Recent Posts
Saying Au Revoir
Bonjour mes amis, This trip has been different from our many others over these 20 years. It has been shorter, colder, grayer and fraught with health challenges, heavy coats, gloves that went missing and scarves that were never quite warm enough. BUT any time in Paris is good, and we are deeply grateful to have […]
A Surprising Sunday
Bonjour mes amis, Well, we’re down to only two days and enjoying them with friends. Our Saturday dinner with our former neighbor, Chantal, was delightful as always. She had just returned from two weeks in Germany for Christmas. She left a plumbing problem in her apartment and returned to the same issue with a cancelled […]
Waiting for a Sunny Day!
Bonjour, You can bet that when I don’t post it’s directly related to the weather. After a couple of really lousy days-cold, gray and rainy, we finally had some decent weather with sunshine. So here are some catch-up photos to start your weekend. It is our last one as we will depart on the 8th. […]
Here and There in Le Marais On New Year’s Eve
Happy New Year, friends near and far! We wish for you a happy, healthy and productive New Year. We have exactly one week remaining and it will be busy connecting with friends before we depart on January 8th. The weather is still chilly, BUT we haven’t had any rain in ten days or so. That […]
Books
Her first book entitled Leading Ladies published in 2003 offers practical leadership tips for women, encouraging them to embrace their femininity as a leadership asset.
In Catch Your Breath, Linda has written a raw, honest series of meditations for caregivers based on her experiences in caring for her own mother. These will evoke both laughter and tears as they offer insight and courage to those caught in the caregiving web.
In Bernie ‘s Paris…Travel Stories with Love, Linda describes with tender and often humorous clarity her eleven years visiting Paris with her best friend and lover, Bernard Verdier, a native Frenchman. From Southern belle to world traveler, she will delight you with her Parisian escapades, her love affair with “Bernie” and hopefully inspire you to fall in love with Paris as she has. Bernie’s photographs will ignite the urge to plan a Paris fling. The book is now available.
Now Available: Bernie’s Paris…Travel Stories with Love
This memoir captures an improbable journey between a love-starved, Southern belle and an over-eager, homesick Parisian. If you’ve ever been to Paris or have always dreamed of going, this is a must-read full of savvy tips, funny mistakes, compelling drama—all entangled in the tender love story of two people who had mostly given up on a late-in-life relationship. You will chuckle; you will sigh; you will remember; and maybe, you will call your travel agent!
Now Available from Balboa Press
Whether you have chosen to be a caregiver or were hijacked by circumstances, Catch Your Breath, a series of touching meditations by Linda Spalla, will become a wisp of sanity and a day-to-day stabilizer. Spalla retraces an eight month care-giving journey with her mother, captured in raw, candid images, truly becoming a walk in her shoes. What started as a thirty-days-to-live commitment of care in her home turned into an unexpected eight months of never-ending responsibility. You will feel a kinship with the roller coaster of emotions; from anger, confusion, surprise, resentment, guilt and ambivalence, to finally relief, recovery and celebration. You will learn through the various vignettes some refreshingly practical information on such topics as finding sitters, managing medicine, dealing with sibling rivalry, contracting with Hospice, moving to assisted living, doing will preparation and other legalities as well as funeral planning. You will laugh; you will sob; your heart will soar; your heart will break. You will find solace, encouragement and inspiration for one of life’s most daunting challenges. But especially, you will discover your best self, emerging stalwart, strong and forged by the fire of your caregiving experience. Give yourself a gift of renewal and Catch Your Breath.