GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
A quick reminder: Daybreak's off starting tomorrow and running through next week. Back in your inbox with CoffeeBreak on Monday, July 15.Mostly sunny, warm. A warm front today is going to usher in muggier air above, though close to the surface things should remain relatively dry, so things shouldn't get too unbearable, despite highs in mid or upper 80s. On the other hand, there's some low pressure crossing west to east overnight, and that could bring showers and maybe thunderstorms after midnight, though if they do show up they're not expected to last long. Lows in the low 60s.Charismatic megafauna hanging out.
Well, for starters, there's the black bear that occasionally shows up around Lake Fairlee—cooling off in the water and ambling up the road in this video by Sean Brown.
Then there's this: "When I go into the lean-to on the back of our barn, it has been clear something is living under the main barn," writes Kevin Lary from Canaan. "Putting a game camera in there solved the mystery." And proved that there's not a big difference between human and fox youngsters...
And speaking of fox youngsters, Ben Morgan and his wife hosted a fox family in a rock pile for several weeks. "The last thing we wanted to do was scare them off or disrupt their process, but it was starting to feel a little bit like we were prisoners in the house towards the end of their stay." Fortunately, they've moved on, though Ben writes, "We're hoping they liked the accommodations enough to stay with us again next year!"
Two pieces of WRJ restaurant news:
If you've been waiting to check out REDCAN, the new venture by Worthy Burger chef and co-founder Jason Merrill and his wife, Leslie, the wait's over. Its doors open today at 4 pm for walk-ins, in the former Trail Break space. The idea is to create “a comfortable and exquisite Prohibition Era ‘speakeasy’ style restaurant," the Merrills said back when they announced the new spot in March. A couple of bars, an oyster bar... You can find the menu here.
Meanwhile, just a few steps away, reports Susan Apel in Artful, Big Fatty's has restored its extremely popular salad bar. And, she writes, it's "jammed with all the veggies and fixin’s you’d expect, plus some surprises, like Thai Beef Salad. Each dish is clearly labeled so you don’t have to investigate what’s what."
SPONSORED: Opera North returns next week to Blow-Me-Down Farm in Cornish with Summerfest 2024! Join us for three mainstage productions under the tent on the banks of the Connecticut River in our "park for the arts" partnership with the National Park Service. Orpheus in the Underworld is the hottest party in town July 11, 12 and 14. Verdi's Rigoletto makes no joke of revenge on July 21, 24 and 27. Then Sondheim's Broadway smash hit Into the Woods fractures the fairytales (with Klea Blackhurst in the role of The Witch) on August 1, 2, 3, and 4. Tickets at OperaNorth.org. Sponsored by Opera North.A story of resilience in a near-future dystopia. I Cheerfully Refuse, the latest novel by Leif Enger, is set around Lake Superior, in a future in which the billionaire class makes the rules and everyone else scrapes by. But what could be a dark read, Liza Bernard says in this week's Enthusiasms, is anything but. "Enger exquisitely balances horror and beauty, grief and hope, playfulness and seriousness," she writes. "Even the title gives a sense of the tone of the novel: Saying no, I reject the situation but without rancor, cheerfully."Mascoma Community Health Center adds a dentist. This might seem an odd choice for a headline, but if you've been following rural health care news over the last few years, you know it's a big deal. Rural NH and VT communities have been struggling to find dentists, and MCHC is no exception: it closed its dental practice in 2022 after failing to do so. Last October it reopened, and now—with the addition of Dr. Morgan Ritchie—will have a staff of five. The practice, the Valley News points out, is one of the few in the region that accepts Medicaid patients.SPONSORED: Celebrate Independence Day with Chapman’s General in Fairlee, Vermont! We’re offering 10 percent off everything in the store. From snacks to summer essentials, you’ll find all you need for a fantastic 4th of July. Our shelves are packed and the savings are as bright as fireworks! Swing by, enjoy the festive spirit, and grab your favorite items at a discount. Remember, even Uncle Sam loves a good bargain! Chapman’s General - serving the Upper Valley since 1875! Sponsored by Chapman's General. 🎉🇺🇸VT State Police seek public's help after burglary of McDonald's donation box in Randolph. First thing Monday morning, troopers were called in to the Randolph location after an employee "noticed a disturbance within the building." An investigation found that someone had forced entry through the drive-thru window, then stolen a Ronald McDonald House Charities donation box. Photos in the press release.Drones instead of fireworks: "People think we’re doing one big show but we’re really doing 300 individual shows." As you probably remember—heck, maybe you were even there—300 drones took off over Lake Sunapee last weekend in an LED-laden-drones-instead-of-fireworks spectacular. On his Granite Geek blog, David Brooks digs into how it was done with an exec of the firm that ran the Sunapee shows. Brooks is a little dubious about what it heralds. "Imagine wandering outside your White Mountain vacation cabin to enjoy the night sky, only to have a bunch of LED drones sent up by the local restaurant, advertising their 2-for-1 specials," he writes.More on the Co-op's bid to convert Lyme Road store to a commercial kitchen. You may remember that a month ago, the Coop Food Stores announced they're seeking a zoning variance to create a commissary in what is now their small retail store by the roundabout at the north end of Hanover. In the VN, Christina Dolan reports that nearby residents "have expressed dismay at the loss of the Lyme Road market"; general manager Amanda Charland, meanwhile, told the town in a letter that low traffic volume “does not support a convenience store model." A hearing's scheduled July 11."Oh my god," he thought. "This is another Rumney." If you're a sport climber, you know what that means: Rumney NH pulls climbers from all over the Northeast. But in Jay Knower's case, he was looking at a mostly undiscovered set of pitches a bit to the north in Woodstock, NH. In 2020-21, Knower and other climbers developed hundreds of routes there and it became a huge draw for climbers—until the Woodstock Conservation Commission found out. Turned out, it was part of a conserved area known as Merriam Woods, and it was off-limits. A ruckus ensued. In Climbing mag, Michael Wejchert tells the tale of what happened—and how it got resolved.First VT launched legalized sports betting. Now it's launching a problem-gambling support website. Run by the state Dept. of Mental Health, VTGamblingHelp.org offers live chat, a phone-in option, information on problem gambling, and help enrolling in Vermont’s voluntary self-exclusion program—which had two people on the list in March and now has eight, reports Jack McGuire in Seven Days. “I think any state that's going to offer a lawful [sports betting] market should have services like this,” a state official says. “I don't know that you can do one without the other.”Maple: The future of sugar? “From an ecological standpoint...from an everything standpoint, [maple is] better,” a conservation biologist tells The Guardian's Olivia Gieger. And, Gieger writes, that future's on plain view in Vermont—including at VT Technical College in Randolph. Maple production in the state is rising—"a surprising boom when many worry that the climate crisis will spell doom," Gieger writes. Technology, shifting tapping schedules, and careful management of forest health are all helping. “I’m not at all sure how long the industry will be robust,” says a UVM specialist. “But the trees are not going to disappear across the landscape in the next 100 years.” (Thanks RH!)In the mood to buy an antique embalming machine? Or maybe the occasional airplane? There's a place for them: VT's Surplus Property Warehouse in Waterbury. Reporting for UVM's Community News Service, Owen Carpenter-Zehe looks into how stuff gets there. A lot comes from state agencies—including vehicles and that airplane, from the VT Flight Academy. A lot also comes from the TSA at Burlington Airport, especially knives and other pointy instruments travelers tried to carry on board. Most of it's cheap, though the embalming machine will set you back $1,000. Check it all out here.A high tolerance for ambiguity and inefficiency. Sounds like a failure in the making, right? Wrong. That, writes David Brooks in The Atlantic, is one of many traits held in common by late bloomers. While our society celebrates early bloomers, “precocious geniuses” who meet other people’s expectations, late bloomers really like the process of learning. They fail early and often (Churchill, Cézanne, Julia Child, Charles Darwin) but their curiosity about many topics yields more valuable rewards than they'd get by doing what other people want. Which may explain why people in their 40s and older are the most successful entrepreneurs, owners of start-ups, and Nobel laureates.This will have you saying “yum!” Or maybe “where’s the porta-potty?” The State Fair of Texas opens in September, and to build anticipation, semifinalists for the fair's food awards were just announced. “Food vendors tinker for months and sometimes even years … to bring home one of the coveted trophies,” reads the press release. Like the Lays Potato Chip Drink, a vibrant concoction of potato chips, mango, citrus, hot honey, jalapeño-infused syrup, and “artfully placed strawberry drizzle.” But wait, there’s more! “Nashville hot chicken is wonderful on its own, but have you ever thought of adding homemade pimento cheese to it?” Nope! Descriptions at the link.Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
We may be the middle of nowhere to everyone else in VT and NH, but
we
know what's good! Strong Rabbit's Morgan Brophy has come up with the perfect design for "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Plus you'll find the Daybreak jigsaw puzzle, as well as sweatshirts, tees, a fleece hoodie, and, as always, the fits-every-hand-perfectly Daybreak mug. Check it all out at the link!
On Ascutney Mountain, with food vendors, the Fire House Dixie Land Band, and a fireworks display at dusk. Point your GPS to 449 Ski Tow Road in Brownsville.
(outside the Stone Machine Shop). Beer, hard cider, wine, soda, and snacks available to buy, and the Enfield Mascoma Lions will be on hand with their food truck.
Tomorrow
Then there's the 4th itself tomorrow. And, not surprisingly, there's too much going on to list it all here. Fortunately, there are roundups:
The Valley News has a page listing fireworks (and Lebanon's laser) shows, along with a town-by-town rundown—including Old Home Days in Hartland and Grantham, and parades, barbecues, and flea markets pretty much everywhere you turn.
For the Woodstock area, the Standard has a set of listings, starting with Billings Farm's Fourth on the Farm.
Farther afield in VT, Erica Houskeeper's pulled together events on her Happy Vermont blog from Brattleboro in the south to Island Pond in the north—with lots of towns in between, east and west.
And in NH, WMUR's got a community-by-community fireworks list, from A (Andover) to...well, W (Wolfeboro).
The trio of Jakob Breitbach, Christopher Billiau, and Kit Creeger starts with "a big pot of French Gypsy Jazz acoustic string swing, and then salt[s] it with nuance from jump, jive, and bebop, big band blues, boogie woogie, Western swing, Afro-Cuban, Samba & Bossa Nova." At Fable Farm Fermentory, gates at 5:30, music at 6.
Friday
The VSO's Summer Festival Tour is in high gear, and they'll be set up at the base of the South Pomfret ski mountain starting at 6:30 pm (gates at 5:30), with a program of everyone from Sousa to Morton Gould to Fauré to Margaret Bonds. Rain site's at Woodstock Union HS—which is also where the Woodstock fireworks display will be, starting at 9:15 pm-ish.
Guy Ritchie's new action comedy: "Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department, this true story centers on the first-ever special forces organization formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) and a small group of military officials, including author Ian Fleming (
Slow Horses
' Freddie Fox) and a brigadier who conspicuously goes by the initial "M" (Cary Elwes)." 7 pm at the Loew.
At 7:30 pm on Friday, Next Stage Arts hosts the foursome of Dan Houghton, Jon Bews, Eric McDonald, and Alasdair White—guitar, bouzouki, fiddles, pipes and whistles—with music rooted in Celtic traditions but ranging pretty much all over Europe.
Saturday
Starts at 10 am, runs until 6 pm, with chances to learn about everything from caterpillars to honey bees, plus turtles, raptors, and more.
It's the first Smirkus tour ever under an organization run by an alum (Rachel Schiffer) with the show directed by an alum (Josh Stack) and a returning director (Julie Jenkins).
The Imaginarium
runs Saturday at 1 pm and 6 pm, and on Sunday at 11 am and 4 pm. If you're a regular, you know why you have to go. If you've never been, you owe it to yourself, kids or not.
Co-directed and produced with Sarah Burns and David McMahon, the legendary filmmaker's latest is his first non-American subject. The three will be at the Loew starting at 7 pm on Saturday to present part one and to talk it all over. Tix are sold out right now, but it's always worth getting in touch with the box office at 603.646.2422, or even just showing up.
And down the road...
A few suggestions for keeping yourself occupied while Daybreak's away.
Tuesday, July 9
"A Walk Back in Time: The Secrets of Cellar Holes" at the Howe.The Hanover Conservancy's Adair Mulligan explores the stories and history behind the old cellar holes that still dot the forested landscape—and how one town is piecing together its history by creating an inventory. 6:30 pm in the Mayer Room or online via Zoom.
African American & Indigenous string music repertoire at UVMC. Ahead of his concert the following day (see below), the remarkably creative Jake Blount will run a workshop exploring African American and Indigenous roots of traditional music. At Upper Valley Music Center, 7 pm.
Wednesday, July 10
Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin on the Dartmouth Green. The Hop presents its second free outdoor concert—with Blount, a master reinterpreter of Black contributions to fiddle and string band music, and Dartmouth grad Obomsawin, the bassist, composer, and First Nations activist. They've teamed up on a new album, symbiont. Starts at 5:30 pm.
The Oak Hill Music Festival gets underway. At 7 pm July 10 at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, the festival's highly accomplished musicians give the first of three classical concerts, with music rooted in folk traditions by Dvorak, Stacy Garrop, William Grant Still, and Carl Nielsen. Then on July 12 it's "The Romantic Virtuoso" and on July 13 (at the Norwich Congregational Church), "Landscapes", with some larger-scale works not often heard here, including the Brahms Clarinet Quintet and Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet.
At 7 pm next Wednesday, two local writers who mine the mysteries of Ireland sit down to talk. Flynn Berry's got a new thriller out, Trust Her, in which the past comes back to haunt Northern Irish sisters Tessa and Marian Daly, the central characters in Berry's much-lauded Northern Spy. She'll be in conversation with mystery writer Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of the Maggie D'Arcy series.
At 7 pm on the 10th, Northern Stage hosts the second annual Jazz at the Junction. Michael Zsoldos leads a quintet in a program that runs from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers to modern Brazilian music, Ralph Towner, and original compositions. At the Barrette Center.
Valley Improv at Sawtooth Kitchen. They'll be there starting at 8 pm with an evening of longform improv. "It will be our first show that's entirely long-form," writes organizer Ben Guaraldi, "which is more like a play and has fewer interjections from an emcee or an audience."
Thursday, July 11
Flutist Faith Goodness and pianist Will Ogmundson in a free concert. The two Upper Valley Music Center faculty members will range from the Baroque era to the 20th century. At the Kilton Library in West Leb at 1 pm.
The Oak Hill Music Festival holds an open rehearsal at the Howe Library. At 3 pm Thursday, they'll be working on a movement from Brahms' Clarinet Quintet. In the new books area on the main floor, no charge or need to register.
Vulture Sister Song at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller. The multidisciplinary work's creator, dancer and choreographer Ellen Smith Ahern, is artist in residence at the national park this year, and she and the musicians, writers and dancers she worked with on the piece will present a free, family-friendly performance, with conversation afterward. 5:30 pm in the gardens behind the mansion, but get there early and bring a picnic.
Opera North kicks off its summer with Orpheus in the Underworld. As they write, "The can-can! Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère! Spoofing both mythology and the foibles of man, Offenbach’s smash-hit operetta promises to be this Summerfest’s hottest party." 7 pm at Blow-Me-Down Farm in Cornish, with performances Friday at 7 and Sunday at 5 pm.
The Canaan Meetinghouse Readings get underway for the summer with Lynn Stegner and Yukiko Tominaga. In case you're not familiar with the venerable series, the readings pair two writers for an evening of literary talk (and reading). In this case, Stegner, whose most recent novel is The Half Life of Guilt, and short-story writer Tominaga. 7 pm at the Canaan Meetinghouse, on the corner of Canaan Street and Apple Blossom Road.
The Texas Guitar Quartet in New London. With works by Rossini, Bizet, Ravel, Beethoven, and others. Presented by Summer Music Associates, at the First Baptist Church at 7 pm.
Now. Let's walk into the break...
...with Walk Off the Earth.
, with "Better At Love".
Fireworks, picnic, a hike... Whatever you do tomorrow, here's hoping it draws at least one "ooohhh" of appreciation. And take care of yourselves for the next little bit. See you on the 15th!
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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