GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Heads up: No Daybreak Monday. And possibly Tuesday. I'll be attending a funeral, but timing's a little uncertain. If you don't see Daybreak Tuesday, that's why; if you do, it'll be the mid-morning, CoffeeBreak version.Mostly sunny, slightly warmer. We're definitely well into regulation sugaring weather, with temps running about where they should be for this time of year. Highs today could pass the 40-degree mark, lows tonight in the mid-20s. The morning should be pretty sunny, but clouds will build in as the day goes on. Winds today from the northwest, chance of snow overnight.Yesterday a hawk. Today, an eagle. Two of them, actually, from Quechee photographer Lisa Lacasse. "An adult and a juvenile feasted together on a meal on the snowy frozen Ottauquechee," she writes. "I arrived at the tail end of the meal, but I could see footprints in the snow leading to where they were eating, so I am thinking there was something running across the snow and the eagles decided it was time for lunch." Here's the adult in flight, and the juvenile on the river.And now it's NH towns' turn. Town and school meetings are teeing up on the east side of the river, and as they just finished doing for the west side, the Valley News's reporters have sketched out warrant issues and selectboard contests in each town, and dived deeper into a few questions up for grabs next week, including whether Orford should buy the aging Orford Congregational Church, which the congregation can no longer afford to maintain; whether members of the Charlestown Fire Department should hire their own chief; and what's driving Enfield's proposed 12.7 percent budget increase."Nobody is knocking down doors to become police officers.” That was one of the relative handful of Randolph residents taking the floor at town meeting to advocate for the town's funding request to rebuild a police department for Randolph Village. In one of the more intriguing votes to come out of last week's round of town meetings, voters turned down the request. In the Herald, Jamaica Kelley details the debate (held at the Chandler Music Hall), which had village residents urging a "no" vote in hopes it would spur "a community-wide dialogue and exploration of ways to share the tax burden."SPONSORED: Community power is coming to NH. Will it help green the grid? Four Upper Valley towns are now part of the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, launching next month. For those who aren't able to install a solar Tracker or other solar at home (the cleanest energy solutions), this move could save ratepayers money and offer a path to cleaner energy, but that path still needs to be defined. Hit the burgundy link for what lies ahead, and more on putting solar power in your own backyard. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.The LA Times just named five finalists for its Best Graphic Novel/Comic of the Year. Three are by artists with ties to the Center for Cartoon Studies. Robyn Smith, who's up for Wash Day Diaries, teaches there; the book's writer, Jamila Rowser, was a recent visiting artist. And two others, Tommi Parrish's Men I Trust and Noah Van Sciver's Joseph Smith and the Mormons, are by past CCS fellows. "It’s so incredible to see graphic novels being recognized for their literary value," says Michelle Ollie, CCS' president and co-founder.String Quartet No. 1: The Importance of Being Little. The new piece by Etna's Travis Ramsey, who teaches music at the Marion Cross School in Norwich, gets its world premiere next Wednesday in Toronto, writes Alex Hanson in the VN. It's based on Ramsey's own experiences as a father with young kids, and on a 2016 book by Norwich's Erika Christakis on the importance of play and children's ability to learn in any setting and about any matter. Hanson talks to Ramsey about how the piece came about, its upcoming performance, and why he teaches music composition to schoolkids.Hiking Close to Home: The Warren Recreational Rail Trail, Warren, NH. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance says this is a pleasant, 5-mile multipurpose route that passes along scenic Black Brook. The hard-packed dirt surface is generally wide, smooth and flat, and motorized use is permitted, making it popular among ATV riders in summer and snowmobilers in winter. The trail starts at the Redstone missile brought to Warren by a resident as a relic of America's space program. There is a trailhead in downtown Warren as well as another on Mt Moosilauke Highway, shared with the Appalachian Trail.Ever wonder what it's like grooming an xc ski trail in the middle of the night right as a snow storm winds down? If you're Ben up at Green's in Dorchester, you're listening to Beethoven's Fifth while the snow-covered trail and woods beside it rise up to meet your headlights, and the track slowly stretches out behind you. Green's recently posted this video on its FB page.Hey Upper Valley! Don't trash our Little Free Libraries! "In the past few weeks," writes Kathryn Rachael on the Upper Valley VT/NH FB group (sorry, you have to be a member, but there over 22,600, so maybe you're one?) "there has been a pattern of people leaving 5-10 boxes of books strewn on the ground around the libraries, books thrown on top of others in a pile to the point everything falls out of the library onto the ground, and even boxes full of things like used 2016 calendars...and moldy diploma holders." She points out there are better places to leave decent used books in the Upper Valley.Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what's coming soon to downtown WRJ, thanks to COVER? And what does the VT Center for Ecostudies think you shouldn't buy online? And who did the NH Liquor Commission try to bar from buying alcohol in New Hampshire, only to backtrack? More at the 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—like, what might three VT schools win as part of a national campaign to combat mental illness and childhood obesity?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questionsabout doings in the Granite State—like, what did UNH's marine robotics team help discover at the bottom of Lake Huron?
“It’s a state of institutional servitude.” Remember yesterday's news that NH is going to deploy National Guard members to the state men's prison to fill in for staff vacancies? The Boston Globe's Amanda Gokee (paywall) dug into what's feeding the problem, which among other things has forced the prison to cut back on both visitors and services such as mental health programming. In part, union officials tell her, it's the workload: multiple 16-hour shifts have "destroyed morale in the facility." And in part they blame the state's 2011 change to the retirement package for drying up the pipeline of new corrections officers.In Franklin NH, things get heated on police response to vitriol—and to complaints about that response. It began last summer, after restaurant owner Miriam Kovacs spoke out against a white supremacy group and faced months of harassment as a result. She reported it to the police—who responded sympathetically but, she contends, with more rhetoric than action. Now, she's embroiled in a clash with the town's police chief over her criticism, and over a police investigation of her boyfriend, a former police officer. The Boston Globe's Steven Porter talks it over with NHPR's Rick Ganley.And statewide in NH, things get heated about snowmobilers using hand signals to communicate. The debate's actually been going on for decades, but this recent round was touched off by an article by Maj. David Walsh, NH Fish & Game's asst. chief of law enforcement, who was sideswiped by a snowmobiler who'd taken his hand off the handlebar to signal. Walsh gave him a ticket, then took to the state snowmobile association's website. "Where do I begin in detailing how dangerous using hand signals while snowmobiling is?" he wrote. The NHSA's FB page lit up with deeply felt comments on both sides."Yeah, I think Miss Piggy would be very happy there.” That's a former resident of Burlington's North End talking to Vermont Public's Josh Crane about the new all-pink decor in what used to be his flat—until the rental company turned it into an Airbnb. On Brave Little State, Crane digs into the changes short-term rentals are imposing on Vermont. He talks to rental owners, often Vermonters themselves, and to the neighbors, who bear the brunt of traffic and drunk guests. He looks into the numbers—total rentals are up 20 percent since 2019. And he looks at the debate on whether short-term rentals are feeding VT's extreme housing crisis. A must if you're interested in the topic.Hey, VT's got ice-out pools. Why not a first-truck-stuck-in-the-Notch pool? You've gotta admit, it's a brilliant idea, and as WCAX's Hailey Morgan reports, the Stowe Rotary Club has just had it. They've created a "Stuck Truck Online Pool"—10 bucks to guess the date and time the first truck of the year tangles things up for everyone else trying to get through Smugglers Notch. Whoever's closest gets half; the other half goes to the Rotary's scholarship fund.“Lonely, widowed domestic goose seeks life partner for companionship and occasional shenanigans..." So began a personal by Marshalltown, IA's Dorie Tammen, who runs a cemetery there—where a goose she'd named Blossom had lost her mate. Astoundingly enough, reports the Washington Post's Kyle Melnick (gift link), a woman who runs a horse rescue farm 50 miles away saw it. And she had a male goose whose mate had disappeared. The two women got the geese together, and though the male goose took off the first night, the next day he was back. They're now an item. (Thanks, AFG!)The World Nature Photography Awards are out. Just to tide you over for the next few days.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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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.
Today from 5-8 pm, WRJ's Kishka Gallery holds an opening reception for the fantastical landscapes of Steph Terao. "At first, these might be seen as a series of tropical oases or pristine wonderlands," Terao writes. "Yet embedded in each is an underlying anxiety, a call to the effects of climate change that threaten the future of any beautiful place."
It may be the second Friday of the month, but it's First Friday at New London's Center for the Arts, which at 6:30 pm is hosting a theremin concert by Chris Martiello at Whipple Hall in New London (postponed from last week). You've heard a theremin even if you don't recognize the name—the Center thoughtfully provides a link to this performance by Katica Illényi and the Budapest Strings.
Ever since the start of the year, students in podcast producer Sophie Crane's new podcasting class at Dartmouth have been learning the craft—and working on pieces about the Upper Valley. This evening at 7 they let the public in on the results, at "Tell Me a Story: An Evening of Audio Storytelling." Stories about general stores, Joseph Smith's young life in Sharon, the owners of Tuk Tuk in Hanover, Shyrl of Shyrl's diner in West Leb, WRJ's Standard Tattoo Company, Dartmouth's bluegrass-playing Catholic priest, plus plenty more: It'll be filled with slices of Upper Valley life you don't usually see, let alone hear. In the Wren Room at Sanborn House.
Also at 7 this evening, the Norwich Bookstore hosts local cookbook author Gesine Bullock-Prado, talking about her new book of recipes, My Vermont Table. Her culinary trip through the region's six seasons—mud season is also maple season, and stick season is a fine time for squashes—pays special attention to local produce, dairy, wine, and flour.
Tonight's 7:30 Artistree concert by the Vermont Mandolin Trio—Jamie Masefield, Will Patton, and Matt Flinner—is sold out, but they've got a signup page for the waiting list in case tickets become available.
But if you don't mind a little drive, at 7:30 tonight Next Stage Arts in Putney brings in guitarist and longtime Richie Havens sideman Walter Parks, and button-box accordionist Rob Curto, a founding member of the "Brazilian Bluegrass" band Matuto and more recently of the Americana band Fish Harmonics. Parks and Curto have been working on what they call their “Swampalachian” project, updating the reels, hollers, spirituals, and blues played by residents of southeast Georgia's Okefinokee Swamp.
And at 9 tonight, the stage at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover hosts a debut show by "power girlband" Minx, followed by dance-tune DJ'ing.
Just FYI, tomorrow and Sunday 10-4 are Vermont Days at VINS, with $10 admission for VT residents. You'll need an ID. NH is next weekend.
Tomorrow from 10 to noon, NH Extension hosts a free blueberry pruning workshop in Newport. No registration or fees required.
And in case you miss tonight's talk by Gesine Bullock-Prado in Norwich, tomorrow at 11 am she'll be at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, in conversation with Quechee-based writer and former restaurant manager Mary King.
Starting at 5:30 tomorrow, BarnArts presents its 11th Masquerade Jazz and Funk Winter Music Carnival at Barnard Town Hall, with music by the all-female music-of-the-African-diaspora band Zili Mizik, the Speak Easy Prohibition Band (Bob Merrill Tim Gilmore, Peter Concilio, Dave Ellis, Katie Runde Sanchez, and Grace Wallace), and Michael Zsoldos and Ben Kogan. Food and mask-making, to boot.
And at 9 pm tomorrow (doors at 8), Sawtooth Kitchen hosts Honeywell, a side project of The Grift's Clint Bierman and Peter Day, and the Trey Anastasio Band's Russ Lawton. Originals, covers, extended jams.
Sunday from noon to 2, the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor is hosting a pop-up market of all-women businesses: bagels, macarons, fiber art, jewelry, and more.
And Sunday at 4 pm, the Lebanon Opera House presents Gods, Myths, and Some Marvelous Legends, the Berlin Wagner Group's semi-staged and, in its first half, lighthearted introduction to Richard Wagner’s music, including the epic Ring Cycle. "We like to say that we sort of pick up where Looney Tunes left off," BWG creator and performer Peter Furlong told Susan Apel last month. "Are we having fun? Of course. But we are also serious about our art and the enchanting and enthralling music always has the last word."Susan's writeup on what to expect is here.
And as we head into the weekend...
Here's Walter Parks and Rob Curto
, part of their Swampalachian project. And as a bonus, here's Parks on his own, playing a 1967 Guild Starfire,
off the Allmans'
Eat A Peach
.
See you next week.
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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