GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, highs getting into the 60s. That's not a typo, though some areas will be high 50s. There's high pressure settled (briefly) overhead, and a jet of wind shuttling warm air into the region. Lows tonight only in the 40s. But don't get too used to it. Even as we speak, a low pressure system is headed our way from the Great Lakes, but let's not even think about that until tomorrow.W. Leb's Hope Bible Fellowship cancels services after congregant tests positive. The patient, a man, "had contact" with the second of the two earlier coronavirus cases at the church last Sunday. “What we have from our public health investigation is what we call a clearly identified chain of transmission,” said Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state epidemiologist, yesterday. The state is asking everyone who attended a coffee social or services that day to stay home and avoid contact with others through March 15. New positives also reported in Rockingham County, NH, and Bennington County, VT. (VN)"For me, being without a library card is akin to being without a valid passport—insufficiently prepared for the next unknown adventure." That's Artful blogger Susan Apel, on the the opening of the Royalton LIbrary's addition to its grand old building in SoRo. When Apel arrived to teach at VLS in the early '80s, she went to the library to get a card. They didn't have any: You just signed your name and kept the book until you were done or someone else wanted it. Still, Apel wanted one. What happened next was small-town life at its best.“I joined the Legislature to help the environment and ended up falling in love." That was state Rep. Zach Ralph in a statement on Friday, explaining why he's not running for re-election after just one term. Ralph represents Hartland, Windsor, and West Windsor, but is going to be moving to Montpelier, where the woman he's marrying, Ann Watson, happens to be both a physics teacher and the mayor. Ralph's endorsing Mount Ascutney School District Board member Elizabeth Burrows to replace him. (VN)You know Center of Town Road over near Quechee? It's called that because right where it crosses Kings Highway used to be... wait for it... the center of town. Well, actually, it's still the geographic center of town, but the meetinghouse and tavern and town clerk's office are gone, though the cemetery remains. On his Old Roads, Rivers and Rails blog, Bob Totz looks at the area on old maps and new, and wanders around taking pics. It's a nice reminder of the history that's all right in front of us if we look.SPONSORED: Are your feet worth $57.6 million? Michael Flatley’s were insured for that amount at the height of Riverdance, his sensational Dublin-meets-Vegas Irish step-dancing extravaganza. He’s since hung up his “heavies,” but the show goes on! On March 15 at the Hop you can catch a high-def screening of the gala 25th-anniversary Riverdance, with new lighting, projections, and stage and costume design—filmed live at 3Arena Dublin, where this massive Irish cultural phenomenon began. Sponsored by the Hop.Dartmouth team aims to reduce unneeded breast biopsies after mammograms. With a new $3 million grant, the team aims to combine two common imaging methods. Though MRIs produce high-resolution images, they make it hard to determine if a suspect area is malignant; microwave imaging makes that easier, but has poor resolution. So the idea, says engineering prof Paul Meaney, one of the principal investigators, “is to combine the two methods to get a more accurate rendering of the tumor or lesion zone, but it’s very difficult to do.”Co-op in the red for 2019, won't issue refund check to members. The VN's John Lippman reports that this is despite nearly 1,000 new members and record revenues. Personnel and wholesale costs, however, also rose, and the bottom line took a hit from the headquarters move from Buck Road in Hanover to WRJ. Oh, also, at the same link: Yes indeed, Margaritas will be closing in June and making room for SNAX. The Engine Room will reopen after being closed last week. The WRJ venue, of course, was the site of the now infamous Tuck gathering attended by coronavirus guy. In the wake of that news, owner Brandon Fox opted to close for the rest of the week and cancel all events. They wanted, he told CBS in Boston, to "make sure that we do the best thing for the company and the community," but added, "it’s very tough for us because we’re a small business." They'll be back starting Thursday, he announced on FB over the weekend. One more map. This one is pretty useful, put together by a Chinese group (it's variously attributed to students, scientists, and the Communist Party): It tracks cases in the US and Canada as they're reported, provides links to local news sources with more information about specific cases, offers constantly updated news links, and even lists international events as they're cancelled or postponed. (Thanks for the tip, RL!)NH forests are still recovering from the '98 ice storm. For the past few years, in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the Whites, researchers have been spraying trees with water on cold nights, looking at how different ice thicknesses affect trees. They've found that accumulations above a half inch do the most damage, thinning canopies and making forests less resilient. They released their results Friday, and NHPR has the wrapup.All those turkeys you see around New Hampshire? They gobble with a West Virginia accent. On his Granite Geek blog, David Brooks notes that it's the 50th anniversary of the year wild turkeys were reintroduced to the state after they'd been wiped out by hunting and deforestation. They came from WV, the closest state where original strains of the species still existed. In exchange, NH sent down 23 fishers, which deforestation had decimated down there. And yes, Brooks reports, the fishers are doing just fine, too: There are now between 1,000 and 2,000 of them.Lake Champlain Transportation Company wants to sink the "Adirondack" to preserve it. The ferry, which was built in 1913 and has carried cars and passengers between Burlington and Port Kent, NY, since 1954, is being mothballed. But the company doesn't want to sell it for scrap. Instead, it's hoping to make it the 11th sunken vessel in an underwater preserve by cleaning it and reefing it about 1.2 miles west of the Burlington waterfront, where it could be explored by scuba divers.And speaking of exploring, the MtlBlog has a quick survey of "unreal places to visit in Vermont if you need to get out of Montreal." We saw some of them (Freedlyville Quarry) last week, but there's also the Hobbit-style stone Airbnb cottage in Sandgate, the Ben & Jerry's flavor graveyard, Texas Falls in Hancock, and the Birdhouse Forest on South Hero. Okay, debate: Does "actual spring" exist in Vermont? Because here's this chart of the state's 11 seasons, and it lists "fool's spring" (that was earlier) and "spring of deception" (where we are now), and then "third winter" and "mud season" coming along before we get to "actual spring." Redditers are dubious. "I would argue bug season deserves its own category," one of them adds.No spin, just news that connects you. 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STUFF'S STILL HAPPENING OUT THERE...
These aren't just
any
ceramic beads. Cannupa Hanska Luger, who was born on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, works on community-focused, large-scale art projects. To bring into the focus the 7,209 reported deaths of people crossing the US's southwestern border, he's asking locals to join in making 7,209 beads that will then be strung together to create a large-scale art installation. 2-6 at the Hood. He'll talk about it at 5.
Nonprofits account for something like 18 percent of VT's economy. Liz Vago, an executive search consultant, will talk about what they look for in their staff. "We will discuss transferable skills and experience, how you can make your resume stand out, and how to network your way into a job," the course description says. 5:30 pm at Bethel Town Hall, sign up at the link...
The critics are all over the map on this one, from "charming" and "offbeat" to "wispy" and "random." But indie filmmaker Jeremy Teicher was given access to film with the actual 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang as the background, which gives the two-lost-souls story of a first-time xc ski Olympian and the dentist she befriends there almost the feel of a documentary. Co-stars Dartmouth grad and actual (summer) Olympian Alexi Pappas. 7:30, Woodstock Town Hall.
Somewhere a black bear has just risen from sleep and is staringdown the mountain. All night in the brisk and shallow restlessness of early springI think of her, her four black fists flicking the gravel, her tonguelike a red fire touching the grass, the cold water. There is only one question:how to love this world.
-- From "Spring," by Mary Oliver
See you tomorrow.
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