GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Showers continue for a bit. The cold front that brought rain in last night is on its way out, but surface low pressure will help at least a chance of showers—and maybe the occasional bout of real rain—linger into this afternoon. Meanwhile, the air behind that front is cooler than we've seen: We'll be dropping back toward seasonal norms under cloudy skies all day, reaching low 40s by evening and upper 20s overnight.
There's a flood watch in effect into this evening, though today's rain amounts are expected to be less than last night's. Mostly, the concern is about snowmelt. Around here, NOAA's gauges show sharply rising river flows, but no flooding is predicted, though the Wells at Wells River could hit minor flood stage, and the Connecticut at Wells River will get to "action" stage. You can mess around on the NOAA map here.
Yep, that moon was red alright. "Although the Moon was in a different quadrant of the night sky, more than ten percent of the world could see what I saw," Ted Levin writes on his Substack, after heading outdoors at 2 am Friday. "863,000,000 people, united for an enchanted moment under the banner of the lunar eclipse." On the page, Ted waxes naturalist about the eclipse, while photographer Jim Block offers up three photos: the last blood moon, which he was able to photograph under the Milky Way, this blood moon in all its glory, and a composite of the shadow creeping across the moon's face.Ted and Jim weren't the only ones out that night. Thank you to everyone who sent in photos: I wish I could run them all. Here's a taste from around the Upper Valley:
From Tunbridge, by Kevin Rose;
From Meriden, by Sheila Culbert;
And taking a step back, from Hartford, by Jan Sensenich.
Cornish backs library plan, Plainfield backs school renovation, and more town meeting results. Voters in Cornish decided on Saturday to stick with their 2023 vote to replace their aging town library with a new library in the former general store, after a move to rescind that earlier decision went down 245-187. Plainfield voters backed the $1.5 million K-8 renovation 175-86. In votes on three measures, Croydon voters essentially decided to limit their one-room school to preschool and kindergarten, and tuition students in grades 1-4 to other schools. Those and more on the Valley News's town meeting page.Northern Stage announces 2025-26 season. Its production of Waitress is in full swing right now, of course, and The Vermont Farm Project closes things out in May, but today the WRJ-based theater company is offering its first look ahead. The season starts in September with Come From Away, the hit musical about Gander, Newfoundland and its unexpected guests on Sept. 11, 2001. At holiday time, it's Peter & Wendy, a reimagining of Peter Pan by Northern Stage veteran Eric Love; three more plays fill out the Main Stage season. Meanwhile, Gordon Clapp returns as Robert Frost in a limited run of This Verse Business. Aroma Joe's plans to open Leb drive-thru coffee shop down the hill from pending Starbucks drive-thru. At a planning board meeting tonight, reports the VN's Marion Umpleby, Ledyard National Bank and Aroma Joe’s franchisee Glenn Amnott will propose an 880-square-foot drive-thru in space on the bank’s lot at Old Etna Road and Route 120 "that was originally intended for an office building." The Maine-based chain has locations around New England and elsewhere; its closest nearby spot is on Elm St. in Newport, NH. Meanwhile, the Centerra Starbucks is scheduled to open this spring, Umpleby reports.Hanover bench mystery solved. Remember that Dear Daybreak item about the bus-stop bench that appeared suddenly outside the Hanover Co-op (at the link)? Turns out it's part of an Eagle Scout project by Alex Chen, a Hanover High freshman—whose mom, Ling Chai, reports that he got the idea for the project after noticing middle schoolers on Lyme Road sitting on the ground at bus stops. Alex ran possible designs past Hanover parks officials, and together with several other Scouts has been building benches for around town. They dropped off a new bench at the bus stop by the Richmond School yesterday.At King Arthur, bonding over owls. Writer Betsy Vereckey volunteers at VINS, and was wearing one of her favorite sweatshirts—with an owl's silhouette—when a stranger asked her about it and about what she does at VINS. "I never know how to answer this question," Vereckey writes in the Boston Globe (paywall). "How to explain the gross details of cleaning up after birds of prey?" She spares the "sweet lady" she was talking to—but not us—the details about "rat tails, mouse heads, and other uneaten bits..." But then, it turns out, the woman and her husband harvest road kill for their backyard barred owl...Speed Trap. That's how the Hanover Police Department labeled a Facebook post yesterday. They "had received a report of multiple small drivers traveling at high rates of speed in the area" of Oak Hill, they report—and at the invitation of Ford Sayre organizers, over the weekend posted three officers with radar, a laser, and a speed feedback sign displaying skiers' speeds on the Oak Hill trails. Photos at the link.Buying a truck. Thetford is planning to plunk down over $300K for a new ten-wheeler dump and plow truck to join its existing road-crew fleet (though that'll be offset a bit by the $80K trade-in value of the truck it's replacing). But Li Shen's new piece in Sidenote isn't so much about that bit of news as it is a broader look at what she calls the "essential pieces of equipment that allow us to live our rural, car-centric lives in this northerly climate, year-round": why the switch from six-wheel to ten-wheel trucks despite the expense, what it takes to outfit them for plowing, what's a "float control," and more.The Monday jigsaw. "As we see our cyclists out and about, I was seeking an older picture. This one caught me eye," writes the Norwich Historical Society's Cam Cross. "I thought at first it was from the 1930s or '40s. But there is an Animal House vibe to it. Perhaps a much newer picture, make to look older? The walking woman is another clue, with Dartmouth Hall in the background. Inquiring minds want to know." Here's the original.The Monday Wordbreak. With a word from Friday's Daybreak.
Heads UpIt being St. Patrick's Day, in place of the usual bluegrass etc. jam at the Ottauquechee Yacht Club in Woodstock, there's an Irish jam with tunes and songs led by Cape Breton fiddler Beth Telford and Justin Park (mandolin/guitar/vocals), in addition to regular Jam leader Ben Kogan(bass/guitar/vocals). "Some previous knowledge of irish tunes or willingness to learn and practice them is encouraged," they write. Go for it! Starts at 6:30 pm.
Well, yeah, of course.Though maybe not the full-on Irish stomp you were expecting. Instead, we'll pluck from County Mayo native and harpist Alannah Thornburgh’s debut album, Shapeshifter, a dive into Irish folklore and mythology. Here's Thornburgh's rich and luxuriant "Chasing the Hare", with vocal scraps of local storytellers Frank McCann and Rob Thornburgh woven in and out. (Warning: the setting's beautiful but the camera's a little overactive—you might just want to get a sense of things and then shift your eyes elsewhere).See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Associate writer: Jonea Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Michael
If you like Daybreak and would like to help it keep going and evolve, please hit the "Support" button below and I'll tell you more:
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!