Helloooooooo, WorkSpace! [sung to tune of "Hello Dolly!"] I'm back. I moved to Toronto in October of last year, and by December I'd realized that all the reasons I'd gone out there could be accomplished in business trips, without my having to live there (Doh!). The epiphany hit me while I was home for Christmas, having left all my stuff in storage in TO. So two weeks ago, I went back, house-sat for friends who'd gone on a Disney Cruise, shovelled their walk three times in six days, had some more great meetings (am I the only self-employed person who forgot I could send myself on business trips? probably ...), packed up my stuff, and came home.
Home sweet rainy home.  :)

I was in the mall in the summer (hey ... remember summer?), minding my own business and enjoying a coffee and a muffin in a cosy sit-down bakery, when a young woman and her friends sat down at the table next to me. As I took a bite of muffin, I caught sight of movement in my peripheral vision. Movement where there should have been no movement. Movement where a pendant necklace might hang, where a front-closure bra might close. With me?
I had to look. And there, between the chimichangas, was a chihuahua. A puppy, mind you, not full grown, but still .... I mean, doesn't anybody just keep handkerchiefs there any more?
Is it just me, or is anybody else worried about the number of "accessory dogs" that are going to end up in rescue shelters over the next while? And that's if they're lucky.
I wrote WHEN I'M 64 The Song of the Christmas Pet for the CBC website ...

Hi everybody, and thanks for the warm welcome to WorkSpace! I love my cats and I'm fond of my fridge, but after six years on my own, I'm very glad to be here.
I'm a freelance writer (18 years) working on the third book in my young adult fiction series, called JANE RAY'S WILDLIFE RESCUE SERIES (Flight or Fight, 2005; Crow Medicine, 2006). Set in Vancouver, the books are based on my experiences as a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator over the past seven years. I like to say they're Nancy Drew ... with animals.
Glad to be part of the community ...
Diane