RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!
Well, now, this is interesting. There's a slight chance of snow, changing to rain, then back to snow today, though so many different forces are at play—dry air, cold temps aloft, somewhat warmer air at the surface, timing of the system—that you should be prepared for anything. Except, you know, 80s and muggy. Things will start out mostly cloudy before whatever weather shows up. Highs in the upper 30s or low 40s, lows tonight in the lower 20s. If any snow does fall, it's unlikely to amount to much.A pair of owl stories.
From Orange, NH, Jay Heinrichs writes: "I was doing some work on our trails when I spotted when seemed to be a nearly perfect wasp’s nest. When I went to take its picture, the nest swiveled its head around. It ignored me for the next half hour, staring in the opposite direction. When I hooted softly, it gave me a look like it knew about my past life. The woods continue to humble me."
And Anna Hutton writes from Hanover, "When I pulled into my driveway on Moose Mountain, I could see something white in the tree and presumed, with some irritation, that it was a plastic bag that had blown into the tree. In fact, it was this beautiful owl."
In the Upper Valley, arts and culture generated almost $19 million in economic activity in 2022. That's according to a report just released by the UV Business Alliance and the UV Arts Alliance. The study, by the DC-based nonprofit Americans for the Arts, is the first to look at the arts' impact in the bi-state Upper Valley as a region, unlike earlier studies, which focused on VT or NH. In all, the report found that arts and culture organizations spent some $16 million—supporting over 300 jobs—while audiences spent over $2 million on restaurants and other local businesses. Summary here, full study here.Sites in Orford, Plainfield, Enfield among NH Preservation Alliance's "Seven to Save". Each year, the Alliance highlights historic properties that are threatened by neglect, lack of funds, or development. Among the properties it listed yesterday are the Orford Congregational Church, whose congregation has dwindled to just a handful of members (the town is studying taking ownership); the town hall and its Maxfield Parrish stage set in Plainfield, which desperately needs conservation work; and the La Salette Shrine and Shaker buildings that the Enfield Shaker Museum is seeking to preserve and repair.For VINS kestrel with broken wing, "a cute idea" leads to a star turn as artist. In the Washington Post, no less (gift link) (as well as USA Today). If you've been to VINS, odds are you've seen Ferrisburgh, who arrived there about four years ago. This summer, writes Cathy Free in the Post, a fractured wing sidelined him—until educators Lexie Smith and Mal Muratori remembered watching crows paint, and wondered if Ferrisburgh had an unrequited artist in him. He did (helped along by mealworm treats). Now they're wondering if other raptors do, too—though it turns out Harris's hawks just like shredding paper. (Thanks, AC and CJ!)SPONSORED: Downtown Hanover café/kitchen for lease. 150-sf kitchen space (no hood). 50 guest capacity. Inside The Fourth Place in Hanover Park across from Starbucks and Hopkins Center for the Arts. Hundreds daily built-in foot traffic and dozens of daily in-store events. Prominent Lebanon Street signage. High-speed wifi and free customer parking next door. Co-tenants include Pompanoosuc Mills, Tacos Y Tequila, Base Camp Café, Han Fusion Restaurant, Designer Gold, Spa NV, and Nefertiti Nails. Full build out available. $1,500/month as-is. Details and contact info. Sponsored by The Fourth Place.In case you're wondering about that StreetScan car with all the gear driving around Lebanon... The Massachusetts-based company it belongs to has been hired by the city to assess road conditions, Leb says in a public alert. "The system utilizes its technology to determine the health of each street and to identify road defects including potholes, bumps, and cracking. This data helps the municipality to identify and prioritize repair needs.""Man, we really need some sunshine." Farming anything these days is tough, what with weather that can be persnickety at best. So imagine being Claudel "Zaka" Chery and Jette Mandl-Abramson, who farm a couple hundred thousand saffron crocuses at Calabash Gardens in Newbury, VT. It's among the largest saffron farms in the country, writes Melissa Pasanen in Seven Days—but even at $60 a gram, it's been a struggle, what with bad weather and other challenges. "There's no road map for Vermont saffron — part of the perks of being pioneering," says Chery. Pasanen profiles the couple's efforts.SPONSORED: Mysterious, sensual and dazzling! "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt is an iconic painting, gracing dorm rooms and T-shirts around the globe. This Sunday, November 5, the Hop’s Art on Screen film Klimt and The Kiss takes us to turn-of-the-century Vienna as it delves into the rich tapestry of extraordinary influences behind the painting: details of real gold, decorative designs, symbolism, and simmering erotica. Tickets here or through the burgundy link. Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth.Oh, by the way: Killington began making snow yesterday. With women's slalom and giant slalom world cup races coming up there at the end of the month, they're probably breathing a sigh of relief. Mountains from the 'daks to Maine, including Jay, also took to social media with pics of Halloween snow.NH outpacing the country as students attending public colleges, universities decline. In all, a recent University System of New Hampshire report found, the number dropped 13.9 percent from 2019 to the 2022-23 school year. The big issue—shared with the rest of New England—is declining fertility, a years-long trend that's now affecting college enrollments, writes Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin. The state's got a new task force studying how to respond, in part by drawing more people to NH's public higher education institutions, and in part by looking for "economies of scale."Sununu issues executive order to try to preserve 603 as NH's sole area code. A study by the agency that oversees area codes has estimated the state could run out of 603 numbers by 2027, reports David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog. Part of the problem is that phone numbers "are allocated in a very inefficient manner because of how the telephone switching network was constructed in the pre-digital era," he writes, and several states, including NH, have asked the FCC to address the problem. In the meantime, the governor wants the state DOE to study ways to extend 603's life.Arrests in death of Barre man who was found in Plainfield, VT. State police on Monday night took into custody two men, one from Barre, the other from Berlin, in the shooting death of 42-year old Jeffrey Caron, whose body was one of those found by hunters last week. A police affidavit details a drug-related robbery at a mobile home in Berlin in which Caron, one of the alleged robbers, was shot. VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein and Alan J. Keays reconstruct the story.Vermonters' incomes grow—but lose ground to inflation. In fact, writes VTDigger's Erin Petenko, "the buying power of the median Vermont household in 2022 dollars actually declined by 5 percent." While some forces feeding price rises, like the national inflation rate and interest rates, are outside of VT's control, others—most notably housing costs—can be changed by state and local policy, says Kevin Chu of the Vermont Futures Project. Making it more attractive to move to the state will become especially important as the population ages and retirees leave the workforce, he tells Petenko.Diving into GMP's plan to end outages by 2030. In two conversations, VT Public's Jenn Jarecki explores the recently announced initiative, which aims to bury remote power lines, make lines to population centers more resilient in the face of storms, make home batteries more available, and make use of what GMP CEO Mari McClure calls "resiliency sitting in...driveways"—she cites her Ford F150 Lightning, which has 10 times the storage capacity of a Tesla Powerwall. Jarecki talks to McClure about the plans, and to energy analyst Dennis Wamsted about how realistic it all is. The short version: Yep, mostly.Museums for dummies. Well, one anyway: the Vent Haven Museum in northern KY, the world’s only ventriloquism museum. It’s built on the collection of W. S. Berger, who bought his first dummy in 1910 and never stopped. The collection now numbers more than 1,100 dummies, including the famous—Lamb Chop and Charlie McCarthy—and the obscure—a plain wood, hand-carved model made by a WWII POW to cheer up other prisoners. Antiques are joined by replicas and contemporary characters, like Jeff Dunham’s Peanut. Director Lisa Sweasy says the collection was built over four decades of pre-Internet searching, and the stories behind the dummies are incredible.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 5 pm today, Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center brings in New Hampshire's two political party chairs for a conversation on the New Hampshire presidential primary. GOP chair Chris Ager and Democratic chair Ray Buckley will talk with moderator and political scientist Russ Muirhead about the history, influence, and future of the primary, as well as about the current state of the contests in both parties. In Rockefeller Center 115 and livestreamed.
This evening at 6, the Norwich Public Library hosts Jay Whitehair for a talk on "Ice Boating and Ice Sport Safety." Whitehair is a sailor on the highly competitive international ice boat racing circuit, a boat maker and restorer, a diver, and a retired firefighter (he helped develop the Hanover FD's ice-rescue program). He'll talk about it all: ice boating, diving, and above all, what equipment and skills you'll need to spend time on ice safely. In the community room.
At 7 pm, the Norwich bookstore hosts Marilyn Webb Neagley, reading from and talking about her new memoir, Attic of Dreams. Neagley, who grew up in Ascutney in a Russian immigrant family, helped found Shelburne Farms in the early 1970s and served as president for a dozen of its most formative years. The book explores both her own family's story and the history of Shelburne Farms.
And at 7:30 pm, Dartmouth's Russian and Jewish Studies departments present folk-cabaret singer, songwriter, 2019 Grammy nominee, and scholar Psoy Korolenko (Pavel Lion) with a continuation of last year's concert, "Songs of Falling Leaves and Temporary Dwellings". The program includes songs and translations themed around autumn and wandering the world, in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, French and Portuguese.
And to take us into the day...
We'll turn to French singer-songwriters Constance Amiot and JP Nataf. Amiot, whose parents are French, spent her childhood in Africa, moved to Washington, DC when she was 12, and cut her teeth musically at DC and Baltimore venues before moving to Paris a couple of decades ago. Nataf has been part of the French music scene for decades, both solo and as lead singer and composer for the pop group Les Innocents.
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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