GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Grrrr... All we can do is cast envious glances to the south. Connecticut, Massachusetts, NYC, even Pennsylvania—they're getting snow. Around here? Zilch to maybe an inch depending on where you are. Mostly, we get some high cloud cover and slightly warmer than normal temps. Winds today are from the north, highs in the lower 30s. High teens or low 20s overnight.But hey, at least here's some much-needed color!
For starters, there was that double rainbow that appeared over Fairlee on Saturday, in this photo by Chapman's general manager Theo Damaskos.
And then there are the tulips blooming at Pilar Bauta's farm in Lyme, in this photo by Janice Fischel.
Longtime NH Democratic State Rep. Sharon Nordgren dies. Nordgren, who was 80, was first elected to represent Hanover in 1988; two years ago, she won her 18th term, which ends at the end of this year. Tributes have poured in. The Globe's Steven Porter pulled a sampling together in yesterday's Morning Report (at the burgundy link), and the Valley News's Patrick Adrian has done the same here. Nordgren's Hanover/Lyme seat will remain vacant for the rest of the year because it's too late to schedule a special election; instead, candidates seeking to fill it will be on the November ballot."I'm just hoping that I can lift people up on what can be a really hard day for some of us.” Tomorrow, Hanover's Krista Patronick is going to spend Valentine's Day on the road—delivering cards and roses to about 30 people who've lost their spouses. Some are older and some, like her, are young, reports NHPR's Paul Cuno-Booth; Patronick's husband, Tony, died at 41 in December, 2022. Patronick collected most of the names from friends, who told her about people they knew or family members who'd been widowed. "I'm just hoping that people feel a little bit of love on this hard holiday,” Patronick says.Ice sculpture created by Dartmouth's Islamic student society wrecked by vandals. The sculpture was carved for the college's Winter Carnival, and sometime Saturday night, reports the VN, was destroyed by an unknown person or persons. In an email to students on Sunday, Dean of the College Scott Brown said the college is investigating and will “hold those responsible accountable.” As the VN's report notes, by yesterday warm temps had left only one of the Carnival ice sculptures standing.SPONSORED: What would you do if an unexpected injury threatened your trip of a lifetime? Just a few weeks before she was set to embark on her dream trip to Paris, Ana Utell had an accident that threatened to call it all off. “The crutches, the wheelchair—I was like, what do I do, how do I do this?” Read Ana’s story of how she overcame unexpected roadblocks to achieve her dream of walking the streets of Paris. Sponsored by Cioffredi & Associates Physical Therapy.In N. Thetford, " a lifetime’s collection of fine antiques" fills a long-empty space. It's in what used to be the general store that houses the post office, Li Shen writes in Sidenote, and is called Fox Hollow Antiques and Trading Post. Its contents, from a barrel organ to stuffed animal heads to paintings, furniture, and other artifacts, were amassed over more than a half century by W. Fairlee's Mark Harper, a longtime hunting and fishing guide as well as an antiques "picker" who leased the N. Thetford space last fall in hopes that its spot along Route 5 will attract buyers. He's hopes to open an auction house this spring.Like "outsized potato chips but softer." Those are the berenjena con sirope at Duende, in Hanover, Juan and Laura Garceran's tapas restaurant that last May took over the space where Candela used to be. Susan Apel was just there, and in Artful she writes that the dish was a standout: "Paper-thin slices [of eggplant] lightly dusted and fried, with—instead of the traditional honey—a drizzle of maple syrup." There was more to her meal, of course: "a perfect Saturday lunch to celebrate one of the few sunny days in the Upper Valley." Here's Kelly Sennott's profile of the restaurant on GreaterUpperValley.com.Fourteen months' work, and at the end: a replica of the USS Constitution. That's what Lebanon model shipbuilder (and internist) Arthur Sauvigne just finished, with full rigging, flags, armaments, launch, and whaleboats. The result, he tells Demo Sofronas for Demo's About Norwich blog, "is very close to how she appeared from 1812-15." Made from basswood, beech, walnut, and maple, with copper sheathing for the hull, the model checks in at 37.5" long, and Sauvigne's documented its construction (including the seven differently sized rigging threads). With plenty of photos.Up a steep hillside, a decaying log attracts visitors. Like the porcupine memorialized in a still from the trail camera left nearby by Elise and Tig Tillinghast. "Often, more than one species will visit the same scent post" to leave their mark and check out who's been there, Elise writes in Northern Woodlands' "This Week in the Woods"—and speculates that the porky might have been seeking a mate (the footage was from breeding season) or looking for salt. Also out there in this third week of February: Trametes polypores, a type of shelf fungus that likes to grow on decaying wood.For gas, electric infrastructure in NH, recent flooding is "a wake-up call." That point was driven home in January, reports Hadley Barndollar in NH Bulletin, when high-tide flooding "walloped" the seacoast, submerging some gas meters and regulators: "While the gas system itself wasn’t directly impacted by the flooding, Unitil ultimately shut off about 100 meters that had sustained damage and required repairs or replacement," Barndollar writes. “It’s very fair to say this will be a reference point event for us as we think about things like coastal flooding and what that means,” says a Unitil spokesman.In VT's "perfect mess" of a school funding year, some construction needs take a back seat. That was the case in Sharon when the school board in January opted to delay a vote on a bond to renovate the elementary school, citing uncertainty over the impact of Act 127 and the schools budget on taxes. Other towns are feeling the pressure, too: "People don’t even want to hear the word ‘bond’," one superintendent says. But VT, report VTDigger's Habib Sabet and Ethan Weinstein, has the country's second-oldest school-building stock—which is why some districts, like Woodstock's, feel they can't afford to wait.At the library: pizza-making in borrowed waffle irons, art club, teen advisory boards, reliable internet—and togetherness. Diane Church is on Fairlee's library board, and she had a question for VT Public's Brave Little State: "How do our public libraries manage to stay alive and vibrant in this age of technology?" So Sabine Poux and Andrea Laurion headed to two very different libraries: Waterbury's new, two-story version, which fills up after school with kids and teens; and Jeffersonville's two-room version. They go about it differently, the episode makes clear, but both provide "points of connection."What are the VTrans staff behind highway signs like "You may sparkle / But don’t drive lit" going to do now that the feds want to crack down on fun? Actually, the Federal Highway Administration says fun's allowed with signs—just not humor, “because it may confuse or distract drivers.” So The Other Paper's Corey McDonald checked in with Rachel Noyes and Ryan Knapp, the two VTrans officials in charge of the state's electronic message boards—and the pair behind the puns you see along I-89 and I-91. They're hoping they can continue. "This is a way for us to relate to the everyday road user,” says Knapp. "We drive on the roads and we want to get home safe, just like everyone else.”Olive & Mabel. As pups. And companions. Don't miss this one. As BBC sportscaster Andrew Cotter explains, "A video 'memory' appeared the other day of Mabel meeting Olive for the first time. I'm often asked how Olive was with her, or people ask if they should get a second dog and wonder how many years is best to have between them. All I can do is tell them how it was with Olive and Mabel. And here it is."The Tuesday Vordle. 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:
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There's that Daybreak jigsaw puzzle, perfect for long nights by the fire. Plus, of course, fleece vests, hoodies, sweatshirts, even a throw blanket. And hats, mugs, and—once you work up a puzzle-piece sweat—tees. Check it all out at the link!
At 4:30 today, Dartmouth's Dickey Center hosts the latest installment of the Middle East Dialogues project, "The Arab world and the Demise of the Caliphate". The conversation takes off from the decision by Turkey in 1924 to end the Caliphate—a move, the center writes, that "caught the Arab world off guard, leaving it ill-prepared to assume the metaphysical and spiritual burden of the highest office in Islam. While this sudden traumatic loss led to a pervasive sense of collective anxiety and disorientation, the Arab world responded to the demise of the caliphate in diverse ways, ranging from ad-hoc projects focused on communal moral reconstruction to the emergence of political Islam through the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood. Additionally, the violent resurgence of the Caliphate by ISIS exemplified the most extreme response." U of Texas-Austin history prof Yoav Di-Capua will talk it over with Jonathan Laurence, director of the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College, and former Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga. In Haldeman 41 and via livestream.
This evening at 6:30, the Howe Library in Hanover hosts a talk by James Stanford, who chairs Dartmouth's Linguistics Department: "Wicked Smaaht - Dialect Changes and Variation in New England English". Over the course of a decade, a research team led by Stanford collected linguistic data from speakers in all six New England states, looking at differences in how they spoke, whether dialects were changing, and more. He'll talk about it what they found, both in-person in the Mayer Room and via Zoom.
And come April 1, the Bradford VT library will be celebrating its 7th annual Poem Town, with poetry posted on storefronts all over town in observance of National Poetry Month. The deadline to submit up to two poems is four weeks from today—Tuesday, March 12. Poets of any age can submit: send them to [email protected], along with your name and the town you're from.
And the Tuesday poem...
A man is haunted by his father’s ghost.Boy meets girl while feuding families fight.A Scottish king is murdered by his host.Two couples get lost on a summer night.A hunchback murders all who block his way.A ruler’s rivals plot against his life.A fat man and a prince make rebels pay.A noble Moor has doubts about his wife.An English king decides to conquer France.A duke learns that his best friend is a she.A forest sets the scene for this romance.An old man and his daughters disagree.A Roman leader makes a big mistake.A sexy queen is bitten by a snake.—
"Shakespearean Sonnet:
With a first line taken from the tv listings"
by
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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.
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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