Too dark, too early

Hey y’all,

In case you missed last week’s gift guide: you have until Dec. 14th to order personalized copies of my books and paid subscriptions are currently 20% off:

Here are 10 things worth sharing this week:

1. To quote Martha Wainwright:
   
   “When the day is short
   and the nights are long
   It’s a different world
   Where the rules are wrong“

   
   I’ve been sundowning every afternoon at around 3 P.M. and wondering if the slide towards the solstice is just extra bad this year or what. According to my diary, nope, my sads are right on schedule. In fact, one year ago this week I made a whole zine about it called “More light!” 
   
   

2. The sun setting at 5:30 P.M. complicates my very simple life rule that serves me well: I try not to think too much about my problems after sunset. (No wonder I’m not solving many problems at the moment!) “Deal with problems in daylight,” as I heard a combat veteran once say. Or, what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote to his daughter:

   

3. “Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings,” said Sherlock Holmes to his friend, Dr. Watson. I’ve been keeping cozy with their problem-solving: I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes after reading A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four and now I’m reading The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. (I also read critic Michael Dirda’s On Conan Doyle, a lovely short book I’d never heard of that I spotted on the shelf at the library — hooray for the serendipity of the stacks!)
   
   

4. “Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun…” I got sick on Thanksgiving and spent the rest of the break on the couch watching the remastered edition of The Beatles Anthology on Disney+. I enjoyed Paul mythologizing, George de-mythologizing, and Ringo in various spots around sunny Los Angeles, just being happy it happened at all. The new ending was fine. (If you’re looking for a new Beatles read, I enjoyed Ian Leslie’s John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs.)
   
   

5. Yule log recommendation: I loved Ted Marten’s Pixel Fireplace way back when — you can currently download it on