Late Post, My apologies,a week in Toronto

I've become quite the Facebook junkie and need to apologize for not updating the blog more often.
My blog is really a substitute for letters and mass emails that I sent to friends; this was and is a more economical way of doing it.
It's always wise to edit your material online. Facebook has me worried since I have read that it is owned by a major corporation controlled by people who have certain political views....and that they are constantly attempting to control the users' emails and contacts.
This may be a little paranoid since it is very easy to opt out of the 'sharing' as long as you adjust your settings so that you have maximum privacy.
In any case, never put anything online that you would not want the whole world to see.
This week was notable for a visit from Nina Haley, a friend from L.A. who had not been to Toronto before. I also started my character design and maquette workshop in the same week. Gizmo kept Nina amused while I was at work, and we toured Toronto when I was not at work. The weather cooperated until the very last day, when we had torrential rains followed by a drop to zero degrees C (32 F) at night. My nice new basil plant died on the patio, but the indestructable chives and Sage survived.
Gizmo, who has NOT died, was the reason for Nina's trip. Gizmo was supposed to be either dead or dying by now and Nina, who loves cats, was going to get me through the mourning period.
Since Gizmo is doing fine and was actually showing off by roaring loudly at four A.M. for playtime, tearing apart a roll of paper towels, and constantly rolling around in paper bags that were liberally scattered for her benefit in the living room, Nina's visit became a pleasure trip. I did a few brief updates on Facebook about it and took a few pictures around town. We saw nearly all of Toronto's First Nation galleries including the Dominion Bank gallery of Inuit art, the Museum of Inuit art on the Queens' Quay, and the Native Canadian Centre on Spadina Avenue. The Toronto Comic Art Festival also coincided with the visit and I was pleasantly surprised to find the work of Stephanie Yue, whose Tai Ch'i mice were one of the highlights of the show. You can find the mice at her site in the "Children's" Section. Yue told me she studied illustration at Pratt in New York but did not study animation, and this is definitely so if you view the entire site. I think the mice are the most original and interesting part of it and I hope that Ms. Yue does more with these characters.
I am preparing for the publication of Animated Performance in July. It is available for preorder on amazon.com and I'm planning to go to the second annual Creative Talent Network Animated Expo for the weekend in November, where I will have a table and will do a presentation.
So that's what has been going on...
School year's ended, school meetings continue.
I promise to update more often...thank you for reading, all three of you!