Daybreak Friday, 2/13/26

Sunny, temps creeping up. With high pressure in place and clear skies ahead for a while, we’ll be back to around 30 today (with wind chills in the 20s) then into the low 30s over the weekend, and then into the tropics next week as warmer air from the south starts arriving. Calm winds today, lows around 10 overnight.

Surprise!

Did you catch Dear Daybreak yesterday? If not, you missed Lori Harriman’s beautiful sun pillar over the fields of E. Thetford, Susan Orkin’s anecdote about her dog, her passport—and the helpful folks at the Grantham post office; Yue Yang’s February haiku; and Christine Hoskin’s shout-out (with photo) to the Elden Murray photo exhibition/competition at the Howe Library and how it gives amateur photographers a public chance to put their best feet forward.

Açai bowl and smoothie chain to open outpost in Hanover. There are some 300 Playa Bowl locations around the country, including six in southern or central NH, but the new spot being opened by Josh and Carrie Ayers next to the Nugget Theater will be the first between Concord and Burlington, VT. As a result, Josh Ayers tells The Dartmouth’s Haley Rodriguez and Isabela Pierry, “the focus will be on building brand recognition and introducing customers to açai bowls”—whose main ingredient is the deep purple Central and South American fruit, along with other fruit, granola, and more. “It really fits what college students want,” Ayers says. They’re hoping to open in April.

In Randolph, family will take over Joslyn House. As radio producer Erica Heilman once memorably put it, the 20-resident house is “not a nursing home. It's a house where old people live together.” For 34 years, it’s provided that sense of community for area seniors, under the auspices of the Randolph Area Community Development Corporation. But RACDC is shutting down. Now, in The Herald, Maryellen Apelquist reports that Arlene Wright, who established Joslyn House, and her two children, Bob and Becky—who help run it—are establishing a nonprofit to help keep it going and to continue giving residents “the security of having people around the dinner table that care about you,” as Bob Wright puts it.

With just two EMS volunteers, tiny Grafton close to signing ambulance deal with Canaan. It would be just for a year, reports the Valley News’s Sophia Langlois, since Canaan officials consider the $50K contract too low to cover their actual costs: They estimate it costs $1,400 to respond to a call, and $50K would net just $800 per call based on the 63 calls Canaan responded to in Grafton last year. Though some Grafton residents argue the money would be better spent on its own paid ambulance position, selectboard member Steve Darrow says of Canaan, “They respond to the calls when we cannot. They are very good partners.”

SPONSORED: Rock out in Inuktitut. Canadian Inuk artist and indie-music star Elisapie reimagines iconic pop and rock songs in her native tongue at the Hop on February 18. Think familiar hits by The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd transformed into something new but still unforgettable. Get tickets today at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

Woodstock schools facilities director: “I use the analogy of a zombie: parts of the body are falling off one at a time.” One of the most-watched town meeting votes in the Upper Valley next month will be on the proposed $111.9 million bond to build a new high school and middle school for the Mountain Views district, which serves the district’s seven towns and some 30 sending communities. If you’re looking to understand the bond and why district officials are so insistent on replacing the current 68-year-old facility, Tom Ayres’ piece in the VT Standard lays out the particulars. Including why, even if it passes, the bond is contingent on action in Montpelier.

A look at northern forests “splayed across the snow.” For instance, you’ve got your hophornbeam bracts, writes Northern Woodlands’ Jack Saul in “This Week in the Woods” for the second week of February. And gray birch cone scales, with their backward-curving lobes. Or yellow birch cone scales, which “look like little bird feet,” and quaking aspen buds. All of these—but aspen in particular—for ruffed grouse trying to overwinter. Which has been problematic as forests mature and early-succession trees like aspen die out; ruffed grouse populations have been declining as a result.

A note of appreciation for the Vermont Almanac. Volume VI of the always-striking annual journal with Upper Valley roots came out last fall. “I finally got around to picking up a copy this week,” writes Alex Hanson in the VN, “and it might be the loveliest volume yet of this small but mighty publication.” It’s got pieces about WRJ’s Junction Fiber Mill and Behind the Times, “the Vershire newspaper founded by novelist Annie Proulx in the 1980s, before she got famous and moved out west.” There’s Catherine Holland’s photo of more than 3,000 snow buntings on the Connecticut in Newbury. It’s an “undersung” publication, Hanson writes, worth seeking out.

Hiking Close to Home: Britton Forest’s Black Bear Loop, Hanover, NH. Just beyond Hanover, the Black Bear Loop offers a 1.2-mile moderate hike through 79 acres of forest on Moose Mountain's northwest flank. Built in 2020 by UVTA's High School Trail Corps and volunteers from Hypertherm, the trail winds through conservation land with natural and historical attractions. Perfect for a quick winter (and, really, any season) outing and wildlife spotting opportunities.

An intriguing mountain lion debate. At the burgundy link, you’ll find an op-ed published Wednesday by top officials at VT Fish & Wildlife asking advocates for mountain lion reintroduction to slow down; the group Mighty Earth is pressing to see them back in VT in four years. There’s a long list of unknowns, the officials write, “before we can responsibly grapple with deeper questions like whether bringing mountain lions here is the right thing to do, both for our communities and for the cats themselves”—not least the unease neighboring states express. The commentary touched off a long thread of FB comments on whether the cats are already here.

Daybreak’s Upper Valley News Quiz. Were you paying attention this week? Because we’ve got questions! Like, where’d Stateline Sports just move to? And what kind of students did Colby-Sawyer just get a ton of money to help support? Meanwhile, you’ll find NHPR’s New Hampshire quiz here, and Seven Days’ Vermont quiz here.

NH is raking in the money from gambling. All told, reports the Concord Monitor’s Sruthi Gopalakrishnan (here via NHPR), “casino betting in New Hampshire is generating half a billion dollars a year in revenue”—and that doesn’t include the lottery or sports betting. The state itself took in $60.2 million last year from casinos, compared to $35.2 million in 2024. Charities and nonprofits that partner with casinos saw $64 million, up from $39.3 million in 2024. And gambling operators hauled in $250 million in 2025 “from horse racing and games of chance alone, with video lottery games on track to generate $75 million a year.”

Circus Smirkus cancels 2026 tour. The Greensboro, VT-based company known for its effervescent summertime shows around New England won’t go out on the road this summer as it grapples with a series of financial and organizational challenges, reports VT Public. In an email to supporters at the end of January, executive director Rachel Schiffer wrote that the board and staff had explored various alternatives: “Ultimately, none could be implemented responsibly without placing undue strain on staff capacity, timelines, or financial sustainability. Moving forward under those conditions would have put the integrity of the program — and the organization itself — at risk.” Smirkus’s camp and residencies will continue, and Schiffer expects a tour in 2027.

With long-sought agreement, Green River Reservoir is safe, for now. On Wednesday, reports Seven Days’ Kevin McCallum, VT officials, environmental groups, and Morrisville Water & Light announced they’ve arrived at a plan resolving a years-long dispute over the dam’s fate—and with it, that of the popular boating site it creates. Faced with state regulations it said made running the dam impossible, the power company had sought to decommission the dam. Instead, McCallum reports, the company will withdraw its request, and the state will reconsider its water quality rules, which an independent study found make running the dam uneconomical.

Jessie Diggins takes bronze in women’s 10K. The already-legendary Minnesota native, who skis for the Stratton Mountain School’s elite T-2 team, pushed through a rib injury yesterday to make the podium in her final Olympics, collapsing in pain after crossing the finish line. She was “decked out in her signature glitter and the very same hair tinsel she wore at the 2018 Games,” writes The Athletic’s Rebecca Tauber (gift link). “I was just insanely grateful to my entire team for getting me to that start line,” Diggins said after the race, “and then helping me at the finish line.” Here’s the race.

A brilliant image that lifts “both the spirit and the soul.” Even standing still, the Himalayan Monal is a dazzling bird, with iridescent feathers in a rainbow of colors. At Tharpaling Monastery in Bhutan, 11,800 feet high, wildlife photographer Sudhir Hasamnis was determined to catch one in flight, writes Regina Sienra on My Modern Met. One frigid day he spotted two Monals on a ledge. He lined up a shot, lay on the icy ground, and waited … and waited … until, 20 minutes later, strolling monks startled the birds, who took off. It is, Hasamnis says, a reminder “that patience, respect for nature, and perseverance are always rewarded.”

Dog. Bone. At the end of a long week, could there be anything better than Mabel on her back, paws in the air, tail wagging enthusiastically, looking at you adoringly (or maybe it’s expectantly) while Olive slumbers nearby?

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak. Just use the same link tomorrow and Sunday for new words from publications around the region.

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HEADS UP

Looking for things to do this weekend? Check out the Weekend Heads Up here. Also, one thing that didn’t make it into yesterday afternoon’s email: Sunday at 4 pm, pianist Annemieke McLane will play a concert of music by Debussy, Poulenc, Pierne, and Satie at the United Church of Strafford.

And for today...

The first known television recording of jazz great Vince Guaraldi and his trio playing “Linus and Lucy”—and riffing on it in ways you almost certainly haven’t heard before. As one commenter writes, “How can you not be happy when you hear this?...” And another writes, “Arguably the greatest mustache in jazz history.”

See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.

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