... as my mother lingers near death in a hospital in Parkersburg, West Virginia, so far from here. I am not going to say anymore at this time on that. I do have a big headache from crying which began as soon as I found out yesterday morning. She has had lung cancer (DAMN! DAMN! CIGARETTES! ) but still this is all very sudden so the poem I posted the other day by Auden " Stop All the Clocks " ends up being prophetic, sad and oddly comforting.