The Blogging from A to Z Challenge Road Trip

Each year after the Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge there is a so-called Road Trip. This is for participants and supporters to visit more of the blogs, which took part in the challenge.

This year I have decided not to sign up for it.

In previous years I have signed up and failed to visit many more blogs than I followed during the challenge itself. This year the terms of signing up are particularly stringent. It is a commitment to visit all the other blog, with the possible exception of those with adult content.

Bloggers are invited to link their favourite post on their own blog from the challenge.

I have a few favourites on mine.

A is for Architect attempted to set the tone.

B is for Bank robber was a bit cheeky. I had in mind a couple of books I have read, which I didn’t include in the post: From Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers and Jonathan Aitken’s book Pride and Perjury: An Autobiography. Both autobiographical books tell of how the writer’s time in prison led them to faith in Christ.

H is for Horticulturalist gave me the encouragement to continue writing, when I discovered that a name I had chosen was particularly appropriate to the subject matter. It is also the only post, which I illustrated with one of my photos.

X is for Xylophonist has a link to a Youtube video of a very talented musician, who happens to be deaf.

Z is for Zoologist mentions my concern for environmental issues.

If you wish to comment on any of my A to Z posts, my About page is still open to comments.

Advertisements

Reflections on the A to Z Challenge 2018

My theme for the Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge this year was careers and occupations. I had all my posts written and scheduled before the end of March as I was going away for at Easter and the challenge began on Easter Sunday. Because of this I missed adding my early posts to the daily lists, but I don’t think that affected the number of views. I had linked up with a few participants on Twitter using the Master list, which I found helpful. There were not as many signed up this year as in the last few years. I wonder whether that is partly due to blogging being less popular generally.

Reflections in a beck

I had time to visit quite a few blogs. The list below is not complete, but these were the ones I found the most interesting. Because I missed the beginning of the challenge, there are others, I’d have liked to keep up with, which I have yet to visit. One is a haiku puzzle, another is French phrases. I haven’t caught up with Hilary’s blog about Canada either. It is harder work to read about unfamiliar places, than about those nearer home. http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/theme-reveal-aspects-of-british-girl-in.html

http://dustingthesoul.com/ A to Z about Lewis Carroll’s books Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (favourites of mine)

http://mainelywrite.blogspot.co.uk/ poems inspired by Maine vanity plates (car registration plates) by Donna JT Smith

http://quagmire53.blogspot.co.uk/  April Hoeller with lots of lovely photos.

https://scr4pl80.wordpress.com/2018/03/19/ Janet’s smiles – a blog I discovered after the Q post invited us to share our links. I commented that mine ‘might put a smile on your face’ and Janet visited. Like me she enjoys craft and her posts are about a large shop crafters would enjoy.

https://bobscotney.blogspot.co.uk/ a veteran A to Zer, who chose British rivers this time.

https://stephenyhoughtlin.com/ Bookshops

http://artistpath.wordpress.com/ two words and a poem by Sue Viseth

https://lynnelives.wordpress.com/ sketching Peterborough Cathedral. I have followed Lynne through earlier A to Zs.

https://tossingitout.blogspot.com/ The blog of the A to Z founder, Arlee Bird. This time about decluttering or not!

https://auntyamo.com/ A member of the Association of Christian Writers looking at Christian fiction. Although she hasn’t had time to complete every letter, her blog is still worth visiting.

https://theartistsdate.blogspot.co.uk/ A to U of Art Journalling by Zannie

https://lapidaryprose.wordpress.com/ Women writers (some better known than others)

http://jemimapett.com/blog/ inspiration for her writing

http://www.su-sieeemac.com/ commented on my blog towards the end of the challenge. Her theme is similar to mine, but her context is different.

https://evelyneholingue.com/ French phrases

https://wordwacker.wordpress.com/ Haiku puzzles

Thanks once again to Arlee Bird for inventing this challenge and finding the time to visit and comment, also to Damyanti Biswas and others for their encouragement on G+ and J Lenni Dorner for retweets. http://www.damyantiwrites.com/ http://jlennidornerblog.what-are-they.com/ and to John Horton for the WordPress simulcast and ironing out technical problems with that and Facebook. https://thesoundofonehandtyping.wordpress.com/ and to Jeremy for the badges http://www.beingretro.com/

Thanks also to the A to Zers and other blogging friends, who visited Sue’s Trifles and liked, rated or commented on posts.

Also to those, who linked to this blog or a specific post including https://nikisthoughts.wordpress.com/2018/05/04/meet-greet-a-z-challenge-edition-2/ and http://mrsdashsayss.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/tontwi-to-z-survivor.html

One disappointment was that no clicks to Bible Gateway were recorded in my WordPress stats.

Z is for Zoologist

Once again I have picked a theme for the A to Z Challenge. This time I aim to entertain rather than to educate. My theme is careers or occupations. I begin with a piece of creative writing.

To navigate between posts, please scroll down to the end of the widgets in the sidebar and use the arrows << or >>.

Zoë and Zak are zoologists. They do not work at the zoo, although some of the people they studied alongside do. They have learned about animals of every size form zebras and zebu to microscopic organisms known as protozoa. Zoë and Zak specialise in marine life. They like to work out of doors. As well as conducting surveys along the shoreline, they visit schools to speak about conservation, especially about the damage carelessly discarded rubbish can do. Plastic is dangerous to marine life (among other creatures). There are campaigns to clean up coastlines, but it is an enormous task. However, every little helps. #2MinuteBeachClean

Further reading: Zoology

Zoological gardens

King Solomon included zoology in his wealth of knowledge. 1 Kings 4: 29-34