AND A FINE PALINDROME DAY TO YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
I know, we've had two already and there are eight more to go this month, but isn't 12/3/21 especially satisfying?Bundle up! Yesterday, a warm air mass brought us all that fog and rain. But the winds early this morning? That was an arctic air mass announcing itself. So we'll see clouds in the morning then sun. But it won't be very effective sun: Highs might get up to around 30, depending on where you are, then temps will drop into the mid-teens tonight. Gusty winds today from the northwest.Drones are great, but if you really want vistas... you need an airplane. That's what a look at photographer Jim Block's latest blog post makes clear. Back in the winter of 2014, Block did a photo essay for Upper Valley Life about the Post Mills Airport that included several flights with pilots Tim Chow and Rick Sheppe. He took a lot of pics that never made it into the article, and now he's publishing them—of the airport itself, lakes Fairlee and Morey, Bradford, Piermont, the Whites, Franconia Notch..."So you could be meeting a tree." Astoundingly, it's Week 53 of Lost Woods, and Wally's all hot to tout his UrthLinx to Henry, while Auk and Eddie decide rockmen are cooler than snowmen. Artist and writer DB Johnson has done a thorough revamp of the Lost Woods website, making it easier to navigate (you now scroll top to bottom), get to the archive, go back or forward a week or even go back all the way to beginning. Check it out."Here I have all this space—and it’s not even that much space, it’s just, like, a wider desk, but it just feels so freeing." You may have seen Agnes Lee's work illustrating the NYT's "Metropolitan Diary." You may even have seen Agnes Lee—she's this year's Cornish CCS fellow, having left NYC to spend a month in the guest house on cartoonist Harry Bliss's Cornish property. In Junction mag, Hazel-Dawn Dumpert talks to Lee about becoming a cartoonist, what it's like spending time in Cornish, the wonders of the Center for Cartoon Studies library, and the graphic novel she's working on while in Cornish.Been paying attention this week? The guys who run The News Quiz have some questions for you. Like, what is it police are looking for in two states? And what did the Hartford Selectboard decide about face masks the other night? And what's New London Hospital's new center all about? You'll find those and others at the maroon link. Meanwhile, feel free to try your hand at the Dartmouth-specific quiz pulled together by The Dartmouth.SPONSORED: Been to the gift market at 11 Bank Street in Lebanon? That’s where AVA Gallery's hundreds of artist elves from VT and NH are showing their paintings, photographs, sculptures, jewelry, ornaments, and more. It’s all great stuff, and you’ll be in a beautifully restored garment factory where sewing machine needles can be found between the cracks of the floorboards. Don’t miss the Wennberg 2022 desk calendar—buy it ($25), write a note, wrap it up...done! 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of the calendar benefit AVA. Sponsored by Friends of AVA Gallery. Hiking Close to Home: Rinker Steele Natural Area in Hanover. This is a hilly, heavily wooded tract owned by the town and conserved in 2010 by the Hanover Conservancy, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance says. It's situated above the Connecticut River, with the Brookside Trail skirting the edge of Rinker Pond and leading uphill to a plateau above the pond. The Quarry Loop takes you past the granite quarry used for the DOC building and St. Denis Church, and a trail connects to the Storrs Pond and Oak Hill network. Access on Route 10.And speaking of trails... This is a bonus photo for the day, of the first snowfall on the trail up Whitcomb Hill in Strafford, by Daisy Hebb. The trail is part of a 30-mile trail system that, writes Mike Hebb, "has exceptional views to the Whites in the east and the Greens to the west. Most of the trails are on private property so we are especially thankful for the many land owners who allow the public to hike their land." Here's the conservation commission's trail guide.And while you're out there in the woods... The VT Center for Ecostudies' "Field Guide to December" is full of stuff (with great photos as illustrations) to notice—or not, in the case of Julia Pupko's quick tutorial on hibernation. She also delves into martens and fishers and their differences, those nests you can see these days up in the bare trees, and winter wrens. Also, Jason Loomis on why many oak, beech, and hornbeam trees keep their leaves well into winter. Returning captive hares to the wild, repealing state payments for crop and livestock damage caused by bears, more lunch leisure for students. There'll be plenty of headline-grabbing debate in the NH legislature's session next year, but before things get going, NH Bulletin's Amanda Gokee, Ethan DeWitt, and Annmarie Timmins look at some under-the-radar bills. Those bears? Since 1895 the state has compensated farmers for damage they cause, paying out anywhere from $9,082 to $80,767 a year since 2011; the bill would end this. Another would require school lunch breaks of at least a half hour.With Covid hospitalizations rising, NH legislative committee approves $90 million to ease bottlenecks. The federal aid will be used in part to move patients who are waiting to be discharged and don't have a long-term care facility lined up yet, reports NHPR's Todd Bookman. “By moving one long-term care resident out, you are able to service dozens of acute care patients in that same bed,” health commissioner Lori Shibinette told the committee. The committee also approved $6 million in contracts with agencies that deploy traveling nurses. Next stop: the Exec Council.Higher-than-expected tax revenues may produce $90 million VT education funding surplus. That's the import of a set of financial projections the state's tax commissioner sent to the legislature Wednesday, reports VTDigger's Peter D'Auria. “It’s really unprecedented to have that much money on the bottom line carrying over from one year to the next. We’ve never had anything like this," commissioner Craig Bolio tells him. The predictions are still preliminary, officials warn, but if the legislature opted to return all the money to taxpayers, the average school tax bill would drop about 9 percent.“Some people ask like, ‘What religion are you?’ And I kind of jokingly say, ‘Phish is my religion.' But, you know... is that really a joke?" As you know, VPR's Brave Little State dives into questions on the minds of listeners. For S. Woodstock's Ethan Weinstein, that question was, "‘Why do people like Phish? And how did they become such a big part of Vermont music culture?" VPR's Josh Crane took him up on it. "This particular piece is one for everyone who’s kind of on the fence about Phish," Crane says, by way of introduction. "I am here to help you understand what Phish is all about."Heated stone flooring. In a treehouse. This one happens to be in Sunapee, and you can rent it out, Boston mag's Erin Kayata and Madeline Bilis say. They round up eight guest treehouses around New England, and it's pretty clear these were not built out of scrap wood. Four of them are in Vermont, in or with a view of the Greens. They're not cheap, but if you're looking to get away and gain some perspective... Though that one in Maine where you get from the bedroom to the bathroom via a rope bridge could be interesting."It's like a Starbucks, but it's like, more than making it, you order a caramel frappuccino and then they go find the beans." So let's say you ordered a couch months ago. And it still hasn't arrived. Because supply chain. BUT WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN, DANG IT??!! Well, there's this guy, Taha Khan, who helps run a YouTube channel dedicated to answering questions like that. And he happens to have ordered a couch months ago and is ticked it hasn't arrived yet... 14 minutes, but you'll totally sound like you know what you're talking about at the holidays. Which, in fact, you will.
The numbers...Daybreak reports Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Dartmouth's dashboard reports 13 active student cases (both undergrad and grad), and 13 (-3) among faculty/staff. The dashboard also reports 89 combined new cases among students over the past seven days, as well as 26 among faculty/staff. 13 students are in isolation, along with 27 faculty/staff.
NH reported 1,190 new cases Tuesday, 1,239 Wednesday, and 1,134 yesterday, bringing its total to 163,961. There were 38 deaths over that time, bringing the total to 1,732. NH's seven-day case rate is now 505.4 cases per 100,000, the highest in the country, according to the CDC. The state reports 8,251 active cases (+1,173 since Monday and a new record) and 397 (+20) hospitalizations. It tallies 557 (+106) active cases in Grafton County, 394 (+17) in Sullivan, and 910 (+159) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont has 148 (-11); Newport 98 (+13); Lebanon 97 (+9); Hanover 68 (-8); Haverhill 47 (+11); Charlestown 44 (+21); Warren 25 (+19); Sunapee 24 (-9); Canaan 20 (+3); Enfield 19 (-3); Rumney 15 (+2); Croydon 14 (+4); Wilmot 12 (+2); Newbury 11 (no change); Grantham 10 (-1); New London 9 (-5); Orford 7 (+at least 3); Grafton 7 (+1); Plainfield 6 (no change); Wentworth 6 (+at least 2); and Piermont, Lyme, Springfield, and Cornish 1-4 each.
VT notched a single-day record yesterday, reporting 604 new cases. Along with 227 Tuesday and 504 Wednesday, that brings its total to 51,134. There were 4 deaths over that time; they now number 414. As of yesterday, 76 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (+8). Windsor County has seen 151 new cases over the last three days, for a total of 3,799 for the pandemic, with 574 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 42 cases, with 149 over the past two weeks for a total of 1,769 for the pandemic.
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Starting today at 4 pm (and again tomorrow from 9-3), the annual holiday craft fair returns to the Bugbee Senior Center in WRJ, showcasing the works of 17 local craftspeople—from jewelry to quilts to custom woodworking. And also at 4 pm (and again a week from today at the same time), the Hanover Improvement Society hosts its annual wreath sale out on the Nugget terrace (no link).
If you want to be out and about a bit after dark, Dartmouth's lighting up its Christmas tree on the green at 5:10—with cookies and hot chocolate at hand.
And, of course, it's First Friday in WRJ, with arts receptions everywhere you turn: at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, Kishka, Scavenger, Tourist, Zollikofer (in the Hotel Coolidge). Plus DJs Sean (Livemixkings) and Copious at Revolution, and open studios at the Main Street Museum.
At 7 pm, you get a chance that doesn't come along very often: novelists Jodi Picoult and Chris Bohjalian sitting down together, in person, to talk about Picoult's new novel, Wish You Were Here. The event, presented by the Norwich Bookstore and Still North Books & Bar at the Hanover Inn, brings together two nationally renowned, best-selling writers to talk storytelling, craft, and current events—the pandemic figures front and center in Picoult's novel. Tickets (which get you the book), masks, proof of vaccination, and photo ID required to attend.
Also at 7, the Fort at No. 4 in Charlestown kicks off two weekends of an immersive version of A Christmas Carol, as both cast from the River Theater Company of Charlestown and the audience travel through the village of Number 4, both indoors and out, to recreated "the Georgian and Victorian experience" of Dickens's classic.
This evening at 7:30, Momix starts up its two-day run at the Hop's Moore Theater. The troupe—founded by Pilobolus co-founder Moses Pendleton—has always aimed to transport and amuse audiences using all the tools at its disposal: dancers, lighting, sound, props, effects. This weekend's two-act set brings in pieces of new works and some much-loved classics, including Botanica, Alchemia, and Opus Cactus. Also tomorrow at 2 and 7:30.
Also tonight at 7:30, Classicopia begins its weekend run of "Four Hand Holiday"—holiday classics arranged for four-hand piano. Daniel Weiser and Elizabeth Borowsky will perform a "virtuosic ballet of 20 fingers"—on a single piano—with carols, the Nutcracker, and more. Tonight's concert is at the Old South Church in Windsor; tomorrow at 7:30 pm they'll be at the home of Marilyn and Al Austin-Nelson in Hanover; and Sunday at 1 pm at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.
And also at 7:30 tonight, the Anonymous Coffeehouse holds its season finale at Lebanon's First Congregational Church. First up, Green Heron, the NH Seacoast singer-songwriter duo of Betsy and Scott Heron with folk, bluegrass, Irish, and blues; at 8:15 it's Boston-based Crowe's Pasture, Monique Byrne and Andy Rogovin, with a mix of folk originals and covers; and at 9 pm, Dan and the Dinosaurs, the veteran local country/bluegrass band.
Tomorrow starting at 2 pm, Lebanon holds its Tis the Season downtown celebration with card-making, horse-drawn carriage rides and other activities at Colburn Park; a preview of Revels North's Christmas Revels Festival on the steps of the opera house from 4 to 4:15; the long-awaited unveiling of the public art going into the new rail-trail tunnel at 4:15 (more about that here in Susan Apel's Artful write-up); caroling led by the Upper Valley Music Center at 4:45; and the tree lighting in Colburn Park at 5:15.
And Hanover kicks off Hanover Home for the Holidays with two notable events tomorrow: a chili cookoff starting at 5 with Boloco, the Co-op kitchen, Lou's, Main Street Kitchens, and Pine duking it out in the outdoor huts along Allen Street; then, at 7, Hanover picks up on the silent disco craze with Livemixkings spinning tunes to your headsets at the parking garage on S. Main.
Let's close out the week with a light step and a beat... from the 1600s. Athanasius Kircher was a Jesuit priest who was interested in pretty much everything. Geography, languages, medicine, bioluminescence, Egypt, China. Once, he had himself lowered into the crater of Vesuvius after an eruption so he could take a look. He also constructed the first known Aeolian harp and was especially intrigued by the therapeutic effects of music. You can see for yourself,
Have a fine weekend! 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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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