GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Breezy, partly sunny. Yesterday's cold front has moved through and even though the winds are from the northwest today, the air behind it isn't noticeably colder than it was yesterday. We'll start out pretty cloudy, but as the day wears on and the air dries out it'll get sunnier... though given the winds, may still feel chilly. Highs today in the mid or upper 50s, upper 20s to lower 30s tonight.A weasel pauses. In front of Erin Donahue's E. Thetford trail cam. Naturalist Ted Levin writes, "Long-tailed weasels are born almost embryonic. Fuller development would be lethal to the mother, a restless hunter who would stick like a cork in rodent burrows. Weasels bound almost nonstop. They kill more than they eat...and they eat a lot. Store the excess (primarily mice), a frontline defense against Lyme disease. Weasels color our language. Noun. Adjective. Verb. Theodore Roosevelt called political jargon weasel words. One can (and has) weaseled out of responsibility or into forbidden quarters.""When I think about it, age is just a number." Auk and Eddy are having a hard time believing Henry was ever young, and Henry's kinda taking it to heart. As he does every week here, Lebanon writer and illustrator DB Johnson chronicles the doings in Lost Woods. And this week on his blog, he recalls a strip for Earth Day.The old Gateway Motors bites the dust. It seemed like it was there forever on Sykes Mtn. Avenue in WRJ—but demolition crews have been at work prepping the site for Key Auto to move its Chrysler dealership there from Leb. On the Upper Valley VT/NH Facebook page (apologies: you'll need to be a member for the link to work) a user posted photos Wednesday, which immediately sparked a wave of reminiscences (and some vintage photos) about the Hall family's long ownership, the cars that got bought there, the people who worked there....Towns stuck with mud-season repair costs. Because VT "decided against classifying this year’s unusually bad spring melt as a mud disaster," writes Claire Potter in the Valley News, towns need to find the funds to cover damage caused by this year's epic mud. Strafford, Potter reports, will use a chunk of its ARPA funds, and other towns are considering that strategy. Some towns are putting off paving. “With everything going on with construction season, the supply chain, the labor shortage, the infrastructure bill coming down the line," says a regional planner, "a lot of towns are struggling to make sense of it all.”Sharon Academy's price hike worries local school officials. Earlier this year, the independent middle and high school got a state okay to raise tuition by nearly $1,700 per student next year. And that, reports VTDigger's Peter D'Auria, has school districts that pay for their students to go to TSA worried about the impact on taxpayers and elementary school budgets—and former Ed Secy Rebecca Holcombe worried other independents will follow suit. Public tuition limits have made it “increasingly difficult to cover the costs of educating our students,” Mary Newman, TSA's head of school, tells D'Auria.SPONSORED: Looking for a more meaningful career that helps the planet this Earth Day? Solaflect Energy has immediate, full-time positions available for Solar Installation Technicians and Electricians. With hands-on training, competitive pay, and signing bonuses, a role with Solaflect offers a career in a rapidly growing company and in one of the most exciting growth industries—renewable energy. If you want to help families transform their relationship with energy, we may have a role for you or someone you know! Check out available positions at the maroon link above. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Hiking Close to Home: Eastman's Northern Trails. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance's suggestion this week boasts a 5.2-mile trail network covering a variety of terrain and difficulty levels—along with wildflowers, ponds, mosses, and rock formations. Access requires a free parking pass from Eastman. To get one, head north on NH-10 from I-89 Exit 13. Turn right at the Eastman main entrance, drive 0.2 miles to the circle, bear right on Greensward Drive and continue to Clubhouse Lane on the left. You get the pass at The Center and from there you can follow suggestions at the maroon link for multiple trailheads.Been paying attention this week? The News Quiz folks have some questions for you. Like, what just landed at Lebanon Airport? And why was a National Guard chopper called in to the Whites last weekend? And what is the Vermont Foodbank launching? You'll find those and others at the maroon link. No Vordle this week, but be patient: It'll definitely be back next week.“The story of American art as is typically told is a pretty narrowly defined story.... It’s not one that includes broad swaths of artistic practice on this continent.” That's Hood director John Stomberg talking to Rutland Herald arts correspondent Mary Gow about the museum's ambitious "This Land" exhibition. It's been up for a bit, but Gow focuses on how the museum, starting from scratch, used its collection—from the birchbark canoe to the photographs that accompany it, from an Audubon buzzard to a 2021 scrub jay—to explore the country's long history of relating to the natural world.NH AG says Walpole trooper-involved shooting was justified. It occurred in December, when state trooper Zachary Bernier and Walpole officer Dean Wright responded to a call about a suicidal man. When he pulled out what appeared to be a handgun—it later turned out to be a pellet gun—and pointed it at Wright, Bernier fired at him, wounding him in his side and hip. The man survived. In a press release yesterday, the AG's office says that "it was objectively reasonable for Trooper Bernier to conclude that [the man] had a real firearm pointed at Mr. Wright" and the shooting was a justified use of force.Several teams of horses, two oxen, and a mule named Lou. That's who the Granite State Draft Horse and Pony Association's members brought along last weekend to a dairy farm in Penacook to plow a field for corn. The Monitor's Brackett Lyons showed up, too, to talk to the farmers and plowers about their draft animals, why they use them—“We don’t have a carbon footprint down here other than getting here. And the quality that you can do in the fields is great," says one—and the differences between them. “Mules are so much smarter than horses,” says Lou's owner, Evelyn Pike.NH House gives preliminary approval to "affidavit" ballots. The bill, sought by Republicans as a ballot-integrity measure, would create provisional ballots for people registering to vote for the first time on Election Day. It's opposed by many town clerks and by GOP Gov. Chris Sununu, who argues that because of delays in reporting vote totals it could jeopardize the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Secretary of State Dave Scanlan supports it as a confidence-boosting measure. It now goes to the House Finance Committee, Amanda Gokee reports in NH Bulletin.New NH Exec Council, state Senate maps head to guv's desk. The House yesterday passed the lines approved earlier by the Senate—including an Executive Council map that shifts a swath of Upper Valley towns from Republican Joe Kenney's district to Democrat Cinde Warmington's. Democrats charge both maps are gerrymandered. Gov. Chris Sununu has said he wants to see "competitive districts," writes InDepthNH's Paula Tracy—but, unlike with the congressional map that he's said he'll veto, hasn't disclosed his plans for the legislative and Executive Council districts.Fetal abnormality bill also heads to guv's desk. The state Senate yesterday voted 19-5 in favor of a measure that adds an exception for fatal fetal abnormalities to last year's near-total ban on abortions after 24 weeks, NHPR's Alli Fam reports. The bill also changes an ultrasound requirement in last year's law to mandate one only if a health provider thinks a fetus may have reached 24 weeks. Sununu has said he plans to sign the bill.VT gets a new city. If you don't live in suburban Burlington, you could be forgiven for not knowing that Essex Junction isn't its own municipality. For 129 years, it's been a village within the Town of Essex. Now, reports Colin Flanders in Seven Days, a bill signed Wednesday gives it permission to leave and become the state's 10th city—and first new city in over a century. This follows decades of arguments and failed merger attempts as village and town residents tried to sort out their relationship.The art of turkey-calling. There's knowing when to use yelps, purrs, clucks, or locator calls, plus mastering how to produce them. All of that was on display at the 16th annual Bart Jacob Memorial Youth Turkey Calling Contest in Castleton, VT last weekend. For her latest "Stuck in Vermont" video, Eva Sollberger visited and hung out with young hunters to talk to them about what draws them to it. "You have this interaction with the bird," says one. "They're really smart, so you have to plan your approach, talk back and forth with them, read how they're responding to you..."The Tibetan Buddhists of the domino world? You know the tradition of creating and then destroying beautiful sand mandalas? Well, there's a school of domino artistry developing in France, with magnificent, complex structures built using Kapla—little pine planks. Here's one, a project by Domino Plank, using 35,000 planks and 10,000 dominoes that took six builders three days to construct...and less than three minutes to knock down, with very un-Buddhist-like mayhem at the end but to the absolute delight of watching schoolkids.
And the numbers...But first, a word about them. Three, actually: Don't believe them. That's maybe a bit harsh, but both NH and VT continue to publish daily counts of new cases that they know to be inaccurate, since they've pulled back on widespread testing and rely heavily on self-reporting by people taking at-home tests. The numbers are still useful as an indicator of trends, which is why they're still in this spot twice a week. But when it comes to specific case numbers, chances are decent they're wide of the mark. As has always been the case, deaths and hospitalizations are a surer measure of how things are going—though you need to remember that NH's hospitalization number includes only people being treated actively for Covid. The state hospital association's numbers are considerably higher (as you'll see below).
Okay, with that out of the way: NH cases continue to rise, with a 7-day average now of 284 new cases per day, versus 266 on Monday. The state reported 175 new cases Tuesday, 355 Wednesday, and 376 yesterday, bringing it to 307,103 in all. There were 7 deaths reported during that time; the total stands at 2,472. Under the state's rubric of reporting only people actively being treated for Covid in hospitals, it reports 17 hospitalizations (-1 since Monday). The NH State Hospital Association reports 74 inpatients with confirmed or suspected cases (+15 over the last two days) and another 47 Covid-recovering patients. Meanwhile, the state reports 318 cases in Grafton County (+30 since Monday), 98 in Sullivan (+41), and 188 (+31) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, it says Hanover has 199 (+3); Lebanon 36 (+4); Claremont 25 (+12); Plainfield 23 (-2); Newport 14 (+9); Enfield 13 (+1); Charlestown 12 (+6); Grantham 10 (+at least 6); New London 8 (no change); Canaan 7 (+1); Lyme 6 (+at least 2); Haverhill 5 (+at least 1); Newbury 5 (+at least 1); Sunapee 5 (+at least 1); Cornish 5 (+at least 1); and Piermont, Orford, Rumney, Grafton, Wilmot, and Croydon 1-4 each.
VT's case numbers seem to be holding roughly steady. The state reported 160 cases Tuesday, 331 Wednesday, and 341 yesterday (these are PCR test numbers, and do not include self-reported numbers from Vermonters taking at-home rapid tests), bringing it to 121,193 total and up to a 7-day daily average of 261 compared to 257 Monday. There were 3 deaths during that time; they stand at 626 all told. Hospitalizations continue to rise: As of yesterday, 50 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (+6), with 3 in the ICU (no change). Windsor County has seen 42 cases since Monday and 189 over the past two weeks, for 8,970 overall, while Orange County gained 19 cases on the state's tally: It's at 4,949, with 87 in the past two weeks.
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Well, yeah, it's Earth Day and there are things going on out there: a hike at Starr Hill in Lebanon organized by the Upper Valley Land Trust, rallies in Bradford and Strafford, story hours... Liz Sauchelli rounds them up in the VN.
And as it does every Friday at 6 pm, WRJ's Main Street Museum puts on an evening of piano music—Stevie Pomije playing live for an hour, then the vintage player piano takes over as tonight the MSM unveils its new piano rolls with music by Billy Joel, the Beatles, Wings, and Michael Jackson... plus ragtime chosen by the audience.
Also this evening at 6, Pentangle Arts and Sustainable Woodstock host an online presentation by environmental activist (and former Green Party vice-presidential candidate) Winona LaDuke on the "Rights of Nature." She lives on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota (belonging to the White Earth band of Ojibwe), and focuses on rural development, sustainable economics, food and energy sovereignty, protecting Indigenous plants and foodways, and related issues. Her talk will be followed by an audience Q&A.
Pandas are definitely not native to the Upper Valley, but at 7 pm VINS screens a film about pandas that includes Lyme's Ben Kilham.Pandas follows Qian Qian, a captive-born giant panda cub at the Chengdu Panda Base as the cub is prepared to return to the wild. Kilham shared techniques he refined over years of rehabilitating black bear cubs with Chinese scientists. He'll introduce the film and be around for a Q&A afterward.
Also at 7, the Chandler in Randolph presents both an in-person and livestreamed concert by mandolinist Ethan Setiawan, a stalwart in Boston's alt-bluegrass scene, and composer, fiddler, and TedX speaker Andrew Finn Magill, who specializes in traditional Irish music, jazz, and Brazilian choro music.
And starting at 7 this evening, the MA-based New England Folk Festival Association hosts an all-online version of its annual folk festival: a full weekend of jam sessions, instrument workshops, group singing, performances, and dance (it'll be interesting to see how that works out online). Tunes and folk culture from all over the world. Registration gets you the links. By donation.
This evening at 7:30 (as well as tomorrow and Sunday) violin prodigy and Hanover native Roseminna Watson visits from Providence and joins up with pianist Daniel Weiser for a Classicopia program of works by six women composers: Clara Schumann, Amy Beach, Pauline Viardot, Amanda Rontgen-Maier, Rebeccah Clarke, and Florence Price. Tonight's performance is at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon; tomorrow's is a house concert at 4 pm at the Etna home of Clyde Watson (masks will be reqd); and Sunday's is at 1 pm at Windsor's Old South Church.
And also at 7:30 (as well as at a free matinee at 10 am today), Pentangle Arts and BarnArts bring the Haitian roots collective Lakou Mizik into Woodstock's Town Hall Theater. Originally formed by singer Jonas Attis and guitarist/singer Steeve Valcourt, Lakou Mizik is a multi-generational ensemble showcasing the range of modern Haitian music, including konpas, kanaval songs, twobadou ballads, vodou ritual music, and songs of the Haitian diaspora from around the Caribbean, New Orleans, and elsewhere.
Tomorrow is the first weekend of Green-Up Day season around the Upper Valley. Roadside cleanup in Canaan, used-tire dropoff in Claremont, and more Green-Up days to come in May. Bags are already available at various town clerks' offices or will be soon. Here's the VN's helpful roundup.
Tomorrow from 11 am to 1 pm in the driveways of the Marion Cross School and St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Norwich, the Norwich, Thetford, Hartford, and Sharon town energy committees are hosting an EV and eBike "show-and-tell", with owners of EVs (including Teslas, Bolts and Volts, a BMW, a Mustang Mach-E, and more) and eBikes on hand to show them off, talk details, and let you poke around. There'll be EV charging demonstrations over at Dan & Whit’s, and VT Bike & Brew and Hanover Adventure Tours will be there to provide eBike demo rides.
Tomorrow at 11 am on the Hop Plaza and again at 3 pm at the Claremont Savings Bank, the Hop presents family performances by composer and balafon virtuoso Mamadou Diabaté (from Burkina Faso) and his rockin' African-Austrian ensemble, Percussion Mania, with "Balafon Beats." Language translation by Dartmouth linguistics prof Laura McPherson. No charge, no tix needed.
Tomorrow at 6:30 pm, the Lebanon Opera House hosts the RunNation Film Festival, an evening of short, inspirational running films from around the world. Films about runners (and, more importantly, their very human stories) in NYC, New Zealand, Australia, New Mexico, the UK... Intro by local running stars Ben True (now a professional runner for ASICS) and Sarah Groff True, a two-time Olympian and Ironman triathlete. Co-sponsored by Finding Our Stride, the UVTA, and the Upper Valley Running Club.
From 5-8 pm Sunday, the Listening Room at East Coast Van Builds in Bradford continues its Sunday music series benefiting the Bradford Dog Park. This weekend it's singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist Joshua West, whose music, they write, "blends styles of reggae, hip hop, folk and soul with a focus on conscious lyrics that question the state of our world today through the lens of current events."
And at 7 pm on Sunday, the Howe launches a monthly "Poetry as Presence" poetry reading-and-listening group, via Zoom. "Take a break from the news and share in the experience of poetry with others," writes the Howe's Jared Jenisch. "Bring a favorite poem to read, or come to listen. This is not a discussion group, and no preparation is required (it is also not a writing group; please bring poems published by others)." Email [email protected] for an invite.
The weekend's almost here, so I think we've gotta go out with Lakou Mizik, don't you? Down in Port-au-Prince but
—the Creole version of the classic "Iko Iko."
Have a fine 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 and writers who want you to 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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