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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error" (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
First up this week: Erratic … 
Do you occasionally find yourself flailing (but not necessarily failing) in the face of surprising life situations? I do. I try not to evidence erratica (not a real word) with too much confused arm waving. My public id-entity calls for the appearance of calm. But I do find that a bit of internal flailing when first confronted by surprise works pretty well for me. A little loss of self-control seems like a good thing, so long as my flailing eventually captures a rescue line back to a safe shore.
 
Second up this week, Error …
Erratic flailing doesn't always yield that rescue line. Sometimes my erratica results in errors: mistakes or seeming mistakes that have me floating out to sea. The sea: wide open, full of opportunity for either serendipitous triumph or discouraging disaster. Error and its synonyms (like mistake, blunder, and faux pas) is the "deviation from correct, sanctioned, approved belief, procedure, practice" (Merriam-Webster). I count on close friends to keep an eye on me, to cast a rescue line when I begin risky flailing. 

Third up this week, Eros …
Eros: The Greek god of love and sex (vs the Roman Cupid or Amor). Eros evolved into the son of, or assistant of, Aphrodite, who interfered in human affairs, mischievously causing mortal flailing and errors that often resulted in bonds of love (even if sometimes illicit … flailing into error and falling into love). Bows and arrows for the Feast of Saint Valentine. Valentine! And, somehow, the feasting in honor of several Christian martyrs named Valentine evolved into an expression of courtly love in time for the Renaissance. Weird. But Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day anyway!

A book I haven't read, yet … 
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, by Sue Halpern
I have a yen (and I don't mean Japanese currency) for stories featuring grown-ups. Stories with books, likeable characters, romance, and some humor. Of this particular novel (published in 2018) Kirkus Reviews concluded: "…the novel is suffused with a love of books and reading—each section starts with a line of poetry from a noted poet—and in the end, the library’s endearing denizens prove to be very good company." Sounds about right for DAH. 

And a bit more: 

The Love-Hat Relationship
by Aaron Belz

I have been thinking about the love-hat relationship.
It is the relationship based on love of one another's hats. 
The problem with the love-hat relationship is that it is superficial. 
You don't necessarily even know the other person. 
Also it is too dependent on whether the other person 
is even wearing the favored hat. We all enjoy hats,
but they're not something to build an entire relationship on.
My advice to young people is to like hats but not love them.
Try having like-hat relationships with one another. 
See if you can find something interesting about 
the personality of the person whose hat you like.


And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's Sometimes

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.