GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Rain first thing giving way to showers. And maybe a dry slot later this afternoon. Chance of showers lingers through the morning and there's still a slight chance later. Still, we're headed toward the mid-50s today and might even see some partly cleared skies toward evening—though they won't last. Winds today from the southeast, mid-30s tonight.Red fox eloquence. It's front and center in the latest video from Thetford nature enthusiast Erin Donahue's trail cam. "If we homogenized and incorporated the senses of the millions of species alive on Earth (and all those that have passed away)," writes naturalist Ted Levin, "we might understand how our planet presents itself. Take the red fox: reads the world with his nose; writes with his butt. My dog reads oily fox scribble. I don't.""Henry's writing about the olden time when he was young." In other words, he's writing a memoir of his life in Lost Woods. And this week on his blog, writer and illustrator DB Johnson takes you through a few past strips that held clues—if you knew to look—about Henry's feelings toward one fellow Lost Woodser. As always, just scroll down to go back in time.“This isn’t about adding big, huge halls. This is about intentionally adding places that allow for people to make work." Dartmouth has released its plans—and first renderings—for the redesigned Hopkins Center. There's a lot, including seating and performance platforms for the plaza facing the green, a new recital hall and dance studio, a performance lab created out of the current Alumni Hall, redesigns of both Spaulding and the Top of the Hop, and other interior changes. Maroon link goes to the Communications Office story; Hop director Mary Lou Aleskie's quote at top is in the Boston Globe story. (paywall)"I think the world is living at too fast of a pace, and the dirt roads basically slow you down." That's E. Barnard's John Leavitt, talking to Seven Days' Eva Sollberger for her newest episode of "Stuck in Vermont." In this case, pretty much literally. Sollberger headed to E. Barnard to check out his year's epic mud season. And to talk to Sue Schlabach the E. Barnard Town Crier, which during mud season becomes an indispensable guide for locals—sometimes several times a day—on which roads are okay, which are navigable with some grit, and which are best to avoid.SPONSORED: With gas prices above $4 a gallon, how can you save on your own fuel bill? Hint: A lot has to do with changing driving and commuting habits. The International Energy Agency has come up with 10 energy-savings tips that could make a big difference in your pocketbook and carbon footprint. How many of these simple tips make sense for you? To learn more, click on the maroon link above. And check out the Solaflect Energy website, email us, or call (802) 649-3700. Working together, the power is in our hands to make a difference! Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.It's not just medical kits going from the Upper Valley to Ukraine — firefighters' gear has landed there, too. "Like most departments," Norwich firefighter Matthew Rojansky explains to Demo Sofronas for his About Norwich newsletter, "we hold on to old PPE (turnout gear) for many years, often long past its official... expiration of 10 years, because we use it for training or other purposes." Firefighters from the NY area have been collecting protective gear from departments to send to their counterparts in the war zone, and Rojansky was able to pull 10 full sets together. The gear, he says, is now in Ukraine.As outrage over Ukraine continues on campuses, Ivies stay silent on investments. The universities of Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan have all announced moves to divest their Russian holdings. So the Daily Princetonian's Brenden Garza decided to ask the Ivies. Dartmouth is “horrified by the brazen aggression of the Russian war in Ukraine,” the college's Diana Lawrence told him—but added that it doesn't talk about specific holdings. Nor does Princeton. Yale says it's pulled its money from Russian investments. Columbia declined to comment, and Harvard, Brown, Cornell, and Penn didn't respond."I don't remember going down, but I remember being picked up." One thing that became clear during the heart of the pandemic was how important Meals on Wheels deliveries were, not just because of the food, but because they gave volunteers a chance to check in on recipients and recipients some social contact. NHPR's Allie Fam visits the Grafton County senior program in Haverhill, which is slowly trying to bring back in-person services. Interest in bus rides has dropped, Fam reports, but visits to the Horse Meadow Senior Center are picking up again.Three Windsor-based businesses snag awards from the US Small Business Administration. Blake Hill Preserves founders Vicky Allard and Joe Hanglin are taking home the 2022 Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year award from the SBA for the company's growth and community involvement. In addition, Global Village Foods has been named the Minority-Owned Business of the Year, and Fat Sheep Farm—a working farm that also rents out cabins for guests—is the Microenterprise of the Year.Eagle Ledge in Vershire, Fairlee Palisades cliff top closed to hikers to protect nesting peregrines. It happens every year, and VT Fish & Wildlife has just released its initial list of sites that are off-limits until around Aug. 1. In some cases it's the full trail, but often it's just the top: “In many cases the lower portions of the trails remain open, and we encourage people to enjoy watching peregrine falcons from a distance with binoculars or a scope,” says Audubon Vermont conservation biologist Margaret Fowle.Hiking Close to Home: Deer Leap. The mountain's trails, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance says, provide great recreation opportunities only a few miles from Killington and Pico. The Appalachian Trail runs east to west over the mountain, with junctions to other trails, including the Long Trail. The Deer Leap Trail leads to a ledge looming over the north side of Sherburne Pass, offering views of nearby peaks and as far as the Adirondacks. The trailhead can be accessed from Sherburne Pass, with a large parking area that makes it a popular access point for the AT, the Long Trail, and Deer Leap Mountain.Been paying attention this week? Want to play a new UV version of Wordle? The News Quiz folks have some questions and a new feature for you. Questions like, why'd Hanover's selectboard pull that leash law vote? And what's the Lyme Conservation Commission fretting about in Post Pond? And just how many states did a GOP candidate for US House in NH vote in? You'll find those and others at the maroon link...plus the Vordle at the end. Or you can just go straight for the little green squares..."In all my years of following the New Hampshire General Court, I cannot recall ever seeing so many bills clustered around a single topic." That's Anna Brown, director of research and analysis for the nonpartisan NH nonprofit Citizens Count. She's talking about Covid-related measures, many of which have drawn intense opposition from public-health-focused groups and businesses, and equally fervent support from personal-liberty-focused advocates, reports Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin. Of the 60 bills initially filed, about 20 still have a chance, she writes, and details the ones to watch.Slate Ridge owner starts paying town. But even so, Pawlet, VT plans to ask a court to hold Banyai and his controversial gun-training facility in contempt. The $53,000 from Banyai, reports VTDigger, covers the amount Banyai owed Pawlet as of Dec. 16, 2020 after it won a court battle over zoning violations. But Banyai "has not yet taken other actions required by the court, including hiring a surveyor to assess structures on his land...that don’t have valid permits," and he appears to be continuing to build, says the town's lawyer.Longest rail trail in New England expected to be finished this fall. That would be the 93-mile-long Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, which runs from St. J to Swanton, VT, just shy of Lake Champlain. Construction has started on three uncompleted segments, reports Shaun Robinson in VTDigger—about 49 miles of trail in all—and should be wrapped up this fall. The trail follows the route of the former St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad; it's open to nonmotorized uses in the spring, summer, and fall, and snowmobiles in winter.Get a drone’s-eye view of the Tesla factory in Berlin. No, this one isn’t sponsored content. It just happens to be too striking not to share. Tesla has opened a massive new production facility in Germany for its Model Y, and they decided the best way to show off what state-of-the-art automobile assembly looks like is to swoop a drone through the factory. Props to the drone operator for playfully navigating the labyrinth of robotic machinery stamping out new cars—only slightly less jaw-dropping than the sheer scale of the AI-infused Tesla operation itself. One thing you'll notice: not many people.
And the numbers...
Dartmouth case numbers are climbing again, with 181 active cases reported yesterday (compared to 119 on Monday). The college's dashboard reports 93 undergrad cases (+43), 73 among grad and professional students (+15), and 15 among faculty/staff (+4).
NH cases are rising somewhat, with a 7-day average now of 147 new cases per day, versus 125 on Monday. The state reported 123 new cases Tuesday, 149 Wednesday, and 216 yesterday, bringing it to 303,472 in all. There were 5 new deaths reported during that time; the total stands at 2,457. Under the state's new rubric of reporting only people actively being treated for Covid in hospitals, it reports 6 hospitalizations, no change from Monday. The state reports 175 cases in Grafton County, 29 in Sullivan, and 84 in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, it says Hanover has 108, Lebanon 15, Claremont 12, Plainfield 5, Haverhill 5, and Piermont, Orford, Lyme, Enfield, Grantham, Springfield, New London, Sunapee, Newport, and Charlestown have 1-4 each.
VT cases are climbing, with the state reporting 152 cases Tuesday, 221 Wednesday, and 216 yesterday (these are PCR test numbers, and do not include self-reported numbers from Vermonters taking at-home rapid tests), bringing it to 117,742 total and up to a 7-day daily average of 158, compared to 142 Monday. There was 1 death during that time; they stand at 620 all told. Hospitalizations are also rising: As of yesterday, 26 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (+5), with 5 in the ICU (+3). Windsor County has seen 27 cases since Monday and 126 over the past two weeks, for 8,779 overall, while Orange County gained 6 cases on the state's tally: It's at 4,872, with 46 in the past two weeks.
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This evening at 5:30, AVA Gallery hosts painter Olivia Janna Genereaux for a talk about her work, part of a solo-but-joint exhibition at the gallery through next week.
And at 6 pm, VINS presents an online talk about Snowy Owls in the Arctic. The presentation is by Jean-Francois Therrien, a senior scientist at Pennsylvania's Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, whose work for almost two decades has focused on the continental movement of arctic raptors.
Starting at 7:30 pm this evening, it's "Nameless at the Anonymous"—an evening at the Anonymous Coffeehouse in the First Congregational Church of Lebanon featuring three acts that have performed at the Nameles Coffeehouse in Cambridge, MA, known for nurturing the region's folk scene. First up, Vermonters Brian Carroll and Mark Burds, with a roots-infused sound that's "dusty and worn at times and rollicking and twang-infused at others," the Anonymous writes; then, at 8, it's Boston-based guitarist Dean Stevens, a veteran performer with a repertoire in both English and Spanish; and finally, Eric Kilburn, who ran the Nameless in the '80s, ran a highly successful recording studio in Boston, and before all that, played Passim over 40 times both as a headliner and opener for Tracy Chapman, Shawn Colvin, and others.
Also at 7:30 both this evening and tomorrow evening, the Hop presents The Day—a collaboration among world-renowned cellist Maya Beiser, legendary dancer Wendy Whelan (former NY City Ballet principal), choreographer Lucinda Childs (among other things, she won an Obie for her work in Einstein on the Beach), and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. The piece, which premiered at Jacob's Pillow in 2019, is "an evening-long sensory exploration of two journeys—life and the eternal, post-mortal voyage of the soul" through music and dance.
Tomorrow and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, it's time for lambs, kids, calves, chicks, piglets, bunnies, and ducklings at Billings Farm. Yep, the annual Baby Farm Animal Celebration is back as Billings reopens for the season by featuring its newest inhabitants.
Also starting at 10 am tomorrow on the South Royalton Green and running until 2 pm, it's a community fair of a different sort: celebrating beekeeping and pollinators. There'll be vendors, workshops, pollinator-friendly activities, and a variety of vendors related to beekeeping, botanicals, gardens, and farming.
And at 2 pm tomorrow, writers and cartoonists Tillie Walden and Emma Hunsinger will give a story-time reading of their new book, My Parents Won't Stop Talking, their take on the near-universal childhood dilemma of parents who just won't get with the program.
Tomorrow evening from 6-10 at the Briggs Opera House in WRJ, Thetford native and filmmaker Molly Longwell throws a film showcase and fundraiser for Bad Mother, the film—set in E. Thetford—she hopes to start production on in May. Members of the Bad Mother cast and crew will be contributing to a lineup of short films, video art, and live performances. In partnership with the Briggs and White River Indie Films.
At 7 pm tomorrow, Hop Film screens the Women's Adventure Film Tour in Spaulding, with seven films about women of all ages and abilities, including ultra-runner Lucy Bartholomew and a high-line gathering in Australia; Olympian Torah Bright skiing the mountain ranges from Antarctica to Alaska; five girls, ages 9-15, focused on outdoor sports; and more.
And at 7:30 tomorrow, the Lebanon Opera House brings in Keystone Revisited, led by Tony Saunders and Zach Nugent and focused on celebrating the music and style created by Jerry Garcia and keyboard player Merl Saunders (Tony's dad) at the Keystone Club in Berkeley during the early 1970s when the Grateful Dead weren't on tour.
Also, tomorrow's the opening of trout season in VT (though not for catch-and-release anglers, who can ply their pastime year-round). In NH, rivers and streams have been open since Jan. 1; ponds open 4/23.
Finally, Sunday from 5-8 pm the Sunday Music Series in the listening room at East Coast Van Builds in Bradford picks right back up, as a fundraiser for Bradford Parks & Rec's dog park project. This weekend it's the John Lackard Blues Band with the Bliss Brothers opening.
Whew. Let's settle down to head into the weekend. You could think of this either as a stirring soundtrack to awesome visuals, or awesome visuals to a stirring soundtrack. The music is a "reimagined" version of Schubert's "Ave Maria" by Audiomachine, which mostly produces movie trailers and advertisements but has also gotten into creating music for the general public—including a 2020 release that took on Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Satie, and others.
pieced together from over 8,000 photos compiled over eight nights in February and March by Vincent Ledvina, a physics major at the University of North Dakota and dedicated aurora chaser.
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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