Reflections Upon the A to Z Blogging Challenge

This first week of May I am sitting with a door open upon the Atlantic Ocean. It's delightful, and the view helps inspire introspection. This seemed the perfect time to write my reflections upon the April challenge.

First off, I felt the moderators did a wonderful job. Several of these fine folks did visit my posts, both here and on the Artist's Retreat blog. And they left very bolstering, friendly comments.

The guidelines seemed to be ignored by many bloggers, but on the flip side some very friendly participants reminded me to include my website's location within comments. That really does help others to find you, and many took that opportunity to make a kindly reciprocating stop. I know of one person who dropped out due to a lack of comments from others. Perhaps she missed out on this directive.

There are so many wonderful folks I want to mention.

Talented author Catherine Noon is one because she introduced me to blogging and inspires me on a regular basis in all things writing and beyond.

Vidya Sury kindly mentioned me on her blog in thanks for my encouragement when she truly inspired me with her lovely theme of writing for her son. And we plan to begin sharing blessings weekly on that aforementioned Writer's Retreat Blog. That should be a fun way to spread love and joy.

Keith really wound me up for writing flash fiction for he is a master. And he had sweet commentary for me whether I blogged about gardening, music, or celebrities. I look forward to his return from a fantastic sounding visit to Turkey. Travel safely, Keith!

The Squirrel Nutwork is a fantastic resource on nature in Virginia hosted by a foursome of delightful squirrel characters. Nutmeg and company are a joy. I continue following them for wonderful images and information.

Moggies and all things cat-tastic can be found at That's Purrfect. I'm addicted, and Carlton the cat is a delight.

If you want to read about a hero to feline strays, look no further than The Cat Woman.

I count my blessings when reading the stories by Drusilla Barron about her difficult childhood and equally thank heaven that she came through the other side with such an obviously awesome attitude.

Would I do the challenge again? I think that answer is a resounding YES. Will I also do the Camp NaNoWriMo novel challenge simultaneously? Probably. April was interesting, for sure.

Happy May, all! I look forward to gardening upon my return home.

What are you looking forward to this month?

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Z is for Zinnia - One Last Flower on My Summer Wish List

The majority of my gardening revolves around perennials. However, I think it’s time for me to make room for zinnias. The Farmer’s Almanac had this to say:

Zinnias are one of the easiest annuals to grow, grow quickly, and bloom heavily. They make a massive burst of color in your garden.

How can I turn that down? You can read more and find pictures of them on the website here:

Farmer's Almanac - Zinnias

So, it looks like I’ll be shopping for them in May, when annuals can be safely planted in my part of the world. I’d better start a shopping list to make sure to look for all the vegetables and flowers I want to squeeze into my garden plots. Flowers are such a blessing, especially as a food for the incredibly important bee population.

Thank you to all who joined me on this alphabetical journey with the A to Z blog post. As you have read, I have big plans for May. What about you? Anything interesting in the works?

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Y is for Yarrow - a Perennial Delight

It’s been many years since I first started perennial gardens. My main and consistent goal to attract insects and birds, I never realized that yarrow provides medicinal properties. For now, I will focus solely on what I know most about.

Yarrow is very draught tolerant and could have been mentioned in my post for the letter X (xeriscaping). The flowers are sturdy, meaning they don’t require a lot of effort and last quite a long time. And they sure attract butterflies. My original plants are long gone, I’m sorry to say. Strangely, I rather forgot about them until thinking of a topic for the letter Y.

So, thank you A to Z blog organizers! I’m off to the garden store to see what might be in stock. The color range of this hardy plant has probably expanded since my initial foray into gardening. Should be interesting.

What new and exciting thing are you looking forward to?

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X is for Xeriscaping - Responsible Gardening in Dry Climates

As the reduced water conditions in California loom more and more ominous, xeriscaping is becoming increasingly popular. This type of gardening utilizes plants (usually native) with lower moisture requirements than water guzzling lawn grasses. I’ve been happily applying xeriscaping techniques even in my rainier region because I tired of high water bills. The fact I have less grass to mow doesn’t hurt, either, so I keep carving chunks out of my traditional lawn for more interesting perennials.

A great example is the ornamental grass garden planted near the sidewalk. These perennials grow even in drought conditions. In addition, their rustling height hides the ugly power transformer nine months out of the year. I cut them back in March to allow new growth, meaning they also provide visual interest all winter. Near my garage, Eastern prickly pear cactus and dragon’s blood sedum thrive in some really crummy soil. Both provide lovely blooms, and are of course extremely drought tolerant.

My cottage style garden features purple coneflowers, lots of fun amorphophallus konjac, bee balm, one long-lived centranthus, a few dwarf evergreen shrubs, and a weeping crabapple. Oh, and I like flowering spring bulbs, too. Just plant them in mid to late fall and they need little effort to provide years of beauty. On the shady north side, English ivy surrounds hellebores and hardy ferns.

What most of these plants have in common is a root system that delves much deeper than boring old grasses like Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescue and fine fescue. And they don’t need cut two or three times a week, which causes lawn grass blades to lose what little moisture they can store.

Gardening isn’t for everyone, but it provides me both joy and exercise. What hobbies do you enjoy?

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W is for What Dreams May Come - A Book Review

I’ve just finished reading a YA book by author Beth M. Honeycutt. I’m so glad my friend Rochelle Bradley introduced me because the story What Dreams May Come is very, very sweet. And Ms. Honeycutt is a professional editor, which makes this a very polished read.

Ellie Cross, our young protagonist, has a frequent dream companion named Gabe. He visits her regularly, appearing as if on cue to commiserate over deep sorrows or share surprising joys. And she can spill her heart to him utterly since there’s no reason for regret or hesitation simply because Gabe isn’t real.

After all, her mother even paid a therapist to help convince Ellie. So the shy, overlooked girl makes the best of the situation, enjoying this long-lasting companionship as a private sanctuary. If she must keep Gabe’s continued appearance secret from her mother, then so be it. At least someone accepts her without judgment or disappointment.

I feel that Ellie, however bullied at school, could have easily come across as terribly unappreciative of the good in her life. I mean, things could be so much worse as the young lady herself comes to learn. However, Ms. Honeycutt does a lovely job of balancing over-reactive teenage angst with deep human pain.

As for escapism, who wouldn’t want their own private guardian angel? And maybe, just maybe, they can take real human form. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

You can find various retailers with some very reasonable prices here:

What Dreams May Come 

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V is for Voltaire aka Aurelio Voltaire Hernández, Gothic Rocker

I would not have known how to classify the music of Aurelio Voltaire Hernández before reading about the man online. While several categories are listed on his Wikipedia article, my favorite is something called dark cabaret. Incidentally, that puts his art in the same genre as two other favorites of mine, IAMX and Tom Waits.

One of his popular hits featured in an episode of the 2000’s era cartoon “Billy and Mandy”.  Called “BRAINS!”, it’s terrifically dark and funny, plus downright catchy with some wonderfully fat horns. The man’s voice is fabulous, too.

If you want to find any of his songs, you will want to search using the name Aurelio Voltaire. Apparently, there are other bands going by Voltaire these days. But to me, he’s the real deal.

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U is for Up Arrow - My New Keyboard Trick

People who know me understand that technology is not my strong suit. Sometimes a pig finds an acorn, as they say. Or, as in my case, the pig is lucky to find a savvier fellow. The power of the keyboard’s up arrow is an example of the latter.

I recently griped to my partner about a feature on the Mazilla Firefox web browser. Every time you add to the favorites list, that item is added to the bottom. Come on. It’s something new so of course I want ready access. But no…

You have to find the name in your list and manually drag it to the top. Scrolling down seems so tedious in this fast paced world, which prompted my complaint. Fortunately, I need suffer that no longer.

My partner looked at me and said, “That’s why I hit the up arrow to go directly to the bottom of the favorites list.”

Good grief. What have you learned today?

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T is for Trending - How to Use it in a Short Story

I recently heard a humorous dramatization on the radio program This American Life that makes fun, in part, of trending. BJ Novak wrote the tale called “Julie and the Warlord” about a couple who met on an online dating service.

From the WBEZ archives of “This American Life”, I learned that Alison Brie plays Julie and Tunde Adebimpe plays the Warlord. Their talented interaction really sells the tale. It’s absurd and hilarious.

I mean, he’s a Warlord. And this ruthless, murdering man obsesses to Julie about how his name is trending on Twitter.

The short story is part of a compilation. If interested, you can read about the book and play the audio here:

Excerpt From B.J. Novak's One More Thing

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