GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Some sun! Remember that area of low pressure yesterday? It's headed out of the region and drier air is flowing in behind it from the northwest. We may start out with some fog in spots, but mostly we get gradually clearing skies with cooler temps—highs in the mid-to-upper 60s—and some gusts this afternoon. Down into the 40s tonight.Sunrise, sunset... and welcome.
Early hours on the Connecticut by the boat launch at Kendal Riverside Park in Hanover, by Tom Wilson.
Late hours on the Connecticut from River Road in Hanover, by Jed Williamson.
And, in response to yesterday's still of a monarch butterfly, a video from Paul Hodgdon and Diane Burgess of a butterfly in North Sutton, NH, emerging from its chrysalis last week.
"I don't want to know." It's still night, Henry's back from the woods... and Auk and Eddie are up and about. Every week in this spot, author and illustrator DB Johnson (Henry Hikes to Fitchburg and other classics) chronicles the doings in Lost Woods. Scroll right to move on to the next panel or left to catch up on previous weeks. Co-op, D-H to boost minimum wage. Both major employers say they'll be boosting their bottom-tier wage starting Oct. 3, reports John Gregg in the Valley News. D-H will raise its figure from $14 to $17 an hour for all its employees throughout its system—meaning not just at DHMC, but at APD, Mt. Ascutney, New London Hospital, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Co-op is raising its minimum about $2, to $15 an hour. Spokesman Allan Reetz tells Gregg it will apply to about a third of the cooperative's 360 employees. SPONSORED: We are full of gratitude and anticipation to head back to our favorite activity—sitting in the dark and watching the very best works our cinematic leaders have created—and find ourselves more in love with film than ever. Check out the Hop’s Fall film lineup of blockbusters, foreign films, documentaries and more, including the popular Telluride at Dartmouth selections. Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.Hiking Close to Home: Shaker Mountain—Marshall Dyer Loop Trail. This 2-mile hike in Enfield runs through the Lower Shaker Wildlife Management Area, with about 600’ of elevation gain. It's easy to add more distance and challenges with a trail network of over 8 miles on 70+ acres. As you leave the trailhead, begin on Mill Pond Trail before turning either right or left at the fork. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance says keep an eye out for evidence of the Shakers' impact on the land and an impressive range of flora and fauna. Parking is at the end of a gravel drive by a field off Rte 4A, across from Landing Road in Enfield.
Time to test your knowledge of the week's events in the Upper Valley (and a little beyond). It's the weekly News Quiz. Why did those three VT state troopers resign? Just what kind of residue did a Dartmouth team find in some 9,000-year-old pots? And which UV town just landed $25K in a national competition to help it build a dog park? "Fly Your Auditory Freak Flag." Those words greet students first entering Dartmouth’s sonic arts class, taught by music prof Ash Fure, an artist whose own immersive, experimental work invites us to “open up to the relationship between [our] bodies and sound.” Charlotte Albright’s Dartmouth News profile explores Fure’s work and emerging curriculum in multisensory composition—“Tones made tactile, objects made audible, noise made beautiful," as the NYT once wrote—and previews a new Sonic Arts Hub, which Fure hopes becomes “a wellspring for collaborative creativity and community connection.”"It seems like somebody was asleep at the wheel." That’s the blunt assessment of intellectual property attorney Lisa Thompson on how email fraudsters managed to swindle the Peterborough NH out of $2.3 million in July. Rick Green reports in the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript that thieves, masquerading as organizations the town works with, made off with public funds intended for the school district and a local contractor. Although a coordinated fraud, Thompson believes “a little bit of a critical eye” might have caught the scammers’ spelling errors and fake email addresses and prevented the crime.NH emergency-room boarding continues, lawyers contend. It's been four months since the NH Supreme Court held that the state could not hold people in a mental health crisis in emergency rooms for more than 3 days without a hearing. In a federal court hearing yesterday, however, lawyers for the state's hospitals said the practice continues. While the waitlist has been reduced, said one, "The state cannot claim that they’ve ended the problem. I can tell you that.” As of yesterday, 18 adults and 10 children were waiting in emergency rooms for an in-patient bed, reports NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins. Want to do a little comparison-shopping for a joint replacement? Back in late August, VT Auditor Doug Hoffer brought together on one page links to the "price transparency tools" that the state and feds require for select procedures. The page links to the 14 Vermont hospitals and DHMC. Each hospital does this somewhat differently—some give pricing right off the bat; others require a few more steps. True comparison-shopping is tough (depends on your insurer, the procedure, etc), but as Hoffer said at the time, "Ultimately, the value of these tools is in direct relation to the frequency with which Vermonters use them."Man killed in Rutland police shooting was holding a cellphone. The incident took place on August 25 after Jonathan Mansilla, who lived in Florida, was involved in a hit-and-run, chased by police, ran into a UPS truck, then fled into a McDonald's. There, a Rutland police officer followed him into a bathroom. Mansilla ran toward the officer, who told state police on Wednesday that "he observed an object in Mansilla’s hand that he perceived to be an unknown weapon of some kind" and shot Mansilla. "The object Mansilla was carrying was later determined to be a cellphone," the VSP reported yesterday.Aha! Big thanks to VTDigger's Erin Petenko for explaining something I've been wondering about. VT publishes its daily Covid numbers around noon—and, recently, has been revising them upward, sometimes substantially, later in the day or on subsequent days. For Sept. 5, for instance, the number climbed from an initial tally of 78 to 159. State officials blame staffing issues and late reporting; they plan to hire more people and change software. Meanwhile, Health Commissioner Mark Levine advises against making “life plans based on a 24-hour period of data.”"Less of a hill, more of a 90-degree angle." That's how VPR's Myra Flynn describes Agony Hill Road in Reading. For the last four years, VPR's Brave Little State has set out to answer listeners' questions about how roads in VT got their odd names, and the 2021 edition just went up. In the case of Agony Hill, it's about halfway into what's called the 100-mile ride, a three-day event organized by the Green Mountain Horse Assn. You can also check out the very cool stories behind Cow Path 40 in Marlboro and Texas Falls in Hancock."I am tired of this thing called science here." Nope, not what you think. That was US Sen. Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania in 1861, questioning why the US should spend money on the Smithsonian Institution. It's just one of many wonderful quotes and statements rounded up in a 1969 Legislative Reference Service doc known as the "Erroneous Predictions" report and noted the other day by Washington Post columnist John Kelly. There's a NY congressman wondering "of what possible commercial importance" Alaska might be, astronomer William Pickering pooh-poohing the possibility that airplanes could replace ships, a French surgeon in 1839 dissing anesthesia...
"Put your hands in the air." Back in 2018, a Venn diagram went viral on Twitter with those words in the middle, the intersection of things that bank robbers, preachers, and DJ's all say. Well, we may have just hit peak Venn, with the addition of "Mom taking off your sweater" to the mix. Bank robbers and DJs have "Everyone on the floor" in common. Moms and bank robbers: "I'm not asking twice." DJs, preachers, and moms: "I know you're better than this." And, of course, moms, bank robbers, and preachers: "Listen to me, buster."
And the numbers...For the time being, Daybreak is reporting Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
NH reported 339 cases on Wednesday and 522 yesterday, the largest single-day jump since April. This brings it to a total of 110,779 and a seven-day average of 369 cases per day (a 14 percent increase over the previous 7-day period). There were 6 deaths over the past two days, bringing the total to 1,436. The active caseload stands at 3,079 (down 142) and hospitalizations at 140 (down 1). The state reports 128 active cases in Grafton County (down 32), 74 in Sullivan County (up 6), and 379 in Merrimack County (up 12). In town-by-town numbers reported by the state, Claremont has 32 active cases (up 8 since Tuesday), Lebanon has 21 (down 4), Hanover has 19 (up 5), New London has 14 (down 1), Charlestown has 11 (down 1), Newbury has 8 (no change), Haverhill has 7 (up at least 3), Canaan has 6 (up 1), Sunapee has 6 (up 1), Newport has 5 (up at least 1), and Warren, Orford, Wentworth, Rumney, Enfield, Plainfield, Grantham, Cornish, and Croydon have 1-4 each.
VT reported 150 new cases on Wednesday and 101 yesterday, bringing it to a total of 29,588 for the pandemic. There was 1 new death during that time; they now number 283. As of yesterday, 30 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (down 3). Windsor County has seen 21 new cases over the past two days, for a total of 1,870 for the pandemic, with 163 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 10 cases over the last two days, with 70 over the past two weeks for a total of 965 for the pandemic.
Dartmouth reported yesterday that there are now 9 cases among undergrads (down 1), 2 among grad and professional students (down 1), and 4 among faculty and staff (up 1). Nobody is in quarantine, 11 students and 6 faculty/staff are in isolation.
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First off, though the event itself isn't until Sunday, today's the registration deadline for the Upper Valley Trails Alliance's Tour de Taste "pedaling picnic." Three possible routes—6 miles around Lake Morey, 21 miles on both sides of the Connecticut, or the River Road Extension designed for advanced riders (31 miles)—with food along the way provided by a host of local producers, including Boloco, Lou's, Ariana's, Gladstone Creamery, Trail Break, Piecemeal, Poverty Lane... and more.
At 7 this evening at the Windsor Exchange, you can catch a showing of The Ballad of Ethan Alien, the quirky film featuring a host of Vermont actors and personalities—Rusty DeWees, Luis Guzman, Christine Hallquist, Kiah Morris—and bands, most notably the Western Terrestrials, who put the whole thing together.
At 7:30, the Lebanon Opera House brings in pianist and entertainer Jason Lyle Black, with his repertoire of Broadway hits, Disney movie themes, classical masterworks, one-liners, on-the-spot medleys of songs audience members want to hear, songs not to play at weddings or funerals... Masks required, limited-capacity seating.
At 8 pm, JAG Productions' final weekend of "Theatre on a Hill" at King Arthur Baking gets going with a staged reading of Raven Cassell's For the Love of Jazz. Set amidst the Harlem Renaissance, it's a "jazzical," about which Cassell writes, "No singing, just instrumental jazz against the voices/desires/cries of these wild and crazy characters. Both a night at the theatre and a night at the jazz club."
There will be 9/11 commemoration events in several towns tomorrow, and the Valley News has helpfully pulled the details together.
From 10-5 tomorrow, the Robie Farm in Piermont will be celebrating its 150th anniversary—six generations have farmed that land along the Connecticut. Hay rides, barn tours, bluegrass in the afternoon, barbecue—here's a profile by the VN's Claire Potter.
Tomorrow from 1-3 pm, the Norwich Historical Society is hosting a community resource fair outside on its lawn. Much of it is focused on getting involved with churches, sports, town committees, and community organizations in Norwich, but there will be several regional organizations on hand to tell you how you can take part in making the Upper Valley a better place, including the Montshire, The Family Place, the Richmond School PTO, and Willing Hands.
At 7 tomorrow evening, ArtisTree hosts pianist Sonny Saul, his family, and some fine local jazz musicians for a two-part concert, "What the Big Bang is Doing Now."
Then, Sunday from 10-5, it's Traditional Crafts Day at Billings Farm, with demonstrations of wheel-thrown pottery, leather working, papercutting using sheep shears, fiber arts, butter churning, handmade ricotta, and more.
At 2 pm, Opera North hosts "September Songs: Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon" at Blow-Me-Down Farm in Cornish. Pianist Bill Wightman and a variety of jazz musicians from around the region play works by Cole Porter, Henry Mancini, and other contributors to the Great American Songbook. In ON's circus tent, tix are general admission, picnics welcome.
And finally, at 4 pm, it's the (Zoom only) second installment in the Morrill Homestead's series on "The Abenaki Experience: Prehistory to Present." Abenaki scholar Frederick Wiseman will look at three periods from a Native perspective: 1609-1620, the eve of European arrival; mid-18th century Abenaki diplomacy; and the culture, history, and ecology of Vermont Indian families and communities during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Back in 2006, taken with the idea of creating an all-African string trio, Moroccan
oud
player Driss El Maloumi, Madagascan
valiha
virtuoso (more on that in a moment) Rajery, and renowned Malian
kora
player Ballaké Sissoko met up in Madagascar for a series of lectures and concerts to give it a try. They had such a good time they just kept at it, calling themselves 3M. You've met Sissoko before in this spot. Rajery (his full name is Germain Randrianrisoa) plays a bamboo zither with strings made from bicycle brake cables and—despite losing the fingers of one hand when he was a toddler after being poisoned by a spiteful neighbor—is now one of Madagascar's most famous musicians. El Maloumi has made a practice of crossing cultural lines with his
oud
, collaborating extensively with African and Middle Eastern musicians as well as such classical luminaries as Jordi Savall and Françoise Atlan.
See you Monday.
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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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