GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
A word about next week. As I've done the last few summers, starting next Monday I'm going to take a week's break from publishing to focus on all the pesky back-end tasks that won't let me ignore them any longer. While there'll be no Daybreak Aug. 12-16, I'll still be on email, so feel free to keep sending along photos, ideas, and future events ([email protected]). The newsletter itself will be back in your inboxes on Monday, Aug. 19.Partly to mostly sunny, eventually. Cooler. Today's air is brought to you by yesterday's cold front, which dropped down from the north and is keeping temps today (and the rest of this week) in the mid to high 70s. There may be some lingering showers and fog first thing, but they'll clear out. Winds today from the north, lows tonight in the mid 50s. A low pressure system passing by to our south tonight could bring showers overnight, likelier south than north.Not your usual daybreak photo. Ian Halm is the deputy chief for the Campton/Thornton NH fire department and the US Forest Service's site manager at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. He is also, at the moment, on a fire crew out in eastern Oregon fighting the Telephone Fire in Harney County, near the Malheur National Forest. Halm's crew has the night shift, which means they're around as morning arrives. Here's one of his photos from last week, sent along by Hubbard Brook's Andrew Cassel.And what happened with a fire closer to home. Yesterday's item about the fire up on Lily Pond Road in White River Junction was bare-bones. In the Valley News, John Lippman tells the fuller story: How Shari and James Therriault were visiting her parents next door Sunday morning when a neighbor banged on the door to say he'd seen smoke and a "flickering" of their home. The neighbor, thinking quickly, was able to rescue one each of their two dogs and two cats; firefighters rescued the others. Although the fire was limited to the kitchen, Shari Therriault tells Lippman there was extensive smoke and water damage.Entire cookbook sections devoted to maple, fruit pies and cakes, and jello. Lots of jello. Mystery writer Sarah Stewart Taylor, who lives in these parts, has a new novel arriving today (see Heads Up below). It's set in a small VT town in the '60s, and to help steep herself in the times and its people, Sarah turned to the era's community cookbooks. More than just a way to share recipes, she writes in a new Daybreak essay, they also reveal a lot about the concerns and lives of women (they were mostly by women) at the time. Among other things, they "showcase the ingenuity of farm wives too far from a grocery store to just run out for some baking powder." Lots more at the link."I definitely was obsessed with, 'How do I look as cool as possible every single moment of every single day?'” Norwich's Emma Hunsinger began her cartooning career drawing gags for The New Yorker, found her way to the Center for Cartoon Studies, submitted a homework assignment, "How To Draw A Horse", to The New Yorker and watched it go viral, and today has her first graphic novel, How It All Ends, coming out (see Heads Up below). She sat down with Mikaela Lefrak on Vermont Edition to talk about the book, which revolves around a 13-year-old who suddenly finds herself in high school.SPONSORED: The Craftsmen’s Fair runs through Aug. 11 at the Mt. Sunapee Resort in Newbury, NH! It's the 91st year of The League of NH Craftsmen's annual showcase, with hundreds of artists and artisans showing their work and giving demonstrations over nine days. An iconic arts experience in a beautiful location with ample free parking; guests 16 and under admitted free. Tickets available in advance online for lowest prices and fastest time through the gates (valid for any one day of the event), and at the gate each day. Open daily 10 AM - 5 PM. Sponsored by the League of NH Craftsmen.The Windsor County state senate primaries: who's running and what do they think. In case you missed the Standard's Q&A a couple of weeks back (here it is), the VN's got two rundowns by Patrick Adrian, one with the four Democratic candidates (a fifth has dropped out of the primary but plans to run as an independent in November), and one with the four Republicans. There are three senate seats available. Primary day is Aug. 13.
Here are three of the four Republicans: Ludlow's Jonathan Gleason; Weathersfield's Andrea Murray; and Weathersfield's Jack Williams. Robert Ruhlin, of Cavendish, did not respond to Adrian's questions.
And here are the Democrats: Incumbents Alison Clarkson of Woodstock and Becca White of Hartford, Joe Major of Hartford, and Pomfret's Justin Tuthill. Plus a bit about the fifth, Marc Nemeth of Royalton.
NH Red Cross looking for more blood-givers as national shortage arrives. "The organization says excessive heat disrupted blood drives in nearly every state last month," reports NHPR's Paul Cuno-Booth. Together with summer travel and other factors, the result is that the supply of donated blood has dropped by 25 percent since July 1. The organization is calling it an “emergency blood shortage.” "The fact is that the blood is going out to hospitals quicker than it's coming in through blood donations," says Dan Dowling of the Red Cross of Northern New England.Mountain rescues in the Whites: "However long it took you to get there, it’ll take us at least that long to get there because we’re carrying our rescue gear." That was Will Murphy of Androscoggin Valley Search & Rescue at an intriguing panel hosted by the Appalachian Mountain Club last month that brought together a who's who of NH rescue experts to talk the nitty-gritty of rescues. These are issues of big concern in the Adirondacks, too, so the Adirondack Explorer has gone up with a transcript: When they'll tell you just to spend the night, what you need to know (and have) before you go, and more.As the VT primaries approach, here's how to figure out who much the statewide candidates have raised and who's funding them. As Erin Petenko writes in VTDigger, the secretary of state's office maintains an online database, but "if you’re not familiar with the workings of campaign finance rules, the state database may prove difficult to find or interpret." So Digger has one that's easier to navigate—this year, it's part of their overall primary guide. At the burgundy link, Petenko walks you through how to find information. One striking takeaway: state Treasurer Mike Pieciak is outraising everyone else.Man accused of shooting three Palestinian students in Burlington denied bid to fire his attorneys. Jason Eaton, charged in the high-profile November shootings, had sought to fire his court-appointed lawyers—and to make the case to Judge Kevin Griffin without media or prosecutors present. But on Friday, reports Seven Days' Derek Brouwer, Griffin rebuffed that bid. So in open court, state public defenders Peggy Jansch and Sarah Varty argued that their client no longer trusted them to handle his case; Eaton argued their office is so underfunded it can't defend him. Griffin rejected both arguments.Mosquitoes in two northern VT counties found to carry eastern equine encephalitis. "Most people infected with EEE virus will have no or mild symptoms," the state health and ag departments said in an announcement Friday that mosquitoes in Alburgh and Swanton have tested positive for the virus, but also noted that it's fatal in about a third of people who develop severe disease. Health Commissioner Mark Levine called it a "warning sign," adding, “Please take steps to protect yourself and your family from mosquito bites.” The ag agency's Patti Casey tells VTDigger's Theo Wells-Spackman standing water from floods may be behind skyrocketing mosquito counts this year.If you're really into in how Vermont deals with food waste... Overall, reports Vermont Public's Corey Dockser, a new state report shows that food scrap waste going into landfills has decreased somewhat, in terms of tonnage, since the state's efforts to divert it from the solid waste stream went into effect. In all, 56 percent of Vermonters say they compost on their own or put it in the compost bins at transfer stations; another 36 percent just toss food scraps in the trash. But the landscape of food recycling is much more complicated than that—from rescuing food before it goes bad to depackaging. Dockser explains.175,000 square feet. Nope, not an office building. It was once the largest home in the US: The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, now open to the public. Coming in second on Family Handyman's list of the largest home in each of the 50 states is Oheka Castle on Long Island, now a hotel. It's hard to figure out the rhyme and reason for how the mag ordered these, but enjoy gaping 'til you reach NH and VT: the Longview Estate on Winnipesaukee built by NH Speedway founder Bob Bahre and his wife, and the Stowe home owned by former beer distributor Stephen Levin (with a mini-golf course on the grounds).
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
We may be the middle of nowhere to everyone else in VT and NH, but
we
know what's good! Strong Rabbit's Morgan Brophy has come up with the perfect design for "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Plus you'll find the Daybreak jigsaw puzzle, as well as sweatshirts, tees, a fleece hoodie, and, as always, the fits-every-hand-perfectly Daybreak mug. Check it all out at the link!
The NH singer and musician's all over central NH (with the occasional foray into VT). Part of Grantham's Music in the Meadow series. 6 pm, with Truckin' Tacos on hand with food..
You may know Vega as the host of Vermont Public's Friday Night Jazz. Here's your chance to hear him and his ensemble, given to Afro-Caribbean music, funk and R&B as well as Latin jazz, and drawing on Vega's unbelievable musical pedigree and deep well of knowledge. Music starts at 6:30 pm.
How It All Ends
is Hunsinger's debut as a graphic novelist: Out today, it's a portrait of a middle schooler who suddenly and unexpectedly finds herself in high school, grappling with the pressures of fitting in, finding her people, sorting through a first crush—and spending a lot of time in her own imagination. At 7 pm.
As you read above, Taylor's latest mystery novel is out today. Unlike her previous series,
Agony Hill
kicks off a historical series set in New England—in this case, small-town Vermont in 1965, where the highways are coming through, the Cold War and anti-Vietnam protests aren't just distant abstractions, and newly arrived state police detective Franklin Warren starts digging after a back-to-the-lander appears to have set fire to his own barn, with himself locked inside. Taylor will be in conversation with fellow mystery novelist Carol Goodman. 7 pm.
Finally, with yet more (though milder) flooding in St. J on Sunday and who knows what else coming... You may be looking for ways to help communities in the hard-hit NEK. The Kingdom United Resilience & Recovery Effort is a loose-knit effort by a collection of town neighbor-to-neighbor groups, nonprofits, businesses, and others that's helping to coordinate responses.
.
(Thanks, TH!)
And the Tuesday poem.
Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in;Time, you thief, you love to get Sweets into your list, put that in:Say I'm weary, say I'm sad, Say that health and wealth have missed me,Say I'm growing old, but add, Jenny kissed me.
— "Jenny Kissed Me" by
(1784-1859).
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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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