GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, colder. Whatever moisture was up there got cleared out last night, and today looks to be pretty much cloudless. Winds, though, are from the north, and we probably won't be getting out of the 30s. Mostly clear tonight, low 20s.The rainbow at the edge of town. Yesterday morning's promise of better weather ahead, looking north up Main Street in Norwich, from Peter Cosco.A comic about the biodiversity of bog muck? Not quite what Henry has in mind, but he is talking to Wally and Lydia about creating a comic strip about himself. As he will for just a couple more weeks in this spot, Lebanon writer and illustrator DB Johnson chronicles the doings in his favorite patch of forest. And intriguingly, on his blog this week he sings the praises of working digitally on Lost Woods—it "takes the drudgery out of the process of creating a strip."Get ready: Temporary lane closures coming up on I-89 between NH and VT. NHDOT announced yesterday that work on the bridges spanning the Connecticut River will require northbound lane closures from near Exit 20 (the 12A exit) to the VT side over the next two weeks. These will be daytime closures Monday through Thursday next week (weather permitting) and the following week, generally from 6 am to 2 pm.Lebanon middle school, Claremont high school among NH schools targeted in apparent "active shooter" hoax. Schools all over the Granite State yesterday morning fielded calls alerting them to an active shooter—with the caller often pretending to be a school employee, WMUR reports. Law enforcement officials say the calls appear to have come from out of state, and the FBI is working with state officials. In Lebanon, police responded to a report of a shooter at the middle school "and found no unusual activity or threat," they said in a press release. The situation was similar at Stevens High School in Claremont, police there said.SPONSORED: VT goes all in on electric vehicles. As one of six states trying to fast-track EV adoption by banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, Vermont has moved a step closer to an all-electric future. Transportation ranks as the state's biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so the "clean car initiative" is a cornerstone of the state's Climate Action Plan. Hit the burgundy link for a few FAQs... and answers... about EVs, the future of EV charging, and how powering your EV with solar really seals the deal on clean energy savings. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.From meeting his future wife at the Dreamland Dance Hall to running the whole thing: Gordon Barnaby takes the helm of the Tunbridge Fair. It happened Saturday, reports Tim Calabro in the Herald, when he took over as president of the Union Agricultural Society from Alan Howe, who's stepping down after 12 years. Barnaby, who runs Corner Rail Fence in Tunbridge, has been a fair-goer for 68 years, he tells Calabro, and spent time as grounds superintendent and then running the fair's massive parking operation. “I’ve been trying to get out of that,” he jokes, “so this will get me out of that job!”in Newbury VT, residents are not backing down on planned juvenile facility. In the wake of the October court decision agreeing to the state's plan to place a six-bed secure residential facility for boys in town, state officials held a "listening session" with residents Tuesday night. And as John Lippman reports in the Valley News, "the listeners got an earful." Townspeople unloaded about safety fears, the town's low level of police services, concerns about the contractor tapped to run the facility, and more. “I’m listening. I’m hearing. I’m writing this down as best I can," said interim DCF commissioner Harry Chen.In Chelsea, selectboard candidates feel compelled "to step up." Dominic Minadeo in VTDigger talks to most of the seven residents who filed for the Jan. 3 special election to replace board members who stepped down after the highway foreman imbroglio, and if there's a common theme, it's that the town needs to regroup and they want to help it do so. Minadeo gathers the candidates' thoughts on why they're running and on the town's political woes, and reports that highway foreman Rick Ackerman is back on the job and working with one member of his crew.In Randolph, the Chandler looks within for a new leader. At least, for the time being, that is. Steve Augustus, a former member of the board of the venerable music hall, has signed a contract to take over as executive director for the next three months, reports the Herald's Tim Calabro. "I’m going to learn the job and then if we find someone great who’s better for the job and better for Chandler, great … but maybe it fits," he tells Calabro. Augustus, who sang in a funk band and once worked as a barista at Randolph's still-mourned Three Bean Café, is the Chandler's fifth director in the past eight years.From WCSU to MVSU: Woodstock-area schools to get a new name. The new Mountain Views Supervisory Union will replace the Woodstock Central name come July, reports the Vermont Standard (scroll down at the link). The change comes after a community and student survey in the district, which serves Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading, and Woodstock. Though a plurality of survey respondents "questioned the need for any name change whatsoever," Mountain Views topped the choices."If living apart is what we’ve been doing to some degree, then Living Together is a kind of tonic." In the VN, Alex Hanson writes that the Shaker Bridge Theater production of Alan Ayckbourn's witty 1973 play has added resonance in these pandemic-uncertain days. The play centers on the search for "romantic entanglement" by its protagonist, Norman, who is "both the drink and the straw that stirs it," as Hanson puts it. And though Norman's womanizing seems a product its time, Hanson writes, "Isn’t that what we all still want, the attention of those close to us, which seems in shorter supply than ever?"Play about a pair of sisters, one of them programmed with artificial intelligence, wins Neukom Award. The award, established in 2018, is aimed at works for the theater that address the question, “What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world?” writes Morgan Kelly for Dartmouth News. NYC playwright Matthew Libby's Sisters "makes us think about the emotional dimensions of the intersection of lives and the digital,” says Neukom Institute director Dan Rockmore. The play will get a weeklong workshop next month at Northern Stage, with public readings Jan. 12-13 at NS and Dartmouth.Hiking Close to Home: Reservoir Lot Trails in Charlestown, NH. This week's suggestion from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance brings you to this nearly 2-mile, moderate trail network, which includes three trails, two connected loops, and a side spur. The network also features streamside walks and wooded areas. Deer, turkey, and bear have been seen along this series of trails. Follow North Hemlock Road to the trailhead on the right, down behind an open white gate, right after the intersection with Blueberry Hill Road and before the intersection with Burroughs Road.Been paying attention to Daybreak this week? Because the Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what's the name of the business that's taken over Wing's in Fairlee and E. Thetford? And which Upper Valley dining landmark is up for sale? And who said, “I was more nervous for the alumni game than I was for Jimmy Kimmel"? You'll find those and other questions at the burgundy link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know what's been going on around the state this week—including what VTrans is using "to spread holiday cheer"?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings in the Granite State—including, who just got a new term as the state's secretary of agriculture?
"This is organic matter that we are recycling into a beneficial resource." That's Waterville, VT's Chrissy Wade talking about human waste collected by her family's composting toilet. Wade, writes Anne Wallace Allen in Seven Days, is part of a group of composting-toilet users in VT who are starting to challenge the state's strict regulations on what can be done with that waste and requiring any home built after 2007 to have a septic system. Unless composting is handled properly, Allen writes, it can harbor pathogens—an issue an informal monthly discussion group hoping to loosen state regs is grappling with.VT nonprofits struggling with job vacancies, wages, and benefits. "I’m looking at the Burlington Bagel Company as my competition,” a Burlington nonprofit exec tells VTDigger's Fred Thys, “because they’re paying a higher wage than I’m paying to people with a bachelor’s degree.” A new report from Common Good Vermont says that more than half of the nonprofits that responded to its survey report job vacancies—and more than half of those are for frontline positions working with Vermonters. As a result, Thys writes, nonprofits are boosting benefits, offering bonuses—and upping hourly wages.VT Dems may have scorned Gov. Phil Scott's voluntary family leave plan, but they're divided on what's next. The reason, writes Lola Duffort in VTDigger, is that incoming Senate president Phil Baruth argues that the legislature's top priority is expanding child care, which will be costly. “Going at two big programs at once seems to me a way to fill out a caricature of Democrats—that they are not being careful, that they're not being attentive to people's financial situation,” he tells Duffort. Baruth and House Speaker Jill Krowinski are working on a joint strategy.Sure, you could look at your watch or phone. But why do something so simple when you've got Literature Clock, which updates every minute, to tell you at 5:58 pm, say, "When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more colour to the pale cheeks." That's from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's one of goodness knows how many quotes, each specific to a minute of the day (or at least, most minutes), that are much more diverting than the morph of a digital number—or even the creep of a big hand and little hand.Almost the next best thing to being there. Watching the northern lights, that is. The travel and photography site Capture the Atlas has just updated its Northern Lights Photographer of the Year page with 25 of this year's most striking aurora borealis shots, and mostly what you come away with is awe at how otherworldly the top of the world can get. It's not all Russia and Scandinavia—there's also Michigan and New Zealand—but wherever, you get why people want to go see for themselves.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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Wassail Weekend gets going in earnest in Woodstock today, starting at 10 at Billings Farm with 1890s holiday traditions and more, then continuing at 1 with carriage rides around Woodstock, history and architectural tours starting at 4, writer Billy Sharff reading When Santa Came to Stay at the Norman Williams Public Library at 4, and bagpipe rock with Prydein at the Town Hall Theater starting at 7:30. Market, craft fair, singing, parade, Ham Gillett and, at 7:30 pm, Sweet Honey in the Rock, on Saturday.
And speaking of holiday craft fairs, you'll also find one today from 3-7 and tomorrow 9-2 at the Bugbee Senior Center in WRJ with local craftmakers showcasing crafts and artwork, along with a jewelry bazaar; the three-day Bethel Holiday Gift Market starts up today at 4 pm; a "Holiday Gift Extravaganza" tomorrow from 10-4 at the Enfield Shaker Museum, with a variety of crafts, dried herbal and floral decorations, and regional food specialties; and a holiday market at the Lake Morey Resort, with food, drink, and craft vendors from around the Upper Valley, starts tomorrow morning at 10.
Today at 5 pm, NH Humanities presents an online talk by Plymouth State history prof emeritus E. John Allen, "New Hampshire on Skis." Allen will mix Scandinavian and Austrian immigrants, the Dartmouth Outing Club, the Cannon Mountain Tramway, and other details to tell the story of early skiing in the state, the importance of ski jumping, the region's place in the national ski scene, and more.
Tonight at 7 pm at the United Church of Strafford, the Thetford Chamber Singers kick off a weekend of performances of "Rise Up and Rebuild,"their winter choral concert featuring both traditional and modern hymns, pieces by Thomas Tallis, Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies in Spanish, English, and Catalan, and traditional repertoire in Welsh and Icelandic. Tomorrow at the Church of Christ in Hanover and Sunday at the First Congregational Church of Thetford, also at 7 pm.
Also at 7, JAM in WRJ hosts "a night of acoustic guitar flurries and drones" with Nashua-based American primitive guitar player Liam Grant and Gloucester MA musician, composer, and filmmaker Ethan WL, who also fronts the noise rock band The Big Nest.
And also at 7, Fairlee Community Arts screens Jay Craven's Martin Eden. Based on Jack London's novel and filmed on Nantucket, it "tells the story of a poor and unschooled sailor (Eden), who unexpectedly meets Ruth Morse, a magnetic young woman of means and education. Their unconventional attraction upends both lives," Craven writes. He will be on hand to talk about the film and its making. At Fairlee Town Hall.
Tomorrow at 1 and 7 pm, and again Sunday at 2:30 pm, City Center Ballet presents Clara's Dream, its version of The Nutcracker, at the Lebanon Opera House. They'll be the show's first full, in-person performances since the pandemic began. New choreography, a stage all a-shimmer... and you can pre-order a "Clara's Tea Box" to take home with you afterward, filled with goods from My Brigadeiro, Dazzle Cupcakes, Lou's, Red Kite, and other local treat producers.
Also at 1 pm tomorrow, Hop Film brings in the Met Opera in HD with the world premiere of The Hours. Renée Fleming, Kelli O'Hara, and Joyce DiDonato give voice to Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name, following three women—one in 1920s England, one in 1950s California, and the third in contemporary New York City—tied together by Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. In the Loew. Here's Susan Apel's Artful writeup about it.
At 7 pm tomorrow, the 8th annual FaLaLa Holiday Revue community arts showcase takes the stage at the Briggs Opera House in WRJ. An evening of music, theater, dance and film, with performances by Here in the Valley founders Jes Raymond and Jakob Breitbach, Fiddle Ninja, NCCT members Mary and Erik Gaetz in a scene from “Almost Maine,” dancers from Dancers’ Corner, and short films and excerpts presented by JAM/White River Indie Films. Plus, a tribute to Dancers' Corner founder Doreen Keith.
At 7:30 tomorrow evening, contra dancing returns to Tracy Hall in Norwich with calling by veteran caller David Eisenstadter and music by Vermont-based, Cape Breton-inspired trio Footworks: Jacob Brillhart on fiddle, Jon Brillhart on whistle and Tory Heft on guitar. Refresher session at 7:15, masks and vax proof required.
And also at 7:30 pm tomorrow, then Sunday at 4 pm, the Bel Canto Chamber Singers celebrate the season with "Winter Dreams" at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. Music for choir, soprano, string quintet and piano, featuring the contemporary cantata Dreamweaver, based on parts of a Norwegian medieval folk poem, by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo. Soprano Mary Bonhag will join us as guest soloist. Also on the program: pieces by Hassler, Whitacre, Mendelssohn, Thompson, Dickau, and traditional carol arrangements.
And let's go into the weekend with...
...Norah Jones and Mavis Staples, in the studio taping the "Playing Along with Norah Jones" podcast,
Have a lovely weekend, and 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.
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