Sunny, breezy. Skies will start to cloud up later today as tomorrow's rain approaches, but for much of today we get plnty of sun with temps getting into the low or mid 40s. Winds out of the south. Down to around 30 overnight, with a chance of rain starting up just as the day gets going.

Sun pillar. Snared over the weekend from Jericho Road in Hartford, by John Pietkiewicz.

In five towns, shifts coming to the streetside landscape.

• You may remember that earlier this fall, Traditionally Trendy owner Rocio Menoscal announced she'd be retiring and closing her store. In the Valley News, Ray Couture talks to Menoscal about her 31 years in business and shift to online-only sales. And talks to Hanover Town Manager Alex Torpey about his work with a group of about 20 business owners in town who are meeting "to discuss ways the town can better support shops on Main Street and throughout downtown." Among the issues that have come up: public restrooms and more places to sit and eat downtown.
• In Lebanon, meanwhile, a cool $1.2 million could get you the Four Aces, lock, stock, and barrel, report the VN's Laura Koes and Alex Hanson. For the better part of the 35 years their family has owned the landmark diner (which opened in 1952), siblings Leann Briggs and Steven Shorey have run it; in recent years, Shorey's been dealing with health issues and both have been struggling with all the challenges meted out by the pandemic. Whoever does step up, though, will find a thriving business, Koes and Hanson write, with 17 employees and a huge and loyal clientele.
• And in E. Thetford and Fairlee, the Wings markets in both towns are being taken over by Williamstown VT's Pump & Pantry, reports Li Shen in Sidenote. It's unclear what kinds of changes, if any, the two stores will see, Shen writes: "If the parent Pump and Pantry is anything to go by, it will probably be a somewhat upgraded store providing much the same range of goods as before." It's also unclear whether the new version of Wings will actually add a pump, since, she notes, Huggett's is already selling gasoline a stone's throw down Route 5.
• Finally, in WRJ, the Hartford Planning Commission last week okayed Northern Stage's plan to build employee housing and a connected rehearsal/education building on what had been two residential lots on Gates Street, the VN's Patrick Adrian reported over the weekend. The 4-3 vote came over the objections of commission members who argue the design of the complex is "too modern for the neighborhood’s character, which includes several historic homes," Adrian writes.

NH may be ready for a scrap over first-in-the-nation primary, but it's not going to be easy. For one thing, as Ethan DeWitt writes in NH Bulletin, there's some fine print attached to Friday's Democratic National Committee decision to let SC go first: If NH wants to keep its second-place status, it will need to change some laws. “This is laughable!!” one powerful Republican tweeted afterward. And if NH does follow through on its threats and hold an unsanctioned primary, UNH prof Dante Scala says the DNC has any number of punishments it can inflict.

For that matter, the NH Primary ain't what it used to be. That's the argument by former Concord Monitor editor Mike Pride, who led the paper's coverage of eight of those first-in-the-nation primaries. For one thing, he writes, "This was once a state of small newspapers that covered the primary campaign with vigor." No papers have the staff to provide the coverage they once did, leaving the state's voters to sift through sound bites and a "deluge of hateful television ads." And for those voters who do go to in-person events, time for the extended Q&A that once marked campaign events has pretty much disappeared.

Demand for firewood—and chimney sweeps—jumps in NH. Community action agencies are already seeing record demand for fuel assistance, reports NHPR's Mara Hoplamazian, but rising fuel prices have also shifted homeowners' attention to wood. Wood banks are seeing volunteers and rising donations, and are expecting high demand: "I just feel like anybody who has the ability to burn anything will be doing it,” says one wood bank's organizer. Meanwhile, chimney sweeps are flat out—and, says one, seeing people "trying to resurrect some fairly old and.. sketchy systems.”

Pete Sutherland dies. On Wednesday last week, the renowned fiddler and folk musician made use of VT's medical aid in dying law, writes Juliet Schulman-Hall in VTDigger; he had terminal prostate cancer. Sutherland, who was 71, was revered not just as a versatile and masterful musician in his own right, but as a teacher and mentor to generations of folks musicians coming up behind him. In his last days, musicians came from across the country to play at his bedside, and uploaded online tributes. “I think every time people gather to play his tunes or tunes that he taught, he'll be remembered,” says one NC musician.

With a shifting climate, VT "agripreneurs" try new ventures. Dairying is an ever-tougher way to make a living, write Laura Reiley and Zoeann Murphy in the Washington Post (gift link, no paywall). So farmers, both longstanding and new, are trying new things. The pair profile John Brawley's shrimp farm and the new Vermont Malthouse in Charlotte, two members of a small collective of ag ventures at the old Nordic Farms; the Joneslan goat farm in Hyde Park, now the biggest in the state; Burlington's Foam Brewers and other small brewing ventures; and the state's burgeoning saffron scene. (Thanks, MS!)

Or heck, you could just head over to the nearest streambank and harvest knotweed. Wait! Hear me out! "This prolific plant has its good side," insists Vermont Public's Mary Engisch. "In its home country," she reports, "Japanese knotweed is revered in part for its medicinal properties and even as a food source." Knotweed contains the anti-inflammatory resveratol, and there's a movement in the state to promote its use—while keeping it under control. A nonprofit called Spoonful Herbals harvests wild plants, including knotweed, then shares the processed herbs. Engisch talks to them about knotweed chips.

Watching Fissure 3. As you probably know, Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano began erupting last week. It's the 34th time since 1843, and at the moment the chief concern is a slow-moving lava flow headed toward the Daniel K. Inouye Highway. But the actual eruption is pretty darn mesmerizing, too, and the USGS has a live stream that lets you watch the action in real time. It's still the middle of the night there right now, but... well, that stuff's bright. (Thanks, JF!)

The Monday Vordle. With a fine word from Friday's Daybreak.
 

And to start us off this week...
Pete Sutherland made a lot of music, and there's just so much to choose from. Let's just take two examples: Here he was with frequent collaborator Patti Casey at Vermont Stage's production of Winter Tales in 2020, with "Ribbon Candy." And long before that, Sutherland, hammered dulcimer wizard Malcolm Dalglish, and flute/tin-whistle player Grey Larson formed a trio in the 1980s, Metamora. Here's Dalglish's "Little Potato"—which, heck, you may have sung to your kid or your cat or whenever the mood struck.

See you tomorrow.

Written and published by Rob Gurwitt   Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter   Poetry editor: Michael Lipson  
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