GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, warmer. We're still under high pressure, though there's a low approaching to the north, which mostly will show up here on the ground as a breezy day. We should see a mix of sun and clouds all day, with the high getting up to around 50, while lows tonight will get into the upper 30s.A barred owl in flight. And right at Erin Donahue's trail cam, no less. Writes Ted Levin: "The International Ornithological Committee estimates that 11,000 species of birds inhabit Earth, classified into 44 Orders, 253 Families, and 2,384 Genera. Of those, only 3 percent evolved to hunt at night. The retinas of daytime hunting birds are packed with color-sensitive cones, including one that detects ultraviolet light. The huge retinas of nighttime-hunting owls, on the other hand, are 93 percent light-sensitive rods. If our eyes were as large as a barred owl's, they'd weigh four pounds and be the size of an orange."Road closures? Whatever. In the Woodstock area, fall tourism was "incredibly robust and busy." In fact, Woodstock Chamber president Beth Finlayson tells the VT Standard's Tom Ayres, "this is the busiest season we’ve ever had." After a pretty abysmal spring and, of course, July, the last half of September and all of October saw high numbers of visitors—and not just buses, Finlayson says, but individuals, couples, and families. As for the Cloudland and Jenne road closures, Woodstock police chief Joe Swanson tells Ayres, "There were no issues or hiccups.”Unease in Tunbridge, Cheshire, Vershire and other towns as property crimes rise. There's been a "steady drumbeat" of reported break-ins and thefts—everything from cars to ATVs to tools and guns—around the White River Valley, writes Darren Marcy in the Herald; locals are locking up and keeping an eye on cars that drive by "too slowly." In an area that has always been lightly policed—especially now, given the travails of the Orange County Sheriff's Dept—they're also pressing selectboards to find a way to boost services and are talking on social media about forming neighborhood watch groups.
In an era when buying farmland can seem near impossible, young farmers from Norwich find a way. Though it's in Jericho, VT, east of Essex Junction. That's where Jake Kornfeld and Spencer Hardy, classmates all the way through school, recently bought and conserved a historic farm along with their wives, Corinne Froning and Jacqueline Huettenmoser, and a fifth member of the collective. They'd already been farming leased land in three towns, the Vermont Land Trust writes in a recent blog post; the 52-acre Hunt Farm will allow them to put down roots and expand. The post explains how they did it.King Arthur Baking opens a new retail store—in Greenville, SC. For the moment, reports Lillia Callum-Penso in that city's Post & Courier, it's a holiday-season popup. But, chief marketing officer Bill Tine tells her, “Our hope is its really successful and that we either come back for another pop-up next year or plan for a longer-term store." The company has a history of sending cookie trucks around the country; it chose Greenville for its first brick-and-mortar foray into the South, Tine says, because “Greenville, and South Carolina in general, bakes more than the rest of the country, and so as a baking company we want to be where bakers are.”Walking "the tightrope between brutal honesty and gentle kidding." That's how a former editor at the VT Standard once described Ann Aikens' long-running column, "Upper Valley Girl". Now, as the Valley News's Alex Hanson writes, "Ann has gone and written a book": A Young Woman's Guide to Life: A Cautionary Tale. Hanson and Aikens are friends, and Hanson talks with her about both her column's and the book's background—and its core message: "Life is hard...so connect with people around you when you have the chance and make time for laughter." Hanson also looks at The Funny Moon, Thetford resident Chris Lincoln's first novel, set in a fictional Upper Valley.Hiking Close to Home: Chaffee Wildlife Sanctuary, Lyme, NH. Managed by the Lyme Conservation Commission, says the UVLT, Chaffee showcases an easy 0.4-mile trail network through a variety of ecosystems including Clay Brook, Trout Brook, Post Pond, and wetlands. It features a newly constructed thousand-foot wheelchair-accessible trail as well as a series of bog bridges that meander through the property and a wildlife viewing structure. From Lyme Village, drive north 1.8 miles on Route 10, past the entrance to Post Pond. The Sanctuary is identified with a large sign on the left (west) side of the road.So... Think you know what's been going on in the Upper Valley? Because Daybreak's News Quiz has some questions for you. Like... What are those trailers doing at the old Hartford rest area on I-91 North? And why did Ferrisburgh, a kestrel at VINS, hit the national news this week? Those questions and more at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to knowif you know what calamity just struck downtown Montpelier.
And NHPR's got a whole set of questionsabout doings around the Granite State—like, what crop does a UNH prof think might thrive in NH despite climate change?
In NH, indigent defense "no longer in crisis"—but still playing catchup. A year and a half ago, writes Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin, the state's Public Defender Program was forced to restrict the cases it took on after a mass exodus during the pandemic; the state's Judicial Council, pays lawyers to fill in, didn't have enough on tap to meet the need. Now, Timmins reports, public defenders' ranks have grown with new money for pay raises and benefits, and the state's boosted rates for private attorneys. Even so, the system remains "under a lot of stress,” says the Judicial Council's former director.In a politically "purple" NH town, an all-out culture war. Littleton, writes the CBC's Alexander Panetta, is no "distant cultural backwater." But this summer, murals on the wall of a Chinese restaurant, sponsored by North Country Pride, drew the condemnation of a selectboard member who said they contain "demonic symbolism." Now the selectboard's considering banning all public art, the selectboard member has resigned from a bank board, and a local theater group, which had been prepping to put on La Cage aux Folles, has been told it could lose the lease on the municipal building it's occupied for the past decade. Amanda Gokee's earlier story in the Globe, which is paywalled, is here.Cause of Montpelier lumber yard fire undetermined, but "not believed to be suspicious." The investigation into the huge blaze that destroyed part of the rk MILES yard in downtown Montpelier is still ongoing, but the VSP yesterday said that initial investigation by the state's Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit had "uncovered no evidence to indicate the blaze is suspicious." Thanks to firefighters' quick response, neighboring buildings were spared, and even the company's showroom, though scorched, avoided damage to the interior.The Notch road hasn't closed for winter yet, so trucker takes matters into his own hands. Early yesterday, the VT State Police put out a press release saying the road through Smugglers Notch had been closed for winter. Nope. It had been closed overnight by a truck, which got lodged in the road's twistiness Wednesday night and blocked traffic until it was backed out yesterday morning. Astonishingly, the driver told state troopers he'd been following his GPS. VTrans put out a notice later yesterday that the road is still open, with no firm date yet for when it will close. Maybe when they get tired of truckers?Okay, so werewolves don't exist. But what if they did? And one was on a mission to the moon? That's the premise of astronomer Phil Plait's entirely earnest yet entirely tongue-in-cheek piece in Scientific American. As NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies prep for a return to the moon, even a passing familiarity with werewolves suggests the problem: They become beasts in full moonlight—and a day on the moon lasts two Earth weeks. Even worse: What if one's orbiting the moon in a capsule, which takes two hours—one in darkness, one in full moonlight? "Mayhem," Plait writes.And hey, while we're being spooked out by space... There's a nice, scientific reason why the pulsar PSR B1509-58 and its pulsar wind nebula resembles an x-ray of a human hand, which NASA's Beth Ridgeway explains in accessible detail. Even so, the pics from the space agency's x-ray telescopes are something to see.The Friday Vordle. And hey! Are you new to Vordle? Did you know that fresh ones appear on weekends, using words from the Friday Daybreak? You can get a reminder email each weekend morning: just sign up here.
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Today from 10 am until 6 pm (and again tomorrow from 10 to 3), the very last Christmas Market With a Difference gets underway at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College. Handcrafted goods and other products from groups like ACP Nepal, Circus Zambia, Cocoa Farmers, Friends of Oaxacan Art, Mil Milagros, Partners in Global Change (Tysea Orphanage), Shimena Weaving Friendships, and more. Over its 35-year history, the Market has raised more than $1.6 million for nonprofits that help provide living wages to artisans around the world—and this 36th version will strive to celebrate both that history and the community that made it possible.
And while we're on the subject, holiday markets will be setting up all over the Upper Valley starting this weekend, from holiday bazaars tomorrow in Bradford, Cornish, and Plainfield to fairs, markets, and pop-ups well into December. The Valley News has a roundup here.
Meanwhile, from 4-8 pm today, JAM hosts the second Twin State Comics & Zine Fair, with, well, comics and zines (and also chapbooks and other bespoke publications) from local artists and students at the Center for Cartoon Studies.
Around the corner, Kishka Gallery is launching an exhibition by Burlington-based painter and printmaker Elizabeth Powell, Silk and Sisal", which looks at how fashion, lingerie, and jewelry both restrict and decorate the human body. And Long River Gallery will be open for First Friday hours with, as they write, "art and goodies."
And over in Hanover at the Pompy Mills store from 5-7, there'll be an opening reception for Norwich author, illustrator, and designer Lizi Boyd and her new "Stories" Collection: handmade Tibetan rugs based on her sometimes whimsical paintings. She and her partners at Hanover's InnerAsia Rugs will talk about the art works' journey from a studio in VT to the looms of traditional weavers in Nepal and Tibet.
At 5:30, AVA Gallery hosts a talk by Cornish Flat ceramic artist Jenny Swanson. She'll be talking about her wall pieces and clay assemblages that "explor[e] the potentiality of the ceramic process, issues of sustainability, and ambiguous definitions of beauty."
At 6:30, the Mascoma Valley Regional High drama club kicks off its weekend run of Noises Off, Michael Frayn's behind-the-scenes farce about a "chaotic stage production populated with frenetic and unstable actors, a volatile director, and an overworked and overly emotional stage crew." In the Mascoma Community Auditorium. Also runs tomorrow at 6:30 and Sunday at 2 pm.
At 7:30, Thetford's Parish Players present The Humans, Stephen Karam's one-act play about a family Thanksgiving gathering: tension, secrets, repressed fears... This is the second of three weekends, with shows at 7:30 tomorrow and 3 pm on Sunday, then Thursday-Sunday next week.
Aso at 7:30 this evening, the Hop and the Dartmouth Theater Department present the final weekend of performances of Lost Girl, Kimberly Belflower's 2018 play—begun when she was 20 and finished a decade later—about Wendy Darling grappling with adulthood, her attempt to try to find Peter Pan and take back her kiss, and her encounters with other young women with similar stories. The production, in the small new Theater on Currier, has been sold out all week and tonight and tomorrow are no exception, but the Hop, as always, says it's worth checking the box office for tix: 603.646.2422.
And at 9 pm, the stage at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover hosts Tremolo Hoss, which sounds... well, we'll just let them take it from here: "a little like what might happen if Gram Parsons and Tom Petty got on Waylon Jennings' bus and showed up at Bruce Springsteen's house. It's Honky Tonk Rock, with curveballs and in-jokes, full-throated harmonies and jangly guitars."
Saturday
At 3 pm tomorrow, Billings Farm & Museum kicks off the 14th annual Woodstock Film Series with a showing of Ben Silberfarb's ode to time, loss, and heirloom apples, Whitman Brook—about the Quechee orchard of that name and its owner and steward, Terry Dorman. Curated by filmmaker Jay Craven, the series will bring nine films over the next few months to Billings' Visitor Center Theater. After tomorrow's showing, Silberfarb, Dorman, and Craven will all be on hand for a Q&A with the audience. The film also shows Sunday at 3. The rest of the lineup, starting Nov. 18-19 with a documentary about a pair of African country-western singers on a road trip through the American South, is here. And here's Tom Ayres' writeup in the Standard about Whitman Brook and the film series.
Tomorrow at 7 pm, Seven Stars Arts in Sharon hosts the Clements Brothers: identical twins (guitarist) George and (acoustic bassist) Charles, backed by drummer Mike Harmon. They've been part of the Americana scene for years—though George also took time to play Paul Simon the national tour of The Simon and Garfunkel Story, while Charles played on occasion with the Boston Symphony. They'll also be at Next Stage Arts in Putney tonight (Friday) with Québecois folk-pop singer Geneviève Racette.
Also at 7 tomorrow, and running until 10, the Norwich Women's Club puts on a sock hop in Tracy Hall: dress up for music of the '50s and '60s. Open to anyone from anywhere, and babysitting is available (parents have to remain on site if you take advantage of it).
And also at 7 tomorrow, BarnArts presents Sayon Camara, an "unusually gifted djembe drummer" from the Sankaran region of Guinea whose been in the area the last week doing school residencies. With his group Landaya (longtime collaborators Dave Kobrenski and Grant Ellerbeck), they'll "bring you to the heart of Sayon’s culture through drumming, fula flute, bolon (a traditional harp), song, and story in a participatory performance of traditional music from Sayon’s home village." At the North Chapel UU Church in Woodstock.
Sunday
At 7:30 pm, Court Street Arts presents indie Americana singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst, who over the course of eight albums has become one of the linchpins of the Boston folk scene. At Alumni Hall in Haverhill.
And let's just slip into the weekend with...
The Black Keys,
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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