Valley of Laughter School - Homeschool Blogger

VIKING PICTURE STONES

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:35:00 -0600

I enjoy learning right along with my daughters. Because I homeschool them, I study topics I most likely would have bypassed if I wasn’t teaching. For the past few years, we’ve studied an historical era in-depth. We’ve covered ancient Egypt, Greece/ Rome, medieval/ Renaissance, and this year we’re taking on the Viking era.

At the end of our studies, I’ve taken the children to museums or faires to make the history come alive. After learning about Greece, we visited the Getty Center in Los Angeles and enjoyed seeing a special exhibit about children of Greece and their toys. At the end of our Renaissance unit study last year, we visited the Southern California Pleasure Faire, a Renaissance re-enactment. It was fun watching the artisans create drip candles, hair decorations, glass ornaments, signs, more. We didn’t get to the Rosicrucian Museum as planned to see Egyptian artifacts, but I have taken the girls to The Museum of Man in San Diego to see Egyptian and Peruvian mummies.

Today we studied something interesting—Viking Picture Stones or Image Stones from Gotland, an island in the Baltic sea off the southeast coast of Sweden in Scandinavia. The Ekeby Stone found in Gotland is a piece of art. Craftsman from about AD 1000 etched pictures into the stone. The remaining is actually a remnant of the original carving. It was recarved into a tomb chest.

The Vikings, like other ancient cultures, loved storytelling. The Icelandic Sagas were passed down by oral tradition for many centuries before they were written down. Some of the supernatural and fantastical tales were depicted in the Image Stones. Very few exist today because, through time, the etchings weathered. Other images from the stones were cut and placed in churches or homes. Most of the best remaining Picture Stones are in museums.

I’d like to read some of the translated Icelandic Sagas so I can learn more of the Viking mythology and thinking. I’d love to view many of the Image Stones and learn more about them. To see these, I’d have to travel to Sweden to The Historical Museum of Gotland; the National Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm; or the museum at Bunge, northern Gotland.

Wouldn’t you like to travel to Sweden to see the Gotland Picture Stones? I sure would!

Viking Picture Stones

http://www.gotmus.i.se/1engelska/bildstenar/engelska/picture_stones.htm

SEEING THROUGH STAINED GLASS

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 08:12:00 -0600

SEEING THROUGH STAINED GLASS: Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco, California
Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen
See this cool slideshow of historical postcards of the conservatory

I just got up at 5 o'clock, up before the sun. Do you ever get up early and enjoy watching the changing colors in the sky? Out my kitchen window, I view the low-lying hills to the east. Some mornings, we get a beautiful pink/ blue sky.

Yesterday was super-busy around here. My son came up from Los Angeles area and helped my husband take off more roofing material. Our home was built in 1961. Before we bought the home, someone roofed-over the original rock roof. We always wondered why the roof was un-level and now we know why. The rock was supposed to be stripped off, but it wasn't.

I took a digital movie of my husband and son putting up a center beam in our master bedroom. It was back-breaking work. At one point, all the weight of that beam was on my husband's arm. Thankfully, my son relieved some of the burden. Even he, an athletic guy, thought he was being flayed, as it hurt so much to lift that beam.

All the work in this do-it-yourself home construction project makes me appreciate construction workers a lot more. I see why they get paid what they do, even though they, for the most part, haven't gotten an advanced college degree. People in the trades work hard for what they do and it's often backbreaking work that demands a fair wage.

By doing the work ourselves, we'll save more than half in labor costs. The pitfall is the wear and tear on the body. I wish we were more monied people to pay for people to just come over here and roof, build the rooms, dry wall, haul stuff to the dump, more.

We have to fix this house to make it safer for our two girls with heart transplants. We thought of selling and moving to Los Angeles, to be closer to UCLA Medical Center, but we'd still need to fix the place to code, which would leave little to buy a place in expensive L.A.

Life is full of snafus, isn't it? Go one step forward, take two steps back. Eventually, we get where we want to go, as we strive and strain.

Looking through stained glass windows sounds like a good idea. Everything looks rosier.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

A large Perpendicular Gothic window of 8 lights in Canterbury Cathedral, c.1400, which contains medieval glass. Courtesy of Wikipedia

OH, DEER

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 08:11:00 -0600

OH, DEER by Susan L. Friesen, 2006: Doe and fawn seen in the parking lot at China Camp State Park, San Rafael, California--Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen

My daughters and I camped at a beautiful campground on the California coast, north of San Francisco, last summer. China Camp State Park is a very small state park, only less than 60 walk-in tentsites.

I love to frequent places with a fascinating history. This state park definitely possesses that. Here's a blurb from California state parks:

A Chinese shrimp-fishing village thrived on this site in the 1880s. Nearly 500 people, originally from Canton, China, lived in the village. In its heyday, there were three general stores, a marine supply store and a barber shop. Fisherman by trade in their native country, they gravitated to the work they knew best. Over 90% of the shrimp they netted were dried and shipped to China or Chinese communities throughout the US.

Wouldn't it be interesting to step into a time capsule, go back in time, and look at how life was for people in old-time China Bay? I'd love to take photographs of the Chinese hauling-in their load of shrimp, fixing the shrimp, sitting around talking and laughing while the sun set on San Francisco Bay way back then. But the reality is the Chinese were treated unfairly by the masses of mostly white European settlers heading to San Francisco and environs during the famous Gold Rush in 1848 and on.

Now, of course, the shrimping industry is pretty much dried-up in San Francisco bay and along the California coast. A thriving sardine industry once existed in California, too.

Is anyone here a fan of John Steinbeck's novels? I love the first line in Cannery Row:

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."

I hope everyone is doing well... I haven't had an easy time of it personally, so just ask for your prayers and friendship at this time.
Susan

LEAVES

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 08:10:00 -0600

LEAVES by Susan L. Friesen, 2006: PRESERVED LEAVES
Huntington Library Conservatory
c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen

I love visiting botanical gardens and conservatories. You've seen quite a few of my photos from Huntington Library and Gardens, also the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco.

It's so interesting to take time and pay attention to even simple things like leaves. Actually, they're quite complex. As a kid, a teacher shared how humans take-in oxygen, but plants give off oxygen, which we eventually breathe-in. I thought that was so amazing.

As a teenager, I started saving leaves during my journeys, and taping them in a "Leaf Book." High school friends started mailing me leaves to add to my journal. I didn't know the proper way to affix the leaves for long-term preservation, so they eventually turned brown or black, brittle, and decomposed.

I never did take a college class in botany, but wish I had. It's so interesting to study plants. It's my dream someday that we build a backyard greenhouse, so I can learn to grow tropical flowers, especially orchids and bromeliads.

This time of year is so nice, as the trees change color. I love seeing my poinsettia bushes in full flower. We have the fancy red flowers in full bloom now.

I'd love to travel to New England someday in Fall and see the amazing foliage.

Hugs, Susan

CARNIVOROUS PLANTS

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 08:08:00 -0600

CARNIVOROUS PLANTS c. Susan L. Friesen, 2006

Pitcher Plant
Photo: c. 2006 Susan Friesen

I think carnivorous plants like the pitcher plant shown in my photo here are so fascinating. Someday I'd like to purchase some of these mysterious plants and feed them bugs found around our neighborhood, lol.

A year ago, or so, my daughters and I spent an afternoon seeing an incredible carnivorous plant display at a conservatory near Los Angeles. A docent opened-up one of the pitcher plants to show us what it digested. Even dried-up bees were present, as well as a wide assortment of other insects. Isn't it fascinating that some plants are "meat" (protein) eaters, like that?

Occasionally, I see Venus Fly Traps for sale at Wal Mart, but I haven't gotten one yet. I guess the price tag ($15?) scared me off when I noticed the plant and I didn't have extraneous cash on hand to get that novelty item.

I thought you'd also enjoy seeing some of the cool pitcher plant pics I came across. Click on these images....

The only pitcher plant found in Australia

"Cobra lilies (Darlingtonia californica) use window-like aeriolae to lure insects into their hollow leaves"

A pitcher plant digesting a caterpillar

Beautiful pitcher plant images

INCREDIBLE ANIMAL-HUMAN COMBINATIONS

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:28:00 -0600

INCREDIBLE ANIMAL-HUMAN COMBINATIONS by Susan L. Friesen, November 25, 2006: Stuffed marmot, Juneau, Alaska
Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen

I thought I'd share this amusing photo with y'all. When we lived in Alaska, we noticed lots of these hybrid or morphed taxidermy specimens. For instance, the "jackalope" was very famous. Tourists often purchase these jackalopes, hang them on the wall, and unsuspecting or gullible people believe the tale of horned rabbits. See this interesting website about the jackalope, "The Jackalopes of Wyoming: Myth or Reality?"

Image of jackalope, courtesy of "Legends of America"

People are fascinated with the idea of creature combinations. The unicorn--a horse-like creature, usually pristine white, wears a single horn atop its head. Think of the mermaid and merman conceptions-- half fish/ half man or woman. They are therianthropes, a being that displays both human and animal characteristics. The Egyptian god, Horus, god of the sky, displayed the body of a man and head of a falcon. Another Egyptian god, Anubis, the god of the dead, is shown with a man's body and a jackal's head.

Some people--now and in the past--believe they either partly or fully possess the soul of an animal. Native Americans, for instance, often name their child after an animal, believing their progeny will possess the characteristics of that creature. This is called spiritual therianthropy.

I notice that in Internet chat, many people choose an animal nickname, like "wolfspirit," "leopardspots," or whatever. At one time, one of my chat names was "dolphindancer," as I'm especially fond of that marine mammal. I'm not a theriast, but do admire the dolphin and its agility, smarts, team spirit, and finesse.

Hasn't anyone ever asked you this: "If you could come back as any animal, what would you be?"

I usually share that I would come back as one of these creatures: a domestic cat, a sea otter, or a dolphin.

Interestingly, because I have two daughters with heart transplants, I've heard some amazing things about the world of cardiology. Have you ever heard of a xenograft? This is taking an organ or part from another species and transplanting it into a human. For instance, a porcine (or pig) heart valve is often used in heart surgery.

At the last cardiology conference I attended, one of the surgeons discussed the idea of a baby pig's heart implanted with human DNA, especially matched to the donor human, so that the heart won't be rejected by the baby or young child. Wouldn't that be amazing?

Because of the severe shortness of organs for transplantation, especially for the young, many die each year waiting. Optimally, I hope that medical science advances so that no one will need a transplant. It would be great if all the research into stem cell technology makes it possible for merely an innoculation of needed cells to "heal" the patient. Anything is possible and I have high hopes that science will make huge strides and discoveries in the years to come so our two daughters won't die waiting for another transplant.

You take it from here. Would you like to respond to something I posted, in general, or answer what creature you'd be if you came back in another form?

POSTHUMOUS SALUTE TO A DEAR WWII VETERAN

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:27:00 -0600

SALUTE TO GRANDPA JOHN SANDBROOK THIS VETERAN'S DAY: by Susan L. Friesen, November 11, 2006; Greatness consists not only in the wisdom to discern, but also in the valor to lead along the right pathways. -- Virginia statesman Claude Augustus Swanson (b. 3- 31-1862; d. 7-7-1939)

Warning: This slideshow is a tearjerker-- memorializing fallen U.S. soldiers in Iraq

Today is Veteran�s Day observance in the USA. Formerly, the day was called Armistice Day��the anniversary of the Armistice, which was signed in the Forest of Compiegne (France) by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War I, after four years of conflict (see this site)."Interestingly, Armistice Day started on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

This holiday is more meaningful to me after living with a World War II Navy vet, John Henry Sandbrook duringOctober 2000- May 2001 and then again in November 2003-January 2004. This man will always be the hero of my heart. He was my rescuer in a very hard time; and not only that, he became a surrogate grandfather to our three young daughters, and a father figure to my husband and I.

John was an U.S. Navy retired veteran, serving as a boilerman aboard the destroyer, U.S.S. Swanson. A dreaded part of his job entailed bagging the remains of fallen soldiers. Seeing so many young men die so young affected his faith and he didn't think any one religion was "it" after that, but became more ecumenical.

He was one of the most caring people I�ve seen in my life. He wasn�t a churchgoer, but he lived more true to God�s principles of compassion, love, and goodwill than most anyone I ever knew. His entire neighborhood loved him and came to his funeral, giving glowing oral tributes to his character. It�s been almost one year since he passed away and I miss him greatly.

When our oldest daughter, Shivan, then just six, fell ill with some unknown virus, requiring a heart transplant, Grandpa John took us into his spacious three-story home near Los Angeles. Grandpa John was the man who picked-up the phone and shakily handed it to me when the dispatcher called to say the new heart was ready and to get to UCLA within the hour. I hurriedly told Shivan the good news, called the California Highway Patrol, and readied for the ride of our lives. The officer gunned-it on the shoulder of the busy 101 and 405 freeways to get us to the hospital, as time was of the essence to surgically implant, then tap or jolt the heart into life. He said he had a daughter about Shivan�s age. When we got to the hospital, he literally carried her into the E.R., tears in his eyes. Shivan looked white and listless, but her skin literally pinked-up after transplantation, giving her the gift of life, as if she was born again.

Three years later, our youngest daughter also required a heart transplant. Grandpa John said he wanted us to live with him again. Can you believe an elderly man taking in three little girls and myself? He was 82 the first time, 84 the next. He treated us as one of his own kin, wanting us to call him Grandpa. He bought our youngest daughter her first bike and helped her learn how to ride it. He took the girls to the hardware store to teach them about tools. He liked to bake cakes with them. He�d bring me flowers from his garden. We�d wake up every morning reading and talking about the news. His uproarious laughter as he read the comics tickled me so much. He looked at my dress size, then went out and bought me a beautiful pantsuit. No man had ever done that for me. What a special man he was.

His son, Buck, also felt like we�d become family. He told the girls to call him Uncle Buck. He is the one who read about our situation on the internet, then asked his father if he wouldn't mind having us live in his second home.

Both these men were closer to us in our time of need than even our own blood relatives, some of whom lived not far from L.A., but never asked us to stay with them; nor did they visit Lindsea or Shivan much, or at all, when they were in the ICU fighting for life.

I honor Grandpa John Henry Sandbrook today on this Veteran�s Day and give him my heartfelt salute.

Also, I�ve shared before about our son, David, a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq. Please keep him and the troops in your prayers?

Please tell me:

Who is real family?

Have you ever met a �stranger� and they became surrogate family to you?

PALACE OF FINE ARTS... AND MORE

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:55:00 -0500

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA, courtesy of Wikipedia

My photo: Palace of Fine Arts. c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen

While in San Francisco recently, I decided to make time to see The Palace of Fine Arts. It�s an amazing assemblage of pillared buildings, resembling something from ancient Greece, or Italy. Since I�ve never traveled to Europe, this is the closest I come to seeing buildings with some real substance and beauty, like the Parthenon or Coliseum. Someday, I�d love to tour Europe.

Architect Bernard Maybeck designed the Palace of Fine Arts to be a "valentine for San Francisco." It was created as a part of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), a gigantic world�s fair, rivaling in beauty our world�s fairs today. It took place February 20th until December 4th, 1915.

The PPIE was constructed on a 635 acre site in San Francisco, part of the Presidio now known as the Marina. It took 3 years to complete. It was a celebration of the recovery of San Francisco after the devastating 1906 earthquake, the completion of the Panama Canal, and the commemoration of the 400^th anniversary of the Pacific Ocean by explorer, Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

An amazing building was constructed especially for the exposition. I wish it was still in existence. The Tower of Jewels would attract a huge crowd today, don�t you think:

The Tower stood over 40 stories tall, and was covered with 102,000 pieces of Austrian crystal or cut glass weighing almost 20,000 lbs. Every crystal hung from a hook and had a small mirror hanging behind it. Each was one of five colors; canary, white, ruby, emerald, or aquamarine and would swing in the breeze, reflecting sunlight during the day, and illuminated with spotlights at night.

See this weblink

The Tower of Jewels. The Fountain of Energy is in the foreground (water not running) and underneath the arch you can see the Column of Progress in the background.

Photo taken from Frank Morton Todd, The Story Of The Exposition; Being The Official History Of The International Celebration Held At San Francisco In 1915 To Commemorate The Discovery Of The Pacific Ocean And The Construction Of The Panama Canal. (New York & London: Published for the Panama-Pacific international exposition company by G.P. Putnam's sons, 1921) Volume 2, page 263.

Most of the buildings at the PPIE were not constructed to last more than a year, or so, as they were built with a wood base covered with a flimsy, plaster/ burlap-like material, called �staff.� Fortunately, The Palace of Fine Arts was not taken down by the fair�s end. In 1963, it was completely reconstructed. More than 50,000 cubit yards of rich, Sacramento soil was applied atop the sandy soil on the Exposition site, so that more than 30,000 plants could grow. You�ll have to read this complete article for yourself to see what incredible planning went into designing the PPIE.

Some snippets from the article:

GE designed the overall illumination scheme, which involved thousands of carefully hidden colored spotlights, giving the buildings a magical glowing look in the evenings.

Another lighting strategy used at this fair was the "Scintillator" -- a barge that floated out in the San Francisco Bay, packed with 48 beaming searchlights, that projected seven colors of light up into sky. This backdrop was made even more amazing by a locomotive positioned on a platform on the Bay, generating steam for the lights to reflect from.

Every state in the Union had a building representing them at the exposition. Some states designed traditional conservative buildings, while some tried to use more of a flair for the original by designing buildings that conveyed a sense of what their state represented. For example, Oregon's state building was a replica of the Parthenon -- but instead of Greek marble pillars, they substituted 48 huge redwood trunks, one representing each state in the Union.

These other buildings and displays were beautiful, too. Click-on the links to see them:

Image Gallery (fine display of black/ white images)

Sculptures

Fountain of Energy

Palace of Machinery

The Ohio Building

Attractions and exhibits at �The Zone��Mexican musicians, a dwarf couple, hula dancers, Cowgirl Dorothy

It�s so fascinating to read what visitors saw at the Palace of Varied Industries.

Here�s a short list of exhibits:

The actual Liberty Bell, on loan from Philadelphia

The daily news typed on a giant Underwood typewriter

A paper-making exhibit included a display of the material used, with a miniature beating machine, press, and dryer.

A Singer sewing machine creating reproductions of images like Old Faithful geyser; and Venice, Italy. The sewing machine also demonstrated newfangled techniques for the day like �blind stitching, another operating four needles at once for stitching toe caps on shoes, a canvas-sewing machine that could make about 500 stitches a minute, a straw-braid machine that ran seven times as fast, and a sack-sewing equipment capable of almost human performance.�

I would like to return to The Palace of Fine Arts and take time to look inside the rotunda. I missed going in the dome and to another area in front; thus, missing some amazing classical-style murals.

I�ve only been to one World�s Fair in Vancouver, Canada, 1986.

Have you ever been to a world�s fair?

ROCKHOUNDING AND ENJOYING A PERFECT FALL DAY

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:53:00 -0500

Family portrait�enjoying the blasting wind as our tender to Belize flew through the waves. Picture of my husband and I and 3 daughters.--Photo by a employee on the tender, Belize, 2005

I home-educate three daughters, teaching grades 4, 6, and 7. Today we joined a couple other homeschooling families on a geology hike in Tepusquet Canyon, near Santa Maria, California.

It took about a half hour to reach Carmen�s home in the canyon. Our area of the central coast is known for many agricultural products. We saw fields of strawberries, head lettuce, and vineyards. Sometimes I had to pass tractors and other loaded-down trucks going pretty slow. The wine grapes are being harvested about now. I stopped to take a photo of a row of luscious dark grapes, the leaves already turning russet, gold, and light brown. Fall colors�ah! I love this time of year, as the air is crisp. Even the clouds look brighter set against the hillsides; the shadows the clouds cast on the hills are a photographer�s delight.

As we headed toward Tepusquet Canyon, we noticed a few wineries, some offering free wine tasting and tours. I�d like to take a wine cave tour sometime. I guess some of the hillsides are carved into and the wine stored subterraneously.

The road narrowed as we headed into the gap. We finally got to a wood post listing about ten addresses. Carmen told me to climb that one-lane road to the top. It was scary! We had zilch clearance along the road. It was the road and the cliff edge, and that�s all she wrote! One false move and we�d find ourselves airborne down the mountain. My girls got a little bit of the �heebie-jeebies� seeing the precipitous drop below.

Once at Carmen�s, we enjoyed a tour of her 10 acre spread. She has ducks, goats, bantam roosters, fruit trees (apples, avocados, lemons), grapes, and an herb/ vegetable garden. Carmen graciously took about an hour to teach me much about her garden. She orders heirloom-variety seeds. Her heirloom cauliflower was so beautiful�not just a standard white head, but multi-colored. She gave me a sample of some of her sage, rosemary, and a geranium. I also took home 8 beautiful lemons.

The other homeschool family arrived and we began the geology hike. Carmen is pretty knowledgable about rocks. She showed us some rock layers (mostly limestone and iron ore), rocks with crystalline formations, more greenish-toned rocks. I took home quite a few samples. My oldest daughter, Shivan, almost stepped on a baby rattlesnake in the road. She stepped over it, realized it was a snake, turned around, and sure enough it was.

We all kept some distance from the snake. It looked dead, but it wasn�t. Carmen threw some dirt on it, but it didn�t move. She said it was probably playing dead.

I enjoyed talking to Carmen. She told me stories about the many mountain lions in the area. She saw two deer run in opposite directions from a mountain lion once. She said they�re not nocturnal, but come out day or night. She shared a story about a man she knew who saw three mountain lions at one and one went into someone�s mobile home. The domestic cat about flipped-out and ran out of the mobile home when the mountain lion entered. The two dogs just stay put and stared at it. I guess no human was at home.

We enjoyed lunch together. Carmen peeled an avocado from one of her three trees (each a different kind of avocado, I think). She gave her children some potato salad and avocado halves. She showed me her sauerkraut maker and ladled some out for me to try. It was delicious. She is very health-conscious and showed me her nutritional books, including one that showed how the Western diet has ruined the health of many native tribes. The teeth of the African tribe, for example, were beautiful, white, no cavities. After introducing white flour and sugars, the teeth deteriorated over time, many missing and decayed teeth. It was an eye-opener for sure.

Carmen gave me some nutritional tips, thinking I should add coconut oil to my diet. I noticed she takes flax seed oil. Someday I�ll talk to her about her diet, as she does look like she has glowing health. I am pretty healthy, but do want to change my diet and hopefully, cure my diabetes, if possible. Also, I want to healthfully lose weight. The Chinese soup diet I�ve been on has really helped, but I could use other helpful tips.

So, all in all, I enjoyed the time with my homeschool friends today. It was a lovely Fall day, great to be outdoors and rockhound, see all the vegetation, and feel the perfectly-warm California air.

Have you been enjoying Fall? Doing anything special?

A ROMANCE NOVELIST'S ROMANTIC HOME

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:51:00 -0500

Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen -- Romance novelist, Danielle Steel's home in San Francisco

Danielle Steel (maiden name: Danielle Fernandes Schuelein-Steel) has one amazing view of San Francisco bay from her beautiful Pacific Heights home. Her best-selling romance novels have afforded her the privilege of living in one of the toniest neighborhoods in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

I took a Gray Line bus tour of San Francisco while in the Foggy City recently. I am a third generation Californian, but have so much more to see of my home state. So, I played tourist and took the tour around the city.

Our tour bus driver and guide, Romeo (yes, that's his name!), was quite an adventurer. He gave everyone a thrill when he gunned the engine and zoomed down a huge hill, banging a loud bell as he charged full speed ahead.

My mom and I sat near the front of the bus. We heard about a half dozen tourists in the back screaming their head off, as it was quite a Disneyland-like ride. Romeo just giggled almost nefariously, tickled to give the tourists a head-rush (and, er, almost a heart attack). My mom was something else. She said, "Faster, faster!" Romeo looked at her like she was off her rocker.

I got Romeo a bit miffed as I gave the punch line to one of his jokes. It was about a woman who rises early to make the coffee, but thought her husbandshould do the job. She said God himself dictated such, as he wrote a book of the Bible about the issue... That's when I blurted the punchline: "Hebrews (he brews)." Romeo gave me a smirk.

Anyway, back to Danielle Steel. She is one writer who's made it big. I read she's sold more than 520 million copies of her novels worldwide. She's written more than 70 books.

Her home overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz and the Presidio. She lives not far from others who�ve made it big as actors, politicians, corporate bigwigs, musicians, and the like: Don Johnson (star of the popular 80's t.v. series, Miami Vice), Senator Dianne Feinstein (democratic U.S. senator from California), Paul S. Otellini (Intel Corporation's fifth Chief Executive Officer and is a director for Google), Donald G. Fisher (founder of The Gap clothing store), and more. Her home is also near the home made famous in the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).

Haven't you ever drove through a wealthy neighborhood and wondered who lived in the homes and how they acquired the wealth? I learned quite a bit by taking the bus tour and seeing whose home belonged to whom. One can take such tours in Hollywood, too, and see where celebrities live.

Interestingly, as we all know, money doesn't buy happiness or even contentment. Steel's life hasn't always been romantic. She's had her share of sorrows. One of her five former husbands was a heroin addict. Her second husband was a convicted rapist. Her marriage to her last husband, Tom Perkins, a Silicon Valley entrepeneur, lasted less than two years. Perkins wrote a romance novel, "Sex and the Single Zillionaire," and dedicated it to Steel. Her son, Nicholas Traina, a member of the punk rock band, Link 80, committed suicide in 1997. He was only 19. She wrote a tribute to her son, the book His Bright Light (1998).

I must admit I�ve never read a Danielle Steel book all the way through. After seeing her home and reading critiques of her books and learning more about her life, I�d like to check-out a few books and analyze why they�re so successful. The romance novel genre isn�t one I�ve invested time. I like classic American novels by Ray Bradbury, Jack London, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ann Morrow Lindbergh, Willa Cather, more.

Do you read romance novels? What kind of novels do you like?