A-Z Challenge 2025 ~ H

 ⚠ Warning! This post contains the answer to today's Wordle ⚠
⚠ Proceed at your own risk ⚠

This year I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I post every day at 6 pm. my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!)

As the alternative badge, as supplied by Lissa seems to suggest growing things I'll prefer those as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

H is for HAZEL and HERBS.  I was so in doubt which one to chose, and only my telling of the revenge plant/wool dyeing had HAZEL win by a whisker.
Hazel is another one of those bushes or trees showering us with pollen and making me sneezy and itchy. But the leaves and the catkins are great dyers. I have even planted a red leaved variety in my garden, and every spring I bribe somebody, most often the Writer, to pick me all the catkins in a big pot and place them on a big flagstone outside. Then I pour boiling water over them, grinning evilly, and freeze the resulting mash until the time is right for dyeing of my revenge hanks. Red hazel catkins give a beautiful, durable bottle-green colour.
Herbs -- well I use herbs for cooking, dying, soaping, salves, and much more. I grow 2 types of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, savory, tarragon, chives, lovage -- loads of lovage -- oregano, dill, fennel, mint, basil, laurel, lemon balm and lemon verbena.  But no cilantro. I cannot make it grow, and I find the taste nauseating. Sometimes I grow ginger, shiso, lemongrass, and anise. This year I'm trying my hand at caper berries. I also dream of growing juniper and turmeric. I tried wintergreen, but did not like the taste.

Wordle was a big tease yesterday, as the solution was HAZEL! Today's starter word. I opened Wordle in another browser and made this for showing off today:

Yes it is cheating, but I was sorely tempted. And for the real one today ... I got Great again

Yes, I know that SWANS could not be the solution, as E was missing. Thinking smarter migth have given me the solution in 3 or 4 tries.

As I have a very short memory for words, I thought it could be fun to try once more - only this time using my other H-word: HERBS:

And explaining how I solve a Wordle, just thinking aloud here:

HERBS - Yay. All of three letters: E, R, S, none of them in the right place.
STAIR - S, A placed rigth - good, lucky word.
Now I have 4 letters S, A, R, S.
R can only be in the 4th place, as there's no word I know starting in SRA.
E could be 2nd or 5th.
SEAR_ could be the solution with SEARS, but I do not like repeating letters -- a weakness, I know.
S_ARE looks better. And I try the as yet un-tried letters one by one, as I always do:
SQARE, SWARE, SYARE, SUARE, SOARE, SPARE 
Oh, SPARE is a word. And actually the solution. If it had not been so, P had been grey, and I had continued and found SCARE and SNARE.
Or in case of SEARS actually being the solution, E would have been yellow in the word SPARE as well as P being grey.

A-Z Challenge 2025 ~ G

 ⚠ Warning! This post contains the answer to today's Wordle ⚠
⚠ Proceed at your own risk ⚠

This year I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I post every day at 6 pm. my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!)

As the alternative badge, as supplied by Lissa seems to suggest growing things I'll prefer those as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

G is for Grape  which I am actually trying to grow. The last two years I have gotten two small bunches of grapes. I have been too impatient, they have been on the sour side, but somthing had begun eating them. Maybe a mouse, maybe birds, I do not know.

Today's Wordle is teasing me big time! The solution for today is the exact word, I chose for a starter ... tomorrow!
I might just open Wordle in another browser and type in the word, and save it for bragging rights tomorrow ;)

HAZEL - earning me a Phew today!

Poetry Monday :: Road

Eww, I suppose I was more than a bit bleary-eyed when doing this. I wrote - totally correct - in the title, that today's prompt was Road. And then I copy/pasted my normal starter and explainer in ... and forgot to correct the prompt, and forgot that we did Turn last week, and did a poem on Turn ... I'll leave the Turn-poem, as it fits the idea perfectly. I might just add a Road-poem later on. So sorry all!

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Every Monday is Poetry Monday.

Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health and relaxation, travelling the world with her husband as far as we can tell.
 
We just hope she's going to take back over once she returns home.

  I have something to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others via the links, would you please leave a comment.
  Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.

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Those of you having followed this blog for some time, know that I love limited poems, like Haiku, and Elfje. Now, because of the A-Z Challenge, I found new ones The ladyleemanila seems to have chosen as her theme a new form of poem beginning with a new letter for each day. For E she had Epulaeryu - strange name with a strange explanation. She tells us:

The Epulaeryu poem is all about delicious food. It consists of seven lines and thirty-three syllables. The first line has seven syllables, the second line five, the third line seven, the fourth line five, the fifth line five, the sixth line three, and the seventh line has only one syllable which ends with an exclamation mark.
The form is 7/5/7/5/5/3/1. Each line has one thought which is about the main course. Therefore, this poetic form, the Epulaeryu, which has corresponding lines built around the main course and ending with an exclamation point, concludes with the ending line expressing the writer’s excitement and feelings about the poem.
The poem may be rhymed or unrhymed.
The Epulaeryu poem was developed by Joseph Spence, Sr. The name of the poetic form was selected as a result of experiencing the Mediterranean and Far East cultures, and enjoying many succulent and nourishing meals and food during those memorable travels.

I had to try this out. I won't travel to far away cultures for this one, though. I'm going to stay in my own kitchen. And with today's propt being Turn ... there's only one solution.

Pancakes
First you beat the batter smooth;
Eggs and milk and flour
Add some sugar, lemon zest.
Let the butter melt
Pour the batter on
Mind the heat.
Turn!

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Up and coming:
 March 31: Turn (today) NOPE!
April 7: Road ... THIS is today!
April 14: Bring
April 21: Free
April 28: Jam
May 5: Competition
May 12: Shape
May 19: Stem
May 26: Lead

Sunday Selections :: April ~ Missing Green

The colour for April is Missing Green.

I have been a bit productive this week but I am not sure I caught this colour very often. Let's have a look.

We tried Coca-cola Oreos. We're not convinced.

We met these two wax monsters:

Some of the wax monsters ended up in these coffee soaps:

The rest were made into these small ones to be stored for coming projects.

The coffee soap still in the mould - Blogger mixing up the order of the photos.

We saw a small tuft of moss groving on a roof tile - surely the ends are Missing Green.

And finally a wagtail

A-Z Challenge 2025 ~ F

 ⚠ Warning! This post contains the answer to today's Wordle ⚠
⚠ Proceed at your own risk ⚠

This year I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I post every day at 6 pm. my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!)

As the alternative badge, as supplied by Lissa seems to suggest growing things I'll prefer those as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

F is for Flora - what else. Today I solved it in 4 tries - meaning I did Splendid. It was more luck and guesswork this time, than knowing what I did. DUSTY is one of my standard starter words, and ANGLE was the solution on March 24, when I did my test run.

I am posting Sundays as well because the month of April contains Easter, and there I'm going offline for a few days. Better to be ahead now, and have some day's slack when I need it.