The There There Letter: Country Drives, CSAs, and Chardonnay.
Three things from DAH.
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I write, organize, plan, produce, manage, direct, act, sing, promote, and make change (not the coin kind).
First up this week, Country Drives …
When I was growing up Dad regularly took us out on weekend drives. Into the countryside, usually with a vague destination in mind. Often somewhere we might find interesting large rocks for the front garden. Of the family recreational activities we might share, I found the drives much preferable to the slide shows, which seemed interminably long. The past few years, living with my Mum, we'd regularly take her out on a weekend drive. Now, as we shelter in place during the coronavirus months of 2020, Christine and I have taken a few short drives through the farm country that surrounds our little city. These drives are strangely restorative.
Bring back the Sunday drive
Second up this week, CSAs …
We have a weekly produce box delivered to our home. It's a great treat, especially during shelter-in-place. The box comes from a CSA farm (CSA = Community Supported Agriculture). Selling directly to consumers means more money for the farmer which means they'll grow more, and more interesting, produce locally. Some CSAs deliver to your home, others organize pick-up locations around town. With our CSA, we have the opportunity to substitute and add to our planned delivery each week. It's rather like having a Farmers Market come right to our house! CSAs exist all over the country. A great way to support your local farmers.
Find CSAs near you
Third up this week, Chardonnay …
We subscribe to a Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants wine club that sends us two interesting bottles each month. Last month, they offered an "add-on" of six bottles, none of which I'd normally purchase (too expensive). But they were offering this add-on at a steep discount and with no shipping charge, so I bit. Yesterday evening we enjoyed a Pouilly-Fuisse (pronounced poo-yay fwee-say), a Chardonnay from France's Burgundy region. It was quite delicious. Back in the day, Americans couldn't get enough of it. I think people liked saying the name (try it and feel sophisticated). It's popularity (and overly high price) helped inspire the Chardonnay boom in America. Chardonnay gets a bad rap these days (there's an ABC - Anything But Chardonnay - movement), largely because of an already-mostly-past trend to make Chardonnay wines very ripe and oaky in California. Yet Chardonnay is still, by far, the most popular white varietal wine in America. This white varietal is amenable to making many styles of wine, most of which I find rich and delightful.
Pouilly-Fuisse is Chardonnay
That's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's poem "Sometimes" …
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I write, organize, plan, produce, manage, direct, act, sing, promote, and make change (not the coin kind).
First up this week, Country Drives …
When I was growing up Dad regularly took us out on weekend drives. Into the countryside, usually with a vague destination in mind. Often somewhere we might find interesting large rocks for the front garden. Of the family recreational activities we might share, I found the drives much preferable to the slide shows, which seemed interminably long. The past few years, living with my Mum, we'd regularly take her out on a weekend drive. Now, as we shelter in place during the coronavirus months of 2020, Christine and I have taken a few short drives through the farm country that surrounds our little city. These drives are strangely restorative.
Bring back the Sunday drive
Second up this week, CSAs …
We have a weekly produce box delivered to our home. It's a great treat, especially during shelter-in-place. The box comes from a CSA farm (CSA = Community Supported Agriculture). Selling directly to consumers means more money for the farmer which means they'll grow more, and more interesting, produce locally. Some CSAs deliver to your home, others organize pick-up locations around town. With our CSA, we have the opportunity to substitute and add to our planned delivery each week. It's rather like having a Farmers Market come right to our house! CSAs exist all over the country. A great way to support your local farmers.
Find CSAs near you
Third up this week, Chardonnay …
We subscribe to a Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants wine club that sends us two interesting bottles each month. Last month, they offered an "add-on" of six bottles, none of which I'd normally purchase (too expensive). But they were offering this add-on at a steep discount and with no shipping charge, so I bit. Yesterday evening we enjoyed a Pouilly-Fuisse (pronounced poo-yay fwee-say), a Chardonnay from France's Burgundy region. It was quite delicious. Back in the day, Americans couldn't get enough of it. I think people liked saying the name (try it and feel sophisticated). It's popularity (and overly high price) helped inspire the Chardonnay boom in America. Chardonnay gets a bad rap these days (there's an ABC - Anything But Chardonnay - movement), largely because of an already-mostly-past trend to make Chardonnay wines very ripe and oaky in California. Yet Chardonnay is still, by far, the most popular white varietal wine in America. This white varietal is amenable to making many styles of wine, most of which I find rich and delightful.
Pouilly-Fuisse is Chardonnay
That's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's poem "Sometimes" …
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Please feel free to share any or all of this newsletter.
If you're seeing it for the first time, you can subscribe at TheThereThere.com
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to The There There: