GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Fog and clouds to start, then sunny and warm. Because why not play it straight, for once? We’ll be getting up to and above 80 today, with mostly clear skies once things clear up mid-morning. Clouds return overnight, lows around 50.
They’re everywhere! Remember that recent story about how black bears are thriving, including in the Upper Valley?
Here’s Mike Zwikelmaier’s trail cam in Sharon, with its own POV of the inside of a bear’s mouth.
And Bob Wetzel’s yard in Hartland: “Now I understand why we don’t have our normal apple harvest this year!” he writes.
And Kimberly Clapp’s yard in Hanover… (via FB)
“Wanna go see what your dad’s doing today?” Auk and Eddie are out walking around DB Johnson’s Lost Woods this week, talking dads, expectations, and how one dodo, at least, thwarted them.
A place that nurtures a sense of place. Before people can come together, they need somewhere to do it in. And for over 100 years, West Newbury Hall has been providing just that. It both sits in and helps form the heart of West Newbury, VT, and as Erica Houskeeper writes in her new Daybreak profile of the building, the village, and the people who frequent it, it hosts everything from turkey suppers and pancake breakfasts to variety shows, concerts, country dances, open mic nights, and a summer festival with an outdoor parade. “There wouldn't be a village without the hall,” says resident Susan Goodell. “It gives us a feeling that we are part of the same place.”
Though a good burger can bring people together, too. On Sunday nights this summer, Shona Sanford-Long and Hugo Yanez Juarez of Flying Dog Farm in Tunbridge have been hosting burger nights, and with the last one for the season coming this Sunday, Dave Celone sings its praises on his Upper Valley VT/NH Musings blog. There are the burgers, of course—“what just might be the best burger in Vermont that I’ve found in my three-plus decades of living here,” he writes. But also the setting and the music and the crowd: “a special spot and a lovely time where people come together to enjoy one another’s company and some very, very fine fare.”
SPONSORED: You don't want to miss one night with two of Americana’s biggest voices at Lebanon Opera House! Join us on Thursday, October 2 at 7:30 PM for a rare evening with Sierra Hull and John Craigie, featuring music from Grammy-nominated bluegrass mandolinist Hull's newest album and favorites from singer-songwriter Craigie, whose motto is "humorous storytelling, serious folk.” Fans of bluegrass and folk, secure your seat at LOH today to enjoy a night filled with incredible live music! Sponsored by Lebanon Opera House.
What to do with all those peppers. They’re coming in from the fields by the bushel, and on Jenny Sprague’s Edgewater Farm CSA blog, Plainfield cookbook author and “Kitchen Sense” newsletter writer Mitchell Davis has a suggestion: “Hummus’s sultry meze cousin, muhammara,” which is a spread “made from roasted peppers, toasted walnuts, and pomegranate molasses that’s more flavorful and satisfying.” Also, inspiring advice on how to make dilly beans (and where to look for more pickling and canning recipes). Added bonus: discord in the Sprague family over these oncoming cold mornings: “frost be damned” vs. “an obvious marker to slow down and let go.”
Longtime Hanover Conservancy director will step down. Adair Mulligan, the organization’s first full-time executive director, will retire in December after spending 15 years at its helm, reports Liz Sauchelli in the Valley News. The conservancy owns and manages eight parcels of land in Hanover, including the Mink Brook Nature Preserve and Balch Hill Natural Area. Over the course of a day wandering the group’s lands, Mulligan and Sauchelli talk tamaracks (“a wonderful wetland tree”), glacial erratics, toads, maps, the importance of pointing out a piece of land’s history, and retirement. “I can’t deny that I’m in my 70s,” Mulligan says.
SPONSORED: Upper Valley Baroque presents Handel's Messiah this weekend. Upper Valley Baroque will open its fifth season with two performances of George Frideric Handel's beloved masterwork in its seldom-heard complete form. With gorgeous arias performed by over a dozen vocal soloists, alternating with virtuosic and dramatic choruses, and with accomplished musicians from throughout the Northeast on baroque instruments. All under the leadership of Artistic Director Filippo Ciabatti. Saturday, Sept. 20 at 3 pm at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, and Sunday Sept. 21 at 3 pm at the Lebanon Opera House. Sponsored by Upper Valley Baroque.
And just who is wearing that checkered dress? Almost 100 years ago, “one of the most distinguished women artists in America” (the NYT in 1935) held an exhibition of her work at the Meadow Meeting House in Corinth. This coming weekend, writes Susan Apel in Artful, Hilda Belcher is being honored with a similar “Box Social” pulled together by Amy Peberdy (one of the founders of the Vermont Almanac) featuring some of her descendants, an introduction to her work (which hangs in places like the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts), photo portraiture of locals, and a silent auction of art boxes. Oh, the famous subject of Belcher’s “The Checkered Dress”? Susan’ll fill you in.
NH Public Utilities Commission chair out after governor refuses to renew his term. In a letter to Dan Goldner yesterday morning, reports WMUR’s KC Downey, Gov. Kelly Ayotte informed him that she wouldn’t be reappointing him. She didn’t give a reason. John Corbett, an Ayotte spokesperson, said the governor’s office is aiming at a regulatory process that’s “transparent, accountable, and protects Granite Staters from rate hikes.” The PUC approved an Eversource rate increase in July. Speaking to NH Bulletin’s Molly Rains, state consumer advocate Don Kreis said Goldner, a former business exec, “had trouble understanding the difference between running a utility company and regulating a utility company.”
Climbers. A family visiting from Utah. Hikers (with a cat named Monkey). Pipe band musicians. Shriners… Those are just some of the people Brave Little State’s Josh Crane, Sabine Poux, and Burgess Brown met while spending twelve (12!) hours hanging out in the Park & Ride at the Richmond exit off I-89 so they could answer a VT Public listener’s question: “Why are all of the park and rides in Vermont so popular and full, and what are people using them for?” Turns out, you can’t even imagine all the people or all the uses. There are divorced parents handing off kids, a biker working out his demons, a divorced dad with ALS… This is just plain one you should listen to.
Sky. Lights. Two ways, in fact…
At the Vatican, looking up for not-your-usual reason. Oh sure, there’s that nice painting on the ceiling and all, but a few days ago, more than 3,000 drones created their own art, “forming images of the Virgin Mary, Pope Francis and Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ in a spectacle over St. Peter’s Basilica,” writes Ariel Zilber for the NY Post. The event—which coincided with a concert featuring Andrea Bocelli, Pharrell Williams, and others—was two years in the planning, halving the time it took Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. More than 80,000 people were there, but according to the Catholic News Agency, Pope Leo XIV wasn’t one of them.
Meanwhile, the auroras were pretty great Sunday night all over the northern US, including here. At the link, the view over Lake Winnipesaukee, posted to WMUR’s u local New Hampshire FB group. PetaPixel’s got a roundup from around the US.
Today's Wordbreak. 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:
THERE'S SOME GREAT DAYBREAK SWAG! Like Daybreak tote bags, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
HEADS UP
Doug Teschner and Beth Malow at the Quechee Library with Beyond the Politics of Contempt: Practical Steps to Build Positive Relationships in Divided Times. Teschner’s a former GOP state representative in NH, Malow a neurologist and science/health communicator, and both are members of Braver Angels, the national group focused on depolarizing politics. Their new book, with Becky Robinson, focuses on how “can stand up for what they believe while also building bridges across the political divide.” 5:30 pm.
Nora Rice and Jenna Rice in Woodstock with The Vermont Farm to Table Cookbook. The Hartland-raised sisters will be at the Norman Williams Public Library today at 6 pm, talking about their new book of locally focused recipes, stories, photographs, gardens, and more. They’ll be bringing some recipe tasting samples.
Sarah Stewart Taylor at the Howe Library with Hunter’s Heart Ridge. The veteran mystery writer will be reading from and talking about her sequel to Agony Hill, in which detective Frank Warren and his once-CIA-connected neighbor Alice Bellows return to investigate the death of a diplomat. 6 pm in the Mayer Room as well as online.
Mark Cecil at the Meriden Library with Bunyan and Henry: Or, the Beautiful Destiny. Cecil, a former journalist who hosts The Thoughtful Bro podcast (an interview show with authors about a book they’ve recently published and how it happened), came out with his own first novel last year. Bunyan and Henry reimagines two classic American folk heroes—Paul, searching for a cure to his wife’s illness, meets up with John, who’s on the run, on a quest that looks hard at the American Dream. 6 pm.
And the Tuesday poem.
And after 3 days rain
the frog songs stops
—which had wimped
& bumped loud like a distant
chained-up dog—
and the birds
begin—mockingbird,
wren…
Down the sky comes
grows the grass up—
I plead with you
—the nerve!—to start
again your whispered
name—let
them frogs gossip on
all night—if they want—
— From “Banjo”, by Kevin Young (poetry editor at the New Yorker, former director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and poet).
See you tomorrow.
Looking for all of the hikes, Enthusiasms, daybreak photos, or music that Daybreak has published over the years? Go here!
And always, if you’re not a subscriber yet:
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page, or on Daybreak’s homepage.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to visit daybreak.news to sign up.
Thank you!