"Recent" Posts from my Blog Roll

Blog Insider: An unsolicited and superfluous look beyond the minutiae 

 Today's Episode: Recent Posts from My Blog Roll

What is a Blog Roll?

It is a list of other blogs that appears on a sidebar of blogs and websites.  Each blog listed contains a link to the blog and often contains a link to the most recent post.  Some will include a snippet of the most recent post, and the date last posted.

Are Blog Rolls still popular?

Blog Rolls used to be a very popular feature of blogs because they were an easy way to find other blogs to follow.  Just as blogs have lost popularity over the years blog rolls have as well.  One of these is due to technological advances.  At the height of blogging popularity computers were the main way blogs were accessed.  Now that cell phones are supreme, many people access blogs on those or on iPads.  When you access a blog on a phone, the blog looks different and a lot of the features like a blogroll can not be seen readily.  On my phone, I can switch to the regular computer view on the bottom of my screen but I assume very few people do that.  Also, many people just subscribe to blog content and don't access the entire blog that way.

Call me a Blogosaur.

I continue to use my blog and format ir like it was 2009.  I use my blogroll as a way of keeping up with my favorite blogs and even in my lean months (June through October) when I'm not posting as much, I am still on my blog using it to access the most recent posts from other blogs that I follow.  

I currently have 53 blogs listed on my main blogroll.  I have them listed by hy how recently they posted so the most current content keeps on coming to the top.  I do list on my blog roll how recent the posts are so I can tell you that as of 1:00 p.m. central time today (November 5th) I  follow fourteen blogs that have posted in the last 24 hours. Nineteen more blogs were posted at least once in the last week.  An additional eight more were posted between a week and a month ago. Seven more were posted between a month and 6 months ago, leaving five more posted in the last 12 months.  On another blog roll that I have titled" These blogs are so last year,"  there are 3 blogs that haven't been posted on for over 12 months. For the rest of this post, I will link 1 blog from each of these categories and state how I've come to follow it,

Posted in the last 24 hours

For the most part, the blogs that fit into this category are blogs that post very frequently often with multiple posts a day.  This isn't always the case, sometimes I might catch a blog that only posts every 5 or 6 weeks immediately after their recent post.  But as I said, for the most part, these are blogs that are constantly providing new content.

The Sound of One Hand Typing  is a blog I have discovered through my association with the A to Z blogging challenge that takes place every April.  The most recent post by John Holton is his prompts for the Weekly Writers Workshop that he holds on his blog.  I have participated in this the past few weeks and hope to join the fun again later this week.

Posted in the past week.  

The blogs here could be of the variety where they post on average once or more e  a week or they could be recent posts of blogs that blog a little more sporadically than that. Lindy Scott is someone I've mentioned on my blog multiple times.  Back in the mid 80's he was one of my first pastors, and has been both a mentor and hero of mine.  He has recently retired from a career in academia as a professor of Political Science.  His most recent post is called "Trump's Plan to Eliminate the Federal Income Tax: Why would any Sane Person Support it?" Its title indicates that it is an analysis and critique of Trump's most recent idea,  

Posted in the last month.  

\Some of these blogs are updated every 10 days or so and some of them are updated quarterly or more it just depends at what point you catch them.  Andy Unedited is one of my favorite blogs about literature, editing, publishing, and biblical living.  What else would you expect from a former editor at Inter-Varsity Press?  Andy Le Peau's most recent post, A True to Life Allegory, a review of a book that combines John Bunyan's A Pilgrim's Progress with Peter Kreeft's  Between Heaven and Hell.  It sounds intriguing as it intertwines two of my favorite books by two of my favorite authors,   The retired editor did spell Bunyan wrong, but, then again,  he once wrote a post called Confessions of a Bad Speller, so that's understandable.

Posted in the last 6 months

The 6 blogs listed here run the gamut from "where blogs go to die" (formerly prolific posters now on their last legs), semi-whenever posters, and some who are still on hiatus after finishing the April A to Z blog fest.  Another Fearless Year may look like it's on its way out.  After averaging over 80 posts per year between 2019 and 2021, it has only generated 18 posts since then.  I am hopeful, however as two of those posts were in September of this year.  The most recent of which, Grief, A Brief Description, is an excellent poem.

Posted in the last year

This is a kind of an endangered blog list.  Some of these still publish but are now on yu tube or another type of platform.  Some only post during the A to Z challenge which now ended over 6 months ago.  The A to Z challenge blog is an excellent example of the latter.  Its most recent post is about the A to Z Road Trip.

Posted more than a year ago

At midnight on New Year's Day each year, I change the name of my blog roll to "These Blogs are so last year."   As the blogs post new content,  I remove them from that blogroll and then decide whether to put them on the new blogroll or part company with the blog. Generally, by the end of March, almost all these blogs have posted again.  There are always some stragglers.  The Star Trek Sci-Fi Blog  , for example, went 22 months between January of 2023 and October of 2024 in between content. I just changed blog rolls on it at the end of this month. 3 blogs have not added content since 2023 and I really don't expect any of them to do so before the end of the year.  One, near and dear to my heart, is a blog I encourage my oldest daughter to share her poetry. The last poem she shared on the blog was called Growing Up. Fortunately, she has other outlets for her poetry and continues to write just not on her blog.

The deep dive into the minutiae of this blog is over for now.  But when I thin of more information less exciting than watching paint dry, Ill be certain to share it again.

A to Z 2024 Holiday Reflection

 This is my 2nd of two reflections for the A to Z 2024 challenge,  This will include some thoughts feelings and concerns in no particular order from my foray into all things Holidays.  If you would like to see my first reflection which focused on the playlist I amassed from my songs of the day during the challenge click here. 

My Theme for the 2023 A to Z challenge was Holidays.  The idea behind it started to germinate  when I worked at Chase in their Business Fraud department.  Each day we my manager would start a chat for all of us working on that day.  Each day she would title the chat with a different holiday that was taking place that day.  She would choose the Holiday from a list she would find on the internet for that day.  I don't remember exactly which one she queued them from, but it was similar to what you would find on National Day Calendar.

Instead of making an alphabetized list of such holidays, I wanted to actually choose holidays occurring on the day the letter was posting. From the start this proved to be problematic.  National Autism Awareness Day is April 2nd and autism starts with an A. but April 2nd we featured the 2nd letter of the Alphabet, which is a B.  Some worked out just fine, like April 4th was the first day of the United Kingdom's Discover National Parks Fortnight.  May need just a little tweaking.  Wednesday, April 3rd which is National Film Score Day matched with the letter C, by being described as Cinematic Compositions. 

When I get a idea for a theme , I often add to it a few wrinkles.  One wrinkle I added was immediately confusing. I decided to not only write about actual made-up holidays, but to also make up 5 of my own.  I chose 5 because there are that many vowels in my native tongue.  I say immediately confusing because A, the first letter of the alphabet is a vowel, so I made up a holiday, Adult Children Appreciation Day, on the first day of the challenge. It wasn't until the next day that I started chronicling actual holidays like Children's Picture Book Day which I introduced as B is for Books for Children.  

Even though I explained the entire concept each day with the same exact disclaimer:

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. 

I still think that doing something different with the vowels was confusing and I don't think I'll attempt that again.  I did, however like making up holidays.  For Adult Children Appreciation Day I wrote each of my 3 children aged 18 to 24, a letter appreciating, encouraging, and advising them. I plan to do the same the next time Adult Children Appreciation Day Rolls around which will be on April 21st , 2025 (As you know, Adult Children Appreciation Day is always the Monday after Easter). Besides Adult Children Appreciation Day, I also created 4 other Holidays

E was for Wedding Planner Black Friday

I was for Indicted Illinois Governors Day

O was for One More Time and You get a Parade Day

U was for Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day

Speaking of Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day,  I tried to mix up my presentations here and there this challenge.  This blog used to be 4 different blogs, 2 general interest blogs, 1 vlog, and 1 sports blog.  During the challenge I tried to bring in features from some of these blogs to my daily posts.  The U post was presented in vlog fashion as a You Tube video of me presenting the day in question.  On my M day I posted about National Micro-volunteering Day, but I did so in Frequently Asked Question Format which  is a format I have used multiple times before in my blogs. I even had two holidays regarding sports for S and T.  

I  completed the challenge this year.  What I try to do is predate my entry so it drops at the time that reflects that day's date.  For example my A post dropped at 4:01 A.M. on April 1st.  Some days I had to manually post later that day.  On one occasion I posted minutes before midnight.  I was never late and I was never early each post dropped on the correct day.  

I didn't drop in on every blog but I did visit quite a few,  I received 90 comments on my blog in April and I feel like I may have left that may comments myself.  Next year I'll try to keep track. I discovered 3 new blogs during the challenge that I have been following, they are Hot Dogs and Marmalade, The Versesmith,  and Backsies is What There is not. I am giving them all a try out on one of my blogrolls along with the The Curry Apple Orchard, which was my favorite blog to follow during the challenge.  Now that the challenge is over I hope to pore through every reflection and discover some more blogs worth following,

Before I put this reflection to bed, and me with it, I have a couple of final thoughts.

• The end of the school year is fast upon us, and the middle school where I am a building sub, is basing their end of the year countdown with theme days from the holiday of that day.  What a fantastic idea, I wish I had done something like that for the challenge.  Oh wait, I did!
• In my Theme Reveal this year, I mentioned how my theme for 2024 was supposed to be Chronicles of Narnia related.  My plan is to reread all the books this year, as I do most every year but did not do in 2023, and have that be my 2025 A to Z theme.  

The next stop for me is to register for the A to Z Road Trip,  I also am going to make an index page at the top of this blog for the 2024 challenge.  Until then I'll try ti go back to my 6 to 10  times monthly blogging pattern.  For more A to Z Reflections click here.  

A to Z 2024:Reflections - The Music

I am doing my A to Z Reflections in 2 parts this year.  The traditional reflection with the index and the pontification will follow.  This year I paid homage to John "1 Hand Typing" Holton  by having a "song of the day" for each letter of the alphabet at the end of my post. I would post a You Tube video of the song in question and then daily add that song to my Spotify A to Z playlist.   

I am adding a bonus song of the day for the reflection called appropriately enough, Reflecting on My Reflection by Allen Levi.

The Leap of Dave A to Z Playlist ia now ready with all 26 songs from the challenge.  

I will be back later this week with my traditional reflection.  Foe more reflections click here.

Z is for the Zenith of the American Revolution

 

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 30th 2024 is the 235th anniversary of George Washington being inaugurated the first President of the United States.

George Washington

By Gilbert Stuart, Public Domain, Link

On April 30th 1789 George Washington was innaugurated the first President of the United States of America in Federal Hall in New York City.  Here is the transcript of his address ...

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: 

 Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years--a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrust-ful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated. 

Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow- citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. 

By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. 

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted. 

To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require. 

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

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The song of the day is Zion by Aaron Shust

The A to Z Challenge is complete!  The Spotify Leap of Dave A to Z playlist is complete.  They both have been a lot of fun.  I will be back soon with my A to Z reflections.

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: Y is for watching Viral Videos on Youtube

 

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 29th is Viral Video Day

• The first viral video on You Tube was an unauthorized bootleg of the SNL digital short Lazy Sunday.  It had over 5,000,000 views between December 2005 and February of 2006 when You Tube took it down.  SNL has since put the video up on it's own You Tube Channel.
• Like many subsequent viral videos Lazy Sunday spawned some response videos.  This one being a shot by shot remake
• In 2008 the viral video Charlie bit my finger - Again blew up  on You Tube.  To date it has 886,000,000 views.  My son was 7 when this came out and I must say he was very good at shutting people down before they ever got to teasing him about that.
• By 2013 most everyone knew what a viral video was.  April 29th 2013 was the first known occurrence of Viral Video Day.
• Since then, viral videos have not gone away.  Video's like this one my daughter calls Chewbacca Mom. It had 13,00,000 views in the past 7 years.  

I know there are just two days left in the A to Z challenge.  I say take a moment and watch some You Tube videos.  You may just help one go viral!

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The song of the day is You Make It Easy To Fall In Love by Three Crosses

25 songs are on the Leap of Dave A to Z 2024 playlist.  Just one more letter, one more holiday and one more song!

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

The Progressive Poem is Here!

 Okay, before I go one step farther, I need to get two things off my chest...

1) Who ever decided to put National Poetry Month on the same month as the A to Z challenge

should have their poetic license revoked.

2) Who ever decided to put the A to Z challenge the same month as National Poetry Month needs to get more than just their alphabet in order.

I feel a little better.

Speaking of both challenges, yesterday Donna Smith of Mainely Write did a great job of bringing us closer to the end of this excellent epic of emigration. Her theme in the A to Z challenge is good words and I am going to start my intro with a doozy of a good word.

Today is the antepenultimate day of the progressive poem.  I learned antepenultimate 2 Summers ago when I was  reading Benjamin Dreyer's amazing book, Dreyer's English.  Antepenultimate means third from last.

Before I continue I want to advise that I made 2 changes to today's post.  The first is that I started all lines with a Capital letter.  Whoever comes behind me can certainly copy and paste from yesterdays post rather than mine.  The second is that I have changed the links, so now when you click on the previous poets pages you go directly to their original post.  

Cradled in stars, our planet sleeps, 

 Clinging to tender dreams of peace

 Sister moon watches from afar, 

 Singing lunar lullabies of hope. 

 Almost dawn, I walk with others, 

 Keeping close, my little brother. 

 Hand in hand, we carry courage 

 escaping closer to the border 

 My feet are lightning; 

 My heart is thunder. 

 Our pace draws us closer

To a new land of wonder. 

 I bristle against rough brush— 

Poppies ahead brighten the browns. 

Morning light won’t stay away—

Hearts jump at every sound. 

 I hum my own little song 

Like ripples in a stream 

Humming Mami’s lullaby

 Reminds me I have her letter

 My fingers linger on well-worn creases, 

Shielding an address, a name, a promise– 

Sister Moon will find always us 

Surrounding us with beams of kindness

 But last night as we rested in the dusty field, 

Worries crept in about matters back home. 

I huddled close to my brother. Tears revealed 

The no-choice need to escape.  I feel grown. 

 

Leaving all I’ve ever known 

The tender, heavy, harsh of home. 

On to maybes, on to dreams, 

On to whispers we hope could be. 

But I don’t want to whisper! I squeeze Manu’s hand. 

“¡Más cerca ahora!” Our feet pound the sand. 

We race, we pant, we lean on each other 

I open my canteen and drink gratefully 

 Thirst is slaked, but I know we’ll need 

 More than water to achieve our dreams. 

 Nights pass slowly, but days call for speed 

Through the highs and the lows, we live with extremes 

 We enter a village the one from Mami’s letter, 

 We find the steeple; food, kindly people, and shelter. 

 “We made it, Manu! Mami would be so proud!”

 I choke back a sob, then stand tall for the crowd. 

 

A slapping of sandals… I wake to the sound 

 Of ¡GOL! Manu’s playing! The fútbol rebounds. 

 I pinch myself. Can this be true? 

 Are we safe at last? Is our journey through? 

 I savor this safety, we’re enveloped with care, 

 but Tío across the border, still seems far as stars. 

 He could not yet come to this new place 

 But Hermana moon, kiss his tear-stained face

¿Dónde está mi querido Tío? (Where is my Dear Uncle?)

¡Mi corazón está muy frío! (My heart is very cold)

I originally wrote this in Spanish.  I then translated it into English by myself and used an online translator back to Spanish to correct  any grammatical errors I may have made.  I have the translation in parentheses but I did not intend that to be part of the poem.  Perhaps an * can be used if we feel the young readers might not know what was said. 

April 1 Patricia Franz at Reverie 

 April 2 Jone MacCulloch 

April 3 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse 

April 4 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life 

April 5 Irene at Live Your Poem 

April 6 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche 

April 7 Marcie Atkins 

April 8 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God Forsaken Town 

April 9 Karen Eastlund 

April 10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance 

April 11 Buffy Silverman 

April 12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise 

April 13 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care 

April 14 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link 

April 15 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities 

April 16 Sarah Grace Tuttle 

April 17 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe 

April 18 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference 

April 19 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core 

April 20 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect 

April 21 Janet, hosted here at Reflections on the Teche 

April 22 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading 

April 23 Tanita Davis at (fiction, instead of lies) 

April 24 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone 

April 25 Rest 

April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe

 April 27 Donna Smith at Mainely Write 

April 28 Me at Leap of  ME Dave  

The Penultimate Verse  will be presented tomorrow, 

April 29,  by Robyn Hood Black @ Life on the Deckle Edge 

The big Finale, will be on Tuesday, 

April 30  by Michelle Kogan @ More Art for All

This was a lot of fun.  It's my 2nd time around in the progressive poem and again I am having a blast. Looking forward to seeing how Robyn and Michelle bring the journey to an end 

A to Z 2024: X marks the spot that pampered dogs have in our heart

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 27th is National Little Pampered Dog Day

That's it.  That's all I've got it's 11:54 on April 27th and I've gotten all my posts this month in on time.  What I lack in content, I make up for in punctuality.

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The song of the day is Xandadu by Olivia Newton John & ELO from the 1980 film, Xanadu.  I saw it when it came out.  I didn't like it then, it was more of a xanadon't.  But this clip makes me consider giving it a second viewing.

X is 10 in Roman Numerals but today X makes 24 songs on the Spotify Playlist

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: W is for Warmly Embrace Austalians

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 26th is Hug an Australian Day.

Australia is the lone continent that is also one entire country.  Australia Day is celebrated each year on January  26th marking the 1788 landing of the first fleet into Sydney Harbor and the subsequent raising of the Union Flag  of Great Britain.  3 months to the day later you can celebrate Australians all over again by hugging them.  

Originated in 1996 in Melbourne, Hug an Australian day promotes warmth and wellness.

Wallaby,Dhammagiri Forest Hermitage, Buddhist Monastery, Brisbane, Australia www.dhammagiri.org.au 

 Not everyone can visit Australia.  However everyone can promote good will to Australians everywhere by wishing all Auissies you meet well wishes and perhaps even a warm embrace.  Here's a cute video of someone hugging a koala bear.

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Today's Song of the Day is We are Here by Randy Stonehill & Buck Storm

23 songs for the playlist

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: V is for Various Holidays

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 25th: Multiple Holidays Abound

Everyday of the year there are a plethora of holidays,  My job for the challenge was to scour through those holidays and find one that somehow relates to the letter of the day.  Since todays letter is V, I thought I might give you a variety pack of holidays, events, and occurrences to celebrate today.

Holidays

National Hairstylist Appreciation Day Held on the 25th April since 2012.  Prior to that it was celebrated on April 30th, but alas, that wasn't it's "permanent" day.

International  Delegates Day - United Nations The current U.S. Ambassador for the U.N. is  Linda Thomas Greenfield.  The last former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. that I voted for for President of the U.S. was Nikki Haley.

World Penguin Day Statred in 1972, April 25th coincides with he day that Adelie penguins begin their northern migration.  It is a little confusing because I thought it was March of the Penguins, not April.  

3 Adelie PenguinsCC BY-SA 2.0, Link

License Plate Day On April 25th 1901 the state of New York made the first law requiring automobiles to have license plates.  Speaking of license plates click here to see the I holiday Indicted Illinois Governors Day.

Born On April 25th

Al Pacino - American Actor 1940- present

Edward R Murrow - Radio and Television Journalist - 1908-1965

Edward R Murrow Public Domain,

David Strathairn As Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck

Guglielmo Marconi - Inventor and Physicist 1874-1937

Died on April 25th

Ginger Rogers - American Actress and Dancer.  Died in 1995 at the age of 83

Rogers and Fred Astaire

By RKO Radio Pictures Public Domain, Link

John Havlicek - Boston Celtics Basketball Star died at the age of 79 in 2014

Bea Arthur- Actress best know for her roles on t.v. shows Maude, and Golden Girls-  died at the age of 86 in 2009 

Happened on April 25th ...

2021 - Chloe Zhao win's Best Director Oscar for the film Nomadland.  Frances McDormand won the Academy award for Actress in a Leading Role for Nomadland, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture.  

1990- Hubble Space Telescope Sent Into Orbit.This hour video show the Space Shuttle bringing the telecope into space and then releasing it into orbit.  

 

This poster shows many of the great pictures taken with the telescope.

By Unknown author Public Domain, Link

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Song of the Day The View From Here Bob Bennet  

There is an entire house concert from 2019 on this video, if I have set this up correctly, the intro to the song should start as you open the video.  There are 22 songs on the A to Z Spotify playlist now. Just like today it houses a lot of variety.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!  

A to Z 2024: U is for Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

A Very Special Installment Today

Dave Out Loud Presents Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day

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Song of the Day: Under The Sun - Michael Card

21 letters 21 songs assembled in a playlist.  5 more remain.  Here is what we have so far.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: S is for start of something Major

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 22nd 2024 is the 148th anniversary of the first National League baseball game

April 22nd 1876 is a significant date in the history of American sports.  The first game in the newly formed National League took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event took place 2 1/2 months before the 100th anniversary of another significant American beginning that also took place in Philadelphia. 

The inaugural game took place between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Stockings.  With Boston winning 6-5 in a game that took 2 hours to play.

The National League started with 8 teams: Boston Braves(1876-Present) , Philadelphia Athletics (1876-1876), Hartford Blues (1876-1877), St. Louis Brown Stockings  (1876-1877) Chicago Cubs (1876- Present) New York Mutuals (1876-1876) Louisville Grays (1876-1877), and Cincinnati Reds (1876-1879).  Only the Cubs who were known in their first 25 years in the league as the Chicago White Stockings, Chicago Colts and Chicago Orphans  and the Braves who were first known in Boston as the Red Stockings, the Red Caps, Beaneaters, the Nationals, The Bees  and The Doves before settling on the Braves  and then moving to Milwaukee and then Atlanta have survived to the present.  The other 6 teams didn't even make it to the 1880s.  The American Leauge began in 1901 and the AL and the NL started facing each other in the World Series in 1902.  But April 22nd 1876 is when Major League baseball games started being played, something worth being clelebrated. 

Photo caption: Delegates to the Schedule Meeting of the National League and American Association of Base Ball Clubs, Held At The Hotel Rennert, Baltimore, February 25th - 27th, 1897

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Today's Song of the Day is Say Goodbye to Little Jo by Steve Forbert

I usually don't spend any time introducing the artists of the song of the day. Many of them are lesser know than Steve Forbert, but I'm going to make an exception with him in anyway.  My Freshman year in high school  (1979-1980) was in the height of my  Pop music mastery.  I read Billboard magazine every week, focusing on the Hot 100 singles which Casey Kasem culled his American Top 40 radio show from.  I would generally listed to AT 40 every week and would listen to WLS AM in Chicago which was at the time a top 40 radio station.  As a result to this day I can generally  tell you the name of the album that a song from the late mid 70's to the early mid 80's came from.  Steve Forbert's only top 40 hit Romeo's Tune for ,example, came from the album Jackrabbit Slim.  It barely missed the top 10 reaching 11 in 3/1/1980.   Say Goodbye to Little Joe , the 2nd single from Jackrabbit Slim. spent 3 weeks in the top 100 climbing as high as 85  on April 19,1990. 

Steve Forbert and Dan Fogelberg were contemporaries and  they both scored their most popular hit in March of 80 (Romeo's Tune, and Longer respectively).  Fogelberg had the much bigger career until his death in 2007.  Forbert still tours and I came this close to seeing him over Spring Break when he was in Madison, Wisconsin.

  

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: R is for R R R Very Funny. if You think I'm going to respect Lima Beans.

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

April 20th is National Lima Bean Respect Day.

Lima beans the well deserved Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables

I do not need an entire day to respect lima beans.  For me a minute would be too much time.  To misquote Snoopy in Your A Good man Charlie Brown:  I am a Lima Bean hater, a Lima Bean despiser and a Lima Bean loather.  Or to misquote Greg Brady in the Brady Bunch episode," My sister Benedict Arnold": Lima beans are on the top of my bad vegetable list, the bottom of my bad vegetable list and every bad vegetable in-between.  

I grew up in the 70's and we were all members of the clear your plate club.  If my parents served it we ate it, or we hid it, or we fed it to the dog.  I've always been a big fan of food, and there's hardly a food I don't enjoy.  Growing up, I was not really big on most vegetables, I could eat corn or carrots but anything else was a stretch for me.  But the worse of the worst was the lima bean.  

I absolutely hate lima beans.  I would not eat it on a bet.  As I've got older I've learned to enjoy most vegetables and tolerate the ones I don't enjoy.  I am actually a big fan of most beans black, pinto, kidney, garbanzo.  Generally I lead the league in legumes.  But I can not bring myself to eat a single lima bean.  It is probably the only food I won't eat.  I have strong preferences against some food like olives, but in a pinch I can eat one.  Luckily my wife loves olives, so it never comes to that.  

My hate for lima beans is legendary in my family.  Just like my kids grew up knowing that I love The White Sox, Randy Stonehill, Libraries, and diving off the high dive, they also discovered I hate lima beans.  So each Christmas for several years I could always count on that they would wrap up a can of lima beans for me.  

I'm not sure why April 20th is National Lima Bean Respect Day.  If it were up to me I'd ban the Holiday all together.  If I can't do that I would just make it 19 day earlier.  Because a day honoring lima beans has to be some sort of April Fools Joke.

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The song of the day Is Road to Zion by Petra

Here is a snippet of the song performed live ...

 

Here is the entire song ... 

The A to Z mix tape now contains 18 songs.

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: Q is for Quatrains

 

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

April 19th is Poetry & The Creative Mind Day

& Today is also Poetry Friday Hosted by Heidi @ My Juicy Little Universe

The last time I posted at Poetry Friday I did an introduction to the A to Z challenge and an invitation to participate there-in.  Today, I will give those visiting from the round-up  a glimpse of what a regular a to z post looks like and at the same time show the A to Z folks what A Poetry Friday submission is all about.  

Today Q is for Quatrains and other poetry related stuff as the holiday du jour  is Poetry & The Creative Mind day.  I'm not sure why it's on the 19th or how it originated,  But right near the middle of poetry month here is a nifty little holiday to celebrate poetry. So let's celebrate it, but first a dumb joke:

Q: What's a quatrain?

A: Not much. what's a quatrain with you?

According to Merriam Webster, A quatrain is a unit or group of four lines of verse.  I have decided to write the heart of my A to Z post in quatrains today.  I am following an ABCB rhyme scheme

My A to Z Q Post

The A to Z Challenge

Is a big to do

Each year I struggle

As I get to Q

My theme this year

Has been Holidays

I've tried to approach it

In some different ways

Each Day, save Sunday

Calendars I consult

And search for Holidays

That I can exult

When I find the occasion

That I like better

I match the event

With that day's letter

For example April 2nd

Was Children's Book Day

B is for Book

I put on display

On the days of the alphabet

That start with A, E, I, O or U

I created my own holiday

Don't ask Y, but it's true

Today's Holiday

Wasn't hard to find

It was Poetry

And the creative mind

But how would that match 

With the letter Q?

I just scribbled out some

Quatrains for you

This has been Poetry Friday

And Also A to Z

Thanks ever so much

for joining me.  

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Today's song of the day comes from the late Rich Mullins.  It is Quoting Deuteronomy to the Devil

The Spotify A to Z playlist is now through Q

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If you are joining from Poetry Friday, I want to mention two blogs participating in the A to Z challenge that are including poetry in all their posts.  The first is Sue's Trifles where her most recent post was a poem using pararhymes.  The other blog is the Versesmith, where the most recent post was about prompts and preludes.

If you are joining from A to Z blogging, I want to tell you about another April challenge and that is the 2024 Kiddy Lit Progressive Poem.  On April 1st one poet started it off with a couplet and each subsequent poet has posted the earlier couplets and then added their own,  For April 19th it is Reading to the Core's turn. Her submission is right here.  I will be adding a couplet on the 28th of April.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. To enjoy more of Poetry Friday click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Poetry Friday. Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: P is for Piñata Day

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 18th is National Pinata Day in Mexico

P is for Piñata.  It is also for Picture.  Here are a number of pictures of piñatas from Wikimedia Commons.

 Football

Piñata Party  in San Salvador, El Salvador

Mexican Traditional Piñata

Piñata in the park

Llama Piñatas

Is it A Plethora or Piñatas? I thinks so.  

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Today's Song of the day is Play Game from Tik Tik Boom

16 songs and what do you get?

An incomplete playlist that's not over yet

I still have to finish from Q to Z

I owe 10 songs for this menagerie.

I just published letter O about 15 hours later than I usually do.  To make up for it I am publishing this now rather than wait until tomorrow.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: One More Time and You Get a Parade Day

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

The third Wednesday of April is One More Time and you Get a Parade Day.  

As today's letter is a vowel, it is another opportunity for me to make up a new holiday.  Many holidays come with traditions, games, or events that go along with them.  Easter egg hunts, for example are believed to have originated in Germany in the 16th century.  The first Turkey Trot (a race taking place the morning of Thanksgiving) took place in Buffalo New York in the late 19th century.  One More Time and you Get a Parade Day may be the first holiday that was started to celebrate a tradition rather than the other way around .

My wife and I have been playing a game I invented around the time we got engaged called "What A Thing to Say". It started as a game to play when we were in a social setting that required a lot of mingling.  I believe the original occurrence was at my Grandfather's wake.  I gave my fiancé  a thing to say, I believe it may have been The Almighty Dollar.  Over the course of the event she had to work in the phrase into ordinary conversation 3 different times with 3 different groups of people.  

Some of the original "what a things to say" besides the almighty dollar were, The Stevenson Expressway (A Chicago road), People don't floss like they used, to, and one of my favorites, I don't like blank (whatever person , place or thing just mentioned) they supported the war movement.  

It's a totally random game that when played well is oblivious to all but the player, and when played poorly is a staple of group conversation for a very long time.  

"What does this have to do with parades?" you might ask. A few weeks ago I was subbing in one of my favorite classes.  It was the class in fact, that I had been a long term sub in for the 1st semester of the 2022/2023 school year.  I have a great deal of familiarity with these students and they have a great deal of familiarity with me.  The class is comprised of 6th graders and 7th graders  and one of the 6th graders tends to sneeze 5 or 6 times in a row on a frequent basis. On this particular day, after the 3rd or 4th sneeze I responded with the quip, one more time and you get a parade.

I'm not sure how that phrase came to me.  True, I just made it up,  but, I was definitely thinking something along the line of when you do something multiple times you get a prize.  I don't think I was remembering the below  scene from A Few Good men, it is in my collective unconscious . 

 

One way to  celebrate One More Time and You get a parade day is by playing a version of What a Thing to say with your friends, family, classmates or co-workers.  This could be done virtually or in person.  Each person writes one phrase down and then they are distributed.  Then each person has to use that phrase in a conversatToday'ion throughout the day.  Another way is to try to make up your own expression and use it in the course of the day.  

April is a month that starts with foolishness, but One More Time and You get a Parade say insures that foolishness doesn't end on the first.

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Today's Song is Off Again On Again Love By Allen Levi

I generally put a video on of the song, but as far as I know there are no videos of this song, so here is a link to it on Spotify.    

With this song, my playlist is now up to 15 songs.

It is already 9:15 P.M. in Chicago and this is the latest that I've posted in the challenge so far this year.  I now must go, and work on tomorrow's.  When I finish this one, I might not get a parade, but I will be caught up. That is certainly something to turn a phrase about.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!