Julia Leonard
Special to the Express
The Halifax Beautification Committee organized a New Year’s Day hike at The Burrage Wildlife Management Area, a unique and ecologically diverse environment.
Winter offers a very different perspective of the land. Along the Snake River, several trees had signs of girdling, the chewing a beaver makes around a tree. Beavers are a keystone species due to their ability to shape freshwater habitats. Their dams filter water downstream and create pools and wetlands that become homes to many other species. Signs of beavers in the area are also a great indicator of a healthy and diverse aquatic ecosystem.
An ootheca was seen attached to a young cherry tree. Oothecae are the egg sacks of the praying mantis (this one is a Chinese Mantis). Laid in the Fall as a soft mass, which then hardens, these semi-solid capsules will keep the eggs safe throughout the winter. When the temperatures rise in the Spring and Summer, up to 100 young invertebrates will emerge. The Chinese Mantis is an invasive species, and although sold as pest control for gardens, it also preys on many pollinators and important native arthropods.
A few stump puffball mushrooms were also observed. This fungus grows from the stumps and roots of dead trees. White and solid when young, they dry and turn a dull brown when ready to release their spores. Small animal encounters, raindrops, and the feet of hikers all help to disperse spores. Fun fact: they belong to the genus Lycoperdon, which, in Latin, means “wolf fart’.
The Burrage Wildlife area can be accessed at 382 Pleasant Street in Hanson, 482 Elm Street in Hanson, and across from 140 Elm Street in Halifax. It is open from dawn to dusk and offers over 10 miles of trails and encompasses over 2,000 acres of land.
Winter can be the perfect time to enjoy the diverse woodlands of Halifax, Hanson, and Plympton. As naturalist Alfred Wainwright said, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”
Learn About Lives of Whalers, Whaling Industry at Faunce School
Two docents from the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Nancy Gentile and Captain Michael Taylor, will present a program titled, “A Day in the Life of a Whaler,” on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at the Faunce School, 16 Green St., Kingston.
Gentile and Taylor will use a PowerPoint presentation to help describe the typical whaling vessel, captain and crew, geography of whale hunts, and products created from whales. The duo will also discuss details of the whaling business and talk about the wives that accompanied sometimes their whaling husbands on long voyages. The program also features a demonstration of how baleen and harpoons were used.
Gentile served as a research librarian in various capacities for 39 years in private and public libraries. He has been a docent at the Whaling Museum since 2017 and enjoys giving tours to visiting student groups and adults weekly.
Taylor spent the first half of his career in the British Merchant Navy, starting as an Apprentice in 1958 rising as high as Ships Master. In retirement he farmed in South America before returning to Massachusetts, where Taylor volunteers at the Whaling Museum.
To register for this event, please visit – https://kingstonpubliclibrary.org.
For more information, you can contact Steven Miller, Reference Librarian at (781) 585-0517 x6272 or at smiller@kingstonma.gov.
Fun for all ages – Silver Lake Hockey Annual Alumni Game
Started in the mid-1980s, the annual Laker Hockey Alumni Game is now celebrating over 35 years of fun for a good cause. This year more than 50 Laker alum participated in the two-hour fun game benefiting the association’s scholarships for graduating senior hockey players. For some, this is the only time they lace up their skates each year, while many others are still actively playing several times per week. They split the two teams by age, putting the crafty ‘older players’ in red against the new crop of recent graduates in gray. In addition to this fundraising activity, the Alumni also host a horseshoe tournament each year in conjunction with the Hockey Boosters. This year’s contest was taken by the gray team of more recent graduates.
Photos and text by Steve Gilbert
To purchase and see more game action visit
http://sgphoto.net
Silver Lake Middle School Holiday Helpers
Laker Boys Hockey Win in OT over Bridgewater-Raynham
Photos and text by Steve Gilbert
Silver Lake Varsity Boys Hockey started their season with a bang back on December 13th with an overtime win over Bridgewater-Raynham Regional. The Lakers got out of the blocks early and stayed close with the Trojans before falling behind late in the game. That is when Silver Lake’ Senior Captain Patrick Murphy really turned it on scoring two goals in the last five minutes, one with just 16 seconds left in the game to tie it back up before also netting the overtime winner a few minutes in to complete his hat trick. Since that early season win, the Lakers dropped games to the powerhouse teams in Duxbury and Marshfield before evening their record against Dartmouth in their last game before the Christmas holiday.
Plympton COA Holiday Luncheon
The Plympton Council on Aging enjoyed a delicious holiday luncheon provided by the generosity of the Uplan Club, as they have in years past. The menu included roast beef, scalloped potatoes, and all the fixins! Yum!
The Friends of the Council on Aging provided raffles. After lunch the group took part in a holiday sing-a-long.
Comcast wins Halifax renewal
KBB honors Mat Hamilton
The Kingston Business Association (KBA), a non-profit organization which supports Kingston and Kingston businesses, dedicated the lighting of this year’s Christmas tree in front of Solstice Restaurant in honor of Mat Hamilton.
The ceremony is one of the traditions associated with the town’s Luminary Celebration.
The 2023 honoree in the “Distinguished Community Volunteer” category is Mat Hamilton, a longtime resident who served his community through work on various town boards and organizations. He was part of the Capital Planning Committee, the Community Preservation Committee, and served on the Finance Committee from 2004 to 2012. Mat has been married for 34 years to Fran (Shea) Hamilton. Both graduated from Norwich University in 1985. He is the loving father of triplets – Gavin, Lauren, and Emma. Mat and Fran became great friends with Paul Gallagher and his wife Sandy who also are parents of triplets.
Mat has spent many years in the contact lenses industry, volunteering in support of Kingston youth sports and is a board member of the local Hilltop Club.
Earlier this year, Mat was diagnosed with ALS. While he could not be present physically at the ceremony, his wife Fran and members of the family were there on his behalf. State Representative Kathy LaNatra presented a proclamation of congratulations from the Massachusetts legislature on Mat’s many accomplishments on behalf of the Town of Kingston.
The event also included a visit from Santa Claus, who provided some gifts to the crowd which included an after-event celebration at nearby Forty Second Brewing Co.
“Our community is enriched by all that Mat has done and the KBA is honored to dedicate the tree this year in his memory,” said Donna Smith-Bocash, president of the Kingston Business Association.
The Kingston Business Association Annual Tree Lighting began seven years ago; the tree was originally donated by the Mathias family as a memorial to their son Jeff who was the KBA’s first honoree. Every year the tree is rededicated to a significant Kingstonian, Other honorees since that first celebration have included Joseph Rebello, Paul Tura, Dick Arieta, George Boerger, Phil Burham, and John Iannucci.
The Kingston Business Association is a non-profit organization founded in 2015, with a purpose of helping support Kingston and Kingston businesses, as well as state and local legislation and governmental policies which promote new and existing businesses in Kingston.
The KBA also partners closely with the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce and is the core of its Kingston Advisory Committee.. For additional information, please contact dbocashkba@gmail.com.
The Best Gift of All for Christmas perserverance
A Christmas Story
By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
In May of 1972 when my brother Dave graduated from high school, he set out to travel across the country on his motorcycle, a Triumph 650 Tiger. He and a friend had planned the trip together. Four days into the trip the friend decided he’d rather go to California and left. Dave continued on, sticking to his itinerary to see the places he had dreamed about.
A few weeks later when he made it to Glacier National Park in Montana, he was feeling lonely. He found an animal shelter in a town called Missoula to see about getting a dog. In a row of cages, the last cage being the death cage, sat a little black dog, a dachshund and Pomeranian mix. Dave took him. He was told to take caution as the dog may jump off the bike. He went into an athletic shop nearby and got a knapsack. He put the dog in it and drove slowly around a field to see if the dog would stay in it. He jumped out twice but then stayed in it. Dave called him Dog. When he got back out on the highway, Dog jumped out and ran across all four lanes. Dave watched helplessly as vehicles veered to miss the dog in the heavy traffic. Dog looked across the highway at Dave as if to say, aren’t you coming and then crossed it again as Dave’s heart sank, thinking he would never make it back but he did. He picked him up, put him in the knapsack and told him he was naming him Lucky.
Dave’s birthday is in August and our mom was hoping he would be home by then. Our youngest sister was born on his birthday when he was three and we always celebrated the two birthdays together. When he didn’t make it home for the birthdays, we were all disappointed; it just wasn’t the same without him and I know it bothered Mom. One day at the end of summer when you could feel Fall in the air, I was helping Mom move some things in her room and a framed picture of my brother fell off her cedar chest onto the floor. There was no reason for it to fall and she was alarmed, feeling like something had happened to Dave. Within the hour the phone rang, and it was him. He said he had a feeling that he should call home, and mom was glad to hear his voice. He told her he was low on money and was working for a Czechoslovakian family on their farm picking fruit so he could make enough money to get home.
September passed into October and after Dave drove through the Painted Desert his bike wasn’t running well and got worse. He pulled into Albuquerque and found a motorcycle shop where the owner told him the main bearing was gone on the bike and he’d have to send away for the part. Dave found lodgings in a basement room of a condemned building where a group of Chicano men lived, and he found work as an assistant cook and dish washer at a local restaurant. The owner of the bike shop kept offering him money for his bike and told Dave the part hand’t come in. It was now November. Our dad wanted to fly Dave home and he refused to leave without the bike. Dad called Spooner’s Bike Shop in Hanover. Mr. Spooner called Triumph and they in turn contacted the owner of the bike shop who had Dave’s bike and put pressure on him to fix it and return it to Dave so he could come home.
When Dave left there, it was December and he wanted to be home for Christmas. A pleasure trip was turning into a survival trip as he drove through a torrential rainstorm in one state, a hurricane in another and then snow twelve inches deep and more. He had to make it with what money he had left, saving it for gas. He drove without stopping and thanks to some insulated coveralls our parents sent him. He and Lucky survived one 30 degree night after he’d been driving well over 24 hours. The ground was too frozen to pitch a tent and he put all his clothes in the knapsack to keep Lucky warm while he held him and slept on the ground.
The week before Christmas we had a blizzard in Massdachusetts, and we were all glued to the news. We hadn’t heard from Dave for two weeks. We knew from the news the weather and temperatures were not in Dave’s favor. All we could do was pray. After the blizzard was over, I went to my parent’s to see if there was any news. All of us were there, both the radio and TV were on so we could hear the news and weather. It was late afternoon, and it was getting dark. Suddenly there was the familiar sound of a motorcycle. We all held our breath; did we dare hope it was him? We all ran to the window to look in the driveway. A bike, but no Dave. Then we heard the kitchen door open and when we got there, in he came with a knapsack on his back and a little black dog peeking out. There was relief, happy tears and lots of hugs, the most beautiful sight to see and the best Christmas gift we could have gotten.
North Easton Savings Bank named Top Place to Work in Boston Globe survey for 2nd year in a row
For the second consecutive year, North Easton Savings Bank proudly announces it was named a Top Places to Work by The Boston Globe for 2023.
In addition to the overall award, the bank also earned eight Top Workplace Culture Excellence Awards for innovation, work-life flexibility, employee well-being, employee appreciation, professional development, compensation and benefits, leadership, and purpose and values.
These new awards for 2023 come on the heels of the bank also winning major awards in 2022 for Top Places to work (The Boston Globe), Top Workplaces USA (USA Today), and Best-in-State Banks (Forbes).
“I am grateful for the opportunity to be included on this esteemed list once again,” stated Rich Spencer, president and CEO of North Easton Savings Bank. “I want to thank all of our amazing employees throughout the organization who work hard every day to support our customers and the communities we serve. But more than that, I thank them for supporting each other, being there for one another, and truly making our Bank a wonderful place to build a career.
An award-winning local bank with over $1.5 billion in assets, North Easton Savings Bank is uniquely situated to provide personal and commercial banking and lending solutions to southeastern Massachusetts.
Founded in 1864, North Easton has a proven track record of growing the community through fair banking practices, financial advising, and local philanthropy. Looking forward, North Easton is well-positioned as the preferred area banking partner with a powerful combination of convenient features like mobile and online banking and the personal, hometown touch of a local bank. North Easton Savings Bank is fully insured by the FDIC and the DIF and is an Equal Housing Lender. For more information, please visit NorthEastonSavingsBank.com.
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