GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
If you liked yesterday, and Saturday, and most of Friday, you're going to like today. If you're a farmer, you're going to like tonight. But let's push that conversation off for a sentence. Today, we get one more day of feeling like summer's here, with some clouds but plenty of sun and highs punching into the 80s. Then there's this mass of colder air making a beeline for us from the Great Lakes. Tonight it's going to bring rain down upon our roofs and fields. Could be a lot, could be moderate. Could be short-lived, could last into tomorrow morning.Bradford VT auto repair shop sitting on $40 million backlog. Let's just say that you do not take your 2009 Corolla to Scott Sargent's Sargent Metalworks for a new muffler. He specializes in pre-WWII French exotic cars, and especially Bugattis, and his clients are the type of people who take a personal jet to the Leb airport and then a helicopter to his shop. It all began with a Lyme neurologist and his 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC, now worth about $100 million. Some definite eye-candy in this VTDigger profile.For some perspective, the entire Elizabeth Mine cleanup cost less than that car. The price tag for the Superfund project that's disrupted life for S. Strafford and Thetford stands at $90 million, but it's nearing the end, says the VN's David Corriveau in a piece that ran yesterday. Blasting's done, truck traffic should be less than half this year what it was last year... and oh yes, the Ompompanoosuc is cleaner. Next up: the Ely Mine in Vershire and the Pike Hill in Corinth. (VN, subscription reqd, but you can get the short AP version here.)Yo-Yo Ma tells Dartmouth grads, "You will be powerful. And when you are, do not abuse your power. Ever." In case you chose not to be one of the 12,000 people Hanover police reported massed on the Green yesterday, the world-renowned cellist spoke directly to the grads of an Ivy League institution. "When you find your power," he asked them, "use it thoughtfully, with restraint, and with good intention.” He ended with a Catalonian folk song, an homage to the great Pablo Casals, who "thought of himself as a human being first, as a musician second, and only then a cellist." Video at the link.It's summer, and if you're going to go out, you want something beautiful to look at, right? Mitzi Cunningham has a quick list of six restaurants around the Upper Valley -- from Mascoma Lake's Baited Hook to Woodstock's White Cottage Snack Bar -- with great views. "When you get out, you often have no resources": New NHPR podcast by VPR reporter follows life of a parolee. Reporter Emily Corwin, who now works for VPR, was at NHPR when she began wondering why half of all parolees end up back in prison. The result is a four-part podcast, Supervision, following the life -- and eventual death -- of one man getting out of prison. "It's not captivity. And it's not freedom," Corwin says in the first episode. "It's almost like a kind of purgatory."Sure, the lure of the open road and all, but seriously? Motorcyclists in NH busted for doing 125 mph. It's Motorcycle Week, and seven guys from Massachusetts figured they'd open it up on Route 101 in Raymond. Here's guessing they had a good time while it lasted.Speaking of NH state troopers, they took one of every five commercial trucks they inspected last week off the road for violations. An intense three-day inspection crackdown yielded over 1200 violations. The best? A 2002 Ford box truck with a broken leaf spring in the suspension supported by 4-by-4 inch lumber tied onto the truck with electrical cords and zip ties.Results are in from the 2018 hunting season in NH. The 8,029 deer "harvested" was the highest number since record-keeping began in 1922 -- including 3,962 killed by archers. Hunters also shot 1,053 bears, which was nearly twice the 587 killed in 2017. The widespread drop in berries, nuts, and other food last summer and fall made bear more vulnerable and boosted bear-human interactions, according to NH Fish & Game. Full report at the link.Anaïs Mitchell's "Hadestown" wins big at the Tonys. The Vermont singer-songwriter created the musical, a retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as a community theater project in 2006. Last night it won 8 awards, including best new musical. Love this incredulous line in the NYT writeup: “'Hadestown' was conceived and written by Anaïs Mitchell, a singer-songwriter with no ties to Broadway (besides a childhood affection for 'Les Misérables')..."SO... A MONDAY NIGHT, RAIN IN THE FORECAST...You could go learn what Extinction Rebellion is all about. It launched last year in Britain, and is a nonviolent civil disobedience effort aimed at rallying support for climate action worldwide. In just nine months, it's spread to some 45 countries. Tonight, Putney-ites Maria and Ward Ogden will be at BALE in South Royalton talking about bringing the movement to Vermont. Starts at 7. If you miss it, they'll be in Woodstock tomorrow at the North Chapel, also at 7.But if you just can't wait a day to get to Woodstock, you could go see Booksmart tonight at Pentangle Arts. Two grind-it-out academic hotshots decide on the eve of their high school graduation that they didn't actually have any fun. The two girls set out to cram four years of missed playtime into one night. Sounds like you've seen it before, but you haven't. Olivia Wilde's feature directing debut has gotten rapturous reviews for its wit and its stars, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. It's "feminist but not preachy, raunchy but not nasty, emotionally intelligent but not sentimental," writes Dana Stevens in Slate. 7:30 at Woodstock Town Hall Theater. Have a great start to your week. See you tomorrow.
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! You can subscribe at:
Thank you!