An 8 day visit to the main island in the Azores over Christmas time, detailing the pros and cons of visiting here. It’s beautiful and green but frequently rains, much like Ireland.
Visiting the Azores
Finding Joy While Facing Pain
Little did I know when I fell down our wet back porch stairs at the end of September that I would break both my ulna and radius bones in my left wrist and still be in a cast two months later. There was no joy in this experience but I was determined to look for … Continue reading Finding Joy While Facing Pain
Smorgasbord New Book Spotlight and Review – Amanda in Ireland: The Body in the Bag by Darlene Foster
My good friend Darlene Foster has released her latest book, Amanda in Ireland: The Body in the Bog. It's being highlighted here on Sally Cronin's Smorgasbord, a super blog to follow. The next stop on the blog tour is at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord New Book Spotlight. Sally has written a fabulous review for Amanda in … Continue reading Smorgasbord New Book Spotlight and Review – Amanda in Ireland: The Body in the Bag by Darlene Foster
When Life Delivers Blows, Try to Remain Positive
Me in my hospital bed On my way to a planned 9 day guided tour vacation with my husband to Sicily on Tuesday, I fell on the outside stairs and broke my wrist in several places. So straight to the emergency room we went and not to the airport for our flight to Sicily for … Continue reading When Life Delivers Blows, Try to Remain Positive
How Do I Love Thee, Vienna
Belvedere Palace Two years ago we first visited Vienna for five days and were so delighted by it that we returned again to this extraordinary Austrian city for the entire month of August. I love Vienna now even more than before. Here are fourteen reasons why. There are almost 1,000 municipal parks in Vienna, including … Continue reading How Do I Love Thee, Vienna
Walking Vienna’s Ring Road
One recommended activity to get a good sense of some of Vienna’s architectural and cultural delights is to walk the Ring Road (Ringstrasse) around the inner city. It takes about 1.5 hours to complete if you’re not stopping. I decided to give this a try the other day. I started my walk beside the neoclassical … Continue reading Walking Vienna’s Ring Road
Sound of Music Tour
My favorite movie ever is the Sound of Music. I love the songs and the plot, lust after Christopher Plummer and delight in lovely Julie Andrews. Given that, I knew I would have to do the original tour when in Salzburg. Our Tour Bus I recently took this tour with an Austrian friend and three … Continue reading Sound of Music Tour
Discovering Pieter Bruegel
Art History Museum We recently went to Vienna’s Art History Museum, an impressive structure built “under Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph to accommodate the collections acquired by the emperors and archdukes of the House of Habsburg over the centuries,” according to its brochure. The museum is known by locals as KHM, short for the Kunsthistorisches (Art … Continue reading Discovering Pieter Bruegel
The Albertina Museum
The Albertina Museum is splendid both in terms of its wide-ranging collection of artists and its location inside a former palace in the heart of Vienna. Before you enter the museum, you will notice many older buildings of interest that surround it. It sits between the Hofburg palace complex and the State Opera House, for … Continue reading The Albertina Museum
The Hot Topic of Immigration
Since the issue of immigration is much in the news these days, especially in the US, I thought it would be a good time to remind my dear readers about my well-reviewed novel Torn Between Worlds. (It has a score of 4.7 out of five on Amazon.) It’s about a 12-year-old Mexican named Isabel who … Continue reading The Hot Topic of Immigration
US Author Nancy Klein in Spain 