Happy Thanksgiving!

John and I hope all of you, friends and family, have a wonderful day celebrating all the many blessings in your lives.  We are thankful for all of you.  Peace and love. Marjorie and John

PS.  How can you meat eaters possibly look this handsome guy in the eye and then eat him?!  He looks a little worried, don't you think?

Hoodoo Canyon

Hoodoo Canyon is now available as a digital book on Amazon.com.  

In my latest mystery I explore one of my favorite questions:  What is reality?  This time with a group of physicists invited to attend a top-secret conference in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. But the conference organizer doesn’t show up and one of the attendees turns out to be an extraterrestrial.  It’s mystery with humor and a little romance starring renowned theoretical physicist, Dr. Eloise Bright, who finds it odd that a top-secret physics conference will be held at a remote backcountry campsite in Bryce Canyon National Park.  Curiosity overcomes reason, and she agrees to go, not knowing who will attend. When the conference organizer doesn’t show, the attending physicists team up to try to find him. One of them takes extraordinary interest in Eloise and, in an aside to her, confesses he is from another galaxy, which she laughs off at the same time wondering what she’s gotten herself into. However, the professed extraterrestrial might be the key to finding the conference organizer.  Eloise’s scientific training is further put to the test as she must come to terms with a hoodoo curse that brings bad luck, with the conference organizer’s disappearance, and with her desire to be back at her university teaching job and in the nice, safe world of math equations. Ultimately, she has to decide if she really believes her eyes.

I hope you read and enjoy my latest digital book, and if you have the time, please review it on Amazon.  Thank you.

Buy it now:  Hoodoo Canyon on Amazon

Happy Halloween

Midnight the Cat

Wishing everyone a very spooky All Hallows Eve, a celebratory All Saints Day, and a Day of the Dead filled with wonderful memories.

Heidelberg, Germany

Heidelberg viewed from the castle

On Tuesday we arrived in Heidelberg, Germany, which has a baroque old town and a free and famous university.  We toured the castle which overlooks the town.  It was abandoned over 300 years ago. The castle is not totally restored as it takes some money to keep these castles up and operating.  Stage productions take place in the courtyard. The castle boasts the world's largest wine barrel that could hold 50,000 gallons of wine.

After the castle tour we were on our own to walk around town. We celebrated John's birthday there.

Courtyard of Heidelberg Castle where a local production of My Fair Lady is rehearsing

Interior of castle where walls are being renovated

World's largest wine barrel

Rehearsing for My Fair Lady in a castle courtyard.

The Middle Rhine

Leaving Marksburg Castle aboard the Ingvi

Leaving Marksburg Castle behind we proceeded on the Ingvi up the Middle Rhine River which is the most scenic on the trip.  There's castle after castle after castle.  One reason for so many castles is that the river narrows through here and in days of old the towns and knights, etc wanted to regulate traffic on the Rhine so they built castles. It was also a handy way to protect families and troops if attacked. They put them up on hills -- easier to defend, of course.  I didn't write down all the names of the castles but there are whole guidebooks written on the castles of the middle Rhine.

Myths and legends abound, the most famous being Lorelei, the beautiful siren of the rocks who lured sailors into the raging deep water and to their doom.  She sat and sang sweet songs to them at night.  This legend has produced many songs and poems, the most celebrated is "The Lorelei" by Heinrich Heine in 1823.

In 2002 in recognition of one of the world's oldest and most magnificent cultural landscapes, UNESCO declared the Upper Middle Rhine Valley a World Heritage Site.

Yet another historic town on the French side of the river from the deck of the Ingvi

As we sailed along for about two hours our guide, Boris, gave us a running commentary on what we were seeing as we sat on the deck of the Ingvi. It was a wonderfully pleasant afternoon and a day filled with castles.

These are only a few of the castles in this section of the Rhine. A few are still in ruins, some have been renovated, one or two are hotels or private homes.

Narrowest part of the river, Lorelei Rock on the left

John surveys the vineyards that produce all that nice Rhine wine

How'd you like to live in this relic in the 13th century?

Castles and Vineyards along the Rhine

Marksburg Castle

Marksburg Castle

View of the Rhine from the castle from whence we had just come

Marksburg Castle overlooks Braubach on the Rhine and is unique in that it was never destroyed. Some of the castles on the Rhine are rebuilt versions of the original and some are just ruins. It is said that Louis the XIV of France, the Sun King, ordered all the castles on the Rhine destroyed in the 17th century. Marksburg escaped because it sits atop a steep, isolated hill on a bend in the river.  Marksburg retains nearly all of its initial construction.  The interior construction features a series of gates that could be closed in the event of an attack. If one gate was breached, the Lord and family and knights retreated behind the next upper gate. The castle was not heated. Imagine all that stone and tiny little fireplaces to keep warm by.  Knights rode massive war horses and kept them inside the castle. References to this castle date to the 13th century so it survived 800 years of turmoil.  Slits in the outer battlement were for shooting arrows. The castle was added on to many times. Today the German Castle Association is headquartered there and there is a small gift shop and cafe.

Interior battlements

Very long steep grade to get into the castle. Also used by knights on horses

That black box on the wall of the castle is the bottomless toilet.

Our guide describes the fine art of gunnery, a later development

Alcove where the residents might eat

Another alcove for music, another might be for needle work.

Unusual window-meets-roof treatment

A knight in shining armor. Heavy, hot, and stuffy. And how could they see out of those slits?

Torture chamber display in what used to be the horse stables in the castle

 Blacksmith shop

Where  food and herbs were prepared and dried

Our guide said this was where the knights ate. Alcoves would be off this room

Tiny beds for tiny people This one fit two.

Castle from the ship landing at the Rhine

Back at the ship for the trip along the Middle Rhine and more castles

Cologne (Kohn) Germany

We left Holland Saturday and continued up the Rhine River, sailing from Kinderdijk about 11:30 AM.  The Rhine is 820 miles long, Europe's longest river. It rises in the Swiss Alps and flows to the North Sea at Rotterdam, Holland.  Ships today travel safely from Basel, Switzerland to the North Sea.  But in days of old unscrupulous barons in castles, as well as river towns and customs stations could make life difficult for a ship's captain. There was something called staple rights and cities could force ships to unload and offer its cargo for sale locally.  In 1831 the Rhine Shipping Act was signed  and the river started to proposer as an international waterway.

We arrived at Cologne about 10:30 AM Sunday.  Meanwhile on Saturday on the Viking Ingvi we had a safety drill, a copious lunch, an open wheelhouse tour, where one could talk to the captains and a presentation by the program director, Boris, on Cheese, Jenever (Gin) and Rembrandt. Dutch Tea Time included a selection of Dutch treats.  Saturday night was a welcome toast by the Captain, Thomas Schlee, and a welcome dinner followed by live music with Louis in the lounge.  Every day we had a daily briefing by Boris before dinner to find out about the next day's excisions and events.

Sunday we had another spectacular breakfast buffet including but not limited to custom made omelets and/or scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, sautéed vegetables like pepper, onions, zucchini and mushroom. Or cereals, hot and cold with fruits and nuts, a fresh fruit bar, fresh local cheeses, lox and bagels, capers and condiments, assortment of pastries and breads, and for the strong of heart, champagne.

At 9:00 AM we had a presentation by Boris about Travelers Along the Rhine.  About 10:30 AM we arrived in Cologne and immediately embarked on a guided walking tour of the old town. This was the first time John and I ever set foot in Germany.

Cologne's name comes from the Latin, Colonia. Yes, another Roman settlement on the Rhine.  In 55 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rhine to strike fear into the hearts of the Germans and wrote about building the bridge that took his army across in his treatise "Commentaries on the Gallic War".  The site is thought to be in the neighborhood of present day Cologne. Of course, once Caesar got to the other side his army burned all the villages and houses sand cut down their corn, spent 18 days traumatizing them, and then returned back across the Rhine to Gaul and took down the bridge.  No wonder these people have been fighting ever since.

Our expert tour guide tells us about the city

 Cologne's most famous attraction is the Kolner Dom, the cathedral.  It was the only building left standing after the Allies bombed the city in WWII.  Its filigree twin spies dominate the skyline and it's Germany largest cathedral.The city is a cultural mecca, home to dozens of museums and galleries. It is renowned for its wealth of places to eat and drink and has over 100 brewpubs.  (And we thought we had a lot in Oregon.) The city's famous beer is Kolsch.  I never saw so much beer in my life as we saw in Germany.

Germany is slightly smaller than the state of Montana at 138,000 square miles and has a population of 81million.  Imagine if Montana had that many people.

Back on board the Viking Ingvi we enjoy a presentation on The European Union, go onto the usual fabulous dinner and a Classical Concert after. At 11:00 PM we set sail for Koblenz.

Spires of the cathedral looking from the old town

Kolner Dom

The cathedral reaches for the heavens.  All the windows have stained glass not readily apparent in this photo

Interior chapel. One of many with amazing art.

They like to bury saints, knights and clergy in their cathedrals.

Not very clear photo of the stained glass

Outside, this wandering troubadour serenades a wee boy who seems fascinated by his songs.

John and I decide to lunch in Cologne at an outdoor cafe

Lunch was bratwurst and sauerkraut

Exterior doors of Kohner Dom

Farina House, The Fragrance Museum, claims to be the birthplace of Eau de Cologne. Very spendy fragrances.