A Letter from Danielle for October ’15
Hi Friends,
After some down time in the summer (never much, since I was working on a book and ‘taking it easy’ is never my strong suit), September always picks up the pace. I always get busier as I leap into fall, with plans and projects for the coming months. Things tend to speed up a notch in October. As the weather gets colder, we all seem to move faster. I spend most months divided between three cities, and in October, it will be four cities. So I’ll be moving fast this month, and working on more than one book, in different stages. Whenever I settle into one of my home cities, I get to work.
We also have the birthday of one of my children this month. We have birthdays in nine months of the year! The only months we missed are March, July, and November.
I love the weather in October. The smells of fall, the falling leaves, the cozy nights at home. I’ll be visiting my children in their cities, as I always do, and one of my daughters is opening a second store for her online business The Line [hyperlink to: https://www.theline.com/], so we’ll be gathering for that celebration.
There is a terrific art fair in Paris in October that I love, the FIAC. It features galleries from around the world showing their work. So I’m looking forward to going to that when I’m in Paris.
And the grand finale in October is one of our favorite holidays: Halloween. My children loved it when they were little, and none of us are too grown up for it, even now. Costumes were very important in the past, and ranged from Super Heroes to Cinderella, to outrageous statements. One year, one of my daughter’s boyfriends dressed up as her dog (dropping plastic fleas everywhere!), and a few years back, I went as a whoopie cushion, undignified but funny! One time, my oldest daughter painted her face orange as part of her pumpkin costume—only the dye didn’t’ come off for three weeks, which caused a lot of comment when she went to work!! Another daughter has gone as a Matador, and the subjects of her favorite paintings, and stars of her favorite TV shows, and Ursula, the octopus in The Little Mermaid.
We used to make a haunted house, which was masterful, and very scary, complete with ghostly noises, fake spider webs and ghouls in the closets. We always went all out on Halloween, and my kids, now adults, still dress up on Halloween to go to parties – they even dress up their dogs. I dressed my 2 Chihuahuas, Minnie and Blue, as bumble bees last year, and geisha girls the year before. The costumes are less elaborate than they used to be, but are still a lot of fun. Besides, it’s a fantastic excuse to eat a ton of candy, lots of chocolate and candy corn.
I hope you have a great month, and a fun time on Halloween if you celebrate it, and may The Great Pumpkin smile on you always!!!
Love,
Danielle