Mr. Tig Moves to Portland

It is no secret that I am obsessed with my cat, Mr. Tig. With his 17^th birthday fast approaching, he and I have been through a lot together. In fact, when I first met my husband Jason (who is really a dog person) Mr. Tig was very put out and was determined to sabotage my blossoming relationship. But that is a whole other story that ended with Jason giving me an ultimatum along the lines of, "it's me or the cat." Suffice it to say, I still have both in my life. Jason and Mr. Tig bonded (eventually) and these days, they can be found watching hockey together or just hanging out doing guy-things.

But I digress. When my husband got a promotion and was transferred to the Portland office a few weeks ago, my wonderful boss agreed that I could work "remotely" from home leaving me more time to write. It's early days but so far so good. My biggest challenge seems to be finding a structure to my day. I was far more productive when I had less time! 

Mr. Tig's challenge is to adapt to his new surroundings. —especially the weather. If he had been human, I suspect he would be a surfer, say “dude” a lot and drive a Wrangler. Now he has swapped the Californian sunshine for English-type weather (I feel right at home) – dreary gray skies where, when the sun does come out, it’s optimistically called a “sun break.”  It’s the land of vampires up here for sure (The Twilight series was filmed locally) but I’m told that when Spring finally comes it is gorgeous.  The countryside is stunning, the food in Portland is beyond delicious and there are a gazillion coffee shops all roasting their own beans. And of course there is a strong writing community along with the world famous Powells of Portland, the biggest bookstore in the world.

…. I absolutely love it here and I do hope that Mr. Tig will adjust eventually. 

Mr. Tig

 Our holistic vet Lisa Hoberg  says that moving a cat—especially an old cat—is very stressful. To help him along I purchased a Sol Box from Pawsitive Lighting that is specifically made for animals. It made a huge difference to his mood. 

I still venture down to Los Angeles once a month for work but in the meantime, Mr. Tig and I share the Sol Box light and listen to a CD called  "Songs of Garden Birds."  I've never been able to listen to music as I write but the sound of birds in the background is quite lovely and along with the special light, reminds me of a perfect English summer day. All that is missing is a jug of Pimms No. 1. 

NEWS: The first book in my new series will be published by Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Press next Spring.  If you’d like to be added to my mailing list for updates on this as well as the Vicky Hill Mysteries (yes another one of those brewing too,) send me an email to Hannah@hannahdennison.com with Mailing List in the subject line.