I've always felt that our pets are such an important ingredient to a child's upbringing, and as important a family member as any other. For the last 18 months I've been catching up on having fur babies to enjoy and look after by taking care of them for anything from 2 weeks to months. So this thread is going to be where we can share the joys of our canine companions! To get us started I'll share some of the pooches I've had the fun of caring for over the last couple of years down below in the comments. I look forward to seeing yours too. And if you don't have one, feel free to share your favourite GIF of one, or more, they're all welcome!

A quick update as promised: arrived in Sydney, Australia, and mid-winter! Lots still to arrange, things to sort and stuff to do! Only definite is being in Melbourne next week for 6 weeks. Meanwhile, good luck to all the teams through to Quarter finals of the Men's Football World Cup: Norway v England, France v Morocco, Spain v Belgium, and either Argentina or Egypt, Switzerland v Columbia who are still to play their Round of 16! And a Travelling Tidbit – if you are going through Heathrow Airport Security you now don't have to take anything out of your bag, including laptops etc, and can even take water through in clear plastic bottles, but you must empty any metal water bottles.

Hi @Cate Evatt-Davey for whenever you get a chance thought I'd share the cat pictures we were talking about see what you think :)

So I have a huge favour to ask... I'm travelling a bit over the next 2 weeks, back to Australia, then various places for 2 weeks. It's my first time back in over 3 years! Lots to get done. I'll then be in one spot for about 6 weeks, in Melbourne, then moving around a bit before heading back to Bulgaria in mid September. My big favour is that you take care of the Village while I'm on the move, welcoming new arrivals, helping them settle in, and keep inviting women you know would love to come and enjoy a place where we all belong. Thank you in advance, because I know you're all amazing supportive women and I appreciate each and every one of you! I'll be getting in here as often as I can and am still going to be updating the Welcome Guide, heading off to board the first leg to Sydney, 11+ hours to Shanghai. Ciao for now!

To you, the inaugural members of Clearwater Village, I offer a thank you and a huge welcome hug! @Chantelle Morrison @Marina Varahidis @Devorah Medwin @Nancy Valentine @Mei Lynn Buglino @Natalie Hurdley @Helen McGregor @Kath Cheng Help me welcome you and each other! I was reminded just last week that the first online community I built was back in 1997! It was centred on Irish Dance, and in particular the show Lord of the Dance, created by Michael Flatley. The website for the show had a 'Visitor's Book', and many fans posted there about seeing the show, and slowly a community built up as people responded to others' posts. Soon, a few of us who were 'tech savvy', started building websites, and I would host a regular 'Storyteller Room' chat in ICQ (we didn't have anything like we have today!) I also hosted a regular SCDS - a synchronised CD session. One of our members loved creating midis and he made us all a CD of a live show's soundtrack. We would all get together in the 'Storyteller Room' and there would be a countdown, and on 'Go' we all started our CD at the same time and then typed into the chatroom our comments as we all listened to the show together. Amazing friendships were formed, a lot of the members in the US were able to meet up at performances of T2 (a second troupe that started touring through the US), and it was a great community. So in 1998 when Michael Flatley announced he would retire from the lead role in the show and his final performance in Lord of the Dance would be back where it all started in Dublin, the idea of a 'Gathering' started. Such was the popularity of the idea that more than 60 of us, friends from all over the world, descended on Dublin in late June 1998 to meet face-to-face for the first time! So many stories and connections came from that!