GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Still warm.... There's a cold front coming through today that will bring us first a chance of showers then a likelihood through the heart of the day, with clouds to match. Colder temps won't really show up until tomorrow night, though. Today, highs in the mid-60s, winds from the southeast, into the lower 50s overnight.Not quite your normal foliage photo... Jenn Megyesi was parked on Buzzell Bridge Rd. in Thetford when a ruffed grouse emerged from the woods and wandered under her truck. She got out to take a look—and a photo. "Passers-by saw me sprawled in the middle of the dirt road and, not aware of my camera, suspected a murder victim or Halloween prank. I was too caught up in a mind-meld attempt with the bird, trying to make out why it was so fearless, to notice the onlooker jam," she writes.Norwich town manager's departure comes after turmoil both within and outside town ranks. In the Valley News, Patrick Adrian writes that Rod Francis faced "ongoing criticism from community members about [his] communication and lack of rapport with residents and employees." Monday night, Francis and the selectboard reached a separation agreement effective next week (full agreement and list of Francis' accomplishments here). An HR consultant hired by the town in the spring tells Adrian that Francis' "hands on approach” created “pushback” from department heads and town staff.Startup Woodstock competition: "Young people, bring your jobs, your family, your expertise and your excitement.” You may remember from a couple of weeks ago that a trio of residents in town, including two on the economic development commission, have launched a competition for $30K in seed money to help a business in town—from a new restaurant to child care to skilled trades to some entirely unexpected entry. In Seven Days, Anne Wallace Allen reports the back story and talks to two of the three about what they hope to accomplish. Applications until Dec. 1, finalists chosen by Dec. 15."Grass and apologies, bones and joy, marching bands and genocide, skin and social work..." Native American poetry, writes Heid Erdrich (Dartmouth, '86) in her intro to the collection she edited, New Poets of Native Nations, may touch on the things you expect, but is also about the things you don't expect. In this week's Enthusiasms, Left Bank Books' Rena Mosteirin points to the book in honor of Native American Heritage Month, writing that the collection is filled with "moments that I keep going back to again and again.""Running is sort of like a meditation with yourself, the way you feel everything that’s happening to you.” That's Lebanon High cross country standout Birhanu Harriman, talking to sportswriter Tris Wykes in the VN. The 17-year-old Harriman, who until this year focused first on soccer—he broke the soccer program’s record in the mile while wearing Crocs—faces several weeks of intense competition, starting with the NHIAA championship race, then New Englands and Northeast Regionals. Wykes profiles the 5'-5" runner, adopted from Ethiopia. “I just go out hard and see what happens," he tells Wykes.Redistricted NH Senate map poised to sustain GOP majority. Republicans running for state senate haven't won a collective majority of the popular vote in over a decade, but they've controlled that chamber after four out of the last five elections, write NHPR's Dan Barrick and Sarah Plourde. The reason, they argue, is that "through their control of redistricting in recent decades, Republicans have consistently gerrymandered the state Senate to their advantage." The latest map tilts two districts more Republican, making it likely the GOP will be able to add to its current 14-10 majority this year.Robo-milkers work on the cow's schedule—including in the middle of the night. At $420,000, the laser-hydraulics-electronic-chip-driven setup is a stretch for even a medium-sized dairy farm, but as David Brooks tells it in the Concord Monitor, it's a pretty sweet arrangement for a farmer: you can get up later, they work to the cow's schedule, and they don't mind if they get kicked. Brooks visits the second farm in NH to get one—the first was Tullando, in Orford—where Milford's Walker Fitch tells him the big reason to buy: "I can’t get help, can’t keep help.” Even so, Fitch confesses he misses the old way "a bit.""In a ski world that feels it has to reinvent itself every season, New Hampshire doesn't flinch at the status quo." And that, writes Todd Plummer in Condé Nast Traveler, is all to its credit. After skiing all over the world, Plummer writes, he's found that "the Granite State is one place where the soul of skiing is alive and well." To be sure, he's got a rooting interest: His dad is a ski patroller at Gunstock. If you're looking for big powder, he writes, head West. "But if you're looking for a glimpse into a longstanding culture of people who are simply there for the love of the sport, try your luck with New Hampshire."Though there's also this: VT, NH have seven of the top 16 ski resorts in the US, according to Ski mag readers. Tops in the country for "the best balance of terrain, base village amenities, family programming, overall vibe, and more" is Sun Valley, ID. But right behind it? Smugglers' Notch, in VT. And in quick succession come Bretton Woods, Killington, Mad River Glen, Jay, Waterville Valley, and Magic Mountain. How does Smuggler's do it? "They've cornered the kid market," Ski editors write, but also "lay claim to a mountain blessed with a natural pitch and fantastic glades."Another reason not to get your truck stuck in the Smugglers' Notch pass. Yesterday afternoon, a truck driver from Philadelphia "passed several clearly posted signs advising that tractor trailer units are not permitted before stopping near the peak," the VT State Police say in a press release. The road was closed for several hours while he was guided back down—backwards—and then fined $1,192 for violating the VT statute entitled "Commercial Motor Vehicle Prohibited on Smugglers Notch." And then he was busted because of an active warrant for possession of cocaine. He's due in court today.Why does the Vermont Country Store still make and sell common crackers? "Pride, history, and stubbornness." Montpelier's VT History Museum has a new exhibit devoted to the iconic baked good—with the word "good" maybe a stretch. As Melissa Pasanen writes in Seven Days, the "round, puffy, white crackers are about the diameter of a silver dollar, plain tasting and very dry." There was a time when VT bakeries made millions a year—often for country stores, which sold them by the scoopful. Now, just the VT Country Store is left, and owner Lyman Orton says orders remain "amazingly" steady."Alright, Mabel, maybe just stay in your lane?" Is there anything better than a dog chasing a ball in the sea? Two dogs. "Swimming with dolphins was the dream. Dolphins were not available," BBC sportscaster Andrew Cotter writes on his latest video. But Olive and Mabel were up for it...The Wednesday Vordle. If you're new to Daybreak, this is the Upper Valley version of Wordle, with a five-letter word chosen from an item in the previous day's Daybreak. Give it a try!
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At 12:30 today, Hood Museum curator Amelia Kahl leads a tour of the Hood's current exhibition, "Park Dae Sung: Ink Reimagined." No need to sign up—just meet in the Russo Atrium five minutes ahead of time.
At 7 this evening, the Howe continues its series of Zoom book conversations between novelist Rachel Barenbaum and a series of fellow writers. Tonight, she talks to Belinda Huijuan Tang, whose debut novel, A Map for the Missing, centers on a math professor who left rural China for the US following the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, then returns home after his mother reports that his father is missing, to confront both his past and present.
Also at 7—in case you need music and are in the mood for a drive—Next Stage Arts in Putney presents an "Acoustic Guitar Summit" with Pierre Bensusan and Tim Sparks. Bensusan, an Algerian-French composer and guitar legend of Sephardic descent, isn't that well known outside guitar circles, but within them, he's considered among the best—as Guitar Player put it, he "can only justly be compared to someone of the stature of Keith Jarrett, so total is his mastery of the solo instrument." He was supposed to tour VT in April, 2020; now he's making good on those plans. Sparks, meanwhile, plays everything from country to jazz to blues to klezmer, approaching the guitar with a wide-open mind; he won the National Fingerpicking Championship in 1993 with an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.”
And for music to start the day...
Here's the tune that Pierre Bensusan is using to start off performances on his current tour.
(well, it's also a Turkish TV series about a doctor, but that's not what Bensusan had in mind).
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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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