GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Heads Up: Just a reminder that there'll be no CoffeeBreak on Monday. Back as usual Tuesday morning.Getting sunnier, but cooler. Whatever clouds are around this morning should part over the next few hours, but temps today will only get into the low 50s, with winds from the northwest—and it could get gusty this afternoon. Increasing clouds tonight ahead of rain tomorrow, lows in the low or mid 30s.Early-spring skunk. "In winter," writes Ted Levin about Erin Donahue's latest video, "skunks often gather in dens to conserve body heat, entering torpor for much of the day, with temperatures and metabolisms dropping 20 percent. By winter's end, they've lost up to half their body weight and become solitary. Females mate once and then cut off all contact with the opposite sex. Males, however, are more ambitious (surprise!) and spread joy wherever and whenever possible. The Latin name for the striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, translates to "bad odor." Or, as my boys used to say, stinky, stinky.And speaking of spring... Clearly our amphibious Upper Valleyites are convinced it's here. From Jed Williamson in Hanover.Did you check out "Dear Daybreak" yesterday? If not, you missed Lori Harriman on a grocery-store parking lot encounter; Peter Webster on the rain; and Rebecca Lafave remembering a poem her great aunt penned for Camp Hanum, the Thetford girls’ camp that preceded Camp Farnsworth, about the majestic view of the three NH peaks across the way. If you've got an anecdote or a description of life in these parts, Dear Daybreak needs them: send it in!As Woodstock waits for village trustees' decision on police chief, some new developments. Most notably, reports Mike Donoghue in the VT Standard, several police and dispatch employees announced that, counter to what six of their colleagues told the March 19 hearing on municipal manager Eric Duffy's bid to demote Joe Swanson from chief, they have no intention of leaving if Swanson remains as chief. The village trustees who sat as a jury during the hearing are weighing hundreds of competing factual claims submitted by lawyers for Duffy and Swanson. No word on when there'll be a decision.Man accused of shooting dog to undergo mental competency exam. You may remember the incident last year in which E. Randolph's John Brown was charged with shooting and killing Halo, a two-year-old husky belonging to his neighbor, for eating one of his prize roosters. Now, reports Darren Marcy in The Herald, the court wants Brown to get a state competency exam on whether he's fit to stand trial, after a private exam requested by his public defender found him incompetent. There are discrepancies, the prosecutor charges, that lead him "to believe there may be subterfuge here." “We’re dealing with a gentleman who is dealing with very severe mental issues,” retorts Brown's lawyer.SPONSORED: Great teachers and leaders are the heart of great schools. UVEI is now accepting applications for our licensure and graduate degree programs for the upcoming school year. Learn by doing, together with other educators from across New Hampshire and Vermont! Attend an information session or set up an appointment, or use the burgundy link for general info. Sponsored by Upper Valley Educators Institute.Looking for lead in maple syrup. As a student at Yale back during the pandemic, Emily Sigman tapped Norway maples in her New Haven backyard and made what she says was excellent syrup—only when she took it to be tested at the nearby CT Ag Experiment Station, it turned out to be dangerously high in lead. Now Sigman's a PhD student at Dartmouth, and, reports Nicola Smith for Dartmouth News, she's studying 10 sites in VT, NH, CT, and MA in hopes of understanding whether trees growing in contaminated soil also have contaminated sap. Smith details Sigman's work—and where she hopes it leads."On a Wednesday afternoon I had two Monets practically to myself for at least 15 minutes." That wasn't at some blockbuster show, of course, but at the Hood Museum, where, Susan Apel writes in Artful, they're on view until the end of September. "Having Monet’s work, which literally named the Impressionist movement, on view in the Upper Valley is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and everyone is invited," Hood director John Stomberg writes. It's all part of an exhibition that also includes four paintings from the museum’s permanent collection "by artists who followed in Monet’s wake," Susan writes. SPONSORED: Don’t miss Upper Valley Baroque’s performance of Handel's “ravishingly beautiful” masterpiece this weekend! L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (in English) is one of Handel's most creative and moving works—a wonderful setting of Milton’s poetry full of variety, charm, humor, gorgeous solos and choruses, and lots of chances for the instrumentalists to shine. Featuring Grammy-winning soprano Amanda Forsythe. Saturday at 3 pm at the Chandler in Randolph, Sunday at 3 pm at the Lebanon Opera House. Sponsored by Upper Valley Baroque.Upper Valley swiftwater rescue teams train. Teams from Hartford, Hanover, and Lebanon were out on the river recently, and WCAX's Adam Sullivan was there to check it out. On average, he reports, they're called out for rescues five times a year, but Lebanon Fire Chief Jim Wheatley tells him, “We have more and more every year. We saw some on the Mascoma Lake last year. We have had a couple incidents with cars actually in the river on the Connecticut River,” Wheatley said—including a dramatic nighttime rescue in the winter of 2023 in which a passenger was rescued from the roof of his car.Upper Valley beekeepers see dramatic losses over the winter. At least, two of them did, reports Clare Shanahan in the Valley News. When he checked on over 300 hives in early March, Windsor beekeeper Brian Jasinski found nearly 70 percent of his bees had died; a national survey reports beekeepers lost about 60 percent of their honeybee colonies. Jasinski blames an infestation of Varroa mites. In Plainfield, Troy Hall says about 50 percent of his colonies died, compared to 35 percent normally. At the VT Center for Ecostudies, bee biologist Spencer Hardy says it's too early to know about wild bee colonies.Mud-Season Hiking Not So Close to Home: Fort Dummer State Park, Guilford, VT. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends this park with some short and family-friendly options that connect you to both beauty and history during mud season. Close to Brattleboro, with its food and cultural options, the park's got three short hikes, two of which offer both nature and a bit of Vermont history—including a view of the old Fort Dummer site from the Sunrise Trail. The parking area is in the park, off Old Guilford Road.Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because this week's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions. Like, which James Beard Award is WRJ's Wolf Tree a finalist for? And seriously, when is the closed exit ramp from I-91 north to I-89 south ever going to reopen? 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 how much Vermont expects to lose in federal funding from the Trump administration's cancellation of health department grants?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, NH lawmakers are considering a bill to study the possibility of withdrawing the state from New England's _____.
NH House committee finalizes budget package. The Finance Committee has sent the measure on to the full chamber for a vote next week, after which it'll go to the Senate. As Ethan DeWitt writes in NH Bulletin, it reflects "a sour outlook on tax revenue for next year," cutting $800 million from the budget Gov. Kelly Ayotte proposed. DeWitt describes key provisions, including a series of cuts to positions at state agencies, the elimination of the office of the child advocate and State Council on the Arts, axing the state's family planning program, expanding Education Freecom Accounts but limiting the state's Education Trust Fund, and more.
One big set of proposed cuts: to UNH, Plymouth State, and Keene State. At the moment, the University System of NH gets $95 million in state aid per year, reports Ian Lenahan in the Portsmouth Herald. Ayotte proposed dropping it to $91.2 million per year. But the Finance Committee approved just $66.2 million—or nearly $29 million less than the universities get from the state now. “I really question whether or not the system can survive this kind of a cut," said Hanover Democratic Rep. Mary Hakken-Phillips.
NH agency denies controversial landfill permit. Yesterday, reports WMUR's Maria Wilson, the state's Department of Environmental Services sent a letter to VT-based Casella Waste Systems denying its solid waste permit for a new landfill in Dalton, next to Forest Lake State Park. The project has stoked concerted opposition; the denial comes after Casella failed to submit information the agency had requested. As the Monitor's Sruthi Gopalakrishnan notes, Casella has other active applications going, but "it can’t move forward with construction without the solid waste permit."VT's prisons increasingly used for immigration detentions. The most high-profile example came when Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist working at Harvard, was held at the women’s prison in S. Burlington for a week. But VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein reports that she wasn't alone: VT state prisons are increasingly being used to house detainees. State officials say the state can "provide better care for people held by immigration authorities than they would receive in federal detention centers," Weinstein writes. But detainees are encountering problems, including, in one case, an assault by another inmate.At the Haskell Free Library on the border, "We have a back entrance. And we can use it." That's the library's solution to the federal crackdown on Canadians using US soil to enter the library, which straddles the Derby Line VT/Stanstead QC border and is used by patrons in both towns. Seven Days video journalist Eva Sollberger headed to the library to talk to the people who know it best: volunteers, staff, the mayors of Derby Line and Stanstead. While the front door is in the US, the back door is in Canada, so staff and patrons are now using it. "It's a welcoming place, always has been," says a volunteer.A trio of doctors—including one from the Upper Valley—pull off an unlikely feat: the restoration of a long-ignored Fra Angelico. The fresco is in a convent in a town overlooking Florence, and when Norwich's Steven Woloshin first laid eyes on it, “I immediately thought this is the most amazing thing I’ve seen," he tells the NYT's Elisabetta Povoledo (gift link). He and two Italian colleagues had formed an organization they call Bottega Belacqua—inspired by Woloshin's late wife, Lisa Schwartz, to chase "impossible dreams." Povoledo tells the story of their successful quest to get the fresco restored.The finalists for the World Food Photography Awards are up. And they're a feast for the eyes as well as the imagination, from a Swiss cheese cellar to a wheat harvest in China to a "pasta granny" in Italy. There are scores of photos that open up the world—from bringing in the harvest to food raw, cooked, and in the field, to lovingly photographed takes on the world's wine regions to lovingly photographed cakes—and lots more. And Lyme writer, artist, and photographer Meg Maker has two photos in the mix: scroll to "Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Places" and to "Unearthed® Food For Sale".The Friday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. And just to repeat last week's pro tip: If you like to keep track of your previous guesses, you'll find a "guess history" behind that little question mark icon at the top right.
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!
—and more to the point, it's
April
First Friday, which means that there's lots stirring. Among other things, the
Special Needs Support Center kicks off Autism Awareness Month with sensory-friendly craft activities and classical guitar; Open Door is hosting tarot readings; Kishka Gallery has an opening reception for an exhibition of artwork by comic artist Richard Blake and will have local photographer Ted Degener's new book, American Celebration; Two Rivers has a reception for printmaker Sheri Hancock; Route 5 Jive is hosting a Jazz Invitational in Studio 221 in the Tip Top Building; River Roost and Putnam's have live music; and plenty more at the link.
AVA Gallery hosts two opening receptions.
features Atwood's work in fiber and textiles and Lorah's paintings.
honoring "the legacy of minimalism, abstract, and non-objective movements." Both receptions start at 5 pm.
The longtime teacher at the Community College of Vermont (and former editor of
Icarus: International Journal of Solar System Science)
will read from her new collection,
Sky Furniture
. 7 pm.
Walter Salles' Oscar winner for Best International Feature is a true story set in 1971 Brazil, focused on a woman's search for her "disappeared" husband, an outspoken critic of the military dictatorship. Based on a memoir by his son. 7 pm in the Loew.
AR Gurney's play centers on a Manhattan couple who are done child-rearing and settling into different career arcs when the husband, Greg, brings home a dog from the park, bearing only the name “Sylvia” on her name tag. A street-smart mixture of Lab and poodle, Sylvia sends the couple and their marriage off in new directions. In the Grange Theater tonight and tomorrow at 7, Sunday at 3, runs through April 13.
The alt-folk singer-songwriter and avid forager is releasing his sixth studio record,
Good Fiction
, this year (he's also just finished up a movie soundtrack). In the Hayloft, 7 pm.
The new date is Friday, November 21. If you're a ticket holder, you should have gotten additional information yesterday. https://lebanonoperahouse.org/events/beausoleil/
The five-piece Boston South Shore band won a New England Music Award winner for Best Rock Act, Sawtooth writes. "They've got relatable originals that make you move, and funky classics that will have you singing along." 9 pm.
Saturday
The ever-popular
selection of the "best of the best" animated short films this year features a few favorites from previous years and new works in a variety of animation styles, from stop-motion to hand-drawn mini-masterpieces: Samurai warriors, soccer players, singing cats and pigs who cook
... Curator Ron Diamond will be on hand afterward for a discussion. 2 pm and 7 pm tomorrow in the Loew.
L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,
a dramatic setting of texts inspired by John Milton and William Shakespeare, conducted by Filippo Ciabatti and with Grammy-winning soprano Amanda Forsythe. 3 pm tomorrow at the Chandler in Randolph, 3 pm Sunday at the Lebanon Opera House.
Paintings and assemblages. 3 pm tomorrow.
Upper Valley Music Center presents the chamber music ensemble of
Elise Kuder and Jesse MacDonald on violin, Mike Kelley on viola, and Jacob MacKay on cello. They'll be performing String Quartet by Germaine Taillaferre; Haydn’s String Quartet The Lark, an arrangement of Debussy’s The Little Shepherd, and Meredith Monk’s Stringsongs. First Congregational Church of Lebanon at 4 pm tomorrow.The Ben Kogan Band at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover. The roots-rock jam band is led by Imagine Zero Festival organizer Kogan, joined by Justin Park on guitar/vocals/bass/mandolin, Annie MacDougal on fiddle, and Ian Koeller on drums. 6 pm tomorrow.
The show's fifth live radio broadcast,
Love, Sweet Love,
features Jim Rooney as emcee, with performances by the in-house band Play It Forward (Chris Rua, Thal Aylward, Bruce Sklar, Ted Mortimer, and Glendon Ingalls) along with guest singers Becky Bailey and Bethany Nafziger and storyteller Simon Brooks. 7 pm tomorrow.
Trailblazing Women of Country Music: A tribute to Patsy, Loretta, and Dolly at the Lebanon Opera House.
Singers Kristina Train and Rissi Palmer, backed by a powerhouse five-member band pay tribute to Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton and their impact on country music. 7:30 pm tomorrow.
Sunday
Revels North Spring Sing. There are actually two events:
, led by Nowell Sing We Clear’s Andy Davis and Revels North’s Alex Cumming, running from 10 am to 5 pm Sunday; and then at 7 pm
with ballads, story songs, and "lively, foot-stomping melodies." Both are at Revels' new digs at 2 Mascoma St. in Leb.
. The first is at 11 am Sunday, and it's the Juicebox String Quartet geared toward kids 10 and under. Then at 2 pm, the Jukebox goes metal with its new show that combines rock and metal ballads arranged for strings—think "Stairway to Heaven"—with Shostakovich and other classical heavyweights.
There's everything from stilt walking taught by giant-puppet maker Jay Mead to mini printmaking with studio arts teacher Stephanie Nyzio to seedballs with artist Finnie Trimpi to classes on jewelry making, origami, paper beads for necklaces, and more. Runs 1-4 pm Sunday at TSA high school. Free for the whole public.
If you missed Dan and Samuel Habib's film when DHMC presented it recently, here's another chance. It follows Samuel's search as a 21-year-old with cerebral palsy for an adult life on his own—and his trip across the US seeking out wisdom from disabled mentors. 2 pm at the Loew Auditorium.
Led by Atlantic Crossing fiddler Peter Macfarlane, the VFO "plays traditional and contemporary fiddle and dance tunes from the British Isles, Ireland, Scandinavia, Quebec, Appalachia, New England, Vermont and beyond." 4 pm.
Monday.
Since Daybreak won't be publishing that day.
Kinnunen is onstage right now as Dawn in
Waitress
, but on Sunday she'll be working with Macy Bettwieser, Elizabeth Chambers, Sam Harrison, Max Loveland, and Monet Nowlan, who are seniors in the company's advanced training program. 6 pm Monday.
. Flores runs the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, a group of
US-based organizations that presses for countries to invest in health workers. She'll be talking about the r
ole of health workers the challenges facing the global health workforce. 5:30 pm Monday in Haldeman 41 and livestreamed.
It features Dan Brouillette, who served as US energy secretary during the first Trump administration, and Kevin Knobloch, former president of the Union of Concerned Scientists and then chief of staff at the Energy Department in the second Obama administration. They'll talk policy, trends, and energy markets. 5:10 pm Monday at the Irving Institute and online.
That was a lot! Let's slow things down.
Especially because the chance doesn't come along often to see two musicians together who'll be appearing separately in the Upper Valley.
with soprano Amanda Forsythe (this weekend performing the same piece with UV Baroque) and flutist Emi Ferguson (April 22 in Ruckus's Hop appearance).
Have a lovely weekend, and see you Tuesday.
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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