GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sun and clouds, slight chance of rain this evening, maybe frost tonight. The weather folks are having their fun, tossing around phrases like "vorticity lobes" and "steepening lapse rates," but the upshot is that we'll see a mix of sun and clouds today, with winds from the northwest and highs once again around 60. There's some air on high coming through from the Great Lakes, and it could be packing showers this evening—and given colder temps on the summits, a dusting of snow up there. What happens tonight depends on cloud cover, but we'll be getting into the mid 30s and possibly lower in spots.In the sun. Two things you don't see very often:
A juvenile turkey vulture sunning itself on a tree in E. Thetford, from Jeannie Boyd;
And Joyce Lemire writes in from Weathersfield, "It’s not May—when my lilacs have bloomed for 45+ years. It’s early October. First time ever." This happens from time to time, says Iowa Extension.
UV native wins Nobel Prize in Medicine. Victor Ambros was born in Hanover, grew up in Hartland, went to Woodstock High, taught for a decade and a half at Dartmouth (he now teaches at UMass but still has a house in Hanover), and early yesterday morning was awarded the Nobel along with his longtime collaborator, Gary Ruvkun. The two won for their 1993 discovery of microRNA, short RNA molecules that play a key role in gene regulation and, as UMass put it in yesterday's news release, have "a profound and far-reaching impact on most biological processes governing health and disease."
In an interview yesterday with the Valley News's Emma Roth-Wells, Ambros credited both his early schooling in Hartland—where he “benefited from key teachers who really encouraged inquiry and problem solving"—and his wife, Rosalind Lee, first author on the paper reporting the microRNA discovery. "She's been a collaborator, a lab manager and at the same time she manages the family. She is absolutely vital to everything I am.” And here's Dartmouth News on Ambros's research and teaching at what is now Geisel.
Developer Mike Davidson branches out to buy Goddard College. Davidson is the force behind a raft of redevelopment projects in the region—the old Leb Junior High, the former College Cleaners in WRJ, the re-dos that became Lucky's and WRJ's Phnom Penh, the new housing for the old Brookside Nursing Home. Yesterday, reports Anne Wallace Allen in Seven Days, Goddard's trustees announced they've signed an agreement with Davidson—their third attempt at selling the Plainfield VT college and its buildings. Davidson says he intends to maintain the existing buildings.Nov. 15: Mark your calendars. That's when the Lyme-E. Thetford bridge is finally due to reopen after 18 months of reconstruction. It's about three weeks behind schedule, reports WCAX's Adam Sullivan. “Once we took the existing concrete deck off and then they blasted for the painting, is when we found significantly more repairs that we had to make," says NHDOT's Chuck Flanders. You'll sure miss those drives through Orford or Hanover, right?SPONSORED: Sisters—A Brand New Play at Northern Stage! Sisters is about, you guessed it, two sisters, Matilda and Greta. It tracks their relationship from childhood through old age. They’re just like any other sisters. Oh, except Greta is an artificially intelligent computer program. But other than that... Directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy (Sense and Sensibility, 2022), and written by up-and-coming playwright Matthew Libby. Runs through Oct. 20 at the Barrette Center for the Arts. And check out the Greta 2.0 bot in the lobby before you take in the show! Sponsored by Northern Stage.Poison ivy: It's for the birds. No, really. Its tiny flowers, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, "develop into fruits called drupes which are a source of sustenance for over 60 species of birds," including gray catbirds, hermit thrushes, and downy woodpeckers. It's not especially high-quality fruit for them, which is why they mostly go for it in the winter, when everything else is scarce. Deer, bear, muskrats, and rabbits also eat the drupes. And all of those animals then spread the seeds. So more poison ivy can show up where you least #$%^& expect it.At their peak, Hanover, Lyme and Plainfield had 16 one-room schools apiece; Hartland, Haverhill, and Tunbridge at least 20. Why so many? As Steve Taylor writes in the VN, "How far could a little first- or second-grader be reasonably expected to walk? Two miles or so was the norm." But that was back in the 19th century; the number of one-room schools in VT and NH began declining after 1895. NH still has two (one's in Croydon), and plenty of people who still remember attending one. Taylor talks to Kathleen Brown and Elaine Pillsbury about the North Grantham school, which closed in 1967.SPONSORED: Taste the Upper Valley, all in one place! CraftStudies’ signature fundraiser, BowlFest, returns on Saturday, Oct. 19, 4 - 7P, at CraftStudies Studio & School in White River Junction. This family-friendly event features delicious food from more than 20 local restaurants. Attendees take home a unique bowl and block-printed napkin, handcrafted by CraftStudies’ artists. Enjoy music, a raffle, and a new silent auction for a bespoke table setting for four. Proceeds benefit CraftStudies' access and equity programs. Hit the burgundy link or here to learn more! Sponsored by CraftStudies.Missing Lancaster, NH man found in car submerged in the Connecticut River. Stephen Paquette, 41, had last been seen Sept. 27 and was reported missing last Friday, which is when Lancaster police found vehicle tracks that crossed a hay field and ended at the bank of the river by Route 135. They called in NH Fish & Game officers, who on Saturday used a drone to locate a vehicle and then were able to search it using a remote device—which confirmed it was registered to Paquette and there was a body inside. Burgundy link takes you to Fish & Game's press release; here's the NH State Police.Timing of NH's new voter ID law sows confusion. Okay, just follow along. As NHPR's Todd Bookman reports, the new law takes effect Nov. 11—and it eliminates the affidavit ballots NH voters have used if they don't have proper ID when they register to vote at the polls. But under current law, they've got seven days to provide proof of identity to the Secy of State's office, which means that people who vote this Nov. 5 won't have the full seven days to mail in their proof of ID. We're not talking big numbers: seven voters have used them since last year. The Secy of State's office will only tell Bookman it's "reviewing the issue."All about the Cog. You draw some tough assignments if you're a senior producer at NHPR, as Dan Tuohy just did with his ride to the top of Mt. Washington on the Cog Railway. His piece is a treat, filled with little facts—UNH students are working on an all-electric locomotive; the Cog carries 150-160K riders a year and hits a maximum grade of 37.41%; last year it helped rescue a hiker in extreme weather; some people are disappointed if they don't encounter atrocious weather at the top; there are three (3) gift shops on the way—and at the end, one eye-popping play on its old "Railway to the Moon" moniker.VT agency tries to balance logging, preservation as it finalizes plan for Worcester Range. As Emma Cotton writes in VTDigger, the 18,772 acres of state-owned land include some of central VT's most high-profile forestlands, including Elmore State Park and Mt. Hunger, and also serve as a key pathway for wildlife between the Berkshires/Adirondacks and ME, New Brunswick, and the Gaspé. The plan sets aside a bit over half the land for “natural processes to shape the landscape" and about 10 percent of it for logging over the next two decades. Cotton dives into the plan and the varied public responses.The evolution of grief. And "what happens after the worst thing happens." In 2021, Rumble Strip producer Erica Heilman made a podcast about Tara Reese and her son, Finn, after Finn died by suicide at 17. It struck a chord worldwide. This year, on Mother's Day, Erica and Tara—now fast friends—drove to a memorial forest at Bread and Puppet in Glover, where Finn's friends had put up a memorial to him, for a raw, profoundly moving conversation that Erica has now put up on Rumble Strip. "Sometimes I'll have 20 seconds where I'm like... I had this kid?" Tara tells her. "That I don't have any more?"Okay, so what is the deal with the southern third of the Appalachian Trail? In Outside, hiking columnist Grayson Haver Currin reports that although Hurricane Helene caused flooding and downed trees, friends and hiking experts in the South tell him that "as best as anyone can tell right now, the claims of complete destruction aren’t true"—though accurate information is hard to come by. One says that while there are likely bad pockets, "I haven’t seen anything that’s catastrophic that a hiker couldn’t navigate." At the same time, the NYT's Victor Mather reports (gift link), the AT Conservancy's Sandi Marra says, "The scope and scale is historic" and recovery may take years.It takes a meteorologist. Remember that gold trophy (and bitcoin key) that video game designer Jason Rohrer and musician Tom Bailey hid somewhere in a New England forest? Well, it was found last week by Andover, MA meteorologist Dan Leonard, who used daily aerial photos provided as clues by Rohrer and Bailey: "I analyzed any time where it was sunny and any time where it was cloudy and sort of lined that up to possible areas where it could be, so I slowly whittled it down" to Wendell State Forest in western MA, Leonard told WCVB in Maine. Boston.com's Abby Patkin has the story.Wrong dam. Here's a jigsaw-info correction: In his email about the Pompanoosuc covered bridge yesterday, Cam Cross mentioned the bridge was dismantled in 1954 after the Union Village Dam raised the level of the Pompy too high. Actually (burgundy link) it was the construction of the Wilder Dam. "I wish I could say that I put it in wrong to see if anyone was paying attention," he writes, "but...." As it happens, someone was: Thanks, CB!
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Over the summer, the college's "Tour Tuesdays"—which gave community members a chance to check out particular facilities—proved remarkably popular. So the college is keeping them going this fall, starting today at 1 pm with your choice of a tour of its augmented reality studio or its paleoanthropology lab. In future weeks: Greek life, the cemetery, the environmental DNA lab, the Rauner, and more. You'll need to register.
The film, about the famed political scientist's work on the importance to democracy of community connection, has been making the rounds. But at tonight's Hop Film screening, there's a difference: Putnam himself will be there to talk about it and his work with Dartmouth prof Charlie Wheelan. It all begins at 6:30 pm at the Loew.
A reviewer once called Kenneth Lonergan's 2016 film, set on the North Shore and starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, "
the funniest movie about grief ever made." TAC calls it "
a searing and complex investigation of many of the issues and anxieties of our time in history." 7 pm in the Martha Rich Theater at Thetford Academy.
at Dartmouth's Rollins Chapel is sold out, but as always with these Hop-in-exile events, it's always worth calling to check for newly available tickets.
603.646.2422.
8 pm if you land one.
And the Tuesday poem...
After the summer's yield, Lord, it is timeto let your shadow lengthen on the sundialsand in the pastures let the rough winds fly.As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness.Direct on them two days of warmer lightto hale them golden toward their term, and harrythe last few drops of sweetness through the wine.Whoever's homeless now, will build no shelter;who lives alone will live indefinitely so,waking up to read a little, draft long letters, and, along the city's avenues,fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.
— "Day in Autumn" by
, translated by
.
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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