SO GREAT TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
Though it's kind of a meh day out there... We're between last night's weather and drier air that will move in later today, and mostly what we get is cloudy skies, temps maybe in the low 40s, and those tantalizing hints of sunshine we've been seeing this morning. Skies will start clearing overnight as high pressure moves in, down to the mid-20s. Winds today from the northwest.You definitely don't expect to see one of these in late November. But yesterday morning, there it was: a hot-air balloon making its way across the Upper Valley. Viva Hardigg caught it over the Dartmouth Green.Bradford VT man in critical condition after gyrocopter crash. Around midday yesterday, people walking by the small Dean Memorial Airport in Haverhill noticed the copter on the ground and its pilot—Lynn Perry, 70—unconscious. He was taken to DHMC, where a spokesperson later told WMUR that he is in critical condition. "Police said further investigation will be through the FAA, NH DOT Aeronautics, and Rail and Transit authorities," WMUR's Sydney Brown reports.Two and a half years on, seven towns' energy coordinator to shift jobs. Geoff Martin became the region's first Intermunicipal Regional Energy Coordinator in 2020, helping Barnard, Woodstock, Sharon, Strafford, Thetford, Norwich, and Bradford make their way through bureaucratic and procedural tangles in their efforts to boost energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, writes Li Shen in Sidenote, he's headed out the door—to go to work for local solar company Norwich Technologies, which is based in WRJ. His "energy, quiet good humor, and dedication will be missed," Shen writes.Embracing "a fuller vision of the literature being published now." The annual Best American Essays is out for 2022, and the volume this year was edited and curated by Dartmouth creative writing prof Alexander Chee. The project began in the heart of the pandemic and, he tells the college's Faculty of Arts and Sciences blog, "The essays here are the essays that got me through the year." He ranged widely in his pursuit of diversity of both voices and sources, looking for essays that "renew our idea of ourselves, each other, and the world," he says.SPONSORED: The Gingerbread Festival is back! The Family Place returns in person to Tracy Hall in Norwich this Saturday, Dec. 3, for its 20th Annual Gingerbread Festival! It's a fun-filled, family-friendly event, with a display and auction of over 100 hugely creative gingerbread houses built by families all over the Upper Valley; a winter auction of special items; a Gingerbread Country Store with handcrafts, gift items, and prepared food (next door in the Parish Hall of the Norwich Congregational Church); and fun activities for children. Join us for a wonderful celebration of the season! Sponsored by The Family Place.And just to do some catching up...
In the Valley News last week, Ray Couture profiled the new Carlita's Cantina in South Royalton—the followup to Dan Sherburne's Carlita’s Cocina food truck, which burned down in May. With some salvaged equipment and a whole lot of sweat equity, Couture writes, Sherburne moved into a vacant downtown spot and opened week before last.
And also in the VN, Liz Sauchelli profiled Ryan Porter, a sergeant in the Canaan Police Department who takes over as chief at the end of the year. He takes a broad view of police responsibilities, he tells Sauchelli: "People always say we’re the police, we’re counselors, we’re divorce mediators, and we really are," adding that he also wants to start working more closely with a Canaan nonprofit focused on helping people with substance misuse and mental health issues.
Meanwhile, Ethan DeWitt reported in NH Bulletin that enrollment in public charter schools in the Granite State grew nearly 14 percent over the last school year—even as the number of students in public schools overall dropped by 1.1 percent, part of a long-term trend that began two decades ago as the birth rate in NH began to fall. The state has been adding public charters.
That much, writes VTDigger's Lola Duffort, they can agree on: Fixing the state's housing shortage was a constant feature of legislators' conversations with voters when they were out stumping in the fall. From there, though, things get complicated, with various advocacy groups focused on different solutions, from renter protections to easing regulations on private developers. Two issues legislators may tackle: local zoning regs and taxing mostly vacant second homes at a higher rate than homes used as a primary residence.
“It just felt like the world, the universe doesn’t work in ways that I would win." Mikaela Shiffrin was philosophical yesterday after the weather turned warm at Killington and she, like other skiers, struggled on her second slalom run. But, as Peggy Shinn notes for Ski mag, she didn't begrudge her fifth-place finish. Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener tied for first: "'Look at that, on the Jumbotron,' Shiffrin said, as the TV camera panned in on Holdener. 'She is so happy. You can’t be disappointed.'" Also happy: Killington staff, who hosted a record 21,000 for the women's world cup.Average home size? VT and NH are relatively modest. It might not always look it, when you eye some of those places that have sprouted on hillsides or command Lakes District frontage, but a new graphic from Visual Capitalist of the average home size in each state makes it pretty plain. Single-family homes in the US average 2,480 square feet (up from 909 in 1949). VT ranks 27th in the country, at 2000 square feet, while NH is 33rd, at 1,934. There are some surprises: CA comes in at 1,860, MA at 1,800. The most sprawling homes in the country? Utah, at an average 2,800 sq. ft. Hawaii's an unassuming 1,164.The Monday Vordle. With a fine word from last Wednesday's Daybreak. Surely you remember!
Heads UpTonight's the night: At 6:30 pm, NHDOT will hold a public information session on its plans for the Lyme-E. Thetford bridge. As you know, the bridge is desperately in need of rehab—but NHDOT's plan to close it for up to 18 months starting next year have left residents and businesses on both sides of the river flustered and seeking alternatives. The agency seems determined to plow forward: The meeting will "review the work that will be performed and the contractor’s anticipated schedule." It's in Anderson Hall at Thetford Academy.
And to start the week off...Let's turn to Andy Leftwich, the Grammy-winning fiddler who spent much of his career in the background (as part of Rick Skaggs' band for years, and backing everyone from Taylor Swift to Keb' Mo'). That's begun to change with this year's release of The American Fiddler, an album of mostly original tunes with Skaggs, Sierra Hull and others as his backing musicians. Here's "Dalvay's Reel."See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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