Elspeth Barker, novelist.<\/p>\n
She wrote one book: “O Caledonia”.<\/p>\n
The book recounts the short, unhappy life of a girl named Janet, who, like Ms. Barker, grew up half-feral in a neo-Gothic castle in rural Scotland, avoiding people and befriending jackdaws. Both faced constant harassment from local boys, and both sought refuge in foreign languages and books.<\/a>
\nThough the novel opens with Janet newly dead, murdered on a staircase, it is full of life, energized by Ms. Barker\u2019s thistle-sharp eye for natural detail: She writes of mist that \u201cfloats in steaming filaments off the glens\u201d and of Janet shaking \u201cwet honeysuckle over her face.\u201d<\/a>
\n\u201cO Caledonia,\u201d her only novel, was a hit among readers and critics. It sold widely in Europe and won a number of minor British literary awards, including the Scottish Book Prize, and was shortlisted for a major one, the Whitbread Book Award (now the Costa Book Award).<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nTo be honest, I probably would have let this get past me, if it wasn’t for this line from the obit:<\/p>\n
In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, the British novelist Ali Smith called it \u201cone of the best least-known novels of the 20th century.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
On a totally unrelated note<\/strong>, I don’t have a good place to put this, so I’m sticking it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Art Horridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Horridge, who spent 25 years as the Houston Oilers’ mascot they called Roughneck, died at the age of 86, according to KPRC2’s Randy McIlvoy.<\/a>
\nHorridge always wore a Columbia blue shirt over his shoulder pads with a shiny chrome hardhat emblazoned with the Oilers’ oil derrick logo and he carried a 48-inch rig wrench, which he used to implore the Astrodome crowd to make some noise.<\/a>
\nBefore the Oilers’ 1979 AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh, Horridge told The Washington Post that he used to carry a plastic wrench with him at games, but he switched to a real one that weighed 44 pounds after some Steelers fans tried to rough him up in Pittsburgh after the AFC title game the previous season.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nLongtime Houston Oilers mascot Art Horridge has passed away at the age of 86. I think all of us who went to games and covered the Oilers remember Art and his passion for the #Oilers<\/a> @BudsOilers<\/a> . Thanks to his family for sending these pics to us @KPRC2<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/78bgxcNZxm<\/a><\/p>\n
— Randy McIlvoy (@KPRC2RandyMc) May 19, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n