Three things from DAH.

DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I pen, promote, and make change (not the coin kind). 

First up this week, Winter …  
Winter is coming. On Monday, in the Northern Hemisphere. If I were aligned with the House of Stark in Game of Thrones "winter coming on Monday" would create a sense of urgency. Here in sunny California (yes, many winter days are sunny, even if the air is chill) the idea that winter is coming is rather nice. Because it will be followed by spring and summer; seasons that (hopefully) will bring the current pandemic to near-end. 2:02 PM Pacific Time on Monday 21 December 2020 is the winter solstice. It marks the darkest day of the year (the one with the fewest minutes of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere). In past years, the winter solstice would have initiated a time of great sociability for me (holiday parties! carol singing!). This year we'll be singing holiday songs, muted, online with the Davis Chorale. We'll have to plan in some sparkling wine toasts to endings and beginnings. We have bubbles on-hand because we'd anticipated more celebrating in 2020. They'll do the trick for 2021 instead. But I will have to track down a bottle from Roederer Anderson Valley, one of my favorites. 
10 Facts About the Winter Solstice, the Shortest Day of the Year  

Second up this week, Walrus …  
Walrus or Walruses? Either is the correct plural for the long-toothed pinniped (definitely not Walri). Yes, those tusks are teeth: canine teeth that just keep growing. I'm relieved our pet canines don't have teeth like that. Perhaps you've thought about the walrus a lot this year. I've not. But something about winter made me wonder and I found myself looking at walrus photos online. We love viewing the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas. Walrus(es) are larger, and they have those tusk teeth! And I don't expect to ever see them in the wild because I've no plans to visit their Arctic homeland. Still, the walrus is quite wonderful and worthy of winter consideration … from the warmth of home.  
Top 10 Facts About Walruses  (great photos!)

Third up this week, Wonder …  
Walrus(es) don't appear in this recent book, but other wonders do. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (illustrations by Fumi Nakamura) seems a perfect next step from my walrus musings. Short essays appreciating the amazing in a world in which it's so easy to feel desperate and despairing. I like the reviewer's comment (see the link below): "Short as they are, the essays work best in small doses, savored like exquisite chocolates." That's exactly how I plan to enjoy them this holiday season. I'm rationing the reading. The book appears to be sold out or back-ordered most places except for Barnes & Noble, which selected it as their Book of the Year (so they stocked up).
Review: World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

And a bit more (excerpted from Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. If you're squeamish don't dwell on the fate of the fat young oysters who willingly followed Walrus and Carpenter): 

The Walrus and the Carpenter
      Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
      Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
      And waited in a row.

'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
      'To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
      Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —
      And whether pigs have wings.'

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. 

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