Goodbye, loft. Thank you

partly cloudy, cool, temps 11

Perfect day for moving out of the Sutton office/loft. What a great space that's been! After writing DEAD COLD/A FATAL GRACE I really didn't want to write at home again. It was too stressful. I love my home. My environment is quite important to me. Doesn't have to be big. In fact, I adore intimate, cozy, inviting spaces. But it does need to be my nest...a safe place. Writing at home caused me to feel quite stressed about the home.

So we rented this magnificent loft space in the village. And wrote two books there. It was bliss. We'd get cafe au laits every morning, and go for lunches. See people on the street. But also have a space dedicated to writing...where I did nothing else. And Michael wrote too.

Cannot tell you how thrilling that was.

But then as the books took off we found ourselves traveling so much...and discovered that when we were home all I wanted to do was stay at home. We barely made it into the office at all for a year or more. I wrote all of book 5 at home, and realized I no longer felt antagonistic toward the space. Infact, I loved it. What could be better than sitting in front of the fireplace in my sweats or flannel pajamas, with a tea and cookies, and write? Then take a bath?

So we've decided to give up the loft. Not at all sad about that. Just deeply grateful we had that fantastic space when we needed it. And we have this fantastic space at home now.

Spent this morning with Anthony helping, schlepping boxes and some furniture. It took far less time than we expected. Yay. And now we're finished...just need to unpack. That should take about a year.

Off to meet Kirk at the loft. He's an antique dealer and friend. We have a couple of nice pieces we can't use at home and thought he could sell them on to someone. We'll see.

Canadian election last night. Conservative minority. No huge surprise. The Conservatives hoped, of course, for a majority government. They just had a minority and didn't much like it. It demands being able to build concensus.

The Canadian system is wonderful. We often have a majority government, but because we have three strong parties, it sometimes happens that no single party wins the majority of the seats. The other two parties can combine and defeat the government.

The Liberals didn't do so well last night, but the NDP (New Democratic Party) did very well. They're social democrats, with a strong bent toward social justice. I wish they were stronger on the environment - but they're not bad there. The Green Party didn't elect anyone, but they did well in the popular vote. Have a wonderful, dynamic leader named Elizabeth May. I think we'll be hearing more from her, and the party, in the future.

Now our eyes turn (never really left) to the American election.

Off for lunch...talk to you tomorrow.