniteville. There's a spot where water collects there, and their is currently a dry well there. Mr Jarvis (the petitioner) had asked about it. There's a lot of ledge there, and there would be a lot of pipe that would have to be run. He pointed out that it's in Grantieville, so there is a lot of, um, granite there that would have to be blasted. Mondo $$$. Moving mailboxes away from the puddle is evidently another alternative.

7:56 article 5: $66,700 for various buildings in town (library, town farm road, water main); finance committee supports this motion. vote: unamimous passed.

7:55: article 4: payoff the bond for east boston camps (passed, not unanimous)

7:50 articles 2, 3, 13 (not ready for votes) dismissed.

7:47 Article 1: raise/appropriate money to balance the budget. Question about the $440k; Steve ledoux says we didn't get our final insurance quote until recently; also some medicare($165k) costs for new hires.

7:46 Ellen Harde is intorducing the agenda. At 9pm the STM will adjourn to turn attention to consider a petition regarding east boston camps.

7:44 QUORUM 210 voters

7:40 We're 60 voters short of quorum!! Come on over!

7:35 The place is filling up, quorum won't be a problem. Connectivity is really dropping in and out (Sprint mobile broadband) so I don't know if this cut at the experiment is going to cut it. We'll see.

7:25 OK I'm here and I have connectivity, a big milestone. Attendance is a bit thin, I hope we can get quorum.

Earthquake

2007-10-19T09:34:00.000-04:00

I woke up last night around 1:30 a.m. to feel the house shaking. At first I thought our furnace was threatening to explode, but it's on the other side of the house and wasn't even on. I briefly wondered if it could have been a large truck rumbling by, but then I just figured I was recovering from a crazy dream and went back to bed.

But this morning, I checked in to the Westford Forum to learn that we had our own little 2.5 earthquake last night (more details here). Glad to know I wasn't just hallucinating! Did anyone else feel it?

Remember to Vote

2007-10-16T08:15:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to vote today in the Special State Election. In case you don't know where to go, here's a breakdown of polling places by precinct, and this shows you which precinct your street is in.

Bay State Marathon Passes Close to Home

2007-10-14T12:10:00.000-04:00

We just got back from watching the Bay State Marathon in Chelmsford, where it passed Westford a lot closer than we'd ever realized. I love going to races, even when no one I know is involved. As I watched, the rest of my family ran the same 50 yards or so a number of times, lifting the spirits of the registered runners, but what's really amazing to hear is the participants cheering for spectators (click on image below for video).

Click To Play

If the crowd of runners in any race is almost always distinguished by their friendly and appreciative attitude, the elite runners are simply amazing to watch in action. Here's the leader as he passed us:

This was his second time past our location (this marathon is twice around the same loop), and his lead was much greater than the first time around.

If you've never watched a marathon live before, I highly recommend it, and this is a great one to see close to home. It's truly inspiring to see so many people running at so many different levels for so many different reasons.

Oh yeah, while I'm on the subject, now might be a good time to mention that Kristina is running the Boston Marathon again next year and could once again use your support of her efforts to raise money for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge.

Walking Westford - Hitchin' Post part 3, Westford Walk for Education, and a few other roads

2007-10-03T08:23:00.000-04:00

We've had four walks in since the last post. Pretty good for this time of year with preschool, gymnastics, T-ball, soccer, etc taking up our time (not to mention all the trips to collect pig nuts for Granny!).

First we walked another portion of Hitchin' Post - for two reasons: first to satisfy a preschool friend of Bella and Emma's who was waiting for us to pass by her house, and second to finally finish up that mammoth neighborhood. The first bit we accomplished with flying colors! We walked down Olivia's street, rang the bell, she came out with her mom, and she walked the rest of her street with us. It was really cute, and we felt honored to have a special guest join us. Turns out we blew that second bit, however. We thought we had walked it all, but alas, we missed a little lollipop called Wintergreen Lane. So there will have to be a Hitchin' Post part 4!

Roads walked: Thistle Lane, Juneberry Lane, Magnolia Dr, Greenbrier Dr, Indigo Lane, Casie Lane.

The second walk of the quad included a couple small neighborhoods off of Cold Spring Rd. Old Homestead Rd and Longmeadow Rd comprised an older neighborhood with some interesting houses repeated throughout it. The builder had used a shingle siding that looked sort of like something from the Flintstones, only wood, not rock. Not sure how else to explain it really. Not that it was a bad thing, I rather liked it, so long as you don't mind a cartoony looking house. Then there was Hyacinth and Joyce Circle. Somewhat of a stark contrast to the first neighborhood in that it was quite new, the houses were closer together and had no Flintstones siding. It was a very nice neighborhood. My favorite part of it is the highly decorated, Martha-Stewart-would-be-proud School Bus stop at the entrance to Hyacinth. We have a photo of it I will try to get from my mom's iPhone to post here. Impressive.

Roads walked: Old Homestead Rd, Longmeadow Rd, Hyacinth Dr, Joyce Circle

The third walk was to finish up Forge Village which I have been truly enjoying. We parked on Abbot St. at my friend Gary's house. This time we had my friend Sarah with us and no kids, so we really covered some ground, saw more pig nut trees and a couple of houses for sale. Walking down Forge Village Rd. some jerk came whizzing by at super sonic speeds and we hoped he would get snagged by the cop waiting at the water dept, but he must have gotten flashed by someone coming the other way because he slowed just in time. Bummer. The most interesting thing we noticed on this walk was MacQuarrie Lane, which is buried behind Abbot St. It was a nice street with nice houses, but really out of place. It didn't fit in with the rest of the eclectic and historical village feel of Forge. It was like you turned the corner and were in Greystone all of a sudden. Felt a bit weird really. Maybe we're accidentally quantum leaping around Westford. Now THAT would be a story worthy of the front page of the Eagle!

Roads walked: Abbot St, Patten Rd, Cold Spring Rd, Forge Village Rd, Rooks Way, Mulberry Lane, MacQuarrie Lane, Crescent St

Finally, our last walk of the collection was the Westford Walk for Education. My brother is on the board so, of course, we signed up! It was a lot of fun actually. We'll do it again next year for sure. We met at the Common and walked down to the Academy, 1.5 miles total. We wore our Walking Westford shirts hoping to get spotted by our massive fan base, signing autographs and the like. OK, well, we wore our shirts anyway and one lady did recognize us. Thankfully the walk was downhill all the way, which helped limit the complaining of being tired, bored, hungry, etc from the preschool contingent. All in all the kids did really well. Down at the Academy there was a little celebration with snacks (which we passed on since Granny had plans to split a Kimball's Special with the kids - no they didn't actually finish it). We also won a few things in the raffle. Granny got the $50 Westford Toy Shop gift certificate! WHOOHOOO! MORE TOYS! And I won a backpack with goodies in it. Luckily my brother was still there at the time of the drawing and got our prizes. Thanks Bill! Also thanks to Bill for giving me a ride back up to the center to get the mini van. On the way up we passed Mr. Regan and another guy walking back to the center. They obviously didn't have brother's on the board with the foresight to have a car ready, so we gave them a ride. Bill mentioned to Mr. Regan that he had him for gym in 7th grade. To his credit Mr. Regan actually recalled Bill's last name! I was impressed. Things have change a lot since 7th grade. Mr. Regan is now a principal instead of a gym teacher, and Bill is not called Billy anymore.

Roads walked: Main St, Forge Village Rd, a teeny tiny smidgen of Patten Rd

CommunityWalk Map - Walking Westford

Ginger Tree

2007-09-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

Like many fellow Westfordians, I've eagerly anticipated the opening of Ginger Tree on Groton Road (next to the Domino's and Ace Hardware) since the sign went up and buzz began regarding their early spring opening this year. As spring became summer and summer came to an end, I began to wonder when we'd finally get the tasty, inexpensive Chinese take-out place I'd been looking forward to having close to home. Finally, Ginger Tree opened last week, and we tried them as soon as we could over the weekend.

I'm pleased to report that it succeeded in meeting two of my requirements (tasty and still close to home), though I think they've missed the big picture with their pricing.

Despite having a hard time communicating my telephone order (because of language differences), my take-out dinners were exactly as I'd specified. The Mongolian Beef was sweet and tasty, and the Orange Chicken was fresh, not overly battered, and cooked to my requested level of spice, which I finally was able to communicate after some effort, confusion, and back and forth, even though their menu clearly indicates that spice levels of any dish can be adjusted upon request. (It's indicated as a spicy dish, which I'd normally appreciate, but I was sharing with my toddler, who obviously has a more sensitive palate.)

So, I did enjoy the food and would certainly return based on the quality alone. But for a take-out/delivery-only place like this (they have two small tables, but they're really only for waiting), I was really hoping for something a little more reasonably priced. Dishes are in the $9 to $11 range,* which is comparable with Bamboo, one of my favorite Westford restaurants, whose only drawback in my book is its distance from my house. Comparing dish for dish, some of Bamboo's offerings are actually even less expensive, while at the same time offering the higher quality and service you'd expect from a finer sit-down restaurant.

In the end, I'd recommend Ginger Tree, but with reservations. I'm sure they'll work out their customer service kinks, and I don't begrudge them the early hiccups (everyone was very friendly and made an effort, so I wasn't angered at all, even while a bit frustrated), but the price keeps it from being the restaurant package I need for it to satisfy its place in my list of go-to restaurants. I already have a somewhat expensive Chinese place I love, so the only factor that might make me consider returning to Ginger Tree is how much closer it is to my house (or if I absolutely need delivery one night). If I lived closer to Bamboo, there'd be no competition at all.

* Rice not included, which I just don't understand, particularly at this price point. Bamboo does this too (though I forgive them a little more, given the level of the restaurant), which means I always have to remember to order rice in addition to my meals. Is this a Westford thing? Everywhere else I've lived, including rice with Chinese meals has been standard and assumed.

Walking Westford - The path to fame

2007-09-14T08:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been a while since the last update, but we were busy fielding calls from the press, being followed by the paparazzi and just generally enjoying our taste of fame. (OK, really life with three preschoolers is just crazy busy, my garage REALLY needed to be cleaned, and we had to get one last camping trip in for the season.)

We were just outside Syracuse N.Y. when we got a call from Kathleen Kirwin, the Eagle reporter who writes more or less the whole Eagle, and who had interviewed us on the phone a week or so earlier. She asked if we were planning to walk that weekend, and if so could she send a photographer along with us. Generally, we walk on Saturday mornings, but we were not scheduled to arrive back in Westford until sometime in the afternoon on Saturday. But, hey! We're flexible! (Anything to get in the paper right?!) So we agreed to walk Sunday morning, we pulled over at some rest-stop on the New York Thruway to pick our location for the photographer to meet us and called Kathleen back with the good news.

Jump ahead to Sunday morning (we had a great time in N.Y. btw)... we parked at my sister-in-law's parents' house on Depot (thanks Wieselquists!) and walked over to Butternut Rd, where a cute, young photographer called Sean (or maybe Shawn) was waiting for us. We warned him that nothing too exciting was going to happen - all we do is, well, walk... and talk I suppose, typically not the stuff of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs. He seemed resigned to his fate for the next hour or so and followed along with us, while we regaled him with our adventures through the streets of Westford. We talked about how when I was in high school, one of my friends had a HUGE crush on a kid who lived in this neighborhood and we used to drive by his house ALL THE TIME to see if he was around, probably ending up in the Police Log as a suspicious vehicle). Ah, youth! Also one of my friends used to live here, and he had a younger brother who looked EXACTLY like Herme from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Really! Luckily, he was really tall (not actually elf-like at all) and, as I recall, a good musician, so he managed to pull off being cool despite his likeness to an "in-dee-pend-ant" wannabe dentist claymation character.

Along the way we also saw a really cool garden. Actually the garden itself wasn't that different from most, except it had really nice stone steps winding through it, and hosted painted rocks resting atop the fence posts at the side of the road. There were about eight of them I think. (See photo, and there are a couple more on the map site.) One of the Eagle pics was of us looking at the rocks. They really were very cool. Cheers to whoever painted them and thought to put them out for the world to see (well for walkers of Westford to see anyway).

Roads walked: Butternut Rd, Cherry Lane, Holly Lane

(After this, time passes and I cannot possibly find the time to sit and write the above for about another week or so - see "garage needs cleaning" - and then....)

We walked the "medieval" themed neighborhood! My mom tells me it was actually Hick's first Westford neighborhood. Castle, Crown, Court, etc. This time we only had Lily with us, as her sisters were in school. It was a perfect fall day... crisp, dry, cool, and for the first time ever... we were RECOGNIZED! Ah, fame! We were admiring someone's home orchard, pear and apple trees, very fine specimens with LOADS of fruit, when the homeowner drove in the driveway. We complimented him on his efforts, he talked to us about the trees a bit, and offered my mom a few pears. Very nice guy. Then as we were walking farther down the road he passed in his car and said, "I know you folks. You're the ones from that world-renowned, amazing and exciting article about the death-defying, super powered, and incredibly photogenic women walking thousands of miles of Westford roadway!"

well... ok, not really. What he said was basically, "You're the ones from the Eagle article." And we said, yep, that's us. Still, it was really very cool. We were having a wonderful time with this whole thing already, but now, thanks to Geoff Hall and Kathleen Kirwin, we're REALLY having fun! People are giving us their copies of the Eagle, little girls are standing outside their homes waiting for us to come by (this really did happen and we promised to inform her mom when we plan to walk by her house, which I think is today actually!), and we now have our Walking Westford T-shirts to wear. Although the girls T-shirts are long enough to be nightgowns, so mom needs to hem them.

Roads walked: Crown Rd, Court Rd (fruit tree guy), Castle Rd (used to drive up there in high school to look at the stars, remember that Holly?), King's Pine Rd

Westford Bobcat

2007-09-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

My friend Andy (also a WA 1985 graduate) snagged some pics of the bobcat in his backyard, at Hill Orchard. For real!

pictures

Walking Westford in Westford Eagle

2007-09-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Anyone interested in Julie's "Walking Westford" project should make sure to check out the print edition of yesterday's Westford Eagle, which features her in a cover story, complete with a great photo above the fold on the front page.

For anyone who's unfamiliar with her efforts, the article provides a great summary and background for her personal experiences, reasons, and goals for this ambitious undertaking. If you're coming here from the article, you can catch up on all of Julie's entries by following the Walking Westford link in the sidebar. And here's the map the article mentions has received over 10,000 hits, where Julie tracks all of her walks.

4-H Fair

2007-08-27T08:52:00.000-04:00

The annual Middlesex County 4-H Fair this past weekend was a lot of good family fun.

I missed it last year (I was away on business) but was warned by my family not to make the same mistake this year. If you happened to miss it this year, I pass this warning on to you, and I'm already looking forward to doing it again next year.

UPDATE: Westford.com has a bunch of photos.

Walking Westford - back from vacation

2007-08-22T07:26:00.000-04:00

August 20th and 21st - Having not walked the streets of Westford for a couple of weeks now, we knew we had to kick into gear. Our excuse for slacking this time is legitimate - we weren't in town, instead we were on the beach at the Cape, eating WAY too much fried seafood, and then taking the girls to their first (folk) rock show in Freeport, Maine (the Indigo Girls, my personal favorite). But now we are ready to add some miles to our total, which after yesterday totals 43.29 miles. I estimate that we have ~250 miles to complete given all the backtracking required of the 175+ miles of Westford public roadways, so it's progress - nearly a fifth of the way there!

First we did Kirsi Circle. When I was in high school three of my best friends lived in this neighborhood - Aron, Amy, and Nancy. All three of them are long gone from Westford, and at least Amy and Aron's folks moved out of the neighborhood. Amy's house looks NOTHING like it used to and I miss seeing her Dad's model T in the garage, and the convertible Ford Falcon in the driveway. I guess 36 is a long way from high school days though. The neighborhood is a nice one, old in feel. There were a number of houses who were engaging in some serious tree removal, really opening things up, which I tend to be a fan 0f - the result of having grown up with a chainsaw-wielding Dad who cut down over 200 trees in our backyard, which my Mom, my brother, and I had to cut up and haul around to the burn pile every Saturday morning for my ENTIRE childhood, or so it felt. :) Anyway, Kirsi was nice, and Douglas and Anderson too. While walking we met two young boys tossing a football. I teased them that summer was ending soon and asked what school they went to. The smallest of them answered, Westford Academy. WHAT?! He looked 12! Wow... either he's the Doogie Howser of my home town, or 36 is farther from high school than I thought.

The next day we walked Wayne Rd and Misty Lane. These are off of Old Lowell Rd near my mom's house so I've driven by Wayne Rd forever, but never actually been down it that I can recall. It was quite nice. It felt old, like pre-1978, which is when we moved to town, and consequently the time-frame I use to judge the age of all homes in Westford. It had a lot of character, the houses having been added to over the years, landscaping that's well grown in. There was some kind of crazy tree with round green "nuts" or "fruit" growing on it. At first they looked like the infamous pig nuts, but upon closer inspection not so. They were stinky... sort of like rancid lime. And if you broke off the outer green husk there was a white/yellow hard ball inside. Are they unripe nuts of some sort? The tree was tropical looking with long thin leaves. If anyone from Wayne Road reads this can you tell us what they are?

Misty Lane was a much newer road. The houses looked more like each other. But the gardens! WOW! There are some SERIOUS horticulturists in that neighborhood! We stopped and stared in awe at one garden down a shared drive at the far right of the circle (in case that person is reading - nice work!). One thing we wondered... are all those houses vinyl sided? They looked great! Not a single house that we recall had a stitch of peeling paint, or fading. And we started to notice this really obvious wood grain look that was a bit too prominent to be real. If it was vinyl it's the best I've ever seen and I want it! If it's not, then kudos to you Misty Lane folks who are completely obsessive about painting your homes!

Roads walked: Kirsi Circle, Anderson Lane, Douglas Rd, Wayne Rd, Misty Lane

CommunityWalk Map - Walking Westford

How Walkable Is Westford?

2007-08-07T15:36:00.000-04:00

Have you seen Walk Score yet?

Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc.

It's an interesting experiment, and I think it does a good job of revealing a lot of what I loved about living in Cambridge (our old place scored an 88 on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the most walkable), but a good deal of its algorithm neglects a lot of what I think make the suburbs or country quite walkable too, though for different reasons.

My current home scores a whopping 3 on the scale, but I love walking through my wooded street, chancing upon my friendly neighbors and experiencing the quiet tranquility of our own peaceful area. So, while I agree with the premise of the site, I have to take some issue with the methodology, which is definitely biased toward the city (as, I must admit, I was too when I lived there). I'm not saying Cambridge is less walkable than Westford (I miss being able to walk to any ethnicity of restaurant and three book stores in just a few minutes, on a whim), but for an aimless afternoon stroll, it's hard to find issue with my street in Westford.

So, what's your community's Walk Score? I see that Roudenbush at least scores a somewhat respectable 26. Anyone else have an address that performs better? Or would you care to defend your neighborhood against a poor showing?

Brief Review: New Restaurant "Karma"

2007-08-03T15:50:00.001-04:00

Over by Starbucks and Blockbuster, there is a new restaurant that recently opened. It's occupying the space of the star-crossed Zia's, but hopefully will have more success. It says "seafood - grille - bar" under the name, but it seems to be mostly a Japanse food and especially a sushi place.

Based on one take-out dinner, I am impressed. I had a tekka-don, which is tuna sashimi over a bowl of sushi rice. It's the best tuna I've had in a long time, and certainly the best I've tasted near Westford. It was quite fresh, and very well presented, even in the take-out plastic container. The portion was also quite large, and the order included miso soup and a salad. It was no bargain at $17, but there was so much fish it really seemed a fair price.

I'm looking forward to trying the menu at the restaurant proper. If you have, please comment!

Fish Market is Open Again

2007-07-24T10:12:00.002-04:00

The fish market over near the Westford Grille and where Wendy's used to be has opened and closed a few times. We really missed it when it wasn't there. It was great having a seafood specialty market in town.

Well, rejoice all you fellow fish eaters, because it's open again. It's called "Wally's Westford Seafood" and is being run by (who else) Wally, who was previously at Twin Seafood in West Concord. Twin Seafood is a terrific fish market, so WWS should be great too.

Stop by on your way home from work tonight, and have some nice wild salmon or halibut steaks for dinner.

My favorite recipe for poached Halibut steaks follows, from "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman.

Boil a pint of chicken stock and then set it aside.

In a deep frying pan, saute diced celery, onions, carrots, some garlic. Salt if you want.

Once the vegetables wilt a little, place 1 or 2 halibut steaks on top. Pour the chicken stock on top. The steaks should be 50-75% submerged. Cook until the fish is white and flaky in the middle. You'll probably have to turn the steaks over once, using a very large/flat set of tongs so it doesn't mangle the fish.

Serve with the vegetables on top, and a little of the stock. Goes well with rice.

Walking Westford - Mostly Forge Village

2007-07-21T10:32:00.000-04:00

Well I haven't been as slack as it may seem from the lack of posts. While it is true that our walking time has been interrupted by various vacations and other summer fun, we have gotten three walks in since the last update. One walk, Wilson Farm Rd, barely counts since it was pitifully short, but it's still progress! We HAD planned a more extensive walk that day but as it turns out Apple released the iPhone and, well, my Mom wanted one! So we popped that one off just before heading to Burlington to get it (yes, they really are THAT cool!). Nice little neighborhood, the foliage is growing in well and lends to a mature look, and it was surprisingly quiet.

After that we did a great chunk of Forge Village, basically East Prescott St, Town Farm Rd, Pine St, with a few side streets along the way. This was really one of our best walks yet. The weather was PERFECT, sunny, cool, dry. Forge Village is a terrific neighborhood. There is an eclectic and vibrant mix of homes, mostly very well kept up. One thing that surprised us was the multi-family homes... not so much that there were so many of them, but how truly well they were cared for. Often multi-families are rentals and consequently not as lovingly tended to, but these places were not only in great shape, but had beautiful landscaping and gardens. There is obviously some real pride and care going on in Forge Village! And if that weren't enough to attract you to the neighborhood, the place is FULL of pig nut trees (otherwise known as Hickory trees)! Most people probably don't care too much about this (especially when the nuts are all over their lawns), but my mom is a pig nut NUT and loves to smash the little hard shells with a hammer and spend hours digging out the small treasure inside. This is a very labor intensive culinary interest I assure you. I believe the best tree we found was on Pine St. Also along the way on this walk, we bumped into a collection of motorcycles (along with their riders) who were joining a large group up at the Franco-American club for a long day of riding and poker playing in NH. The photo here is one of the really cool looking bikes.

Lastly, this morning, we walked more of the Forge area, though I am not sure it technically counts as Forge Village. Country Rd, past the Academy, Hartford Rd, and down past Robinson. Again a great day weather-wise and our friend Barb joined us. Today our fun surprise was a yard sale on Hutchins Way with LOADS of games and a few puzzles too (another hobby of ours). Good thing I carry a few bucks with me on walks! (Those were not EXACTLY my husbands words though when he saw me coming through the door with a stack of items up to my nose.) And so goes the walking...

Oh, an update... I had commented about True Bean Way recently, wondering what sort of name that was. I recently got an email from an ex-teacher of mine who informed me that True Bean was a long-time resident of Westford. He was a janitor at the Town Hall, who went broke after his wife's death, and died at the Poor Farm in 1905, aged 82. The Poor Farm, for those who don't know, is located on Town Farm Rd (we walked by it!) and used to be the School Administration building and is now the Recreation Departments. (Thanks Mr. Bogue!)

Roads we walked: Wilson Farm Rd, Atwater Dr, Storey St, Elm St, Lincoln Ave, Orchard St, East Prescott St, Pershing St, Smith St, Town Farm Rd, Pine St, Country Rd, Patten Rd, Hartford Rd, Hutchins Way, Robinson Rd.

Our new weedwacker....

2007-06-20T09:08:00.000-04:00

Walking Westford - Hitchin' Post part 2

2007-06-20T06:51:00.000-04:00

Perfect summer day! Maybe a tad hot for walking, but no complaints from me. We made an attempt to finish up Hitchin' Post but we had the girls with us and they petered out so we'll have to try one more time. Our friend Barb joined us for the walk. She's a resident of Hitchin' Post so it was like having our own personal guided tour. We saw lots of people Barb knew and also my friend Kathleen on her way out. When we got to Rosebud Lane there was a lemonade stand set up on the grassy circle. I swear it was there just for us! (Especially since they had driven by us in a car a little while before and their mom had chatted with Barb.) Luckily I always carry a few dollars with me on these walks for just such an occasion, so, of course, we bought them out.

My mom had the clever idea of turning the walk into a mini scavenger hunt for my girls, to keep them occupied and to keep the "I'm TIIIIIRED of waaaaaalking" comments down. She sewed them each a pink mesh bag and wrote a list of items that are easy to find on a walk through Westford (excluding the likes of poison ivy which unfortunately has become even more prevalent than the number of mattress stores in town). It worked to a degree, we only got real complaints while climbing Chicory Rd.

There was a really nice tree fort/rope ladder swing on Honeysuckle Road. I hope the owners don't mind that my girls enjoyed climbing the ladder a few times (with Granny's help). They have a beautifully landscaped yard with a great front porch! One of my favorite houses in the neighborhood. That's about it... it was a very pleasant walk, and it was great to have Bard join us.

Emma
Liiiiiiiiiilyy

(Emma and Lily asked if they could "push their names" on my computer.)

Walking Westford - 225 from the Groton line

2007-06-16T10:41:00.000-04:00

Perfect morning for walking today! Cool, sunny, dry... Mom, Sarah (a friend who joins us on Saturday morning walks), and I drove to Village View and parked our car. We walked to the Groton border and then back to my house, stopping to pick up some dead ends along the way. Not a lot of car traffic, which is really nice, but there were TONS and I mean dozens up dozens, of bikers riding past. They were serious riders with numbers on their backs and everything. I love the sound they make as they whiz past. I don't love them as much when I am driving on Westford country roads and need to get buy them, but what can you do, the price of having beautiful, narrow, historic roads. Eventually, after the fourth or fifth wave of them came by, we asked a large group where they were coming from and where they were going to.... "from Boooooosstoon....", one pedaler yelled as he flew past.... "to Vermooooonnttt", added another as he too whipped past us. That's a long freakin' way!

We crossed over the FINALLY reopened Pleasant St bridge. It's really nice now, but wow, it was a long time coming! I took a picture of Pizzeria Presti, because let's face it, they have the BEST pizza in all of Westford and the surrounding area. Perhaps until you reach New York city! We eat it EVERY Friday night and if you try to take my Friday night pizza away, stand back, you're likely to get a good whallop! I was so relieved that they survived the bridge rebuilding fiasco. If they ever go out of business, or leave, I'll be a wreck. (And now that the bridge if FINALLY open again, our delivery time dropped by 15 minutes! :)

We also walked by the Abbott Worsted Mill. I LOVE that place. Any real estate developers out there reading this? Can you please buy the place and make something out of it? It's too awesome to just there and rot away. All that brick and those great (albeit mostly smashed windows). Someone save the mill!

Roads we walked: West Prescott St, Coolidge St, Hill St, Pleasant St, Bradford St, Canal St, Pond St, Oak St, Chestnut St, Concord Rd, Rush Rd.

Walking Westford - True Bean? What is THAT?

2007-06-15T15:45:00.000-04:00

Well, mom got back from China, so we're back on the roads, of Westford of course! Today we walked a really, really nice neighborhood off of Beaver Brook Rd. I am pretty sure it's a Hicks neighborhood, but not positive. Anyone know? One of the roads is called True Bean Way... what the heck is that? Is there a False Bean Way? I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

I've seen this neighborhood when driving down Beaver Brook Rd but never been down it... no, wait! I recall pulling in there once when Emma and Bella were about a year old so I could get out and pick up a teddy or ducky that had fallen from a car seat with a great deal of protest from the owner. Anyway... this neighborhood was gorgeous. Amazing gardens! And me without my camera. You'd think I'd never walked around this town before! Sigh...

We passed one house on Cutter Lane that was amuck with the sounds of laughter and a game of kick-the-ball-in-the-air-and-fight-about-who-gets-it. There was a pool, great gardens, a neat house, and THE COOLEST kids playhouse I have ever seen. It was like a little house all on it's own... sort of a wooden shed with a front porch and a loft. So cool.

Most of the neighborhood was really nice (though that one chunk of Cutter Lane near the playhouse was the most inviting and alive). We saw some fantastic roses, kids at play, last-day-of-school gatherings, and, well... powerlines. That was really the only drawback to this neighborhood.

Tomorrow we plan to walk a chunk of 225 from the Groton line...

Roads walked today: True Bean Way, Cutter Lane, Butterfield Lane, Southwick Circle, Humiston Circle, and Torrey Terrace (and just a smidgen of Beaver Brook Rd which was ripe with the stench of pig or cow or horse poop... nasty).

CommunityWalk Map - Walking Westford

Turkey Season, Part II

2007-06-15T11:45:00.000-04:00

It's turkey season again, this time with babies!

Walking Westford - let the slacking end!

2007-05-22T14:06:00.000-04:00

Yes, yes... we are a couple of slackers. It's been three weeks since our last walk. In our defense it was raining practically non-stop for 5 days, or maybe even 20, at least so it seemed. We also had the spring season outdoor chores to take care of (5/6 of my 6 yards of bark mulch are still waiting patiently on the driveway for me to scatter them around my gardens.) Then there were things like the Apple Blossom parade, a large swing set assembly project at Grandma's, and a trip to Brookline to get really great bagels... obviously all VERY important events! But the swings are done, the parade is over, and the bagels were yummy and we are ready to start walking again! Um... well, until Thursday when my mom leaves for China for 3 weeks, so... once she gets back we'll pick up a head of steam again for sure! (How many years did I originally estimate this project would take? hmmm...)

Today we finished Greystone! We were worried it might take three attempts, after our freezing cold hill battle on April 6th. But today was a gorgeous, sunny, mildly breezy day, PERFECT for walking and we just whizzed through the rest of the neighborhood in a mere 45 minutes. Apparently we had already conquered all the hills so it was just a light stroll. I forgot to take any pictures... partly because I didn't see all that much that inspired me, and partly because I am really lazy about bending down to take the camera out of the stroller and actually push the button. Maybe I need to drag along one of the photographer posters from Blogging Westford. We did see a nice little Canadian geese family, six babies. We also saw some gardens starting to flourish (love the creeping phlox!), and some well done stone walls. Maybe we'll manage to squeeze in a walk tomorrow too.... look for us in your neighborhood!

Roads we walked: Russell's Way, Danley Drive, Curren Drive, Perham Cirlce, Sherburne Lane.

Fast Fire Truck Ride

2007-05-14T16:28:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what it would be like if Ferrari made a Fire Truck? And if they did, what it would like to ride it through Westford to be in the Apple Blossom Parade? Well, I sure have.

[Quicktime video](big, 38MB)

Secret Trail to Junk Car

2007-05-07T09:44:00.001-04:00

Photo_050607_004.jpg
Originally uploaded by agentbillo.

Behind the Roudenbush playground, there is a trail connecting to Town Hall. There's a nice bridge over a stream, and this old wreck. Can anybody tell what kind of car it is?

More photos of this trail

Westford Road Race (Family Fun Run)

2007-05-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

I ran in my second Westford Road Race yesterday. Though Kristina and I ran the 5K last year, she's still battling iliotibial band tendonitis in her right knee, so this year I got a new official running partner (though Kristina ended up going the distance anyway, next to us the whole way, much to the pain of her knee) and a new distance. This year, we did it without the stroller.

We took on the Family Fun Run this time, which ended up being considerably longer than we'd expected. Unlike the Tot Trot in last week's Groton Road Race, which was pretty much just a 30-yard dash for two-year-olds, the Family Fun Run was about a mile or more, and my running partner was the youngest registrant in the field. But he had the biggest heart and had a fabulous time.

He even finished strong, amid personalized cheers from a spirited crowd (the spectators at the event were just as nice as the weather):

With two races already under his belt, each one ending with "I want to do it again!," it looks like we've got a little runner on our hands. If you missed the Westford Road Race this year, look for us at next year's event. We'll be there.

More photos of the event here. Check out the one in the lower right on this page!

Walking Westford - post sinus infection

2007-05-01T16:28:00.000-04:00

May 1st, 2007 - Spring is REALLY here! After a brief hiatus due to a sinus infection and some bad weather, we started walking again today. (Actually, we have an additional project going on right now, building a swing set in Grandma's backyard, which might temporarily eat into our Walking project, though it's very short term.) Today we had the kids in tow and there was a lot of lagging and whining about needing to pee, being tired, not wanting to walk anymore, etc... and the kids were complaining too. We walked Village View Rd. and it's tributaries. Interesting neighborhood... very large, yet it feels quite isolated and woodsy. Many of the homes are very close together but then there are large gaps of woods or swamp or boulders. Really some of the rocks were amazing and there were great trees for climbing. One huge pine tree had a chair lodged in it, the apparent effort of some neighborhood kid attempting to create a hideaway or fort. It was a gorgeous day out: sunny, warm, a bit windy. So we HAD to go to Kimballs afterward for lunch and, of course, ice cream. I had to think of a creative way to suggest this destination to my Mom in front of the girls, since they have learned to spell K-I-M-B-A-L-L-S (not bad for 4). When I was kid we had a cleaning lady and she was related somehow to the Kimball family, I think she was a sister. So I said something like, "Do you remember that lady who used to clean our house and the family she was related to? We should go there." Amazingly, even though I was referring to someone a good 20 years in our past, my Mom knew immediately who and what I was talking about, and fully agreed that would be a fine lunch option. Kids really do keep you on your toes. Roads we walked: Village View Rd, Jessica Circle, Park View Circle. Total estimated distance walked to date: ~25 miles

Walking Westford - Hitchin' Post part 1

2007-04-20T08:12:00.000-04:00

April 19th, 2007 - Well the spring Nor' Easter of 2007 put a damper in our walking schedule. Even if we WERE dedicated enough to walk in the rain (which we're not), I had a cold that made my head feel like a pressure cooker. But it's all past now and the sun revealed it's vibrant beauty yesterday! So after a quick and entirely necessary trip to Kimballs, we took a nice little walk with the kids. We walked only a couple of roads in the gargantuan Hitchin' Post neighborhood. I love that neighborhood! It's near our house and we walk there a lot, but I haven't walked it with my mom so we have to do it together. I forgot the camera unfortunately, because I would like to get a picture of the great pile of rocks they have at the edge of their neighborhood fields. (Next time.) My girls LOVE to climb on them, which we did yesterday of course. One of the nice things about this neighborhood is that the houses are mostly attractive and reasonably unique, at least within visual distance of each other. There are also some fantastic lots and landscaping features, sledding hills, rocks, views... It's no wonder houses sell fast in this neighborhood. During the walk we ran into someone my mom used to work with. Both my kids and his kids got impatient as the grownups chatted so we all cut it short. Emma tripped twice on the edge of the grass and got a bit cranky after that. And all three of my daughters bugged me for a snack, apparently forgetting that moments before the walk they had devoured colossal (otherwise known as Kiddie) sized ice cream cones. While we played on the rocks, we ran into Emma and Bella's preschool teacher, who they pretend to ignore every chance they get, but we all know they love her. As do I, since she's played an integral role in getting them to come out of their shells this year. We love Roudenbush preschool! Roads we walked: Heather Drive, Primrose Lane.

Race Day

2007-04-16T09:20:00.000-04:00

Today's The Marathon Mama's big day. I just drove her to catch her ride into Boston, and I'll follow with family in a few hours myself. If you're watching the field, here's what to look for:

This is the last time I'll make this request, but there's still time to make a donation to support her efforts for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. Isn't it worth a little more to run on an injured knee in a Nor'easter?

UPDATE: I'm toying with the idea of live blogging the marathon via my cell phone. If you're interested in updates, follow me on Twitter.

Walking Westford - Vinebrook Rd

2007-04-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

April 11th, 2007 - We walked Vinebrook Rd and it's neighboring collection of dead-end roads. This time we had the girls with us, so it was a leisurely walk. Covering over 2 miles with a couple of preschoolers and a toddler is a pretty mean feat! The weather did it's best to pretend spring was coming, but we could feel the looming winter storm heading our way tomorrow. Sigh... so we enjoyed the sun and the somewhat calmer breeze. The neighborhood seems like it might have been built in the late 70s/early 80s. It's a varying mix of homes, not all cookie cutters. Lots of houses have been built out with additions, most of them really nice. Our favorite house was on a corner lot, with a large grass burm built along the corner, dotted with flowering daffodils right in the midst of the lawn. Interesting landscaping choice, but a really pretty house. There isn't much else to tell. Oh, yes... there were more basketball nets per square foot in this neighborhood than I've ever seen before. Grandma found an old ball on the ground and lifted the girls up to each take a winning shot. When we got to the end of the road we saw what I think is an entrance to Kennedy Pond and the trails that surround it. But I was confused by all the NO PARKING signs and the "Private" label painted on the gate. Anyone know the deal here? Is there public access or not? Roads we walked: Vinebrook Rd, Nonset Lane, Nagog Lane, Assabet Road, Bear Hill Terrace, Rail Tree Terrace.

Walking Westford - Greystone Street Names

2007-04-09T06:44:00.000-04:00

My mom sent me her theories on the Greystone Street names:

As we started our walk, the early street names (Russell, Chandler, Caldwell, Morrison, Mitchell, Tyler) made me think that perhaps these streets were named after famous writers. So: Raymond Chandler, Erskine Caldwell (or Taylor Caldwell, perhaps), Toni Morrison, Margaret Mitchell, Anne Tyler, Bertrand Russell. When I heard there was a Christie Lane, I thought maybe it was even mystery writers, but that was too fanciful and didn't pan out. Besides, the spelling is Christy Lane, so that couldn't work at all. With my trusty Google toolset, I tracked down the remaining street names (Sherburne, Perham, Curren, Danley) and discovered that if you broaden the category to encompass writers AND philosophers, then you could have Donald Sherburne, Randall Curren and John Danley, all identified as philosophers on the net (well, Sherburne is actually an interpreter of Alfred North Whitehead, but heck, that makes him a writer). However, the whole thing crumbles into a heap with Perham and Christy; I could find no noted people with those last names as philosophers or writers. So just too much imagination on my part, or perhaps only a half-hearted attempt to name some streets after writers (?). There is a subdivision in Nashua in which all the street names are those of famous poets and I've always thought that was a great idea and probably led to wishful thinking in Greystone. I wonder if anyone out there knows any more about the Greystone streets and how they were named.

We got a comment from a homeowner (Mark Childs), though, which explains the names:

I bought a house on Russell's Way when Greystone was first being built and also wondered about the street names. I was told they were named after grandchildren of the developer.

Thanks for the help, Mark! This makes sense for Russell, Mitchell, Tyler, Christy and Chandler... and maybe Morrison and Caldwell given the creativity of modern names, but I have to say that Sherburne, Perham and Danley seem like odd names for grandchildren... perhaps those were their last names.

Walking Westford - part 3

2007-04-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

April 7, 2007 - Today we walked about half of route 40. Mom and I met up with my friend Sarah at the Dunkin' Donuts on the corner of Rte 40 and Nutting Rd at 8am. Man it was cold! 30 degrees, but the sun was out at least. We left a car there and drove to the Chelmsford town line and parked. From there we walked pretty much straight down 40, picking up a few dead-end side roads along the way. I can't say this was one of our nicer walks. Rte 40 is loud, with fast traffic and limited walking space that was snowy and/or muddy. And there isn't really all that much beauty either... lots of industry. We did see a few nice houses and this really cool mailbox that was set in a huge granite structure. "How to combat mailbox baseball vandalism!" This thing was mammoth! But it was really nicely done too, and I quite liked it. Anyway, that's about it really for this walk, kind of dull, other than a good bout of exercise and some nice time spent with my Mom and Sarah. Oh, we ran into my brother Bill and his mini-van full of kids at the Dunkin' on the way back. Nice bonus. It inspired me to buy half a dozen donuts for my own kids and husband waiting at home. Tomorrow we plan to walk Stoneridge Estates, off of Tyngsboro Rd. My aunt and uncle live there and it's where we will spend Easter. Roads we walked: Half of Groton Rd (Rte 40), Blacksmith Dr, Fernwood Dr, Crocker Dr, Carl Thompson Dr, and a small nub of Oak Hill Rd.

Walking Westford - part 2

2007-04-06T16:07:00.000-04:00

April 06, 2007 - Greystone Estates... the largest neighborhood in town. I'd never actually been there, it's pretty out of the way and it's unlikely you'd find yourself just passing through. We had planned to start at one end and walk the whole neighborhood, so we put a car at one end and drove to the Tyngsboro town line to start our walk. Ahhh, spring time... plenty of snow, 34 degrees, harsh winds... ain't it great!? Poor Lily had to get all bundled up in her new jogging stroller, purchased just for the walking project. It was cheap ($100 including shipping!) but it's a good case of "you get what you pay for". It's a bit stiff, the seats are hard to adjust, the handle bar angle is funny. I supposed it would have performed better if I had remembered to actually put air in the tires. Good thing Lily only weighs 30 lbs. Anyway, it quickly became apparent that our plans would need to change, having not accounted for the flat tires and the immense hills. In the end we completed around half of the planned walk, for a total walk of just over 3 miles in 50 minutes. Not too bad. We were both woefully underdressed and sadly overdressed at the same time. We needed ear muffs for our frozen ears from the wind, but up the hills when the sun came out was too much for a parka. Next time (tomorrow morning) we'll have to layer better.

Some notes on the neighborhood: This place really is big. Not for everyone, but having a brand new school literally within walking distance (sidewalks included) seems really nice. My mom was trying to figure out who the roads might be named after. Russell, Caldwell, Christy, Mitchell, Morrison... she's thinking authors... more specifically perhaps, mystery writers. Anyone know? Care to speculate? We saw a great sink hole on Chandler Rd. I think it was Chandler, I need to take notes I guess. I did bring the camera this time so you can check out the sink hole and a few other things on the map. We also saw a gorgeous stone wall (I think on Caldwell). If you are ever driving around in the northeast corner of Westford, you should really pop up to the top of the neighborhood and check out the view. It's pretty good. Not quite as good as the view from the Highway Departments new garage though. I dragged my daughters there today to get a list of all the roads in Westford so we can know what's public and what's not. The view up there... WOW! IT'S SO COOL! The hill they are on is really high up and you can see for miles. The folks at the Highway Dept were really nice and helpful too, btw. They gave us what we needed and we chatted about some of the roads as well. For instance did you know that Powers Road isn't a town owned road? The states own it. Why? I don't know. And Hildreth Hills and Blanchard and Pilgrim Village... all those condo places, those are private roads, which means the town doesn't plow 'em and we don't have to walk 'em. :) Roads we walked: Chandler Rd, Caldwell Rd, Morrison Ln, Mitchell Way, and part of Russell's Way.

Walking Westford

2007-04-02T17:31:00.000-04:00

When Brian uses the word "recent" he really means it. I only approached him with the idea today and hours later it's all up and running! Thanks Brian!

I actually thought of doing this quite a while ago but more as a philosophical "Wouldn't it be cool to... ", rather than a realistic plan of intent. But one day I mentioned it to my mom and she thought it was a great idea so we waited for the weather to get nicer... and waited, and then, oh almost, but no... and waited... and then finally last week, our first walk! But perhaps some background is order first. We moved to Westford in 1978, when there were still four gas stations at four corners, no traffic lights, and, yes, believe it or not, NO MATTRESS STORES! (It was really hard to get a good night's sleep around here in those days.) So I grew up in Westford, moved away a few times, but never for long. I live here now with my husband and three daughters. My mom still lives in the house I grew up in on Sassafras Rd. My brother and his wife and three kids live in town. I also have a some cousins and an aunt and uncle in town, and few friends I've collected over the years. I really like this town and most of the things about it. I don't like mattress stores so much to be honest, and now, more than ever, I wish we did have more sidewalks.

Anyway, on to the walks:

March 27, 2007 - We chose to start in Nab, in part because of its density, and in part because it's one part of town my mom said she didn't know very well. So after I dropped my oldest daughters (who are 4) at preschool, my youngest daughter Lily (who is 2) and I met my mom at the Old Nab Roudenbush building. You have find places to park in order to walk the whole town. I am hoping we don't end up in the police log too often as "suspicious silver mini-van". We covered ~4.5 miles in an hour and 45 minutes or so. Lily has a tendency to slow things down from the comfort of her stroller by whining about needing to be fed (oops, forgot a snack!), and getting bored (stopped at Lil' Peach and bought the only suitable toy for a 2 year old I could find - a set of 5 gambling dice). Our first walk was really nice, a warm day. We walked to the Westford/Chelmsford town line on Nabnasset St. There were some really cute houses along there. In addition to the Lil' Peach stop we got an Italian sub at the Silver Palette since my mom had no lunch. It smelled and looked really yummy. (You'll have to ask her if it actually was.) We ran into some pretty nasty mud on Williams Ave (one of the few dirt roads left in town). It was a bit tough to choose a walking path without too much backtracking because of the somewhat gridded nature of the neighborhood, but it was really pleasant so we didn't mind. Roads we walked: Nabnasset St, Jonas Rd, Moore Ave, part of Oak Hill Rd, part of Brookside Rd, Tower Rd, Grove St, Wilson Lane, part of Edwards Ave, Knoll Rd, Camp Rd, Hadley Rd, Trails End Rd, part of Williams Ave, Laurel Ave, Myrtle Ave, part of Hawthorne Ave, and part of Plain Rd.

March 28, 2007 - This time we parked at Fairview cemetery, right in front of my dad's grave. First we took down the Christmas decos that were on his shrub, then we headed out down Tadmuck Rd. This time we had Emma and Bella with us so we fully realized we wouldn't get a three- or four-mile walk in. Four-year-olds take a bit of a meandering path. I didn't really like walking on Tadmuck with the kids, there was loads of cars and they were fast. But we quickly turned on to Fairview Rd and relaxed. This was a really nice neighborhood. My mom said that when it was built, the builder did a really nice job landscaping, more than most builders were doing at the time. There was a great little stream that ran through the neighborhood that was in full flow. The girls enjoyed tossing sticks and leaves into it and watching them float away. It was a VERY windy day, which helped a lot with the stroller pushing since I could simply let go and Lily would be blown down the street. But the fault with this strategy was quickly apparent when the stroller flipped over an embankment with a nasty gust. No worries, Lily wasn't in it at the time! (Of course! Come on people, what sort of mother do you take me for?!??!) We saw at least three dogs who were loose in their yards which obviously had electric fences (there was the telltale line cut into the end of the driveway). They were all really nice, quiet, large dogs who merely watched us pass. We did battle with a trash can lid (wind again) placing it back in its yard 2-3 times. We lost. Once we got to Main St we took a turn into the cemetery again to get away from the traffic and saw some really beautiful sites. There is a gazebo you can sit in, a great spot for a picnic. There are some REALLY old graves to look at, lots of town names - Cameron, Hildreth, etc. We really enjoyed it. There were the sad bits too of course... people we had known, and the graves of young children. We said goodbye to my dad and packed up for home. We covered ~1.5 miles in an hour and half minutes. Roads we walked: part of Tadmuck Rd, Fairview Dr, Dana Dr, Tadmuck Lane, and part of Main St.

March 30, 2007 - We parked at a friend's house, the Earls, on Depot St. Walked down Depot past the Westford Knight, whose stone was covered with a wooden structure, presumably to protect it during the harsh winter months. Some people REALLY get into the Westford Knight thing. When I was kid and slept over at the Earls' house, Russell and Suzie used to tell ghost stories about the Knight and how he would come up from his cave and come in their house. Scared the poop out of me back then so it's somehow comforting now to know the guy need a piece of wood to protect him from snow. This was our hilliest walk yet, with some nice views. On the way up Ward Hill Rd we met a guy who carves bears from tree stumps. They were cool! He said he uses a chain saw to do it. I was truly impressed. At the top of the hill we could see a long ridgeline off in the distance. I am guessing it's the same set of hills that the observatory in Groton is on. Anyone know? This was another nice little neighborhood area. A couple of my friends from high school lived on Beaver Damn growing up and we passed their houses. (Hi Dave's mom and dad, hi Bill's mom and dad!) We also passed a spot on Sawmill Dr where my friends and I (again high school) spray-painted the outline of a dead body in the middle of the road. OK well that's not fully accurate, since the body wasn't dead, it was my friend Bill lying on the ground pretending to be dead so we could outline him in white paint. I hope this is the extent of the antics my own children pull when they are in high school. We covered ~3.5 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Roads we walked: part of Depot St, Beaver Damn Dr, Heywood Rd, Fletcher Rd, Blackthorne Dr, Sawmill Dr, Brookview Dr (we saw the brook), and Ward Hill Rd.

We are hoping to walk a lot this spring/summer/fall and see how much of the 175 miles of roadway we can get done. I need to get in touch with the highway dept and see how accurate that estimate is. Of course we will have walked greater than 175 miles given all the backtracking we need to do... can't wait to see the delta. Stay tuned for updates and check out the map!

cheers
Julie

Walking Westford with Julie DiRico

2007-04-02T12:56:00.000-04:00

In a recent email, Westford Network member Julie DiRico let me know about a fascinating project she'd just undertaken with her mother:

In the winter of 2006 I had this idea to walk every single public road in my hometown. I told my mom about it and she wanted to do it too. So now it's spring 2007 and we've started our journey through the roads of Westford, MA. The rules are simple: we walk all the roads together. we walk all public roads, excluding Route 495 and Rte 3.

I thought this idea was too interesting an undertaking to go undocumented, so I invited Julie to share her experiences here. So, dear readers and fellow Westfordians, please welcome Julie as the newest member of the Blogging Westford family. She'll be plotting her routes on an interactive map and recording her progress around the streets of our town in a series we'll call Walking Westford. It should be a lovely 175-mile ride.

Belle's Bistro: Our Favorite Westford Restaurant

2007-03-18T12:58:00.000-04:00

Well, the vote for favorite local restaurant is now unanimous here at Blogging Westford. Based in large part on Bill's rave review of Belle's Bistro (which has also been confirmed by more than a few others around town), Kristina and I made the rare dinner reservation and checked it out. We weren't disappointed.

We had pear and gin martinis, respectively, she had steak au poivre, I had seared sea scallops in a sea of the most amazing bacon risotto you could imagine, and we shared a peanut butter and chocolate mousse pie for dessert, which, in the end, was just too rich and too much to finish (but tasty enough for us to regret leaving some of it on the plate).

Beyond that, I don't have much to add to Bill's recommendation, aside from saying that the experience was well worth the wait and the money (both for the dinner, which was worth every penny of the the not-so-cheap price, and for the babysitter, which was crucial for maximal enjoyment of this adult experience). I'm sure it will be well worth the wait until we return. We don't get out to a fine dinner very often, but Belle's might just draw us out a little more often.

A Tour of Westford's Book Manufacturer

2007-03-16T15:27:00.000-04:00

Last week, I was given a real treat. I got to tour the factory for the book manufacturer that prints many of the titles I edit for my day job. (For those of you chuckling, yes, I considered this a treat. What can I say?) It just so happens that I got to do this just down the road at Courier, in our own town of Westford.

I couldn't possibly do justice to everything that goes on in the plant (and I'd probably end up boring most readers to tears if I did), but they produced 140 million books last year, which is impressive by just about any standard you use.

People who know me or follow my other blog know that I dabble in hand bookbinding, so it's always neat to see how the big guys mass produce them (this is the second printing factory I've toured). For example, here's how I prepare a hard cover (left) and how they do it (right):

Here's what my collected signatures look like (left) next to theirs (right):

How mine are sewn (left) and how theirs stack up (right):

All very humbling, of course, though my process is a little more loving and a whole lot quieter (and my output about 140 million times smaller).

Last year, Courier was named "Best Workplace in the Americas" by the Printing Industry of America (PIA), and all signs indicate that the are indeed a great place to work. It's great to find such a great and interesting company in your own back yard, and even more interesting when it's a company with direct involvement with your own business.

Westford Chess Club

2007-03-13T08:26:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I got a little excited by the announcement at the Westford Community Notebook about a Student Chess Club. Unfortunately, my excitement was tempered by the fine print, which revealed that the club is actually for kids (I'd thought the "student" part referred to people learning the game, but it turned out to actually mean school students).

But today, while browsing Westford.com, I just discovered that our town has a chess club for adults too. It meets every Tuesday, from 7:30 to 11:00 PM, at the First Parish Church and is BYOB (bring your own board). I'm a little out of practice, but I like the game enough to have my own board, pieces, and clock, so I hope to make it down there one day, after the little one has gone to sleep.

If you're a chess player, perhaps I'll see you there one of these weeks. Anyone have any experience with the club to report, including general turnout, skill level of players, or anything else?

Flickr Photos at Westford.com

2007-03-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

Check it out: for a limited time, a few photos from my Westford Flickr set are being featured on the front page at Westford Web site!

I'll try not to let my newfound celebrity go to my head.

Westford House of Pizza

2007-03-03T16:11:00.000-05:00

After noticing that not one but two of the new members of the Westford Network listed the Westford House of Pizza as their favorite Westford restaurant (after seeing the first mention by full name, I assumed this was the place abbreviated by the second as WHOP!), I decided I had to find where it was and see what all the fuss was about.

I'm happy to report that we tried a BBQ chicken pie last night, and it's certainly the best pizza I've had town. If nothing else, my new social networking experiment has already paid off huge dividends in the form of a great new restaurant recommendation. Thanks members, and don't feel shy sharing things like this on the main blog page!

Westford Mall

2007-03-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

The front page article on the Eagle yesterday was the proposed new shopping center to be built between the Mobile station and the Regency on Littleton road (rte 110).

All the usual development trade-offs would seem to apply: more traffic, tax revenue, etc.

While I don't like the idea of more traffic and more development in general, it seems to me that it is inevitable that the land along 110 next to 495 will be 100% developed eventually. And a nice, fancy shopping center like the one described with some restaurants sound more interesting and beneficial to folks who live in Westford than yet another office park.

What do you think?

Connect with Your Neighbors at the Westford Network

2007-03-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

In my ongoing efforts to try to build community in a way I just can't accomplish through a closed blog, I've just launched a new social networking site (the Westford Network) just for residents of Westford. I'm hoping it will help us build community and get to know each other better.

The features included at launch are minimal, but useful, though I intend to add more as the site develops. Currently, you can add photos (imported from your Flickr account or uploaded from your computer desktop), share videos, start discussions, and basically just connect with your neighbors. I haven't enabled the Forum feature, because the Westford Forum does that so well, but I think the rest of the features will add value that isn't baked into Westford.com or Blogging Westford.

So stop in, set up an account (it's free and takes almost no time at all), and let me know what you think. The site will only be as interesting and useful as its members and contributions.

Salon Fundraiser on April 1, not Easter Sunday

2007-02-17T14:40:00.000-05:00

Oops. So the religious vacuum that is our household was made apparent this weekend when I realized that April 8, the original day of my fundraiser, is Easter. The fundraiser will now be held on April 1, so please book your appointments for the first Sunday in April. Apologies from Indra Salon and me for the oversight! Call 978-470-8800 to make your appointment.

Details on the fundraiser are here.

A Shameless Plug for a Good Cause

2007-02-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

Hi, folks. Ok, so I've never posted here before, despite Brian's encouragement that I contribute, and my post has less to do with Westford than the broader Merrimack area. But, in the name of charitable support, I want to announce a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that I am co-hosting in Andover. You might know that I'm running the Boston Marathon for Dana-Farber through the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, and I've collected a generous sum of $4500 to date, but I need to get to $7500 to reach my personal goal.

To that end, I hope you'll come out to support the DFMC on April 8 by getting a haircut, facial, massage, or other spa service at Indra Salon in Andover, MA. The salon is graciously hosting a day of fundraising for me, during which the fees for all salon and spa services will go to Dana-Farber. It's a great cause, of course, but you'll get a high-quality Aveda service at the same time. And, if you bring friends, they'll get 10% off their services, too, plus a percentage of all product sales will got to the DFMC. Everybody wins.

The details:

INDRA SALON

(an Aveda Lifestyle Salon)

hosts

a fundraiser to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

SUNDAY, APRIL 8

10-6

7 Elm Street

Andover, MA 01810

Call for appointments:

978-470-8800

visit Indra Salon's website for a menu of salon and spa services

Blogging Moose

2007-01-14T09:58:00.001-05:00

Last week, a moose was hanging around Westford. Holly, our nanny, managed to snag a few pictures of it:

I think this was near Crown Rd. Apparently a TV news crew was there as well.

If you see a moose around town, you aren't hallucinating! (And keep in mind that moose are very, very big. Don't get too close.)

More photos of the moose are in the Westford Flickr photo pool.

Weir's Westford Weather

2007-01-09T12:44:00.000-05:00

I've just discovered Rob Weir's wonderful Westford Weather site, a collection of weather-related resources for our town.

Based on data generated from his backyard weather station, the site provides data for the current day, including high and low temps, recent historic conditions for a rolling two-week period, and tons of other goodies of interest to weather wonks or anyone with a passing curiosity in climatological trends or what's going on out there right now.

Weir's solar-powered weather station records and tracks the following information:

Temperature
Dew point
Rainfall
Wind speed
Wind direction
Solar radiation
UV radiation

This is definitely a site to bookmark and return to frequently.

From the Flickr Pool

2007-01-09T10:42:00.001-05:00

Thanks so much to Flickr user esops for adding this beautiful photo of Forge Pond to the Westford, MA photo pool:

Forge Pond, originally uploaded by esops.

This image is great documentation of that

unreal January day in New England where the temperature was about 70 degrees. Just as we finished kayaking and were putting the kayaks back on the car, it started getting dark and a strong front was moving in. You can see the wind on the water.

If you're a Westford resident or visitor with photos you'd like to share, I'd just like to remind you that the Flickr group costs nothing and is open to all.

Warm Winter Wishes

2006-12-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

Happy holidays, Westford, from our home to yours!

December 12 Special Town Meeting Report

2006-12-13T09:13:00.000-05:00

Special Town Meeting at Abbott was packed last night. It seemed to me that there were more voters present than at the October meeting. There was some definite tension in the air.

Article 1, which was the reason the STM was called, passed without much discussion or fuss. Apparently, despite a legislative override of his veto, Mitt was able to freeze a huge pile of state funds. Unfortunately for us, that pile of cash included the Abbott oil spill money. Town Manager Steve Ledoux reported that the town has submitted a letter to Deval Patrick, asking that the funds be released when he takes office. If that does happen, the money taken from free cash with last night's vote will be replaced with the state funds.

Article 2 was a citizens' petition to ask that the selectmen issue an RFP to run a summer camp at East Boston Camps in 2007. The article, which eventually passed, is not binding. However, Chris Romeo expressed that the selectmen would implement the RFP process if it was passed. One of the key points in the article was that the RFP would require that proposals be of no cost to the town. This was the point that generated a lot of confusion and angst. The people behind the motion (and there were apparently 250 signatures on the petition, gathered in a short time) had done their homework very well, and running the camp (whoever is selected) will not cost the town any money.

There was also a lot of discussion about the condition of the camp buildings, including a disagreement over future costs to maintain those buildings. Here is what I was able to discern from these exchanges:

The camp buildings are old, but in good condition.
They are not up to modern codes, but since they were built in 1930, they do not need to be brought up to modern building codes, unless we decided to undertake a major renovation.
The plumbing and electrical infrastructure is "rustic," but safe and in working order.
The camp, for its entire history until the town inspected it, had been running on unmetered electric service. That means free power from the electric company. Ha ha! The camp is now metered, so no more free juice.
Apparently, at one of the East Boston Camps master plan meetings, there was discussion of an estimate to raze and rebuild all the camp buildings, at a cost of nearly $4 million. I would love to see the details of that plan. For that money, I presume all the jacuzzis were gold-plated.
A more realistic estimate of rebuilding the camp buildings from the ground up, including bathrooms in all the buildings was about $1.8 million.

Discussion on this article continued until nearly 9:00, when a vote was called. It passed by majority.

Article 3 was the reason most people showed up. I'll really try to nutshell the issue, as there has been a lot written about it already. The October STM voted to spend about $7 million to buy Graniteville Woods. It was a two-thirds vote in a well-attended meeting. The selectmen put this article in for this STM in order to "present new information" which may "save the town some money."

The first thing that happened was that someone made a motion to dismiss the article. This drew boisterous applause from many people at the meeting. Someone (Diane Weir? I couldn't see through the crowd [update: it was Diane. Thanks Rob!]) protested that move on procedural ground, but Ellen Harde explained that the motion was legal. There was brief discussion on the motion. Sorry, I don't have all the names of people who spoke. (That's one of the many prices you pay for reading a blog.) These are all paraphrased.

Several Folks:

We already voted on this; you dragged us out here to another meeting. Please dismiss.

Chris Romeo:

The selectmen are not trying to subvert town meeting. We can't and would never take any power from town meeting. We just wanted to provide new information.

Another Guy:

There are lots of ways to give the town new information. Trying to rescind a vote is the dumbest way possible.

Evan Shapiro:

I voted yes in October, but I would still like to hear the discussion.

Despite Chris Romeo's protestations (which I believe were heartfelt), it seemed to me that folks did feel like this was an attempt to subvert the will of the people. The motion to dismiss the article carried by a pretty hefty margin, to loud applause.

Note that there is still a special vote that must pass on January 9 for the purchase of Graniteville woods to proceed. Please register to vote if you have not done so, and please vote on January 9.

The Graniteville Woods appraisal report provides lots of info that you should look at before the Jan 9 vote.

STM Article 2, East Boston Camps Summer Camp

2006-12-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

I got a flyer in the mail that advocates voting yes on Article 2 tomorrow night.

It points to this web site: www.eastbostoncamps2007.org.

There's a lot of info there, probably worth reading before you attend the meeting.

Special Town Meeting, Dec 12 7:30pm

2006-12-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

There are three articles:

Article 1, which is to appropriate money ($1.18 mm) to pay for the Abbott School cleanup. The town was hoping to get a $1.5mm grant from the state, but Mitt put the kibosh on that.

Article 2, which is about continuing summer camp at East Boston Camps in 2007.

Article 3, which would rescind the vote to approve the purchase of Graniteville Woods. I don't know who is behind this article, but if you care about this issue (either way), you should try to attend the meeting. Read more about it in our previous coverage of the Oct 16 STM.

Remember, town meeting is about the most fun you can have a on a weeknight. Seriously.

Where You're Coming From

2006-12-01T11:44:00.000-05:00

A month ago, I installed a Google Analytics account for Blogging Westford, to get a feel for where our readers are coming from and what you're finding most interesting once you get here (or, at least, what you're clicking most, since I don't have an accurate way of gauging "interest").

So, without further ado, let's take a look at the map:

Clearly, American readers are an overwhelming majority, but it's nice to see a handful of views from around the world:

Within the U.S., it also won't come as a surprise to learn that most visitors come from Massachusetts, though other states are also represented:

Here's how our state's viewers are distributed:

It's nice to see some interest from beyond the borders of Westford (though it would be even nicer if the location of the majority of visitors weren't unidentified).

Now that I know where you're coming from, what exactly are you coming here for? Once you get here, these are the posts you've read the most:

So, how do people find us? These are the top sites you click from:

And here are the most popular search terms people have entered to stumble upon this site:

Finally, here's the complete list, in order:

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Thanks, everyone, for visiting (and for reading this post to the end)!

Frank Winters' Photography Blog

2006-12-01T07:34:00.000-05:00

Fans of Frank Winters' online photo gallery, which heavily features beautiful shots of Westford, will be interested to know that he's just started his own blog.

In a message over at the Westford Forum, Frank writes:

I've been documenting the beauty of Westford's conservation land and open space for a while, but I just started an online journal or weblog (blog). I'm using WordPress and so far (about a week) I'm happy with it. It's not going to be just Westford altho so far it mostly is. For example my latest entry is entitled Seeing the Light in Graniteville Woods.

I encourage you to go check it out, and I'll be keeping tabs on it too.

Tree Lighting Video

2006-11-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a video of the tree lighting.

Santa Comes to Westford

2006-11-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Last night, Westford lit its Christmas trees on the common. After some caroling, two of the three trees lit up beautifully (one large pine, strung with lights, seemed to fail), and the Girl Scouts then brought out the very special guest they were able to secure to preside over the proceedings. Much to my toddler's excitement and approval, Saint Nick arrived in style on a fire engine, with lights and siren blaring, after which he met his constituency in the Parish Center for the Arts.

Check out these photos, which turned out much better than any of mine. The photographer even got a shot of my son's first meeting with the jolly old man in red, which actually went surprisingly well.

Precinct 5: Stony Brook Middle School

2006-11-08T08:06:00.000-05:00

Took this shot yesterday for the AIGA Polling Place Photo Project (see it here, along with details about my experience):

I took a few others, even a couple of the actual polls, but this is the only one that came out (darn cameraphone).

As for results, it looks like we've got ourselves a new governor (D) and all the ballot questions failed:

No wine in grocery/convenience stores
No allowance for candidates to be nominated for the same office by different parties (and appear on the ballot separately for each party)
No collective bargaining for child care providers in private homes

Don't Forget to Vote

2006-11-07T08:07:00.000-05:00

Just a gentle reminder (in case you needed another one) that it's time to go back to the polls today.

Flying
Originally uploaded by carlosluis.

And in case you've been under a rock and think that this one's just about choosing our next governor, realize that something much more important is at stake. Today, you get to decide whether wine will be sold in our grocery stores.

Rock Piles

2006-11-01T20:15:00.000-05:00

Though one of the things that intrigued and pleased me about moving to Westford was the prevalence of beautiful stone walls and large boulders, both around town and on my own property, I'd never really given much thought to rock piles until I happened upon a mention of Westford on the Rock Piles blog. Since then, I've been on the lookout for conspicuous piles of rocks, and last night, purely by accident, I discovered one just beyond my own back yard.

My yard abuts acres and acres of undeveloped (at the moment) woodland, and now that the trees have lost most of their leaves, it was a bit easier to make my way a hundred feet or so into the woods, where I came across this somewhat creepy (even without the sepia treatment), Blair Witchy display:

Clearly, these stones weren't put there yesterday (I've never seen anyone other than surveyors back there), but why are they piled up like this on this one particular boulder? There are several other boulders within feet of this pile (like the ones shown on the right) without any rocks on them at all.

Researching a bit further, I just discovered Peter Waksman's excellent and thorough presentation of Indian Ceremonial Rock Piles in Eastern Massachusetts, which I'm going to need to spend a lot more time with. I never knew there was such a complex body of research out there for something that would have gone unnoticed if it weren't pointed out to me.

It's a shame (for many reasons) that excavators are making their way closer to this site as I write this. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, they find when the diggers get there.

Westford is the Ultimate... um... Westford!

2006-10-19T14:53:00.000-04:00

For computer/internet nerds (like me), doing a Google search for something is a way of gauging its relative place in the universe. If, for example, you search for "Bill Clinton," the #1 result is about the former president. Now, there are probably hundreds of people in the US named "Bill Clinton," but clearly the ex-prez is the #1 BC.

So, do a Google search for Westford, and you'll find that Westford is the #1 Westford in the whole world. Take that, Westford, Connecticut and Westford, New York! pwned!

Coverage of October 16 Special Town Meeting

2006-10-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

Here at Blogging Westford, we are all about hard-hitting, full-contact journalism. We go right for the heavy issues that affect daily life in Westford. Well, not really. But I did walk all the way to Abbott School last night to attend the special town meeting, and here's my caveat-laden report. This is the kind of coverage you won't see in any newspaper: unfiltered, untrained, biased, inaccurate, and possibly clueless. In short, bloggy.

There was a bigger crowd than I expected. The Abbot gym was mostly full, and it looked like there were over 1,000 people in attendance. (A hand count of votes much later in the evening totaled just over 600, so there were possibly slightly fewer than that.) I went in to the meeting with my usual amount of background research complete: I knew what time the meeting was supposed to start.

Things started out a bit slow, with a consent agenda. These are articles that are proposed to be either dismissed or accepted with a quick vote and no discussion. The four articles to be dismissed were basically not ready to be discussed: the relevant town committees were not prepared to present to the meeting. The other four were deemed (by somebody) "no-brainers" that nobody would want to argue about. Somehow, people objected to two of the dismissals (article 2 and 11), so we had to talk about them anyway. Only one article (22) was eliminated from the consent agenda vote to accept.

This is one of the more entertaining/infuriating aspects of town meeting. Some people clearly enjoy the parliamentary maneuvers and will take any opportunity to talk about issues that seem pretty minor. If you want to enjoy yourself at town meeting, it helps to look at this as high comedy rather than be frustrated by it. (It also helps if you have a good friend sitting next to you, because you can pass notes to each other making fun of people. Unfortunately, my partner in crime bailed on me last night, so I was forced to write jokes to you unfortunate readers.)

That's a nice segue to the discussion of Article 3, which was a motion to approve the reclassification of certain pay bands for town employees. Here's the short version, without the excruciating discussion of whether to adjust the wording of the one-sentence motion for reasons that remain a mystery to me: a lot of the jobs in town had pay classifications significantly lower than similar towns. Town meeting voted by a big majority to approve the work of the personnel advisory committee.

By this time, it was stifling hot in the gymatorium, or audinasium, or whatever the big room with bleachers, a stage and basketball hoops is called. You have a choice of tiny, semi-comfortable plastic chairs on the floor (where it is hard to see), or a nice view of the proceedings from the rock-hard, flat bleachers. I think I'll go back to the floor seats next time. Ouch, I'm sore.

Article 4 was a motion to approve funds from the Community Preservation pile-o-money. There were three items in this motion, so OF COURSE it had to be split into three parts. I was girding myself for some more meta (that's Greek for confusing and pointless) debate, but then Mike Harde submitted a very poignant and hilarious proposal for saving a metric buttload of money on repairing the fire escape on the Westford Museum (Harde: "not the most hoppin' place in town... you should all come and visit Sundays 2-4pm... but not all at once..."). He totally had me from the word "hello," but then some of the town committee people talked, and as with most things governmental, nothing is that simple. Redacted version of debate: prevailing wages... minimum bids... metal vs. wood ("better to have a fire escape that is not burning" was a good quote from somebody)... unexpected problems... historical commission is careful with money... etc. Harde's amendment was narrowly defeated, and the motion passed by a somewhat close voice vote.

For those of you who might be new to town: Mike Harde is the husband of Ellen Harde, the town moderator. So there was some entertaining banter there. It doesn't really translate to print; it's one of those things you have to be there for.

Article 5 was a motion to approve some capital requests by the town. This question was split into the six individual line items. Most things went through easily, but there was a long discussion about an allocation for a consultant to do an analysis of the future employment benefits of town employees and how they will be accounted for under new Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Then there was a spirited debate about whether money should be spent to do an environmental study on the old Highway Dept garage. The site has been a maintenance facility for decades, and is probably rife with all kinds of nasty chemicals. It is possible that it will be used for supply storage for the school department, so I was quite pleased when the money was approved (though narrowly).

Articles 6 (highway funds), 7, and 8 (money for improving birch road, mostly coming from the abutters' taxes) flew through so fast I don't even remember them. All approved.

Articles 9 and 10 were the main events of the night. It was very confusing, like watching a movie that has been cut up into 4-minute segments and then shown in random order. But here is as much as I can figure out. There is a big chunk of land in Graniteville, across from the Blanchard School. It is mostly the abandoned quarries from which Graniteville got its name. The hill is mostly rock ledge, so until now it has not been developed as housing. A developer, Emanouil, has purchased the property and has had plans to build housing on it for a couple of years. At first, he tried to do a Local Initiative Project, which is a cooperative thing developers can do with the town to allocate and balance affordable housing, open space, and wildlife habitat needs with the desire to create a profitable venture.

For reasons that are unclear, that process was taking too long, and he filed a 40B project with the state. A 40B project, apparently, is when a developer can say "I want to build a bunch of houses in this town, and they don't have enough affordable housing (according to what Massachusetts sets as a standard), so I'm going to bypass (to a certain extent) the local authority to get my project done." The town doesn't like this kind of thing, because we lose a lot of say in terms of the character, placement, and pace of growth.

Apparently, the developer has had an appraisal done of the land and is willing to sell the parcels involved to the town for a total of $7.4 million. Article 9 was a motion to appropriate those funds for this purpose.

The debate at the meeting was split largely into three camps:

The wait and see camp. There is a lot of chaos and confusion around this issue, and the board of selectman couldn't even get it together to either recommend for or against the motion, for reason that they didn't articulate. A number of people at the meeting, including Bob Hermann (my old bus driver from 6-8th grade... Hi, Mr. Hermann), thought that we should get our facts in order before we rushed ahead with this. The counter argument to this is that there is always a chance that the developer will get too far along and will rescind the offer to sell, or substantially raise his price.

The buy it for the spotted salamander camp. That's pejorative, and not really accurate. But it got your attention, didn't it? A group called CSG (Citizens for Sustainable tree-hugGing [no, I kid, I kid because I love]) presented the argument for buying the land and restricting use to open space, historic preservation, and wildlife habitat. They had a lot of excellent points, which I will mangle here:

Trees and squirrels don't need to go to school
or get their trash picked up
Blasting the ledge (needed to build anything on that land) is a threat to the aquifer. No jokes on this one; it's not funny.
We have lots of other chances to build affordable housing, in areas with better traffic handling.

The just frickin' buy it already camp. This camp argues that open space and wildlife habitat are great, important, etc., but the town also has other needs, including land for municipal buildings, and places to build out our affordable housing stock. The big push from this camp is that we should buy the land, and then carefully, as a town, figure out the best way to use it. George Murray had some of the clearest, most reasonable statements in support of this view.

I waffled between all three camps throughout the discussion, but I landed in the last one by the time voting came around.

Since this item was so huge, it required a 2/3 majority of town meeting to pass. It also needs prop 2 1/2 debt exclusion, which will have to happen in a special election. The voice vote was too close to call, so we got to play a game where they lock the doors of the gymnatorismo, and we all crowd together on the floor seats, and hold our hands up in the air for 47 million centuries until there's no blood left in our fingers.

The net result was that the "let's frickin buy it already" view won the vote, something like 520 of 614 votes. If you feel strongly about this one way or another, you should make sure you vote for this in the upcoming election (NOT November 7, but another one sometime after).

One more motion was voted on (Article 12); it was something about reducing the amount to be raised by taxes by about $3,000,000. I'm not sure what that means, but everybody was in favor, except for one "nay," probably somebody with oxygen deprivation due to arm upholding.

We didn't get to all the articles, so les bon temps are gonna roule at the Abbott gymnatronic tonight. Don't miss out on the fun!

Appendix

Here are some links relevant to the meeting topics:

PDF of Final Motions for October 16 Meeting
Discussion on westford.com forum (Sorry for the generalized link; the westford.com forum has sub-optimal permalink capabilities.)
Results for October 16 Special Town Meeting (to be continued on Oct. 17, 2006, 7:30pm)

Feeling Lucky with "westford"

2006-10-12T08:17:00.000-04:00

I just noticed that Blogging Westford is the first hit and only "Related Blog" for the search term westford in Google's Blog Search:

which just kind of tickled me.

Fall Has Arrived in Westford

2006-10-08T19:59:00.000-04:00

A nice autumn evening for a stroll ...

More photos in the Westford, MA Flickr group.

Request for Support

2006-10-02T11:20:00.000-04:00

I was thrilled and honored to be selected among many applicants to run the Boston Marathon in April to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Most importantly, I will be running in rememberance of Shirley, my grandmother, who died from breast cancer when I was a child. My personal goal is to raise $7,500 to support research that will help eradicate cancer, and I must raise $3,000 to participate.

I'm about to embark on the biggest physical challenge of my life: completing the 2007 Boston Marathon. But my personal quest, no matter how difficult for me, pales in comparison to the challenge facing cancer patients. Watching my grandmother suffer was a life-altering experience, even though I was just a child. Please help my efforts by contributing to this important cause.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) raises funds for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The DFMC directs 100% of funds raised to the Barr Program, which enables gifted young scientists at the leading edge of discovery to achieve better cure rates and to enhance patients' quality of life.

I hope you will support my challenge by giving a gift to my run and, in doing so, help bring an end to the challenge of cancer.

I also encourage you to visit my personal blog, which will chronicle my training and fundraising through Marathon Monday. Many of you know that I design and create notecards, and I will be selling these cards to raise money for my race. Stay tuned for more details on this part of my fundraising.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. This is one of the biggest challenges I've undertaken, and I appreciate your help in accomplishing my goal.

With gratitude and many inspired miles to go,
Kristina

Introducing Kristina Pinto

2006-10-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

Please join me in welcoming another new voice to Blogging Westford: my wife, Kristina Pinto. She might have some Westford-specific things to post here as time goes on, but that's not what finally got her into blogging (after my suggesting she do so for quite some time). It took something larger to get her going online, so she'll likely be doing the bulk of her blogging elsewhere for a while, which I'll let her explain herself in her first post here.

Westford Swim for Education 2006

2006-10-01T16:03:00.000-04:00

Sunday was the ~~Swim~~ Walk for Education, an event to benefit the Westford Education Foundation. A crowd of about 70 people showed up on the soggy common. We walked down Main Stream and Forge Village River to Westford Academy. Did I mention it was raining?

The kids seemed to have a great time. With registrations and a raffle, the WEF raised over $3000.00 from the event. Mrs. Henri's first grade class from Nabnasset school won the contest for the biggest team to show up, and they get a pizza party.

For more photos of the event, see this flickr set.

Nice day for a walk?

Socks was having a great time. Can't you tell?

Limbo!

Little kids got free tattoos.

Special Town Meeting October 16

2006-09-22T17:02:00.000-04:00

If you've never attended a town meeting in Westford, or maybe in any town, you really should experience it. It's great fun, and it can be a very powerful and moving experience. Some of the issues that are brought up are mundane, but there are just as many, um, lively discussions. Very few people in the world and even the U.S. get to exercise such direct control over their own government.

Meetings are held at the Abbott School on Depot St.

To attend the meeting (and vote) you must be a registered voter. The deadline for voter registration for this upcoming meeting is October 6. Visit or call the town clerk for more detailed information.

I hope to see you there.

Belle's Bistro: Yummy, Fun, Close to Home!

2006-09-21T17:29:00.000-04:00

I'm sure many Westford foodies shed a tear or two when Agresti's closed this past Dec 31. We didn't really eat there that often, but it was great having a really good place nearby for an adult meal. The service was always terrific, and the food was excellent. But that's ancient history now. Sniff.

Fortunately, about the same time as Agresti's was finishing up its reign as supreme gourmet destination, a new place was starting. Belle's Bistro occupies the building that was "Ye Olde Beef and Ale" on Power Road. (I I think I added enough extra e's in there. It's not "Beefe ande Ale," is it?)

Now, I'm not going to say one bad thing about Y.O.B.A., first because I never ate there, and second because I'm sure it had certain strengths. But most important to me, my dad loved the place, and he went there often for, um, lunch when he was retired. So, YOBA has a special place in my heart for that reason.

But Belle's is quite far removed from the Beef-n-Ale experience. First, the decor inside is a real treat. Let's face it, from the outside, it's not much to look at. But inside, it's beautiful. It has a clean, warm somewhat swanky feel to it. That's right. Swanky. It's small, but the vibe is festive rather than cramped. The service is friendly and attentive, and the owner/managers Nancy and John are always there making sure things go smoothly.

There's a bar right in the middle of the restaurant, and they have very fancy (swanky? I just need to use that word whenever I can) Martini menu. The wine list is decent: not spectacular, but with good quality-to-price ratio.

And the food is quite good. They usually have a little variety bread basket, and there is a nice spicy/lemony calamari on the appetizer menu. I've had the rack of lamb, the herb-crusted steak and the seafood linguine. My wife always gets whatever fish special they have, and she is usually very happy with it. Belle's isn't a cheap date (figure about $30-40 per person if you get drinks or wine), but it's a nice treat when you can get a babysitter and take a night out.

Cafe Goa: Westford's Own Indian Restaurant

2006-09-21T10:56:00.000-04:00

Chicken Tikka Masala
Originally uploaded by Mr Crash.

When my family moved to Westford eight months ago from Cambridge, where Indian restaurants seem to almost outnumber people, one of the things I really missed was a good chicken tikka masala. Though, in the end, it didn't prevent us from moving, it was a significant disappointment to learn that our new town had not a single curry joint.

We eventually found India Palace in Chelmsford, which serves fine food (though I wouldn't go so far as to agree with the manager's claim that it's "better than anything in Cambridge"), but living as we do on the north side of Westford, getting there is quite a hike out Littleton Road, which makes it less likely we'll make the trip on a semiregular basis (or, certainly, anywhere near the frequency we ate Indian in out old home, where we could walk to any number of excellent places based on which best served our craving for a particular dish).

Well, last month, as if somehow hearing my internal plea, Westford welcomed its first Indian restaurant. We've gotten takeout from Cafe Goa twice now, and I'm happy to report that we're pleased enough to recommend it and return again.

For our first visit (murgh makhni, saag paneer, and plain naan), the food was excellent, if a little too spicy for all of us. Though I like my curry about as spicy as I can get it, my toddler does not share my palate, so we usually request "medium" heat, as opposed to my preferred "spicy" level. In this case, "medium" was spicier than average, so if you're into heat, you'll love it (unless this instance was due to a miscalculation during the restaurant's launch period), but we had to cook something extra to satisfy our son.

On our second trip (chicken tikka masala, mutter paneer, and plain naan), we changed our order to "mild" and that's just what we received, though the sauces were otherwise just as succulent. Even my toddler thoroughly enjoyed everything. In all, I'd put the restaurant in the middle- to upper-level of the spectrum of Indian restaurants. If you're familiar with its Cambridge competition, it far surpasses the fast food of the Punjabi Dhaba "highwayside cafe," though it doesn't quite rise to the level of Cafe of India.

My one complaint is a few pieces of gristle found in the chicken dishes on each occasion. The chicken was otherwise tender and tasty, but having to pick out the inedible pieces does detract from the experience. No such complaints for the vegetarian dishes, which were simply delightful, as was the bread. Perhaps the problems with the chicken were just growing pains of a new restaurant. I intend to give them the benefit of the doubt and return to give them a few more chances at perfection.

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Apple Picking at Parlee Farm

2006-09-19T20:37:00.000-04:00

Fall is here and, as always, the apples have arrived with it. If you've never picked your own apples, you're missing a great time for the whole family. This past Saturday, I took mine to Parlee Farm in Tyngsboro. We'd visited over the summer to feed their goats, chickens, bunnies, and sheep, but the arrival of the apples really brings the place to life.

Before you get to picking, check out the great hay maze, a fun diversion that is pretty easy for an adult to navigate but easy for anyone shorter than three feet to get lost in:

Then, buy yourself an empty bag to fill with your haul ($15 for 10 pounds, $19 for 15 pounds, if I remember correctly). The 10-pound bag looks like this (human transportation not included):

Your apple-picking adventure begins in earnest with an old-fashioned hayride out to the orchard (one of my son's favorite pastimes in itself):

While you're out there, each picker is invited to sample one apple off the tree (I recommend the excellent Cortlands):

Parlee Farm grows much more than apples. Be sure to check out their harvest schedule for the best time of year buy a variety of fruits and vegetables or pick your own strawberries, blueberries, flowers, raspberries, and pumpkins.

Also, though they weren't available this past weekend, a sign foretold the imminent coming of homemade cider doughnuts, which means we'll likely be back to the farm soon for one of our family's favorite fall treats.

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