Kay Pfaltz grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received a B.A. from the University of Virginia then moved to Manhattan and worked for Chemical Bank. Deciding the corporate scene wasn’t for her, she moved to Paris where she would live and work off and on for the next fourteen years. She studied English literature at King’s College, University of London, earning her M.A. and Ph.D., and taught for James Madison and Southern Methodist Universities in Paris, while doing free lance writing. She has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.
      In addition to writing, today Kay runs a small restaurant/wine and cheese shop (www.basicnecessities.us). The restaurant specializes in wines from the south of France. Photographs of Lauren adorn the walls. And every now and then, Flash and Chance and Sasha can be found tidying up bread crumbs from the restaurant’s floor. Lauren’s chair still sits in the front of the restaurant at a small Italian marble table, where Lauren sat every day until she died in May of 2002.
      Kay leads wine tasting tours in France (for more information go to the Special Events page of www.basicnecessities.us). She teaches for Mary Baldwin College and volunteers with local animal shelter, Almost Home, in Lovingston, Virginia. Kay writes a monthly wine column for Nelson County Life; she reviews books for the The News Virginian and is contributing editor to LaJoie. She lives in Roseland, Virginia with Flash, a miniature Dachshund and Chance and Sasha, two beagles from the shelter.

TO ADOPT YOUR OWN STARVING BEAGLE, CLICK HERE FOR ADOPTION SITES.
What animals teach us about death and dying and beyond: www.blessingthebridge.com