GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Rain, some wind. After the gusts from last night's warm front, today we get a low-pressure system and a cold front moving through—along with a jet of strong winds in the lower atmosphere. The result: showers starting sometime this morning and lasting a good bit of the day, and wind gusts from the southwest, especially this morning, getting up to 30 mph or so. Temps will hit the upper 50s, though, and the rain should end before evening. 30s tonight.Breakthrough! From the mist, that is. Which there's been quite a bit of lately.
Robin Osborne was out in Thetford the other day, waiting for the sun to break through the fog, she writes. "It made me realize that even the most mundane things can be beautiful—even in the month of November."
And Melinda Ricker was up on the Palisades overlooking Fairlee and Orford not long ago, reflecting on Rivendell as "just the place our kids go to school, struggle with or delight in homework, eat their meals and drop their gloves," she writes. But as the valley below emerged from the clouds, she wondered, "Could Rivendell actually be that which its name suggests: a magical place of peace and learning, nestled in the foothills of the Misty Mountains of Tolkien's Middle Earth?"
"Lydia won't let us play in the landscape." It's Lost Woods Week 50, and Auk and Eddie get in the way of art... and try to figure out how to help Auk fly. As he does every Friday, Lebanon author and illustrator DB Johnson 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.The Dartmouth unearths $200K alleged embezzlement—from The Dartmouth. The missing funds "were discovered and reported to the Hanover Police department in the wake of the 'unexpected' resignation" on Sept. 28 of the paper's office manager, report Andrew Sasser and Lauren Adler. The paper discovered PayPal transfers to her personal accounts over and above her pay, and charges to the newspaper's debit card for airline tickets, hotel stays—including in the Caribbean—and purchases at retailers such as Petsmart, Urban Outfitters, and Wayfair." Hanover police are investigating.SPONSORED: Now here's a truly unique holiday gift: the gift of solar. As several thoughful gift-givers have discovered, solar keeps giving for decades, lowering their tax bills, reducing or even eliminating their loved ones' utility bills, keeping them connected even when the power goes out, and helping all of them save the planet. Hit the maroon link to see why the gift of a solar tracker makes financial sense for you AND helps make an important "dent in the universe" as we work toward cleaning up our carbon footprint. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.“As long as I draw breath, I’m still in the fight.” That was Wesley Black talking to the VN last year. He died last Sunday at the age of 36, after a years-long struggle with colon cancer that was misdiagnosed at the VA. On Monday (I'm chagrined I'm late with this), the VN's Claire Potter detailed the efforts by the Hartford firefighter and former National Guardsman, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, to ensure other vets exposed to burn pits do not have to fight the health-care battles he did. As the Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen put it, he was "a veteran who climbed mountains for other vets.""Getting here wasn't all roses and smiles." Fairlee's Jonah Richard isn't just any small developer. He's a small developer with a blog. In a post yesterday (scroll down), he details why his encounter with Fairlee's Development Review Board on a proposed building was so arduous. He cites narrow interpretation of zoning bylaws, inconsistent application, and more formality than you'd expect in a small town. And this on a project supported by the selectboard and zoning department. This kind of experience, he adds in an email, "is a contributing factor to why so few small developers are out there building projects" in the UV.Hiking Close to Home: the King Arthur Trails. You'll find one trailhead to this trail system in Norwich by King Arthur Baking's store and bakery: The wide, flat trail begins only a few feet from the entrance to the building. It leads to the Dresden athletic fields behind the Norwich Farmers Market site, where there's also another trailhead with a large parking lot and information kiosk. From the athletic fields the trail continues through hillier terrain with several small loops that are ideal for mountain biking.Been paying attention this week? The guys who run The News Quiz have some questions for you. Like, what was it that got Dartmouth prof Mary Flanagan a Guinness world record? And is NH Gov. Chris Sununu running for the US Senate? And what distinction did 83-year-old Nimblewill Nomad just earn? You'll find those and others, plus a little real estate question, at the maroon link. Meanwhile, feel free to try your hand at the Dartmouth-specific quiz questions pulled together by The Dartmouth.“This is just a year of people who were in their houses. It’s like a bad sci-fi movie.” There's no question that the pandemic has had an impact on freight haulers, but as NH Bulletin's Ethan DeWitt writes, to some extent the trucking industry's problems predate Covid and may outlast it. While the shipping backlog drives up prices for everyone, a shortage of truckers—NH lost 3,148 of them between 2019 and this summer—is creating a bottleneck in the state. State officials are trying to expand the pipeline for new drivers, but the challenges, DeWitt writes, go far beyond training and licensing.591. As you'll see below, that was the number of new cases VT's health department reported yesterday—easily surpassing last Thursday's record of 496, which in turn easily surpassed the one-day record set in October of 347. In VTDigger, Erin Petenko teases apart the numbers—test positivity, viral growth, ICU beds—and talks to Dartmouth's Anne Sosin. "Many Vermonters (have) done everything that’s been asked of them and they really don’t appreciate the risk to them and their families," Sosin says. "We need our leadership to very clearly communicate the current risk.”“I was attacked by an owl.” On a recent morning, Seven Days’ Alison Novak answered the phone to her husband Jeff’s crazy news. He'd been walking with a friend around Shelburne Farms when a dive-bombing owl chased them through the trees as they then ran for their lives. Who knew owls hunted humans? Novak, who has spoken to some wildlife experts, learned it was possibly “a young owl new to hunting [that] saw Jeff as a potential meal.” Next time, instead of running away, one expert says, “Start waving your arms and making a lot of noise”—to show the bird you aren’t an easy breakfast.Here’s a handful of head-scratchers to start your day. Scientists are essentially detectives, gathering evidence to draw conclusions about natural phenomena. The more available evidence, typically, the better the conclusion. But sometimes they’re flat-out stumped. Justin Dodd at Mental Floss gathers up a few scientific mysteries for which there are, so far, no good explanations. For example, people who've emerged from comas speaking fluently in a language not their own? Baffling. Or what about the woman whose charred remains were found in a room that was itself untouched by flames? You tell me. Or you could just go play with rocks. Look, it's raining, the mind wanders, and a little bit of rock-stacking by a sunny beach, with the sound of waves off in the distance, might be restorative. At least, that's what creative coder and quirky game designer Neal Agarwal figures. Lots more where that came from, too. If nothing else, check out "Dark Patterns," where he alerts to you "shady ways of tricking you into performing actions [online] without you knowing." But you should poke around. (Thanks, BW!)
The numbers...Daybreak reports Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Undergrad cases remain at 6 at Dartmouth, with 1 case among grad and professional students (-1), and 11 among faculty/staff (+1). 13 students and 17 faculty/staff are in isolation.
NH reported 363 new cases Tuesday and 736 on Wednesday, but released no numbers at all yesterday, so its total for the moment is 142,469. There were 18 deaths over that time, bringing the total to 1,617, and on Wednesday the state was reporting 5,455 (+291) active cases and 244 (+32) hospitalizations. It reported 331 (+23) active cases in Grafton County, 299 (+5) in Sullivan, and 612 (+50) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont had 159 (-3); Charlestown 50 (-3); Newport 44 (no change); Hanover 25 (-7); Haverhill has 22 (+1); Lebanon 15 (-2); Warren has 13 (+4); Newbury 12 (+5); Enfield 9 (+2); Sunapee 9 (+3); Canaan 8 (+3); Grantham 7 (no change); Cornish 8 (+1); New London 6 (no change); Lyme 5 (+at least 1); Piermont 5 (no change); Rumney 5 (+at least 1); and Orford, Wentworth, Grafton, Plainfield, Croydon, Wilmot, and Unity had 1-4 each. Dorchester and Springfield were off the list.
VT reported 191 new cases Tuesday, 217 Wednesday... and 591 yesterday—as you read above, its second record-shattering single-day jump in a week. The state's total now stands at 43,521 for the pandemic. There have been 2 deaths this week; they now number 391. As of yesterday, 53 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (-2). Windsor County has seen 64 new cases reported since Monday (37 of those were yesterday), for a total of 3,030 for the pandemic, with 264 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 35 cases, with 178 over the past two weeks for a total of 1,528 for the pandemic.
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Just a reminder that rifle season for deer opened in NH on Wednesday and starts in VT tomorrow. Don't forget your blaze orange if you head into the woods—both for you and your dog.
At 7:00 this evening, the Norwich Bookstore hosts an online conversation between Melissa Scanlan, who directed the Environmental Law Center at VT Law School before moving to direct the Center for Water Policy at the U of Wisconsin-Madison, and prominent environmentalist Gus Speth. Scanlan has a new book out, Prosperity in the Fossil-Free Economy, about the potential of cooperative business models to help mitigate climate change and behave as responsible community members.
Also at 7, the Old Church Theater in Bradford offers up the start of its final weekend of Sleeping Indoors, Jim Holt's play about a couple who invite a homeless man for Christmas dinner, only to discover not only that his journal may be a literary masterpiece, but that he actually prefers his life.
And also at 7 and also in Bradford—only you don't have to leave home to see it—Oxbow High School will stream its fall theater production of two one-acts: Epic Fail, about students taking on such challenges as learning to drive and getting a bag of chips out of a vending machine; and See-Saw. Link takes you to the production on YouTube.
Also at 7, and both livestreamed online and in-person in the Hartford High auditorium, Hartford High launches its weekend of performances of Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella.
Also at 7 (last one, I promise), Artistree is showing director Julie Taymor's biopic, Frida, in the Grange Theater. Salma Hayek stars in the title role in the 2002 film about the tempestuous and almost-too-colorful-to-be-believed (except it happened) life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Tonight at 7:30, Rosanne Cash takes the stage at the Lebanon Opera House. Believe it or not, there are a tiny handful of seats left. Multiple Grammy winner and Johnny Cash's eldest daughter, she is "one of the most ambitious and literary songwriters of her generation,” Rolling Stone once wrote. You know the deal: masks, proof of vaccination or negative test.
Also at 7:30, North Country Community Theater and Pentangle Arts kick off the first of two weekends of performances of Mamma Mia! at the Woodstock Town Theater. You don't need a description, do you? ABBA songs. A mom. A daughter. Three possible dads...
At 8 pm, the We The People theater company returns to its home stage at the Briggs in WRJ with the first of four performances this weekend of All Together Now. It's among thousands of troupes presenting this Broadway revue around the globe this weekend, with a song list that ranges (depending on the venue) from Ragtime toLes Mis to Annie. We The People's production was put together by four directors and features a large cast of locals. "I love the title of this show, All Together Now!,” Jenn Langhus, one of the directors, tells the VN's Alex Hanson. “It’s like a hug. It feels so good to be together.”
If you've ever wondered just what goes on in WRJ's Junction Fiber Mill on Maple St. across from Town Hall, tomorrow's open house from 11 am to 3 pm is your chance to check out its yarn-spinning capabilities and its yarns, and to chat with its miller-owners, Peggy Allen and Amanda Kievet.
And at 7 pm tomorrow, Seven Stars Arts in Sharon hosts musicians Bill Cole and Mali Obomsawin. It's the indoor continuation of Cole's highly successful outdoor Front Porch Concert Series in Thetford this past summer. The two will take on an improvisational jazz duet with jazz musician and author Cole on didgeridoo and folk, jazz, and Lula Wiles bassist Obomsawin on double bass—maybe not the first time in history those two instruments have joined up, but surely one of the few. Tix are limited.
And tomorrow at 7:30 pm in Spaulding, the Hop hosts the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra. The concert will feature David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, in Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, as well as Beethoven's Third, the "Eroica" Symphony.
Whew! That was a lot to get through, eh? So let's just hop into the weekend
on tv back in 1957. That woman standing in the back—deadpan, vaguely scornful? That's Prima's wife and frequent onstage foil at the time, the jazz singer Keely Smith.
See you Monday.
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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