Edith Parzefall's Blog

Niagara Falls

I spent an exhausting but fun weekend at the Niagara Falls, which are beautiful, stunning, a must-see. A Maid of the Mist boat took us close to the horse-shoe falls and my camera suffered from the spray but the pictures were worth it.

At night the falls are illuminated in varying lights of all colors. It would have been more beautiful if they’d just illuminated them with white light, but the rainbow colors fit with the town right at the falls. It’s called Little Las Vegas for a reason. I’ve never seen so much neon lighting in just one street.

We also visited the 1,000 islands in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. Well, not all of them. We went on a boat tour and saw islands just big enough for one house and a small peer. A larger one was shaped into a heart and an unfinished castle towers on it.

And here’s the shortest international bridge:

On the way to the falls, we also visited Toronto and went up on the CN tower, the tallest (553.33 meters) until two years ago when the still-under-construction Burj Dubai surpassed it. Tallest or not, it can’t compete with the Space Needle, the most beautiful and graceful tower I’ve ever seen so far.

Today I spent exploring the old part of Montreal, Isle de St. Helene, and a truly French-Canadian quarter, where I had to dig out my rusty French but didn’t get very far… Tomorrow, it’s supposed to rain, so I’ll probably put in a museum and gallery day.

White Welcome

When I stepped out of the Montreal airport, it snowed! Pretty, big flakes. While I was stuck in the commuter traffic with a talkative cabbie with a horrible accent, the snow turned to rain. This morning we had blue sky and sunshine though and I walked up the Mount Royal and took lots of pictures of beautiful houses, colorful trees, Halloween decorations and a squirrel. On top of the mountain–or rather hill–roofs and lawns were covered in snow.

On the streets you hear English and French. Sometimes I’m tempted to greet people in French but I since I wouldn’t get very far, I restrain myself.

Tonight we’ll go to the Magic of Lanterns in the Botanical Gardens. And over the weekend, we’ll visit Toronto and the Niagara Falls.

Frankfurt Bookfair

The bookfair was a blast! I met lots of interesting people and for the first time was allowed to enter the agents’ hall. Fascinating. They are a protected species and that’s a good thing I guess. They’d be overrun by writers. My hopes to garner a publishing contract are still high. When an agent represents you, publishers take your work more seriously–no doubt.

I also caught a glimpse of Nobel prize winner Herta Müller but there was such a buzz around her that I just merged back into the slowly crawling snake of people trying to get through the hall where she gave a TV interview. I listened to the writer team of the Klupfinger mystery series set in the Allgäu. They were fun and it was interesting to hear how they worked together. Either of them works on all parts of a book and afterwards they often can’t tell themselves anymore who wrote which scene originally.

As an audiobook junkie I spent a lot of time looking through the offer of new ‘fixes’ to keep me happy. It’s definitely a booming market. And I scanned the boths in the children and young adult section and saw nothing to compete with the fluffs. Seriously, I can’t imagine why publishers aren’t fighting over them. I should start working on the fluffclub website soon.

Snow flakes in my face

This afternoon I ventured out into the cold gray world in a rather foul mood. I absolutely had to go to the post office. So I thought I might as well buy groceries. Not exactly a mood lifter. So I trod on against the chilling wind when it started to snow. Tiny flakes, and not for long. Still, I marched on with a smile on my face. First snow is magic.

Now I want to light candles and snuggle up with a book and tea on my sofa. But that’ll have to wait a few more hours.

And the Devil Laughed by Carole Sutton

As soon as you’ve read the two-page prologue, you’re doomed. There’s no way you’re not going to buy the book. In a best prologue competition, Carole would no doubt win first prize.

Simon wept, and the devil laughed. Hannah Ford wept, first over the death of her husband then for herself after she was drugged, kidnapped, raped and humiliated. Physically recovered, she’s back on the job as undercover cop for the narc team. Drawn into a rape-murder case in the little town of Draper’s Wharf, the ghosts of her past crowd in on her as she hunts the drug traffickers and faces new dangers.

The first part of the book is full of mystery and the reader gets drawn into the guessing game, while the second part sparks with tension. Sutton develops characters with great skill. Even minor players feel very real with their little mannerisms and quirks. As always in her books, the atmosphere and setting become so much part of the story I felt right there with her protagonists. A great read!

Split Personality

I’ve decided to split my web presence according to my split personality.

Me, the free-lance editor: www.bookdoctor.de.
Me, the writer: www.edith-parzefall.de.

Me, the traveler, will get a gallery that still needs to be filled with life.
Just me will stay here.

Who’s the fool?

A strange occurrence during my last hike in the Alpes only now popped up in my mind again. I was using my Nordic Walking poles when we encountered an elderly man just standing on the path, looking around. As is common practice in the mountains, we greeted him.
The man looked at me and asked if he could have my poles. Surprised, I said yes and held them out to him. He stared at me for a moment then took them. “Thanks,” he said but kept looking at me in this strange way. I thought maybe he wanted to explain why he needed them, but since he didn’t say anything, I wished him a nice day and walked on.
He called me back. “Hey, take your poles back. You shouldn’t be so trusting.”
Now I was really baffled. “Well, I thought you needed them.”
“You can’t just give away your things when someone asks.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Well, that’s naive.” He smiled but still looked confused.”It was just a joke.”
“I thought maybe your knees hurt and you couldn’t walk on.”
“Yeah, I’ve got heartburn in my knees.”
“That’s a shame,” I replied and took the poles from him. “Get well soon!”
We walked on. I felt like whistling. He probably didn’t expect to be treated like a geriatric.
Maybe I should have offered him only one pole, like St. Martin cutting his coat down the middle.

Insanity and Beyond

After peaceful six months, I’ve finalized my travel plans for the next six. After the Frankfurt book fair I’ll fly to Montreal and hopefully manage to see the Niagara Falls. Not sure if they can compete with the Iguacu Falls in Brazil, but I’ll find out. From Canada, I’ll hop over to Seattle, my second home. Early December I’ll be off to Australia again for two months. They are always grateful when I come, since I usually flood the burnt country with weeks of rain. And in spring I want to visit India for 2-3 weeks.

It’s crazy but I’m excited (and only slightly overwhelmed). For a writer inspired by her travels, I guess it’s just the right thing to do.

Hiking without beer – or almost

I’ve been to the Bavarian Alps (Allgäu) for four days, hiking, enjoying fresh air, the jingling of cow bells and fantastic scenery:

On day two, we hiked from peak to peak above the clouds, but then we had to descend to the village through the fog. Spooky but cool:

Now my muscles are sore but I’m recharged with energy. On the drive back, a new story idea popped up in my head. Current working title: Jerk in a Purple Beamer.

Brewery Hike

What do you do to get a bunch of lazy geeks and other bums to go for a hike through the country-side? Well, it’s simple. Make it a hike from microbrewery to microbrewery and everyone will be happy to march on…

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t exactly great on Sunday, sunshine and clouds alternated, and in between we got a little drizzle. 17,7 km and four breweries. Not too bad. That’s for the lazy 60 percent of us, the rest added five kilometers while we took the bus.

If you’d like to see pictures, go to: Marcus’ flickr page.

I didn’t take any pictures myself, since I was too focused on beer and walking.