HI BLOG

My name is Jackie.  I will be your writer today.

I met a dog on my walk today at the foot of Seymour Mountain.

This is the first sentence in a book I have written called My Imaginary Dog.  In 2007, I retired.  To keep fit, I decided to walk Monday to Friday up and down the streets of Deep Cove where I live.  I carried a little book with me, and when I stopped halfway on my walk, usually at the small blue church up on Deep Cove Road, which is gone now, I made a few notes about the people and dogs I met on my walks. 

One day, I was passing a bush near the end of a driveway of one of the many houses fronting the sidewalk where I walk.  The sidewalk was just starting its uphill climb.  I slowed when a dog appeared.  Unattended dogs make me nervous.

"What's your name?" I asked, hoping to keep him at bay.

There was no reply.  He turned away.

His owner, who was sipping coffee, called out from the deck over his garage, "His name is Artos.  I see you walk by here most mornings and you're back in about 30 minutes." 

The long and short of our conversation was that I agreed to walk his dog for $10.00 a day.
 
We started our walk that day and I called him Bear.  He questioned his new name  and I told him the old Celtic word for bear is artos.

My imaginary dog's life began.