"It was imprudent of us, in the first place, to become authors. We could have become something regular, but we managed not to.
We were lucky, but we were also determined." Roy Blount Jr

"I don’t change the facts to enhance the drama. I think of it the other way round, the drama has got to fit the facts,
and it’s your job as a writer to find the shape in real life."
Hilary Mantel

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Go Fish!

Yesterday we headed for the big city to visit Amoskeag Fishways.

From the parking lot, we followed the walking trail of fish . . .





. . . to the bottom of the fish ladder.



The gates of the ladder weren't open yet--a little too early. Soon, the Atlantic salmon and herring and stripers will be leaping up that ladder, bypassing the crashing heights of Amoskeag Falls, to navigate the calmer, smoother path of the great Merrimack River, northward to the regions where they spawn.

We went inside the nature center and met some native creatures--a timber rattlesnake, a green frog, a painted turtle and a wood turtle.

Then we descended to the lower level to see the window on the river, and live Atlantic salmon!



Aren't they gorgeous?

I was mesmerised.



Perhaps because I'm a Pisces?

Outside, we admired this glorious flowering crabapple.



Bearing in mind that it was Cinco de Mayo, we hastened to our favourite Mexican restaurant and enjoyed a pleasant fiesta of a meal.

Took the scenic route home, arriving in time for the Kentucky Derby. A perfect race, just the thing to cheer up me and all the others still mourning Barbaro. I'm sure it was all very interesting to Her Maj. I doubt she approved of jockey Calvin Borel's endearing fist-pumping celebration of his horse's victory--too exuberant a display for a Briton's taste.

The following ditty kept running through my head: "You say Darby, and we say Durby...Darby, Durby...To-may-to, to-mah-to...Let's call the whole thing off....

I wouldn't want my lovely fishy salmon-y friends to know it, but tonight we're eating salmon steaks for our supper. Nothing personal! It's just that I love you on the plate as well as in the water.


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