Recent Posts
To My Friend, Beth Wise
Dear Friends and blog followers, I’ve never written a post quite like this one, and I do so with a heavy heart. Beth Wise and her travel companion sat in my home about three weeks ago to discuss some tips on their upcoming trip to Paris and other destinations in France. Bernie joined us. Beth […]
Final Thoughts For 2021
Bonjour mes amis, It is my tradition to write a final summary blog every year before we depart for home. It’s always a challenge to come up with a new idea. Thus this closing post is generated painstakingly over multiple days, not a few quick hours in the early morning. It needs time to simmer. […]
Winners of the 2021 Photo Contest
Bonjour, Many thanks to the 50 folks who took the time to vote. It wasn’t an easy choice as many of you expressed. Maybe the message is to have only one theme moving forward! Anyway, hope it was a fun exercise for you. Maybe next year, we’ll do café chairs again because they have all […]
Today Is the Last Day to Vote!
Bonjour, Just a quick reminder that today is your last day to vote for our two theme winners, Doors and Lovers. It’s a summer’s worth of fun! Reference my post from Monday, September 20th which contains all the choices by number. It should be in your email or you can go directly to my web […]
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.