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.
This gets the Leap Of Dave A to Z challenge Spotify playlist to about a third of it's capacity.
That's all for today. Leave a comment about why you like Scotland, Science, both or neither.
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!
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 8th is National Zoo Lovers Day
I love zoos. I'm not sure exactly when I fell in love with them . It may have been all the times Dr. Lester Fisher visited the Ray Rayner show when I was a kid on a segment called Ark in the Park. Dr. Fisher was the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. It could have been on my trips to the Brookfield Zoo when I was a kid, I know I had one birthday party there. It may have even been when my grandparents would take my brother and sister and myself to the aforementioned Lincoln Park Zoo. It may have been all of those things and more.
Here is a link to one of our other blogs that shows a great video from a family trip (sans me) to the Brookfield Zoo.
I really enjoying going to free zoo's. Here is an article from February of this year talking about 12 such zoos (I've been at 3 through 6).
# 6 The St. Louis was the most recent zoo I visited. Here are some pictures form my trip in March
My favorite animal, the giraffe at the St. Louis Zoo
Today is also the day for the total solar eclipse. We will be watching it at school today. The next one won't me in the U.S. until August 23rd 2044. Instead of pushing 60 like I am now it will be exactly a month before my schedule 80th birthday. My Dad turned 86 on March 23rd and he will be watching it with my Mom and brother. So that's older than I will be next next time.
Will you be watching the eclipse today? Do you enjoy zoos? Answer either or both of these questions in the comment section.
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!
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.
I decided to do something a little different today in describing the holiday. Instead of using my own words I am going to use some of the text found on the Plan Your Epitaph Day webpage from Daysoftheyear.com It's not the entire text just some snippets
There comes a day in every person’s life when they have to face the inevitable,
. This day, Plan Your Own Epitaph Day, is the perfect day to set aside some time to figure out what you’re going to have to say about yourself before you’re gone.
Ludolph van Ceulen had the first 35 digits of Pi inscribed on his tombstone, as he was the first to calculate this delicious sounding number out to that many decimals.
Some of the activities you can do to celebrate this day, is go to graveyards and look for inspiration in the stones of those who have already passed.
this is one more way to collect Epitaphs that have already been written to help inspire you to write yours!
Another thing you can do to celebrate this pasttime is to have picnics in the graveyard with likeminded friends.
Together you can sit and brainstorm on what you’d like your final words to the world to be.
Plan your own Epitaph day is a day for reflection on our own mortality, and thinking forward to what kind of legacy we want to leave behind for those who come after us.
So take some time to think about where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and what you’d like to say to those who come after,
April is also National Poetry Month. I have decided to write a poem about today's holiday. Mainly because I didn't create much of my own content today.
The Spotify pla list for my A to Z challenge is now a week old and 6 songs long.
Well Week 1 is in the books. Feel free to catch up on any of my posts you may have missed. In your comments, you can let me know what words you might consider as an epitaph.
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!
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.
Today's Holiday is Discover National Parks Fortnight
Today April 4th 2024 is the first day of Discover National Parks Fortnight. The holiday runs from April 4th to April 17th and celebrates the national park system of the United Kingdom. Don't confuse this holiday with National park week in the U.S. this year that's April 20th through April 28th which is actually a week and 2 days. Discover National Parks Fortnight is 14 days which is the correct length for a fortnight.
I have never been to the United Kingdom but I am aware of a few of their National Parks.
The Peak District
A moorland scene Pic taken from the path to Lad's Leap, centre skyline is the Pennine Way to Black Hill with Bareholme Moss to the right.
An image of Blackbeck Tarn, a small tarn (lake) atop Haystacks, a large hill in Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. This image was taken in April of 2021
There are many other National Parks in the U.K. that I am not that familiar with.
Cairngarms is the largest National Park in the U.K. and is located in Scotland and apparently, it has moose.
To find out more how to celebrate Discover National Park Fortnight click here.
Today's song of the day is Dance Stop by Daniel Amos.
This unfortunately is the first of the songs of the day where I could not find concert footage of the song. The A to Z playlist is now up to 4 songs.
Whew! It feels like it took a fortnight to get this post out. If you comment let me know if you've ever visited a U.K. National Park and what your experience was therein. Also, if you could spend 14 days exploring any new place where would it be? For me it, would be more Greek Islands, if my lovely wife was joining me for the adventure.
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!
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.
Yesterday, I created a new made up holiday by making one up. Today I will regale you with info regarding a Holiday that someone else made up. Today is Children's Picture book day!
Here is an informative video from the Champaign Library.
Like many of these made up Holidays the day we celebrate it is based on a relevant birthday. The birthday in this instance is Hans Christian Anderson who was born on this day in 1805.
In preparation for this post I watched the Danny Kaye Film Hans Christian Anderson. I will review the film sometime shortly after the challenge is complete. Here is the trailer.
Exactly 98 years and 11 months after Han's Christian Anderson's birthday Theodor Geisel much better known as Dr. Seuss was born on March 2nd 1904. Geisel became a pioneer in children's picture books.
The book, “The Cat in The Hat,” by Dr. Seuss, sits on a book shelf at West Elementary School during a National Read Across America Day event Mar. 2, 2017 at Yokota Air Base, Japan. National Read Across America Day is a holiday to share the fun of reading with children of all ages, and is celebrated on Dr. Seuss’ birthday. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Donald Hudson) Unit: 374th Airlift Wing DVIDS Tags: Japan; Yokota Air Base; 374th Airlift Wing; Dr. Seuss; National Read Across America Day
One of my favorite kinds of picture books is what I call Alphabet books. These books much like the A to Z challenge take a subject and then devote 1 page and 1 picture per letter of the alphabet. On a recent trip to the Beloit Public Library (which I will also be reviewing after the challenge) I was reminded of my love for Alphabets and took pictures of several of them
Not sure why that pen is in all the pictures, it's nothing to write home about.
Among other holidays occurring today is Autism Awareness Day.
Today's song of the day is Broken Things by Julie Miller
The Leap of Dave A to Z Spotify Playlist is now up to 2 songs.
Time to close the book on the letter B. I think you get the picture. As you head back to more of the challenge or just your regularly scheduled life feel free to leave a comment. Maybe you can let me know what your favorite picture book is/was and why.
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!
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.
When I first started this blog in 2009 (click here for the inaugural post), I had 3 children between the ages of 3 and 9)
Back then they looked like this ...
Since then ,life happened at a brisk pace and my wife and I soon had 1, then 2, and then (for 9 glorious months in 2018-19) 3 teenagers. Now we are down to one teenager and we find ourselves the proud parent of 3 adults. Babies having babies is one thing, but adults raising adults is quite another.
Today is the first of 5 days that I will make up a new holiday. It is going to be called Adult Children Appreciation day. Here are some facts about the Holiday that I am making up right now.
Adult Children Appreciation Day was created by David Roller in 2024 to commemorate that all his children were now adults as the youngest had turned 18 that winter. Adult Children Appreciation Day was first celebrated on April 1st, 2024. Adult Children Appreciation Day is held the Monday after Easter. Mr. Roller (That's Me.) says he chose that day because it had been a family tradition for him to go to Walgreens the day after Easter and buy Easter products for 1/2 price or less. Dave's oldest daughter loved Bunnies and this was the most cost effective time to buy bunny themed gifts,
Even though the first Adult Children Appreciation Day was on April 1st, it is not associated with April Fools Day at all. Mr. Roller chose Springtime to celebrate this holiday as spring is associated with growth and all growing things mature to some sort of adulthood.
Since The original ACDA was on April 1st and April 1st is also National Greeting Card Day, the creator of Adult Children Appreciation Day gave greeting cards to each of his adult children telling them about qualities they are developing that He appreciates.
If you and your adult children are together on Easter Sunday that is a good time to give them a note or a card showing how much you appreciate them. The Next 3 ACDAs will fall on April 21, 2025, April 6, 2026, and March 28, 2027
I happen to be typing this post at a local library a few days in advance of the challenge. In the past 2 months I have visited 14 local libraries as part of the Library Lover's Expedition. I mention this because April 1st is also Library Snapshot Day an annual day that celebrates the importance of libraries. I am planning on writing apost for each of the 14 libraries I visited for the challenge later this year. For today I will just post a few of the snapshots I took at some of the libraries.
Today's Song of the Day is Any Other Way by Andy Gullahorn
Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips
I am a big Spotify guy and have soooo many playlists that I have created. I have made a special play list for the A to Z challenge. By the end of the month it will contain all 26 songs featured here. For now it just contains the A song.
Every good beginning must come to an end. Hopefully you have appreciated Adult Child Appreciation Day. There are still (at least) 25 more holidays to enjoy and a few more for me to make up. In your comments if you have adult children let me know what you most appreciate about them. I will try to make some guide comment solicitations for each day, but feel free to comment anyway you want.
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!
March 10th is the official theme reveal for the 2024 iteration of the A to Z challenge. Last year I actually announced my theme for 2024 here a year early while announcing my theme for 2023. In that post I stated,
"The 2024 theme will be Narnian characters and creatures from A to Z. My working title is Narnia: From Aslan to Zardeenah."
Well it turns out, I lied. Lied is a strong word. I miscalculated. Almost every year for the last 35 years I have reread each book in the Chronicles of Narnia. Last year when I made the announcement, I had not yet started on my literary pilgrimage to Narnia and thought the idea of reading the books would help in making the alphabetical list of entries.
I ended up reading a sum total of zero Narnia books in 2023. While it's true that I could easily journey from Archenland to Zalindreh, my heart was not in it. I chose to abandon delay my Narnian sojourn for another time (Although I would prefer to do all my blogging in Narnia, as no time would pass while I was writing).
I then toyed with the idea of having no theme and simply blogging about something new from A to Z each day. I liked that idea quite a bit, but then it occurred to me, I would have nothing to say at the theme reveal. I then thought of having an overarching theme but leaving it wide enough to choose the individual topics the day they were due. That also seemed a little problematic as I often suffer more from topic block than it's cousin writer's block.
Finally I thought of a topic that would give me both flexibility and stability. I decided to blog about Holidays. However instead of A is for Arbor day, C is for Casmir Pulaski Day (It's A Chicago Thing), I will be focusing on lesser holidays, the kind you would find at sites like the National Day Calendar or What is Today Holiday's like National Take A Poet to Lunch day which takes place on January 6th each year, the holiday that inspired this poem.
My process this year is each day of the challenge to post about a holiday that is taking place that day. Some holidays like April Fools day on the 1st would match very well for the letter of the day. Others will take a little pushing to make it fit the letter of the day. April 2nd for example is Children's Book day. If I choose that holiday, I would have a title like B is for Books for Children.
In addition to actual holidays, I am going to also create 5 new holidays as part of my list, including ways to celebrate these new festive occasions.
Recent A to Z Challenges
2023 A Month At The Movies
2022 Limericks, Homeruns, & Wordles (Oh My!)
2021 A to Z People who were alive in 1921
2020 State (& Other) Capitals
Each year on Spotify I make an A to Z playlist for the year. At the end of each post I will have a link to the song for that day .
I am very excited about this Holiday edition of the A to Z challenge. To learn more about The 2024 A to Z Theme Reveals click here, if you are ready to participate in said reveals click here, and finally if you are looking for a spreadsheet of who is already participating this year click here.
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