There is something about animals…I need them!  I have dozens of poems about animals, and each of my books have animals in them.  

Rosie helps me write.  Her quiet dog self snoozing on the floor of my office anchors me to my chair.  The others help me write, too, in their own ways-- Elsie, Snot, Comet, Zippo, Paco--even the fish and the crickets!

Rosie swallows a pill.

This is our old cat, Lucy. She would sit on my lap when I wrote.

This is Elsie. She is full of mischief!  Her best buddy is Rosie (below).

This is our youngest cat, Snot, who squeaks out a tiny little “meow,” annoys Elsie, and adores Rosie.

Hint? Snot is not the fish!

This is Rosie, star of THE GREAT DOG SEARCH,
which is on my tape and CD. A dog rescue group found her in
downtown Los Angeles. She had been sitting in front
of a liquor store for hours and hours and hours--waiting.

Below she is seen leading a how-to-howl class for the local coyotes.

We have two fire belly frogs: Comet and Zippo. They live in my office and entertain me with small echo-y chirping sounds.

The frogs eat crickets, so we have a Cricket Hotel.

They sing all day.

We also have goldfish in our pond.  They all started out as 10 cent goldfish and now they're giants.  One is named Toughy--because he survived a catastrophic incident involving the hose filling up the pond and our memory that the hose was on.  Others are named Golda Meir, Hermione Gingold, and Goldfinger.