Gone Fishing

Back June 5!

Today (from my fishing hole) I'll be sending Tweets and doing FB Posts for Laura Eno and Marian Allen. Here's all my best to them both on their books!

AtoZ Reflection and Happy Trails to You

MY REFLECTIONS on the AtoZ Blog Challenge

There are some highly imaginative bloggers out there that turn their creativity into captivating moments or highly instructive ones. Either type of blog is great to me and I've enjoyed visiting each of them. I wish I could have visited more, but time . . . well, you all know about Time.

YAY! Here's my badge for crossing the finish line.

Here are a few of my favorites. This is not a complete list by any means, but only a sampling. 

I learned so much about the lore of British Cookery from Hilary and she taught me about Pond Pudding. More about that in the near future.

D.L. Hammons had a great contest during this AtoZ. He posted bits about himself all month, and then gave his visitors a chance to win a prize if they answered quiz questions based on those posts. I didn't get all the answers to his quiz, but I had fun trying.

Medeia Sharif featured a book each day by authors in alphabetical order. My book, Alligators Overhead, was very lucky to have a spot in one of her posts.

Mark Means updated me on all sorts of super-powered heroes. Some I'd never heard of before this Hop.

Bish Denham gave me a brief vacation to her beautiful island every day.

Laura Eno delighted me with her cat sayings and, of course, her Snarky Teas.

Al Diaz introduced me to his very special dragon cave with minions and dwarves and magic, so each day was special when I stopped in for a visit.

Samantha was a delight with her "What I've Learned" theme. 

Carol Kilgore made me want to read her book by giving me glimpses of her characters. Very clever theme.

There are so many I could mention, but another time--after I get some R & R and my head isn't buzzing  alphabetical.   

Thanks again to Arlee Bird and Alex Cavanaugh and all who co-sponsored this year's hop. It takes a lot of work and you made it smooth and easy for all of us.

The big news is that I already have my theme for next year. I feel like this smug pup or his twin, the president.

Now I'm mounting up on my trusty steed and riding off into the month of May. I'll leave you with these Happy Trails lyrics, but you'll have to hum the melody. 

Lyrics to "Happy Trails" by Dale Evans Rogers

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Small Things That Count

Inspired by VikLit

As I was thinking about what small things I'd include in today's post, I realized that none of what I had in mind were small in the least. But I guess we call these small because they don't make a headline splash or they don't send us out to shout about them. They just bring a moment of joy, a chuckle, a sigh of satisfaction. So I'll say these are the small things I celebrate, but taken in total, they are amazingly large.

A Crecopia Moth's Brief Visit

He tucked himself under the handle of grocery bag for a nap. He stay all day, then flew off just as the sun set.

 This year's crop of peas produced some beautiful pink and red flower, then gave us handfuls of the sweetest peas for dinner.

 A first Iris all white and tinged with a royal purple. Loved his kingly arrival.

Off to celebrate more small things with others in this Hop. Hope you'll stop by and say hi to them.

Insecure Writer Me

Writers, consider this today, and then go write something good. I'm officially out of blogginess this first day of May, so this is short and to the point. It's not terribly creative, and I feel my insecurities popping out all over as I write it. 

“Don't be afraid to write. I think a lot of writers of all ages have a fear that they aren't any good at writing. That fear is normal. I feel it. Most writers who care about what they are writing feel it. When you feel like you're not good enough, write anyway. It's just a pesky bug that's whispering lies. The best way to swat the bug is with your pen.”  Anonymous

AtoZ Blogging Challenge Ends Today! Z Has Arrived At Last

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out

I ended the 2012 AtoZ Blogging Challenge in this same way. But I love this and I love the joy in the song!

Can I make this my tradition? What do you think?

Zippity Do Dah!

All this Zip brought to you by:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in. 

AtoZ Blogging Challenge Y!

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out

I'm back. Crisis somewhat contained on the MOM-Front. You must not fall is now my motto. I'll be around to say hi to all my favorite and new blogger friends and catch up on this Challenge. BTW did anyone notice this is Y day?

Yertle

Yertle is too a word. 

Here's some sentences to prove it:

Don't give me that Yertle jive!

That new leader is Yertling over much, methinks.

She's not just any tryant; she's a Yertle.

See? Adjective, Verb, Noun, ergo word.

Did you love this story?
Which Dr. Seuss story was a hit at your house?
Anyone hate Dr. Seuss?

Yertle brought to you by:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

Bloggers to visit

We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in. 

AtoZ Blogging Challenge. X?

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out

X is not the greatest letter to work into a creative post for this challenge. However, I've managed to find one word that applies to my life as a writer. Ready?

XEROTRIPSIS

Here's an example of xerotripsis. Can you guess what it means?

The day was very bright and sunny and I felt really good. Then Joe came by and we talked for ten minutes about the weather. He likes it when it's sunny, too. After that I went for a walk down the street to the store and said hello to my friend, Mary. She is the clerk at the store.

Xerotripsis, what does it mean?

This nap has been brought to you by:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

Bloggers to visit

We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in. 

AtoZ Blogging Challenge. Wow! Almost At The End

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out

Wow!

Wowzer!

Woot!

Whee!

How can you have only one W word when these are so jam-packed with excitement? The fact that they mean nothing, but express so much makes them doubly interesting. Well, to me. 

Of course, our "doing it backward" AtoZ Auxilary Blogger covered W back on April 3. With his Wee Folks Wedding post. Miss it? Go see it NOW.

I'm determined to go to the end in this Hop, but I may not be around to all the bloggers I enjoy in the next couple of days. My mom isn't doing well, and I'm off to see what I can do to make things work. Here's to wrapping 2013 AtoZ Challenge up. It has been a great ride.

All of this excitement is brought to you by:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

Bloggers to visit.

We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in. 

AtoZ Blogging Challenge. A Hop For Those With A Voracious Appetite For Fun

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out

When someone says they have a voracious ANYTHING, that makes me stop and pay attention. The word conjures up images of Tom Jones and his eating habits

or Tyrannosaurs Rex and his.

If someone tells me they're a voracious reader I picture them buried under a pile of books . . . some of them mine. Dream on, Lee!

So what are you voracious about in your life? I'm thinking I should go gobble up something about now.  I've given myself a voracious appetite.

Here's the List and the people below bring you this voracious hop:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in. 

AtoZ Blogging Challenge--Spotlight on U

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out

We're coming into the home stretch on the A-Z Blogging Challenge. U is the 21st letter in our alphabet, so we only 5 more posts before we can fall across the finish line and pat ourselves on the back. 

I had a hard time picking a word for today, but I finally decided on one that I'd never heard before. And here I pride myself on knowing a lot of words. 

*Take Smug Expression from Linguistic Face.*

Have you ever heard of uranoscopy? Maybe some astronomers or star gazers have this in their vocabulary, but not me. However, if you've ever done any star-watching, you've participated in uranoscopy.

I've got to see what others of you have posted on your U Word Day. Anyone use uranoscopy?

Brought to you by:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

Bloggers to visit

We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in.