Changing Seasons, Changing Times

A completed manuscript, a lake house closing, endless doctors’ appointments, and my birthday – and we aren’t even halfway into the month!

As a frequent flyer in my oncologist’s office, can you blame me if I put off most other doctors’ visits? I get enough pokes with needles in one visit to last a couple of years. To me, medical appointments and testing fall into the same category as nail appointments, haircuts, and so forth. I can do without all of them - just can’t stand the time intrusions. So, I block doctors out for of most of the year, especially summer, and have a tsunami of catching up to do in September and October.

I always need a major haircut and color. Then, for some crazy reason, I forget doctors’ visits always come in pairs – double trouble. The dentist found a small cavity - second appointment. The internist says I need a bone density test - another appointment. My eyeglass prescription has changed, and that I now need new glasses. Get the picture? Then, of course, the flu shot led to the COVID shot. Last year, I got them together and couldn’t use my left arm for a week! God only knows what the dermatologist will find! And that’s why I can only put up with this stuff once a year.

Then my husband and I faced the reality that it was time to sell our beloved lake house, my refuge and healing place. You may wonder why we came to such a sad conclusion. Well, the grandkids are growing up! Their lives are getting busy with their own stuff. And it just isn’t the same without them running around, working on art projects, swimming, and boating. My trusty whistle dangled from the hook most days – probably wondering where everyone was.

Plus, owning a lake house is more physical work than you can imagine, not to mention last month, packing it up. But writing with a view of the beautiful lake, watching the kids cartwheel down the grassy hill, and eating dinner alfresco to that same backdrop is seared in my memory. I know I’ll forget about the dishes, wet towels, dog fur (2 Goldens) all over the house, and mosquitoes, but what’s left will be a whole world out there, waiting for me – and thank God, a husband who enjoys traveling.

And while juggling all of this were the big Jewish holidays and a manuscript to finish. I love Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. I spent even more time than usual inside my head, thinking about being my best self and the actions I need to take to get there.

Now onto the really good stuff. A clean draft of MAYHEM IN THE MOUNTAINS has been presented to my publisher. What a weight off my desk and a super fun novel to write. It’s the story of the Catskills in the 1920s, home to the Borscht Belt hotels during their golden era decades later. It’s a miracle they were ever built! The Jewish, Italian, Greek, and other immigrant farmers were starting to host New Yorkers for the summer. All the while, bootleggers ran between the city and Canada, wreaking havoc. Remember, it was Prohibition. If that wasn’t enough, the Ku Klux Klan had drifted north, looking to run the immigrants, those with thick accents and different ornamentation on their walls and doors, out of town. My incredible Isaacson family was thrown into the middle of the mayhem – hence, the title.

And my birthday – all 72 years, 26, overshadowed by breast and ovarian cancer. But I’m tough, not so easy to kill off. My journey is a testament to resilience, a great medical team, family support, and the power of the human spirit. If you'd like to donate to the Mathilda Fund supporting the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, just follow the link!

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Last, I was honored to have OVER THERE chosen for the Hemingway long list (as the march continues) for 20th-century war novels. WOO HOO! I couldn't have achieved this without your readership and for that, I'm deeply grateful.