Zombiod; Fedoras; Northern Ireland Authors; 404 Messages

Mother is continuing her therapy at the nursing home. She certainly seems more alert than she has been for several months.

This morning, I woke up at 6 and within a few minutes could tell that I was having pre-symptoms of an attack. I took a xanax and went back to bed. Then again at lunch, I noticed something similiar and took another pill, but this evening I feel tired but ok otherwise.

Last Friday, I was walking out of Borders when I noticed someone in a 60s vintage VW trying to find a parking place. (The car struck me because I've been reading Sue Grafton's Kinsy Millhone books, and Kinsey's car is an old VW that she is always "firing up.")

The driver parked a space or two away, and when he got out, I noticed he was wearing a long camel-hair-like coat and a brown fedora. For an instant, he reminded me of a film noir character. I tried to get a better look but lost him among the cars.

Yesterday, when I went to visit mother, a young man from her church was there, and he was wearing a grey fedora.

Then I remember seeing a recent photo of Elijah Wood, and he was also wearing a fedora.

A customer was asking the owner, who is from Birmingham, England, for a book set in Northern Ireland. An intriguing request since I could not remember having read one with such a setting. And she could not think of any either.

I have a vague recollection of a set of unrelated books about "the troubles" appearing 15 years or so ago. I remember trying to read some, but they were so intense and graphic that I gave up. Of course this was a very violent period with constant battles between the IRA and the British Army. I don't recall any of the authors or the books.

I suggested something by Bartholomew Gill, whose books are set in Dublin. Not a match, I know, but it popped into my brain. And the customer did pick one.

As I walked out I also mentioned Seamus Heaney.

Saturday evening, I tried to find via Google a list of authors from Northern Ireland. I found lists for Ireland but not just for the northern counties. And I found isolated references but no complete list. Of course, an suthor could be listed under Northern Ireland, Ulster, Londonderry, or one of the individual counties. I also tried Amazon and got similiar results.

I finally gave up and went in search of Heaney's poetry. Seamus Heaney has a selection of poems and corresponding audio files. I'd not heard of Heaney until he won the Nobel in 1995, and I went on line and discovered his reading of "Casualty." And I've been hooked ever since.

PAX!