Thanksgiving Beckons

So-o, the mid-term elections are finally over and I, for one, am really glad we won't be bombarded with anymore of those negative campaign ads. I don't know about you but they seemed worse this year than ever before, and I got a little sick of them to be honest. However, I do wish all the winners of both parties good luck, they'll need it, and pray they'll do the best for our great country.

But fall is here and there's a definite nip in the air. This morning I awoke to find snow on the ground (I live in Connecticut) but never mind. Thanksgiving, which has always been one of my favorite holidays is right around the corner. I used to spend an inordinate amount of time, it seems to me, thinking up a lovely centerpiece for the table. I'd read all the magazines for hints, hoping to find inspiration, and usually ended up with the old standby of a bowl of fruit and a few mums. Buying all that food and preparing it was challenging enough I'd decide--(now remember Chris won't eat green bean casserole and Fred dislikes anything with mushrooms), and I was pretty well exhausted getting all the loose ends together. However, when the great day finally arrived and everyone gathered around the table it was worth it, a hundred times over, seeing the smiling faces as they dug into the delicious turkey and all the trimmings. And for the last few years I haven't even had to cook, glory be, as various members of my family do the honors.

"You've done it enough times," they told me a few years back, and who am I to argue? So I bring a shrimp ring or little pigs in a blanket to nibble on beforehand, proving there are advantages to getting older.

Certainly one of the pluses of having a family of sweet, caring individuals such as mine is that they take an interest in you, and of course they all want to know about my new book, "That Certain Summer," which is just about ready to be published by Author House and will be ready for sale in a month or so. Waiting for a book to be published is a little like giving birth--the wait can be painful, but the finished product is well worth it. Anyway, as I've told you, "That Certain Summer," tells the story of Sally Grimes, a feisty girl from Iowa, who gets a dream job writing the life story of Diane Fenwick, a famous actress. She moves to a Gatsbyesque community in Connecticut (Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" is her favorite novel) and meets the actress's adorable twins, Meagan and Alec, and Rufus, a special dog, who is more intuitive than a lot of humans. She also falls in love with Ricardo, the handsome hunk next door, who is an honest-to-god count and a Princeton graduate, but is working as a handyman for the reclusive millionaire Morley-Watts, who suspects Diane is hiding something he desperately wants. What is Diane's connection to Ricardo, and why is Sally suddenly plunged into a dangerous situation she has no control over?

Naturally I hope this has whet your interest enough so that you'll want to read the book to find out, and I'll be on pins and needles to see how all you nice folks out there like it. Truthfully I can't wait to see the finished product myself and hold it in my hands. But in the meantime I hope you're all enjoying these beautiful fall days and that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Of course we'll all eat too much, but who cares? We're gathering together for the feast and that's the important part!