GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Not one front, but three. The first came through last night and brought us that welcome rain. It's on its way east now. The others are weak and probably won't amount to much, but there's at least a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms through the morning. Still, skies should be clearing pretty quickly today, and it will be cooler—mid- or upper 70s—with winds from the southwest. Mid-50s tonight.If you go down to the gorge today... Even in dramatic settings like Quechee Gorge it pays to keep your eyes open for the small stuff. Like this nicely camouflaged frog hanging out there this weekend, from Adams Carroll.Lebanon hoping to expand its solar footprint. Back in 2019, the city installed solar panels at seven sites, which generate enough electricity to meet about 16 percent of its annual needs, writes Frances Mize in the Valley News. Now, responding to state legislation passed this summer, it's readied a list of about 20 sites for additional arrays that, if Lebanon is chosen for a pilot project, might allow it to generate enough power that it could sell some to local buyers. The city has had "informal conversations" with the Lebanon School District about supplying its energy, Mize writes.The "Shoeshine Guy" hangs up his rags. And hopes someone else will pick them up. For the last eight springs and summers, the retired lawyer (who prefers not to use his name) has been a weekly presence in Hanover, Lebanon, and (during the pandemic) on customers' doorsteps, shining shoes and boots, getting into deep conversations, and donating his proceeds to local charity. Now, he's ready to call it quits—but wants to pass on his shoeshine rig, with some serious emotional history, to the right person. Read about it at the link.As WRJ businesses recover, you can help. Even those that weren't flooded have been suffering, since so many people have been staying away. Today (come back later if it's not live yet), Vital Communities and The Local Crowd are launching a fundraiser to help downtown businesses as they continue to navigate the pandemic, torn-up roadways, and flood recovery. "A community benefits when everyone brings their best to the table—and downtown businesses bring their best every day," the fundraiser says. And hey, if there's a particular business you love, you can always buy a gift card.And some need more help than others. Especially the two restaurants, Tuckerbox and Piecemeal Pies, which lost many thousands of dollars in inventory in addition to being forced to close. Tuckerbox's GoFundMe campaign has passed the $50K they were hoping for. Now Piecemeal, open again Wed-Sun, is turning to the public to help it keep paying staff while it rebuilds. A donation gets you "flood relief cookie dough"—chocolate chip sea salt, to be exact—plus baking instructions.SPONSORED: Enjoy Labor Day weekend, then join Wm. Smith's for our 53rd Annual Holiday Auction. It's post-Labor Day on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 10am—with multiple opportunities to preview. Beautiful antiques, Tiffany, Cartier, Rolex, gold, diamonds, art, oriental rugs... and an authenticated George Washington signature from Antiques Road Show's Shelburne VT episode. Plus, preview our latest online timed auction at the same time, full of Restoration Hardware, names, and quality you’ll recognize. We look forward to seeing you! Details and photos at https://www.wsmithauction.com/.Upper Valley orgs get VT Arts Council grants for "cultural infrastructure." Literally. Like, $24,913 for upgrades to the Randolph library's HVAC and climate control systems. And an accessible lift for the Thetford library. And a new furnace in Chelsea town hall. And money for an accessible lift in Sharon and a ramp at the Windsor Library. They're all among the 16 grants the council announced yesterday for enhancing buildings that offer cultural activities.Bunnicula gets a reboot. Actually, a graphic novel version, and in this week's Enthusiasms, the Yankee Bookshop's Kari Meutsch writes that tearing through this new version of the classic "rabbit tale of mystery" about a vegetable-juice-sucking bunny in a single reading the other night gave her huge pleasure. "In a story mostly told by animals, their faces are crucial to the tone, and artists Andrew Donkin & Stephen Gilpin get these expressions just right," she writes. "Plus, there are all kinds of visual easter eggs for anyone who is familiar with the broader range of classic monster stories."Five months of hiking, hundreds of miles of trails... and a helicopter ride to an ambulance. On Monday, Rachel Wild, 29, of Sanford, NC, was on her way through the Whites after through-hiking the AT from Georgia when she sustained a severe lower-leg injury on the Crawford Path. It was a remote spot, but an Army National Guard helicopter was able to hoist her out and get her to a landing zone in Crawford Notch. "She commented on New Hampshire’s terrain," writes NH Fish & Game, "saying that it was certainly more difficult than the hundreds of miles of trail that she had navigated up to that point."Where NH's Exec Council candidates stand on reproductive health contracts. Annmarie Timmins' article in NH Bulletin begins as a story about one conservative Christian organization's support for denying state funding to organizations that don't provide abortion services themselves, but refer patients to providers that do. This may become an issue for the Executive Council, with implications for family planning statewide, so Timmins then turns to how both Democratic and Republican candidates—incumbents and challengers in the Sept. 13 primary—view the issue.VT should see 17,000 doses of new Covid booster next week. Vermont Public's Bob Kinzel and Brittany Patterson report that state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso's office has been notified that the doses are an initial shipment for the state, and a full supply will become available in later weeks. The Omicron-specific boosters will be available first-come, first-served as soon as Sept. 7, initially through the state health department's offices and EMS partners, and eventually at pharmacies and doctors' offices.It's getting hard to keep track: Rutland loses Raiders moniker again. What may be the longest-running mascot controversy in Vermont took another turn last night when the school board voted 7-4 to remove the Raiders name and arrowhead mascot. This was in response to a new state law barring schools from using mascots that refer to racial groups, and reverses a January decision to reinstate the Raiders, which in turn reversed a 2020 vote to axe the Raiders. "At one point in the meeting," reports WCAX's Rachel Mann, "using the letter R as a mascot was suggested, but few commissioners were on board.""It was like somebody had a stakeout and was waiting for us to open. I was overwhelmed with joy, but I was also just overwhelmed." And in the bit more than a year since Boule Bakery in St. Johnsbury sold out its "soft opening" in two hours, its success has only grown. Darrell and Katey McLaughlin opened it hoping they could earn enough money to pay the bills, writes Suzanne Podhaizer in Seven Days. Now, as one of the cornerstones in St. J's burgeoning food scene, they've got 11 employees, have spun off a taco business, and sell hundreds of loaves, pastries, and cookies a day.State supreme court calls Maine’s power line referendum unconstitutional and battle over hydro corridor takes a new turn. Last November, Mainers approved a referendum that would halt work on a transmission line that would have supplied Canadian hydropower to a million households in MA. But yesterday Maine’s highest court sided with the project developer, the AP reports, effectively overturning the referendum and sending the case to a lower court. Project proponents say it expands clean energy in the region, while critics insist extending the corridor does more harm to the environment.Paddling hazards abound in this sweet animated short. A dad decides to take his toddler on a kayak trip. The day is bright, the water calm, the kid's snug in his life jacket—what could possibly go wrong? Well, for one thing, there's this eagle... And plenty of fine chuckles as dad struggles to keep the adventure moving steadily downstream. The beautifully drawn film, simply titled Kayak, is a production of École des Nouvelles Images, an animation school in France, and their Vimeo page is chock-full of imaginative work from promising artists. (h/t to The Browser for noticing it).The Wednesday Vordle. With a word ripped from yesterday's headlines.Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
T-shirts, tank tops, and, of course, coffee/tea/cocoa mugs. It's all available thanks to Strong Rabbit Designs in Sharon. Check out what's available and wear it or drink from it proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
At 6 this evening, Artistree in S. Pomfret keeps its summertime Music on the Hill series going with jazz vocalist Grace Wallace and the members of her quartet: drummer Mark Van Gulden, pianist Jason Pettus, and Ben Kogan on bass. On the lawn at Artistree.
This evening at 7, the Enfield Shaker Museum presents its final concert of the season in its Stone Mill Music Series, featuring Upper Valley-based fiddler, guitarist, banjo player, mandolinist, cellist, and roots music promoter Patrick Ross. You may have seen him around with The Fellers with Rusty DeWees and guitarist Doug Perkins, or Mountain Money, or Hot Flannel, or Atlas Key, but he's equally comfortable onstage by himself. Beer, hard cider, and food start selling at 6, music's at 7.
If you're into fantasy and magic—or, as Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman put it in their popular All of Us Villains, magick—the Norwich Bookstore's got your number this evening at 7. The second volume of Foody and Herman's series, All of Our Demise, is just out, and it picks up where the first book left off: with Ilvernath's Blood Tournament underway and breaking down.
If you act right now, you might be able to snag one of the very few remaining tickets (none together) to "One Night of Queen" at 7:30 at the Lebanon Opera House, the two-hour tribute concert by Gary Mullen & The Works. This is the show's 20th anniversary year and Mullen's still going strong as Freddie Mercury—a celebrated gig whose roots stretch back to when he was 4 and saw Queen do “We Are the Champions” on Top of the Pops in the UK. "It made me think to myself, ‘I want to be a singer, and I want to be that guy,'" he told an interviewer earlier this year.
So, yeah. How could we not?
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 Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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