GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Rain continuing for a bit. It's ending west to east, though, so at some point things should start drying up. Skies will remain cloudy all day, keeping temps a good 10-15 degrees or more cooler than yesterday—mid 40s at best. Winds today shifting to come from the north, down into the mid or lower 30s tonight, depending on where you are.Some opossums just have no manners. After last weekend's snowfall, Sonya Schumacher and her family in S. Strafford built and decorated a snowman. "Just before my kids' bedtime," she writes, "we witnessed this..."Mud season? Heck, this is the fourth one this winter for some towns. And as Darren Marcy writes in the Herald, road crews say it'll end "when Mother Nature decides it will go away and they’re just around to smooth things over when she’s done. That and a few 10-wheelers full of gravel." He talks to road foremen and town officials in Chelsea, Tunbridge, Sharon, Royalton, and elsewhere about the challenges they've been facing, from not bringing in loaded dump trucks because they'll just tear up the roads even more to just trying to keep roads passable and crews well-paid.Labor board certifies union to rep Dartmouth men's basketball players. The move by the NLRB yesterday, the AP reports, came after a March 12 deadline passed for the college to object to the players' vote in favor of joining SEIU Local 560. It doesn't affect the college's appeal to the full board of a regional official's ruling that the players count as employees and can unionize. "Barring a successful appeal," the AP writes, "the players and school will negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that would cover working conditions such as salary, practice hours and health care benefits."Hartford cuts 22 teaching, support positions from school budget. As the school board considered and then approved an overall $2.1 million cut to the budget Wednesday, Supt. Tom DeBalsi said that 16 of the positions are currently vacant, reports Christina Dolan in the Valley News. The board also moved forward with a $21 million facilities bond proposal. Both will go before voters April 15. With property taxes slated to rise sharply to fund the budget originally proposed in January, the board last month asked DeBalsi to cut spending to keep a tax rise to no more than 18.5 percent, Dolan writes.SPONSORED: Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) at the Howe Library, 3/22 at Noon: Live or Zoom. This is the second talk in a free series on "Alternatives in Recovery and Incarceration." It features Duncan MacDougall, the founder of CLiF, a non-profit that aims to inspire a love of reading and writing among low-income, at-risk, and rural children. He pioneered a program for incarcerated parents, where a shared love of books helps maintain, repair, and strengthen connections between parents and children during times of separation. Co-sponsored by Hartford Dismas House and the Howe Library.Mountain Views school board starts to regroup after Woodstock school bond defeat with listening session. At Monday's meeting, reports Tom Ayres in the VT Standard, all 18 members of the board paid close attention to critics of the proposed $99 million bond for a new middle/high school, which went down to defeat on town meeting day. What they heard was deep concern about the long-term tax impact of the bond and a plea for considering other options for addressing the deterioration of the current buildings. At the end, board chair Keri Bristow responded, "We’ll go back out into our communities and we’ll do what we need to do to move forward with a new school." The temptation to touch art. Susan Apel's got some thoughts on the subject, thanks to an exhibition up at AVA Gallery this month, "Form + Texture". It's "a feast for the eyes," Susan writes, but "many of the pieces provoke a profound desire to touch." For obvious reasons, AVA prefers that you don't, but you can see why the exhibition of fiber art might kindle an urge. "It’s interesting to ponder how fabric and fiber art seem to generate that need for touch in just about every viewer. Maybe because our fingers are well-married to the feel of it; we hold, stroke, pleat, form, fold, smooth it from a very early age," she writes.SPONSORED: How do you compete with Shakespeare? You write a musical! We the People Theatre returns to the Briggs Opera House next month with the hilarious play, Something Rotten! It’s a mash-up of 16th Century Shakespeare and 21st Century Broadway and tells the story behind the world’s first musical. Time Out New York hailed it as “the funniest musical in 400 years." Tickets are on sale now. Show opens on April 5 and runs for three weekends through April 21. Sponsored by We the People Theatre.Hiking Close to Home: the Newbury section of the Montpelier and Wells River Rail Trail. It's the perfect choice for mud season, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance: a gradual, pleasant 1.7-mile (one way) walk or bike among large trees with view of the Wells River and wetlands. Together with the Boltonville Nature Trail and the Blue Mountain Nature Trail, there is a network of nearly four miles throughout the Wells River Conservation Area. Trailhead is at Boltonville, with parking on the north side of Route 302 just east of the junction with Boltonville Road (about a half mile west of I-91 Exit 17).So... Think you know what's been going on in the Upper Valley? Because Daybreak's News Quiz has some questions for you. Like... How did voters in Haverhill just change their town government this week? And why are shopkeepers in Fairlee a bit down? Those questions and more at the link.And how closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know what kind of schools have received a marked increase in public dollars over the past few years.
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, how did this winter rank, temperature-wise?
In the NH House: Effort to repeal "divisive concepts" law fails, possession of brass knuckles and elimination of affidavit voting okayed.
The effort to back away from the state's controversial law prohibiting teaching that any group is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive was "indefinitely postponed" on a 192-183 vote yesterday, meaning it can't be brought up again this year, reports InDepthNH's Garry Rayno.
Meanwhile, reports Amanda Gokee in the Globe (paywall), the House voted 189-185 in favor of a bill eliminating the current system that allows people to register to vote and to cast a ballot even if they don't have ID on them at the time if they sign a legally binding document that they're qualified. Instead, yesterday's measure requires people to show ID in the moment. If the bill makes it all the way, it would go into effect shortly before the fall state primaries.
And in NH Bulletin, Annmarie Timmins that in a 198 to 175 vote, mostly along party lines, the House yesterday backed a measure allowing anyone over 18 to carry brass knuckles, blackjack clubs, or slung shots. As Timmins writes, "a blackjack is a weighted leather club, usually 8 to 12 inches long. A slung shot, different from a slingshot, is a weight attached to the end of a hand-held cord." The bill, she writes, "will likely face a fight in the Senate."
Effort to require hand-counting ballots in NH towns continues to fail. Seven more towns, including Newbury, voted Wednesday against the bid by the New Hampshire Patriot Hub to ban voting machines and require that ballots be counted by hand, reports Amanda Gokee in the Globe (sorry, paywall again). The results were lopsided: 153-38 against the move in Newbury, for instance, 158-30 in Brookline. On Tuesday, five towns also rejected the idea. Nine more will take it up on Saturday.Bringing "a poetic sense" to weather and astronomy. This is a big year for the Fairbanks Museum's Mark Breen, who's been delivering weather forecasts and "night sky" snippets on VT public radio for over four decades, and has been prepping for the April 8 eclipse. He set his sights on becoming a weatherman, he tells Seven Days' Dan Bolles, because "I was really good at building snowmen" and he wanted to predict when the next good storm would come through. Then he got into acting in college—while studying meteorology. Then he got hired by Steve Maleski for "Eye on the Sky". It's a profile filled with humor, great stories, and Breen's insights into old weather proverbs.At 84, Laura Waterman is still climbing mountains—even if, she says, they're "smaller ones." Waterman, says David Goodman on his latest Vermont Conversation podcast, "has been described as 'mountain royalty.'" She and her husband Guy, who died by suicide in 2000, were pathbreaking homesteaders and writers about the mountains of the northeast. Goodman recently visited Laura in her E. Corinth home: They talk about her early career, homesteading, environmental ethics, her and Guy's experiences as stewards of the Franconia Ridge Trail, her own mountaineering, Guy's suicide, and more.But wait! It forgot to rent skis! That would be the raccoon that workers at Sugarbush noticed riding the resort's Village Quad lift on Wednesday.Big cats on even bigger CATS. You know how house cats like to curl up on your newspaper or some other inconvenient spot? Turns out lions aren't so different. In Tanzania, wildlife photographer and tour leader Bobby-Jo Vial and her group happened on a pride of them atop some huge Caterpillar machinery used to maintain roads in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was a Sunday, the machines weren't being used, and so the lions did what cats do. As you might imagine, Vial got plenty of photos.The Friday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. And are you new to Vordle? Fresh ones appear on weekends, using words from the Friday Daybreak, and you can get a reminder email each weekend morning: Just sign up here.
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Today at 5:30 pm, JAM hosts a reception and screening with Thetford sisters Amy and Terry Lawrence. You may remember their stop-motion short from a couple of weeks back, "Ninja Nannies". Now their opera action figures and sets are on display at JAM, and they'll be screening their new film, Gershwin Preludes: A Thinking Man’s Guide to Paris, along with an older one, Thank You, Mr. Sondheim. Q&A follows.
Also at 5:30 today, Artistree in S. Pomfret holds an opening reception for the 2024 version of its annual MUD (season) exhibit: "2-D and 3-D work from 60+ local artists inspired by the melting snow, the running sap, the returning birds, the awakening bears, the longer days, the rutted roads, and the special light of Mud Season."
At 7 this evening, Seven Stars Arts celebrates St. Patrick's Day with Jim Rooney, Colin McCaffrey, Patti Casey, Geordie Lynd, and Footworks. Colin McCaffrey and Jim Rooney probably need no introduction in these parts; Patti Casey is a near-legendary VT singer and songwriter (and Agency of Ag program director); Geordie Lynde is an Irish fiddler and dairy farmer; and Footworks is a Vermont-based, Cape Breton-inspired trio made up of Chelsea luthier Jacob Brillhart on fiddle, Jon Brillhart on whistle, and Tory Heft on guitar.
Also at 7, JAM hosts Valley Improv for an hourlong show that'll be both in person and livestreamed.
Also at 7, the Roots and Wings Coffeehouse at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Norwich brings in folk singer Tracy Grammer. Based in Greenfield, MA, Grammer began her career as half of a duo with renowned songwriter Dave Carter (they toured with Joan Baez) and then continued as a solo performer after his death in 2002, playing and recording both her own and his work.
And also at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts memoirists Penny Guisinger and Alexis Paige. Guisinger's the author of Shift: A Memoir of Identify and Other Illusions, which traces her changing identity through a marriage with a man that produced two children and an affair with the woman who's now her wife—leaving her trying to come to grips with "how her identity changed so profoundly while leaving her feeling like the same person she’s always been." Paige's Work Hard, Not Smart: How to Make a Messy Literary Life is a collection of essays that's part memoir, part craft guide confronting both the tough subjects she's explored and the hard work of writing.
At 7:30 pm, Court Street Arts in Haverhill presents Nashville-based folk singer/songwriter Halley Neal and her backing band Pretty Saro—Americana with "an upbeat bluegrass instrumentation," all rooted in classic 60’s and 70’s folk. As usual, dinner from the Bailiff's Café is available for pre-order.
This evening at 8, the Lake Morey Resort kicks off its "St. Paddy's Music Weekend" with three masters of traditional music: Strafford pianist and accordianist Jeremiah McLane and his compatriots in Kalos, Montreal-based guitarist, mandolinist, and lead singer Eric McDonald and Seattle-based fiddler Ryan McKasson. We're lucky to get them: They're in Manchester NH tomorrow and Bangor Sunday, and then off on a West Coast tour next month. Meanwhile, tomorrow at 8, the resort brings in Burlington-based bagpipe rockers Prydein.
And tonight at 9, Sawtooth Kitchen brings back soul and funk band Soul Porpoise with these instructions: "If you missed them last time, do NOT make that mistake again!"
Saturday
From 10 am to 4 pm tomorrow and Sunday, VINS holds its NH Days: $10 admission for all New Hampshire residents (VT was last week).
And at 11 am and 2 pm tomorrow, the Hop presents the Sandglass Theater production of Oma. Sandglass, based in Putney, has carved out its own unique place in theater by blending puppets with music, actors, and visual imagery. As Sandglass describes it, "It's Oma's (Grandma's) birthday and everyone is preparing for the celebration before gathering around for one of her stories, told in yarn. One character emerges from the tangle of wool and nearly ruins the party. But not to worry, all ends well at Oma's house." At the Theater on Currier: both shows may be sold out—call the box office at 603.646.2422 to check on any tix that get freed up.
At 7:30 tomorrow, the Lebanon Opera House brings in Red Baraat and their Festival of Colors. It's the Brooklyn-based band’s annual celebration of Holi, the Hindu holiday celebrating the return of spring and the triumph of good over evil. "The singular ensemble's trademark fusion of North Indian bhangra with hip-hop and punk makes a stunning, dance-worthy soundtrack to the colorful, joyful South Asian celebration of springtime," LOH writes—plus "kaleidoscopic visual imagery."
And at 8 pm tomorrow, the Claremont Opera House presents the Jordan TW Trio: fiddler/singer Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki, guitarist Matthew Jensen, and bassist Chris Noyes, with their blend of Irish and Scottish music, as well as their own original material. have blended the music of Ireland and Scotland with their own original material.
Sunday
Sunday from 10-4 at Dowd's Country Inn in Lyme, the Lyme Utility Club is holding a fundraiser for Willing Hands: Mah Jongg March Madness. That should pretty much sum it up, though they're capping registration at 50 players. And if you do go, bring toiletries for the Haven.
Meanwhile, for Sunday services at Woodstock's North Chapel, writer and climate organizer Bill McKibben will be giving the day's reflection: “The hottest year in human history—so far… how we should deal with it and where we should go from here?” He'll be staying afterward for conversation and a Q&A.
At 3 pm Sunday at the Grafton Town Hall—and again next Saturday at the Chosen Vale Performing Arts Center at Enfield's Shaker Village—astronomer Rick Fienberg will give a presentation on the April 8 eclipse, covering not just what they are, but what things will look like in NH and VT and ways to view it safely.
From 6:30 to 8:30 Sunday evening, Putnam's vine/yard in WRJ will host Route 5 Jive's Jakob Breitbach & Kit Creeger on swing fiddle and guitar, offering up French Gypsy Jazz string swing, plus everything from jump to jive to bebop and more. There'll be food ("picnic bites") and, of course, drink on hand.
And to get us off on the right foot for the weekend...
Let's turn to Jeremiah McLane, Eric McDonald, Ryan McKasson
all recorded in a barn in Bow, NH ahead of a concert there.
Have a fine weekend out there! 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.
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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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