A great day for clouds (from River Road in Lyme, NH), by Troy Thomas
Welcome to “Dear Daybreak”, a weekly Daybreak column. It features short vignettes about life in the Upper Valley: an encounter, a wry exchange, a poem or anecdote or reflection… Anything that happened in this region or relates to it and that might strike us all as interesting or funny or poignant.
Want to submit your own Dear Daybreak item? Just go here!
Dear Daybreak:
I love my porch. I have whiled away many a glorious summer afternoon sitting in my rocking chair on my porch. It was on one such occasion earlier this summer that I spotted three critters in my yard: an owl in a neighboring tree, a turtle sauntering up our driveway, and a skunk heading into the bushes off the driveway. One of the great pleasures of living in the country is that we are often joined by various creatures, most of them benign. (Let’s not remember the years of carnage in the coop when fisher cats and weasels and hawks made life perilous for our chickens.) Mostly we see deer, wild turkeys, and lots of birds. So it was surprising to have three sightings of three different species all within the space of an hour. I felt like I had somehow been blessed. Either that or there was a children’s book longing to be written.
As I look back and ponder this incident, I think it was really about paying attention. No doubt there have been other days when a collection of creatures have ventured onto our property. But if you’re not paying attention, you would miss them.
As a theatre director, we are taught to pay attention to everything that happens on stage: the presence of our actors, the effects of the stage lighting, the subtle cues from the audience. There are a million details and with luck we pay attention to all of them.
What else have we missed? If we are paying attention, we see when our friends and loved ones are struggling. We see when our neighbors have planted something new in their gardens. We see when the school children up the hill are hat and glove-less as fall turns to winter. Let’s not turn away from any of it.
— Perry Allison, Thetford
Dear Daybreak:
After reading the blurb on 10/1 about the U.S. Forest Service deployment of an S-64 Air Crane® helicopter to the Lebanon Airport to improve response times to potential wildfires, I was overwhelmed with gratitude to see my taxpayer dollars at work in my local community. The fact that a federal agency is recognizing dangerous drought conditions and responding with preventative action is a perfect example of the outstanding work that civil servants perform.
The decision to station this helicopter in this precise location was undoubtedly made by federal employees with expertise in climate science, GIS mapping, risk assessment, fire response, and all those administrative functions that are necessary to support them, like the people who process payroll, maintain IT systems, and order equipment. In an era when many elected officials are skeptical about the value that federal services provide, this is a stand-out example of local service delivery that makes a difference. The work of federal employees is vast and often invisible. Much of it seems to happen far away. But this one example is a reminder that civil servants provide services to communities, whether we notice or not. They are here, thanklessly, to protect land, property, and lives. They work overtime to assess and respond to risk. Ironically, this notice came out on the first day of a government shutdown in which many Forest Service employees, including those who work on wildfire response, are required to continue working without pay.
A passage from Michael Lewis’ The Fifth Risk comes to mind: “The new people come in and think that …the civil service are lazy or stupid. Then they actually get to know the place they are managing. And when they leave they say, ‘That was a really hard job, and those are the best people I’ve ever worked with.’”
To the unsung heroes, Forest Service and state employees in Vermont and New Hampshire who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe, to prevent fires from reaching our land, homes, and schools, I know that you don’t do this job for the thanks. But thank you.
— Emily
Dear Daybreak:
I experienced an unexpected and delightful act of kindness this week. It was at Hannaford’s. While I was standing in line checking out (both metaphorically and literally), a young man moved into line behind me. I say young because I expect he was in his 30's. He had a six-pack of beer and maybe some other food item; not much. But he also had a bouquet of flowers. I came out of my fog—created by a stressful day—and said, jokingly, "How nice of you to buy flowers for me!" Of course, I'd never met or even seen the man before. There followed some laughter and banter about how uncomfortable the couch he was sleeping on was. Clearly the flowers were bought to appease the powers that be.
Then I took my groceries and hiked to the far end of the parking area. As I was loading the bags into my car when the same young man came around the back of the car, holding the same bouquet. He gave them to me. I was caught off guard, but he said he really wanted me to have them. Now really .... isn't that just the nicest thing? They are now divided into little vases for my kitchen, study and bedroom. They cheer me up and I am touched and grateful to that lovely person for his act of kindness.
— Deecie Denison, Thetford/Fairlee
Did you catch Dear Daybreak last week? If not, here it is!