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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1h

Oh! No…that’s fine. I’ll be kinda curious what they think

Reposted by Surprised Eel Historian, PhD

the seed oil sommelier✨ @mollytanzer.bsky.social · 3h

What if we tried loving one another, eating delicious food, making art...what if we practiced patience, helped those who need it, found ways to make life easier for all, moved our bodies, and slept cozily in nice warm beds. How about we see how that goes for a while, instead of whatever all this is

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Reposted by Surprised Eel Historian, PhD

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 12h

"Salt eel" was a slang term among English sailors for a rope whip.

Samuel Pepys recorded thrashing his servant with one, writing, “With my salt eel went down in the parlor & there got my boy & did beat him till I was fain to take breath.”

Not cool, Sam. Not cool. 1/2
🗃️🧪

Meme. Photograph of marshmallow candy Peeps -- the yellow rabbit ones that are canonical Easter treats. You can see four of them clearly, in a row, and parts of other rows above and below them. These peeps are standing together as part of a broad swath of peeps. They are finding strength and resolve in the company of their peers. As we all do.

They have no mouths, but they each have three dots, representing two eyes and a nose. Probably. Or maybe not...perhaps we've been making assumptions about Peep biology that we should not. It might be that those dots represent three eyes. Or three noses.

It does appear, though, that they are staring very hard. Judgingly hard. They are considering the petty tyranny of Samuel Pepys and they do not like what they see. It is likely that they will get together in some sort of Caucus of the Peeps and kick him out, demanding that he begin to pronounce his name phonetically.

Meme text reads:
"It's time for kinder,
Gentler Pepys"

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 12h

He really wasn't

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 12h

But eels have great phallic potential, & so do salt eels!

In Fletcher’s 1622 play, "The Sea Voyage" a sailor has his manhood questioned by a female passenger, & in retort he invites her to search him, saying, “A seaman is seldom without a salt eel."

If ya know what I mean. 2/2

Meme. Black and white image of a muscled & shirtless sailor pulling a rope aboard ship. This seems like it is taken from a movie, but I cannot find which movie it's from, or who the actor is.

What matters most, though, is that he is meant to be Very Sexy. His hair is shiny and dark, styled just so. He is wearing ridiculously clean white pants, and his nipples are perfect. They wink at you. The one bare foot you can see is steady on the deck, a foundation for his testosterone, and his arms are offer to hold up the moon for you. He is pulling down on a rope that disappears out of frame; perhaps he has lassoed the clouds and is wrangling them into lines of erotic poetry.

He is not meant to be a sex symbol. He is meant to be a sex embodiment. And it seems likely that he knows it.

Meme text reads:
"I'm happy to see you
...and...
there's an eel in my pants"

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 12h

"Salt eel" was a slang term among English sailors for a rope whip.

Samuel Pepys recorded thrashing his servant with one, writing, “With my salt eel went down in the parlor & there got my boy & did beat him till I was fain to take breath.”

Not cool, Sam. Not cool. 1/2
🗃️🧪

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

It’s time

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

A reminder that if you like one of my drawings and want a print of it, reach out and let me know! I'll be happy to work with you.

Bruce Erickson @bruceerickson.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks @greenleejw.bsky.social for the great image. I look forward to receiving the art piece. Its getting framed and up on the wall real quick. All my grandkids love it, they think it fits this old GrumpyPa real well.

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Reposted by Surprised Eel Historian, PhD

Bruce Erickson @bruceerickson.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks @greenleejw.bsky.social for the great image. I look forward to receiving the art piece. Its getting framed and up on the wall real quick. All my grandkids love it, they think it fits this old GrumpyPa real well.

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

I hope you all enjoy it!

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

Yup! The toxin breaks down in low heat, so any cooking takes care of it. But you won't see eel sashimi

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks, Alice! That's very kind of you

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

I'm the most famous eel historian in the world! How is that not great?

Also, I've met tons of wonderful people & made some of my very best friends. I've been able to launch a whole new career as a mapmaker & artist. I've been profiled in TIME, saved some eels, & shared the spaniel with the world.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Reposted by Surprised Eel Historian, PhD

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

It's Wednesday. You need some eels in your life, right? And some otters?

Here you go!

A scene of otters & eels, from an early 15th C. copy of Gaston Phoebus's Livre de la chasse. Eel blood is toxic to mammals, but otters don't care. They love them some eels.

Can you blame them?

A medieval painting of otters playing in a pool, chasing and catching eels and other fish. There are 10 adult otters, and what look to be 2 younger otters in a den at the base of a tree. They are all doing serious otter things: playing, eating, cavorting, eating, gamboling, eating, swimming, and eating. They are having a good time. For now.

It can't last, though. This pond seems way too small to support all of these otters, and the painting has a border around it. They can't leave, and soon they will turn on each other in a bloodbath that will make the Donner Party look like a tea time at the Rotary Club. If you check back with these otters in two weeks, I suspect you'll find only carnage.

That, though, is a problem for Future Otters. Today's otters are carefree, with spotless souls.

Source:
Morgan (MS M.1044 fol. 28r)

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

It's Wednesday. You need some eels in your life, right? And some otters?

Here you go!

A scene of otters & eels, from an early 15th C. copy of Gaston Phoebus's Livre de la chasse. Eel blood is toxic to mammals, but otters don't care. They love them some eels.

Can you blame them?

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

There are eels on each map, but that’s it, I’m afraid

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

The cheapest way to own copies of 5 of my maps!

Also, these are both excellent and well-written books.

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

Post-order Oathbreakers and The Bright Ages here. Pay zero shipping from @bookshop.org. Me and @profgabriele.com tried to write it real good for you!

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

and

bookshop.org/p/books/oath...

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe

A New History of Medieval Europe

bookshop.org

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

Next time I’ll draw a different moon

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Reposted by Surprised Eel Historian, PhD

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 2d

The Hunter's Moon

Art. A drawing of a gold and orange full moon behind the bare limbs of a tree or bush. The tree is done in black. The background of the piece is a grey that is as soft as a mole's dream.

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 2d

Awww

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 2d

I had a very productive day.
- I drew a hamster for a client
- I drew the moon for myself
- I drew a map of Scandinavia and its billion miles of coastline

That’s a lot of drawing. Time to relax and…errr…curses. I usually draw to relax. But that’s a very different kind of drawing, so it’s ok.

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 2d

Nope

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Reposted by Surprised Eel Historian, PhD

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 2d

A poem for this afternoon. I wrote it several years ago, and come back to it often.

Damage

We live in such a disposable time,
throwing away and buying new,
in and out,
as easily as breathing.
Standing in the center of ourselves,
we move along from damaged things
before they can become
uncomfortable.
Before they make us think.
Make us work.

We live as if the loss is all we have,
and injuries can never be redeemed.

But damaged isn’t broken,
and the whispers of the wrecking world
are often easy lies,
for we are neither perfect-made nor
sinful born,
and sometimes worth is buried dark-earth deep.
It need not be our nature to destroy
what feels undone,
or put too much belief in all the permanence of hurt
when we cane be the tinkers of our souls,
and mend ourselves anew instead of
falling to the scrapheap of despair.

We do not need to be disposable;
it is only damage.

– John Wyatt Greenlee

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