GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Oh well. It's going to be cloudy with a slight chance of showers today as a warm front ahead of a low pressure system arrives—though whatever rain falls will be light. It'll also be a good bit cooler than yesterday, with highs in the low or mid 60s, down to the mid 50s overnight.Birds of mid-spring. That happens to be the title of Jim Block's latest blog post (below), but it also works for its companions today.
Like, this top-down set of scenes of a robin family on Kira Parrish-Penny's fire escape in Hanover (via Instagram);
And this indigo bunting in Thetford, from Kelly Gardner—a bird, she writes, that can sing 200 songs in an hour at dawn;
And here's Jim's latest collection: of all sorts of waterfowl, bald eagles in flight, an osprey, a red shouldered hawk, and all sorts of birds in their iridescent finest.
Time for Dear Daybreak! This week's collection of stories and reflections from around the Upper Valley features Jane Meunier-Powell's discovery of an article in the long-gone Woodstock newspaper The Spirit of the Age about Quechee's brand new 1909 library building, which replaced "the famous Band Stand Library" (about which we need to know more, don't you think?); and Talya Peltzman's recounting of a hard-knock week—sick kid, flat tire, busted-down car, money worries—that ends both in tears and in gratitude. And if you've got an anecdote or a memory or a reflection to share, please do send it in!"You walk in and you're like in the '80s." Actually, Frances Mize flew in, the first time after years of watching takeoffs and landings at the Lebanon Airport that she's actually been in on the action. In the newest of her Upper Valley audio series for Daybreak, Frances sticks around after landing, visiting the control tower (which is in line to get replaced); the woman behind the Avis counter (the source of that '80s quote); and the Cape Air guy. She gets recruited twice for jobs, and as the comments and little details add up, you get a picture of a placid little airport that, as she puts it, feels the weight of time.Protesters occupy Dartmouth president's office, leave when it closes for the day. About 15 protesters chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and demanding that the college's trustees take up a divestment proposal took over the president's reception area yesterday afternoon. A campus-wide email from two administrators later reported that a Safety and Security officer and a staffer were hurt during the sit-in, which reportedly included people "unaffiliated with Dartmouth." "There cannot and will not be any tolerance for the type of escalation we saw on our campus,” the email said. The Dartmouth reports.Former Enfield deli and and garden stand to be reborn in downtown Lebanon. You may remember Pellegrino's on Route 4, which shut down four years ago. Owners Joey and Cheryl Pellegrino relocated to Las Vegas but now, reports Marion Umpleby in the VN, they're back, and about to open an Italian deli and a small grocery store in the former Lebanon Village Marketplace, across from Colburn Park. It's part of a food court being developed by Tim Sidore and Recreo LLC—and, Sidore tells Umpleby, he's planning 11 or so food stalls there for later this summer, though he's not talking details.SPONSORED: It's time to Jumble! The St. Thomas Jumble Sale is this Saturday, May 31st, 8am-2pm, at 9 West Wheelock Street in Hanover. Join St. Thomas Episcopal Church for fun and bargains, live music with Grace Wallace, donkeys from Road to Independence, and FREE ice cream, too! All proceeds benefit those in need in the Upper Valley and around the world. Return on Sunday, June 1, at 11:45 am for the $1 Bag Sale and on Monday, June 2, at 10 am for the Free-For-All. See you there! Sponsored by St. Thomas.Possible cell tower in Fairlee stokes resistance. It would be on private land, and is being proposed by Vertex Towers, a MA company, reports Liz Sauchelli in the Valley News. “We’re looking at a 90- to 144-foot monopole tower literally right there in the core of the village,” says Fairlee Zoning Administrator Chris Brimmer. “We suspect highly this is an answer to a question nobody is asking," he adds, since Fairlee already has two towers. Meanwhile, Vertex is also proposing a tower in Tunbridge, which has much spottier coverage. "It’s going to happen somewhere in town,” says selectboard chair Gary Mullen.Woodstock's Prosper Ski cabin to get a state historic marker. It's what's left of the Prosper Ski Hill, opened in 1937 by farmer Rupert Lewis and a key step in the Prosper Valley's emergence as the birthplace of Eastern skiing after the 1934 rope tow on Gilbert's Hill. The lodge is one of 15 sites around the state that VT's Division for Historic Preservation just slated for new markers. Others include the Long Trail Lodge in Killington, Bag Balm in Lyndonville, and the site in Fayston where novelist Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man. Here's more on Prosper Ski Hill from the Woodstock Historical Society.Market Basket once again roiled by ferment at the top. A decade after a family feud nearly tore the popular grocery chain apart, the board of directors has placed CEO Arthur T. Demoulas on paid leave, reports WMUR's Maria Wilson. In an email to employees yesterday, the executive committee said it suspected Demoulas of planning a work "disruption" to retaliate against the board for requiring that he work "collaboratively" with them. The Globe reports the ouster was led by Demoulas' three sisters and three appointed board members. Demoulas called the step "a farcical cover for a hostile takeover."With NH's shorter winters, "We have zombie moose." NH Bulletin's William Skipworth is up with a thoroughly depressing piece on the state of NH's moose population, down from its peak of 7-8,000 in the '90s to 3-4,000 today. They're facing a triple whammy: voracious winter ticks, whose eggs do better when there's bare ground in April—and whose population has boomed with less snowy winters; warmer summers, which lead female adults to eat less and have fewer calves; and a skyrocketing deer population south of the Whites, who carry a brain worm that's not harmful to deer, but fatal to moose.VT's community radio stations get $150K to upgrade emergency training, equipment. Volunteer-run low-power stations around the state—local standard-bearer Royalton Community Radio's compatriots—played a key role keeping listeners in the loop during central VT's floods the last two years, reports VT Public's Howard Weiss-Tisman. Now, the legislature is repaying the favor with grants of state money to upgrade emergency communications equipment and boost software and technical training. "This is a real thing," says one state senator; "having community radio during times of emergency is important.”Oops. Tuesday afternoon in Montpelier, a conference committee sat down to start working out differences between VT House and Senate versions of the key education reform measure. But there was a problem, reports Seven Days' Kevin McCallum: No one had notified the public (or the press), as is required by law. The Senate secretary eventually poked his head in. "We need to have the public know this meeting is occurring,” he said. The committee took a break until the notice went up online. It was all a reminder of how end-of-session dealmaking gets hard for citizens and journalists to track, McCallum writes.At the heart of Jasper Hill's award-winning cheeses: an 11,000-square-foot hay dryer, orchardgrass, and daily hay and pasture decisions. Turns out that capturing "terroir" is a lot tougher than it tastes. In Hay & Forage Grower, Amber Friedrichsen visits the celebrated NEK dairy and cheesemaker to talk, well, hay and forage. The farm's cows don't get silage, just grass and hay—and because wet hay ferments, creating off flavors, Jasper Hill spends a lot of time and money to keep it dry for baling. “Our company is kind of going along the path of most resistance," says pasture manager Maddie Calderwood.
Meanwhile, though, Jasper Hill is also facing serious headwinds, says host David Goodman in his latest "Vermont Conversation". Its Canadian market has dried up thanks to politics. And VT's housing crisis is so severe that Jasper Hill has had to buy property and subsidize rents for its 85 employees. Goodman visited Greensboro to talk to co-founder Mateo Kehler, who says, "Everybody loves Jasper Hill until we start talking about housing. And everybody wants housing in theory, but almost nobody here wants housing in practice.”
How penguin poop creates cloud coverage overhead. Stick with me here. A new study traces the link between penguin guano—in this case, from an Antarctic colony of some 60,000 Adélie penguins—and the atmosphere. The penguins' seafood-fueled excrement has nitrogen, which breaks down into ammonia, which mixes with sulfur in the atmosphere and creates aerosol particles, writes Sara Hashemi in Smithsonian. Those particles create fog and clouds at a rate 10,000 times what it would be without the penguins’ contribution. Next up: Is that enough to alter the Earth’s temperature?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!
A workshop with experienced composter Lee Moncton will cover the various styles of composting, how and when to harvest, and the best ways to use your compost in the garden. In-person in the Agricultural Classroom at Woodstock Union High & Middle School, 5:30 pm.
The local rockers—who also include Jeff "Primo" Poremski, Rudy Dauth, Tommy Diehl, Yahuba Garcia, and Chris Peterman—blend rock, folk, some reggae. Gates open at Fable Farm at 5:30, music starts up at 6 pm. It'll run Thursdays to the end of September.
Edward Albee's 1991 two-act drama features
three unnamed women—each of a different age—referred to in the script simply as A, B, and C. What at first appears to be a set of relationships comes, in time, to
represent different stages of a single woman’s life. With Laura Tewksbury, Ellen Revesz, Gillian Brown, Blue Scott, directed by Matthew Robert and Jade Evangelista. Previews tonight at 7, opening tomorrow at 7, runs this weekend and next week Wed-Sun.The Upper Valley Community Band spring concert at the Lebanon Opera House. The program runs from Gershwin's An American in Paris; to
Will Schuman's "famous New England triptych" beginning with the joyful energy of
Be Glad Then, America
and ending with the Revolutionary War-era spirit of
Chester
; to
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
and
How to Train Your Dragon.
7 pm.
The Friends of the library throw their annual "appreciation celebration" starting at 6:30 pm, with the program featuring mystery novelist Taylor at 7 pm. She'll be talking about her writing life and her three series (Sweeney St. George, Maggie D'arcy, and the latest, set in VT, launched with
Agony Hill
).
The master puppeteer (from opera and cabaret to the tuna monster from the Broadway show
Oh, Hello
and the dementors in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
will be showing clips of his work and talking with the Hop's Michael Bodel about everything from "how fabric underwater in
Symphonie Fantastique
and large opera setpieces might also come to life with a puppetry approach" to a look at his latest projects. 7 pm in the Loew.
: a karaoke version of Roger Miller's "King of the Road" at WRJ's Bugbee Center; the relationship between AI and national security in an OSHER lecture by Norwich University's Narain Batra; and author Ted Levin with illustrator Jeanette Fournier at the Norwich Bookstore. Meanwhile,
, in which teams get 48 hours to write, shoot, edit, and export an original short film of under 7 minutes. The clock starts ticking Friday at 6 pm, ends at the same time Sunday, and you've got until 4:59 pm Friday to register.
Launching us into the day...
Zimbabwean
mbira
player Musekiwa Chingodza and Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion
The perfect antidote to cloudy skies.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.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page
, or if you're a committed non-FB user,
.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!