Daybreak Thursday 12/24/20

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

Sigh... So there's this warm front, which is going to push temps today into the mid-40s and tomorrow into the 50s. Which would be bearable I suppose if there weren't also a storm coming in, which will fall as rain: a chance this afternoon, a certainty by evening, continuing overnight and for much if not all of tomorrow. It'll be heavy at times, playing havoc with our snow and creating the possibility of flooding. Also, while we may not get the gales they're expecting elsewhere, there'll still be strong winds and serious gusts tonight and tomorrow. Oh boy.This is the last Daybreak of 2020. And I'd like to start by telling you how grateful I am to all of you who made it such a pleasure: who signed up, who created space for it in your lives, who sent photos and ideas and kind words and admonitions, who drove its growth by passing it along to friends, and who helped build something by supporting Daybreak with your contributions. Thank you! You've been a daily joy and made this a memorable and—in spite of everything—deeply worthwhile year.I also want to send a special thanks to Sarah and Nelson Rooker.Unasked, they generously put together and have been maintaining the Spotify playlist of Daybreak music. It's at the maroon link, and after the turn of the year will take up a permanent spot near the bottom of the newsletter so you can always find it. Thank you, Rookers! It's a gift to all of us.It's Weeks 4 and 5 of "Lost Woods"! Speaking of gratitude, thanks also to DB Johnson, bestselling author of Henry Climbs a Mountain and other books, not just for running his new cartoon strip "Lost Woods" in Daybreak, but today for front-loading two weekly installments so we can all get through Daybreak-break. You'll land on Week 4—just scroll right for this week's strips and next week's, or left if you want to catch up on Weeks 1-3.Winter's onset. Late Tuesday afternoon, Norwich photographer Brenda Petrella was hiking the Long Trail where it passes near the Middlebury Snow Bowl and caught this scene of a snowy Burnt Hill, bare trees below, and evergreens at the base. "Even though we had that epic snow storm last week," she writes, "I thought this scene signified our recent transition into the winter season." Oh, also, I owe Brenda for coining "Daybreak-break."And speaking of that epic snow storm last week... Before it becomes just a memory today and tomorrow let's revisit what it actually looked like. Hartford photographer Casey Carney was out in White River Junction that day and took this photo of an utterly transformed Gates Street where it passes the United Methodist Church. This is the White River Wonderland of holiday cards!SPONSORED: A few things you may not know. Each year the Upper Valley Humane Society offers a safe haven for hundreds of homeless animals. Thousands more receive free and reduced-cost services that keep families together. In 2020, UVHS provided 150,000 free meals to pets—and annually, they provide 750 nights of emergency boarding for the pets of people facing crises such as family violence or homelessness. As you think of your loved ones this Christmas Eve, please remember the Upper Valley's animals with a gift: uvhs.org/donate. Sponsored by the staff of UVHS.Hiking close to home: Paradise Park Trails. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance checks in with another family-friendly winter option. This Windsor, VT trail network has a variety of trailheads and routes, along with ski, snowshoe and animal-tracking potential. The parking area just off County Road, near Mt. Ascutney Hospital, offers easy access to a short (.5 mile) loop through beautiful evergreens overlooking Kimball Brook. And if you’re feeling more ambitious, there are miles of trails, including shoreline views of Lake Runnemede."We regret that we cannot serve your mental health needs at this time.” That was part of a letter from D-H’s psychiatry and behavioral health department to Newport's Dominick Dephillips after he was referred there—three times—for psychiatric services. The Valley News's Nora Doyle-Burr digs in and reports that D-H and other providers—including Leb's West Central Behavioral Health—are facing more demand for their services than they can provide. Even so, mental health advocates point out that crisis services are always available, and anyone in crisis can call 1-800-273-TALK(8255) or text 741741.Beware of Covid vaccine scammers. NH AG Gordon MacDonald put out a press release yesterday warning that, given public interest in the vaccine, scammers might "attempt to fraudulently obtain money or personal identifying information from consumers by representing that they can provide fast access to a COVID-19 vaccination. Any telephonic or email representation that a COVID-19 vaccination can be provided quickly in exchange for money or personal identifiable information is a scam." Catchy graphic at the link.

"It's like dancing on the edge of a knife blade." Sharon Eng and her husband own a contract manufacturing plant in Belmont, NH, that makes electrical components. NHPR's Rick Ganley caught up with her to talk about how business is going at this stage of the pandemic. The answer: Hours are back up, sales are behind last year but recovering, Eng is pretty confident they'll make it but worried about her employees and the Covid numbers. "You just never know when the cliff is coming," she says.“It’s not a small number.” That is attorney Tristram Coffin on the referrals he and his team have made to VT law enforcement officials “for possible criminal and civil investigations” stemming from their investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct at the state women's prison. Seven Days' Paul Heintz writes that Coffin's firm, Downs Rachlin Martin, yesterday issued a state-funded report confirming a "disturbing degree" of misconduct at the prison, first revealed in a series of stories Heintz wrote last year detailing cases of sexual assault, harassment, and misbehavior at the prison.Actually, let's amend that: "...soon to be VTDigger's Paul Heintz...." Heintz, a Dartmouth grad who's worked at Seven Days since 2012, filed his last update to the item above about 20 minutes before news came that he's headed to VTDigger to become managing editor. In announcing the move, Seven Days publisher Paula Routly cited Heintz for his prison coverage and the time he arranged to buy an AR-15 in a fast-food parking lot. Digger founder and editor-in-chief Anne Galloway, meanwhile, wrote, "I have competed with Paul for years and have admired his work from afar.”A banner year for Christmas tree sales. “If I had the trees to sell and the labor to sell them, the sky was the limit,” Steve Moffatt of Moffatt’s Tree Farm in Craftsbury, VT tells VTDigger's Ellie French. It's not just that pandemic-era demand for real trees is way up, she writes. "It takes at least 10 years for a Christmas tree to grow to maturity. Back when 2020 Christmas trees were being planted, the country was still feeling the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, and tree planting likely reflected that." Whatever: Both retailers and wholesalers are out of supplies."Sobering and eye-opening, the Black Heritage Trail forces us to question those we have traditionally considered heroes, and to elevate those who have been marginalized instead." Those are Jodi Picoult's words, in an essay she wrote for Frommer's "Great Places 2021" about Portsmouth NH's Black Heritage Trail. Rather than encourage travel during the pandemic, the company asked writers like Picoult, David Sedaris, Cheryl Strayed, and others to identify "the spots Americans should get to know—one day, once the pandemic is just a bad memory—to better understand their own heritage and legacy."We'll get snow again, and when we do... In NH Mag, Brion O'Connor lays out nine ways to get out in the snow that don't involve skiing. There's snowshoeing, of course, which you can do pretty much anywhere, though he lists plenty of places with rentals if you don't just want to head into the wilderness. There's also snowmobiling, ziplining, dog-sledding, tubing, ice climbing (though remember, it's "a high-consequence activity"), fat biking, and the Mt. Washington Snow Coach and Cog Railway. Really, no excuses not to get out.You're not going to want to miss this. Higher Ground, the S. Burlington music venue, has teamed up with the Vermont Dept. of Tourism and Marketing to create a five-part live-streamed concert series they're calling "Forevergreen." First up on Saturday: Taj Mahal, Kat Wright, and Twiddle. In upcoming weeks: Lucius, Grace Potter, Neko Case, Chris Thile & Aoife O'Donovan, Strafford's Noah Kahan, and others. “We have all been missing the sense of community and connection that live performances offer," says the agency's commissioner."JoJo was a man... Bit faster do you think?" That's Paul McCartney as the Beatles rehearse "Get Back" in a snippet from the 56 hours of never-before-seen footage of recording sessions and more that filmmaker Peter Jackson is weaving into his forthcoming documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. It was supposed to be done around now, but... you know. He and his crew are only about halfway through editing—in New Zealand, Jackson smugly points out—but a few days ago he released "a little sneaky preview of the film we've been working on." Hopefully, he says, "it'll put a smile on your face." Oh yeah.

Last numbers for the year...

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Hard to beat "Get Back," but if you're in the mood for something a bit more seasonal... Back around this time in 2001, the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis, got together onstage to do side-by-side versions of Tchaikovsky's

Nutcracker

and Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's 1960 

Nutcracker Suite

. The whole thing is a blast, but just to give you a taste,

here are the two Overtures.

You can spend a happy few hours poking around in the clips you'll find if you scroll down, but if you do, consider starting with Part 6 (Excerpts), which features Slatkin's introduction and comparison of snippets "so you can hear right away what kind of differences exist in these pieces."

Stay safe in this storm! And I hope that if you're celebrating Christmas tomorrow or Kwanzaa starting Saturday or just hanging out and appreciating family and this place we all live, your next week is filled with warmth, peacefulness, community (even if virtual), and good food. See you Jan. 4.

Written and published by Rob Gurwitt         Banner by Tom Haushalter    Poetry editor: Michael Lipson  About Rob                                                    About Tom                             About Michael

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