GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, still warm. In fact, it might even be a degree or two hotter than yesterday, as high pressure both at the surface and up high remains in control and winds from the south pick up: Highs today will be in the upper 70s or low 80s under a mix of sun and clouds. More clouds start building in this evening ahead of a low pressure system that could bring us showers overnight.In a hurry — and in no hurry at all. Two very different moods today.
"I spent a delightful morning at Billings Farm Saturday, where I watched a border collie herding demo," writes Terri Munson. "The dogs respond to spoken or whistled commands and obviously enjoy their job." The sheep? A bit harder to tell.
Then there's this snapper. "I often drive Route 10 through Lyme where 'Turtle Crossing' signs adorn the highway in the vicinity of Post Pond," writes Richard Clancy. They make me smile as I think about the caring individuals who look out for the well-being of those adorable creatures. That is, until last week when I encountered this behemoth looking to cross Hanover Center Road. I had to turn my vehicle around and go back to get a better look at its size. I estimate the shell to be about 15” in diameter, and overall length to be nearly 30”, nose to tail.
Traffic heads up today.
VTrans warns that until 7 this evening, US 4
East
in Hartford will be closed from the I-89 southbound off ramp at Exit 1 to the northbound on ramp. The reroute in their words: "to I-89 South, to I-91 North, to Exit 11 onto U.S. 5, to I-91 South to Exit 10A, and onto I-89 North." Meanwhile, the I-89 N Exit 1
off ramp
in Hartford will be closed to traffic, and traffic will be rerouted to Exit 2, back onto I-89 South to Exit 1, and then onto Route 4. Route 4 west will remain open to traffic, but westbound traffic won't be able turn left onto the I-89 Exit 1 northbound on ramp. Crews are repairing pavement.
Enfield woman in critical condition after wrong-way crash on I-89 in Lebanon. Early yesterday afternoon, the NH State Police said in a press release last night, Kathleen Ford, 90, was driving southbound in the northbound lanes near Exit 18 when she struck a VW Atlas SUV head-on; that car then struck another vehicle. Ford was taken to the hospital in critical condition; the other two drivers were taken to the hospital to be evaluated. I-89 northbound was shut down for about an hour while investigators worked. WMUR has video from a northbound driver who narrowly missed Ford's car.Scouts from Sunapee, Etna become first girls in Upper Valley to reach Eagle Scout. As Emma Roth-Wells writes in the Valley News, it took six years after Scouting America first let girls participate, but last fall, Sunapee's Celia Osborne and Etna's Grace Healey made it to scouting's highest rank. Roth-Wells looks at what it's meant to go co-ed locally—“Kids don’t really care,” says Celia's mom, scoutmaster Charleen Osborne; “They set up a tent, they cook together, they eat together"—and talks to girls in the New London and Hanover Scouts troops about their time. “It’s a vital part of my life,” says Healey.Vote Upper Valley! Balloting for Seven Days' "best of VT" awards—which they call Seven Daysies—opened yesterday, and there are a bunch of Upper Valley finalists in the mix. Kirsten Connor of WRJ's Flourish Beauty Lab (which is one of the finalists) has put together a helpful page of who's in the running, from Wolf Tree and Worthy Burger and Saap, to Babe's, Mascoma Bank, Artistree, JAM, the Montshire, VINS, and Noah Kahan. You can vote here. Chittenden County may have the numbers, but we have the spirit!SPONSORED: Play tunes from Québec, New England, the British Isles, and beyond in the brand-new Colburn Park Traditional Music Festival, July 26-27. The weekend includes workshops, jamming, concerts, singing, dancing, and musical community for ages 8+, featuring UVMC faculty plus special guest instructors. Whether you’re a long-time trad enthusiast, a parent of a young musician, or want to try fiddle tunes for the first time, there’s a place for you! Register by June 1 for the early bird 15% discount. Sponsored by Upper Valley Music Center.Poems that "create worlds of their own." That's how Left Bank Books' Rena Mosteirin describes the poems in Carlene Kucharczyk's Strange Hymn in this week's Enthusiasms. This is the first collection for Kucharczyk, who also works for Dartmouth's English and Creative Writing department, and as Rena writes, she's fond of questions—“What will we do with the hour before the wolf comes?”—that "always seem to lead to more questions because hers is not a poetics of certainty." Rena adds, "This is a gorgeous debut poetry collection, full of invitations to explore fairy tales, religion and the workings of language itself."Telling starflower from cucumber root. They share similar habitat and similar foliage, writes Northern Woodlands' Jack Saul, but (in addition to their names) have different patterns of leaf veins and different flowers. They're among the wildflowers suddenly blossoming all over the woods this fourth week of May: Jack also looks in on Canada mayflowers and chokecherries. Meanwhile, there's also an otherworldly crane fly, and he describes the rising and falling fortunes of chestnut-sided warblers, abundant as old fields reverted to woods early in the 20th century, not so much now."A wild-eyed chick with a Lyle Lovett-feathered head..." There's not much text to Mary Holland's latest Naturally Curious post, but what there is, is memorable. She's describing the transformation of great blue heron chicks into their regal adult version—second for drama only to cygnets becoming swans, she writes. But really, it's the photo of a heron family you'll want to zoom into.NH Fish & Game to get back on TV. The agency got a serious, multi-season star turn on Animal Planet's "North Woods Law" some years back. And now, reports the Globe's Amanda Gokee (no paywall), the Exec Council has approved its contract with the creator of that series, NY-based Engel Entertainment, for a new series. There'll be some differences, though: This one will feature shorter segments airing on YouTube, and rather than focusing on solely on conservation officers and their law-enforcement work, it'll include field biologists and their research, search and rescue, conservation work, and more.NH gun manufacturers—notably, Sig Sauer—gain limited product liability as Ayotte signs bill. The measure, which NH's governor signed into law on Friday, mandates that firearms manufacturers and federally licensed dealers in the state "will not be liable in product liability lawsuits for the absence of [optional] gun safety mechanisms," reports Rick Green in the Keene Sentinel. Newington-based Sig Sauer faces numerous lawsuits nationally over its P320 pistol allegedly firing without a trigger pull. The law does not apply to already-filed litigation; Ayotte's office says it will prevent "frivolous" suits in the future.It's tough to hire in NH. For people with disabilities, it's even tougher to get the help they need. The US Chamber of Commerce says the state has "the most severe worker shortage in the country," writes William Skipworth in NH Bulletin. But the hiring challenges are compounded for people with disabilities and agencies looking for aides: the job offers low pay and requires both physical strength and what Concord's Jim Piet, who has cerebral palsy, says is "almost a degree in psychology." Skipworth looks into the issue. “It’s almost desperation,” says one agency head. “You look at who can you take?”"You can't try to follow in anyone else's foodsteps. All you can do is do the work that is meaningful to you." The celebrated Vermont cartoonist Alison Bechdel has a new book out, Spent (she'll be at the Norwich Congregational Church Monday evening in a ticketed event), about life in Vermont. Last week, she sat down at home in Bolton with VT Public's Mikaela Lefrak for a conversation about the book—a comic novel about a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, rather than a memoir—and about family, Vermont, writing, the difference between drawing on paper and digitally, and lots more.How “two dudes who don't want to get as fat drinking” came up with Bitter Bubble. It's an odd pairing behind the “delicately bitter, botanical-flavored soda water," writes Melissa Pasanen in Seven Days. Eric Warnstedt, the chef who co-founded Hen of the Wood and other restaurants, and George Martin, an engineer, were in search of something different to “slow the roll” between alcoholic drinks, something sweetener-free and sophisticated. They landed on gentian root, chicory, and dandelion root as the base for their three flavors. Now their "garage brand" is selling around 4,800 cans a month.Swimmer circumnavigates Martha's Vineyard. Monday, Lewis Pugh finished a heck of an endurance swim to change our thinking about sharks. This is a guy whose swim venues include glaciers, volcanoes, and the North Pole, notes the AP's Leah Willingham, but his 12-day, 60-mile swim around the Vineyard in 47-degree water was among his toughest, he says. It dovetails with the 50th anniversary of Jaws, filmed on the island. Pugh wants to prompt people—and policy makers—to protect sharks rather than fear them. First stop after reaching Edgartown: a cone of salted caramel and berry brownie ice cream.And speaking of feats... You could read the Sky News article about this weekend's annual plunging of the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake—contestants pitch pell-mell down a steep hill after an 8-pound wheel of Double Gloucestershire—but really, it's the video that counts. Though the quote from male winner Tom Kopke, who also won last year, is notable: "Last year the hill was muddy and this year it was dry and dangerous and people got injured...All the people at the top said they were going to steal my title but this is mine. I worked for this. I risked my life for this. It's my cheese."This week's Throughlines. A simple grid of 16 words, and it's up to you to connect four words at a time to create "throughlines" for three of today's Daybreak items—above or below. Four of the words are decoys, so watch out!The Wednesday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. If you're new to Daybreak, this is a puzzle along the lines of the NYT's Wordle—only it's not just some random word snatched out of the ether, but a word that actually appeared here yesterday.
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As part of the Dartmouth Film Society 75th anniversary celebration, Hop Film brings in veteran TV producer Andrew Singer '00 and Tom Wellington '00, head of scripted television at William Morris Endeavor; they're the pair behind
AP Bio, The Other Two, Schmigadoon, Portlandia,
and other hit comedies. Screening of show selections followed by a conversation about the entertainment industry's evolution. 4:30 pm.
This talk features NH Fish and Wildlife stewards Doug Whitfield and Dennis Walsh, talking about bobcats' natural history, their habitat needs, and the trends affecting their population in the state. 6:30 pm in the Draper Room.
. Hop Film screens the 2011 animated film,
The Rabbi's Cat
, by Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux and based on Sfar's comics series of the same title. In Algiers in the early 20th century, the titular cat eats the family parrot, gains the ability to speak—and to challenge the rabbi—and embarks on a meandering adventure across the 1930s Maghreb. 7 pm in the Loew Auditorium.
We're going to groove into the day...
With Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo', whose collaboration eight years ago on
TajMo
was a gigantic success—and who've now followed it up with a new album,
Room on the Porch
. These days, Taj is 82, Mo' is 73, and there's really nothing left for either of them to prove, but with their instrumental chops and contrasting voices they make a really appealing pair. The entire album is worth a listen (
), but so far the only video that also showcases the ace band of musicians they pulled together
, with Nashville-based jazz singer Wendy Moten doing backup vocals. By the way, they're bringing their "Room on the Porch tour" to the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord next Tuesday
Good luck! 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 Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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