Izzy watches me, wherever I am,wherever he is. The Soul Dog, my spirit guide, I think.

He will not be joining me on this round of the book tour, and I will miss him, but not much. Dragging a dog around the country is a pain in the butt, and distracting too, unless you’re in the circus. He loves Tracy, the farmsitter, shameless hound that he is. Leaving him will mean fewer stops, later sleeping, more focus in my talks and discussions. Maybe the photo ops will not be as good. We’ll see. I was startled by the unanimity of the responses – in a word, good for me.

Couple of people wrote in to say hospice and other functions should be exceptions. I don’t think so. There are always exceptions, and I am sure there will be events I will take him to – the Lions Dinner in Greenwich in December, for one – but otherwise, his touring days are over.

Lots of e-mail requesting caps, calendards, T-shirts from Bedlam Farm. No thanks. Notecards and books are about it for me.