GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Showers, slight chance of thunder later. The system that arrived last night is actually heading out this morning, but it’s going to be followed by more showers in short order, some of which may be packing embedded thunder. We’re in a favored spot, and with some heavy rainfall possible, total amounts could be halfway decent—up to an inch. With all the clouds around, temps will be a little cooler than yesterday, with highs in the mid or upper 60s; tonight’s lows will again be in the upper 50s.
Wood art. It’s all around, if you look closely.
For instance, here’s a branch from near the Union Village Dam, with near-hieroglyphic chewing trails left by some kind of beetle or sawfly larva, from Sally Duston;
And here are bark curls along the Strafford town trail from Annemieke McLane.
It’s time for Dear Daybreak! This week’s collection of short pieces from readers about Upper Valley life features a striking sky over Piermont from Paul Goundrey; Danny Dover taking a break from his day job as a piano tuner to commune with the deep, deep backwoods in the Adirondacks when—with the faintest trace of cell service—he gets a call asking him to tune for a private party at the Woodstock Inn for… well, it was a very big name and he’ll tell you about it; and Joel Teenyanoff’s rare addition to his shorebird life list. AND HEY! Dear Daybreak needs submissions or there won’t be one next week. If you’ve got something to share, please send it in.
A look ahead at fall performing arts. In the Valley News, Marion Umpleby and Alex Hanson walk us through what’s coming up, from the launch of the Hop’s and Northern Stage’s seasons this week (see Heads Up) to Artistree’s Urinetown, The Musical, to—as you’ll see a bit below—David Sedaris at LOH (act fast!) to plays at Shaker Bridge and Parish Players, dance all around, a remarkable lineup at LOH, music at the Hop, the Chandler, Court Street Arts, Artistree, and (though they don’t mention it) the Anonymous Coffeehouse. Plus the VT Food and Music Festival at Ascutney.
SPONSORED: Check out the fine craftmanship of five Norwich artists in this fall’s Vermont Open Studio weekend. The weekend is Oct. 4-5, and in our corner of the Upper Valley, Shannon Wallis Designs (egg art & eggshell jewelry) at 27 Sargent Street, Lisa Johnson Arts (whimsical furniture art and decor) at 5 Kendall Station Road, Kate Emlen (oil landscape paintings & prints) at 12 Elm Street, A Lucky Girl Studio (fused glass, jewelry, & gourds) at 16 Koch Road, and Rosamond Orford (Photography and Pastels) at 1485 Union Village Road will be open each day from 10 to 5 to greet art lovers and display their work. Each artist will raffle off a piece of art. VT map here.
Holiday lights show will move from Leb to Enfield. What began as a small, neighborhood lights display created by Devon Blanchard a decade ago is no longer small or even particularly neighborhood: Blanchard’s December-January displays in Lebanon’s Colburn Park draw a few thousand people to his themed and colorful extravaganza. Now, however, Blanchard’s announced that this year, the lights will be set up in Enfield’s Huse Park. “This was not an easy choice,” he writes in his press release, “but it is one I believe will allow the display to grow, thrive, and continue bringing smiles to more people than ever before.” It opens Dec. 6.
Whaleback will open without a chairlift. You probably remember that the nonprofit Enfield mountain lost its summit lift in February, when it discovered problems with the gearbox. Since then, it’s raised almost $300K for repairs from over 800 donors. Even so, reports Brent Thomas for the ski website Snow Brains, Whaleback’s leaders announced this week that “the extent of the mechanical issues means they cannot guarantee the lift will reopen this winter.” Instead, the mountain will add a new surface lift lower down, add connector trails, upgrade its terrain park, expand base area entertainment, and offer unlimited access to the summit for uphillers.
SPONSORED: Limited tickets remain to see bestselling author David Sedaris! Join us at Lebanon Opera House on Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 PM for an evening with the master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. Sedaris will read a selection of new essays—dripping with his trademark sardonic wit and incisive social critiques—before leading an audience Q&A and post-show book signing in the lobby. Sponsored by Lebanon Opera House.
Out in the woods this week, “the last, late blooms of summer.” There are asters, goldenrods, and other late bloomers, writes Northern Woodlands’ Jack Saul about this fourth week of September, and their timing—when other flowers have faded—lets them monopolize pollinators’ attention. “A number of American-asters…have adaptations to avoid damage from the cold, sustain blossoms longer, and increase chances of reproduction,” Jack explains. Meanwhile, dragonfly migration is peaking this month and, intriguingly, “Most data on dragonfly migration even comes from hawk watchers observing darners riding the same thermals and tailwinds…”
I-89/93 highway upgrade delay: “To call this process glacial is an insult to glaciers.” That was Kip McDaniel, who chairs the Bow selectboard, talking to the Monitor’s Sruthi Gopalakrishnan (here via NHPR) about NHDOT’s decision to back off funding the construction phase of a decades-long project to widen I-93 through Concord, improve the Exit 1 ramps on and off I-89, and address 36 deteriorating bridges. State officials say the move’s the result of flat revenues and rising costs. Says McDaniel: “to delay it even further when it is a safety issue, a development issue, a traffic issue for hundreds of thousands of people, just seems like a poor decision.”
Burke Mountain EB-5 investors to get back $183,322 apiece. As VTDigger’s Alan J. Keays points out, for the 121 investors who believed they were sinking money into the redevelopment of the ski area and instead found themselves on the short end of a high-profile fraud, that works out to a bit more than a third of the money they put down. Now that Burke’s been sold out of receivership to a local group and receiver Michael Goldberg has another $10 million from a deal with financial giant Raymond James, the federal judge in the case has approved the payout.
“Farm to closet.” “Ninety-seven percent of the clothes sold in the U.S. are imported, meaning my wardrobe has traveled more widely than I have,” writes Mary Ann Lickteig in Seven Days, and a good bit of it is basically plastic. But as she and Suzanne Podhaizer report, there’s a burgeoning local fiber movement, and the Upper Valley is playing a role, from WRJ’s Junction Fiber Mill to Weathersfield’s Cas-Cad-Nac Farm Alpacas to S. Royalton’s Green Mountain Linen and the East Barnard Linen Fair. These last two are sort of a beachhead for Robin Maynard Seaver’s effort to create fabric from locally grown flax—and the first flax processing mill in the western hemisphere.
Focusing on the details … of bugs. Igor Siwanowicz, a research scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, uses laser scanning microscopy to zoom in on the anatomy of insects in captivating detail. Moss & Fog has a portfolio of colorful images, beautiful enough to be fine paintings. But they’re “not just visually striking,” write the editors, “they expand our understanding of form and function at the microscopic level.” The foot of a diving beetle, for example, with its hairs and pads that grip underwater, and the antenna of a moth, finely developed to detect chemical signals.
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak. If you're new to Daybreak, this is a puzzle along the lines of the NYT's Wordle—only it's not just some random word, but a word that actually appeared here yesterday.
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HEADS UP
Feast & Field brings the season to a close with Avi Salloway & Friends. It’s an equinox festival with bonfires, kids’ activities, a special harvest dinner, and Salloway (Billy Wylder/Bombino), Rob Morse (Hadestown/Vorcza), and Anthony Lafond (Billy Wylder). Gates and food at 5:30, music starts up at 6.
At Northern Stage, two more nights of previews for Come From Away—and then opening night on Saturday. As the company writes, the musical “tells the remarkable true story of 38 planes unexpectedly grounded in Gander, Newfoundland on September 11, 2001. What begins as an overwhelming crisis quickly transforms into an extraordinary moment of human connection as the townspeople and passengers form lasting bonds.” Friday is First Responder Night. Runs through Oct. 26.
At the Hop, Touki Delphine’s Firebird. The audience meets in the Moore Lobby, goes on a “12-minute processional walk ending at the Roth Studio Theater,” and then gets to witness the Dutch collective’s reimagining of Stravinsky’s classic with no musicians, no performers, but 500 salvaged car taillights transformed into “a flickering, hypnotic orchestra.” Last night was sold out, but there are still tix for tonight and Saturday.
From JAM: the Mudroom, a proposed new greenway, and Steve Taylor on where the name “Upper Valley” came from. This week’s highlights feature the latest AVA Mudroom storytelling event, as six community members—Isaac Lorton, Judith Hertog, Beth Ryan, Thia Daniels, Jen Shepherd, and Kevin Gallagher—dive into the evening’s theme of “Best Friends”; an August open house on the West Lebanon and Hanover Greenway; and Taylor’s presentation to the Hartford Historical Society on the tangle of politics, newspaper wars, and local personalities that brought us our identity.
And for today...
Lake Street Dive goes bluegrass. It’s a first for the band and their song “Party on the Roof”, but given that they were at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, it seems appropriate. They brought Wes Corbett (banjo), Sarah Jarosz (mandolin), and Brittany Haas (fiddle) on stage to help out, though.
See you tomorrow.
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