Mathilde Apelt Schmidt's Blog, page 88

2011 will be an interesting year for me.

It is now end of October of 2010 and time to put another comment on my blog. Old age is around the corner but it hasn't really kicked in yet. I am too busy for that. I play a lot of "spider" and "Scrabble" to keep my brain going. I also wrote another book, which is now in the hands of my daughter Doris Michaels who is a successful literary agent and editor and wants this book to be perfect. It is about my father who was a great man. He never published a book but he did much writing and public speaking. Others wrote a book consisting of his best writings and speeches. So, while waiting for my manuscript to get back to me and going once more over it before submitting it to the publisher, I keep busy with German teaching, classes, book clubs, garden, house and husband (in that order). Actually, the husband is the best part and I should concentrate more on him. But he is always around and taken for granted. I meet once a month with my wonderful friend, Cecelia. She is a lawyer, very busy, much younger, and also loves to write. Twice a week I meet with my "one on one" student, Meri, who wants to learn German. she speaks already very nicely and now we even play German Scrabble together. Her mother, Erika, is a wonderful friend. I admire her ability to raise two great children and carve out an interesting life for herself inspite of difficult circumstances. I walk four times a week early mornings,with another friend, almost my age, at our Lake Chabot. She keeps as busy as I do, much more so. My two German classes are my pride and joy. they are small classes, but we love exploring the German language together. Singing, putting on plays, and having parties together is good for all of us. Most of them want to go to Germany some day. And lately, there is our grandson, Denali, from New Zealand. He studies now at the California Art School in Oakland and visits us often. so, you see, I lead a busy life. Love to all, Mathilde

Here I am back after four months. I have written another book, this time strictly nonfiction. The will be titled…

My new book will be nonfiction. The title is: My Father, Hermann Apelt. The reason for writing this book? I should have done it long time ago. My father was a great man. He was born in 1876 and died in 1960 and accomplished many things in his long life. He died in the night after accomplishing a goal that he had for many years, after having lived through two world wars and seeing the fruits of his work (being senator of ports and navigation in Bremen, Germany) demolished twice. Twice he had t...

April 2010. I went to a “meet the agents” event, staged by the Women’s National Book Association. We writers met with ten+ professionals and had a really good time.

Oops, I started my blog in the wrong place. Last Saturday, a gorgeous, sunny day, I went to San Francisco to meet with several agents, publishers, and other professionals in the writing field. These “Meet the Agents” event are always stimulating. though you are allowed very limited time (about three minutes), you meet wonderful people and get very excited. At noon I walked to the Mandarin Hotel on Sansome where I met with seven members of my family to enjoy the day and spend the night. All of us were housed on the 41st floor from where we had a great view of the city. We had tea at one of the rooms, dinner at BIX, just a few blocks away and came home to the hotel at midnight, singing an ode to the full moon in German. Yes, I am a German teacher again, a job that I love and feel very competent with. On April 21 I’ll be 89, a wonderful age if you have still all your faculties together. Life is very good!

April 2010. I went to a "meet the agents" event, staged by the Women's National Book Association. We writers met with ten+ professionals and had a really good time.

Oops, I started my blog in the wrong place. Last Saturday, a gorgeous, sunny day, I went to San Francisco to meet with several agents, publishers, and other professionals in the writing field. These "Meet the Agents" event are always stimulating. though you are allowed very limited time (about three minutes), you meet wonderful people and get very excited. At noon I walked to the Mandarin Hotel on Sansome where I met with seven members of my family to enjoy the day and spend the night. All...

Trip to New ZealandMy husband Leo and I had a wonderful ...

Trip to New Zealand

My husband Leo and I had a wonderful time in New Zealand with our son Marty and his new wife Giannina. We stayed over two two weeks with them and celebrated Christmas and New Years together in this wonderful land. Our children had prepared a great vacation for us. Not only did we spend summerdays in their beautiful house and garden–they took us to a unique place called "Hopewell" in the center of the Marlborough Sounds. Each couple had a  private abode directly by the water. Each morning we started sitting in the "Spa pool" (Jaccuzi) and watched the sunrise and the birds waking up. Christmas eve was celebrated with a big green muscle dinner, served by our hosts. The weather was summery, never too hot, never too cold. A little breezy sometimes, but we got used to it. We came home again on Jan. 4th, refressed and ready to go back to normal life.

Trip to New ZealandMy husband Leo and I had a wonderful t...

Trip to New Zealand

My husband Leo and I had a wonderful time in New Zealand with our son Marty and his new wife Giannina. We stayed over two two weeks with them and celebrated Christmas and New Years together in this wonderful land. Our children had prepared a great vacation for us. Not only did we spend summerdays in their beautiful house and garden–they took us to a unique place called "Hopewell" in the center of the Marlborough Sounds. Each couple had a  private abode directly by the...

Hi there, I have been neglecting my blog and like to pick...

Hi there, I have been neglecting my blog and like to pick up where I left off last May. I have been very busy, but not writing more books. My last book was the novel "The Old Castle in Austria." Most of my selling, though, were done with my two nonfiction books, "My Life in Two Continents" and "Happiness–a Matter of the Mind." My daughter Doris Michaels invited me to New York in September of last year to a signing party and generously ordered twenty of my Happiness books. All I had to do was ...

Already May 2009!

I haven’t posted for two whole months! Having been very busy during March and April. so, in a nutschell: I have been busy with family events, a trip to Las Vegas beginning April to see our first great grandchild, a little girl, Brianna Leah Cruz, born on February 19, 2009. We stayed “off Strip” at the Trump Hotel. Jason and Genny (Brianna’s parents) visited us there at the hotel and celebrated their first wedding anniversary at the same time. Jason works as an Airman at the Base in Las Vegas and

March is almost gone and, boy, was that a busy month. Hay...

March is almost gone and, boy, was that a busy month. Hayward did the “Big Read” and I participated in some of the activities. The most impressive one was the movie about Ernest J. Gaines’s book A Lesson about Dying. Also Lalita’s Tademy’s review of her books, expecially Cane River and Red River was very touching. Her family moved to Almond Road in Castro Valley, not far from my own home on Walnut Road and she and my children went to the same school: Castro Valley High School. she did not like l

March is a busy month

We are approaching the Ides of March. Already my schedule was so full, with book clubs, teaching German, classes I take, hair appointment, etc. For the first time in my life I am dependent of my calendar. so far I had it all in my head, but not any more. I almost have to make appointments with my husband to eat with him. And that is not at a restaurant, that’s at home. what I discover is: I’m not the only person with a full schedule–most other people are too. Today, for instance, it’s a class at