GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Heads Up: No Daybreak on Monday. Back as usual on Tuesday.Warmer, chance of showers this morning. This stunning weather we've been having is due to something meteorologists call an "omega block"—basically, a pattern in the jet stream that, right now, is showing signs of breaking down. For today, we're looking at partly sunny skies and temps reaching 80, but with a slight chance of showers for the next little bit. Mid-50s tonight.Catch those eyes! "A coyote with honey-colored eyes, intense and purposeful," Ted Levin writes about the latest visitor to Erin Donahue's trail cam. "I'd be jaundiced or diagnosed with bilirubin if I had those eyes. But a coyote? A beast of mythic proportions, the song dog, the trickster, the woodland shadow beyond the edge of our vision. Those eyes were fashioned from the gum of the pinyon pine... or so say the First People of the Southwest."Former LISTEN executive director indicted, charged with embezzlement. The US Attorney's office for NH announced yesterday afternoon that Kyle Fisher, who ran the organization from 2016 until he was placed on leave last fall, allegedly pilfered more than $230,000 over nearly two years, then gambled much of it away at the MGM Casino in Springfield, MA. Fisher, who now lives in NC, faces four counts of wire fraud, reports John Lippman in the Valley News. Board of directors chair Jay Benson tells WMUR, "It didn't surface broadly over a few years. We found out very suddenly. As soon as we found that irregularity, we went to the authorities, we went to our auditors."Spraying your lawn for ticks? The Vermont Center for Ecostudies wants to hear from you. They're launching a study to look into whether spraying (or fogging) affects beneficial insects as well, including bumble bees, dragonflies, and lady beetles—and they need lawns to survey. After the word went out via Vermont Public and various papers, they were inundated with responses—but mostly from people who don't spray. Now they need property owners who do: with traditional pesticides, organic essential oils, or other products.Peregrine cliffs closed to people. It happens every year, May-Aug. 1, and in the Herald, Kira Corasanti goes into why. Like bald eagles, the falcons have made a remarkable recovery from the devastation caused by DDT—but their nesting sites remain vulnerable. In particular, says Travis Peckham, with the climbing group CRAG, “There is a critical window with the chicks...where they aren’t ready to fly yet. If climbers get too close, the chicks would jump prematurely. It’s a risk to the chicks and a risk to the climbers." Around here, Eagle Ledge in Vershire and the Fairlee Cliffs are closed.SPONSORED: The new state-of-the-art Patient Pavilion has opened at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. This new building allows us to deliver high-quality, patient and family-centered care to more people than ever before. Patient rooms are equipped with the latest technology, such as remote clinical monitoring communication tools, smart care boards, and telehealth equipment. Upgrades are also being made throughout the academic medical center. The new pavilion is part of Dartmouth Health’s continued investment in the health of our communities. Learn more at here. Sponsored by Dartmouth Health.Hiking Close to Home: Stinson Mountain, Newbury, NH. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance suggests this lovely out-and-back family hike up to the site of a former fire tower with a great view. You will travel 1.8 miles one way and climb about 1,300'. If you have good weather and time, the peak is a fine spot for a picnic. The trail is mostly a moderate climb through woodland, passing along a creek. It is not always well blazed and there are some intersections, so please map and plan ahead. You might also consider adding a visit to nearby Stinson Lake or Polar Caves. The trailhead is off of Doetown Rd. in Newbury, NH.This is a good time to be looking for new outdoor gear. That's the upshot of Justin Campfield's piece in the VN about the switch from pandemic-era shortages to current equipment glut. As Bill Lockwood, general manager of ASOLO USA, based in West Leb, tells him, during the pandemic “everyone felt that the outdoors was a safe place to congregate,” and the result was a dramatic surge in demand for everything from bicycles to hiking boots to golf clubs. For retailers, it was a traumatic time—so this year, says Omer & Bob's Brett Taber, there's "more inventory than the industry knows what to do with it."Second College Grant study finds wind, small mammals both important to growth of new, mixed-hardwood forests. That's because, UNH researchers found, the wind tends to carry smaller fungal spores and eastern chipmunks, southern red-backed voles, and woodland jumping mice tend to disperse larger spores through their scat. And all those fungi play key roles in sustaining forest ecosystems. So, says one researcher, following a timber harvest "it’s important to provide habitat for wildlife...so they can continue to disperse spores of mycorrhizal fungi that are critical to tree survival and growth.”Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, where did Ed Eastridge learn to teach guitar? And what are Hanover High students going to be studying in their collaboration with NASA? And who does that guy in Dover, NH want to commemorate with a manhole cover? 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, what did the state just make a crime?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, what right did NH just enshrine in state law?
The most dangerous time to drive in NH? Between 5 and 6 pm. That's according to a report from Forbes Advisor, writes Boston.com's Susannah Sudborough—and the timing applies to MA and ME, too. The report, which used National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data on traffic fatalities, also found that Fridays are the most dangerous day to drive in both VT and NH. In MA, it's Saturdays, and in ME, Sundays. (Thanks to the Journal Opinion's Alex Nuti-de Biasi for noticing.)NH Senate says no to marijuana legalization. The vote was 14-10 on the measure, which would have made cannabis legal for adults 21 and older and allowed for retail sales. But, as in previous years, bipartisan House support meant little in the Senate, where all but one Republican voted no, reports WMUR's Adam Sexton. "To those who say we’re an anti-marijuana island, I say we are a drug-free oasis," said one. Democratic leader Donna Soucy, who's opposed legalization in the past, this year changed her mind. "I daresay we are not recognizing the reality of what's currently happening in our state," she said.If NH wants residents to stay, it can't just depend on low taxes or the state's environment. Kristine Bundschuh and Ken Johnson, researchers at UNH's Carsey School, analyzed state polls asking over 3,000 residents why they chose to remain. Respondents mentioned everything from employment and low taxes to the landscape, family, and strong communities. The key point, say Johnson and Bunschuh, is that those who opt to remain do so for a variety of reasons. "Simple development strategies based on any one factor," they write, "are unlikely to trigger substantial population retention alone."VT House overrides veto and VT's clean heat bill becomes law. The chamber's 107-42 vote followed Tuesday's 20-10 Senate move to overcome Gov. Phil Scott's veto earlier this month. As Sarah Mearhoff writes in VTDigger, debate over the bill this year "devolved into a political tit-for-tat" between Scott and the House leadership. The measure aims to enlist home heating fuel providers in the transition to fossil fuel alternatives—which opponents argued will raise the cost of home heating. Next up: the Public Utility Commission has two years to study the impact and then design a clean heat standard.VT legislators advance plan to boost their future pay. The House this week approved a plan—similar to one passed by the Senate last month—to more than double the salary lawmakers receive over three years and to add lawmakers to the state health plan. As Kevin McCallum writes in Seven Days, backers say it's crucial for working Vermonters to be able to hold legislative office. Republicans have blasted the move: “I think the optics of it are terrible,” said Rep. Mark Higley. “I actually feel like the optics of trying to have a more inclusive legislature are great,” responded Democratic Rep. Mike McCarthy.“They live on in the many lives they sustain. In other words: They're lunch.” Fairy shrimp aren’t long for this world, but they play a nourishing role in the ecosystem of vernal pools. In Seven Days, Rachel Mullis writes about the here-today-gone-in-two-months wetlands, and joins the VT Center for Ecostudies' Steve Faccio on a local (to us) tour. Tadpoles, salamanders, and insects start—and in many cases end—their lives in these spring pools, which host a wildly diverse and active ecosystem. “During the two months or more that pools exist, they incubate a staggering amount of life,” Faccio says.ATVs driving into a field: the sound of the future. At least, that's how radio producer Erica Heilman hears it. Out driving in East Calais, she ran into a trio of linemen who've been hanging fiber cable in her neck of the woods all winter and spring. "Seeing them," she says in her latest episode for Vermont Public, "was like seeing the ice cream truck." So she stopped to talk—which they were reluctant to do because they get paid by the foot, not the hour—but Heilman being Heilman, they talked anyway: about stringing cable through the deep woods in mid-winter, what it's like to bring internet to people who don't have it...Haven’t I seen you somewhere? For some 14 years, Norman Rockwell lived in Arlington VT, where he created a slew of his beloved magazine covers. The artist preferred using his neighbors as models, and many of those folks still live in the area. Steve Haggerty is out with a new book, Norman Rockwell’s Models, and he spoke with Seven Days’ Erik Esckilsen about the tales, the circumstances, and the backstories of 25 Rockwell characters. "These people in Vermont had very expressive faces." Older faces now, to be sure—most were children when Rockwell painted them—but as full of life as ever. Jaw. Dropped. Let's just say from the get-go that Matt Randall is one heck of a lucky guy. Solo ski mountaineering outside Aspen last year, he caught the tip of a ski on an exposed rock as he was edging down the line, fell a thousand feet—and walked away with just a broken ski. His GoPro caught it all. The footage was put up by podcaster Ashley Saupe, whose Sharp End Podcast examines accidents in the mountains. In her latest episode, Saupe talks to Randall about how he survived and what he learned.The world's oddities, at your fingertips. Google Street View long ago stopped being just street views. It's filled these days with images sent in by contributors, and it can take you pretty much anywhere, indoors and out. Which was too good an opportunity for Virginia-based coder Neal Agarwal (remember the space elevator?) to leave alone. On Wonders of Street View, he's brought together an almost endless variety of Street View moments: a rabbit in the air in Poland; a "dinosaur walker" in Jackson SD; a cellblock at Alcatraz; the Great Train Graveyard in Potosí, Bolivia; a lava lake on Vanuatu; sheep as far as the eye can see on a road in Albania. Just hit "Random" to explore.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. And since there's no Daybreak on Monday, you'll get one then, too.Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
You know that iconic still of silent-film star Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock face high above a bustling city street? Well, tonight at 7:30 you get a chance to see it in context, when the Lebanon Opera House screens Lloyd's 1923 classic, Safety Last! Silent film historian Kevin Brownlow once declared Lloyd the "third genius" of the era, along with Chaplin and Keaton—not as inventive, but wildly successful as an unremarkable everyman. With live piano accompaniment by composer Bob Merrill.
Also at 7:30 tonight, at the North Chapel UU Church in Woodstock, BarnArts presents Canadian Mi'kmaq fiddler and singer Morgan Toney. As BarnArts writes, "In just a short amount of time, Toney’s been able to invigorate both the Atlantic music communities and Mi’kmaq communities by bringing together the fiery fiddling of Cape Breton Island with the old songs of the Mi’kmaq, one song dating back up to 500 years. He calls this fusion Mi’kmaltic (Mi’kmaq + Celtic)..."
And also at 7:30, Court Street Arts at Alumni Hall in Haverhill brings in North Sea Gas, one of Scotland's more popular folk bands. Known especially for its three-part harmonies, the trio of Dave Gilfillan, Grant Simpson, and Ronnie MacDonald wields guitars, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki, harmonica, whistles, bodhrans, banjo and, as they say, good humor on stage.
And also at 7:30, the Claremont Opera House presents Symphony NH's performance of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, with magician Andrew Pinard as the narrator.
At 8 tonight, the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock has a family movie night going, with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace up on the screen. It's the Anakin/Darth origin story, in which he meets Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, they take on the Trade Federation and reckon with the Sith, and the Star Wars franchise saddles the world with Jar Jar Binks. Says the library, "Everyone must be picked up by 10:30."
And at 9 tonight, Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover brings in veteran soul/blues singer and guitarist Dave Keller—bandleader for Johnny Rawls, sometime vocalist for Ronnie Earl, and "one of the finest soul and blues men of his generation," VPR (back when it was VPR) once said.
From noon to 2 tomorrow, the Rotary Club of Lebanon, dedicates its “Harmony Park” on the Lebanon Mall. The park includes seven permanent features including chimes, percussion, and xylophone-like instruments. Free ice cream, face-painting, and above all, a chance to try out the instruments. The VN's Liz Sauchelli has the back-story.
And also at noon tomorrow, but lasting a lot longer, the Imagine Zero Festival gets underway in Brandon, VT. Organized by two Woodstock guys, it aims to be a music festival without waste, of either the carbon or the plastic variety—and with a lineup of Dawes, Kat Wright, Myra Flynn, Billy Wylder, the Ben Kogan Band, Michael Daves, Brandon Heisler, and the Burlington-based indie band Earthworm.
Tomorrow at 7 pm, the folks at the Music Matters concert series set up at the Lake Morey Resort for a double-bill concert with the CT-based neo-soul band The New Mosaic and Brooklyn's The Gentleman Brawlers, an Afrobeat-influenced indie dance band. All proceeds go to the music programs at the Waits River Valley School.
And finally, because Daybreak won't be publishing on Monday... On Monday at 5 pm, Dartmouth's Dickey Center will host British journalist George Black talking about events behind his book, The Long Reckoning, which tells the story of how a small group of people—including two Vietnam vets—forced the U.S. government to take responsibility for the lasting environmental disasters (Agent Orange, unexploded munitions, crop destruction) inflicted on Vietnam during the war.
And to take us into the weekend...
filmed on the
Eskasoni First Nation's
Goat Island, in eastern Cape Breton.
Have a terrific weekend. 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.
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!