GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Clearing. Sun soon. Yesterday's system is moving out, trailing some cooler air behind it. We could still see some sprinkles first thing this morning, the clouds will disappear and there should be sun and some decent blue sky by mid- or late morning. Highs today in the mid or upper 70s, winds from the north, down to around 50 tonight.Family time! For evening grosbeaks, that is. Norwich photographer Cynthia Crawford caught this pair last week feeding the kids.“It will be so nice when it’s done": WRJ businesses look forward to construction's end, most are okay despite it. It only feels like the rebuilding of downtown's water and sewer system has been going on forever, and the current sewer-line-replacement phase will last into September, writes LA Wetzel in the Valley News. Some downtown business owners are happy it's taking place—"The work is way overdue" says Tuckerbox's Jackie Oktay—and report that business (so far) hasn't been affected. Others, though, have shrunk their hours, in part due to workforce issues.Dartmouth schedules community sessions for Lyme Road project. They'll be both in-person—in Oopik Auditorium in the Life Sciences Center—and online, with the first one scheduled for Monday, July 11 at 6 pm. It will provide an overview of the project, with "a significant portion" open for "community feedback," the college's communications office writes. Later sessions (all at 6 pm) will be on July 25, focused on building design and materials; Aug. 1 on programming and student experience; Aug. 8 about green and public spaces; and Aug. 15 will cover sustainability and transportation.“[F]estivals bring out the best of what we all love about community, live music, and good food." That's fiddler Jakob Breitback waxing rhapsodic about RiverFolk, the summer music festival he's pulled together for next Monday at Northern Stage's Courtyard Theater. It features a bunch of local talent, from Ida Mae Specker and the Western Terrestrials to Breitbach, Jes Raymond, Tommy Crawford, and more. And, Susan Apel notes in Artful, Breitbach is aiming big: “We really hope to sell out the event, so that we can line up a full weekend three-day event in the summer of 2023," he tells her.SPONSORED: It’s staycation time! With gas prices high and the Upper Valley overflowing with amazing summertime activities, why spend your leisure time elsewhere? Instead, take part in Vital Communities’ Independents Month Staycation Challenge and enter to win one of two great gift packages while supporting the local businesses that give our region its character. Just pledge to buy only from local independent businesses for at least a day this month, then complete a quick follow-up survey in late July. Fabulous food, lodging, recreation, and more await the winners. Sponsored by Vital Communities.Listening to "the hubbub and argument, the propaganda and fervent idealisms..." There are strong parallels between Civil War-era America and today, writes Bill Craig in this week's Enthusiasms, and no one charted that era better than historian Allan Nevins in his eight-volume Ordeal of the Union. He caught the time—"Radicals' hate-mongering and centrists' paralyzing denial. A party increasingly committed to minority rule at all costs. A party afraid to do right"—in masterful character sketches and in the plain history. And, Bill writes, he offers inspiration in those who stood up for justice, often at great cost.Black swallowtails emerging again. As you probably know, many butterflies emerge from their chrysalises in different broods—around here, the ones that over-winter often show up in May. And right now, Mary Holland points out on her Naturally Curious blog, the second brood of black swallowtails is joining us. You'll find their caterpillars, she writes, feasting on fennel, dill, parsley, Queen Anne's Lace, and other members of the parsley family.Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries... and chanterelles. It's July and time for foraging, the VT Center for Ecostudies writes in its "Field Guide to July." And it's not just berries and mushrooms. This is prime bee-watching time—a lot of black-and-yellow bees are interlopers, but not all, and they've got a guide—and it's also breeding season for black bears. And, of course, it's prime time for wildflowers, from Wild Sarsaparilla to the striking One Flowered Ghost Pipe.Can you call it a trail cam when it's underwater? "Automated cameras have become a valuable tool for understanding the world around us, from finding new species to documenting ecosystem change. Almost always, however, they’re on dry land," writes David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog. Thanks to a UNH prof named Easton White, however, that's changing. White and his team are placing 16 cameras in the Great Bay and around the Isles of Shoals, experimenting as they go. They're hoping to capture both visuals of fish, seals, and the like, as well as sound. First need, though: lots of PVC.NH utilities commissioners delay community power rules. They were supposed to be issued yesterday, writes NH Bulletin's Amanda Gokee. Towns and cities that have been champing at the bit to get going, like Hanover and Lebanon, can't go ahead with their plans until the rules are issued—and now they'll have to wait until July 27. A "scheduling conflict," the PUC said yesterday morning. “If you buy the explanation, then you too can own an East River crossing designed by John Roebling (1806-1869),” tweeted consumer advocate Don Kreis in response, referring to selling the Brooklyn Bridge.NH sued again over school funding by attorneys who led Claremont suit. Lawyers Andru Volinsky and John Tobin, along with a third attorney, Natalie Laflamme, have challenged the state's current education funding system in Grafton Superior Court, writes Patrick Adrian in the VN. They contend the system remains unconstitutional and inequitable a quarter-century after the state Supreme Court's landmark Claremont ruling, arguing that the state's $4,000 per-pupil funding is inadequate and leaves communities to fend for themselves through property taxes, with unequal results.More Vermonters died from gunshot wounds in 2021 than any other year in the last decade. Most of those, according to a database Vermont Public created in 2017 and which it has updated yearly ever since, were deaths by suicide—a quarter of them among people who'd served in the armed forces. In all, reports Liam Elder-Connors, 88 percent of VT's 801 gun deaths in the past decade were suicides. That has led public health advocates to push for more community education about mental health, and more education and options for safe firearm storage. In crisis? Call 1-800-273-TALK or text 741741.Ten people are known to have walked around the world. Now a dog has, too. Tom Turcich set out from his home in New Jersey in 2015, got as far as Texas, and decided a dog would help him sleep easier at night. So he got Savannah, a rescue—and she walked with him the rest of the way: down through Central and South America, around the tip of Antarctica, through Ireland and the UK, down through western Europe, across North Africa, up through Italy to eastern Europe... They made it back to New Jersey in May. Andrew McLemore tells their story on Explorer's Web.The Wednesday Vordle. Back in action!
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
At 5:30 this afternoon, the Hop continues its free concert series on the Dartmouth Green with the funk/soul trio The Nth Power. They're all musicians who know their way around a stage: Drummer/vocalist Nikki Glaspie was Beyoncé's drummer for five years, bassist Nate Edgar played in the early '90s rock/jazz/funk band Groovechild (with Glaspie), singer/guitarist Nick Cassarino played with Burlington trumpeter (and Trey Anastasio Band member) Jennifer Hartswick and rapper Big Daddy Kane.
This evening at 6, Artistree's weekly Music on the Hill series brings the Twangtown Paramours to S. Pomfret. The Nashville-based duo of guitarist, keyboardist—and occasional Jimmie Dale Gilmour upright bass player—Mike T. Lewis and vocalist MaryBeth Zamer focus on Americana, blues, and, as a reviewer once put it, "things over on folky end of the continuum."
Sometimes, technology brings about the impossible. You probably know that Paul McCartney's been on tour, and one of the undisputed highlights of his show is a "duet" with John Lennon on "I've Got a Feeling"—thanks to film director Peter Jackson, who isolated Lennon's vocals on the song from the 1969 Apple rooftop concert.
"Everybody had a hard year," Lennon sings. Oh yeah.
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 and writers who want you to 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?
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! You can subscribe at:
Thank you!