GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Warming up, but clouds coming in. We're warming into the low or even mid 60s today, but there's also a frontal system headed our way, so we'll start out sunny and clouds will build over the course of the day, with a chance of showers starting up late afternoon. Odds increase the farther north you go, and to the north and west there's also some chance of thunder. Down into the 50s tonight, even warmer and still a chance of showers tomorrow.Sound up! Because as Ted Levin writes about Erin Donahue's latest video, "4:00 a.m. Winter wren sings during the April full moon. Winter wren, little bird, big sonata. Buoys a woodland glade with a cascade of effervescent notes. Superlatives do not do the winter wren justice as a songster—a run of loud, sweet notes, up to ten seconds of exuberant warbles and trills. Donald Kroodsma, a birdsong guru, called the winter wren's song the pinnacle of complexity among songbirds. Winter wren has returned. Go out at dawn and listen to the four-inch songbird with the ten-foot song. He baits with his heart."Did you check out "Dear Daybreak" yesterday? If not, you missed Doug Tifft's story about the day—10 years ago Wednesday—when his heart suddenly stopped working as he was on his bike across from Jesse's and a random group of strangers saved his life; it's "a testimony to all those who help strangers in the Upper Valley," he writes. Then Keith Quinton checks in with a photographic memory of back when Dartmouth ran a dairy. If you've got an anecdote or a description of life in these parts, Dear Daybreak needs them (though no need for poems right now). Here's where to send it in!Feast & Field faces alleged Act 250 violation, seeks legislative remedy. Last November, the three-farm Barnard collective that runs the weekly music event in the summer and fall got notice that a pole barn they'd erected to store equipment and hay and to serve as a covered stage violated Act 250 regs. Though Fable Farm owners Chris and Jon Piana and the other farmers contest the finding, they've opted to work with Windsor County legislators to craft a solution. Sens. Joe Major and Allison Clarkson are hoping to create a process for farms to apply for event permits. The Standard's Tom Ayres explains.The Haven's leader to step down. After running the WRJ-based nonprofit for seven years, Michael Redmond has announced that he will leave the post once a replacement is found. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to be the Executive Director of the Haven. This is by far the best job of my career," he said in a press release announcing the move. Board president Kathy Welling noted accomplishments that include a new shelter and the $8 million fundraising campaign to make it possible, as well as steering the Haven through the pandemic. The organization has retained a national search firm.SPONSORED: Tired of the same old Saturday morning routine? Then bring your family or friends to Hanover Rotary Club's PANCAKE BREAKFAST on Saturday, April 26 from 7:30 - 9:30 am at the Hanover Fire Station on Lyme Road! It's arguably the region's best family-friendly weekend happening. Proceeds benefit the Club's service projects around the world, including Norwich-based ACTS/Honduras. Can't come? You can still donate to a good cause. Learn more at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by Hanover Rotary.In an unassuming building in Chelsea, a bid to revive VT manufacturing. The building belongs to HEB Manufacturing, "a quiet but storied industrial mainstay in Chelsea since the 1950s," writes Tim Calabro in The Herald. Local entrepreneur Brian Kippen bought it in November. The company specializes in wire forming—after it sold off its metal stamping division to a Randolph company—and it retains decades of staff expertise and old tooling guides for thousands of hardware components, many of which these days are produced offshore but which Kippen says HEB can now make much more cheaply.Time for the bat colony in Newport NH school to leave. You may remember that Richards Elementary School had to close for a day right after the holiday break in January after a bat from a colony in the attic emerged into a classroom below. With the arrival of spring, reports Patrick O'Grady in the Valley News, the bats will be waking up from hibernation and heading out to look for food—through one-way doors installed during April break by Jeff Traynor of Monadnock Pest and Wildlife Services. “I want, as much as possible, to make a bat-proof envelope around the structure," he told a public forum Tuesday.SPONSORED: Van Gogh is back by popular demand! The Hop is screening an encore of the UK's biggest-ever Van Gogh exhibition on the big screen. Made in close collaboration with the National Gallery, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers invites audiences to reexamine one of the most beloved—and perhaps most misunderstood—artists of all time. Focusing on his unique creative process, the film explores the artist's years in the south of France, where he revolutionized his style. Rediscover Van Gogh at the Loew Auditorium on Saturday, May 3. Get your tickets today! Sponsored by the Hop.Comics journalism, a look at Chodus, and "The Growing Season" at BALE. The VN's Marion Umpleby takes a look at all three. First up: Umpleby looks at Arantza Peña Popo's exhibition at JAM melding color-doused art with the facts-based world of journalism, and talks to Peña Popo about its origins. Then she moves on to Chodus guitarist (and Claremont School Board member) Loren Howard about the band, What Doth Life, and how he used music to channel grief over the death of his older brother. And finally, musician Aleda Bliss's "listening sessions" as she workshops a new project with attendees.Hiking Close to Home: Crotched Mountain Accessible Trails, Greenfield, NH. This is claimed as the longest accessible mountainside trail network in the US, says the UVTA. Nestled within 1200 acres of protected forest, it contains two trails built to accessible standards, without grades exceeding 8%. Dutton Brook Trail features boardwalks and observation decks through woodlands and a loop around a beaver wetland. The Gregg Trail climbs a knoll using gentle switchbacks to reach an observation platform with views of Monadnock and the Contoocook River Valley. Just right for the end of mud season.And speaking of hiking, the Green Mountain Club has a new version of its Long Trail guide. It's the first re-do since 2017, and as the GMC's Chloe Miller tells WCAX's Cat Viglienzoni, "There's been a lot of work done on the trails since then." They've re-routed trails, repaired or moved backcountry shelters, and in the guide itself, they've updated descriptions—like, when viewpoints have grown over since the last time around. The two talk things over.Ice out. Mixed progress on two illustrious bodies of water.
It's official for Lake Winnipesaukee: Emerson Aviation, the traditional arbiter, called it on Wednesday morning. Here's the aerial tour of the lake it posted on FB.
Meanwhile, up on Joe's Pond in Danville, VT, the last word on the wooden pallet holding a clock tethered to a cinder block came yesterday,when the pallet was partly submerged but the block hadn't yet plunged through and the clock was still ticking. "There is open water along shorelines and in coves where brooks come into the pond, but we are far from at the open water stage," wrote Jane Brown of the Joe's Pond Association.
Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because this week's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions. Like, who's involved in that big cheesemaker purchase announced this week? And NH Fish & Game announced it's going to fine two hikers who called for rescue from which area mountain? Those and more at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know what species has been introduced to Lake Champlain in a repopulation effort?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, which New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice recently announced retirement?
GOP legislators in NH at odds over state control over towns. There are moves afoot among leading Republican lawmakers to cap local school budgets and limit towns' freedom on zoning, notes NHPR's Josh Rogers. Or as House Majority Leader Jason Osborne told WMUR in January, “We might have to put a leash on some of these local governments." But there's been pushback—from within the Republican caucus. “I'm surprised that members here that call themselves ‘Free Staters’ are for this,” said one Republican. “Members that say they are against big government are now for big government.""My friends & I are being described as Satan’s lapdogs, the Devil, & the Manson family all rolled into one." And, adds Michelle Zajko in a 20-page “Open Letter to the World” from prison, she didn't kill her parents and “my friends and I certainly don’t call ourselves ‘Zizians.'" As VTDigger's Peter D'Auria reports, the letter "reads like a hybrid of a manifesto, a list of grievances and a shaggy-dog story about a large group of acquaintances"—plus a slam of media coverage since the January border shootout involving Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt. It was first provided to the AP by Zajko's lawyer.Phil Scott rejects call to cancel detention contract with ICE. The pressure to do say came on Tuesday from three Democratic state senators, including Hartford's Becca White, following the detention of Mohsen Mahdawi. But on Wednesday, reports Seven Days' Kevin McCallum, Scott argued that canceling the contract, which allows federal detainees to be housed in state prisons (for a fee paid to the state of $180 per day), "would result in detainees being taken to other states," writes McCallum. "Is that in the best interest of those who are detained, to just ship them off to somewhere else?" Scott said.“I understand the science behind this, but it still breaks your brain.” He’s ba-a-a-c-k. Mark Rober’s latest video delves into burning questions, like why does regular Coke sink while Diet Coke floats? (The answer yields a MoMA-worthy massive artwork.) How do you steer a hot air balloon? (Well, start with 2,000 weather balloons launched every day...) Why do you land in the same spot if you jump inside a moving train, but not—kids, don't try this at home—if you stand on top? (The answer involves “continually bonking into trillions of air molecules every second"). All that, plus very impressive whip cracking.An alert circle. That's actually the name for what elephants do when they perceive danger, especially to their young. And it's what elephants at the San Diego Zoo did during a 5.2 magnitude earthquake on Monday. Security cam footage at the link.The Friday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. And if you find yourself missing Wordbreak over the weekend, you just have to hit this link and you'll find brand new words tomorrow and Sunday—though not necessarily from Daybreak.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
Daybreak tote bags! Thanks to a helpful reader's suggestion. Plus, of course, the usual: sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
The VT-based trio draws inspiration for its high-energy tunes from the Celtic music of Cape Breton. 3 pm today in the main floor New Books area.
Lauren E. Oakes and The Treekeepers: The Race for a Forested Future at Hanover's Richard W. Black Center. Presented by the Hanover Conservation Commission, environmental scientist and writer Oakes looks into the global reforestation movement and in her book, talks to the scientists, innovators, and local citizens
who make it up. 5 pm.
Scrabble, Bananagrams, Ransom Notes
, crosswords, and more, just lying around at the community table waiting for you to grab them. 6-9 pm tonight.
Windsor's What Doth Life collective joins forces with the Creative Center for a night of alt-rock. Doors at 6 pm, music at 7.
The father-and-daughter-led ensemble lays claim to being a "VT bluegrass" supergroup, with Taylor Armerding on mandolin, Andy Greene on guitar, and Kirk Lord on bass. 7 pm.
Pedro Almodóvar's 2024 drama stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as a best-selling writer and a war journalist who'd once been close, lost touch, and set out to immerse themselves in their pasts as they try to rekindle their friendship. 7 pm in the Loew.
Sponsored by the Norwich Bookstore, the poet will read from her new collection, "share stories of being a bridge, and invite audience participation with short personal stories of positive interactions with people...whose politics may differ from yours, but with whom you shared a moment of mutual humanity." 7 pm.
The Persian musician and Kamancheh virtuoso is based in NYC and spearheads both a traditional Persian music band and Chogan, a Middle Eastern rock band. She, bassist Panagiotis Andreou, and drummer Dani Danor will play music from Persian, Kurdish, Azeri, Roma, and Turkish traditions. 7:30 pm.
The trio started as a solo act by Will Sturcke as a UVM student, but he quickly added two compatriots (David Battit on bass and Jimmy Martucci on drums). Psych-rock, funk, alternative, jam, and progressive rock. Starts up at 9 pm.
Saturday
Walk in the woods with the museum's educators, learn how to measure trees and calculate how much carbon they can store, try your hand at un-making and reusing yarn from discarded sweaters, start some seeds for spring, and check out the Compost Critters Petting Zoo. Tomorrow and Sunday starting at 10:30 am.
The Earth Day theme continues at the Loew Auditorium with the 2012 animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss' iconic 1971 book. Voiced by Danny DeVito, Taylor Swift, Ed Helms and Zac Effron. 11 am.
Rescheduled from last month, the UVM pianist will be joined by music educator Rebecca Wood for four songs by Charles Ives, and by Chiho Kaneko for settings of the poet Rückert by Schubert and Mahler. Plus Joplin’s
Magnetic Rag
, Bartók’s
Romanian Dances
, and Liszt’s “William Tell”. 3 pm at Damon Hall.
As Hop Film writes, "No hype, no hard sell—just great storytelling, in miniature. Always a crowd pleaser, the British Arrows Awards show consists of highly creative, entertaining adverts and powerful PSAs with emotional twists that are much different from their American cousins." 4 pm tomorrow.
String/swing fiddle and guitar in the style of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, with everything from French Gypsy Jazz to jump, bebop, blues, Western swing, and Samba. 5:30-7:30 pm tomorrow.
As they put it, "Prepare to be dazzled and delighted as friends and neighbors display their talents as singers, dancers, musicians, poets, actors, and more." 7 pm tomorrow.
In case you're nostalgic and feel like it's worth a trip over the mountains: stand-up, storytelling, audience song, poetry, and, of course, Lake Wobegone. There are still tix. 7 pm.
And let's go into the weekend with some energy!
The band Kobo Town was founded in Toronto in 2004 by Drew Gonsalves, who arrived in Ontario as a 13-year-old, having grown up in Trinidad and Tobago, after his Québecois mother left his Trinidadian father, kids in tow.
The Guardian
once described their music as "
an intoxicating blend of lilting calypsonian wit, dancehall reggae and trombone-heavy brass." Whatever, it's got a beat. Here's "One By One".
Enjoy the weekend! 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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