Have you ever hiked across an Alpine cow pasture in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland? Then, you may have noticed that the air is filled with the sound of bells. Each and every cow in a more loosely connected herd carries one around on its heavy leather collar. It is a very peaceful sound, for sure. […]
Susanne Bacon’s 9th Wycliff Novel Takes You Traveling
It sometimes just takes a tiny spark that gets kindled to become a fire. What do you come up with when you think of filming locations in Western Washington, for example? Even in far-away Germany, we had heard about “Sleepless in Seattle” and about Forks in the “Twilight Saga” back in the day. Just for […]
In the Book Nook with … Marshall Miller
Author Marshall Miller from Port Orchard, WA, is a retired senior special agent/federal investigator. He started out to be an investigative reporter many years ago, but he says, “Fate put me into Law Enforcement”. He published a book locally in 2014. Marshall belongs to and is the director of the Kitsap Literary Artists and Writers, […]
Across the Fence: Kaput
Many are the Germanisms in the English language. Germans are among the biggest groups who ever immigrated to the U.S., after all. Therefore, the influence on the language. One of these words that you probably know very well is the term “kaput”. Almost exactly the same pronunciation as in German, just with a little spelling […]
In the Book Nook with … Seána Kee
Author Seána Kee lives in southeast Wisconsin. She used to work as a copy editor but had to give up the job because of repetitive motion injuries. Now, she works for a fair-trade distributor. Seána has always been an oral storyteller and started writing in high school. As support was lacking, she hid her work […]
Across the Fence: Ersatz
I grew up with two notions to the German word “Ersatz” (pronounce air-‘zuts), that of replacement and that of substitute. I didn’t know that this term had also made it into the English language. And whereas the association of ersatz with replacement is a good one, that with substitute for the same purpose suggests inferiority. […]
In the Book Nook with … M. Lee Musgrave
Author M. Lee Musgrave lives in White Salmon, WA, in the Columbia River Gorge. He is an artist with numerous international solo and group exhibitions over the decades. As a former professor of art and art museum curator, he has written many essays, exhibit catalogs, text panels, etc. M. Lee’s first published book, “Brushed Off,” […]
Across the Fence: Dachshund
They are longer than they are high. They come smooth or wiry. They all seem to be self-confident, resilient characters, and I was surprised that most people call them Wienerdogs over here. At first, I wondered why anybody would associate the city of Wien, aka Vienna, with the dog. Then, I realized that it is […]
In the Book Nook with … Emily Hunt
Author Emily Hunt lives in Olalla, Washington. She has been creating stories since she was a child, but not until last year did she seriously pursue being published. Her historical fiction novella, “Enemy in the Highlands”, was published in April 2022. Emily is a member of the Greater Gig Harbor Literary Society on Facebook. When […]