Audrey, our current Seeing Eye® puppy, is full of personality.  She’s sweet, loving, and smart.  Most of all, she is funny.  She pretends she wasn’t doing anything wrong when we tell her no by picking up a toy and innocently playing with it. Her clear implication is that we must have been mistaken.

Since she will be returning to The Seeing Eye® for training in a few weeks, I could not resist buying her one last squeaky toy.  It is the silliest one yet—a bright pink plush purse with a turquoise handle, yellow “clasp” and it is embossed “Princess.”  Audrey really loves it, even more than socks, and she carries it all around.  I think she might have preferred a clutch, though, since she rarely uses the handle.

Audrey has a way of figuring things out.  The latest was when Bambi was in the way, fast asleep, and Audrey couldn’t get past her.  She did not want to jump over her (I can understand her reasoning) so she put her feet on the arm of the couch and looked at us, as if to say, “Could you help me out?”  We looked back at her, challenging her to figure something out, and she did.  It was a fine solution, although it did involve jumping onto the couch and going off on the other side.  Problem solved and, while we did chastise her appropriately, we were also laughing.

Misty is a great favorite of Audrey’s.  She hates to go anywhere in the house without her and will use whatever means she can think of to get Misty to go with her.  She’ll try pushing from behind, or, if that fails, she will find an available body part to use to drag Misty along with her.  It could be her tail, or more often an ear, reached from over her back (Audrey is taller than Misty) and pulled along at a run to the destination.  Misty puts up with it, but, then again, she’s put up with eight puppies chewing her ears as if they were gum, biting her legs as if they were drumsticks, and stealing her food.  Sooner or later all the dogs fall in love with Misty and they hurry to sleep next to her. 

Bambi doesn’t like anyone but Misty, but she has been nearly won over by Audrey’s charm and will even allow Audrey to sleep on the same dog bed.  The cat is the same.  He rubs his face on her, marking her as his own.

We are really going to miss Audrey.  But she has an important job ahead of her.  Unfortunately she won’t be able to carry her pink purse.

It’s been a while since I’ve added to my blog, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.  For example, my puppy, Audrey, went on vacation with my son, Ari, and saw The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  The outing, which was a group trip with The Eyes of Hope, our Essex County Seeing Eye club, included The Farmers’ Museum.  The club members and puppies also rode on an antique train.  It was a fun outing for everyone with the added benefit of socializing the puppies to more unusual situations.  Now they know how to stay in motels, eat in restaurants and behave when faced with unusual looking dogs (horses, cows, goats, etc.) 

While Audrey was having her adventure, I was getting news about my fifth book in the Wally Morris series.  It was while I was having lunch with several other Avalon authors at the New Jersey Romance Writers conference.  I know it sounds strange that I was there since I don’t write romance, but it’s a great conference and I never miss it.  

I was sitting next to my friend, Roni Denholtz, who had just won the Golden Leaf award for her Regency, MARQUIS IN A MINUTE (http://www.ronidenholtz.com/).  Our editor came in, looked at Roni and at me and pointed at both of us, then said, “I’m buying both your books.”  After the confusion about why she’d have to buy books from us cleared (there is a book fair at the end of the conference and people were all thinking about that) we all celebrated, although I think it was mostly about Roni’s big win the night before.

 I don’t have an exact date yet, but my new book is in the queue at Avalon.  The title is VENGEANCE RUNS COLD and in it Wally will be traveling to the Adirondacks.  There will be ice, there will be cold, and there will be murder.  Stay tuned.

I took Audrey, our latest Seeing Eye puppy, for a walk today and figured out some more elements for my current work in progress.  That tends to happen—while I walk, my brain goes into problem solving mode.  It also does it when I’m in the shower or driving, all places where it is difficult to write things down. 

Last Fall, while I was just starting the wip, I took a really long walk and came up with the first part of the book.  I called my daughter on my cell phone to write down my notes, but she wasn’t at home so she couldn’t do it.  I called my son, who was, and he suggested I just call myself at home and leave a message, but he took the notes anyway.

Today I came up with more questions than answers, but the answers to those questions will be the rest of my book, hopefully, so it wasn’t a total loss.  I mentioned them all to Audrey (we are always told to talk to our puppies) but she won’t tell me what I said.  I should have taken my son’s advice.

A funny thing happened while I was waiting for a puppy.  An adorable black Labrador retriever, one-year old on July 4th, needed a new home for a few months.  Audrey, our newest family member, has already made friends with Misty, Bambi, and Smudge.  She's cute, she's sweet, and she sleeps on my feet while I am writing, just like all the puppies who preceded her.

One huge difference between Wally and me is that she keeps a fully stocked refrigerator and freezer and can whip up a meal in minutes, whenever necessary.  In contrast, mine is empty.  My son says when he opens it he can see the back.  I never keep food in the house and most nights can barely think of an idea for dinner.  Wally, on the other hand, on a moment’s notice can provide a four-course meal to a family worrying about a missing teenager or a woman whose twin daughters have lost their father.  She bakes muffins and cookies often and it’s a wonder neither she nor her husband, Nate, is overweight.   

Or maybe she just brings the extras to work as I do.