GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Cloudy, cooler, rain likely. A quick-moving system will come through today, with a chance of light rain this morning rising to a likelihood late morning; things should wind down this evening (though more rains headed this way tomorrow). Winds from the southeast, highs today in the lower 40s, with temperatures dropping only into the mid 30s overnight.Birds of winter. That's the title of photographer Jim Block's latest blog post, and it's truth in advertising. Ranging from a rare Barrow's Goldeneye that spent a few days hanging out with the Common Goldeneyes on the Connecticut; to waxwings in WRJ, New London, and Etna; to finches, tufted titmice, a horned lark, a red-tailed hawk, and plenty more.A look at NH town meetings. Today, of course, is mostly focused on voting on the Vermont side, but over the last few days the Valley News has been offering a glance ahead at what's coming in NH next Tuesday, March 12.
Here's a general, town-by-town roundup, with everything from a new fire station on the docket in Charlestown to whether Cornish wants to explore joining the Plainfield school district to how voters in Enfield feel about a short-term rental ordinance. Plus a four-way contest for three school board seats in Lebanon.
Among the issues on the ballot in several towns are warrant items related to energy, like Lyme's bid to encourage solar while minimizing its "adverse impacts." Meanwhile, Charlestown, Grantham, Springfield, and Lyme will be voting on whether to make Community Power available to residents; Enfield, Hanover, Lebanon, Plainfield, Newport and New London either do so already or are about to. Frances Mize looks at what's on tap.
And finally, Plainfield's Steve Taylor has an intriguing look back at SB2, the law that took effect in 1996 allowing NH towns to move to Australian balloting. It was championed by Hanover Republican State Sen. Jim Rubens, and though it was highly controversial at the time—Rubens got death threats, he tells Taylor—it's part of the political landscape now. Taylor looks at what's happened since it took effect.
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board's regional director, Laura Sacks, turned down a request by the college to reconsider the issue, saying "there was no new evidence that wasn’t previously available to Dartmouth," reports the AP's Jimmy Golen. Even if the vote today is in favor, Golen writes, "the school can still appeal to the full NLRB and then to federal courts, meaning
it could be years before players can negotiate
a collective bargaining agreement."
Join Upper Valley Music Center for the annual Faculty Showcase Concert this Saturday, March 9 at 4 pm. Admission is by donation to support tuition assistance for music lessons and classes. The concert includes music by Telemann, Chopin, Franck, Cole Porter, Miles Davis, plus original compositions, rock, traditional Scottish, English, and old-time fiddle. Reserve in-person tickets or watch the online broadcast from home.
Sponsored by
Upper Valley Music Center
.
Sign of spring I. Bluebirds! A pair of them spotted by Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast—though she notes that in a mild winter, some hardy ones will stick around. Nonetheless, males are out wooing females, and over the course of this month "you may see bluebird pairs flying around together to inspect potential nesting sites."Sign of spring II. Killdeer returning to New England. On her Naturally Curious blog, Mary Holland writes, "Our mostly bare, thawing ground this year affords even the earliest of these migrants easy access to earthworms and other invertebrates. Look for these vocal members of the Plover family on mudflats, in mowed fields, on road shoulders and in pastures."SPONSORED: It's time to register for Spring Vacation Camp at Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center! April showers bring May flowers, plus mud puddles to jump in, sticks to build fairy houses, and wet soil for planting seeds! Join Cedar Circle Farm for outdoor fun during our Spring Vacation Camp: April 8th - 12th, for children in 1st - 6th grade. Choose the days that work best for your family, or spend the whole week with us. Pricing based on registration choice. Scholarships available. Register onine today! Sponsored by Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center.Leb police on lookout for driver whose side mirror brushed school crossing guard. The guard, 87-year-old Willie Downing, was unhurt yesterday morning after the car, which was traveling west on Highland Ave. near Mount Lebanon Elementary School, failed to stop completely as he was halting traffic for arriving students, reports the VN's Patrick Adrian. Instead, Adrian writes, the driver attempted to pass Downing—and, if found, "may face charges for failing to stop at a crosswalk and at a school crossing."The two sides of The Nest: Sit-down, grab 'n' go. On the sit-down side facing S. Main Street in Hanover, writes Susan Apel in Artful, "the menu surprises and invites a good long read." There are the expected entries for a breakfast and lunch spot—breakfast burritos, a smash burger—but there's also, say, Indonesian fried chicken and waffles, and shakshuka with feta and white beans. Meanwhile, in back (and with a separate entrance), The Nest Pantry offers sandwiches, panini, and other food to go—including Sisters of Anarchy's Chocolate Anarchy. "Not for the faint of heart," reads the label. At Hanover's CRREL, a new research effort aims to model, predict, and maybe even stymie Covid and other respiratory infections. The team is led by research physicist Sergey Vecherin, writes the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab's Justin Campfield, and its work is aimed at making it easier for decision-makers in the military to take steps to stem an outbreak, decide how to apportion resources, and whether to go ahead with a given mission. But, Vecherin points out, when the model's finished, it "can be adapted to any workplace facing the risk of person-to-person infection spread."In rescue of two boys from icy Franklin river, "Everybody just jumped into action." Last Friday, the canoe the boys were in with their father—one boy is 5, the other 2—capsized in turbulent waters on the Winnipesaukee River near a hydro dam. Franklin Police Sgt. Forrest Walker, first on the scene, dove in but struggled to reach them. Help from firefighters—and then, crucially, from a passing hydro employee who was able to shut down the turbine—allowed him to rescue the boys, one of whom suffered cardiac arrest but is now, reports Ray Duckler in the Monitor, "doing fine." Police may file charges against the dad.NH drops organic certification. The announcement that farmers would have to turn elsewhere for certification, reports NHPR's Mara Hoplamazian, came days after legislators axed a bill that would have provided $220K to hire inspectors. The state-run program, Hoplamazian says, "charged significantly smaller fees than the industry standard," meaning farmers who find new certifying agents will likely be paying more. “We can't continue to do something that we don't have funding for at the expense of all these other things that many more people depend on,” says Ag Commissioner Shawn Jasper.Elle Purrier St. Pierre takes 3000-meter world championship. As you probably know, she's one of the rare athletes for whom both VT and NH get bragging rights: She grew up on a Montgomery, VT dairy farm and went to UNH. In addition to setting the US and championship records in her race on Saturday in Glasgow, St. Pierre also set a US women's indoor record in the mile last month. And all this is within a year of giving birth to her son, who turned 1 yesterday. "I was thinking before the race, I knew this was going to hurt really bad, but it wasn't going to be as bad as labor," she told NBC's Lewis Johnson after Saturday's race. Here's the race itself.Worcester, MA Public Library holds "March Meowness": Sidestep fines with a cat pic. The library doesn't charge late fees, but they do ask users to pay up for lost or damaged books. This month, however, they're forgiving the fees for any user who shows them "a picture of your cat, a famous cat, a picture you drew of a cat, a shelter cat—any cat." In fact, though it's in tiny print down at the bottom, they're even willing to go with photos of the cat-adjacent—or as they call them, "honorary cats": "a dog, raccoon, orca, capybara, or any other animal." I dunno, seems kinda lax, don't you think?The Tuesday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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Today at 1 pm, the Hanover Garden Club hosts landscape designer and horticulturist Larry Weaner for "Living in the Liberated Landscape", both at the Montshire (Weaner will be virtual) and online. Weaner, founder of the education organization New Directions in the American Landscape, will focus on how to take advantage of plants' ability to proliferate to design landscapes that evolve over time and, the club writes, "free plants to perform according to their natural abilities and liberate people from having to cater to their landscapes’ every need." Register for the Zoom link here.
This evening at 7, Still North Books & Bar in Hanover hosts Jarad Greene, cartoonist and staffer at the Center for Cartoon Studies, talking about his new semi-autobiographical novel, A for Effort, with Vermont cartoonist laureate Tillie Walden. The latest in a series, the book follows its protagonist, Jay, as he navigates freshman year in high school.
Also at 7, Hop Film throws a free, advance screening of Problemista, the first feature film by comedian and SNL writer/presence Julio Torres. The film follows Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer who, as The Atlantic puts it, believes "every toy truck should come with a tire that slowly deflates to illustrate the concept of running out of time." He's also an immigrant whose visa renewals are at the whim of the bureaucracy (both government and otherwise), and of Tilda Swinton, an art-world eccentric who offers him work. In the Loew.
And the Tuesday poem...
Four Tao philosophers as cedar waxwingschat on a February berrybushin sun, and I am one.Such merriment and such sobriety—the small wild fruit on the tall stalk—was this not always my true style?Above an elegance of snow, beneatha silk-blue sky a brotherhood of fourbirds. Can you mistake us?To sun, to feast, and to converseand all together — for this I have abandonedall my other lives.— "
Waxwings" 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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