GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Okay, now we're talking warmth. The air that got the Midwest sweating earlier this week has arrived, and we're looking at high 70s, low or even mid 80s today—maybe a tad cooler if you're by a large body of water. It'll be sunny throughout the day, winds from the west. Mid-50s tonight.Hey! It's spring: Part II!
Proof that peepers and wood frogs are out, from Jed Williamson in Hanover;
And Newbury VT photographer Ian Clark's post on spring wildlife in the Upper Valley, including: a red-tailed hawk, a red squirrel licking sap off a tree, a bald eagle in flight, geese objecting, and surest sign of all, as Ian writes, a painted turtle basking.
Dartmouth grad students vote to join union. Of the nearly 300 students who cast ballots, the Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth announced late yesterday afternoon on Twitter, 261 voted in favor of joining up with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. While the National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the election, last week rejected a last-minute bid by the college to cut the list of eligible voters, the college reserved the right to challenge ballots cast by students not on a list of those it considers employees. In the end, GOLD said, 13 ballots were contested.Fairlee moves to put septic regs under town control: "The state was really just going, ‘Okey doke’.” As Frances Mize writes in the Valley News, the town has been struggling to preserve water quality in Lake Morey, which has been seeing rising cyanobacteria blooms, including one last summer that town officials called “the worst in recent memory.” This week, Mize reports, the selectboard adopted permit changes that would require any new septic system put in at a residence on the lake to be at least 150 feet from the high-water mark and the previous system to be "properly decommissioned.""You look out the window and see a to-do list." That's Valerie Woodhouse, who runs Norwich's Honey Field Farm with her partner, Eli Hersh, talking about one of the many stresses of farm life. After facing a particularly low point herself in 2021, she signed up to become a counselor for Farm First as soon as she heard about its effort to create a new peer support network of farmers helping other farmers to navigate everything from crop issues to alcoholism to financial strains. In Seven Days, Rachel Hellman talks to Woodhouse and profiles both the program and the challenges that take a toll on farmers' mental health.SPONSORED: The Vermont Symphony Orchestra's Jukebox Quartet returns to the Grange Theatre at Artistree! On Saturday, April 22 at 7 pm, the edgy favorite ensemble returns for its sixth season, curated by Matt LaRocca, with an eclectic array of music tied to the themes of the VSO at the Flynn concert two weeks later and featuring a newly commissioned work by Vermont cellist Zoë Keating. Sponsored by Artistree.Hanover voters to consider workforce housing for Greensboro Road. With the May 9 Town Meeting a month away, the selectboard Tuesday approved a 33-article town warrant that includes asking voters to okay transferring five acres of what's formally known as the Mink Hollow Community Forest to a nonprofit housing developer. That's in line with a 2020 article, but as the VN's Patrick Adrian writes, some residents at the meeting worried about the potential scale of any project—though board members stressed no plan has even been created. The town also is proposing $22 million for a new wastewater plant.So about those catalytic converter thefts... Which, as you know, have been plaguing the region. Yesterday, the feds announced the arrests of seven western Mass. men who have been charged with stealing converters from at least 471 vehicles in NH and MA—often, 10 in a single night and once, demonstrating their ability, as authorities put it, to work with the speed of a “NASCAR pit crew,” 26 in one night. The crew sold them to a Springfield MA man, who in turn sold them to scrap dealers in CT, RI, NY, and NJ.Just because you can see pine pollen doesn't mean that's what's got you sneezing. In fact, DHMC allergist Erin L. Reigh tells New Hampshire mag's Krysten Godfrey Maddocks, you can see it because it's big and tends to settle out of the air; birch, oak, maple and elm pollens are likely to be more bothersome. The two talk over spring allergies; how to reduce your risk—vacuum, keep pets off the bed; conditions that allergies can worsen; and new treatments and their drawbacks. "Why people develop allergies is still one of the biggest questions in the field of allergy," Reigh says.Soap, tents, jackets, needles, and kindness. All of that, plus medical supplies to save lives, are stocked in a large new van that the NH Harm Reduction Coalition parks in five cities around the state. In New Hampshire Bulletin, Hadley Barndollar spends time with the team and the people who visit the van for supplies and an understanding ear. They come to get clean needles, fentanyl test strips, naloxone—all part of the “harm reduction” approach to drug use, which accepts that people will use drugs, so the safest action is to minimize the risks and the toll drugs take on communities. “We want voter registration to become a part of every eligible high school student’s experience." That was Molly Ford, director of youth programs at the LA-based Civics Center, which last week ran a workshop along with New Hampshire Open Democracy focused on teaching high schoolers how to run a voter registration drive. In yesterday's Morning Report newsletter, the Globe's Amanda Gokee writes that in NH, around 13 percent of eligible 18-year-olds vote—but that voter registration drives in Lebanon and Portsmouth have shown they can boost turnout. “The barrier here is registration, not apathy,” says Ford.Fortunately, you don't need to make a reservation for next April 8. But, apparently, other people are already booking hotel rooms in northern VT for that date—which is when Vermont will get to see its first total solar eclipse in a century. WCAX's Cat Viglienzoni talks to Hans van Wees of Burlington's Hotel Vermont, who says that people first began calling to reserve rooms [squints again at story] two or three years ago, though it's gotten especially busy the last few weeks. "It’s kind of like graduation at UVM," van Wees says. Around here, it won't be total, but close enough: Here's a simulator for any US spot.As planting time approaches, people enrolled in 3SquaresVT can use the benefit to buy seedlings and starts. That's a reminder from Hunger Free Vermont about the state's food stamp program, which allows anyone who's enrolled not just to use it to buy groceries, but to get seeds and plants at any retailer or farmers market that accepts EBT cards. They can also use the Northeast Organic Farming Association of VT's Crop Cash program to get extra money for fruits, vegetables, herbs, and culinary seeds and plant starts at participating farmers markets."I don't want to see this become a torches-and-pitchforks kind of battle in town, but people are furious." That's an opponent of a proposed solar-panel development in Shaftsbury VT talking to Seven Days' Kevin McCallum about the project. One speaker told a town gathering, "You can't save the environment by destroying it." McCallum goes deep on the intense solar battles that have sprung up in some towns around Vermont, exploring the debate over how responsible the state should be for developing its own renewable sources of energy, given its heavy dependence on imported electricity.The Great Maine Meteorite Rush. At least, that's what the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum is hoping to touch off, after NASA—and eyewitnesses—detected a meteorite fall on Saturday somewhere near the state's border with Canada. There's never been one spotted by radar in Maine before, and the museum wants a piece of it, so it's offering $25,000 to the first person who can find a one-kilo specimen—about the size of a softball, reports the AP's Patrick Whittle, depending on what it's made of. You just have to head deep into the wilderness and search a mile-wide swath that's up to 12 miles long.Oh sure, Saturn. But you want to see rings? Check out Uranus. Which NASA's James Webb telescope just did. The rings are eye-catching, but what really commands attention is the planet itself, mostly made of water, methane, and ammonia, with a small rocky core. Talk about a pale blue orb.Come hungry. And rich. If you’re the type who tracks down the “most” everything—the most spectacular sunrise, the most comfortable boots—then stick a fork in this: Serendipity3, a restaurant in NYC, has again been awarded the Guinness record for the most expensive sandwich. Before you snort at paying $214 for grilled cheese, though, know that it comes with lobster tomato bisque. And gold. On CNBC, Nicolas Vega writes about his taste test, and the special cows that give the milk that makes the cheese that melts on the bread that makes the sandwich that robs you blind.The Thursday Vordle. With an excellent word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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The good folks at Strong Rabbit Designs are offering sweatshirts, hats, and hoodies at cost: $16 for a cuffed hat, sweatshirts from $25, hoodies from $31. It's all there at the link this week, then it disappears from the lineup. Check out what's available and wear it (or drink from it) proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
At 5:30 today, Sustainable Woodstock presents an online talk on land trusts, "What is a Land Trust and What Can It Offer Me?" The Upper Valley Land Trust's Peg Merrens will talk about the organization itself, how it operates, and how land trusts further land conservation and stewardship.
This evening at 7, the Fly Fishing Film Tour returns to the Lebanon Opera House with a set of films that showcase fly-fishing—and the natural environment—from Cuba to Patagonia to Mexico and Australia, Alaska, Wyoming, the Deep South, Massachusetts and beyond. LOH will donate a cut of each ticket sold to the Upper Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited and to the NH and VT chapters of the Native Fish Coalition.
Also at 7, the Thetford Historical Society presents the second lecture in its "A Rock and a Hard Place" spring series, "Discovering New England's Stone Walls." Hopkinton NH's Kevin Gardner has been a builder, logger, writer, teacher, radio voice, and occasional actor, but above all—for over four decades—he's been a stone wall builder, with two books on the subject under his belt, including The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls. His talk will be at the NEFOC Center (former United Church of Thetford), 5470 US Rt. 5, in North Thetford.
Also at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts retired history prof Steve Golin, reading from and talking about his book, Women Who Invented the Sixties: Ella Baker, Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson, and Betty Friedan. The book looks at how the four—starting in the 1950s—ultimately helped remake national opinion and spur movements that set the US on a new trajectory: Baker through the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; Jacobs with her immensely influential books on urban planning; Carson with Silent Spring; and Friedan with The Feminine Mystique.
And also at 7, the Parish Players in Thetford kick off their two-weekend run of The Silenced Lyre, Steve LeBlanc's original musical adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. "When the conceited Eugene spurns the affections of the young and innocent Tatyana, he sets in motion a chain of events that results in a tragic end. Heightened drama pervades, with elegant ballroom dances, passionate letters and meetings, fiery confrontations, and a heart-stopping duel as highlights of the show." With live orchestra and a cast of thousands. Or, well, 19, including bluegrass musician Rory Gawler (of Reckless Breakfast) as Onegin. Tomorrow and Saturday at 7, Sunday at 2, and next Thursday-Saturday as well. Here's Eric Sutphin's writeup in today's Valley News.
At 7:30 this evening, the high-flying Québecois skating artists Le Patin Libre take the ice at Thompson Arena in Hanover for the first of four performances of "Murmuration"—its US premiere. As the Hop says: Glide as storytelling. Here's Liz Sauchelli's writeup and conversation with company founder Alexandre Hamel. Shows also tomorrow at 7:30 and Saturday at 2 and 7:30.
And also at 7:30, New London's Flying Goose Pub brings in Canadian folk singer and storyteller David Francey. Francey, who spent his childhood in Scotland, worked in Canada's rail yards and in the Yukon before—at age 45—turning the songs he'd been writing in his head into a music career. Since then, he's won three Juno Awards (Canada's Grammys) and had his songs covered by The Del McCoury Band, The Rankin Family, and others.
And anytime, you can check out JAM's highlights for this week, including: NH Gov. Chris Sununu's State of the State talk last month to the Concord Chamber of Commerce—of the divided legislature, he said, "It's an amazing opportunity. We always get stuff done"; an evening's tribute at the Norwich Bookstore to novelist Frank Howard Mosher by Peter Orner and Tom Barbash; and a roundtable on saving rural healthcare led by US Sen. Peter Welch.
And to start your day with some vim...
Odds are you won't be headed off to hear David Francey tonight, but you should at least know about him. I've been going back and forth between two songs—two moods—all day, and its hard to choose. So here they both are:
and
. Don't worry. They're both short.
I can send a letter ‘bout where I’ve beenWhat the weather was, and the lines between...
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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