Archives: Blog

Missing Veteran Service Dog!

We are very happy to report that the Veteran’s lost service dog was found safe at Mary Cummings Park. Thanks to all who looked and found it. Ironically, the pooch got loose on Veterans Day.

December 2nd Nature Walk: Planting Milkweed

A small but dedicated group gathered on December 2nd, 2017, and put 16 stakes into the ground, each with a sign announcing a site where milkweed will be planted.

Not only is milkweed a lovely plant with fascinating pods of perfectly folded “parachute” seeds, but it also is essential in the lives of the monarch butterfly, a species in decline.

The monarch is the remarkable species that migrates back to a SINGLE hillside in Mexico annually in vast numbers. The spot is actually protected to keep the migration viable.

But throughout North America, monarchs are in serious decline. The reasons are varied, perhaps having to do with widespread use of pesticide and more intense use of herbicide in farm areas.

What we can do is to encourage this plant to grow and spread at Mary Cummings Park, which can be pesticide-free stopover for migrating butterlies, looking to lay eggs.

Here’s what we will did:

  1. Took already-gathered and donated milkweed pods and isolated the seeds.
  2. Took the seeds to likely areas in the park that currently do not have milkweed growing.
  3. Placed signs on stakes in the ground in 16 locations around the park.
  4. Cleared the ground in front of the sign posts.
  5. Poked holes in the ground for the seeds.
  6. Planted one seed in each hole.
  7. Closed the hole in to protect the seed.
  8. Mark each planted with a tiny twig to keep track.
  9. Covered the planted area with grass and straw.
  10. Spread a few seeds on the top, in case milkweed likes to dig its own way into the earth.

Hopefully, we can come back in future summer walks and look for monarch butterflies and their caterpillars.

Never Give Up On a Sunset

Here is yet another sunset timelapse. You never know how it will turn out. This was not a spectacular sunset, but just before it faded out entirely, a pink cloud showed up and winked goodbye. I actually did a bit of extra work on this one. I shot the entire timelapse as full-frame RAW images, over 2000 of them. I then processed them once for the earlier part of the sunset, then a second time for the dark part. I exported each set of 2000 JPG files, then turned them into sequences in Final Cut Pro. Then I layered one over the other, fading in the one where the pink cloud showed up just before it all went black. I think the operative expression is…”wait for it”.

While I was working on this, I got the message that my niece had her baby, which made me choose a song called Newborn. Plus some night sounds.
This is why we work so hard to save Mary Cummings Park. People go there to watch the sun set over trees, with nary a building in sight.

President Steve O’Leary Preserving Kiosks

The President of The Friends of Mary Cummings Park was recently spotted painting the roofs of all the kiosks with preservative, in preparation for another New England winter.

This is typical for our Steve: he doesn’t make a fuss, he just quietly goes out and does what needs doing. And he has been a steady hand as our President, through some difficult times.

All 7 kiosks were built by and paid for by The Friends, and are stocked with fresh maps on a regular basis, so your contributions are much appreciated. Your support pays for more maps and even for the preservative that Steve uses on the roof shingles.

Here is where you can donate right on line, quick and easy.

Art Walk – October 7, 2017

The unusually warm October weather made for a lovely Art Walk. We had a great group with three small children who took right away to the Andy Goldsworthy concept of making art from nature. We gathered materials in our baskets and created a series of little works.

Trustees and Keurig Volunteers at Work!

On Thursday and Friday, August 24 and 25, a group of volunteers from Keurig Corporation worked with The Trustees to make major repairs to badly eroded trails. The volunteers also cleared some grown-in trails, but the repair of eroded trails was a growing eyesore and problem that these folks worked hard and solved.

There were a number of trail sections that were eroding badly, becoming difficult-to-walk piles of stones. The Keurig volunteers not only filled in a number of these washouts, but all dug many diversion ditches across trails to prevent future erosion.

The Trustees (of Reservations) are in the process of working out a park management agreement with Boston, the actual trustee of the Mary Cummings Trust. But even before that process is all set, the Trustees are making a major impact at the park by coordinating volunteer efforts of many local companies.

Keurig was the most recent firm to work with The Trustees, but many others are lined up. The combination of the trail expertise that the Trustees bring, combined with the substantial people-power from our corporate citizens means that we can expect to see major improvements to many aspects of the park over the coming months and years.

(The Friends of Mary Cummings Park will continue to contribute trail mowing and clearing, trail signs, park maps and graphics as long as we are needed.)