Last Sunday’s Nature program on our PBS station interested me for two reasons:

1. It was entitled Sharkland and was going to expand my recent inexplicable fascination with basking sharks; and
2. It was filmed in the oceans around the tip of South Africa, which still occupies a good portion of my heart. (We lived in Cape Town for 18 months, Johannesburg for 10 years).

With 400 species of sharks in the world (who knew?), the basking shark received only honorable mention on the program. My guess is he’s too tame – toothless and a harmless predator, unless you happen to be plankton.

Food Chain of the Sea

The program wasn’t limited to sharks. It also filmed Cape gannets eating so many fish they couldn’t fly, which allowed them to be swallowed by fur seals, some of whom have learned that the bird comes garnished with a stomach full of fish. The seals are then hunted down by the great white shark, the top of that particular food chain.

Surprising Predator

You’ve heard of the sting-y Portuguese man-of-war, right?  It looks like a jelly fish, but even washed dead upon the beach, its long tentacles can deliver poison that can cause your skin to sting, burn and turn red at the very least, and for those susceptible to it, cause difficulty with breathing and even cardiac arrest.

But do you know who can crawl right up to this man-of-war and devour it without hesitation?

A snail! That’s right – a snail!

Sometimes it’s called a plough snail, because

1. It burrows into the sand to avoid being either washed out to sea or stranded on higher ground and
2. It lives in Southern Africa and that’s the way they spell plow.

They also call it a “surfing snail” because it uses its large fleshy foot to surf up the beach to find its prey stranded or washed up on the shore. I did find this “Vodpod” (filmed in Knysna, South Africa) that shows the little suckers in action. BE WARNED: Although they’re cute at first, watching them dine is not for the squeamish.

NOTE to Professional Bloggers:

I know, I know. This is not exactly in my “niche,” but I am making it so. That’s why my web address includes not only the word aging but also wonder, as in discovery, as in being in awe of the world and of the people in it. We live on an amazing planet.

I do not praise evolution for our planet’s wondrous existence. The theory of evolution is just too serious for this level of humor.

I WONDER…

Are sharks still basking in the waters of the Aran Islands?

I only ask because basking sharks featured in a 1934 black-and-white British documentary entitled Man of Aran, which we rented a couple of weeks ago.

In the film the men of Aran (a group of islands on the west coast of Ireland) risked their lives, rowing tiny boats into treacherous waters to capture these enormous fish to use for liver oil.

And it made me wonder about basking sharks.

Credit: Derek Pitman

Contrary to the picture you might get from my initial question, a basking shark doesn’t lie on a sunny beach, donning huge sunglasses, fins crossed behind his neck. He’s called a “basking shark” because he feeds very close to the surface of the water, filtering about 2000 tons of water a day to get his fill of plankton. He and his basking friends are also called sunfish, monsters with sails and in Irish, ”liabhán chor gréine” – the great fish of the sun.

And they are great – as long and heavy as a London city bus – growing as large as 40 feet and weighing as much as 10 tons. According to www.baskingsharks.org (only one of several websites dedicated to their study and preservation), they are the second largest living shark, next to the whale shark.

They’ve even been in the news lately. Did you miss it?

Last month, according to an Aran Isles blog, an Irish Times Marine Correspondent reported that northwest Ireland waters were “teeming” with basking sharks. On July 5, 2009, the *Florida Museum of Natural History reported 900 sightings of the basking shark off British shores since the beginning of June, compared to about 11 a year before.

So the answer to my question is “Yes,” they are alive and well and still swimming in the North Atlantic and sometimes even south of the Equator.

Other discoveries I made along the way:

1. In 1972, basking sharks were featured in a 30-minute cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios.
2. Almost 105,000 have viewed this You-Tube video of basking sharks, set to orchestra music. (Anyone know the name and composer of this piece?)
3. Basking sharks are a protected species in the UK, New Zealand, and the US Gulf and Atlantic Waters.
4. These days, visitors (1,000 per day) to the largest Aran Island outnumber the residents (800). (Rick Steves’ Europe).
5. Reading about the Aran Islands gives me one more reason I’d like to visit Ireland someday – not necessarily to see the sharks, but to meet the people who continue to live in a place I would probably consider uninhabitable.

Anything you’ve wondered about lately? Let me know. I’d love to research it for you and feature it here. We do indeed live in a world filled with wonder.

*10-19-2010 Update: The link to the Florida Museum news item seems to be unavailable now, but I found news of an April 2010 sighting off South Laguna Beach, California, reported in the Orange County Register.

#8 – On Delayed Gratification

“Leave some fun for later.”

– Jennifer Bryan at Wedding Reception in Houston
In a conversation about getting a (small!) tattoo
June 27, 2009

Why I Like This:

It’s a reminder to be patient with life. We don’t have to do it all now. I remember when this occurred to me, though maybe not in those words.

I must admit that at times I would view my four growing children as interruptions of my work – domestic and otherwise – until I would remember that they were my work – and pleasure. To view their needs and wants as interruptions interfered with that pleasure.

Anything else I wanted to do could wait. If it was important to me, if I had a passion for it, I’d get to it. If not, then did it really matter?

Now I look back at that time as one of the richest and most fulfilling of my life and wish I had paid more attention and savored each moment more.

Personal Note to Jennifer:

No need to lengthen your “bucket list” because you think you might be doing it all now. Your children have yet to graduate from high school, complete a higher learning degree, establish their own homes or give you grandchildren. Believe me, each of those milestones will present its own challenge. It’s fun to plan ahead, but I have a feeling you won’t find it necessary.

Personal examples:

Not on my list: Africa. When I was a child, I would never have dreamed of living – much less bearing three children – in South Africa. Yet I can’t imagine our lives without the 12 years we spent there.

On my list: Barcelona. I was intrigued by the city in 1992 when it hosted the Summer Olympics. In 2007, we were able to enjoy the city and its sights on the way back from a nostalgic trip to South Africa.

Not on my list:  Bangkok, Thailand. With children (and a grandchild!) in this remote land, it’s been moved to the top, with plans to visit in 2010.

On my list: England and Ireland someday. Who knows? It doesn’t hurt to wish. But if the wish gets waylaid, it’ll be okay, because I’ve learned that sometimes the best experiences of life happen while you’re making other plans.

Not on my list: a Tattoo. Does this mean….?

Learning how to develop this blog has been – and is – great fun. Discovering anything new has always made my brain feel good.

As most of us know, if you want Internet-related help these days, you ask somebody younger. In developing this blog, my help has come from a son, a son-in-law and virtual blogging mentors. I have been amazed at the amount of free instruction they make available to anyone who wants to learn.

So, appropriately, I want to express my appreciation to:

• My Number Two Son, who advised me long ago to use WordPress, patiently answers my technical questions – all the way from Bangkok – and has never made me feel like it was too difficult for me to learn.
• Favorite Son-in-Law (graphic designer in Nashville) who customized the photo in the header. (The photo, by the way is from PD Photo.org.)

Then there are Daniel, Seth, Gideon and Lori, who all live somewhere on the Internet.

• I’ve been receiving updates from Daniel Scocco at Daily Blog Tips for months now. I don’t always understand the material he covers, but little by little, the vocabulary is becoming familiar. Through Daily Blog Tips, I met…

• Seth Waite, of  Blogging Agenda, whose “How to Start a Blog” series is just what I was looking for: a step-by-step, day-by-day guide to professional blogging.

• Through Seth I discovered Gideon Shalwick at Become a Blogger, whose video tutorials provided the technical instructions I needed to launch the blog, using WordPress as a publishing platform and design source; Name Cheap for domain name registration; Host Gator as a web host; and FileZilla for FTP software. If you need to learn what all this means, link to their sites. They’ll tell you.

While these guys provided technical know-how, without realizing it,

• Writer Lori Widmer and her 2^nd Annual Writers Worth Day motivated me to stop doing what I dreaded every day: Bidding for writing, editing, and proofreading jobs on an impersonal, competitive, I-win-at-your-expense internet job board. When I discovered her network of supportive, professional, self-respecting writers, I knew it’s where I wanted to be.

Thank you, my young mentors.

Let’s talk about it. I know we all learn from our young children – especially that patience thing. What have you learned from younger adults?

Okay, I’ll admit it – I’m in my 60′s.

But that’s okay!

Really!

In fact, it’s great!

Because I believe you’re never too old for discovery, for looking at the world with wonder. In fact, I’m convinced that’s what keeps you young in mind and body.

Once you decide you want everything to remain as it is – or (perish the thought) as it always has been – you can declare yourself old, even if you’re only 28.

So this is my place to share my discoveries on many topics, from many sources – my family (especially my children!), my friends, books, magazines and yes, the internet. I hope you’ll join me as we discover and re-discover the joys of life at all ages.