Three things from DAH. Free every Friday!
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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal." (Groucho Marx)

First up this week, Escalating …  
I prefer escalators (they've been around since the 1890s). You can see where you are and opt to step up or back even as you're escalating, adding fun if not function. Unlike the claustrophobic black box of the elevator (with us since the 1850s). Another meaning of escalate: to become or cause to become more intense. Like raising the stakes to heighten excitement or tension. Conversely, you can de-escalate: lower the stakes to release tension. Learning from the theater: raising the stakes (or understanding that the stakes have been raised) is very handy in real life. I've often experienced others trying to raise the stakes to get me to either follow their lead or give up. And there's a musical dimension, too. Who among us hasn't been manipulated by musical cues escalating or de-escalating the emotional stakes? 
How to Raise the Stakes in a Performance

Second up this week, Entertaining …  
I enjoy a good house party. I like hosting them, and I like attending them (if they really are good parties). At our house, we've long noticed that hosting entertainments seems the choice of the few, not the many. The pandemic has limited things for a few years, but our house has always been a happy gathering place. And while our house is visited by many, other homes in our neighborhood are seldom visited by any. We issue many more invitations than we receive, certainly. Because, for others, home is a refuge rather than party central. And the stress of entertaining is more than they can bear. There's a perfection-expectation bar that holds potential hosts back from risking their refuge. I get it. I want things to be nice for my guests, too. But I focus more on them having an easy, pleasant time. Nothing Fancy is the title of a cookbook by Alison Roman. That philosophy suits me just fine. It's more important to share friendship than to show off.
Why I’m Giving Up Entertaining (And You Should, Too!)

Third up this week, Evensong …  
In 2018 we visited England (and Paris for a day) with friends. Our last few days were spent in Salisbury, an English city where I spent time with grandparents as a boy. Salisbury Cathedral is really something. In the city yet set apart in a large green-lawned cathedral close, its spire seems to tickle the clouds. It's a great aid in finding one's way about the city, because, hey! The cathedral's right over there! Salisbury Cathedral is open for a choral evensong every evening during term-time. We intrepid travelers attended one evening, and discovered we were allowed to sit in the open spaces in the ancient choir stalls, right behind the evensong singers (there was normal cathedral seating, too). It was a rare and moving experience. A bucket-list activity we hadn't known was on our list. And we were back the following evening for more. Spirit escalating whether or not you're a believer.
14 things you may not know about Salisbury Cathedral...

A Book I'd Like To Read:
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving, by Celeste Headlee. 
"Despite working harder than ever, people have never been more depressed, anxious, and unhappy. Without a doubt, our modern way of life is not working. In fact, it’s killing us. But what is to be done? With intelligence and compassion, Headlee presents realistic solutions for how we can reclaim our health and our humanity from a technological revolution that seems hell-bent on destroying both. I’m so grateful to have read this book. It delivers on its promise of a better life." (Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love)

And a bit more:

The Party, by Jason Shinder

And that’s how it is; everyone standing up from the big silence
 
of the table with their glasses of certainty and plates of forgiveness
and walking into the purple kitchen; everyone leaning away from the gas stove
 
Marie blows on at the very edge of the breaking blue-orange-lunging-
 
forward flames to warm another pot of coffee, while the dishes pile up in the sink,
perfect as a pyramid. Aaah, says Donna, closing her eyes,
 
and leaning on Nick’s shoulders as he drives the soft blade of the knife
 
through the glittering dark of the leftover chocolate birthday cake.
That’s it; that’s how it is; everyone standing around as if just out of the pool,
 
drying off, standing around, that’s it, standing, talking,
 
shuffling back and forth on the deck of the present
before the boat slowly pulls away into the future. Because it hurts
 
to say goodbye, to pull your body out of the warm water;
 
to step out of the pocket of safety, clinging to what you knew,
or what you thought you knew about yourself and others.
 
That’s how it is, that’s it, throwing your jacket over your shoulders
 
like a towel and saying goodbye Victoria goodbye Sophie goodbye
Lili goodbye sweetie take care be well hang in there see you soon.


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

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