Archive for the ‘Getting Along’ Category

3/27/23, Resurrection

Posted on March 27, 2023

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope it’s been a good week for you. I’ve been working on an outline. It’s been a long week, with strikes in Paris, interrupting all the public services they can, transportation, the postal service, and the garbage is piled high in the streets, with violence on appointed days, and small fires set all over town. It definitely impacts the usually pleasant atmosphere in Paris. And rats will be the next addition to the strike if the garbage isn’t picked up soon, with mountains of overflowing, torn plastic garbage bags spilling garbage all over the sidewalks. Not a pretty picture!!

 

Other than that, life is rolling along, and I stay home and use the time to write when there are demonstrations all around the city. Despite reports in the international press, it doesn’t feel dangerous to the average citizen, just incredibly inconvenient, which is what the strikers intend.

 

We are rapidly approaching one of my favorite times of year: Easter. And Passover is always around the same time. The main theme and message of Easter is one I particularly love, the idea of resurrection. After the dark days preceding Easter, commemorating the crucifixion, in the days following the powerful message is all about resurrection, a time for healing and rising from the ashes, and starting life anew again. Who among us hasn’t had ‘crucifixion’ times, a broken relationship, a lost job, the loss of a loved one, a sickness, a disappointment, a divorce, a break up,  a financial problem, or the betrayal by a friend?. We’ve all been there at one time or another, and I always say problems seem to come in bunches. We’ve all had dark times in our lives, and these are still difficult times for many people in the aftermath of Covid.  The world isn’t fully back on its feet yet. And after hard times, what better thought than that of resurrection, of healing, of being born anew, wiping the slate clean and recovering from whatever blows we have been dealing with. This past year was one of many losses for me, of dear friends. My agent of forty years died, and at his best over many years, he was mentor, agent, brilliant advisor, fierce protector, and beloved friend, and even a father figure to me. It was a huge blow to lose him, even at ninety two. He led a great life, but left a huge void when he died. And not long after, another friend died, and at the end of the year, another dear friend (Barbara Walters) and then a beloved brother in law. Three of them had reached a great age, and were still active and vital when they died, but all of them had been my friends for many years, and I felt the absence of their love and presence for months, and still do. So I can use a resurrection from that, a lifting of my spirits and peaceful acceptance that they have moved on, and I have so many happy memories of them to cherish. They were in my life for so many wonderful years.

 

And then there are all the little problems that gnaw on us night and day, keep us awake at night, they’re not life threatening, but they impact the quality of our daily life. And added to that, the sad events and disappointments that make our daily life less glowing than we would like. And every year the Resurrection redeems us, wipes the slate clean of those disappointments, and we get to start fresh again. I can’t wait!!! The resurrection gives us new hope for the future, feeling renewed and refreshed and ready to leap into life again. There are many celebrations throughout the year, but for me none as powerful as the idea of resurrection.

 

May this be a healing time for you too, and if you’ve been wrestling with something, or feeling down, now is the time to rise again and start fresh with a clean slate. And whatever religion we are, or none, it’s a concept I love to embrace, as we leave our problems and wounds aside and bury them and move forward with a lighter heart. I hope blessings and joy will rain on you in the coming weeks!!!

 

much love, Danielle

 

3/20/23, Strange Times

Posted on March 20, 2023

 

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week and that things are going well for you.

My new book “Worthy Opponents” came out in hardcover a week ago, and it just hit the #2 spot on the New York Times list, (with 2 paperbacks on that list too), and #1 on some other lists, which is always Great News!! I never take it for granted, and am grateful every time my books land on the bestseller lists! It’s a thrill for me every time, and a form of validation for all the hard work I do. And getting on the bestseller lists is thanks to YOU—-so a giant thank you for that.

I just finished a big writing project, correcting a set of galleys (the last step before a manuscript goes to the printers to become a book.), And I finished a new book the week before that. I have been writing non stop for the past three months, very intensely, so I’m taking a couple of days off just to catch my breath and relax. Reading, doing needlepoint which I love to do when I take a break, seeing a few friends, a little shopping. It feels like landing on earth again, after focusing so completely on the books for months.

When 9/11 happened, people predicted that it would change the world and it has. It was a loss of innocence, an attack on our home turf. I hated to think that it would change us forever, but inevitably it has, and travel has certainly been more complicated ever since. And now Covid impacted the world for nearly three years, and once again, I wanted to believe that it would go away and life would continue as before. Finally, we are getting back to greater normalcy, but it is still shocking to think that it brought the entire world to a dead stop (and tragically, killed people all over the world, devastating their loved ones). I don’t think any of us could even remotely imagine something like that happening, except in a science fiction movie. And like all major events, some good things came out of it, new relationships, new friends, some time for introspection, a greater appreciation for our lives. People who had never had enough time to spend with their children suddenly got to know them and strengthened their family relationships, now many people are working from home part time and prefer it. But it was also isolating, frightening at times, and I find that people are still on edge now, more anxious than before, and people are still catching Covid, although the cases seem to be milder.  But there does seem to be a sense of “malaise”/unease, uncertainty, discomfort. Maybe it was so shocking that it will take us all longer to relax and feel comfortable again. Or maybe the world is just a little off kilter at the moment. But I don’t feel like we’re back in our old familiar groove yet. I’m not sure if the post Covid changes are temporary or here to stay.

In the US a bank failed last week, which always panics people even from the distance. In France, the population are registering their displeasure by general strikes that are tedious, with all services disrupted, transportation, even some flights, subways, buses, trains. The strikers, and their sympathizers have started to damage the city (though nothing like the “Yellow Jackets” of a few years ago, who trashed the city with billions of dollars worth of damage.), some cars have been burned, and the garbage strike that is an offshoot of the strike has left  Paris with literally mountains of uncollected garbage pouring all over the street and sidewalks. In San Francisco more homeless than ever are roaming the streets, in worse shape than I’ve ever seen them.

Friendships were impacted by the isolation of three major lockdowns (in France).  It was a very hard time for me, since I was separated from my children for 15 months  for the first time, which was traumatic for me.

It’s been a cold hard winter in Europe, and I’ve been tucked away writing for many months. But when I take a break and go out, or when I talk to people, or when I walk down the street, something still feels “off’. I guess the trauma of two and a half years takes longer than a few months to heal. And the world news continues to be disquieting, and sadly, the war in Ukraine has continued for more than a year now.  And on a day to day level, People seem to be more argumentative and disagreeing more.

Maybe when the weather gets better and Spring arrives, maybe people will settle down and it will all get better, or seem better, more settled and more hopeful. But if you’re feeling jangled in the meantime, it’s not you, I’m hearing that from a lot of people, about small situations and big ones.  We just have to keep on trucking and we’ll come out the other side of the tunnel. And in the meantime, I hope you enjoy my new book “Worthy Opponents”. Take care and have a GREAT week!!!

much love, Danielle

 

2/13/23, Be My Valentine

Posted on February 13, 2023

Hi Everyone,

I hope that all is well with you, and you’re having fun. This week is the Valentine Lottery, so to speak, hoping you get cards, flowers, dinner, chocolates, and maybe even an engagement ring!! My first big Valentine disappointment was in third grade, when I was the only girl in class who didn’t get a Valentine, but I made up for it in later years, when I got two Valentine’s Day marriage proposals. One lasted for eighteen years, and the other one for eight. that’s pretty respectable by today’s standards, and the proposals were wonderfully romantic. And so were the weddings that resulted.

I’ve had some truly inglorious years with no flowers, no chocolates and no marriage proposals (although my children always come through for me and spoil me!! And I spoil them too). There is definitely something very exciting and romantic about Valentine gifts, but some men just aren’t into it, and consider it crass commercialism and avoid the date entirely. And I’ve given and received some outrageously funny Valentine cards, refusing to take the date seriously. That is definitely one way to handle the date. The worst possible way to handle the date is to sit at home, crying. I went to mass one year on Valentine’s Day, and the priest asked all couples to stand up so we could see them, and celebrate them and congratulate them. And then he asked all the single people to stand up, and I felt as though he were saying “We want to take a good look at you losers”. Standing up there alone, with people staring me was definitely a low point in my Valentine history.

There are such strong expectations on Valentine’s Day, if no one makes any romantic moves, and no one proposes, it definitely feels like you lost the Valentine lottery. The night before my first Valentine proposal, I gave a Valentine Dance that was a huge amount of fun, I wore a terrific red dress, and everything came together and my husband proposed. I don’t even know who I would invite to a Valentine Dance to today, although I love the idea, I love to dance, and I had a lot of fun at that dance, and the proposal came as a wonderful surprise!!! today, my friends have either settled into couples long since, or have parted company with their mates, or have settled into looser, more unofficial relationships that seem to work with them, and a few claim they are happier alone. There is not quite the feeling of expectation more typical in one’s twenties or thirties. But it’s never too late, and some couples find each other late in life (sometimes even a person they went to school with and have reconnected with, once they are free again.)

Many years ago, I gave a very funny Valentine dinner. I invited a group of people, I think a dozen of them, and each one had to bring someone that they were happy to introduce to others, thought they were a nice person, but had no interest in dating them. It was a fun evening, and I think four or five new couples resulted from it. It was a creative way to meet new people!!

This year, I am trying something different. I am having lunch with five friends whom I thoroughly enjoy and love dearly, and it will be a joy to have lunch with them. Two are married, one is separated, one is widowed, one divorced, and one is in a long term relationship. It will be warm and fun to be with them, we all know each other well and are good friends, and maybe the best way to spend a special day, if romance isn’t in the air, is to spend it with friends you love. And you just never know what surprises life will have in store for you next year!!! Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, with whoever you spend it with, a child, a friend, a spouse or a lover, and have a great week!!!

all my love, Danielle

2/2/23, Heartbreak

Posted on February 2, 2023

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week, I’ve been buried deep in writing a book, weaving the story, which always transports me to a quiet place, far from the real world. I don’t go out or see people when I’m writing, and at times real life intrudes, and wakes me up out of the spell I am weaving in a fictional world.

I am not a political person. I’ve never had a strong interest in (or understanding of) politics. Certain issues and injustices catch my attention at times, emotionally, but I grew up in two countries, and I focus on my family, my loved ones, and their well being and my books, which are my job and something I love doing. although politics are an important part of our lives and responsibilities as citizens, politics always seem very remote to me, run by people we really don’t know, and it often seems to be about who is the best orator, or has the best speech writer, rather than who is truly the best person for the job, which is hard to know.

What I am writing to you does not come from politics, or about race, or color, it is purely and only about motherhood, about love. It has weighed on me for days. And I cannot write to you about fashion shows, or about petty gripes or new books, or holidays here, or on my Instagram with pictures of pretty plates, new shoes, or pictures of my dogs….with this weight on my heart.

I speak of Tyre Nichols, brutally, wantonly senselessly murdered, for no reason, out of pure rage, seemingly just for sport—-a young man of 29, in the full bloom of his youth, barely more than a boy, and the father of a little boy himself. Whatever he did or didn’t do, was or wasn’t, no one of any color deserves to be murdered. He didn’t even anger anyone, he just was, going home to his mother’s house. I cannot read about it, or see his mother’s face, or think about it without tears filling my eyes. I lost a son, he committed suicide at nineteen, a greatly loved, infinitely cherished, wonderful special boy I loved and always will. I know the pain in Tyre’s mother’s heart. When you think of how much we love and cherish our children, the touch of their skin when they are born, the first moment you see them, the smiles and the laughter over the years, the nights spent with them when they’re sick, the fear for them as they grow up, the touch and feel of them, the joy they give us and we try to give them, the pride when we see them in the school play, or when they give you the Kleenex box they made you as a gift. Just holding our children in our arms is an immeasurable gift. We would do anything to protect them, they are part of us forever, the idea that someone can take that loved being, so cherished by his parents, his loved ones, his children once he’s grown. They took that loved being and murdered him for no reason anyone can fathom. Did not one of those five men who beat him to death, or those who watched it happen, have a child of their own whom they loved so tenderly that taking someone else’s child and murdering them would have been an unthinkable act?

There is no explaining the vagaries of man, the terrible things people do to each other in wars, and even more impossible to explain murdering a young man going about his business in an ordinary life. Where was mercy? Where was kindness? Where was humanity? Where was the unwillingness to injure and destroy another human being, and to rob parents of their child? I don’t think we will ever understand it. Children are killed every day by people who are beyond understanding. I am equally unable to understand this one shocking death.

It weighs on my mother’s heart, on the memory of what it was like to lose a child I had nurtured and loved for nineteen years. Tyre’s mother, his parents, have a hard road to travel now, and will have to learn to live with it, until their grief softens to something they can live with.

I write to you tonight, only to tell you how sad I am, how deeply sorry I am for them. How little comfort we can offer for what they lost.

May God bless his soul, may he be in a better place now, may his parents find comfort, and remember the warm memories of the joy they shared during his life. And may each of us remember him and be reminded that a world without mercy, humanity and compassion is an unlivable place for us all. May it be a reminder and a lesson to us all. And may the memories of him be sweet for those who knew and loved him.

with all my love,
Danielle

10/31/22, Why?

Posted on October 31, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week, and have some fun planned for Halloween. Good, safe fun!!! Please be careful if you go trick or treating.

Halloween has always been a huge deal at our house. With nine children, you can imagine how exciting and fun that was on Halloween when they were little. Costumes planned for weeks, going trick or treating, seeing the fun spooky decorations neighbours had set up, and counting their candy loot at the end of the night, and trading each other for the candy they liked best.

On a more serious subject, I am shocked and saddened by the attack on Paul Pelosi at his home by a deranged intruder, brutally attacked with a hammer, with a cracked skull, a damaged arm and long hours of surgery as a result. Regardless of one’s politics, politics are irrelevant, this is a shocking attack on an innocent person, of a considerable age (he is 82) by a deranged attacker. The assailant could easily have killed him.

One of the things that shocks me most is the dramatic increase in violence since the pandemic. I truly don’t understand how that can be the outcome of more than two years of the pandemic. We all lived through something frightening and terrible, almost like a war waged on us by an unseen enemy. Many didn’t survive, many lost homes, jobs, and loved ones. It would seem that such an incredibly hard time would lead to greater compassion, and kindness toward one’s fellow man. Instead, there have never been more shootings, more violence, more brutal attacks, and crime. Mass shootings are no longer a rare occurrence, instead they happen every day, and the only thing that changes is the number of victims and the name of the location where it occurred. People are being mugged and attacked in broad daylight, stores are being robbed, and people are being killed by assault weapons, by teen agers, with military style weapons that are in wide circulation. Economic circumstances are hard, but not enough so to justify mass crime on an alarming scale, or the murder of innocent people during house invasions. Why is the overriding response to the stress of the pandemic one of violence, hostility, aggression and even murder. What during those hard scary two+ years has led to such an explosion of anger instead of compassion. We were punished enough by Covid, without having the aftermath make it even worse, with people turning on each other with killing sprees and destruction. I just don’t see how that has become the result, or why. Most of us came out of the two years of lockdowns, worry and sickness, exhausted, somewhat demoralized and many depressed. PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has become commonplace,—–but so have violence and mass shootings.

It seems to be a noticeable reaction in every city, in every country—-and perhaps worse in the US, because fire arms are so readily available. But crime and violence have increased abroad too, even if not to the extreme degree as in the US.

I remember the somber days after 9/11, with the country in shock over being attacked on their own soil. There was a loss of innocence realizing it could happen. New York was like a deserted city in mourning for months, and the rest of the country was quiet and sad for a long time. But it made people kinder to each other, more helpful, more supportive, reaching out to each other in shared sorrow. Why is that not happening now? We have always faced disasters with kindness and compassion for fellow victims, I think this is the first time that instead of a helping hand, people are the victims of violent crimes and being injured and murdered.

If there is an explanation for it, I don’t know it. And we stand aghast at what is happening, the additional tragedies being added to those of Covid, and the lonely pain of the lockdowns. I hope that this is only temporary, and we are not descending into the hell of violence and crime for a long stay. We all need to heal from the pandemic, not fear for our lives every day. Untreated mentally ill people are roaming the streets freely, and common criminals are having a field day. I hope this stops now. It is the exact opposite of the comfort, healing and peace we need after 3 years of fighting Covid, and struggling to stay alive….only to be murdered when we go to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread. The violence needs to stop now, whatever the reason for it beginning. It needs to end so we can all heal from these very hard three years and return to some semblance of normal. And we cant allow violence, crime and murder to become our new normal.

Have a great week, and a fun Halloween if you celebrate it. And above all, stay safe!!!

love, Danielle

10/10/22, Moses and the Serpent

Posted on October 10, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re busy and having some fun as the fall progresses into full bloom. I always like the fall weather, it revs up one’s engines and give us new energy. ( I love being lazy in summer when it’s warm, and the fall wakes me up again and gets me moving). I write a lot in the fall. I just finished a book, 2 re-writes, and am working on a new outline. The book I finished was a very big deal to me, because it is the 200th book I’ve written, which amazes even me. I wrote my first book at 19.

One of my daughters very bravely had four wisdom teeth extracted last week, and VERY understandably, she was fiercely anxious about it for weeks before. And I don’t blame her a bit, I’m one of those people who get nervous going to the dentist. She isn’t normally anxious about the dentist, but she was about having teeth pulled and worried about it. We were talking about it, and I told her it was going to be a lot easier than she thought (and fortunately it was), and another of my daughters was worried last week too about something else. I reminded them both about a story I remembered in the Bible, of Moses being afraid of a snake, and he reached down and grabbed it and it turned into a dry old wood stick in his hands. It’s an interesting parable and image, which seems true of life to me. (I love finding stories in the Bible that are helpful in my life). MOST of the things I have been terrified of, and really really worried or scared—-most of them turned out to be so much less frightening and dangerous when they actually happened, even easy. For those of us who are worriers (and I am one), deeply concerned about something that lies ahead, it rarely turns out to be as scary, dangerous or tragic than I expected. It’s a good thing to remember when we are tormenting ourselves over what’s to come. Not always, but in most cases, the snake turns out to be a dry old stick, and not a snake at all. Just a thought if that helps you too.

Have a wonderful week, peaceful, happy, with good surprises, and only small problems, or none at all!!!

Much love, Danielle

10/3/22, Hope in the Sky

Posted on October 3, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week. It’s been a VERY busy time, I finished writing my 200th book a week ago. It is definitely a landmark, and I wrote my first book at 19. It’s been a long, interesting road to get here, and I still love what I do. Writing is a wonderful way to share thoughts and stories and hopes and dreams and life experiences with the people who read them. I LOVE varying my subjects, and I’m excited about the next books coming out, to share with you.

I am VERY excited that ONE WEEK from today, my new hardcover The High Notes is coming out. It’s one of those books/stories that really snagged my heart while I wrote it. It’s about a young girl with an incredible singing voice, with no mother and a single father, who exploits her talent. With little regard for her, she is an innocent child with an amazing gift, he drags her from one dusty Texas town to the next, and has her singing in dingy bars, to stunned audiences once they hear her. She’s 12 once he starts booking her into bars, she eventually lands in Las Vegas at 18, gets booked into tours by disreputable managers who exploit her and the other young musicians and singers on tour. It’s the hard life of beginning a career in the music world, travelling all day, singing all night, setting up the sound and lights and stage, working in miserable conditions, and her slow but stunning rise to enormous fame and how she got there, and the success she worked so hard for and deserves. I hope you fall in love with her, as I did, and it will open a whole new world of what that climb to the top looks like!!!

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead, with happy surprises, peaceful moments, problems easily solved, people around you who you love, and who love you and treat you well. I hope it is an easy week for you. I’ve been focusing a lot on gratitude lately. It seems to make everything go better than worrying about all the things that aren’t going right.

I saw a beautiful rainbow the other day. rainbows are supposed to be good luck. So I’m sharing the one I saw with you—–I hope you have a lucky week ahead,

much love, Danielle

9/26/22, REALLY?

Posted on September 26, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week, and it hasn’t been too difficult. We’ve all watched the British royal family suffer nobly through eleven days of agonizingly exhausting highly emotional ceremonies surrounding their queen’s funeral, and not just a Queen, but a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. And on the final days, they had at least 12 hours daily of marching, walking, sitting, listening, and wiping away tears, under the constant scrutiny of the Press. We watched the new King, with all the stress and pressure that must entail, watch his mother’s casket being lowered into the crypt. My daughter was so moved by it that she couldn’t stop crying. Imagine how he felt, with billions of people watching him at such a private, heartbreaking moment, watching his mother disappear. And in our own family, it was the anniversary of my son’s death this week, the day after the Queen’s funeral. It’s a day that breaks my heart every year, and my family’s. Last week was not an easy week for any of us. And I hope this week will be better.

What struck me reading some of the press coverage of the funeral was how critical some people are. What has happened to us that people are so free and easy with saying nasty things about other people, with such fervor!!! Where do we get off being so tough on everyone else? Who made us the arbiters of fashion, taste and everything else? I read a flood of nasty comments about the headpiece (fascinator) that Mrs. Biden wore to the funeral. I have no political stake in it, and I actually thought it looked nice on her. I read a flood of comments that it was inappropriate at a funeral—-WHO SAID??? If you looked at the crowd, there were every kind of hats, some gorgeous (Princess Kate’s on the day of the funeral), some beautiful, some silly or funny, and some ugly, and I would guess that about 10% of them were wearing headpieces just like Mrs. Biden’s. Let’s be real here, they had to go to a state funeral where they would be under total scrutiny, which means that people would be commenting on whether her suit was appropriate, if she looked fat or thin in it, how much did she spend on it. She had a long flight to London, had to emerge from the plane looking chic and well dressed, no matter how tired she was, or if she slept or not (I look a complete MESS when I get off a plane), and she had to go straight from the plane to the funeral, while worrying how she looked to cameras, if people thought she looked okay or if she got a run in her stocking—–and people were upset about her headband? which I repeat, I thought looked both appropriate and chic. But what is wrong with us? Where is our compassion and our sympathy, we don’t care how tired she might have been, or nervous, or sad—-and people have to complain about her headband?? WHY? How do you look getting off a plane, how do you feel going to a funeral where you will be videoed for hours and everyone will have some comment to make about your outfit? Why can’t we give people a break? We live in a cult of fame and celebrity, where every waking moment is on Instagram or Facebook or some form of social media, and all we do is criticize how people look, how their hair looked, how big their bottom is, how ugly their dress was. Do we really HAVE to criticize every move that people make, what they wear, what they eat, who they date, and how bad their hair looks. I think it’s time to back off and show a little compassion—-and think how complicated our own lives are, and realize that other people’s lives are just as complicated or more so, and what their headgear looks like really doesn’t matter. How great would you look coming off an all night plane ride, with a big time difference, heading into a state funeral where EVERYONE is going to comment on what you’re wearing, how you look and what you’re doing. I think it’s time that we give each other a break. You didn’t like Mrs. Biden’s fascinator? Ok, then don’t buy one just like it, and next time you go to a funeral, make sure that you look perfect, and wear a hat. Let’s lighten up on the nasty criticism…..it will make life a little or a lot better. Have a great week, and let’s try to be nice to each other.

love, Danielle

8/22/22, Back to School!!!

Posted on August 22, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope these last days of summer are still giving you some fun times, as we all begin to rev our engines up for the Fall. This time of year still smells to me of new pencils, new Superman or Wonder Woman lunch boxes, new notebooks, and all the excitement of new classrooms, new teachers and old friends. September always feels like the time for new projects, and moving ahead with fresh energy.

The children I know went back to school last week, and the rest of us are getting the sand out of our shoes and putting on real clothes again. I just finished editing two books and am working on a new outline. My daughters who work in fashion are revving up their engines to start work on fashion week this week. And it’s exciting to start new projects with fresh ideas.

I enjoyed a week’s vacation in July with three of my daughters, and managed to see all of my children for a brief visit in August, but it was so wonderful to see them and be together. And now we’re all off and running to work. September is an exciting month. And I have a new book out, “The Challenge” about the daring rescue of 7 kids in their early teens lost on a dangerous mountain in Montana. It was inspired by the incredible rescue of the 13 boys in Thailand trapped in a cave, four years ago. The entire world held their breath as the rescue unfolded, completely successfully, which inspired my book. There is a new movie out about the Thai rescue, and a documentary, and I haven’t had time to watch either one, but I will. When it was happening, I was mesmerized by the complicated rescue operation and jubilant at its success. And I hope you love my book about the mountain rescue.

Since organizing a big family takes a lot of planning and military precision, I’m already thinking about the holidays, and I start my Christmas shopping in August. My family makes fun of me for it, but I love getting an early start!!!

I hope you have some fun plans for the Fall, and some exciting new projects in view. Have a great week!!!

much love,
Danielle

8/8/22, The Good Doctor and The Challenge

Posted on August 8, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re enjoying the second half of summer, and finding time off to just lie under a tree somewhere and dream, or read on a beach, or enjoy a series.

I love sharing it with you when I find a series I love. I am currently LOVING “The Good Doctor” on Netflix. It’s a medical series with appealing characters, knotty medical problems to solve and life dilemmas. It’s beautifully acted and well written, and there are enough positive resolutions and good life lessons in each episode that you come out on an up note and not a down one. I don’t like series where so much bad stuff happens that you’re more depressed after a show than before you watched it. We watch these shows for entertainment and distraction after all. And The Good Doctor gets my vote for the best show at the moment.

And if you would rather read quietly, I have a new book coming out in two weeks, “The Challenge”, about 5 young wholesome 14 year olds, a slightly older brother, and a younger one who go for a picnic at the base of Granite Peak, in Fishtail, Montana, and a fun afternoon turns into a nightmare with a flash flood out of the mountains, which blocks their way back, and traps them on the mountain. A five day search begins, as the parents are sorely tested, and the picknickers fight for their survival, with a forest fire approaching. I love that book, between the tension of the parents, and the brave struggle of the kids. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. I hope you have time to read it before vacation time ends.

Have a great week, full of fun moments and the final days of summer,

love, Danielle

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