GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly cloudy at first, chance of showers. We've got low pressure swinging by from the west for a visit, bringing a chance of showers pretty much until evening, along with a chance of thunder this afternoon. At some point this afternoon, though, it looks like it'll turn sunny. Still warm today with humidity starting to ramp up, highs in the low or mid 70s, winds from the southeast. Down to the high 50s overnight.More spring. Only this time, it's fauna:
A pair of geese and their goslings along the Ottauquechee River in Woodstock, in this video from Ursel Irwin;
And a Gray Tree Frog on a fence in Lyme, from Rebecca Lovejoy. "I was about to set some pieces of wood down on the fence, and luckily saw the frog before I did," she writes. "Apparently they can change their color from gray to green in order to blend into their background. This camouflage technique was working well as I barely saw this little guy."
It's time for Dear Daybreak! This week's collection of stories and reflections from around the Upper Valley features a whimsical and uplifting roadside encounter in Chelsea from Krista Karlson, and Kira Parrish-Penny with a deeply absorbing meditation on spring and patience and hope and the people around us. "We see the buds only as blooms to be, but this phase of their lives is as true and good as the flowers, as the orange leaves, as the branches bare. We just can’t help but want," she writes. If you've got an anecdote or a memory or a reflection to share, please do send it in!A pair of NH town meeting results. From Hanover and Newport on Tuesday.
In Hanover, incumbent selectboard member Athos Rassias handily beat back a challenge from Dartmouth sophomore Evan Gerson, while voters approved three zoning changes, including a measure that allows for smaller multi-unit dwellings such as duplexes and triplexes to be built in areas served by town water and sewer, and another that makes it easier for nonprofits to build workforce housing. Floor votes also backed a measure asking the town's police not to sign onto an enforcement agreement with ICE and another allowing for remote participation in selectboard meetings. Full results at the link above, Clare Shanahan's writeup in the Valley News here.
Meanwhile, in Newport, voters reelected Selectboard Chair James Burroughs and incumbent board member Jeff Kessler over challenger Doug Ring, and approved the budget and new contracts for police and public works employees. They rejected spending $250K for sidewalk repairs and a retaining wall on Maple Street, $375K on a lease/purchase agreement for a street sweeper, and $24K to fund publishing the Newport Town Times, the VN reports.
SPONSORED: Exceptional specialty care is closer than you think. As a member of Dartmouth Health, Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital offers expert care in orthopaedics, general surgery, gynecology, neurosurgery, podiatry, sports medicine, and more right here in your community. From advanced pain management to sleep health and integrative medicine, our specialists are here to help you feel your best. Learn more at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital.Reviews are coming in for The Vermont Farm Project at Northern Stage. Not an easy task when trying to describe an up-by-the-bootstraps production on the realities of farm life with actors who are also musicians and singers.
In the Rutland Herald, Jim Lowe is an unabashed fan: "a rollicking and entertaining musical with a certain amount of pathos — and it’s authentic," he writes: "the situations and characters are real. And, to a one, these actor-singers make them real — as well as fun and funny."
In the Valley News, Alex Hanson writes, "the acting is uniformly good, [but] the music is what makes [it] worth seeing"—especially Raquel Chavez's "Dos Años" and Rob Morrison's "37 Ways to Cook Kohlrabi".
Five Cornish buildings, plus New London's Elkins Memorial Chapel, added to NH Register of Historic Places. So, for that matter, was the Flying Yankee, the diesel-electric streamliner built for the Boston & Maine and now sitting in Conway. They were all among the latest class of additions announced by the state on Monday. Cornish's additions, the most in any single town this go-round, include the First Congregational Church/Grange, the Records Building/Selectmen’s Office, the Stowell Library, the town hall and District 9 School, and the United Church of Cornish. Full statewide list at the link.SPONSORED: Experience the glorious sound of the St. Thomas Choir at their annual Choral Mass, featuring Kodály’s Missa Brevis. Join us on Sunday, May 25 at the 10:30 a.m. service for this powerful performance, which includes talented local soloists, instrumentalists, and organ accompaniment. Composed during World War II in a bombed-out opera house, this moving work of peace and hope remains as relevant and meaningful today as it was at its premiere. Sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Hanover.NH university officials push back against legislative leaders' claims on undocumented students. Taking to social media last month, GOP House Majority Leader Jason Osborne and his deputy, GOP Rep. Joe Sweeney, claimed that, in Osborne's words, "UNH has so many illegal aliens enrolled that it cannot track them.” Yesterday, reports NHPR's Annmarie Timmins, the University System of NH came up with a concrete number: three out of 22,000 students system-wide. That's still “unacceptable," Sweeney responded. “It’s time we put New Hampshire first." Timmins lays out the issues and the debate.Customs and Border Patrol releases details of January border shooting. The minute-by-minute account issued yesterday lays out events in the Jan. 20 encounter between border patrol agents that led to the deaths of agent David Maland and suspect Felix Bauckholt and the wounding and arrest of Teresa Youngblut. It asserts that when agents asked Youngblut and Bauckholt to step out of the car they were in, Youngblut "suddenly drew a firearm and opened fire," striking an unnamed agent—presumably Maland—in the neck. Bauckholt also drew a weapon and was shot after ignoring an order to stop.VT: No more money for PCB testing. An official at the Agency of Natural Resources, reports Liz Sauchelli in the Valley News, said this week that "despite having scheduled schools for testing, the state won’t have any money to pay for it, at least for the time being." That leaves Hartford waiting on reimbursement for testing that found extensive contamination in its high school, and districts in Woodstock and around Tunbridge—scheduled for testing this summer—waiting to hear what comes next. “If (schools) want to move forward with the sampling, they can conduct it on their own,” says the state official.Some of the VT landscape's most iconic graphics. Back in the 1970s, ski bum Sparky Potter and his wife Peggy started selling his handcrafted wood pieces at local farmers markets. Soon, writes Ken Picard in Seven Days, the Waitsfield woodworker, typography expert (and father of Grace) was creating signs for VT businesses—Ben and Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Vermont Teddy Bear and yes, King Arthur Baking. Potter’s signs, known for capturing a region's culture, guide skiers and paddlers, help visitors around Universal Studios, and more. Potter’s retiring, but a longtime employee promises to continue the collaborative process and distinctive design.Airborne dogs. It's kind of photographer Claudio Piccoli's specialty, and Moss & Fog has a collection. Though it could also be called "Frisbee with dog"... Here's his fuller portfolio.The Thursday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
Like Daybreak tote bags, thanks to a helpful reader's suggestion. Plus, of course, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
The conference brings together a bunch of big names to explore "how plants and fungi help us rethink the nature of mind and matter and humans’ relationship to the more-than-human world." It kicks off this morning at 9:30 with a keynote by biologist Merlin Sheldrake, author of
Entangled Life.
Also with free livestream access. You'll need to register for the JAM version, which will gather in its back space.
It's a conversation between Stephen Vaughn, a former counsel for the US Trade Representative, and Dominic Pino, a writer for
National Review
and a fellow at the National Review Institute. They'll talk over current U.S. trade policy, benefits and drawbacks of tariffs, and the Trump administration's strategy. 5 pm in Filene Auditorium as well as livestreamed.
MacVeagh, who lives in Thetford, has worked from Hanover to Philadelphia to Berlin as a lawyer, history teacher, business consultant, paralegal, lab manager, soccer coach and receptionist. His second novel features a first-year high school English teacher who suddenly develops super powers—and discovers they're not much help prepping
classes, impressing women, or paying off his credit card bills. 5 pm.At the Norwich Public Library, "A Bridge Across Our Two Vermonts". In a Vermont Humanities talk, Will Eberle—who directs
the Weatherization and Climate Impact program at Capstone Community Action—explores how towns and the state can address issues like addiction, housing insecurity, and poverty while overcoming bias and stigma. 6:30 pm in the Community Room.
This month, it's in the large garage at 15 Depot St. Instrumentalists start up at 6:30 pm, and then at 7:30, "singers may wish to join in. Bring well-known jazz standards, popular songs or an original tune in your key to play with the instrumentalists." They add that tonight, "We ask that when you park, please do NOT block the emergency service garage across the street."
Foley, who lives on the NH side of the river, will read from two recent collections,
Ice Cream for Lunch
and
Sledding the Valley of the Shadow
. James, a Vermonter, will be reading from her new collection,
A Drift of Swans
. 7 pm.
For one thing, they kick off a series of Upper Valley profiles of "colorful local personalities" with Chico Eastridge's interview and house tour with Bev Burnor. They drop by a gathering of the Lampshade Poets, with readings by Laura Jean Gilloux, Casey Carney, Robin Dellabough, Duncan Holley, Ina Anderson, and others. And they bring us the
Suds & Science
presentation on the relationship between fungi and forest ecosystems by the Appalachian Mountain Club's Jordon Tourville.
So many possible choices!
Stevie Wonder turned 75 on Tuesday, but how on earth do we choose a song from such a deep well? Literally, I closed my eyes and pointed.
, with Jeff Beck alongside.
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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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