GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Well, that turned out to be a nicer day than expected! But that was yesterday. A front began moving into the region overnight, making stately progress eastward. You may have heard the winds ahead of it overnight, and we'll see rain and maybe thunder this morning and possibly into the afternoon before it starts exiting east later today—when we may even get some sun. Temps cooler than yesterday, reaching the low 70s. Low 50s tonight.Okay, okay, one more... But only because as fungi go it's so spectacularly... well, beautiful and bizarre-looking. It's in Hanover, from Bronwen Lewis.Well, we were texting a space alien... It's Week 43 in Lost Woods, and Eddie and Auk are still hanging around, making trouble, this time for poor Wally. As he does every Friday in this spot, Lebanon author and illustrator DB Johnson (Henry Hikes to Fitchburg and other classics) chronicles the doings in his favorite patch of woods. Scroll right to move on to the next panel or left to catch up on previous weeks. "Expect very long delays." That's the City of Lebanon warning you about S. Main Street—also known as the section of 12A that leads into old West Leb. There'll be one-way alternating traffic from 7 am to 6 pm Mon-Fri for the next three weeks along that stretch, as crews box the road for gravel, grade it, and then pave it. They'll also be installing retaining walls, curbing, and sidewalks.A hot dog stand and a taco joint... Hanover's food scene evolves. The Dartmouth's Jacob Strier visits with Molly Hopkins and Joel Cockburn, who run the Frankfurters stand at the corner of Wheelock and Main. It's winding up its first season (Cockburn hopes they can make it to late October); Hopkins cut her teeth helping out at her grandmother's hot dog stand in Maine. Meanwhile, Strier reports, Tacos y Tequila owner Ramiro Bravo is prepping to open in the former Skinny P space in mid-fall—the fourth in Bravo's chain in PA and ME.Hiking Close to Home: Balch Hill Natural Area in Hanover. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance's suggestion for the week offers eight trails, from a short meander to a mile long. The network features diverse natural communities, including the abandoned pasture at the summit and forested communities on the Hill’s slopes—including pines, hardwoods, and hemlocks. The summit has views of Moose Mountain, Mount Ascutney, and Gile Mountain. The Trescott lands, Oak Hill, and the AT are all easily accessible from Balch Hill as well. Trails are limited to foot travel, but dogs are permitted.So, how long was that VT prize-winning gourd? It's time to test your knowledge of the week's events in the News Quiz. That Tunbridge barn crash, plans for the cinemas on the Miracle Mile, case trends at Dartmouth... It's all grist for the mill in the Upper Valley quiz. Plus, this week (also at the link) there's a special-for-Norwich quiz that includes some questions from recent events (what kind of houses are getting added to the National Register?) and one opinion question: Should the town use federal Rescue Plan funds to study a possible sewage treatment solution to septic problems downtown?Treated for Covid? How much you pay depends on whether your insurance is in VT or NH. In the Valley News, Nora Doyle-Burr explores the differences between insurance coverage in the two states. VT rules require private insurers to "shield patients from costs associated with COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccination," she writes. NH is more freewheeling: Like the majority of states, it now allows insurers to spread the cost to patients through deductibles and copays for all Covid care. Is an island off NH a microcosm of sustainable energy? A solar array and wind turbine on Appledore Island are powering what may be a glimpse of our renewable energy future, reports Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin. Home to the Shoals Marine Laboratory, the island has shifted away from fossil fuel toward cost-saving renewables, which now provide about 80 percent of its energy. As a small, isolated community, the lab and a few part-time residents have learned how to better monitor usage, costs, and when it makes sense to rely on their diesel generator. Because 100 percent renewable isn’t necessarily the goal.NH redistricting committees coming to N. Haverhill. The GOP-led House and Senate committees charged with coming up with new state and congressional district maps have been taking their show around the state to hear from constituents. And Tuesday at 6 pm is their Grafton County visit, reports Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin. "Leaders of the committees...have rebuffed requests from Democrats to allow remote participation for residents wishing to testify," DeWitt adds, though they'll take written testimony."A regulatory agency that won’t do its job..." NH Consumer Advocate Don Kreis is losing his patience with the Public Utilities Commission. Earlier this week he threatened to sue if it doesn't approve an energy efficiency plan that was supposed to take effect in January. Now, in a column in InDepthNH, he lets loose on its reluctance to act on much of anything: grid modernization, utility customer data, and above all, energy efficiency. Its heel-dragging "is infinitely worse than an agency that makes decisions that are wrong and require correction by either the courts or the Legislature," he writes. Vail Resorts ski areas will require indoor masking this season. Plus, if you're going to eat at indoor, on-mountain cafeteria restaurants and are 12 or older, you'll have to show proof of vaccination. But, unlike last year, you won't have to make reservations ahead of time, and lifts and gondolas will operate at normal capacity, reports NBC5's Jake Cookson. The resorts are mandating vaccines for employees. Vail owns Stowe Mountain Resort, Okemo, and Mt. Snow in VT and Mt. Sunapee, Attitash, Crotched Mountain, and Wildcat in NH.8:15 this morning. That's when Vermonters age 80 and older will be able to sign up for Pfizer booster shots, reports Paul Heintz in VTDigger. State officials announced the move yesterday afternoon, after a CDC advisory committee recommended a third shot for older Americans who'd gotten the Pfizer vaccine. They'll role out signup eligibility to younger age groups over the next week, starting with people 75 and older on Monday. You can sign up on the state Health Department's vaccine page.Well, that was short. Seven Days political columnist Mark Johnson is leaving after just 14 columns, reports the weekly's Colin Flanders. Johnson, who joined up in June after 5 years at VTDigger and along-running interview show on WDEV, said the column "requires more bandwidth than I can sustain." His piece about the EB-5 scandal, which Daybreak linked to yesterday, was his last. Though Seven Days' "Fair Game" column is popular with readers, the paper has had trouble keeping the position filled. Johnson replaced Dave Gram, who retired because of health issues; before that, the seat was empty for a time.#Masterclef. The VT Symphony Orchestra is launching a competition for students in grades 6-12 to arrange and perform an original song based on a five-bar melody written by Jordanian/Canadian composer Suad Bushnaq, one of only a few Arab women composers and creator of a cello concerto the VSO will premiere next month. Why the play on Master Chef? “You can compose a million pieces based on ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ and each one would sound completely different," Bushnaq tells Seven Days' Cat Cutillo. "You could make a million different dishes from eggs and butter.” "Free Solo but for drowning. Free Solo but down." There you’ve got freediving. Daniel Riley’s thrilling piece in GQ, this week's Long Read, introduces us to the (understandably) obscure sport of extreme underwater diving—swimming to obscene depths without oxygen. We meet freediving’s icon, Alexey Molchanov, as he attempts a world record down a 660-foot “blue hole” in the Bahamas. Molchanov chases depths not just for the thrill of it, but something more universal. The sheer limit to which a body is pushed, he says, “gives us this mental strength and focus” to confront any challenge in life.Roll!!! Be Free!!! This is the time for moon festivals around Asia, and not infrequently they feature giant inflatable moons. As did one in Henan Province, China... until the moon lit out for the territory.
And the numbers...For the time being, Daybreak is reporting Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
NH reported 186 new cases on Tuesday, 286 Wednesday, and 304 yesterday. It also announced a bunch of new previously unreported results, bringing it to 116,710 for the pandemic. There have been 11 deaths over the last three days, bringing the total to 1,469. The active caseload stands at 3,863 (+94) and hospitalizations at 142 (+3). The state reports 188 active cases in Grafton County (+13), 159 in Sullivan County (+14), and 446 in Merrimack County (+15). Town-by-town numbers reported by the state: Claremont: 49 (-5 since Monday); Newport 43 (+9); Charlestown 31 (+9); Wentworth 19 (+1); Hanover 18 (no change); Lebanon 13 (-6); Canaan 10 (no change); Sunapee 9 (+1); New London 7 (-1); Newbury 6 (no change); Plainfield 5 (+ at least 1); Haverhill, Orford, Rumney, Lyme, Dorchester, Enfield, Grantham, Cornish, and Croydon have 1-4 each. Springfield and Warren are off the list.
VT reported 180 new cases on Tuesday, 135 Wednesday, and 268 yesterday (its second-highest single-day total). It stands at 32,368 for the pandemic. There were 3 new deaths during that time; they now number 301. As of yesterday, 40 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (-4). Windsor County has seen 39 new cases since Monday, for a total of 2,102 for the pandemic, with 235 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 11 cases during the same time, with 64 over the past two weeks for a total of 1,029 for the pandemic.
Dartmouth reported yesterday that it's down to 5 cases among undergrads (-5), 0 among grad and professional students (no change), and 4 among faculty and staff (+2). Nobody is in quarantine, 5 students and 7 faculty/staff are in isolation.
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Today at 3 pm, the Dartmouth Political Union holds its delayed-from-May conversation with linguist, political activist, and renowned intellectual provocateur Noam Chomsky. He'll be dissecting current events, talking about his notions of "manufactured consent," discussing political systems and current events, and most likely delving into anything that strikes his fancy. Plenty of time for Q&A, the DPU says.
At 5 pm, Northern Stage launches what has to be one of the more unusual productions in its history: Junction, an audio walking tour of White River Junction. Dorothy Gish and her sister, Lillian, on the set of D.W Griffith's Way Down East in 1920; a biracial teenager from Harlem arriving at the train station in 1970 to stay with her godmother; a writer in 2020 wandering downtown in search of stories... All guide you via prerecorded audio you download to your cellphone. It runs for a month, but at 5 today you can join artistic director Carol Dunne and the tour's creators to talk about the artistic and technical challenges. RSVP to [email protected] if you plan to show up.
At 7 pm, the Norwich Bookstore hosts bestselling Mexican children's book author and illustrator Yuyi Morales, reading from and talking about her new book, Bright Star. She'll be in conversation about that and other things with California-based author Reyna Grande.
Also at 7, though it'll require a bit of a drive, the Lyndon Institute in Lyndon, VT, hosts singer and songwriter Aoife O’Donovan—co-founder of I’m With Her and Crooked Still and collaborator with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile on the Goat Rodeo Sessions. She'll be joined by Hawktail, made up of members of Crooked Still, Punch Brothers, and the old Prairie Home Companion (now Live From Here) house band. Masks required, along with proof of vaccination or negative Covid test.
At 7:30, Middlebury College's Performing Arts Series is offering an online (and in-person) concert by the Grammy-winning Imani Winds quintet and the strings ensemble Catalyst Quartet. Each group will perform both separately and together, including the Vermont premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s new work for nine musicians, Sergeant McCauley,* which brings together spirituals and work songs that reflect her great-grandfather’s route from Mississippi through the West, north to the Dakotas, and eventually back to Georgia. Tix are free.
There's also plenty going on tomorrow, starting at 9 am (until 1) on the Lyme Common with a health and wellness fair organized by Community Care of Lyme. It'll cover everything from farming to emergency preparedness to yoga, with lots of activities throughout the morning and participants that include Cedar Circle, the Alzheimer's Association, Hogwash Farm, NAMI-NH, the River Valley Club and UVAC, and lots of others. Details and schedule at the link.
At 9:30 in Groton, VT, signup starts (and ends a half-hour later) for the 10 am Fall Foliage Bike Ride on the Cross Vermont Trail, hosted by the Cross Vermont Trail Association and the Newbury Conservation Commission. It's about 18 miles round trip on the trail, headed north from the Upper Valley Grill in Groton to Lanesboro and back, with an 11-mile option for families.
From 9-5, Hanover Adventure Tours is holding an open house at their place on Route 5 in Norwich, with food trucks and the chance to take out one of their e-bikes for a tour of one of their test routes.
Starting at 10 in Charlestown and lasting through the weekend, the Fort at No. 4 hosts a Revolutionary War re-enactment, with tours, British and American camps, and battles at 1:30 pm each day.
From 10 to noon tomorrow, the Bugbee Senior Center in WRJ is holding a cupcake bakeoff fundraiser for Meals on Wheels to determine who makes the best cupcake in the Upper Valley. You pay $10 and become a member of the "jury," entitled to try out each of the competing bakers' cupcakes. Music, raffle prizes, and free flour donated by King Arthur Baking Company.
At 2 pm, it's Valley Improv's final outdoor show of the year, at 208 Passumpsic Ave. in Wilder (opposite Kilowatt Park). Tix are free, and you can just show up.
At 7:30, the Lebanon Opera House hosts comedian Juston McKinney. New England and New Hampshire in particular have been "his comic muse since he was humoring perps as a deputy sheriff near the NH/Maine border in the ‘90s," LOH writes. There are still tix available, masks required.
And also at 7:30, Lebanon's Anonymous Coffeehouse is back, taking up the sanctuary of the Congregational Church on the other side of Colburn Park from LOH. It starts off with singer-songwriter Caroline Cotter, who's currently touring to support her second album, "Home on the River," then continues at 8:30 with Cabot, VT songwriter, storyteller, and traditional Appalachian musician Dana Robinson. You can read more about the Coffeehouse and its genesis in Alex Hanson's VN story from yesterday.
Whew. After all that, let's just keep it simple. It's been, yes, half a century since "Peace Train" came out on Cat Stevens's Teaser and the Firecat. Now, Playing for Change has a new version that includes Keb’ Mo’; Baaba Maal; Rhiannon Giddens; the Doobies' Pat Simmons; and a host of others around the world. Oh, and yeah: Yusuf/Cat himself. (Thanks, KrH!)Have a lovely weekend. 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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