GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, heating up more—strong thunderstorms possible. There's a low pressure system moving through today that's more robust than yesterday's, and this time it looks like we're actually likely to get rain in the afternoon. Highs today will get into the upper 80s and it'll be muggy (heat indexes in the low 90s), and that system will be coming through right in time for this afternoon's heat, which could produce not just thunderstorms into the evening, but downpours and maybe hail. Winds from the southwest, lows tonight around 60.It's getting lush! As you can see...
"This gigantic Jack in the Pulpit volunteered several years ago," writes Jeanne Baer from Norwich, "and it just gets bigger and bigger every year. This year I found more than a half a dozen of them on the hill below. Small wonders, right?"
"I was awestruck by the depth and height of yesterday’s greenery," writes Barbara Woodard from Thetford Center. "It was raining and I was holding both a large umbrella and a long sandy wet lead on my new 3 month young puppy…but I needed to capture the luscious ostrich ferns lining the thicket of bushes and trees!"
"Here is a photo of pink lady slippers in bloom at the Eshqua Bog Natural Area in Hartland this past Monday, writes Marie Wesson from Wilder. "They only bloom for a week so don't miss the chance to see them."
Jacob Chalif checks in with a story about a bear that raided his chicken coop—not once, but twice. With video of it prying back the screen door. Carolyn Murray Cravero writes about the summer her daughter worked at Umpleby's and then headed off to college in Maine—and a near unbelievable coincidence many weeks and 300 miles apart. And Whit Mitchell finds the joy—and the perfect quotations—in watching children at play. And if
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This time around, Fairlee cliffs work will yield to July 4 parade, Prouty. The southbound stretch of I-91 between Bradford and Fairlee will be closed again this summer for cliff stabilization work, with traffic re-routed onto Route 5, only this year, it won't require Fairlee and Orford to cancel their July 4 parade or the Prouty to cancel its 50-mile route. In the Valley News, Liz Sauchelli writes that VTrans has agreed not to close the highway until July 14, allowing both the parade and the July 12 Prouty to go ahead as planned. VTrans will hold an online public meeting about the project next Wednesday at 5 pm.Hartland sisters pen Vermont Farm to Table Cookbook. Actually, Jenna and Nora Rice grew up in Hartland, but now Jenna's a food photographer in Weathersfield and Nora's a chef in Windsor. Their book, out next month, focuses on meals made entirely with local ingredients (well, except for salt, pepper, olive oil, and gelatin). In Seven Days, Rachel Stearns profiles the pair and the book—and its genesis. "I would find a recipe that would use a bunch of zucchinis," Jenna tells her about looking through "local" cookbooks, "but then it would also call for lemons or something else you can't grow around here."SPONSORED: Want to manage pain or reduce stress? Integrative Medicine at APD combines holistic health with traditional medical care to help patients decrease stress, strengthen the immune system, reduce pain, and speed recovery. We offer massage, acupuncture, cupping, energy healing, naturopathic medicine, and craniosacral therapy. Contact information, providers, and more here or at the burgundy link. Sponsored by Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital.The Sound of Music, staged outdoors. Director Linda Treash's version for BarnArts launches tonight (unless it's raining; see below) at the King Farm in Woodstock. “The view and the setting on the farmhouse lawn is spectacular, and we are using it as our set, keeping the production simple and natural," she tells Armita Mirkarimi in the VT Standard. Though "simple" might be an overstatement: the production has over 100 costumes. And scenes and songs that, if you're only familiar with the film, you've never seen before. Including an ensemble of a dozen nuns singing in four choral parts—sometimes in Latin."We didn't really have a plan. But we got some chickens, we got some pigs, we started growing a garden...." And, Crossmolina Farm's Margaret Loftus tells Erica Houskeeper, "we fell in love with raising our own food." You may have seen Erica's profile for Daybreak of Loftus and Corinth's Crossmolina on Tuesday (if not, it's here), but now Erica's Happy Vermont podcast version is up, with much more of Loftus explaining how Crossmolina and its Pizza Night and Cookeville Market—"the beating heart of Corinth," Erica says—came about. "There was a CSA out of our garden for, like, five neighbors..."After 30 years in education, "you have a pretty good background in trying to calm down people in certain situations." So maybe it's not surprising that Lisa Walker, Grantham's outgoing school superintendent, is becoming an EMT. She announced the move back in April, and as school ends, sat down with NHPR's Rick Ganley to talk about why. Which, in a word, boils down to politics—and in particular, she tells Ganley, "direct attempts to undermine public education in the state of New Hampshire." She and Ganley talk over the decline in civility that hit schools during Covid, and what's happened since.NH Fish & Game says bird feeders, unprotected backyard poultry boost bear-human conflict. While overall reports of problems remain steady this season, wildlife biologists Dan Bailey and Andrew Timmins report "there has been an increase in the number of bears being shot by chicken owners." This is especially troublesome, they say, because the agency lends out electric fences so poultry owners can avoid the problem. As for bird feeders, “Some people think that only having feeders out during the day or elevating them out of a bear’s reach is an adequate deterrent, but neither will work." They've got tips.No, the NH or VT DMV is not telling you to send money now or they'll revoke your license. For that matter, writes David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog, E-ZPass NH isn't demanding your money, your bank isn't asking you to confirm your PIN, and Medicare doesn't actually need your number over the phone. Brooks almost fell for that last one, which is why he's writing his column. Don't trust texts or emails from a company or agency, he writes. And "don’t think you can figure out which calls and texts and emails are...scams," he adds. "The bad guys have become too good at faking it." He's got some advice.Orvis to lay off at least 50 employees. That's about 4 percent of the Manchester, VT-based outdoor gear company's workforce, writes Habib Sabet for VTDigger. “Tariffs disrupted our business model in ways we haven’t faced before and have exposed a clear path to solidifying our long-term future,” president Simon Perkins said in a statement yesterday. “Moving forward, Orvis will be returning to our roots and shifting our entire focus to the core strengths of our business—the fly fishing and wingshooting pursuits." The company shed 110 jobs last year after closing some retail spots.Summer meal programs get food to Vermont kids every way they can. At camps, libraries, playgrounds, schools, even pools, families are picking up meal kits and prepared food to help them over the summer. Seven Days' Alison Novak reports that the state’s 52 programs are so successful that, in 2023, the state had the highest participation rate in the country. During Covid, the feds stopped requiring kids to eat their meals at specific sites, and started allowing families in rural areas to take food home. So fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, hummus, milk, and local cheese can go straight to family kitchens.Whales, glaciers, and natural monuments: winners of the UN’s World Oceans Day photography contest. PetaPixel's Matt Growcoot has a gallery of the prizewinners. Andrey Nosik, from Russia, captured a Japanese warbonnet (which “seemed to enjoy the attention”) in the Sea of Japan. In Indonesia, Dani Escayola was surrounded by millions of (stingerless) jellyfish. Amidst arid dunes in Australia, Leander Nardin’s neon lake reminds us “that everything in nature is deeply connected.” And Rachel Moore has a gorgeous close-up of the eye of a humpback whale taken in French Polynesia. Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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It's Juneteenth, and though the Hartford/Lebanon/Bethel celebration isn't until Saturday (more on that tomorrow), there are observances today elsewhere in both states.
, including in Stowe.
. The big celebration in NH is in Portsmouth,
in Portsmouth (scroll down).
. As you read above, it's outdoors at Woodstock's King Farm, and it's the Broadway musical, which includes numbers that weren't in the film, plus 28 of your neighbors—BarnArts veterans and newcomers alike. With Taylor Hobson as Maria, Albert Falcone as Captain von Trapp, dancers, singing nuns, and more. 6 pm tonight through Saturday as well as next Thursday and Friday, and 4 pm this Sunday and next. If it rains, there are rain dates.
Solo artist and busker Cate Great and the Boston-based duo Cold Chocolate (Ethan Robbins on guitar/mandolin and Ariel Bernstein on drums/banjo) join forces for this week's show at Barnard's Fable Farm. As always, gates and food at 5:30, performances start up at 6. There's a tent if it's raining.
It's a homecoming of sorts for the very-much-in-demand New Orleans-based funk, jazz, and all-around groove guitarist, who grew up in Leb and has his own band, while also working with Tank and the Bangas, Big Freedia, The Revivalists, and plenty of others. For tonight's gig, he's put together a band with locals David Newsam and PJ Donahue, and Nth Power's Nate Edgar. 7 pm.
And this week,
of last week's Pride Prom at JAM and LOH's Pride Picnic, the 2022 Juneteenth speeches in Hartford, and last Saturday's "No Kings" rally in West Leb/WRJ.
Your dreams too smallIf they don't keep you up at night
There's definitely a story in how Joseph David-Jones got full freight to study mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky, began modeling while he was there, got noticed... and wound up as singer Clayton Carter on the TV series
Nashville
and, soon, Jackie Jackson in the mega-Michael Jackson biopic that'll be out... well, just as soon as Lionsgate decides it's safe to release. Meanwhile, though, David-Jones is, also a singer, songwriter, and composer in his own right, and a couple of months ago he released a new album,
Castles in the Sky
,
In case you feel like you need a fix of precisely choreographed singing rail workers this morning.
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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