GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Now the wintry mix arrives.The models are kind of all over the place, so as always, pay more attention to what you see out the window than to any prediction. But for the moment: There's a chance of snow into the afternoon, along with rain and, toward the east, freezing rain. The air near the surface will be hovering around freezing at first before it warms into the mid-30s, while the air above is colder, making for that tricky forecast. Mostly cloudy all day (things finally start clearing overnight), upper 20s tonight.Well-furred, raccoons sleep most of the winter. But as Erin Donahue's trail cam shows, not this winter (yet). "Beware," Ted Levin writes, "raccoon scat carries a roundworm, B. procynis, that gives people fits. Literally. When mice pick up its eggs, they become disoriented and easier for raccoons to catch. Unfortunately, humans may pick up the eggs, too. Symptoms are what I had the morning of my bar mitzvah: nausea, tiredness, loss of muscle control, lack of concentration. This may not be why my mother insisted I wash my hands after playing in the dirt...but it's our only line of defense against B. procynis."Definitely not asleep during winter. Back at the end of December, Catherine Holland happened on a huge flock of Bohemian waxwings on the Orford green, including this one. "These beautiful winter birds can be distinguished from their close relatives, the cedar waxwing, by spotting their rich cinnamon undertail," she writes. Oh, and to Justin and Morgan, who rescued her after her car stalled out while taking pics, she says "Thank you!"Inking Henry. So yes, it's a Friday and for the first time in two years, there's no Lost Woods. However, DB Johnson does have a newsletter that's reprising the strip (you can sign up here), and this week he included a 30-second timelapse video of how a panel evolves from some quickly sketched lines to a full image. It's kinda magical.“All of a sudden, you lose a good chunk of your customer base, and it’s just gone.” That’s Jeff Graham, general manager of the Hanover Improvement Society, talking to The Dartmouth’s Charlotte Hampton about the college’s six-week “winterim,” when more than 4,000 potential customers leave the area. Some businesses see a 30 percent drop in sales, especially since winterim comes during the holiday shopping season, though restaurants may fare better. Dartmouth has been joining discussions within Hanover's business community, which would like the college to be more communicative in general.Redesign of West Leb Main Street corridor moves forward with $2.3 million grant. The money's included in the federal spending package signed into law last week by President Biden, writes Patrick Adrian in the Valley News, and makes up more than half of the $4.1 million project. The plan includes a roundabout at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets, as well as streetscaping, wider sidewalks, and improving water runoff. Assistant City Manager David Brooks says the city hopes to put the project out to bid this fall.No membership required, no appointments necessary. That's one of the beauties of town commons, writes The Herald's Tim Calabro in an "Ode to Greens." Just one of the gifts handed down from our predecessors in towns all over Vermont and New Hampshire, the green—or commons, or park, or whatever the town calls it—is open to all. Each, he notes, has its own story—South Royalton's came into existence with the village in 1848, providing "the focal point that gave definition" to SoRo as it developed, while Chelsea "liked town commons so much, they built two."In Norwich, selectboard contemplates steep budget increase. In all, writes the VN's Patrick Adrian, the board is looking at a boost of almost $615,000, more than 11 percent higher than the current year’s budget, fueled in part by new spending on employee salaries and benefits and on departmental expenses. And that's without expected additional spending in the school budget and a new agreement with the police union. As a result, Adrian writes, board members have asked the town's interim finance director to game out across-the-board cuts to discretionary spending.Hiking Close to Home: The Long Trail—Silent Cliff. This week, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends a 1.5-mile hike to Silent Cliff for beautiful views of the Middlebury Snowbowl and the Greens. It begins on the white-blazed Long Trail; look for a right turn at 0.4 miles and follow the blue-blazed Silent Cliff spur. With an elevation gain of only 500 feet, this is an accessible snowshoe trek for hikers of almost any age. You can also extend your hike on the Long Trail and/or stop at Texas Falls for a unique winter experience. Park on the south side of VT 125 at the crest of Middlebury Gap in Hancock, VT."We felt like, let's bring the snow to the skiers, rather than have the skiers go to the snow." These have been frustratingly unpredictable years for xc skiers, but there's some hope on the horizon: a group called the Friends of Oak Hill is working with Dartmouth and the Hanover Improvement Society to bring snowmaking to the John Morton-designed trails uphill from Storrs Pond. On his latest weekly podcast, Hanover Town Manager Alex Torpey talks to Friends organizer Peter Milliken about that effort. A 3K loop, wider trails, lights, all there for everyone from schoolkids to recreational skiers to Dartmouth racers."It’s always nice to look at and be able to appreciate others—and that helps you to better understand yourself.” On Sunday, Dartmouth's Muslim chaplain, Abdul Rahman Latif will give a talk at St. James Parish Hall in Woodstock about Islam and its common ground with Christianity and Judaism. In the Vermont Standard, Tom Ayres profiles Brother Latif—who grew up in Maryland and says the topic comes naturally to him, since his family includes both Christians and Jews. “People talk about interfaith gatherings...about the importance of getting together to better understand one another. For me," he jokes, "it’s about how do I go about getting along with my own family."NH Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: saying no to the DNC. As you know, national Democrats want to strip the Granite State of its first-in-the-nation presidential primary—and want the state to rejigger some of its election laws in order to hold onto second place in the primaries. Yesterday, reports NH Bulletin's Ethan DeWitt, leaders of both parties responded formally. House Majority Leader Jason Osborne called the demands "outrageous." Gov. Chris Sununu wrote, "It’s just not in our DNA to take orders from Washington." And Dems called the demands a "poison pill."Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because the Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what's been proposed for the former Miracle Mile site of Gerrish Honda? And what do some NH legislators want to commemorate every year? And—snaps fingers—what's the name of former Pine chef Justin Dain's restaurant in Montpelier? You'll find those and other questions at the burgundy link.But wait! How closely were you following NH?
Seven Days is taking a break from the VT quiz this week; they'll be back in fine form next week.
But NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings in the Granite State—like, what may be threatening the state's blueberry crop?
Pick a number between 1 and 200. Or heck, pick them all—and then kiss the next few days goodbye. Rolling Stone’s list of the best 200 singers of all time (well, if time began when recording started) has already caused controversy, but it would be hard not to find dozens of picks you agree with. Bear in mind that this is a list of the best singers, not voices or songs. As Rolling Stone notes, “Ozzy Osbourne doesn’t have what most people would call a good voice, but boy does he have a great one.”The Friday Vordle. If you're new to Vordle, you should know that fresh ones appear on weekends using words from the Friday Daybreak, and you can get a reminder email each weekend morning. If you'd like that, sign up here.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
Sweatshirts, hats, and, of course, coffee/tea/cocoa mugs. It's all available thanks to Strong Rabbit Designs in Sharon. Check out what's available and wear it or drink from it proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
Well, of course, it's the first First Friday of 2023, and all over downtown WRJ, stores, galleries, and restaurants will be open late. At 5 pm, the Main Street Museum hosts an art opening for Abe Dunne's "Finds on a Hartland Farm," the first in its "One Case Curation" series for community members under the age of 16 to showcase their art or their collections, and to tell their stories. That will be followed right away by the MSM's Annual Tree Burn and Cajun Party, with music by BayouX on stage. And bluegrass from 5-7 then hot jazz afterward at Speakeasy Studios in the Tip Top Building.
And at 7:30 this evening, the Anonymous Coffeehouse kicks off its ten-show spring season with three mainstays of the larger region's roots and Americana scene: bluegrassers Still Hill; southern NH's multi-genre Decatur Creek; and making his debut at the Anonymous, Newbury, Vermont fiddler Patrick Ross. Plus, of course, hot drinks and more stunning-looking baked goods than you'll know what to do with.
Tomorrow and Sunday at 3 pm, the Woodstock Film Series at Billings Farm shows Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind, local filmmaker Nora Jacobson's documentary about the Vermont poet—after her husband died by suicide, she and her three children moved to a remote farmhouse in the state, though she took short teaching positions around the country to pay the bills. "I got married and had three kids and did all the things you have to do, and all along the time this stream was going along. And I really didn’t know what it was saying. It just talked to me, and I wrote it down. So I can’t even take much credit for it," she said at her National Book Awards acceptance speech. Jacobson will be on hand at tomorrow's showing to talk about the film with series curator Jay Craven.
On Sunday at 1 pm at Artistree's Hayloft in S. Pomfret, the Abbott Memorial Library hosts Jane Dwinell, reading from and talking about her book, Alzeimer's Canyon. In 2016, Dwinell's husband, Sky, was diagnosed with the disease, and together, the two of them created a blog to chronicle his years living with it. He died in 2021, and Dwinell—a nurse, Unitarian Universalist minister, and writer—turned the blog into the book.
And anytime, you can check out JAM's highlights for the week, including December's Mudroom at AVA Gallery with local storytellers holding forth on the theme "Reckless"; the Main Street Museum's Christmas show; plus podcasts and much more.
And to take us into the weekend...
Hard as this is to believe, yesterday marked 50 years since Columbia Records dropped
Greetings from Asbury Park
on an unsuspecting world. And tomorrow, Bruce Springsteen gets the full aging superstar treatment, with a symposium at Monmouth University in NJ that rounds up several members of the original E Street Band and includes learned discussion of his early '70s writing style and the Jersey Shore music scene of that era. But what counts, of course, is the music. Back in those days, Springsteen and the band—which wasn't yet known as the E Street Band—used to close out shows with "Thundercrack," a showcase piece that gave them room to jam. It pretty much disappeared from 1974 to 2001, and has gotten only a relative handful of live performances since.
, where they clearly had a very fine time pulling it out and dusting it off. And just in the interest of, you know, archival curiosity,
featuring Springsteen at a Columbia Records confab in LA designed to give his career a leg up. (h/t to former
Crawdaddy
editor Greg Mitchell and his
blog.)
Enjoy the weekend, and see you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page
, or if you're a committed non-FB user,
.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!