WELCOME TO DAYBREAK DIVERSIONS, UPPER VALLEY!
"Go on in and land her, Jerry. I'll hold that wheel on with my foot." Think of a time when all odds were set against you and every option exhausted, then consider Hollywood stunt pilot F. Gerald Phillips, who in 1926 unwittingly took his prop plane up with one wheel loose—only to watch that wheel plummet to the earth. Phillips’ harrowing recollection, written in 1987 and just republished in Air & Space, puts us right in the cockpit as his stuntman passenger dares to climb the wing, receive a spare wheel from another plane, and attach it to the axle. But what happens when the motor and propeller quit in mid-air? In the mood to feel insignificant? It's pretty much impossible not to when you happen on Mitch Dobrowner's storm photography. In his late teens, he stumbled across the works of Ansel Adams and Minor White, and was, he once said, "floored" by how they used light in the environment. He works in black and white... which, given the massive storms he likes to chase, seems exactly right. Link goes to his storm portfolio, but you can see landscapes and other works via the "menu" at the top left.
SPONSORED: REDCAN in downtown WRJ offers the finest food and dining experience in the Upper Valley. REDCAN's dinner service runs Tuesday-Saturday, from 4 pm until 9 pm. Reservations can be found on RESY. And don’t forget our very popular ROOM39 Speakeasy Lounge! Come early or stay late for specialty cocktails. REDCAN also offers Private on-site events and specialty dinners. Check out our website at the burgundy link for our menu samples. Sponsored by REDCAN.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.The Monday Jigsaw. The Norwich Historical Society's Cam Cross writes, "Try this jigsaw of a 1774 map of Northern New England. Zoom in to a time when Vermont did not exist, Maine was Eastern New Hampshire, and many of the towns and features we know today had very different names." Here's the original map. Today's Wordbreak. With a word from the regional news.
You could think of this either as a stirring soundtrack to awesome visuals, or awesome visuals to a stirring soundtrack. The music is a "reimagined" version of Schubert's "Ave Maria" by Audiomachine, which mostly produces movie trailers and advertisements but has also gotten into creating music for the general public—including a 2020 release that took on Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Satie, and others. It's the background for a timelapse compilation of the aurora over Fort Yukon, Alaska, pieced together from over 8,000 photos compiled over eight nights in 2022 by Vincent Ledvina, a physics major at the University of North Dakota and dedicated aurora chaser.See you Wednesday.Daybreak is written and published by Rob Gurwitt About Rob
If you like Daybreak and would like to help it keep going and evolve, please hit the "Support" button below and I'll tell you more:
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!