Bookworm Press

I am a guest on Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine. Hop on over and enjoy!

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/smorgasbord-posts-from-your-archives-family-and-friends-how-a-novel-is-born-love-of-a-stonemason-by-christa-polkinhorn/

For some laughter:

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/04/07/smorgasbord-laughter-lines-comedian-in-residence-d-g-kaye-and-some-new-material-from-sally-12/

Dear Friends,

These are trying times indeed; our lives are in turmoil. Remember though this too will pass. Not sure when, but there will be an end to it. In the meantime, why not have some fun with the new Mask Fashion? I finally have the opportunity to wear my many scarves! You all know of course that wearing a mask, in particular a home-made one, is only an added precaution to physical distancing, washing hands, staying home etc. etc.

Here are a few samples of my creative attempt. And yes, you can laugh!

While I hunker down at home, I try to be creative in other ways as well. I’m learning to play the guitar, even take singing lessons (via Zoom), and of course write. Writing has been a slow process, but I do have a skeleton of a manuscript for a new novel with the working title Letter from a Cave. But more about that in my next post.

Just taking this opportunity to wish you well and hopefully bring a smile to your face. Stay safe, stay home, stay calm, and stay healthy.

A crisis brings out the worst and the best in us!

It was December 26 and still no snow in the lowlands of Switzerland. So I ventured into the mountains. Friends of mine have an apartment in Arosa, a well-know mountain resort, and invited me to stay with them for a few days between Christmas and New Years. So I was able to escape the gray, wet cold and enjoy snow and sun. What a wonderful experience it was!

Below are my friend Bente, her daughter, Christina, and Amy, Christina’s dog, And there is snow, finally!

Bente and  Christa

Christina and Amy

After a day of sledding, we relax at home in the cozy apartment.

And more snow and sunshine.

And here a few “Stimmungsbilder” (atmospheric pictures) of a winter evening in the mountains.

After a few days of delightful weather and great company, it’s back down to the foggy gray. But my nephew and our new family member, Owen, an Irish Setter puppy, made the return worthwhile!

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2020/01/04/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-weekly-round-up-29th-december-to-4th-january-2020/

Whoever said Facebook friends are not real friends? I’ve met a bunch of wonderful people on Facebook. A few of them are writers, originally from Scotland and England, who live in Switzerland–Linda Huber, Alison Baillie, Louise Mangos, Cass Grafton. When I come here for a visit, we get together, go for walks through the city of Zurich, talk shop (our writing and publishing), enjoy good food, drink mulled wine (Glühwein) in winter and Prosecco all year round. And, most of all, have a lot of fun!

Here we are in front of the Christmas tree, decorated with the beautiful Swarovski crystals, in the Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) in Zurich.

A walk along the Limmat-River

Below: Lunch and Prosecco in the venerable Commihalle in Zurich

A little Christmas shopping

Below is one of the old buildings of the city I love so much.

Wishing you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, wherever you are and however you celebrate this season.

My stay in Switzerland began with a trip to Seelisberg, a small town in the mountains of Central Switzerland, near the “Cradle of the Country”, the Rütliwiese. Here in 1291 people from three surrounding counties swore what’s called the “Rütli Oath” which in time led to the foundation of the country. When I grew up every child would take a least one trip, usually on a school outing, to this place. It is still a popular tourist spot and each year on August 1, Swiss Independence Day, celebrations take place.

Below the view from our hotel in Seelisberg. In the distance two mountains, the small and the large Mieten.

Here my family and I celebrated my two great-nieces’ thirtieth birthdays.

What’s missing yet at this time of the year is snow. Instead it’s raining and much too warm. I’m longing for the first white coating, mainly because it looks so pretty during the holiday season. Here is one from a former time I spent Christmas and New Years here. Perhaps, we’ll get some of it later.

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/sallys-cafe-and-bookstore-christmas-book-fair-writers-denise-ohagan-familydrama-christa-polkinhorn-poetry-miriam-hurdle-thriller-iain-kelly-writers-harmony-kent/?c=230179#comment-230179

I had the pleasure and honor to meet the celebrated Canadian author, Louise Penny, my favorite mystery writer and one of my favorite authors in general. She gave a talk at the Theater of the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The books in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series are fascinating, profound, psychologically astute, and full of quirky characters, who all live in the beautiful imaginary small town of Three Pines in the Quebec area in Canada. Louise Penny entertained us with very funny anecdotes about the beginnings of her career as an author.

Of course, I got her latest book in the series and, now I have to apologize for the short post, because I’m busy reading A BETTER MAN. Like all the others before, it promises to be another fantastic book.

Here are a few photos of the theater at the Ace Hotel, a marvelous venue in downtown Los Angeles!

Back to reading …