The There There Letter: Sargasso Eels, Shenandoah Valley, and Shutting Up
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, Sargasso Eels …
I think my Mum would have been pleased with my awakened interest in the natural world. Currently, I'm amazed by the European Eel. Jellied Eel has been a London staple since the 17th Century. Yum, I guess. But the English back in that day had no idea where the eels came from. I remember reading (in old books) that they were simply risen from river mud. In fact, every European Eel, a rather long, slim fish, is born in the Sargasso Sea, somewhere in or near the Bermuda Triangle. These eels (scientific name Anguilla Anguilla) can live up to 85 years and develop from larvae into glass eels that migrate across the Atlantic to Europe. In the case of England, they enter freshwater swimming up rivers (like the Thames, so Londoners can gather, jelly, and eat them). They gain pigmentation and become known as "elvers." Over the next, oh, say, 20 years, moving upstream, they turn yellow. Eventually, at full maturity, they turn a silver-metallic color and migrate home to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, lay eggs, and die. Anguilla Anguilla lives as long as Homo Sapiens, is born in the Bermuda Triangle, visits England only to be jellied and eaten, unless they aren't, in which case they go back to the Bermuda Triangle to die. My mind is blown.
It must be true. I read it in the National Geographic.
Second up this week, Shenandoah Valley …
Some of my favorite Zinfandel wines are from the Shenandoah Valley. Not that one. If you do a web search for "Shenandoah Valley" you'll soon be planning a visit to Virginia. But there's a Shenandoah Valley in California, too. It's in the Sierra Foothills (Amador and El Dorado Counties). From Sacramento, in under an hour driving, make your way to Plymouth (neither the English coastal city, nor the Pilgrim's rock) and you'll find yourself among some of the Foothill's finest Zinfandel producers -- Turley, Runquist, Scott Harvey, Story, Sobon, and more (as well as wonderful Sangiovese at Vino Noceto). Since wine is made in both Shenandoah Valleys (VA and CA), the more famous VA's vignerons insisted that the western one be formally identified on bottles as "California Shenandoah Valley." OK. It's a jolly day trip from Sacramento because the wineries are so close together.
Not all near Plymouth but close enough, 10 to visit
Third up this week, Shutting Up …
I'm finding the noise of the daily news a bit much these days. So often I want to advise interviewees to stop talking, because the continued blather seldom helps their case. "Just shut up," I say. And I say it to myself, too. Because saying it to the daily news made me think more about the benefits of silence, of which there are many.
So I wrote about it here
A little bit extra:
"All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone." (Blaise Pascal, a French guy, 1623-1662)
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, Sargasso Eels …
I think my Mum would have been pleased with my awakened interest in the natural world. Currently, I'm amazed by the European Eel. Jellied Eel has been a London staple since the 17th Century. Yum, I guess. But the English back in that day had no idea where the eels came from. I remember reading (in old books) that they were simply risen from river mud. In fact, every European Eel, a rather long, slim fish, is born in the Sargasso Sea, somewhere in or near the Bermuda Triangle. These eels (scientific name Anguilla Anguilla) can live up to 85 years and develop from larvae into glass eels that migrate across the Atlantic to Europe. In the case of England, they enter freshwater swimming up rivers (like the Thames, so Londoners can gather, jelly, and eat them). They gain pigmentation and become known as "elvers." Over the next, oh, say, 20 years, moving upstream, they turn yellow. Eventually, at full maturity, they turn a silver-metallic color and migrate home to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, lay eggs, and die. Anguilla Anguilla lives as long as Homo Sapiens, is born in the Bermuda Triangle, visits England only to be jellied and eaten, unless they aren't, in which case they go back to the Bermuda Triangle to die. My mind is blown.
It must be true. I read it in the National Geographic.
Second up this week, Shenandoah Valley …
Some of my favorite Zinfandel wines are from the Shenandoah Valley. Not that one. If you do a web search for "Shenandoah Valley" you'll soon be planning a visit to Virginia. But there's a Shenandoah Valley in California, too. It's in the Sierra Foothills (Amador and El Dorado Counties). From Sacramento, in under an hour driving, make your way to Plymouth (neither the English coastal city, nor the Pilgrim's rock) and you'll find yourself among some of the Foothill's finest Zinfandel producers -- Turley, Runquist, Scott Harvey, Story, Sobon, and more (as well as wonderful Sangiovese at Vino Noceto). Since wine is made in both Shenandoah Valleys (VA and CA), the more famous VA's vignerons insisted that the western one be formally identified on bottles as "California Shenandoah Valley." OK. It's a jolly day trip from Sacramento because the wineries are so close together.
Not all near Plymouth but close enough, 10 to visit
Third up this week, Shutting Up …
I'm finding the noise of the daily news a bit much these days. So often I want to advise interviewees to stop talking, because the continued blather seldom helps their case. "Just shut up," I say. And I say it to myself, too. Because saying it to the daily news made me think more about the benefits of silence, of which there are many.
So I wrote about it here
A little bit extra:
"All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone." (Blaise Pascal, a French guy, 1623-1662)
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.
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