Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Things You Learn . . . and Remember

Okay I have this big piece of embroidered silk one of my characters threw away. My heroine retrieved it. It has finally been identified as a very valuable antique, from China. It was stolen from there and stolen several more times before ending up in America. Who is responsible for getting it back to China? It's not a big scene in the book, but who is the burly man (or woman) in a suit who picks it up, and how does she send it back? FedEx?

Oddly enough, the federal agency in charge is Customs, or as it is known now US Customs and Border Enforcement, specifically an investigation sub-division called ICE, Investigations and Customs Enforcement.

The things you learn.

We have a truly terrific cat, an orange and white neutered male named Snaps. Last night I was running down the list of terrific cats I have owned: Skipper, Lady Felicity (from Cheshire, England), Harley, Friday, Wobbles, Sophie, Stinker. Sophie is the cat owned by my sleuth. She's not bright, she's not clever, she's lazy and sweet and beautiful. And very, very fat. Her goal in life is thwart the diets Betsy is forever putting her on. It's fun remembering old friends and slipping them into the books, whether people or animals.

3 comments:

Monica Ferris said...

I neglected to write this post last night, so had to hastily compose something this morning before leaving for water aerobics. And *so* I forgot to talk about the one thing I wanted to share: Michaelmas. In England it's pronounced "mikkelmus" and it's one of the "quarter days," dividing the year into fourths: Candlemas, Lammas, Michaelmas and Christmas. There is a very old superstition that if you eat goose on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels you won't want for money for a year. We've been throwing a big party on Michaelmas for over twenty years. According to the superstition, it won't make you rich, it just stops the fiscal emergencies -- you know, where you're always a day late and a dollar short. At our party we sing a parody of Amazing Grace called Amazing Goose, and we say a serious prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. I change one verse of Goose to mention a wealthy person; this year it's the new richest man on earth, Carlos Slim. If anyone wants more information, or just to see the words to the parody, contact me.

Camille Minichino said...

Monica, you hit on one of the great thrills of writing ... learning new things through research and from other writers. And today I learned 2 new ones from you.
And you've inspired a future blog ... thanks.

Deb Baker said...

What day is Michaelmas? And yes, share the song.