RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!
Heads up: No Daybreak Monday. It'll be the Fourth and there are parades to see, barbecues to attend, pie sales to savor, softball games to cheer, fireworks to gape at...Things heat up. Thankfully, today's the only day for a little while that we'll approach or cross the 90-degree threshold, and there's a spate of possible showers and thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow to cool things down before we return to dry weather for the foreseeable future. Otherwise, sunny, winds from the south, only down to the mid-60s tonight.So this may be a good moment to talk about drought. Last week, the federal drought monitor placed only small portions of VT and NH in its "abnormally dry" category. This week, most of both states are there. The link takes you to the National Integrated Drought Information System's state-by-state map for a broad view. But the real magic is behind the "By Location" tab, where you can hit "Local" and then zero in town-by-town and see, for instance, that Lebanon is abnormally dry by two measures but facing severe drought as measured by streamflow. So much info to dig into! (Thanks, JF!)Fight of the loons. They look so peaceable, floating and diving and, of course... those calls. But they also challenge one another for territory, and up near Newbury the other day, photographer Ian Clark happened to be out on the lake he's been documenting when a lone loon made a move on a pair of parents and their two chicks, surfacing suddenly and going for the chicks. The home team wasn't having it. Ian tells the story, with photos, on his blog."He calls it wallowed ground." It's Lost Woods no. 83, and Auk and Eddie have discovered Henry's sacred place: the swamp. As he does every week here, Lebanon writer and illustrator DB Johnson chronicles the doings in Lost Woods—and on his blog this week he explains the swamp with a quote from Thoreau, which includes the line, "There is the strength, the marrow of Nature."Oh, just in case you're planning to launch from Kilowatt Park to watch the Hartford fireworks on the 4th: Don't. The launch area and access to the park and river at Kilowatt Park South will be closed all day on the 4th for fireworks display setup, Hartford Parks & Rec warns. The launch will reopen Tuesday.Proposed Woodstock farm-to-table restaurant reaches verbal agreement with neighbors, could open by end of summer. You no doubt remember that Peace Field Farm, a long-running project by owner John Holland and farmer-restaurateur Matt Lombard, has faced strenuous opposition from Pomfret Road neighbors, especially over nighttime operation. Now, Holland tells the Valley News's John Lippman that they've all agreed informally that the restaurant would be open four days a week (instead of the original plan for six) and close by 10 p.m. The town is considering zoning changes to allow similar efforts.Woman sought for murder of cyclist Moriah Wilson arrested in Costa Rica. If you've seen any other news source within the last 18 hours, you probably know this: Kaitlin Armstrong, the Texas woman who's been on the run since the May 11 shooting death of Wilson, a Vermont native and Dartmouth grad who'd become a star in the gravel cycling world, was located by the US Marshals Service and arrested Wednesday at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach. Currently in police custody in Costa Rica, she will be deported to the US, reports Velo News.Geisel student sets record for running NH's 48 4000-footers. Will Peterson, a first-year at the medical school from Naples, ME, ran the mountains in 3 days, 12 hours and 36 minutes, the fastest known time by more than two hours for a "supported hike," meaning that he got rides between trailheads, was supplied with water, and could use pace runners. He's also got the "unsupported" record (5 days, 13 hours, 5 minutes) for hiking the 48 with no help at all. “I think the unsupported one’s probably a little bit physically harder, but I think this one was definitely mentally and logistically harder,” he tells the Bangor Daily News.Hiking and Mountain Biking Close to Home: Green Woodlands. With plenty of fine weather ahead, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance points out the summer version of the popular xc ski network at Green Woodlands in Dorchester, NH. There are over 60 miles of mountain bike trails, half of them machine-built single-track, that take you all over the hills between Dorchester and Lyme—with options for hiking, as well. There are map kiosks at most intersections. Parking off Dorchester Road in Lyme or off 118 and D Acres in Dorchester.For NH Aviation Museum director, the 50-year anniversary of Northeast Airlines' end is personal. Jeff Rapsis was 4 years old in 1968 when Flight 946, piloted by his father, crashed on Moose Mountain in Hanover as it was approaching Leb Airport. Now he runs the state aviation museum and on July 31, writes Monitor columnist Ray Duckler, he's throwing a Northeast reunion, bringing back pilots and flight attendants who flew in the decades before the airline merged with Delta in 1972. “I never really knew [my dad]," he tells Duckler, "but 50 years later I’m meeting all these people who knew him."Relaunch of women cartoonists' newspaper started in a Center for Cartoon Studies class. That's where Teppi Zuppo, one of the moving forces behind the original Ladybroad Ledger, was teaching earlier this year—and pitching students on the idea. Eventually, Annabel Driussi, Violet Kitchen, and Sofia Lesage, who live and draw in these parts, ran with it writes Maggie Reynolds in Seven Days. Their first issue arrives in August—and unlike social media, the newspaper "gives the creators a ton of room to play and come up with things you wouldn't normally see in a teeny tiny comic book," Zuppo says.Been paying attention this week? The News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what did the Suicide Six ski area announce this week? And what's that new burger place in Fairlee called? And why did the Haven stop prepping hot food at its food shelf? You'll find those and others at the maroon link.Born of embarrassment, Vermont State Police celebrate 75 years. The agency was created July 1, 1947, after local police, stumped in their investigation of the disappearance of a Bennington College student—a case that still hasn't been solved—were forced to call in the state police from CT and NY to help. That case "rallied Vermonters and their political leadership" to launch the VSP "after many years of hesitation and debate," the agency says in a press release. It had 55 troopers and 7 civilians on the day it was born; these days, it's 290 sworn troopers and 90 civilians.Also today, a new VT law goes into effect making it easier to change the gender on one's birth certificate. Instead of requiring a court appearance and a judge's ruling, writes Seven Days' Anne Wallace Allen, the state will now allow people to "self-attest" via a downloadable form from the state health department. State Rep. Taylor Small, who was behind the move, tells Allen that the discrepancy between gender on a drivers' license—which people have been able to change for some time—and a birth certificate could unwittingly "out" people who prefer to keep their change private.Want to get an early bead on Vermont state elections? The primary's not until Aug. 9, but early voting has begun and yesterday, VTDigger published a guide to every candidate for federal, state, and county office in Vermont. It's a little awkwardly organized by first name, but you can sort by district or seat. In an ideal world it would be full of information for each candidate, including basic bios and candidates' stands on issues VTDigger considers important. At the moment, though, plenty of candidates haven't (yet) responded, so it might be worth giving it some time before you launch your research.How early voting in VT evolved and how it's changing campaigns. Though mail-in ballots have been used in the state for along time, Vermont Public's Bob Kinzel tells host Mitch Wertlieb, it wasn't until 1993 that the state axed the need to give a reason for using an absentee ballot. Things accelerated, of course, during the pandemic and now, though you have to request one for the primary, the state will send them automatically for the general election. Kinzel and Wertlieb talk about the history, election integrity, and Dartmouth prof Linda Fowler's thoughts on how early voting changes campaign dynamics.Slugs have no sense of history. At least, when the four botanists who identified the missing-in-VT-since-1902 small whorled pogonia returned recently to check on the specimens they'd seen in May, several were missing, with the evidence on nearby plants suggesting they'd been eaten by slugs. Seven Days' Anne Wallace Allen went along for the trek, learning a great deal about orchids and other plants—including Medeoloa virginiana, a lily "that tastes like cucumber and that ended up in this reporter's sandwich"—and just as much about the botanists who made national news with their discovery.If you have to be known for something, you could do worse than cheeses and pancakes-with-syrup. Food & Wine's editors have put together a guide to "The One Thing You Have to Eat in Every State," and it's got everything from bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dogs (with beans, onions, mustard, mayo, and jalapeño salsa) in Tucson to, um, scrapple in Delaware and mutton barbecue in Kentucky. Vermont? "No place else in the country besides the West Coast has this same concentration of highly decorated artisanal [cheese] makers." And New Hampshire? A nice shout-out to Polly's Pancake Parlor... though the mag puts it in Lincoln, about 20 miles from its actual spot in Sugar Hill.The Friday Vordle. Attn: Vordlers... Turns out that when the change to bar non-words took place, it also eliminated place names (except for those that are also common words, like "china"). So those of you who've been nonplussed by the occasional place name can now rest easy.Daybreak won't exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
Today at 10 am (and until 5 pm), VINS opens its new songbird aviary, a 2,160 square-foot exhibit that visitors can walk through. It "provides a more extensive space for our non-releasable songbird residents," they write. These days? It could get pretty loud in there.
Starting at 5 pm today, the Justin Morrill Homestead in Strafford opens its Gallery in the Garden art exhibit with a reception featuring Upper Valley artists Matt Brown and Jo Levasseur. There'll be 16 artists from the region in all on the them "The Other American Dream," plus a set of 4" x 4" "minis for Morrill" paintings on display. (Scroll down to July at the link, then hit the first item.)
And, of course, it's First Friday in WRJ. This month's music will mostly be streetside and on corners, though CATV and Here in the Valley will be hosting an open mic for buskers at JAM (Junction Arts & Media), in the former Newberry Market space behind Piecemeal Pies and the Tuckerbox. The Main Street Museum will power up both live and rolled piano. Kishka is holding an opening reception for "My Life in Paint," an exhibition by Susan Carr. Long River Gallery will have live music by Howard Roscoe and Bonnie Waters, and its current exhibition of Jean Gerber's "River Travel" oils.
Tonight at 7:30, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra returns to its summer outdoor tour with a concert in S. Pomfret at the Suicide Six (for now) Ski Area. Julian Pellicano will conduct the Johns—Williams and Philip Sousa—as well as Bernstein, Copland, Rossini, and more. Instead of fireworks at the end, they'll be closing with a "festive light display." Bring your blanket, picnic dinner, champagne flutes...
At 2 pm tomorrow, the students at Interplay Jazz Camp, instrumentalists and vocalists alike, give a free concert in the student center at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden.
Then, at 6 tomorrow (grounds open at 4 pm), Whaleback hosts the Adam Ezra Group, which is on tour right now. The Boston-based roots rock band has a passionate following throughout the Northeast—testament in part to frontman Ezra's insistence on generous live shows that promote community-building as much as the music itself.
At 7:30 pm tomorrow in Spaulding, Hop Film brings in Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story. This new documentary by Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern is as much about the city (and Louisiana) as a nurturer of homegrown music and musicians as it is about the iconic festival itself. History, interviews, everyone from Aaron Neville to Katy Perry to Springsteen to the less-known musicians who make Jazz Fest such a rich tapestry, and, of course, a lot of music. The Coast Jazz Ensemble does a pre-show pop-up performance at 7:15, and Suffern himself will be on hand to talk about the film afterward.
And finally, this weekend is the windup and Monday is The Day itself. There are July 4 festivities all over, with fireworks from Brownsville to Woodsville, pie sales, parades, pancake breakfasts, the annual softball throw-down between Strafford and South Strafford... The Valley News has pulled together a guide to what's going on around the Upper Valley. And the Randolph Herald has done the same for the White River Valley, from Strafford, Vershire and Chelsea to Randolph and over the mountain to Rochester. And if you want to check things out farther afield, here's New Hampshire Mag's guide to events around the state, and the VT tourism office's guide to events north, central, and south.
Here's the Adam Ezra Group—well, actually, it's Adam Ezra and a cast of thousands on the visuals, the Group on the soundtrack—
Which in this case happens to be Monadnock, joined by the flatter terrain of Chelsea and other proud Bay State cities.
Have a fantastic, fun, and restorative long weekend! See you on 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 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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