GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Reminder: No Daybreak tomorrow or Friday. Time for the basics: friends, family, and pie. You, too, could use a break, I imagine.Partly to mostly sunny. We get a day's break between weather systems, as relative high pressure sits overhead. Temps today will get into the low or mid 40s, with winds from the west and gusts likely this afternoon. But things start to change tonight as a system off the coast sends moist air northwestward, bringing a chance of snow after midnight and a winter storm tomorrow and into Friday—with anywhere from an inch of snow to 6 or more all told.
Beavers at play. Or doing whatever it is that beavers do when they're messing about in the water. Along 12A in Plainfield, in this video from Kate Barber.Judge in Tulloch resentencing wants NH Supreme Court to weigh in. Back in September, a lawyer for Robert Tulloch—who was 17 when he and James Parker killed Half and Susanne Zantop in Etna in 2001—went before Judge Lawrence MacLeod to argue that in the wake of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling, Tulloch's life sentence without parole was "cruel and unusual." In a ruling released Monday, reports the AP's Kathy McCormack, MacLeod noted that if the state constitution allows such sentences for juveniles, "a court needs to determine that a child is permanently incapable of change." At issue is how to do so; he's asked both sides to prep arguments for the state Supreme Court.Hartford gets its first community nurse. Other towns around the Upper Valley have them, of course, but until now, Hartford hasn't. Yesterday, however, the town's fire department announced it's hired the town's first, after voters approved a one-year pilot program. Katie Williams, who'd been one of two community nurses in Hartland, will pioneer the role, with office hours at the Bugbee Senior Center and through home visits, community outreach, and patient advocacy. She begins next Tuesday.N. Haverhill dairy farmer Howard Hatch: “I look at it as surviving. I don’t look at it as winning anything.” There were 42 dairy farms in Haverhill alone when Hatch arrived in the Upper Valley over half a century ago, writes Lukas Dunford in the Valley News. Today, there are three. The farms that continue operating are often finding some stability—by consolidating, selling their own yogurt or cheese or other products, and often running their own stores—but it remains a tough business. Dunford checks in with Hatch and his daughter, Kristen May, with Barnard's Paul Doton, and with Kiss the Cow's Randy Robar.SPONSORED: Give the gift of art from AVA’s Holiday Exhibition! AVA Gallery's annual holiday exhibition, running from November 29 to December 26, showcases a diverse collection of fine art and craft created by AVA members from throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. Join us for our Open House on Saturday, December 7 from 11 AM–4 PM, followed by an opening reception from 5–7 PM. Explore our facilities, tour artists’ studios, and enjoy refreshments during the reception. Admission is free! Sponsored by AVA Gallery.A bedraggled fox cub takes refuge from a flood—in a sheep shed. And finds acceptance. That's just one of many vignettes the writer—and farmer—Rosamund Young includes in her book, The Wisdom of Sheep: Observations of a Family Farm. Young lives in England's Cotswolds, and her book, which came out last year, is filled with stories about the animals, people, and landscapes she encounters daily. In this week's Enthusiasms, Jared Jenisch calls it "an ideal escape to the challenges and rewards of a rural landscape different from ours but rich with a similar tapestry of human and animal life."Out there in the woods: lots of acorns. This is a mast year, Northern Woodlands' Jackson Saul writes in "This Week in the Woods"—oaks in the Connecticut River Valley have produced crops "so large that the odds increase for any given acorn to avoid the chipmunks, squirrels, bears, deer, mice, and various bird species that eat acorns." So it's not surprising that one of his photos is of a chipmunk in Fairlee—though it's got only one acorn in its mouth, far fewer than the dozen chipmunks can carry as they prep for winter. Also out there this last week of November: hawthorns and winterberries.SPONSORED: You can help shape the future of public media in Vermont when you join Vermont Public’s Community Forum! This group of volunteers gives feedback on our programming and services, and helps Vermont Public serve the whole community better. The group meets a few times a year, in different locations around the state. You let us know how we’re meeting the cultural, education, and information needs of Vermonters, and provide us a link to communities around the region. Learn more at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by Vermont Public.Following wave of deadly crashes, NH officials vow to crack down on reckless driving. There have been 127 fatalities involving automobiles this year, reports NHPR's Olivia Richards—the same as in all of 2023, with a month still left to go. So at a press conference yesterday, Gov. Chris Sununu and law enforcement officials said they'll be beefing up patrols and taking an "all-hands on" approach to speeding and driving under the influence. “People have been dying at really alarming numbers,” Sununu said. “The roads haven’t changed, the conditions haven’t necessarily changed...It’s all about driver behavior.”NH legislators approve new public school minimum standards on party-line vote. The move last week in the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules puts rules crafted by the state education department in place—to the pleasure of GOP legislators and the Sununu administration, and the dismay of Democrats, teachers unions, and many school boards. In NH Bulletin, Ethan DeWitt takes a look at what they contain, including new ways of evaluating high school students' "competency", credit for learning outside the school classroom, and a possible change to class size caps.In VT, Phil Scott appoints Zoie Saunders as ed secretary. Again. Quick recap: Scott appointed her. The Senate rejected her. Scott made her interim secretary. Now, with the Senate adjourned, he's re-upped her for the full-on role—"a provocation," Senate leader Phil Baruth said yesterday. Still, writes VTDigger's Paul Heintz, Baruth also says that it would be "disastrous" in the face of rising education costs to be brawling with the governor. “My inclination is to wait a while and observe her work," he tells Heintz.In 1969, VT Fish & Wildlife's Bill Drake and John Hall released two male and five female wild turkeys in the state. Now there are 45,000-55,000. "It's one of the greatest conservation success stories in North America," a Georgia wildlife ecologist tells the BBC's Anna Bressanin—Lufthansa even once flew VT turkeys to Germany to help restoration efforts there. And it's especially notable because, in the Southeast and Midwest, wild turkey populations have been dropping. Why Vermont's success? Unlike the mid-1800s, when deforestation wiped out wild turkeys, the state's forests are mostly intact, Bressanin writes"Bamboo cutting boards are horrible for knives. Don't use bamboo. Wood is best." That piece of advice comes from "chef-turned-bladesmith" Narin MacDonald, who once cooked at Twin Farms in Barnard but for the last four years has been making knives from home in Monkton for hunters, chefs, and home cooks. "If you've talked to chefs, you know we've all got a little knife thing going on. How hard would it be to make my own?" he tells Seven Days' Jordan Barry. Hard, it turns out: properly heat-treating steel is crucial, he says, so that the blade isn't too brittle or too soft to hold an edge. More at the link."The 25 Most Important Recipes of the Past 100 Years". It's a bold claim atop Slate's article about the recipes that "were the most influential, pivotal, or transformative for American home cooking between 1924 and 2024." The Caesar Salad (1924)? You could make a good case. Toll House cookies (1938)? A hard yes. The Last Word—a cocktail that originated in Detroit in the 1910s? Interesting choice. Dorcas Reilly's Green Bean Bake (1955) for Campbell's Soups? Umm... But hey, you want the history of waffles and fried chicken or how Madhur Jaffrey brought garam masala to the US? Hit the link.This is about an avalanche in China, but we're going to start with Life Savers. Yep, the candy. You know how, if you smash them, they produce a flash of light? (If not, your childhood friends failed you.) That's called "triboluminescence," and it's not quite understood why crystals under sudden pressure produce it. But no matter. A few weeks ago, a Chinese astrophotographer set out to record star trails when his camera caught a block of ice breaking free from a glacier across the way. And it caught the blue flash the avalanche produced as a result. Spaceweather's got videos. Thanks JF!
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
Fleece vests, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies... Strong Rabbit has updated the Daybreak page to keep up with the changing weather. Plus, of course, the usual: 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!
It's a mostly quiet long weekend ahead, but there's still stuff to do out there,
. And...
With cooking demos, pie-crust-making lessons, storytime, crafts, and a look at Thanksgiving meals from 130 years ago. 10 am to 4 pm each day.
The upstate NY rock, pop, and soul duo is fronted by vocalist/drummer/bassist Melanie Krahmer with guitarist (and husband) Rich Libutti. 8 pm. Then, Saturday at 6 pm,
for an evening of songs and stories.
The company uses puppets, scenery and a live score to tell the tale of twins who muster the courage to discover their life's purpose. The original show features a bevy of notable names in music, including Vermont composer Paul Perley and
Hadestown
bassist Rob Morse. 3 pm.
Sunday at 2:30 pm: "A Christmas Carol” Community Reading in Tunbridge. It'll be a community reading of the shortened version of Dickens' holiday classic. Hosted by The Tunbridge Church and held at the Tunbridge Public Library. Everyone's welcome to listen and enjoy refreshments. If you're interested in reading, email
. No link.
Sunday at 4 pm, poet Danny Dover reads from
Flamingo Nation
. If you read Dear Daybreak, you may remember the retired Bethel piano technician's poem about nearly skiing over a moose. His third collection is out, and he'll be at the Charles B. Danforth Library on Route 12 in Barnard with poems about everything from a flamingo stranded in Siberia to a broken marriage saved with superglue. And a lot in between. No link.
"Now, it all started a-two Thanksgivings ago...
"...when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the restaurant—but Alice doesn't live
in
the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the restaurant, in the belltower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog."
You
know
where this is going, don't you.
Last Thursday, a week shy of Thanksgiving, Alice Brock died in hospice care in Wellfleet, MA. She was 83. But back in the '60s, she was chef-owner of The Back Room in the Berkshires, prepping a Thanksgiving meal in her home-that-was-once-a-church when Arlo Guthrie offered to get rid of some garbage. The rest is gleefully embellished history.
. And
Have a fine, make-the-most-of-it Thanksgiving and a reinvigorating few days. See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
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.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
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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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