RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!
Reminder: Daybreak goes on break Friday. But it won't be completely silent: You can sign up at the headline link for Daybreak Diversions, a quick, thrice-weekly hit of some of the most beguiling items and music from the past, plus Wordbreak, Lost Woods, and more.Showers, maybe a thunderstorm or two. Today's weather is actually brought to us first by a warm front that's coming through right now, then a cold front pushing in later today. Timing's highly uncertain, but the result is a chance of showers and maybe thunderstorms into the afternoon. Highs today in the low or mid 80s, mostly cloudy to start but sun arriving eventually as drier air moves in. Lows in the mid 60s.Seems like the right kind of day for some color. Both in the garden and in the wild.
Like this eye-popping mountain laurel in Etna, from Julie Dolan;
And this lupine at the Thomson family property in Orford, from Robin Weisburger;
Or maybe just, as Janice Fischel puts it, "It's a tiger lily kind of day."
In this week's
Lost Woods
by D.B. Johnson, Auk and Eddie talk over humans' place in the universe. Plus bugs and acmes... or Acmes.
In Lyme, a grave marker for "Cate and Prince" sheds light on a slave-owning past. It took hard work to move the 500-pound marker into place late last year, writes Daybreak summer reporter Duncan Green, but for cemetery trustees in town, it was deeply satisfying work: a recognition of the couple who, in the late 1700s, belonged to the Beal family, a prominent farming family in town. As Duncan writes, trustees led by Michael Hinsley and Jay Cary have been working on the project for years—and know there were other slaves in Lyme. Hinsley hopes to create a memorial on the town green. Story at the link.SPONSORED: Join VINS for The Art of Flight, a Fundraiser for VINS. On July 24th, the Nature Center hosts a magical evening where the confluence of birds, art, and community supports its vital work in wildlife conservation and public education. Enjoy after-hours access, tasty appetizers, and craft beer from Lawson’s Finest Liquids, live acoustic music by the Chad Hollister Band, a silent auction, and behind-the-scenes presentations. It’s a night of discovery, connection, and impact—don’t miss this fun celebration for a great cause! Sponsored by VINS.Sure they're pretty. But really, it's the name. How can you beat Foxglove Beardtongue? It's common throughout New England in July and August, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, and though the "Foxglove" part comes from the resemblance of its flowers to the highly poisonous Common Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, Foxglove Beardtongue is not poisonous. It is, however, a favorite of bumblees and ruby-throated hummingbirds.SPONSORED: Join Chapman’s General this July 4th as it celebrates 150 years in the heart of Fairlee! After the Fairlee/Orford parade (11–1), stop by for wine and food tastings (1–3pm), a 15 percent storewide discount (excluding beer and wine), and a raffle drawing at 3 PM. The celebration continues July 5 with live painting by Kent Ignacio from 1–3. Don’t miss this once-in-a-century-and-a-half celebration—community, local flavor, and fun for all! Sponsored by Chapman's General. On display in NH's State House: A Declaration of Independence from 1776. Not the original, but one of 200 made by Philadelphia printer John Dunlap a couple of weeks after the Continental Congress approved the original. It's sitting alongside an 1823 version, made as the original was showing signs of wear. “One was printed in the urgency of revolution, meant to be read aloud in town squares and passed hand to hand," state Archivist Ashley Miller tells the Globe's Steven Porter (no paywall). "The other was carefully engraved decades later to preserve the words that created our country.” Through July 9.Federal judge orders NH to share portions of voter database with ACLU. The files contains names, addresses, voting history—"essentially, everything except who people actually voted for," reports NHPR's Todd Bookman. The ACLU asked for it as part of a lawsuit seeking to halt implementation of that bill passed last year requiring all first-time voters to bring proof of citizenship in the form of a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers before they can vote. Access to the database "would give plaintiffs data on how many people may be affected by the new law," Bookman reports.Internal emails put VT corrections officials' frustrations with ICE on display. As VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein notes, the feds have been relying on the state’s prisons to warehouse detained immigrants. Now, he reports, emails obtained through a public records request detail some of the issues prison officials have been confronting: detainees arriving or being taken out in the middle of the night; lax security procedures among ICE agents; overcrowding; poor communications—“It’s unusual for them to share much of anything honestly and what is shared I don’t trust,” wrote one official.Former Royalton school board chair files ethics complaint against two VT senators. These days, Geo Honigford is a member of the advocacy group Friends of Vermont Public Education, and his complaint—which became public after he sent it out to the press—targets Senate Education Committee Chair Seth Bongartz and GOP leader Scott Beck, both of whom played key roles in crafting this year's education mega-bill—and both of whom have close ties to independent schools in the state. Honigford contends they pushed for provisions that would benefit their schools financially, reports VT Public."I just feel if you got enough money to get by and support your church, things are fine." Ralph Rockwell is a mostly retired mechanic and tractor restorer in Wolcott, VT who's worked every day since he left school at 15. He's also the latest subject of radio producer Erica Heilman's series on class for VT Public. And though he tells her, "We just depend on the Lord, and the Lord provides," he's also paying attention to the rising cost of living in VT. "As you get older, you can do less, and it seems like everything else is increasing...I'm thinking that I'll pass away and be gone before too many hard times come."Pro tip: If you're driving with a criminally suspended license, don't let your car catch fire for unknown reasons on I-89. Just sayin'.Just how much electricity does it take to make a whacky cat video? WSJ’s Joanna Stern dug into the energy cost of each AI query (gift link), but the major players aren’t talking. A visit to a giant data center in Ashburn, VA didn’t help either, though she did get a sense of the massive scale of those places. Though researchers' estimates aren't exact, she figures two short AI videos is about the same as a thin, medium-well steak on an electric grill. All told, researchers estimate AI will use 12 percent of US electricity by 2028. If you've ever wondered what an AI data center looks like, Stern's got video.Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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George and Charles Clements are identical twins and were both part of The Lonely Heartstring Band before setting out to form a touring duo. They'll be on the Fairlee Town Common tonight starting at 6:30.
With Mark Nelson conducting, 50 instrumental musicians and a chorus of singers from choirs around the region take on Beethoven's masterpiece. 7 pm.
. Joseph Mankiewicz's 1958 film is "one of those films we think is better than its critical reputation," writes TAC's Art Kahn. It stars Michael Redgrave as a newsman reporting on the French war in Vietnam as he carries on an affair there and fields letters from his wife refusing divorce.
7 pm in the Martha Rich Theater at Thetford Academy. Thursday, same time: Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia.
It's the Cape Cod version of Sensible Shoes, with dance floor grooves from rock and blues classics along with thoughtfully written originals. Joey Spampinato (founding member of NRBQ) on bass and vocals; Jerome Deupree of Morphine on drums; Kami Lyle of the Kami Lyle Band on vocals, trumpet and piano; and locals Barbara Blaisdell on piano and vocals, and Tim Utt on guitar and
vocals. 6 pm, in the Town House if it's raining.
The Tuesday Poem-in-Prose.
You perhaps at one time thought there was such a thing as worldly happiness to be arrived at, at certain periods of time marked out, - you have of necessity from your disposition been thus led away - I scarcely remember counting upon any happiness - I look not for it if it be not in the present hour, - nothing startles me beyond the moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights, or if a sparrow come before my window, I take part in its existence and pick about the gravel.
— John Keats, in a letter to his friend Benjamin Bailey, Nov. 22, 1817.
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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.
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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