Well, I survived the A to Z Challenge. I’d seen blog posts with that notation months ago and thought, “What is this?” So I looked into it. “That would be fun!” I thought. Then I signed up.
(Stay with me, here. I’ll get to the point)
I came up with a theme (after someone mentioned a ‘reveal’ and I thought ‘Hmmmm… A theme… How cool!’ And I read what people said, both the ‘guides’ and the ‘participants’ about not doing it at the last moment, understanding that you will be swamped, and minimizing the impact of the commitment.
Now, right before the start of A to Z a couple things happened. I committed to publish a book the end of May. I committed to revise its sequel (on the timeline, previously published) for release May 15. I was in the middle of a huge project at work – I nearly dropped out. But, darn it!, I’d promised. If not anyone else (face it, I don’t get a lot of traffic), I’d promised myself. It meant a lot to me to be able to finish.
So what worked well: the camaraderie. The knowledgeable participants. The guidance we received from ‘the team’.
What didn’t work well (for me): replying to comments. I was too darned busy. I was overcommitted and I was Tired. I could not keep up my end of the bargain. I will be going back through my posts and responding to comments and visiting the various blogs. I hope the list will still be up. There was so much to see.
A lot of thought went into making things fun and easy. I did pay attention to the leaders’ comments, and I ran into some blogs that I just loved. Lots of them. Of the top of my head, a woman who goes thrift shopping – fun! The artist who crochets flowers, someone in the UK who is into genealogy. The dragon lair (well…I knew of that one before, and enjoyed when I was able to stick my head in). People I knew and followed were lots of fun to watch.
The bottom line is that A to Z was well run and a lot of effort went into making it enjoyable to participate in and to visit. What I will do differently next year (yeah, I’m signing up) is:
1. don’t overcommit. This was a singular occurrence, and I’ll make jolly sure it doesn’t happen again.
2. do as much in advance as I can, so that I can…
3. actively participate in visits and comments.
4. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS
5. Chill out.
6. Smile. It was fun while it lasted and it is great in retrospect.
Tag Archives: A to Z
Zulu – the Final Song
(A to Z is done today. I enjoyed participating. Next year I won’t have so much going on (I hope) and will be able to visit the other blogs more. I’ll be doing that over the next week or so – there was so much to see and enjoy, and I want to do that. Thank you to all who visited and to those who commented. I will be returning the courtesy.)
I started this month with one of my very favorite songs, Africa by Toto. Africa has always struck a chord with me – magnificent, huge, varied and beautiful. From the Ashanti empire to Egypt, from the savannahs to the desert – there is something splendid wherever you look.
Years ago I watched a movie, Zulu, that told of the battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Anglo-Zulu wars. A fort staffed by Welsh and English soldiers fought a large Zulu army over the course of several days. At the end, as the English troops were waiting to be overrun and butchered, having sung Men of Harlech (another great song with a wonderful history), the Zulus rose above the circling hills, sang, as they had before the fighting … and turned and walked off.
Then, of course, the debate began. “Never happened!” “Hah! they had somewhere else to go and didn’t have time to butcher the others!” “What a daydream!”
Well, I write historical fiction, which means that I have had to research a lot of historical facts. Over and over again I have found instances of generosity, heroism, kindness and courage. We are, after all, dealing with humans. There are creeps – and there are heroes. I choose to watch the heroes.
Here is the song. Ah… Africa…
Y = Dogs and Cats
Everyone needs a good laugh on a Monday morning. I have been posting songs that meant a lot to me, that made me think, and one or two that made me chuckle. Today’s offering was written and composed by a man who was responsible for most of the truly clever lyrics found in songs from the thirties through the sixties.
Bow, wow, wow
Eli Yale
Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Our team can never fail
When the sons of Eli
Break through the line
That is the sign we hail
Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Eli Yale!
If you’ve had enough jolliness, I present my real top choice:
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Graphics by Yours Truly. The cat’s name is Frida… |
The Year of the Cat:
THE VIDEO:
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations
She’ll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat.
She doesn’t give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow ’till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There’s a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat
She looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what’s waiting inside
The year of the cat.
Well morning comes and you’re still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you’ve thrown away the choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you’re bound to leave her
But for now you’re going to stay
In the year of the cat.
X = eXecerable Uh, I mean XANADU!
I personally believe that this is the movie that brought movie musicals into such disrepute that they went away for a while.
Xana-DON’T
Gene Kelly made an appearance, which I am sure he bitterly regretted with every fiber of his being, though at an advanced age, wearing roller skates, Mr. Kelly still out-danced every other buskin-wearer who stumbled across the stage.
But the finale really was a hum-dinger. Would you have thought that the Ancient Greek Muses were a pack of fluffy-haired disco babes? On roller skates? With neon auras? Wearing knee-length bloomers under their dresses?
Me neither.
(I imagine them at the walls of Troy. Uh… No.)
Click at your own peril….
XANADU
W – Water from Another Time…
John McCutcheon is a folk singer and player of all sorts of instruments including the hammer dulcimer. I ran into this song of his on a cassette a friend gave me half a lifetime ago. I write historical fiction, so the connections between one generation and the next have always fascinated and touched me. This song is very special to me.
The lyrics and the words say it all. Pity there isn’t a video there I like, so this beautiful photo of water will have to do. A favorite of mine. Listen to it.
Just another summer’s day on Grandpa’s farm
V…….Vivaldi’s Rain
E lui ha visto me.
Unforgettable…
I have been enjoying sharing songs that have meant something to me, whether howling in laughter or in disbelief. A few letters have been problematic (not sure what’s in the works for X but I’ll come up with something), but overall it’s been fun.
I did plan in advance, for the most part, though I departed from the planning when something struck me as a better choice..
I had a couple set for U, this one among them. I nearly used a tune by Richard Rodgers (of ‘and Hammerstein’ fame) that he originally wrote for Victory at Sea. It was called ‘Under the Southern Cross’, and he reused the tune later as a tango in a musical. The problem was that I learned that I was one of many people who got the title wrong. it’s ‘Beneath the Southern Cross’. Ah, well. Under the Boardwalk was an obvious one except (dare I say it?) as one who lived in the Hawaiian Islands and experienced the beautiful Pacific beaches, my opinion of the beaches anywhere near ‘the Boardwalk’ is, shall I say, rather unenthusiastic.This left the song that was the winner from the first anyhow. I’d have used it no matter what started with ‘U’. There was no contest.
Smooth as silk, smoky-voiced, those smiling eyes…
Who else but the great Nat King Cole?
When this duet came out through the magic of audio processing, I was charmed, delighted, and even a little misty-eyed. And I am even happier to have found this YouTube video of a performance Natalie did using footage of her father.
ENJOY THE PERFORMANCE HERE
How can you beat it? It’s Unforgettable…
T for Third Rock from the Sun – and Time To Say Goodbye

…Or you can skip down to something beautiful.
The composer of this piece writes pop music for classically trained voices. This one was composed for Andrea Bocelli, who sang it in a duet with Sarah Brightman.
I like the voices (it needs an alto, though) but I really love the instrumental version. For me, writing a story about a man dealing with the loss of his son, letting go and moving ahead, it seemed to crystallize my feelings of his hesitation, remembering, falling in love and moving on.
Well… The book is coming out in a couple of weeks. I’m not touting it here.
But enjoy the music and ignore the album cover that provides the only image in the video.
TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
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S for Ships That Don’t Come In
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Nautical Signal Flag: S = Sierra |

We bitch about a dollar When there’s those without a dime
So here’s to all the soldiers Who have ever died in vain
Sunday Thoughts
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Daffodil Hill in Litchfield, Connecticut |
At last, some time to catch my breath. I have been out of things with this A to Z challenge – too many things came together at once and it was all I could do for the past week to get my posts out.
Now I can go back, visit other blogs, enjoy things – there is so much variety – one woman I follow has crocheted flowers (here’s her blog: http://lotsofcrochetstitches.blogspot.com/ ) Really creative – and I may end up making a bouquet of crocheted flowers to display.
It is early spring, the weeping willow sapling is leafing out (the first green haze of willows is one of my ‘markers’ for the advent of spring), the sky is blue – and my feet are freezing. Just because it is spring, I don’t have to give up on having a nice fire in my wood-burning stove.
…and there’s a nice, hot cuppa waiting.
Ah… Sundays…! I hope yours are good!