Notes from Danielle

A Letter from Danielle for December ’24
December 2, 2024
Hi Everyone, I hope that the Thanksgiving holiday was a warm and peaceful one for you, and if you couldn’t spend it with family, you were able to spend it with friends. I like the focus on being thankful and gratitude; it’s a great reminder that even if everything isn’t perfect in our lives at […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for November ’24
November 6, 2024
Hi Everyone, November always seems like the gateway to the holidays to me, or the prelude. Kind of the way Memorial Day announces the beginning of the summer. The Thanksgiving holiday always seems like such an important one to me because it is so inclusive, and brings not only friends and families together, but is […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for October ’24
October 14, 2024
Hi Everyone, I LOVE October. I used to love September, but it gets pretty hectic even without young children in school. But October is such a great month, the weather is usually still warm, with a little cool nip in the air. Everyone has settled into their autumn/winter routines. I have always liked fall clothes […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for September ’24
September 6, 2024
Hi Everyone, Here comes the busiest month of the year, other than the Christmas holidays. For anyone with kids—from Nursery School to Pre-K, high school, and even college—September is a month chock-full of school schedules, organizing carpools, after-school activities, football practices, and dorm assignments, not to mention getting uniforms and new shoes!!! With nine children, […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for August ’24
August 1, 2024
Hi Everyone, Every year, summer comes too slowly, and speeds by too fast. After a brutally cold winter, and no spring at all this year (literally overnight, the weather hop skipped from still wintry to instant summer), our minds are already turning to fall projects and getting kids ready for school. September is always a […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for July ’24
July 8, 2024
Hi Everyone, This is it, we finally made it to summer! When I think of July, I think of vacations, July 4th. and all the yummy things to eat at 4th of July picnics and events. We used to give a big 4th of July party, with line dancing even, and we served Southern fried […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for June ’24
June 6, 2024
Hi Everyone, I hope that by now everyone has warm weather everywhere, after a long hard winter. But summer is at long last here. Graduations were last month, so the college kids are free and already enjoying summer holidays. And most people are making, or have made, their summer plans, to go sailing, water skiing, […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for May ’24
May 7, 2024
Hi Everyone, I hope that spring is rolling along smoothly for you, with warmer weather and summer to look forward to a few months from now. Although spring is official in March, it takes months longer for winter to disappear. And May is a gentle, pretty month almost everywhere, with flowers blooming and warm weather. […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for April ’24
April 4, 2024
Hi Everyone, Well, we’re slowly tiptoeing out of winter, but not fully in spring yet. It still stays pretty chilly in April in most places, and in the two cities where I live, the weather doesn’t get warm ’til May or June, so we have a way to go until spring is really here. Easter […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for March ’24
March 6, 2024
Hi Everyone, I hope that all is well with you. Technically, spring is just around the corner, but in many places it may take a while to get to that corner!! It’s still cold in the cities where I live. I’ve avoided a lot of the bad weather this winter by writing, as I always […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for February ’24
February 5, 2024
Hi Everyone, February is always one of those months when the winter seems endless, and spring still feels a lifetime away. And the fun of the holidays feels like a distant memory. I always work/write a lot in January and February, and then suddenly spring is here, and I poke my nose out the door. […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for January ’24

Hi Everyone, Well, you made it through the holidays, after all the shopping, planning, cooking, lists, meals to prepare, trees to decorate, relatives people are happy to see, and some less so. The holidays are a marathon of work behind the scenes. Filled with hope and excitement, and sometimes disappointment over things that didnt happen. […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for December ’23
December 13, 2023
Hello Everyone, Although September is always a whirlwind for me after the summer, December is ALWAYS the busiest month of the year, can be the most stressful, takes the most effort to get everything organized, and it is definitely my favorite month!!! And favorite holiday!! The Christmas holidays, or of whatever faith or none, are […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for November ’23
November 7, 2023
Hi Everyone, November begins to have the bite and seriousness of winter, as the cold weather sets in, in most places, and the holidays begin to approach. It can be a stressful time for many people, spending time with family, or having no family to spend it with, and making plans. Thanksgiving is a wonderful […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for October ’23
October 6, 2023
Hi Everyone, October is one of my favorite months, as the weather cools—which is always energizing—and the fall gets busy with new projects and writing new books. I always find October inspiring, it’s just cool enough but not freezing yet, and we seem to hit our stride in this month. And for comic relief we […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for September ’23
September 5, 2023
Hi Everyone, Without a doubt, as the mother of nine kids, September has always been my busiest month. It was always a mad dash, getting new school uniforms and school supplies, new shoes, and helping everyone adjust to being back in school again (and wearing shoes!!!). Setting up car pools also . . . there […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for August ’23
August 8, 2023
Hi Everyone, It always feels like we barely settle into summer, and . . . it’s already on its way out. With children starting back to school in late August, it’s almost fall again before we know it. But there’s still time for some summer fun before we shake the sand out of our shoes […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for July ’23
July 6, 2023
Hi Everyone, At last it’s SUMMER!!! Yayyy!!! This has been the longest winter and spring that I can remember. It was cold everywhere this year and now, in July, we are bound to have warm weather. Memorial Day usually nudges summer off to a slow start, but on July 4th we KNOW it’s summer, and […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for June ’23
June 5, 2023
Dear Reader, June is such a wonderful month, you can count on good weather almost everywhere and it’s not too blazing hot yet. Just right!! Toward the end of June, my new hardcover Palazzo will be coming out, about a wonderful Italian family, originally from Venice, now established in Rome (with a gorgeous family palazzo […] Read more A Letter from Danielle for May ’23
May 3, 2023
Hello Everyone, I hope that spring is finally beginning to arrive, after a long cold winter that was beginning to seem endless!!! I travelled through New York in late March and the cold was brutal—I’ve been caught in snowstorms there in the past, as late as mid-April!!! May Day is one of my favorite holidays. […] Read more