Gone To the Dogs In A Rust-colored Shirt

Ginny’s office sent her out of town to a conference yesterday. It’s the first time in decades we’ve been separated over night so I’m worried about how she will get along without me.

I’m afraid she might really like it!

What with her being gone and my own blahs and internal worries, I pulled a rust-colored shirt out of the closet and wore it all day without giving it a thought—till my e-friend at Sherri at Matter Of Fact notified me that she posted a link to He Did Not Want To Go, a story I wrote years ago about St. Patrick of Ireland. It’s the third chapter in my book Strangers On The Earth and Sherri, an Irish enthusiast, had asked me about using it several weeks ago.

Since the beginning of the month Sherri worked hard proving green postings on her blog leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. She included receipts, photos, jokes, limericks, and all sorts of other features leading up to her grand celebration of Irish blessings in her post yesterday.

But I blew it.

I had altogether forgotten yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day.

And, for Heaven’s sake, my youngest daughter is named after St. Patrick!

There’s an author’s note at the end of the story explaining how she came to be named, and how I came to write it while laying under a bed.

I do have a green shirt in the back of the closet, a green shirt with shamrocks on it, but I just plain forgot about St. Patrick’s Day and wore my rust colored one all day.

In Ireland do they still burn people for heresy?

St Patrick himself would have understood my recent spiritual blahs; in his book Confessions, he wrote, “I was an illiterate slave, as ignorant as one who neglects to provide for his future. And I am certain of this: that although I was as a dumb stone lying squashed in the mud, the Mighty and Merciful God came, dug me out and set me on top of the wall. Therefore, I praise Him and ought to render Him something for His wonderful benefits to me both now and in eternity”.

I like his image of “a dumb stone lying squashed in the mud”; it matches my current blahs. Were we to meet, he and I would have a lot to talk about.

Carol, a member of our Neighborhood Crime Watch group, phoned yesterday to talk about some situations in our area. In the course of our conversation she asked me about posting a photo of her dogs on my site.

Glad to. Here they are:

Not that these dogs are pampered but—yes, Carol does push them around in a baby stroller lest their dainty paws touch the ground.

Several years ago Carol bought a copy of my novel, Glog. She’s the only person on our block, that I know of, to buy a copy. I think that book is my best,. but Carol didn’t like it. Said it was too gory when the dinosaur ate the school kids.

But, no problem. When anyone who actually buys one of my books wants a photo of her dogs posted on my site, darn right I’ll post it… Isn’t that how Stephen King sells so many of his novels?

You know, that might be a fun promotional gimmick.

Tell you what, buy any one of my books (there are about 20 that I’ve written or edited in my on-line book catalogue) and e-mail me a photo of your dog at bluefishbooks@ gmail.com and I’ll post a photo of your dog on my site too. Please tell me the title of the book and the date you ordered so I can coordinate, and I’ll post your dog’s picture.

Not that I’m desperate to sell books or anything—and this is a crazy spur-of-the-moment idea—but what harm can it do?

Sounds like fun to me.

O, yes, make the photos either jpeg or gif because I don’t know how to post other kinds of photos or videos… Let’s see, I’m making this up as I type… Ok, I’ll post a photo fo your cat if you do not have a dog… but I draw the line at aardvarks … or children, what with the world being what it is, I don’t think it wise to post identifiable photos of children on line, do you?

What else? Ok, a time limit. What do you say to trying this for a month? Have April 18^th as a cut off date? Or should it just stay open-ended?

What about downloaded books to read on your computer screen—why not? Downloaded books at bluefishbooks.info are cheaper than print-on-demand paperbacks but why shouldn’t cheap books count too?

That’s about all I can think of … Not that my thinking is all that sharp recently…

O crap!

Not only did I forget about wearing my green shirt yesterday, but I also just remembered that Dave’s Diner was offering a special on corned beef and cabbage. I’d told the gang there I’d come have lunch with them. Yes, I’d intended to go up to Dave’s for lunch—but I forgot.

Instead, I ordered Chinese food, General Tso’s Chicken.

But that’s ok, I think.

General Tso … General Tso… Tso…Mmmmmm…

Sounds like a grand old Irish name to me.