GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Another mostly sunny day... but definitely cooler. We start the morning in the mid-40s, and don't get much above the low 60s today as what the weather folks call "some of the coolest air of the season" makes its way here. Still, a good stretch of the day should be beautifully sunny. Breezy winds today from the northwest, down into the mid-40s again tonight.On the water early. Grafton Pond (NH) in late summer, to be exact, the early-morning mist still on the water, the sun just peeking over the hills... From Sharon Wight.Police make arrest in assault on I-91 construction worker. Yesterday morning around 9:30, a worker on a highway construction site along I-91 in Rockingham was attacked from behind by an unknown assailant who used a broken bottle to slash him then escaped into the woods, according to a VSP press release. The worker was taken to the hospital and released. After a day's investigation by state police, the suspect was eventually identified as 45-year-old Ryan Avery, of no fixed address. He was found yesterday evening and arrested by the Brattleboro police.Bradford joins ranks of VT towns in the Upper Valley approving retail cannabis. The move came in a 166-91 special vote on Tuesday, reports the Valley News's Nora Doyle-Burr. She runs down the state of play in the region on cannabis sales and growers: Hartford, the town of Woodstock, Windsor, Randolph, and Strafford have all approved retail cannabis; growing licenses have gone to outdoor cultivators in towns including Bradford, Barnard, Bethel, Corinth, Hartland, Strafford, and WRJ; indoor licenses to growers in S. Strafford, WRJ, and Weathersfield... There's more at the link.What are you having for lunch at Red Clover, Janet Call? In the second installment of the Artful/Daybreak collaboration in which we check in on local restaurateurs and chefs about what they like to eat at their establishments, Susan Apel talks to Janet Call, who with her husband Tom owns the Red Clover Café & Creamery in what used to be Isabell's in E. Thetford. The Calls, who moved here from Virginia, were longtime Isabell's patrons on their visits to these parts—and in the past have run both a café and an ice cream truck. If you want Janet's choice, better hurry: They're closing for the season in October.SPONSORED: Ivan Tomek, MD is one of the Upper Valley’s best total hip replacement surgeons. At Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Ivan Tomek, MD, delivers personalized and professional care to all. One of his patients shared, “Dr. Tomek's attention to my needs was impeccable. He answered all my questions and was patient with me. I started to understand what was going on with my hip, and he provided me with hope about the future.” Call (603) 442-5630 to schedule an appointment. Sponsored by APD.Growing herbs... and their community. Misha Johnson and Taylor Katz have been building Free Verse Farm in Chelsea for a decade now, raising and harvesting herbs, blending them to make teas, herbal remedies, and body-care products, and selling throughout the Upper Valley. For his latest YouTube video about small Vermont businesses, Rocket visits the farm, spends time in its two acres of fields, and talks with Johnson and Katz about the new, solar-heated herb-drying building they're building. "We don't see our work here on the land or in our community as isolated from one another," Johnson says.Belknap GOP legislators embroiled in Gunstock dispute lose primaries. Opposition to the House members, who in some cases were identified with the Free State movement, was led by a group called Citizens for Belknap that organized in the wake of the delegation's highly controversial effort to steer management of the county-owned Gunstock ski and recreation area. In InDepthNH, Paula Tracy reports that Mike Sylvia, the legislators' leader—and recently resigned head of the county legislative delegation—was beaten for the GOP nomination, as were at least three of his incumbent allies.So, okay. What is the Free State Project? On Boston.com, Ross Cristantiello lays out the basics: its birth in an essay by Yale grad student Jason Sorens (who now directs the Center for Ethics in Society at St. Anselm) proposing that libertarians "establish residence in a small state and take over the state government"; its adherents' dedication to the principle, as one board member puts it, that "you cannot force people to do things against their will"; and its growing impact on NH state politics, especially in the GOP. Says one GOP legislator: “Are they for you, are they going after you, or are they staying out of the race? I never know where they’re going, and I’m unsure if they even know.”VT school districts must treat religious schools the same as secular independent schools when it comes to state tuition payments. That's state Ed Secy Dan French's guidance in the wake of a US Supreme Court decision earlier this summer. That ruling, writes Peter D'Auria in VTDigger, said that Maine could not discriminate against religious schools in sending public money to private schools. However, VT's constitution bars Vermonters from being forced to support a religion they do not practice, D'Auria notes, and VLGS law prof Peter Teachout calls French's ruling "deeply problematical."VT Covid levels remain low—but outbreaks at schools return. VTDigger's Natalie Williams reports that both the state and the CDC rate community levels in the state as low. The state health department reported 445 cases in the last week, about 50 fewer than the week before. Hospital admissions were up slightly, from 35 to 37. Meanwhile, with schools back in session, there were 17 outbreaks at schools or child care facilities as of Sept. 13, compared to 2 the previous week.In unabashed good news, a bat colony in VT rebounds. The summer colony of Indiana bats is located in Hinesburg, reports VTDigger's Emma Cotton. Populations of the Indiana bat dropped by about 65 percent during the first few years of white-nose syndrome, the infection that has decimated bat populations in the east. A state biologist, however, reports the colony has reached a size "similar to historic numbers at this site, and three times greater than anything we have found in Vermont over the past decade.” The colony is on conserved land, which appears to have contributed to its health, Cotton writes.VT demonstrates that "the decline of serious local journalism is not as inevitable as some imagine." That's Bill McKibben writing in the New Yorker about the relative wealth of journalistic resources the state enjoys. He traces the rise and impact of VTDigger, Seven Days' cultural and food coverage and flair for long-form, Vermont Public's reach and breadth, and the ability of WDEV and other legacy news organizations—he mentions the Addison Independent, but could just as well be talking about Randolph's Herald—to "build social trust" by "cut[ting] across economic and cultural lines in profound ways."“The tough, hard ones, they’re the best horses because you’ve got to work them.” That’s Gary Itzstein, an Australian "horse whisperer" who lives in SC and has come to VT to train some stubborn horses. Seven Days’ Rachel Hellman meets Itzstein at an Amish farm in Brownington, where he’s been working—calmly, steadily—to placate a 10-year-old chestnut mare. Itztein's talents, she writes, "have turned him into a celebrity of sorts among Vermont's growing ranks of Amish." He was first lured north by the owner of nearby Arnold’s Rescue Center, which takes in displaced farm animals. And because Amish often volunteer to help at Arnold’s, Itzstein’s services are free of charge.Hey, kids! Here's a hobby... Mark Swenson is 20 and about to head to the VT giant pumpkin weigh-off with an 850-pounder—though he's saving his 1,040-pounder for the Topsfield Fair, his home turf. Oh, also, he's got a Guinness record for a 65.5-pound butternut squash. “It’s really addicting,” Swenson tells the Boston Globe's Lauren Daley (here via MSN, no paywall). “Once you see a pumpkin grow 50 pounds in one day — it’s insane. It’s just really fun.” One tip: He uses an organic fish and seaweed fertilizer blend in his soil. As for the squash? He served it for Christmas dinner last year.Less is more in these prize-winning minimalist photos. What exactly qualifies as minimalist photography could be up for debate. Often, a dominant focal point can serve to disrupt—or emphasize—otherwise mundane or spare surroundings. The best way to begin to get this kind of photography is, well, to look at it. The 2022 Minimalist Photography Awards are practically gaudy in their austerity. Start with the overall winner’s collection of mesmerizing starling murmurations, setting the tone for abstracts, nightscapes, aerial shots, and more that flaunt a simplicity bordering on ethereal.When someone who ordered food after you gets theirs first. That's the Twitter hed. The video? Perfect! (Thanks, AFG!)The Thursday Vordle. You can do this!
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Well, here we are: It's a mid-September Thursday, which means it's time for the Tunbridge Worlds Fair to get rolling. Its 150th, in fact. Gates open this morning at 8, the Oxen Open Log Skid starts up at 9, and then its a chock-full weekend of ag exhibits, farm animals, crafts, so much food—both to eat and to admire in jars—entertainment, music, big stuffed animals on the midway, harness racing, timbersports, swine agility trials, oxen pulls, and, of course, the Cavalcade of Livestock on Saturday. Runs until 9 tonight and tomorrow, 10 on Saturday, and 6 pm on Sunday.
With gates opening at 5:30 and music starting up sometime around 6, BarnArts' Feast & Field this week brings in Puuluup, the Estonian duo of Ramo Teder and Marko Veisson. The only thing to do is let F&F describe them: "What do you get when you mix a pinch of surrealism, a bit of modern folklore, a generous helping of ancient Estonian instruments and blend it together through effect blocks and loopers? The answer is the neo-zombie-post-folk Estonian duo Puuluup... They sing about wind turbines, heroes from Polish TV series, zombies, fat cakes and the uncomfortable feeling that your neighbor’s dog might try to bite you while you take out the trash."
At 7 pm, the Norwich Bookstore hosts Chris Finan reading from and talking about his book, How Free Speech Saved Democracy. In the book, Finan, a historian, former reporter and past president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, tells a series of stories about First Amendment pioneers and how their fights expanded democracy in this country. He'll be in conversation with Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association.
Also at 7, the Etna Library hosts an online talk on "The Golden Age of Hollywood" by Fordham media studies prof emeritus Brian Rose. Rose has written several books on television history and done hundreds of interviews with directors, actors, and screenwriters, and he'll be talking about the forces that shaped Hollywood and turned it into a global colossus.
Let's just ease into things...
...with Nikolaj Svaneborg on keyboards and Jonas Kardyb on percussion. Together, they're the award-winning Danish duo Svaneborg Kardyb, which somehow manages to blend Nordic jazz with Danish roots music into something extremely listenable while you go about prepping for your day.
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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