GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
A quick heads up: There'll be no Daybreak on Monday. Back as usual on Tuesday.Also, about yesterday... A bunch of you reported links not working. Thank you for doing so, and apologies to everyone who had trouble. It was a problem at Mailchimp, but all they'll tell me is that "there was something going on with connectivity." Fortunately, it was resolved fairly quickly. Now, back to business...You knew it couldn't last, right? A warm front lifted through the region overnight, and though the main event's tomorrow, when a strong cold front comes through, we're still in line for overcast skies all day, with patchy fog to start. Highs getting into the upper 60s, winds from the south, and low 60s tonight with a slight chance of rain starting late.Humans and other animals.
Up in northern NH, Jonathan Frishtick got up early the other morning to go photograph some of the scenery along the Kancamagus without the crowds. Hah! Here's what he found. And here's what had them all excited, once he could elbow his way to the front.
Meanwhile, in Norwich the other day, Corlan Johnson was out picking raspberries when she heard "lots of agitation from the crows which hang out in our dead elm." Back upstairs, she writes, she saw a Cooper's hawk out in the grass—and a lot of feathers around it. Either a mourning dove or a rock pigeon, says the VT Center for Ecostudies' Chris Rimmer.
Henry's out taking in the sights, IRL, and pretty darn happy about it. It's
Lost Woods
Week 46, and as he does every Friday in this spot, Lebanon author and illustrator DB Johnson (
Henry Hikes to Fitchburg
and other classics) chronicles the doings in his favorite patch of trees. Scroll right to move on to the next panel or left to catch up on previous weeks.
SPONSORED: What's going on with world energy markets? Gas prices are spiking, coal is coming back, and global warming emissions are rebounding to record levels. At the current rate, global consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas is expected to hit an all-time high by mid-2022. Policy mismatches, the pandemic, utilities' foot-dragging on grid-connected batteries—all these and more are driving this. For more of the straight dope, check out the maroon link and its pointers to authoritative articles and reports. Working together, the power is in our hands to make a difference. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy."This was just a different level of stuff." That's Hartford High girls' soccer team captain Katie Blood speaking to the Valley News's Seth Tow about the abuse hurled at team members from the stands at Fair Haven last week. After the player who'd born the brunt of it took herself out of the game, coach Jeff Acker pulled his team. The incident, Tow writes, has sparked an outpouring of support for the team and introspection at Hartford High. "If you are heard talking to a player on the other team, you will be asked to leave,” the school's athletic leadership council told students in a statement over the weekend.The Flying Goose is back. I know, you might not even have known it was gone. But last week, the popular New London restaurant, brewpub, and music venue shut its doors after several front-of-house staff tested positive for Covid. "We are not willing to risk additional exposure and spread," the pub wrote at the time. This Tuesday, however, they posted to their Facebook page (that's the maroon link) that they'd be reopening Wednesday—and requiring all staff to provide proof of a negative test and to wear masks. (Thanks, FP!)Foliage traffic is back. If you've been out on the roads, you know this. On his Omni Reporter blog, Gareth Henderson writes that it "has surged to levels the New England region hasn’t seen for two years." In Woodstock, tourists are filling restaurants, stores—and the sidewalks—and buses are again navigating the streets. “The number of bus tours has doubled, tripled, from most recent years," Unicorn owner Jeffrey Kahn says. "Forty-three years in, I never expected to still be working seven days a week, but this week it was required.”
Hiking Close to Home: the Quechee State Park trails. The park, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, provides several trails in one of the most scenic stretches in the Upper Valley. The main trail runs along the Ottauquechee River. South of Rte. 4, it surveys Quechee Gorge then descends to the banks of the river below the ravine. North of Rte. 4, the trail bypasses a dam and continues to Dewey Mills Pond along an earthen dyke to a northern trailhead by a boat landing. Dewey Mills Pond provides wetland habitat and is great for bird and wildlife viewing as well as views of the VINS Canopy Walk across the river.Okay, let's see if you've been paying attention this week. The guys at The News Quiz are back, and they've got some questions. What is it that Heady Topper's recycling? A fall on which local mountain required a rescue team this week? And what did that guy in Concord fall down? You'll find those and more at the maroon link. Meanwhile, The News Quiz is expanding. They're now working with The Dartmouth on a College version and with WBUR on a Boston version. Just go to https://thenewsquiz.org/ to try your hand at either or both.So, yeah, it probably was an exploding meteor. But why do meteors explode? The kerfuffle over the NH boom earlier this week has David Brooks wondering what causes some meteors to explode rather than burn up as they enter the atmosphere. After some hard work dragging the internet, he comes up with a Purdue study that suggests it has to do with high pressure in front, a vacuum behind, and air moving through the cracks.With a single vote switch, NH Exec Council votes to restore funding for one family planning clinic. You remember that last month the council axed state funding for a series of clinics, including Planned Parenthood's. Yesterday, one GOP councilor, Janet Stevens, changed her mind about the Community Action Program of Belknap and Merrimack Counties, which does not provide abortions; that was enough to restore the money. As NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins points out, though, that still leaves over 70 percent of reproductive health care services for low-income residents defunded. NH's Stonyfield Organic will buy milk from some Twin State dairy farmers dropped by Horizon. Gary Hirshberg, the company's co-founder, says it's not yet clear how many farmers it can accept—maybe in the single digits, maybe more. "We have to be responsible to our existing farms and not get out over our skis,” he tells VTDigger's Emma Cotton. Danone, Horizon Organic's parent company, sent shock waves through organic dairying circles in August when it told 89 farmers in VT, NH, and other eastern states that their contracts will end next August.Administrators skeptical about VT's new in-school Covid testing program. Detailing the state’s proposed new strategy to deal with cases among schoolkids, Seven Days’ Alison Novak speaks with school administrators who—already feeling overwhelmed—are concerned about implementing it effectively. Some districts are struggling just to fill teaching positions. “Without outside support in terms of staffing, I’m not optimistic about success,” says one superintendent. Ed Secy Dan French acknowledges the challenges, but says the program is “the right solution” to keep kids safely in school.A Lyme vaccine? "The short answer to that is probably two to three years, if we're lucky.” Every so often something completely slips past me, and that happened last week with Brave Little State's excellent rundown of the issue on VPR. They talked with Ripton's Sue Halpern about her New Yorker article on the question, as well as to researchers working on the problem. There actually was a vaccine that got pulled after a public pressure campaign raised questions—but not medical evidence—of side effects. That's why we still don't have one. But now, there are three different possibilities in the pipeline."Things can be unruly in so many different ways." NH writer Tim Horvath came up with that word, "unruly," for a class he was teaching on experimental writing, but it applies to his own fiction, too, he tells Joni Cole on her latest Author, Can I Ask You? podcast. "The Unruly section of the bookstore," she responds. "I love it." Horvath says, "I think that our lives and the world around us are better understood as an array of possibilities rather than merely an array of facts... Fiction is in some ways an ideal activity to reveal hidden possibilities."Okay, a trip to N. Adams, Mass. just moved higher on the to-do list. That, of course, is where the sprawling MassMoCA campus is, the country’s largest museum of contemporary art. It's a two-hour drive from the Upper Valley, notes Susan Apel on her Artful blog, and she's just been to visit some new work by James Turrell—"dull to describe but magical to experience," an art critic once wrote. Light installations, a chamber of total darkness—"It drove me right out of there in less than one minute...Excruciating. Try it," Susan writes—and his remarkable-sounding "Skyspace."It’s called “Walrus from Space” and here's betting you’re already intrigued. Fair to say that none of us was prepared to worry about the walruses. But climate change in the Arctic is claiming the sea ice that these lovable, long-toothed creatures need to survive. Fortunately, you can help. Clint Rainey writes in Fast Company about a conservation group seeking citizen “walrus detectives” to help them carry out a “walrus census” by scouring satellite images covering 10,000 square miles for signs of walrus life. The project is easy to join, and you don’t even need to leave home. Goo goo g’joob.
And the numbers...Daybreak reports Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
NH reported 446 new cases on Tuesday, 510 Wednesday, and 620 yesterday; with additional catch-up numbers, it now has 127,421 for the pandemic. There have been 17 deaths since Monday, bringing the total to 1,516. The active caseload stands at 4,654 (+713) and hospitalizations at 142 (+1). The state reports 251 active cases in Grafton County (+51 since Monday), 324 in Sullivan County (+63), and 611 in Merrimack County (+137). Town-by-town numbers reported by the state: Claremont: 123 (+12 since Monday); Newport 64 (no change); Charlestown 48 (+16); Lebanon 24 (+4); Sunapee 32 (+16); Newbury 14 (+2); Haverhill 13 (+at least 9); New London 12 (no change); Rumney 10 (+3); Hanover 9 (-4); Cornish 7 (+at least 3); Croydon 7 (+1); Grantham 7 (+at least 3); Wilmot 7 (+at least 3); Enfield 6 (-2); Grafton 5 (+at least 1); Canaan 5 (-4); and Piermont, Warren, Orford, Wentworth, Lyme, Orange, Plainfield, Springfield, and Unity have 1-4 each. Dorchester is off the list.
VT reported 132 new cases on Tuesday, 328 Wednesday, and 151 yesterday. It now stands at 36,503 for the pandemic. There were 7 new deaths during that time; they now number 342. As of yesterday, 4y people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (+6). Windsor County has seen 45 new cases reported since Monday, for a total of 2,492 for the pandemic, with 245 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 18 cases during the same time, with 105 over the past two weeks for a total of 1,178 for the pandemic.
As of the yesterday, Dartmouth was reporting 2 undergrad cases, 3 cases among grad and professional students, and 2 among faculty/staff. 5 students and 7 faculty/staff were in isolation.
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This evening at 7, the Royalton Library hosts Christine Hadsel, who directs Curtains Without Borders, an effort to document and preserve the historic painted stage scenery found in town halls, grange halls, theaters, and opera houses around northern New England. She'll be offering a tour of some 177 curtains found around Vermont and "a glimpse into the world of talented and often sophisticated artists who were part of the rural cultural scene" before WWI.
At 7:30, the Lebanon Opera House brings in pianist and composer Bob Merrill to accompany a screening of F. W. Murnau's silent vampire classic, Nosferatu. There are still tix, though they're getting scarce.
And also at 7:30, Burlington-based Migrant Justice's "Milk with Dignity" tour will do a presentation at the First Congregational Church in Thetford, hosted by the Upper Valley Affinity Group (with cosponsors including BALE and Dan & Whit's). The effort, modeled after campaigns that have successfully pressed large corporations to raise what they pay for wholesale products in order to boost migrant farmworkers' wages, is aimed at convincing Hannaford to pay more for milk products.
Tomorrow, starting at 4 pm with a free skate, Woodstock's Union Arena is throwing a celebration to mark its advent as the first "net-zero" ice rink in the country. It's been working toward this goal for years, and with energy-efficient systems and a large solar array installed this summer, it's reached the point where it has no net annual energy cost for heating fuel and electricity."
And tomorrow at 7, Hop Film presents Mountainfilm on Tour in Spaulding, the annual compendium of short films from the celebrated festival. This year, there's a skateboarding mentor/activist, a Bahamian sport fishing legend, a rock-climbing pandemic EMT, an 11-year-old Mexican environmentalist, the first Black-owned outdoor gear shop in the country, and more.
In case you missed last week's concert by violinist Roseminna Watson and pianist Melody Fader at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, they've made a streamed version available. Tomorrow night at 7:30 they'll be throwing a watch party where you can watch the concert at home (mask-less and comfortable, as they put it) and join them online for questions and comments. A ticket will get you the concert for a week.
Also at 7:30 tomorrow (and Sunday), Kishka Gallery in WRJ is holding free performances by multimedia artist Untitled Queen surrounded by their own all-encompassing art installation. Untitled Queen will collaborate with sound artist and DJ Jess Ramsay and VT-based drag artist Rhedd Rhumm. There will be poetry, sound, drag, video, queer infinity, and, Kishka promises, lots of sausages. Space is limited, so if you're interested, email [email protected] or by phone at 347-264-4808 to let them know.
Also at 7:30 tomorrow, central VT's Scragg Mountain Music returns with a concert that is both in-person (in Montpelier) and streamed. They'll be featuring the Boston-based chamber quartet Hub New Music, along with soprano Mary Bonhag and double-bassist Evan Premo. The program is not your usual set of chamber offerings: It feature the world premiere of Premo's "Fire-flowers," which celebrates and considers changes in our natural world; Christopher Cerrone's "New Addresses," based on the works of poet Kenneth Koch; a section from Carlos Simon's "Requiem for the Enslaved" that tells the story of 272 slaves sold to pay the debts of Georgetown University, where Simon teaches; and Eric Nathan's "Missing Words," highlighting newly created German words that illuminate everyday experiences for which English has no synonyms.
LOH's silent disco tomorrow night in Colburn Park is sold out, but if you're desperate, you can try calling 603.448.0400 for waitlist info.
On Sunday at 2 pm, the Briggs in WRJ will host The Suffragist Re-Enactment Society, the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance's fast-paced—and audience-involved—play about the history of how women fought for and won the right to vote in this country. They've been barnstorming VT since the play premiered Oct. 2. Tix are free but reservations recommended. Masks, proof of vaccination or negative test.
And Sunday at 4 pm, the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College hosts classical guitarist William Ghezzie in a recital of solo guitar works by John Dowland, J.S. Bach, François Couperin, Dušan Bogdanović, Joe Pass, and Antonio Lauro.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe may have gotten her start as a 6-year-old performing with a traveling evangelist troupe in churches around the South, but by her 20s she was fusing gospel, blues, jazz, and what eventually became rock 'n' roll, joining the Cotton Club Revue and, for the rest of her career, breaking new ground in popular music. She was famous—her 1951 wedding drew a paying crowd of 20,000 to a baseball stadium—but as young, white men began to ascend to the fore of the rock 'n' roll scene in the '50s, she decided to head to Europe. There's so much to choose from (check out "Didn't It Rain" from 1964, singing to a crowd across railway tracks in Manchester, England),
at the first Festival du Jazz d'Antibes, in Juan-les-Pins, France, in 1960.
(Thanks, AK & AFG!)
See you Tuesday.
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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