GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Last warm day for a while. We've got high pressure with us today and tomorrow, and though the weather folks have been revising today's high temp downward over the last few days, we're still looking at upper 60s or low 70s. Whatever clouds are around at first should give way to mostly blue skies by late morning. Winds today from the southeast, into the upper 40s tonight. After this, we enter an extended period of more seasonable temps.Loons are back! At least, on two of the ponds that Newbury VT photographer Ian Clark frequents. Despite some ice on one of them, two loons were already settling in—as were a pair on the other pond, along with a few hundred painted turtles. And, Ian adds, things are already well along in his bluebird nesting box.WRJ woman struck by freight train; injuries appear minor. The incident occurred around 5 pm yesterday, reports Eric Francis for Daybreak, and the 50-year-old woman, whom police had not named as of last night, lay by the tracks for some time before being discovered and rescued by firefighters. When they arrived, they found a bag of food and a burned blue backpack, which was still smoldering—either because of friction from the train's wheels, or because the lithium battery in the woman's cellphone exploded. Police shut down all train traffic—including the northbound Amtrak Vermonter—while they investigated.After vowing confidential process for selecting its new member, Mt. Ascutney School Board relents—a tiny bit. And only after the Vermont Standard filed a public records request for the names of the candidates the board is considering to replace longtime member Amy McMullen, who quit recently. As Mike Donoghue reports, the board's chair at the beginning of the month said it wouldn't even release names of people who submitted letters of interest—learning only later that VT requires they be made public. The board plans to appoint a new member tonight.Cape Air sees record ridership at Leb Airport. The airline, which runs daily flights between Lebanon and Boston's Logan Airport White Plains, NY, on Tuesday reported its best first quarter since 2012, Patrick Adrian writes in the Valley News. "For municipal airport officials," Adrian adds, "the numbers are an encouraging indicator that commercial travel in the Upper Valley has rebounded" from its pandemic lows. Airport manager Carl Gross tells Adrian that leisure travel rebounded first, and business travelers are returning. Frond memories: “A good field guide is a must have.” Fiddlehead ferns appear this time of year, with fresh green shoots popping up and unfurling quickly. In the Herald, Margaret Osha writes about identifying, harvesting, cleaning, and cooking fiddleheads. The season is short, so she recommends watching carefully for ostrich ferns, which are safe to eat. Too much eager harvesting will damage and possibly kill the plant, she notes, so go easy on them. Osha also advises staying away from riverbanks and busy roadsides, where contamination may be an issue.SPONSORED: The future really does belong to renewable energy! A new federal-lab report tracking planned grid connections by electricity developers indicates that solar, wind and battery storage account for 93 percent, while natural gas is down to just 3.5 percent and coal and nuclear power barely register. It takes a long time to connect these utility-scale projects to the grid, but you don’t have to wait to do your part and get in on the savings! Hit the maroon link to learn more and launch your own clean energy future with a site visit from Solaflect Energy. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Hiking Close to Home: Mascoma River Greenway. The Greenway, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, is a fully paved, multi-use trail that connects to the heart of downtown Lebanon. It’s excellent for all ages and all abilities, and is a great way to connect with nature during mud season without causing damage to beloved, muddy trails. Bookstock announces first set of speakers. And it's quite a lineup for the annual three-day get-together in Woodstock: Andy Borowitz, historian Joseph Ellis, Speech Thomas of the hip hop collective Arrested Development, USA Today's Susan Page, novelist and critic Jay Parini, author and Vanity Fair writer Jeff Sharlet, LA Times columnist and narrative nonfiction writer Jacques Leslie, environmental journalist Megan Mayhew Bergman, writer and UVM prof Emily Bernard, poet Bianca Stone, NYT columnist Thomas Edsall... The gathering is June 23-25. They'll be announcing more details next month.Two mountain lion cubs arrive at Squam Lakes Science Center. And the one atop Alex Nuti-de Biasi's Journal Opinion newsletter yesterday is a definite looker. The two six-month-old male cubs come from Washington State; they were orphaned and, because cubs rely on their mother for up to eighteen months, could not be released back to the wild.Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what's the name of that store in Post Mills that's now slated to reopen? And why is Dartmouth in a lawsuit before the NH Supreme Court? And where's that big new apartment complex just been proposed for? 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, which prominent Burlington retailer is seeing a unionizing campaign?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, why is a Conway bakery facing flak from the town's planning board?
NH hospitals throw shade at state's largest insurance company. Or at least, the state hospital association does, as a new report claims that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield owes the state's hospitals $300 million, writes NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins. The report also paints a dim picture of the insurance giant's procedures: charging out-of-network prices for in-network providers, delays in paying out claims, misrepresenting which procedures need prior authorization. An Anthem spokesperson denies the report's figure on what is owed hospitals and says many delayed claims remain in dispute."The House of Landlords"? That's what housing activists apparently call the VT legislature, one of them tells VTDigger's Lola Duffort for her dive into Digger's new database of legislators' disclosure forms. As lawmakers take up the state's housing crisis, she writes, a decent number of them are themselves landlords or make money buying or selling real estate: a third of the Senate, a sixth of the House. Few in either chamber live in rental housing. The problem, critics argue, isn't about conflicts of interest, but about a one-sided perspective.Legislators are also disproportionately retired. That's not exactly news, but VTDigger's Erin Petenko puts hard numbers on it: More than 40 percent of state senators and over a third of the House "draw income from retirement savings and Social Security," she writes. That's compared to 22 percent of VT's population as a whole. There's a reason for this, Petenko notes: "Serving in the state’s part-time Legislature has never been a lucrative gig, and those who can afford it are often independently wealthy, self-employed or retired."Iconic VT photographer Peter Miller dies. As Colin Flanders writes in Seven Days, "Even Vermonters who don't recognize Miller by name will likely recognize his work"—mostly from a series of self-published coffee-table books that documented both the state's unchanging and changing landscape and people. You undoubtedly remember this photo of Tunbridge farmer Fred Tuttle. Or, if you've got a long Daybreak memory, this one of a Scottish Highlander steer as the snow falls in Stowe. Miller, who was 89, died Monday after being hospitalized with pneumonia.Maine jury decides $1 billion hydropower transmission project can go ahead. Their decision would effectively overturn a statewide referendum in which voters opted to block the transmission lines—if, that is, the state's Supreme Judicial Court goes along. The case, writes the AP's David Sharp, was complex, involving a determination of whether the developers—Central Maine Power’s parent company and Hydro Quebec—had done enough work before the referendum that they had a constitutional right to proceed.How a chance encounter on a train led to a mango surprise. Farmer Sankalp Singh Parihar, who lives in India, met a guy on a train who offered to sell him a mango sapling, writes Shamani Joshi in Vice. Parihar bit and planted the sapling back home in the cool, moist climate of central India. It got no special treatment. Then the mangoes began to turn an unusual shade of red, businessmen with fat wallets showed up, and the farmer realized that he’d lucked into a Japanese Miyazaki, the world’s most expensive mango at around $50 each. The single plant now has 50 offspring and a private security force. If Ted Nugent can't help, then ... Quick, show of hands. Who loves reading about uncouth feral demon swine? That's right, we ALL do! Lauren Larson has the lowdown for Texas Monthly about wild hogs, which have the congeniality of a pack of rabid orcs and are running willy-nilly all over Texas. Like, 3 to 4 million of them, about the combined human population of Houston and Dallas together. Officials have tried everything to curtail the critters, including contraception, traps, and even setting Ted Nugent loose with a helicopter and a firearm. Nothing has worked. Why is it always Texas?Speaking of beasts... What the heck, one more diversion. A few weeks ago, the biking/running app Strava hit the Guinness World Record big-time when a team of four French cyclists used it over 637 miles and six days to depict—on a Strava map—a velociraptor. That, it turns out, is the largest piece of GPS art (yep, it's a thing) ever created. It took them a year to plan the exact route, which they rode last fall; Guinness announced the record last month.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.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
Together with the good folks at Strong Rabbit Designs, we're working on a spring/summer collection, which isn't quite ready yet. But in the meantime, t-shirts, mugs, long-sleeved tees, and sweatshirts are there for you. Check out what's available and wear it (or drink from it) proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
Today at 4:30, the Lebanon Libraries and Upper Valley Music Center host a traditional music jam at the Kilton.Local fiddler George Fowler, who has decades of experience hosting jams and playing for dances, will lead, along with guitarist Tory Heft of Footworks. Fiddlers, guitarists, mandoliniers, and any other acoustic instrumentalists with an appreciation for fiddle tunes are welcome.
Also at 4:30, Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center and the Dartmouth Political Union host former congressman and current CNN political commentator Adam Kinzinger for a talk on "Empowering the Reasonable Majority." Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who served alongside now-former Rep. Liz Cheney on the Jan. 6 Committee, will talk about his evolution over six terms in the House as he watched government change, as well as about how he made the decision to publicly oppose his own party, both in the years before and the year after Jan. 6. Live in Filene Auditorium (you'll need to get a ticket, though there's no charge) and livestreamed.
This evening at 6, JAM hosts its bi-monthly storytelling circle in its WRJ HQ. This one is centered around the theme of "Unbelievable!" Anyone in the Upper Valley, seasoned storyteller or outright beginner, is invited to join to share a five-minute true personal story: "No competition, no judgment, no lecturing, no ranting… Just share a story about something that happened to you and listen to other people’s stories," write the moderators.
At 7 this evening, the Lake Sunapee Protective Assn in Sunapee presents aerial and underwater videographer Peter Bloch (you've seen his work in Daybreak) and Dave Anderson of the NH Forest Society, for "Our Wonderful 'Waterful' Landscape." "Savor the seasons, forests, and wildlife of our region, and the waters that have nourished them over time," the LSPA writes, in film, sound, and words. The main venue is already at capacity, but they've set up a screening room upstairs; you can reserve a seat here.
Also at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts poet Partridge Boswell reading from and talking about his new collection, Not Yet a Jedi. Boswell is a co-founder of Bookstock and a member of the poetry/music troupe Los Lorcas.
At 7:30 this evening, the Roots & Wings Coffeehouse at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley brings in Delaware-based folksinger and activist John Flynn—who spent the early part of his career in Nashville hanging out with musicians like David Mallett and Willie Nelson, joined up with Arlo Guthrie and others for the Train to New Orleans tour after Hurricane Katrina, but then took over as executive director of New Beginnings-Next Step, a peer support group for prison inmates transitioning back to life on the outside.
Also at 7:30, the First Congregational Church of Lebanon hosts Acacia Chamber Music—Leslie Stroud (flute), Meghan Donahue (clarinet), and Matthew Odell (piano)—back as an ensemble for the first time in more than three years. They've put together a spring program of Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, and an arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Entry by donation.
Tomorrow at 5 pm, Sustainable Woodstock and Pentangle Arts host "An Evening with Leah Penniman" online. The farmer and "food sovereignty" activist founded Soul Fire Farm, an 80-acre organic farm near Albany, NY, that focuses on training black and brown farmers using what she calls "Afro-indigenous and regenerative practices—fancy words that essentially mean we’re trying to farm using the best advice of our ancestors and we’re trying to farm in a way that actually makes the environment better and not worse." No charge but you'll need to register.
At 6 pm tomorrow, Cornerstone Community Center in Wilder hosts a buffet dinner and performance by veteran Vermont actor and musician Rusty DeWees of his show, "The Logger." It's a fundraiser for the center and its religiously affiliated Potter's House School. Dinner at 6, show at 7.
At 7 tomorrow evening, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra's Jukebox Quartet comes to Artistree in S. Pomfret. They'll be performing a new work by Burlington-based DIY electric cellist Zoë Keating, as well as works by Mason Bates, DJ and Composer in Residence for the Kennedy Center; Anna Clyne; Ludwig van Beethoven; George Walker; and others.
Also at 7 tomorrow, Hop Film brings in the Women's Adventure Film Tour: seven short films over a bit less than two hours featuring longboard surfer Lucy Small, international biking phenom Liz Sampey, rock climber Beth Rodden, black hiker Mardi Fuller and her long experience hiking the White Mountains, and more. In the Loew.
From 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening, Seven Stars Arts in Sharon holds a country dance with David Millstone calling, Aaron Marcus on keyboard and concertina, Emerson Gale on fiddle, and Chris Rua on winds. "We know that square dances used to be held in the building when it was a Grange Hall, and we hope that lots of folks will come out to join in the fun," they write.
At 2 pm on Sunday, Artistree presents jazz guitarists Draa Hobbs and John Stowell improvising on jazz standards and compositions by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Cedar Walton, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and others. It's preceded by a 90-minute improvisation workshop at noon.
And finally, on Sunday at 3 pm, Court Street Arts in Haverhill hosts the trio of flautist Leslie Stroud, cellist Peter Zay, and pianist Matthew Odell performing works by Claude Debussy, Bohuslav Martinu, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Louise Farrenc—"reflecting the romance and vibrant lyricism of the Belle Époque, French Impressionism and the street bands of Rio de Janeiro," they write.
Whew. Let's keep it simple.
Well, not
that
simple. Lucinda Williams is not just out with a new memoir, but in June drops a new album,
Stories From a Rock ’n’ Roll Heart
, her first recording effort since she had a stroke in 2020 that took away her ability to play guitar, but not to sing.
—with Bruce Springsteen and Patty Scialfa on background vocals.
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.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page
, or if you're a committed non-FB user,
.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!