GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, warmer. We start out the morning with patchy frost and fog, but the skies will clear and the sun's coming out and soon enough we should be getting into the low or mid 60s. Little wind to speak of. High pressure's settling in for the weekend, so though clouds will move in overnight, they won't amount to much. Lows tonight around 40.As fall settles in... photographer Jim Block looks back at the last few weeks of summer. There were lots of birds, of course, including a full-on broad-shouldered hawk and a great blue heron at the Pompy, and beautiful late-summer landscapes in Windsor, Norwich, Enfield, Hanover, Grantham, Orford, Lyme, and elsewhere. And if nothing else stops you're scrolling, there's a stunner of September's setting Harvest Moon."So, Henry, what are the profits like in your huckleberry business?" It's Lost Woods #96, and Henry and Wally are pondering the differences between being an unpublished writer and picking huckleberries; Henry's pretty clear on which feeds you better. As he does every week in this spot, Lebanon writer and illustrator DB Johnson chronicles the doings in Lost Woods—and on his blog he puts an upcoming pun in context.Amid continuing turmoil in town, Norwich Selectboard chair announces he's giving up that role. Roger Arnold told the board Wednesday night that he needed to "step back from the uniquely challenging role of chair,” as he later put it in an email, Ray Couture writes in the Valley News. The announcement comes not long after a group called Stand Up for Norwich held its first organizational meeting, with a goal of instilling “competent oversight and management” in town. In a VN interview last week, Arnold responded that some townspeople's “demeanor to town staff and public officials” plays a role in the town's hiring struggles.College struggles with finding, keeping custodial staff. Some 15-20 percent of positions in Dartmouth's Facilities Operations and Management are empty, reports The Dartmouth's Parker O'Hara, following employee exoduses and in the face of region-wide labor shortages. Many of the departures came as workers' schedules changed during the pandemic to include more night work: “Many people were unhappy," one custodial worker tells O'Hara. "There was a mass exit. I mean, who wants to work all night?" Associate VP Frank Roberts says the college now brings in custodial staff at full pay and is hiring a recruiter.SPONSORED: If you think electric rates can’t get any higher, think again! Rate increases across New England might raise monthly electricity bills by as much as 50 percent this winter. Our region’s utilities are paying twice as much for imported natural gas as they did a year ago. These added costs will be passed on to you—unless you start generating your own solar power! Hit the maroon link to learn about renewable-energy-related incentives that could add up to $24K or more in upfront savings and another $1,800 in annual electricity savings you could see by switching to solar. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Bethel, Springfield among upcoming sites for grid-scale GMP battery storage. The six new facilities will almost double the company's storage capacity around the state, giving it the ability to ride out outages and to avoid buying expensive, fossil-fuel-dependent electricity during demand peaks, writes VTDigger's Emma Cotton. Some advocates question using batteries dependent on mining lithium and other minerals, but Renewable Energy Vermont's Peter Sterling says, "Storage really is the technology that will unlock the opportunity for clean and local power."Springfield VT entrepreneur: What if you could move and just take your house with you? The steel homes David Jaacks has been working on "leave the factory the size of a 20-foot-long shipping container," Seven Days' Anne Wallace Allen writes, can be set up automatically, and unfold to become a 450-square-foot house. They can be trucked without permits and set up with an app. “You could actually be a snowbird and literally move from one piece of land to another in short order," Jaacks tells her. Work on the prototype is in Kentucky, but Jaacks plans to move production to Springfield.Randolph's One Main may have closed, but the space wasn't empty for long. That's because Kuya's Sandwiches + Kitchen has just become Kuya's at One Main, reports Seven Days' Jordan Barry. The popular Filipino-inflected sandwich joint, which had been just down the block, will be on a soft-opening schedule for the next few weeks before opening for both lunch and dinner Oct. 18. "Our dream has always been to have a full restaurant," says Patty Burns, who co-owns Kuya's with her husband, Travis. "The sandwich shop was the perfect place for us to get our feet wet and practice and prepare."SPONSORED: This Saturday, experience a journey in multiple layers with artist Carla Kimball. Her immersive video instillation, “Movement In Stillness, Stillness In Movement,” kicks off with a live performance in collaboration with movers Marie Fourcaut and Donna Steinberg, and musicians Hilary Lynch, Devan Tracy, and Henry Danaher. It runs from 6 - 8 pm at JAM (5 S. Main St. WRJ). JAM's October theme is TIMELAPSE. Visit uvjam.org for upcoming media labs, our teen film club, and more. Sponsored by JAM.As Vermont State University's new president settles into Randolph Center, he's got big plans for the system's future. Parwinder Grewal is living in the president’s mansion just off the Vermont Tech campus and using that location "as a boon," writes The Herald's Tim Calabro, since it lets him get to the various Northern Vermont and Castleton U campuses in about an hour. As the three institutions merge next year, Grewal—who comes from the U of Texas Rio Grande—is aiming to double the number of students, reduce the colleges' footprints, and perhaps above all, eliminate the system's ongoing deficits.Here's an Upper Valley art gallery you have definitely never heard of. Unless you happen to have used the bathroom at Stateline Sports in W. Leb. That's where, these days, you'll find the richly detailed, highly atmospheric large-scale photos of Stateline's Larry Vanier. "While a restroom serving as an art gallery may seem funny, the photographs are most definitely serious work," writes Susan Apel in Artful. At the moment the pics on the walls are of Newfoundland, but he's also a frequent photographer of the Mascoma River and of the island of Grand Manan, in the Bay of Fundy.Hiking Close to Home: Cornish Town Forest. The UV Trails Alliance's suggestion this week is a trail network with many different loop options. There's a fine 2-mile-plus loop that includes a lovely view of Mt. Ascutney, for instance. It starts at the Root Hill Trailhead along Old Root Hill Road, then takes a sharp turn right and becomes the red/white trail to the summit (about a mile out). Be sure to stop for a snack, water and view before heading back down. along the red/white trail with a left back to the parking area. Parking is off Paddy Hollow Road, with a turn through a gate and another .4 miles to the parking area."There’s an unpredictability to what the White Mountains might throw at you on any given day." In Boston mag, Miles Howard can wax poetic about the Whites—gazing up at them "can feel like being in the presence of old granite gods," he writes—but his "Bostonian's Guide" is actually filled with practical advice on where to stay, eat, and find an adventure. It's all helpfully broken down, as one set of questions puts it, by whether you prefer stargazing from "a private porch with hanging chairs"; "an outdoor pool and Jacuzzi combo"; or "the stony banks of a gushing river."Or you could try doing the Whites this way: 1,958.3 miles and 570,369 vertical feet of gain in 90 days. That's what a guy named Philip Carcia just did. On this third attempt of a feat he dreamed up himself, writes Zoe Gates in Backpacker, Carcia hiked all 650+ documented trails in the Appalachian Mountain Club's White Mountain Guide in a single summer. Which is tough even for the stout-hearted. "There are dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of trails on a single side of a mountain" in the northern Presidentials, Carcia tells Gates. “It looks like a plate of spaghetti was thrown against it.”Been paying attention to Daybreak this week? Because the Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, for how long does NHDOT want to close the Lyme-E. Thetford bridge? And what's the name of that annual fall DIY display in Plainfield? And just why was William Cox's grave in W. Fairlee honored this week? You'll find those and other questions at the burgundy link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH this week?
Because Seven Days wants to knowif you know what Canada's ending this week, what some VT dairy farmers are up to with their herds, and what a town of Richmond employee did to its drinking water without officials' knowledge or consent.
And NHPR's wondering if you know how much a Northwoods guy tried to obtain fraudulently from the CARES Act, what Gov. Chris Sununu said that got protesters riled up this week, and more.
Does rooftop solar end up costing other utility customers more in NH? The argument focuses on whether solar-paneled homes, which feed the grid and pay less for electricity, are driving up utility bills for everyone else—who shoulder more of the power’s company’s costs for maintaining the grid, something called cost-shifting. According to a recent study, reports Granite Geek’s David Brooks, the cost-shifting isn’t as bad as critics, such as Gov. Sununu, suggest. Through 2035, solar panel systems are projected to be responsible for no more than a 1% increase in utility customers’ monthly bills.As violent crime rises among young people, Vermont struggles with what to do. “We’re all being exposed to this different level of violence in youth that we haven't seen before. We didn't plan for it, but it's here," the Bennington County State’s Attorney told state legislators Wednesday. But as VTDigger's Peter D'Auria reports, the trend comes as the state faces a shortage of places to put young offenders. The closing of the Woodside juvenile rehab center cost it about half its available "beds," and the state is reluctant to house violent kids or those in mental health crisis with other juveniles.Vermont readying regs pushing car and truck manufacturers to go electric or hydrogen-powered. Following California's move to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, VT is heading down the same path. "Starting with 2026 car models, manufacturers will have to supply a growing number of electric vehicles to Vermont dealerships every year," Vermont Public's Abagael Giles tells colleague Mitch Wertlieb. New gas cars will be off the lots in 2035. But even so, she says, the regs "will get us about a third of the way to our 2030 commitment for cutting pollution from cars and trucks."Which of these Lay’s potato chip flavors in China would you try? Not that long ago, sour cream and onion was the most interesting potato chip around. Maybe the zesty pairing was a tipping point: today Lay’s brand sells more than 200 flavors around the world. And in China, as Eater’s Carolyn Phillips found, Lay’s efforts to match regional tastes are, well, hit or miss. A favorite, Pickled Fish Flavor, is like “a mind-bendingly delicious braise of freshwater fish seasoned with pickled mustard and fresh red chiles.” But Fried Crab Flavor? ”Eau de dried flounder against a background of leftover shrimp shells.”Forget all that other stuff. The big news this week was that Lizzo played a flute. And not just any flute. The songwriter, rapper, and flautist took up an invite from the Library of Congress to come visit and try out, among other things, the Madison Flute—a crystal flute made for President James Madison that was rescued from a burning White House by Dolly Madison during the War of 1812. Burgundy link goes to Lizzo trying that flute (and others) in the relatively intimate setting of the LOC and onstage Tuesday night before a cheering crowd. Here's the back-story from the library itself.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.
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At 7 this evening, the Upper Gallery at the Chandler in Randolph hosts Second Wind, the Randolph based acoustic band ((Jim Sardonis on guitar, Jim Green on guitar, mandolin, and dobro, bass player Eric Sakai, and percussionist Ralph Molinario) that plays mix of contemporary and classic folk and blues tunes. It's a benefit concert for Ukraine.
This evening at 7:30, Classicopia kicks off its 22nd season of chamber music with the first of two house concerts featuring pianists Daniel Weiser and Philip Liston-Kraft, "Two Piano Panache." With each on a separate piano, they'll be featuring music by Debussy, Dohnanyi, Milhaud, Gershwin, Arensky, and others. Tonight's concert is at the home of Marilyn and Al Austin-Nelson in Hanover, a frequent Classicopia venue; tomorrow afternoon at 2, they'll be in a new spot, the Norwich home of Andrew Bauman. Registration is required for both, and seats are limited.
Also at 7:30, and a world away, the Lebanon Opera House brings in Rhode Island-based R-rated comic hypnotist Frank Santos, Jr. Like his father before him, Santos, who also happens to have a clinical practice, turns the audience into the show.
At 8 this evening, the new Sawtooth Kitchen, Bar, and Stage in Hanover (enter just to the right of Still North Books, then head downstairs) inaugurates its live music series with local rockers and get-on-your-feet party band The Conniption Fits. Tix are $5, and the kitchen will be open—though full sit-down dinner service will have ended for the evening.
A quick heads up if you're headed into the woods: Deer season opens for archery in Vermont tomorrow, and is already ongoing in New Hampshire. Before you know it, muzzleloader and rifle seasons will be here. So if you're out tromping, it's time for blaze orange, people!
And if you need to stretch your legs, tomorrow morning at 9:30 the Upper Valley Walk to End Alzheimer's starts off from Hanover High School. Walkers welcome at 8 am, ceremony at 9.
And if you need to stretch your legs even more, tomorrow at 10 am you can hit a race in a place you don't often get to run: It's the 4th annual Coolidge 5K around the grounds of the Calvin Coolidge homestead in Plymouth Notch, VT. And if running's not for you, starting right after the 5K there's the "I Do Not Choose to Run" 1-mile walk. Also, cider pressing, wagon rides, cheesemaking, and more.
And if you need to stretch your legs—and arms, and back—even more, there's a West Leb "Gateway & Greenway" cleanup (1-3 pm) and community party(3-5 pm) at Bridge Street Park in old West Leb (that's the space taking shape by the bridge into WRJ. Music, food, mural unveilings, and more.
At 6 pm tomorrow at JAM in WRJ, artist Carla Kimball and her collaborators open her video/photo installation “Movement In Stillness, Stillness In Movement.” See sponsored post above for more details.
Tomorrow at 7 pm, Seven Stars Arts in Sharon brings in four Upper Valley guitar masters, with very different styles, for "Four Guitars." Hosted by Sharon guitarist and composer Peter Neri, the evening features acoustic steel-stringed guitarist Spencer Lewis, bluegrass flat-picker Doug Perkins, classical guitarist William Ghezzi, and jazz guitarist Draa Hobbs.
And at 7:30 pm tomorrow, the Black Opry Revue takes the stage at the Lebanon Opera House. It's got a remarkable back-story: founded first as a blog by a flight attendant who got tired of seeing few, if any, Black faces onstage in the country music world, last fall it became an actual traveling revue. Alex Hanson's VN write-up is a compelling look at that story. Musicians on-stage tomorrow are Hudson Valley-based singer Denitia, "country-neo-pop" musician Roberta Lea, NC gospel-turned-country singer and guitarist Tae Lewis, classical-violinist-turned-guitarist and singer Riki Stevens, and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Julie Williams. General admission, no charge, but you'll need to reserve—and LOH wouldn't mind a $12 donation to help support free events in the future.
Also at 7:30, on the Hop's Spaulding Auditorium stage, the Brentano String Quartet and legendary soprano (and MacArthur fellow) Dawn Upshaw present "Dido Reimagined," a re-thinking of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas. The first half is a program of early English works for strings and song. The second half, co-commissioned by the Hop, features Upshaw taking on the role of Dido in Pulitzer-winning composer Melinda Wagner and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann's updating of the ancient myth.
Finally, Sunday starting at 1:30 pm, the annual Lake Fairlee Crop Hunger Walk starts off from the Post Mills Congregational Church. Its a benefit for Church World Services' efforts to address world hunger, the plight of refugees, and help devastated communities with disaster relief.
And to end the week...
There's going to be a lot of talent up on the LOH stage tomorrow night. For just a taste,
Oh, and if you were wondering, no, the Library of Congress did not just hand a priceless crystal flute to Lizzo and say, "Just bring it back when you're done tonight, would ya?" You can find out more at that LOC link above.
Enjoy the weather this weekend, and 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, 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.
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