A Wine with my Rhein, Please!

This past weekend, we needed to go to the U.S. Embassy in Frankfort so we decided to take a longer way home through the Middle Rhein Valley. We got up early and drove three hours for our morning appointment. Afterwards, we took a route along the Rhein and I couldn’t believe the luck of the day we had in store for us. The weather was gorgeous, we came across some great places AND enjoyed a glass of wine in this wine valley. The Rhein Valley is famous for wine, so we took advantage of it.

The first place we stopped at was Bingen—“ …the starting point for the Via Ausonia, a Roman military road” linking the town with Trier. It’s also known for the story of the Mouse Tower. In short, the story is about a cruel ruler who treated his people poorly and killed many of them by locking them in a barn and burning it down. Supposedly he commented about hearing the mice squeak. When he returned to his palace, he was plagued by mice who caught him and ate him alive. Let this be a lesson to us all—be nice.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know much about Bingen to get a picture of the tower, but here is a picture of a castle up on the hill.

Here are a few pictures that got me shaking my head and laughing. The first picture is of a church I took as we were driving toward it. The second one is the van that’s right in front of the church that has “Unfucking-Glaublich (believable)” on the side of it.

We didn’t stay in Bingen long and drove up the Rhein until we came across this adorable German town called Bacharach. Loved it! Here is the plaque that was on the castle wall. I interpreted it underneath through Google translation, so it might not be totally right.

You city of magic and magician

You city Brentano and the Loreley

You rabbi city, you ghetto town

You catch the dream, distant gaze

In nets made of mud, stone and forget

And tie in slate

The root of the vine

Here are some pictures by the Rhein and when we walked into town.

This is the oldest house in Bacharach, built in 1420.

We enjoyed a nice glass of wine at this restaurant.

This was a circle area that had grapes hanging from wires in the middle of the street.

These are the ruins of a church up on the hill. It was built in 1280. I took several pictures of it, but this one is the best. There is a long story behind this church, but I’ll leave that out. 

We came across another area in town that was set around a stream. I went a bit crazy with the pictures.

These pictures were taken overlooking the town of Bacharach. We walked up to the church ruins to get a better view.

I took these when we walked down into town.

Where there’s no Freedom There’s no Happiness

We left Bacharach and headed to Koblenz. On the way, I took a picture of this castle on an island and then of a town and castle on the other side of the Rhein.

My last picture is from Koblenz. These are part of the Berlin Wall.

I hope you enjoyed some wine while taking this trip with me. Have a great rest of week!

Rhein Valley and Wine,

Bea

Featured Horror Author – Linda Butler

I would like to introduce to you our first horror writer, Linda Butler, and she’s all about beauty and brains. Her love of horror began at a young age with the exposure to such classic horror films as “Night of the Living Dead” and “The Last Man on Earth”.

After a layoff, Linda J. Butler returned to school and graduated from Mount St. Mary's College with an M.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in Creative Writing. Her novel, Anti-Sentient, began as a writing assignment for a short novel class. With her professor’s encouragement, she shopped the finished product around for publication.

A native Angeleno, Linda is a technical editor currently residing in West Los Angeles, CA. Anti-Sentient is her first novel.  

Anti-Sentient Synopsis

Strange things are happening in Los Angeles: a vintage guitar shop owner finds a strange woman lingering near his shop as he closes up for the night; a homeless man attacks a waitress returning home from the late shift; the residents of a West Los Angeles apartment complex are awoken in the middle of the night to discover a group of strange people attacking a man in the building’s courtyard. In each instance the attackers move slowly and unsteadily, with eyes that are milky white and teeth like razors. Similar events are happening all over the city. Videos of the attacks have begun to filter onto the internet. The media is blaming the outbreak of violence on terrorists. The actual cause is far more insidious.  

The only hope to stopping the outbreak can be found at the headquarters of Nardock International, a drug research company secretly testing a new gene therapy, Anti-Sentient 6, on human subjects. Inside the headquarters’ walls, a test subject has begun to metamorphosize into a creature, devoid of humanity. The fate of the City of Angels, and perhaps mankind, depends on what happens within the next few hours.

How she came to write Anti-Sentient

Linda returned to school to earn her Master's degree and took a creative writing class titled, "The Short Novel". Her assignment for the semester was to write a novel about anything. Linda decided to write a zombie novel about people being stuck in an upstairs apartment during a zombie apocalypse because of a dream she had of her best friend and her being stuck in her apartment with a horde of zombies in the courtyard.

Her professor had each student sign a contract indicating how many hours a day they would devote to their novel. She wasn't working so Linda agreed to work three hours a day…and she did. When she wasn't writing, she was thinking about the book. By the end of the semester, Linda finished her book and her professor encouraged her to shop it around, and it got picked up by and independent press, Spore Press.

Indie Publisher

She came across Spore Press’s website and their request for Biopunk material. Anti-Sentient seemed like a perfect fit. Linda really liked the idea of being in on the ground floor with an organization that she believes loves what they're doing. She couldn't be happier with them.

Writing

She’s always enjoyed writing, but was shy and unsure about her material. Linda wanted to be a writer, but she didn't think it was possible. Being laid off and taking creative writing classes changed that. Losing her job gave Linda the freedom to try anything. She looked at it as a way of reinventing herself. Going to graduate school placed her in a setting where she was surrounded by really talented writers. The classes gave Linda confidence in her writing and helped her grow. 

Technology plays a huge part in her writing process. She knows many writers are purists and believe in putting pen to paper—she’s the complete opposite. Linda writes on her laptop. Her thoughts come too fast to keep up with using a pen, and she admits to having terrible penmanship.

Anti-Sentient Book Trailer

Anti-Sentient Amazon

Anti-Sentient Barnes & Noble

https://www.facebook.com/AntiSentient

Thank you, Linda for being a featured author and a part of Paying it Forward. I wish you much luck with Anti-Sentient and ask others to spread the word – http://bit.ly/UZWlij

Horror and Unemployment,

Bea

Deer. Headlights. Me in German class.

Have you ever had one of those moments when someone is talking to you but your brain completely shuts down with your eyes and mouth wide open? You know, when you look like someone just performed a lobotomy on you, except of course, you don’t have saliva dripping out of the sides of your mouth…or maybe some do.

At the age of 44, I knew that I would struggle with learning German. But when words started flying over and on the side of my head, eyes bulging out to concentrate on the teacher’s words, and all I could grasp was one word every 15 seconds...well, I knew then just what I was in for.

Yesterday was my first German lesson. I showed up with two pens, some paper, bottled water and my German/English Dictionary my friends at FINRA bought for me when I resigned. Thank you FINRA friends! That dictionary helped a lot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t shuffle through the pages fast enough before the teacher directed her attention to me, pointed her finger and asked, “Wie heissen Sie?” Deer. Headlights. Me. So she repeated, “Wie heissen Sie?” Now I kinda remember some German words and grammar my Love taught me, so I shuffled through memory on the third time when the teacher asked, “Wie heissen Sie?” and then she pointed to herself and said, “Ich heisse [teacher’s name].” She looked around at others and said to me, “Deutsch? Nein?” I’m thinking, “Of course I don’t know German, that’s why I’m here.” Then she says, “Anglish?” I said, “Ja!” hoping she was going to explain in English what she asked. But I wasn’t so lucky. The Bangladesh guy next to me knew itty bitty English and said, “Name.” English! Relax. Me. I responded with Denise Baer. She looked at me and asked, “Bier?” which I’m sure she thought that’s how I spell it. I nodded and then she asked, “Wie heissen Sie?” (What are you called?) and then pointed to me, “Ich heisse… “ (I am called… ) and I said, “Denise Baer”. Then I had to say, "Ich heisse Denise Baer."

And that’s how the class started with one Afghanistan, four Polish, one Romanian, two Bangladesh students and the American. Frau teacher went around the room asking, “Wie heissen Sie?” and each one responded, “Ich heisse [their names].” I was able to relax while the others had to respond, except many of them didn’t seem to struggle as much as the American. I only got a few minutes of relief before Frau teacher directed her attention to me again and asked, “Woher kommen Sie?” Deer. Headlights. Me. My body tensed, my face scrunched up in word agony, and then the Bangladesh guy said, “What country?” Ah! I know this one. I responded with Ooo. S. A. Frau teacher said, “Oo.Es.Ah. Ich Komme aus Oo.Es.Ah.” I repeated.

This language torture went on for the entire class...and we were let out earlier because she wanted to work from the book that only one guy had. We only learned a few questions and words, but it took that long for all of us to understand what was being asked, and how we were to respond.

For the rest of the class, Frau teacher called upon the American, used the American’s name often (maybe because she had trouble pronouncing the other names, or I’m the first American she’s ever taught) and at one point, even said “Perfect!” to the American regarding pronunciation, when the American had to ask another classmate questions. Wie heissen Sie? (What are you called?) Woher kommen Sie? (Where you come from?)  Wie alt sind Sie? (How old are you?) Wie lange sind sie in Deutschland? (How long you been in Germany?) I was in Germany the shortest amount of time…Seit drei Wochen. (Three weeks). 

Even the end of class wasn’t much release because all eyes were on the American when Frau teacher pointed to the book we need for class and asked, “Ja?” I shook my head and she handed it to me. I started writing down the name of the book while everyone watched and listened as Frau teacher asked me a question and Bangladesh guy responded in English, “Your man German?” and “Is man come here?” I let them know in English that my man was German, he wasn’t coming to pick me up and I have the book information and will get. When I responded, “Danke Schoen” to the Bangladesh guy, Frau teacher clapped and said, “Ja!” I guess she felt something sunk in today. I waved good-bye with a simple “Tschüs”. Thanks, Bangladesh guy.

This is what I can expect every Dienstag (Tuesday) and Donnerstag (Thursday) from 6:00 to 8:30 pm for 10 weeks. I should have gotten a prescription for Valium before entering Germany.

Foreign Language and Phonetic Fumble,

Bea