GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Cool, quiet, partly sunny. Once the fog lifts, of course. With that low pressure system finally off to the east, things get a chance to dry out for a couple of days. We'll see a mix of sun and clouds today, with winds—and some gusts into the 20 mph range—from the northwest, and temps only into the high 50s. Low tonight around 40.While we're thinking about the weather, there's a partial solar eclipse tomorrow. The weather matters, because the forecast calls for it to be mostly cloudy between 12:14 and 2:29 pm. Even so, there's a chance you can see it (remember, you need specialized glasses, not just sunglasses, if you're going to try to view it directly; also, only about 15 percent of the sun will be obscured), and VT Public has rounded up some gatherings—including at the Mt. Ascutney summit parking area starting at 11:30 am; there'll be eclipse glasses to share.When it comes to daybreak, fall's looking pretty photogenic.
Like, for instance, this sunrise over Mascoma Lake earlier this week, from Pamela Havener;
And an atmospheric, fogbound early morning in Enfield, from Sarah Dole;
And a slow pan of sunrise over McDaniels Marsh in Springfield NH, in this video from Ann Little.
Work on long-planned hotel gets underway off I-89 in Randolph. What was once going to be a hotel, restaurant, and conference center about a quarter mile east of Exit 4 is now slated to be, at least at first, just a hotel—and a smaller one than first planned, reports Darren Marcy in the Herald. Instead of 79 rooms, it'll be 64; a pool and breakfast room are gone. But then, the original plans—and controversy—were pre-pandemic, and a lot has changed since then. The group of locals developing the property have also opted to make it a My Place Hotel, the first in the Northeast. Marcy gives the details.With downtown Leb roundabout in final design stage, key property owner objects. The city wants to start construction on the proposed project at the intersection of Mascoma, Mechanic and High streets next year, writes Patrick Adrian in the Valley News. But it still needs to own the right of way, which will mean buying the building rented by Phnom Penh Sandwich Station—and that building's owner, Tracy Pelletier, considers the project's budget "outrageous and not justified" and its impact on the rail trail too disruptive. Leb resident Dan Nash has designed an alternative that the city rejects. Adrian explains it all.Reading VT move to keep leaf-peepers off Jenne Road is working—at least, for Jenne Road. But maybe not so much for residents along Route 106, whose driveways tourists are now using for parking, rather than venture onto Jenne Road. You'll remember that town leaders moved last week to discourage tourists from flooding the road that leads to Jenne Farm in order to snap photos—and that effort, selectboard chair Gordy Eastman tells Aaron Rubin in the VT Standard, has been a success. The farm's Chase Jenne agrees: "People have been adhering to the signs and staying off the fields," he says.SPONSORED: Goodbye, summer. What's fall got in store? With all of the rain and flooding this summer, our climate is going to extremes. Record ocean temperatures are juicing up the atmosphere, and even “ordinary” rainstorms can unleash highly damaging floods. In fact, half of this year’s record number of billion-dollar weather disasters are the result of flash floods, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes. Hit the burgundy link for a recap of what happened with our local weather this summer—and around the globe. Unfortunately, there’s no safe haven anymore! Sponsored by Solaflect Energy. At VINS, a big change. Today's the last official day at the Quechee organization for Mary Graham, who's stepping down from her role as assistant executive director—and chief fundraiser, and tireless promoter of VINS's work with raptors and other inhabitants of the Upper Valley's various ecosystems. In the Standard, Kevin McCall notes the milestone and talks to her colleagues.Pretty much everywhere you look in the Upper Valley, you'll find the Byrne Foundation. It's one of the big sponsors of the CHaD HERO on Sunday (info below), but as Kent Friel and Katherine Ginger write in The Dartmouth, it's a quiet supporter of an astounding array of efforts and organizations, both large and small, around the region. It "does not seem to be about claiming credit or bringing attention to itself,” says Dartmouth prof and state Rep. Russ Muirhead. “[Yet] it supports almost every volunteer endeavor, charitable endeavor and public service endeavor that goes on in the Upper Valley.”If you happen to see a horde of Honda Elements this weekend... Well, who knew? The other day, Demo Sofronas happened on a pair of Elements, stopped to talk to the owners, and discovered that they were part of a newly organized group of Element owners—and that they're heading to the Kancamagus on Sunday. In Demo's About Norwich, Norwich's Becky Morlock, one of the group's organizers, tells him that it all arose from her discovery of "a really positive, amazing, happy community of fellow Element owners" and earlier meetups she attended in the Smokies and the Pacific Northwes.SPONSORED: Picture your family in golden afternoon light! Fall foliage leaves + crisp autumn air = vibrant faces in photos that capture and celebrate this moment in your lives. A photo shoot with Britton Mann is joyful and fun. You’ll come away with beautiful and enduring images, perfect for your holiday card or an inspired album. Hit the burgundy link or go here for a portfolio and more information. Sponsored by Britton Mann Photography.When NASA rockets head skyward from the New Mexico desert for the eclipse tomorrow, Dartmouth students' equipment will be on board. They're part of an effort to understand what happens to charged particles in the upper atmosphere when the sun is blocked and "the energy input is suddenly changed, like turning the lights off in a room,” Dartmouth prof and experimental physicist Kristina Lynch tells VT Public's Lexi Krupp. The equipment, a one-inch cube, will be released by the rockets in flight. The rockets have parachutes. The student-built instruments, Lynch says, "just go squish."Woman accused of killing cyclist Moriah Wilson tries to escape. It's been a while since there's been news involving Kaitlin Armstrong, who goes on trial Oct. 30 in Texas for the shooting death of Wilson, a cycling star, Vermont native, and Dartmouth grad. But on Wednesday, after being taken to a doctor's appointment in South Austin, Armstrong bolted from the two sheriff's deputies accompanying her. She got about a block into the surrounding neighborhood when the deputies—who said they had her in sight the whole time—caught up. The Austin American-Statesman has the story.Hiking Close to Home: Richardson Trails, Strafford, VT. This week UVTA encourages you to get one more foliage hike in and visit this 1.2-mile moderate trail network, which features a lovely hike along old woods roads and open hardwood forests as well as impressive stone walls and a view of a historic farm. From South Strafford, head east on VT-132. After 3 miles, turn left onto Miller Pond Road. Take a slight left onto Wells Fargo Road, which turns into Skunk Hollow Road. The trailhead with a sign and parking is up this road 0.8 miles on the left. Please do not block the roadway.So... How much do you know about what's been going on in the Upper Valley? Because Daybreak's News Quiz has some questions for you. Like... Where's Trail Break moving? And why were John Formella and Charity Clark visiting the Upper Valley? Those and other questions at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know GMP is aiming to eliminate by 2030.
And NHPR's got a whole set of questionsabout doings around the Granite State—like, when Mt. Washington got some measurable snow last weekend, was that earlier or later than usual?
Huge NH truck stop to get electrified parking spaces. The Mega X Truck Stop off Route 101, which is still under construction, will get power pedestals feeding electricity to 34 of its parking spaces, reports NH Bulletin's Hadley Barndollar. This will give long-haul truckers an external source of electricity, allowing them to avoid idling their trucks for power. Highway trucks emit “substantial amounts of air pollutants while idling,” DES commissioner Robert Scott told the Exec Council recently, and the project "has the potential to significantly reduce emissions," Barndollar writes.VT Blue Cross Blue Shield now part of Michigan counterpart. It happened on Tuesday, after state regulators gave the okay for the merger, reports VTDigger's Kristen Fountain. BCBSVT officials had argued that joining the larger organization will help it especially with improving its information technology. As part its okay, the state is requiring the VT insurer to continue to operate in Vermont—and remain regulated by state agencies.VT Yankee down to some office buildings and a former reactor tower. At a press conference Tuesday, reports VTDigger's Emma Cotton, the CEO of NorthStar, the company that now owns and is decommissioning the former nuclear power plant, said it's on track to finish by 2026—four years ahead of schedule, and still within its $600 million budget. The one hitch: the company still doesn't have a plan for the spent fuel, which a federal court ruled in August cannot be moved to Texas, as NorthStar had planned. Cotton explains.Four years in prison for Tesla arsonist. If you've been a Daybreak reader since the beginning, you might recall the 2019 incident in which a Tesla Model X was discovered burnt to a hulk on an iced-over Lake Champlain. Well, that turned out to be part of an insurance scam by Michael A. Gonzalez, which in turn was part of a larger scam in which he used Tesla's online sales program to take possession of Model X's he'd "bought" before his bank transfers cleared, then resold them. Earlier this week, reports Seven Days' Derek Brouwer, a federal judge sentenced Gonzalez to prison for stealing five Teslas in all.Fall foliage, from the air and the ground.
And Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne, who runs UVM's Spatial Analysis Lab, has a growing collection of drone footage.
And let's just finish off with some more pics. Panorama photos must have the long side twice as long as the short side. This lends itself to landscapes, sure, but also buildings, nature, and a whole lot more. The Pano Awards for 2023 are up, with thousands of entries from 102 countries. José D. Riquelme, from Spain, won Open Photographer of the Year with mystical images from Iceland and Namibia. Cao Ky Nhan used a drone and the golden light of late afternoon to capture ducks swirling around a herder in Vietnam; and Merche Llobera went deep under water in Mexico to snag a tornado funnel of jack fish.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.
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Buckle up! There's a lot!
Today at 4:00 pm, Woodstock's Norman Williams Public Library hosts sports writer and historian Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff in conversation with author and retired Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff, talking about Krasnoff's new book, Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA. In it, Krasnoff explores how and why France—and francophone Africa and the Caribbean—became a leading talent pipeline for the NBA, WNBA, and NCAA.
At 5 pm, the Hood Museum hosts a lecture by the Cree artist Kent Monkman. Monkman, who lives in Toronto, will discuss the works in Kent Monkman: The Great Mystery, which is currently on display at the museum, as well as his return to abstract expressionism and how both connect to his new book, The Memoirs of Miss Chief, which will be released later in the fall. A reception will follow.
At 6 this evening, WRJ's Main Street Museum continues its Friday night piano series with pianist, historian, and pump-organ collector and restorer Artis Wodehouse. Part of the VT Humanities Fall Festival, she'll be presenting "From Piano Playing to the Player Piano, 1900 Through the Roaring 20s" on the museum's player piano, with rolls from classical musicians to Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, and James P. Johnson.
Also at 6, Pentangle Arts gives you a chance to make up for those Taylor Swift tix you never managed to snag when it launches several weeks of showing Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, hitting screens across the country this weekend. Director Sam Wrench's big-screen flick gives you exactly what the title says: Swift’s extravaganza of a show, captured over three performances in Los Angeles. Be prepared: the Hollywood Reporter's reviewer noted yesterday that at her screening, the film "played less like a film than an extension of the concert experience: Audience members sang along and danced in the aisle and cheered so loudly I often couldn’t tell where the roar of the crowd onscreen ended and the roar of the crowd in the theater began." In the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre thru Nov. 5.
At 7 pm, the Chandler in Randolph hosts Moroccan/French quartet Bab L'Bluz, fronted by Yousra Mansour—a woman in what has traditionally been and is still overwhelmingly a role filled by men. The band is part of a new wave of musicians reinvigorating gnawa, a sort of Arabic fusion of trance music and blues, with political overtones.
Also at 7, this year's Mountainfilm on Tour rolls into the Hop's Loew Auditorium for the first of two screenings (the second is Sunday, 10/22 at 4 pm). As they describe it, you'll meet "the blind alpinist Erik Weihenmayer as he tackles the high peaks; a first-ever orchestra of Black and Latino youths; a trio of Chicago women winter swimmers; and a disillusioned musician who finds his peace as a buffalo rancher. These stories are interspersed with eye-popping adrenaline kicks from the worlds of skiing, mountain biking and climbing."
And also at 7, Still North Books & Bar in Hanover brings in writer Joni Cole to lead a highly interactive workshop, "Finding the Funny." As they write: "Whether it's funny ha ha or funny peculiar, life is full of memorable moments worth capturing on the page. [The workshop] invites you to write from a prompt to tap into your own stories. You'll also be invited to read aloud for appreciation and insights. Serious writers, newbies, people looking for something to do on a Friday, all are welcome!"
And also at 7, Dartmouth's Irving Institute is screening director Emma Davie's 2022 documentary, The Oil Machine, which looks at the world's economic, historical and emotional entanglement with oil by looking at both the history and the debate around the extraction of North Sea oil. Producer Sonja Henrici will be on hand to introduce it, and a post-film discussion will be led by Dartmouth Environmental Studies prof Michael Cox. Irving Rm. 080.
This evening at 7:30, the Lebanon Opera House presents the first of two "on location" events while it's being renovated: comedian Brian Glowacki at the Windsor High School theater. Glowacki, from Nantucket, has a style of comedy that "proves that we can all remain devoted to family, friends, and our careers—while leaving room to get a little rowdy," LOH writes. Recommended for ages 18+.
Also at 7:30, the Anonymous Coffeehouse is back at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, with lots of free baked goods, a song chosen by an audience member, and, of course, three acts: Vermonter-turned-Nashvillian Lillian Ledbetter, whose new album is being released today; the award-winning husband and wife Americana duo the Twangtown Paramours (MaryBeth Zamer and Mike Lewis), also from Nashville; and St. Paul, MN-based jazz, Broadway, and now solo performer David Singley.
And also at 7:30, contra dancing is back in Tracy Hall with western Mass. caller Liz Nelson and Boston-based trio Truffle Creek. All dances taught, beginners welcome, and there's a refresher session starting at 7:15.
At 9 tonight,Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover brings in veteran soul/blues singer and guitarist Dave Keller—bandleader for Johnny Rawls, sometime vocalist for Ronnie Earl, and "one of the finest soul and blues men of his generation," VPR (back when it was VPR) once said.
Saturday
Actually, the storied Brattleboro Literary Festival opens tonight (Friday), but it really gets going tomorrow starting at 9:30 am with a full slate of authors, including Tracy Kidder, Martha McPhee, Nikhil Goyal, Patrick Bringley, Allegra Goodman, Peter Orner, Angela Saini, and a host of other writers you want to go hear if you have a chance.
Tomorrow at 3, a relatively new every-other-week traditional music jam will set up in the Kilton Library's Community Room in West Leb: "A New England style jam of acoustic musicians of many levels, gathering to play traditional tunes of the Celtic, Canadian, and many other genres." You're welcome just to drop by and listen, too. (No link)
Tomorrow at 3 pm and again at 4, dancer and choreographer Erin McNulty's The Morrígan will be at the Path of Life Sculpture Garden in Artisans Park in Windsor. Live music, dance, and poetry focused on the Celtic goddess, with six dancers and a trio led by Emerson Gale. Here's Susan Apel's Artful writeup from last week.
At 7 tomorrow evening, the Chandler in Randolph hosts Pueblo musician and Native American flute player and maker Robert Mirabal. A two-time Grammy winner and three-time Native American Music Award artist of the year, Mirabal performs flute songs, tribal rock, dance, and storytelling.
Also at 7 pm tomorrow, the Star Radio Hour is back for its second-ever show at Seven Stars Arts in Sharon: An hour-long show, emceed by Jim Rooney and broadcast on Royalton Community Radio, with music by the Radio Hour's swing band (Chris Rua, Thal Aylward, Christopher Billiau and Alex Kelly), along with skits, poems, and sing-alongs, followed by a swing dance party running from 8-9.
And also at 7 pm tomorrow, Cameo Baroque will be at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon (they'll also be at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Northfield, VT on Sunday at 4) with a concert of Telemann: Beth Hilgartner, recorders and voice; Leslie Stroud, traverso; Laurie Rabut, viola da gamba; Ernie Drown, harpsichord.
Sunday
Starting at 9 Sunday morning, the streets of Hanover and roads of Norwich will fill with costumed runners and walkers as the 2023 CHaD HERO gets underway. The half marathon, 5K run, and 5K walk will all start at 9, and the one-mile family-fun Cam's Course at 10. The annual fundraiser for the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth is about 86 percent of the way toward its goal of $650,000. Registration is closed, but you can still donate or volunteer. More information at the link, course maps here.
At 2 pm Sunday, the North Universalist Chapel in Woodstock continues its chamber music series with Trio Gaia, the New England Conservatory's graduate trio in residence. Violinist Grant Houston, cellist Yi-Mei Templeton, and pianist Andrew Barnwell will perform works by Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
And Sunday evening around 6:30, following the 5 pm performance of Selling Kabul at Northern Stage, the company presents a panel discussion on how members of the Upper Valley community are working to support refugees here and Afghans at home: Martha Tecca of SHARe (Supporting and Helping Asylees and Refugees) will talk about neighborhood resettlement, and Behishta Sadaat (current Dartmouth graduate student and former Program Analyst with UN WOMEN) will describe her work creating the first toll free helpline for women and children in Afghanistan. No charge.
And to take us into the weekend...
Back in 2018, the multi-talented Jacob Collier set out to create a big album, stuffed with all kinds of material. Five years later, the sprawling project he calls
Djesse
is coming to an end, with Volume 4 due out in February. He's collaborated with everyone from Chris Thile to Ty Dolla $ign and T-Pain, and a few weeks ago, his collaboration with Brandi Carlisle on "Little Blue," which will be on the new album, hit YouTube.
And here's hoping you get whatever you need this weekend to stay centered and grounded. 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.
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