GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly cloudy, fog, chance of showers, then some icing expected again tonight. High pressure's still in place to the north, blocking surface-level cold air here. For today, though, the freezing rain is ending, with temps rising—untreated road surfaces in particular may be slippery for the morning commute. We're due to get up into the 40s by early afternoon, and if anything falls from the sky it'll be drizzle. Precipitation's due again overnight: It'll be rain in some spots, a mix including sleet and freezing rain in others, so watch for a chance of icy roads again first thing tomorrow.
And right now, New England 511 says driving conditions are fair in most of VT and NH, fine in southwestern NH, difficult in the Whites. (Check the "driving conditions" box...)
Porcupines move in mysterious ways. Who knows what's going on here, but Sarah Berman's trail cam in Plainfield caught it early the other morning.On the other hand... There's not much question what these wild turkeys are up to in Julie Dolan's crabapple tree in Etna.Hartland moves to conserve 75-acre parcel. What's known as the Pohl property sits between Route 12 and Quechee Road, and is home to 20 miles of trails open to the public in winter; it also "has the potential to provide a safe pedestrian connection between Hartland Three Corners and Hartland Four Corners," reports the VT Standard. On Monday, the selectboard voted to authorize $100K toward an effort by the Upper Valley Land Trust, which has an option on the parcel, to buy it. The group hopes to conserve most of the land, though would set aside six acres for housing.Men's Journal discovers Whaleback. "This small, non-profit ski hill in Enfield, NH, reminds us what skiing is all about: community spirit," write Nancy Prichard Bouchard and David Young in their look across the country at "Best Small Mom 'n Pop' Ski Resorts to Avoid the Crowds." Not surprisingly, there are a bunch in the West, though they also mention spots in Minnesota (believe it or not: Lutsen Mountains in Lutsen) and North Carolina. And closer to home: Vermont's Mad River Glen, "one of the most cherished ski spots in New England."SPONSORED: NHPR’s The 13th Step Live at AVA Gallery Feb. 8. Join the team behind New Hampshire Public Radio’s podcast The 13th Step at 6:30 p.m. on Thurs., Feb. 8 at AVA Gallery in Lebanon. Host Lauren Chooljian will take you behind the scenes of her multi-year investigation into a culture of sexual misconduct in American substance use disorder treatment communities. Lauren will answer questions about the podcast and the issues it raises, from trauma and recovery to freedom of the press. Limited tickets available, hit the burgundy link or here to reserve your seat. Sponsored by NHPR.At Hartford selectboard meeting, debate over member's comments in wake of drag bomb threat. At issue during a public comment session Tuesday evening, writes Patrick Adrian in the Valley News, was a remark by the selectboard's Lannie Collins, who, three days after a drag story hour was disrupted by a bomb threat, noted that some community members "would not view [the story hour] as a positive experience." Several residents Tuesday took him to task for implying "that children interacting with queer people is inherently negative," as one put it. Collins responded that he supports LGBTQ rights, but "that doesn't mean I have to agree with them."Coming soon: the North American premiere of a Ukrainian play at Hanover High. I'M FINE, by Nina Zakhozhenko, takes place in Bucha, Ukraine before and in the early days of the Russian invasion, as four teenagers try to navigate war and their own lives. And as Susan Apel notes in Artful, the production directed by Amanda Rafuse not only features a raft of students onstage, as musicians, and behind the scenes, but also an engaged group of adults: singer Tommy Crawford, who wrote the music; artistic advisors from Ukraine; the play's translation by HHS Footlighters director Yuliya Ballou and others; professional puppeteers; and tech designers. It opens Feb. 1.If Robert David Grant and Izzie Steele hadn't both landed roles in a New Jersey play, if Grant's parents in Strafford hadn't been available to babysit... How Constellations came together at Northern Stage. In the VN, Alex Hanson dives into the real-life vicissitudes that in some sense mirror the play, which follows Grant and Steele—a couple in actual life playing a couple on stage—"through the many possible permutations of their relationship." Hanson tells the story of how the play came into being (starting with a read-through as Grant and Steele's toddler son ran around). Runs through 2/11.National honors for "two stories about Vermont boys and their dogs." Oxbow High co-principal Ken Cadow's Gather—which heavily features a dog of that name—is among six Printz honor awards just handed out by the American Library Association for books that exemplify "literary excellence in young adult literature." And Elf Dog & Owl Head, by E. Calais's MT Anderson—"a dog book that ends happily," as Anderson notes to Seven Days' Mary Ann Lickteig—is one of five Newbery Honor books. “It still feels OK to poke fun at a rural mentality," Cadow tells Lickteig about why he's happy for the attention Gather has been getting, "and I want it to not be OK."NH House GOP gets a little breathing room after two special elections. The contests were both in Coos County, and there's not much question that the Republican winners were boosted by heavy turnout in the Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, writes Steven Porter in the Globe's Morning Report newsletter (no paywall). Meanwhile, a Rockingham County seat will be held by a Democrat after Tuesday's primary; no Republicans filed to run. Republicans will hold a 200-196 majority in the House after this, with three seats held by independents. One seat is vacant, with the election March 12.NH health department orders pharmacies to dispense new overdose reversal drug. The order, writes Hadley Barndollar in NH Bulletin, applies to nalmefene, a medication approved by the FDA in May as a nasal spray to reverse overdoses. It will be available by prescription at pharmacies and at no cost to NH Medicaid beneficiaries. The agency, Barndollar writes, says that the medication, "is well-suited for reversing highly potent opioids such as fentanyl."That was some seriously black ice on northern Lake Winnipesaukee Tuesday! And those were some seriously happy kitewing skaters taking advantage of it. All the usual warnings go with this in case you're tempted to venture out: check thickness, and take note of the safety gear those skaters are sporting. As a reader writes, "Learning to read the ice and know what's safe is not a skill you learn without experience, and the price of getting it wrong could be a very cold bath"—as two people learned on Tuesday when they skated right into open water. They got out. Here's some advice on gear. (Thanks, PB!)AG's office in VT reaches settlement with motel owner to repay more than 300 residents' improperly withheld security deposits. The case involves five motels around the state owned by Anil Sachdev that housed homeless people under a state program in which residents could keep a $3,300 security deposit if they left the room in good condition. Sachdev withheld some $310K in deposits improperly, AG Charity Clark said yesterday; the settlement requires him to pay it back to former motel residents through a third-party administrator, reports VT Public's Liam Elder-Connors.Front Porch Forum: "A rare example of the internet gone right." Rachel Hellman's description in Seven Days could also apply to the Upper Valley's listservs, but in this case she's writing about the Burlington-based network of town-by-town forums that cover most of VT. If you read the lists, you're familiar with what appears on FPF, but Seven Days does something really interesting: They got all the posts for Jan. 5 and picked a handful for followup to describe FPF's impact: an attempted goose rescue in Johnson; a Middlebury widow handing off her husband's prized possessions; and more.Three VT, three NH spots in the running for James Beard Awards. The semifinalists for this year's culinary-world bragging rights were announced yesterday, and both of the Twin States made the list. In VT, Micah Tavelli of Paradiso Hi-Fi and Cara Chigazola Tobin of Honey Road, both in Burlington, are semifinalists for Best Chef: Northeast, while Barr Hill distillery's bar in Montpelier is up for Outstanding Bar. In NH, Chris Viaud of Greenleaf, Ansanm, and Pavilion in Wolfeboro is up for Outstanding Restaurateur, Kristina Zontini of Super Secret Ice Cream in Bethlehem for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker, and Lee Frank of Otis Restaurant in Exeter for Best Chef: Northeast.A stare of owls, a walk of snipe. Just how did groups of birds come by their descriptive names? A congregation of plover, a wedge of swans, a rafter of turkeys … names that, Maria Popova writes in The Marginalian, “stem from myths and folk beliefs about birds dating back centuries, to a time when Satan was realer than gravity in the human mind.” In 1486, a cloistered woman named Juliana Barnes tucked an exhaustive list of bird groups into her Boke of Seynt Albans. Popova dives into how some of those "company terms" have morphed over the years, and illustrates her piece with enchanting paintings from the 1967 book Birds by Brian Wildsmith.The Thursday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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Today at noon, Upper Valley Music Center continues its "A Little Lunch Music" series with faculty members Alicia Casey on violin and Chenyu Wang on piano, performing Beethoven’s Spring Sonata and Cesar Franck’s Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano. No charge for dropping by and filling up your music bucket at lunchtime. At UVMC in downtown Lebanon.
At 5 pm today, Dartmouth holds its MLK Jr. Community Multifaith Celebration in Rollins Chapel, with the public welcome. Keynote by Prof. Bruce Duthu, who chairs the Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies, who'll be joined by several other speakers and then by the Dartmouth Gospel Choir.
New Hampshire is updating its climate action plan, focusing on ideas for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions region by region. The listening sessions are being run by UNH's Carsey School of Public Policy, and this afternoon at 5:30 they make their sole foray into this region, with a session at the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center in Claremont. They write, "We want to hear about local and regional projects that will benefit the Greater Connecticut River Valley Region and address the barriers to implementing those projects. All ideas are welcome — from workforce development to cost-sharing programs and coalitions to implement solutions."
The Royalton Library rescheduled yesterday's presentation by Alexander Wolff due to the weather. It's now this evening at 6 pm. In case you missed that item yesterday: "The Royalton Memorial Library hosts VT writer and former Sports Illustrated journalist Alexander Wolff talking about his highly personal 2021 memoir, Endpapers: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape, and Home, which recounts his grandfather's and father's experiences in Germany starting in the early 20th century: his grandfather built a publishing house that included, among others, Kafka and Max Brod; after moving to the US in 1941, he and his wife, Helen, founded Pantheon.
At 6:30 this evening, the Orford Social Library hosts NH wild canid expert Chris Schadler for a talk about Eastern Coyotes. The NH and VT representative for Project Coyote, Schadler has been researching wolves and coyotes for four decades, and as the OSL puts it, believes that knowledge is power: "If you understand the coyote and are willing to coexist, she will tell us how, whether you garden, farm, or hike."
If you've got it in you to drive to Stowe this evening, the VT Ski and Snowboard Museum is marking the 40th anniversary of the Catamount Trail by hosting founders Steve Bushey and Ben Rose—who along with co-founder Paul Jarris are planning to recreate their original end to end ski in February and March this year. They'll sit down with the museum's director and board chair and moderator David Goodman to talk about their original 1984 ski, the Catamount Trail itself, the impact of climate change, and what the future for the trail looks like. In-person only.
Online at 7 this evening, Phoenix Books is hosting writer and Bard College literature prof Joseph Luzzi talking about his 2022 book, Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance. In part, it's a story about why the painter of The Birth of Venus was long considered a minor painter at best and largely forgotten, and in part it's a detective story, about the disappearance and rediscovery of Botticelli's illustrations for the Medici family of Dante's Divine Comedy. No cost to register, via Zoom.
And anytime, here are JAM's highlights for the week: an interfaith Chanukah candle-lighting last month at LISTEN in WRJ; poet Vievee Francis's reading at the Howe from her collection, The Shared World; and Foreign Affairs executive editor Stuart Reid's talk at Dartmouth earlier this month about the CIA's involvement in the 1960 overthrow of Patrice Lumumba in Congo.
And bringing us into the day...
Hans Williams, a prime player in the close-knit group of Hanover High grads making their way as independents in the music world, released a new single yesterday. "I think it was Tracy Chapman who said that if you don’t have anything to say, don’t pick up the guitar. But honestly, I love picking up the guitar even if I think I don’t have anything to say at first,” he told Caiomhe Markey in the
Valley News
last summer. “I just run with my imagination, let the chords and the rhythm come first. Then I figure out what I’m trying to say, and often I’m surprised by what’s there.”
See you tomorrow.
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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