GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Getting a bit sunnier. Thanks to a warm front that came through last night, temps start this morning in mid or upper 30s and get into the low 40s until mid-afternoon, when they start dropping. That's because as low pressure's headed out, cold air is moving in, so we may see some serious wind gusts from the west—like, in the 30-40 mph range—this afternoon. Otherwise, we'll be going from mostly to partly cloudy skies. Down to the mid-20s by tomorrow morning. Oh: If you live on dirt, check your road this morning.Winter birds
For starters, there's Jim Block's new blog post, with a bevy of Lapland longspurs and eye-catching horned larks, an elusive shot of a snow bunting in flight, juncos, pine grosbeaks, and a pair of highly charismatic bald eagles.
And if you prefer action, Skip and Marilyn Sturman send along a pileated woodpecker "doing its darndest to take down a crabapple tree" that stands by their home in Thetford.
Woodstock Elementary roiled by administration response to alleged threat by 4th grader, charges of "endemic" bullying. The incident, whose details remain fuzzy, involved a 9-year-old boy allegedly showed a bullet to another student on the bus and saying he'd use it to harm a child he's been accused of bullying all school year, reports the VT Standard's Tom Ayres. The school's response spurred both a teacher and a school board member to resign. At a meeting Monday night, parents gave school officials an earful about an “'inexcusable' communication failure." The supt.'s response is here.Lebanon nonprofit works to make anti-overdose drug easily available. LISTEN has already had occasion to use the "NaloxBox"—containing doses of the anti-opioid drug naloxone, or Narcan—at its WRJ community dinner site. The Kilton Library in West Leb has installed one; the Leb Library has one ready to go. It's all the work of Leb's HIV/HCV Resource Center and its partners, reports Nora Doyle-Burr in the Valley News. The goal, says the center's Angel Hudson, is to “prevent people from dying so they have another chance to make a choice, possibly for recovery." Doyle-Burr details the effort and its history.SPONSORED: The winter whipsaw—minus 108 wind chill on Mount Washington but ever-milder winters. What gives? With two outbreaks of the Polar Vortex in just the last six weeks, is New England’s climate not only getting warmer, but more erratic and extreme? This has important implications for how we’ll heat and cool our homes in the future. Hit the burgundy link for a look at our winter weather swings, what’s behind the recent southward plunges of the Polar Vortex, and three long-term regional weather trends affecting the Upper Valley over the last 120 years. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Orange County sheriff: "We're taking baby steps in the right direction." When George Contois took over his department Feb. 1 from longtime Sheriff Bill Bohnyak, he found an office "in tatters," writes Darren Marcy in the Herald. It has just five officers, including Contois, compared to 21 late last year. The whole administrative staff had left. And, Contois tells Marcy, "he found thousands of dollars in bills and basically no cash on hand to pay them." Even so, he's been able to make a couple of administrative hires; officers will be tougher, since the department can't match salaries being paid elsewhere.Claremont city council reverses itself, decides to unseat one of its members. James Contois had actually faced two efforts to remove him recently, and both initially failed: once for failing to report accurately to the Council about a decision by the city's Historic District Commission, and once for allegedly pressuring the police chief to lift a no-trepassing order. The first motion failed last week on a 4-4 vote, but at a council meeting Wednesday, reports Patrick O'Grady in the VN, Assistant Mayor Deb Matteau changed her position after she decided Contois had deliberately misled the council.Upper Valleyites compete in Nordic, biathlon ski championships. In all, six skiers with roots in the Ford Sayre ski program are representing the US on the world stage. At the junior world championships in Whistler, BC, the VN reports, Lyme's Evan Nichols and Norwich's Caleb Zuckerman were part of a fourth-place US finish in the Nordic Combined, while Lyme's Jack Lange was five seconds out of a top-10 finish in the 10K skate race. W. Fairlee's Tara Geraghty-Moats and Springfield NH's Tim Cunningham are on the US rosters for the biathlon World Championships (Moats) and International Biathlon Union cup (Cunningham). Norwich's Hannah Chipman will be at junior Worlds.Skiing and Snowshoeing Close to Home: Hartland Winter Trails. Started in the early 1970's, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, Hartland Winter Trails have grown to a 16+ mile network of groomed ski and snowshoe trails that loop through the fields and forests of Hartland. The trails vary in length and difficulty and are groomed by a volunteer when snow conditions allow. Trails are located on private land and should be used for only skiing/snowshoeing and only in the winter. Primary parking is near the Three Corners Fire Station, but three other trailheads with parking lots provide access points to the trail network as well.
That's Gunstock general manager Tom Day, talking about the ski mountain's efforts to ensure snow—these days, increasingly through snow-making. In
NH Business Review
Amanda Andrews talks to Day about Gunstock's SnowRight GPS system for measuring snow depth, and surveys other ski areas—Pats Peak, Loon, Mad River Glen—about how they're adapting. Especially since NH has had an average temperature of 28.1 degrees this winter, 6.4 degrees warmer than its average since 1901.
Energy efficiency advocates worry NH's public utilities commission is prepping to cut state's efficiency programs again. It already did it once, in a move that was reversed by the legislature. But now, reports Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin, a new report from the PUC "appears to cast doubts on how the state assesses its energy efficiency investments"—and advocates, including NH Consumer Advocate Don Kreis—believe that the report's analysis offers the PUC "a roadmap to future cuts to energy efficiency programs."
Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, where's Denver Ferguson, the artist and cashier at the Upper Valley Food Co-op in WRJ, headed next month? And what's one cause of burst pipes around the Upper Valley. And dang, where are those chairs that have been appearing in a Green's warming hut from? 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 knowif you know what's been going on around the state this week—like, what was the response to those hoax shooting calls around the state?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questionsabout doings in the Granite State—like, what happened later than it's ever happened on Lake Winnipesaukee this week?
Events began Monday when Windham state Sen. Nader Hashim—a former state trooper—learned of an off-duty party at which troopers from the Westminster Barracks, playing an online game, posted rap lyrics using racist and other highly offensive language. In
VTDigger
(burgundy link), Sarah Mearhoff details the allegations (
language warning
) and writes that Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison initially declined to open an investigation, then reversed course Wednesday. Late yesterday,
.
But it's for a good cause. In
Seven Days
, Sally Pollak reports that the popular bakery in Middlesex VT is raising prices 5 percent starting next week, then using the new revenue for a 7.5 percent pay raise for the company’s roughly 60 employees. Simultaneously, it's getting rid of its electronic point-of-sale tipping system—whose proceeds never went to employees, but instead to an area nonprofit. “We believe in compensating [employees] and giving people benefits,” owner Randy George says. “We’re not relying on customers to kick in the extra bit.”
Barn weddings might be all the rage, but it’s a stretch to call some venues authentic (chandeliers hanging from the rafters?). That’s not the case with Landgoes Farm in Tunbridge. In
Seven Days
, Kirk Kardashian talks to owners John O'Brien and Emily Howe and to couples who were married there to learn what makes this location so special. It’s beautiful, sheep graze peacefully in the meadow, and the cost is set with locals in mind. And there are extra not-so-little touches, like the Scottish Highland cow that will bless the wedding dress.
One of the last two Northern White rhinos in the world napping with her caretaker, polar bears in crisis, the beauty of the Namib Desert... The winners of the Travel Photographer of the Year Awards have been announced, and the photos in My Modern Met's recap take you deep into the world, from the dromedaries of a salt caravan in the Sahara to a Baka pygmy child in southeast Cameroon to the world's sixth largest salt flat, in Argentina.
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Sweatshirts, hats, and, of course, coffee/tea/cocoa mugs. It's all available thanks to Strong Rabbit Designs in Sharon. Check out what's available and wear it or drink from it proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
Rather than maintain a single art spot, New London's Center for the Arts has sprinkled "microgalleries" throughout the community: at the New London Inn, Bar Harbor Bank, New London Barn, the Tatewell and Candita Clayton galleries, and Blue Loon Bakery. Today starting at 5, it's holding opening receptions and artists' talks at most of those locations, including for Where Painterly Art and Photography Converge, a group show by local visual artists; acrylic painter Kim Schusler; and 14-year-old Grace Scarlet, whose work and story were just featured on WMUR's "New Hampshire Chronicle."
And starting at 6 this evening, Artistree is throwing first a tango dance lesson and then, at 7, a milonga, or tango dance party. Dartmouth's Keysi Montás will lead the lesson, teaching basic tango steps so you can immerse yourself in the Argentinian style of tango, which Artistree writes is "a social and improvisational style of dance." Tango Norte—Bob Merrill on piano, Thal Aylward on violin, and Peter Concilio on bass—will provide the music throughout.
At 7:30 this evening, the coffeehouse at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley, now dubbed Roots & Wings, returns for the first time in three years. And it's bringing in singer/songwriter Crys Matthews—who was the last singer to appear there before things shut down in 2020. A preacher's kid from southeastern North Carolina, she can go bluesy or folky or country soul; her song, "Changemakers," won the 2022 International Folk Music Award for best song.
And tonight at 10 (doors at 9), the stage at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover brings in the Conniption Fits—Stevens Blanchard with vocals and guitar, Shawn Snyder on drums, and bass player Jamie Hosley working as hard as ever to get you on your feet.
A quick heads up that tomorrow's Upper Valley Trails Alliance Skate-a-thon has been cancelled for obvious reasons (the third year this has happened), and, sadly, won't be rescheduled.
Tomorrow (Saturday) from 10 am until noon, Sustainable Hanover is holding a Styrofoam collection event for residents of Hanover and nearby towns. It will be at Hanover Public Works (194 Lebanon Street), and can take foam packing blocks, coolers, clean meat and produce trays, egg cartons, and clean plates and cups. Please remove any tape.
At 3 pm tomorrow and Sunday, Billings Farm's film series brings in Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine's 2022 documentary about what is probably Cohen's most famous song. Of course, it's not just about the song, but about Cohen himself as well as the odyssey he undertook to write and record it, along with plenty of reflections from musical artists who knew him or recorded the song. It's all based heavily on Alan Light's book The Holy or the Broken, and Light—along with film series curator Jay Craven—will be on hand after Saturday's screening to talk about it all.
And tomorrow evening at 7, Hop Film puts The Princess Bride on the big screen in the Loew Auditorium. Yep. Buttercup, Wesley, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die", and, of course, "They’re kissing again. Do we have to hear the kissing part?"
At 7:30 tomorrow evening (with a refresher session at 7:15), contra dancing returns to Tracy Hall in Norwich with calling by Sonya Kaufman, taking a break from the Field Naturalist Program at UVM, and music by Blind Squirrel: Erin Smith and Steve Hoffman on fiddle, Suzanne Long on fiddle and cello, and Chip Hedler on guitar drawing from traditional and modern Quebecois, southern old-time, Celtic, and northern New England sources. Masks required.
Also at 7:30 but a bit of a drive down the road, Next Stage Arts in Putney presents Argentinian singer and guitarist Cecilia Zabala and Cathedral of St. John the Divine artist-in-residence and Paul Winter Consort cellist Eugene Friesen (who happens to live in VT). Zabala's on tour at the moment, and when she passes through southeast Vermont she and Friesen like to perform together, but it doesn't happen often. This is your chance.
At 9 pm tomorrow, Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover hosts The Evocatives, a southwestern NH indie rock group "pursuing an original sound that is influenced by world music, classic rock and alternative sensibilities." Doors open at 8.
On Sunday at 3 pm, Upper Valley Music Center faculty members Ben Kulp (on cello) and William Ögmundson (piano) present a concert of music they return to over and over, with a program that includes Kodály's Sonata for Solo Cello in B Minor, Louis Gottschalk's Souvenir of Andalusia, Debussy's Arabesque No. 1... and Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters." At the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.
Also at 3 on Sunday, Revels (Boston) master of ceremonies and maritime music expert David Coffin (of the Strafford Coffins) leads a sea shanty singalong as part of Dartmouth's Winter Carnival. In the Collis Center, but open to the public.
And finally, also at 3 on Sunday, the Upper Valley Community Band presents its first concert since the pandemic, in the Richmond Middle School auditorium in Hanover. The program includes concert band arrangements of “Old American Dances”, a medley from The King and I, a symphonic portrait from Cole Porter, A Moorside Suite in three movements by Gustav Holst, “Homage to Bharat” by Brian Balmages, and several other compositions. As music director Mark Nelson puts it, "our concert will present an "adventuresome program crackling with energy and sure to raise one’s spirits.”
And to take us into Friday...
You've probably heard it before, but since Eugene Friesen is going to be taking the stage tomorrow night, why not again?
, with Winter on soprano sax, Theresa Thomason on vocals, Friesen on cello, Henrique Eisenmann on piano, and Jeff Boratko on bassoon.
Have a lovely weekend!
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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