The A-Z Challenge ~ Some Musings Tanker om A-Z Udfordringen

The A-Z Challenge
In April we're given a challenge: Blog each day (not Sundays) about a theme - or not - but using the letters in the English alphabet from one end to another; or put in another way, from A to Z which gives the challenge its name.

My A-Z blogging ideas and musings:
I have participated several times, and I plan to do so again this year. I have been thinking:

• A-Z is for me an APRIL Challenge. Blog every day about something or other with the relevant letter; and get a survivor's badge for your trouble.
• I do not like writing posts in advance. I know, life happens, something happens. It's Easter season ... continue the list of excuses. But it seems a bit like cheating.
• On the other hand I like planning and thinking in advance. My theme for April 2026 is to be Travel Tales and High Adventures and Lissa's badge fits perfectly.

This one is the best for my purpose, I think, and I'm so happy Lissa joined sea and land into one badge.

A-Z udfordringen
I april bliver vi stillet overfor en udfordring: Skriv på din blog hver dag (undtagen søndag) skriv om et tema – eller også ikke – men brug bogstaverne i det engelske alfabet fra den ene ende til den anden; eller sagt på en anden måde, fra A til Z, hvilket giver udfordringen sit navn.

Mine A-Z ideer og overvejelser:
Jeg har deltaget flere gange før, og jeg agter at gøre det igen i år. Jeg har også tænkt over udfordringen igen:

• For mig er A-Z en APRIL-udfordring. Skriv et blogopslag hver dag med det relevante bogstav - og få et badge til bloggen for din udholdenhed.
• Jeg kan ikke lide at skrive opslag på forhånd. Jeg ved godt, at livet nogle gange kommer på tværs, at der dukker noget op og at det også er påsketid ... fortsæt selv listen med undskyldninger. Men på en eller anden måde synes jeg, det er lidt snyd.
• På den anden side kan jeg godt lide at planlægge og tænke over det på forhånd. Mit tema for april 2026 bliver nok Rejseberetninger og vilde eventyr eller noget i den retning – og Lissas badge passer perfekt til mit formål, synes jeg, og jeg er så glad for, at Lissa har forenet hav og land i et badge.
  

 
My social participation:
I am going to visit other participants' blogs this year too, but I'll be quite stern.

Last year I spent far too much time trying to comment on blogs that required a log in, wading through posts not touching on the A-Z at all, or where I had to "fight" to get to the posts ... to the detriment of my visiting blogs that were interesting and/or relevant.

I solemnly swear to delete comments on my blog only saying: "Nice blog, please visit mine" or words to that account.

~  ~  ~  Timeline for the A-Z Challenge ~   ~  ~ ~  

• The THEME REVEAL (optional) : March 9- 14
• Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 23- April 4
  
• Reflections (optional) : May 4 -9 
  
• Road-trip (optional) : Opens May 11  

The 14th of March is the last day in the Theme reveal, I will not participate, as I think signing up for the Official sign up is enough.
The next days I'll finish revising my copy of the spreadsheet, I have already begun visiting the participating blogs (LINK) and "grade them" Yes - Maybe - No.

Yes are for those I am going to visit come April; these are the blogs where the theme sounds interesting and the layout does not bother my stupid eyes.

Maybe are for those where the theme is interesting, but the layout a p.i.t.a. (white on black, moving elements ..), or where the theme might turn out to be interesting.

No are for those where there is no theme reveal post (I already found three of those), for those requiring a log in to comment, and for those where the theme does not sound like anything I'd like to read: erotica and suchlike, pure self promotions, economics/business, mental health, cosmetics, blatant -isms, ...

Min sociale deltagelse:
Jeg vil også besøge andre deltageres blogs i år, men jeg vil være meget streng.

Sidste år brugte jeg alt for meget tid på at kommentere på blogs, der krævede login, på at læse indlæg, der slet ikke havde noget med A-Z at gøre, eller hvor jeg måtte kæmpe mig frem til indlæggene ... på bekostning af blogs, der var interessante og/eller relevante.

Jeg vil også i år slette kommentarer på min blog, der bare siger: »Dejlig blog, besøg min« eller lignende.

~    ~  ~  ~  Tidslinje for A-Z udfordringen  ~  ~  ~  

• The THEME REVEAL (optional) : March 9- 14
• Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 23- April 4 
  
• Reflections (optional) : May 4 -9
• Road-trip (optional) : Opens May 11

Den 14. marts er sidste dag i Theme Reveal - tema-afsløringen. Den har jeg ikke deltaget i, for jeg synes en tilmelding er nok.
Næste dag vil jeg revidere mit skema over dem, der har deltaget i tema-afsløringen en sidste gang (LINK). Jeg går disse blogs igennem og give dem "karaktererne" Ja - Måske - Nej

Ja er til dem, der lyder interessante, og hvor layoutet ikke irriterer mine dumme øjne.

Måske er til dem, hvor temaet lyder interessant, men layoutet generer mig (lys skrift på mørk baggrund, flimrende eller hoppende elementer), eller hvor jeg er usikker på om det interesserer mig.

Nej er forbeholdt dem, hvor der ikke er nogen tema-afsløring (ind til videre hele tre), dem hvor man skal logge ind for at læse eller kommentere og dem jeg bare ikke har lyst til at læse. Det er for eksempel: Erotik og lignende, ren selvpromovering, økonomi/forretning, mental sundhed, kosmetik, diverse -ismer, ..

Words for Wednesday :: Peter's Time Travel ~ Part 5

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
    When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
    Now, after Sue's demise, River has taken the mantle of coordinator upon her shoulders.

No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.

This month the words are supplied by River and are to be found on her blog.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging words.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

And for today, Wednesday 11, we were given:
Trembling
Bobbing 
Rescue 
Green 
Redhead 
Potato

In Lars' office he first told me that we had to decide on a story for me to tell about why I was staying here. A mystery journey in a chest was not done, and I was happy to oblige.
Lars suggested that I was to pose as a distant cousin of Anna's, as she had family in Elsinoer. I had allegedlly fallen off the hayloft when visiting and now was staying to get well again and learn about farming first hand.  I readily agreed. It was not too far off the mark, and would explain any oddities with big town mannerisms.

I found my work cut out for me. I was, or at least had been, good at maths. But the monetary system was not the logical units I was used to where 1 Krone equalled 100 øre. In 1802 we had 1 Daler equalling 6 Mark, and 1 Mark equalling 16 Skilling. I had always found hexadecimal and company fun and challenging, and some of us boys had competed in doing maths in our heads testing one another with pocket calculators and 'phones - what would I not give for one of those solar powered calculators now.  I had not been the slowest, so quite soon I was skilled in these conversions. The lettering was worse. I could by now read books and even the newspaper printed in Fraktur with no more errors than what the convoluted language of printed matter led me into, but the handwriting often confounded me. And when I tried writing in Latin script, Lars scolded me for 'playing the vicar'. In the end I made up the ledger using my own lettering on old scraps of paper and on a slate, once I got hold of one. Then when I was sure I was right, I carefully and slowly copied the text of Lars' former entries adding my new sums.

I was fast and efficient and Lars suggested that he should offer my help to the other farmers in the vicinity.
"Gladly," I replied, "but I'll have to learn to read and write normal handwriting better first, My parents were quite progressive in only teaching us Latin cursive."

"You must have lived far off to avoid school?" Lars mused.
"I think we did" I replied, "I just had a glimpses of my mother teaching me, using just such a slate." What I did not tell was that yes, she had indeed done so, but as a part of some re-enactment scedule of hers. I now wished I had paid better attention to her lovely, flowing German cursive back then.

"Tomorrow is Sunday, We go to church," Lars stated. "But Monday's school, and you will go there with Christen and Johanne. You do need to learn."
I sure needed to learn. But church, I had forgotten that I was supposed to attend church tomorrow. Everybody from this village, and from the five or six other, bigger villages belonging to the parish would be present. And every single person would want to know about me, would look at me, scrutinize me, assess me, and ask me questions. Furthermore I was not used to going to church, I feared to bungle up something and make everybody stare even more. Could I claim exemption by telling that I belonged to another religion? Jew? No they were always persecuted and accused of any misfortune. Muslim maybe. No that was only something far away I had understood from the newspapers which I was avidly reading. Catholic? Maybe, but I did not know much about their faith either.And thinking again. Freedom of religion had not even been a thing in 1802, had it? I rememberer something about a new constitution to be made years in the future, 1840-ish maybe, and wished, not for the first, nor for the last time, that I had been more attentive during my history lessons.  Better to just tag along and do as the others did.

Church went better than what I feared. Lars' timing was perfect. After a relatively short, but cold sleigh ride we arrived at church. We were almost the last to arrive, and we had time for nothing more than entering the church, grab a hymnal and sit down in our pew. We sat in the upper half of the church, so I was unable to see most of the staring people. Turning around was not done! After a little time my nervous trembling stopped, and I began taking notice of my surroundings again.
    I was still very conscious of people looking at me. I tried not to squirm, scratch or pick at anything, but sit straight with my hands folded in my lap, like Lars to my right and Hans and Christer to my left. Anna sat with Johanne and Elizabeth on the other side of the aisle, I could not help looking at Elizabeth, she was a pleasure to look at with her hair newly washed and all shiny and her new, green Sunday dress. She noticed my looking, and I averted my eyes, feeling red and hot.

The service was long and boring, the sermon even longer, but I remembered many of the hymns from my confirmation class with its forced church attendance a few years ago. It was not Andreas Peter Madsen officiating, but the vicar himself, Pastor Fangel, an elderly but sturdy man.

During the long sermon I studied the church, the parts in front of me at least. The pulpit with the carved letters, that slowly turned into words for me, the Altar where I could discern the dates 1723 and smaller 1731, it was already old. I also saw the initials of the kings FIV and CVI for Frederik 4 and Christian 6. This shocked me. Who was king now? I had no idea, only none of these could still be king, if their names were on an altar from 1723.
    Oh why had I not been more attentive at school? I knew that after Christian 6, his son Frederik 5 would become king, and then Christian 7, Frederik 6, Christian 8 ... and so on to my time when Frederik 9 was succeeded by his daughter, Margrethe 2nd, and she in 2024 by Frederik 10, and then his son would some day become Christian 11, thus bringing order to the numbering, broken when Christian 1's son Hans was followed by  2, and only then by then Frederik 1. But this was neither here nor there. Some fast maths, 30 years to a generation, 89 years since 1723, and a bit less since 1731 when it seemed that Christian 6 was new king ... three kings onwards gave me Frederik 6. Hopefully this was right. No internet, no smartphones, and the only books in the house was a farmer's almanac, the Bible and a catechism. I decided to pay attention to what the vicar said, maybe I could find a clue there.

     The church looked much as I remembered it from a Christmas service long ago with my grandparents. Strangely it looked more worn now. Probably it had been renovated some time in between, closer to my time.
    When was my time really, I mused. Even though I was determined to listen, the long sermon got my mind drifting again. My eyes fell on the baptismal font. I remembered my grandfather's hand caressing the carved vines and telling everybody that he, and his parents, and their parents all the way back from time immemorial had been baptized in that font. When was my time?
    I was born in the 21st century, but I would probably never return back there again. Could I find a place in the 19th century, among my ancestors?
    What about my parents? What did they make of my disappearing? I stopped that train of thoughts. It would just make me cry.
    I looked back at the baptismal font; it was comforting in all its solidity. It had stood here since the church, or maybe even its predecessor was built. It would still be here when everybody living here and now and in the future -- Pastor Fangel, Lars, Anna, Elizabeth, Christer, Hans, me, my grandparents, parents, my siblings and their children too -- had long turned to dust.
    It was a thought that at the same time made me feel like yelling and screaming in ice cold panic, and yet somehow I felt safe, at home, looking at those vines cut in ancient stone.

After the service we stood in the back of the church and I had to tell my story several times. It got easier with each retelling and I began to relax a bit.

... to be continued

Poetry Monday :: Meeting a Friend

Poetry Monday - what's that? It is a blogging game, that 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.

The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.

Today's prompt is: Meeting a Friend

Sorry, I met several friends, and I could not decied which ones to leave out.


Today I walked my garden and met with some old friends:
I meet them every springtime, I'm vary at their ends!

Some other frieds are woolly, but do know how to fly
I am lucky to have snapped her, she can be kind of shy

Though it is barely springtime - for sure I cannot lie
it took me by surprise that I met some butterflies!

- - - - - - Coming Themes  - - - - - -

taken from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group.

Mar 16 Obsidian
Mar 23 Croissant
Mar 30 The Moon Tonight
Apr 6 Passover
Apr 13 Fabulous

Sunday Selection ~Plant edition

I find the difference between potatoes and those finicky seeds quite entertaining:

Forskellen mellem kartofler og de der sarte frø, synes jeg altså er morsom:

Did someone say: Soil?

-It's too hot                         - Nope, too cold!
- Too dry!                           - Too moist for sure!

But not a hint of Ocean twilight, the colour of March, to be seen.

Men ikke spor af månedens farve, beklager.

Ti timer ~ Ten Hours

I dag er dagen ti timer lang ... og der er bier, mange bier i vores erantis. Det skulle man både kunne se og høre i dette videoklip.

-- 🐝 --

Today we have ten hours of daylight -- and there's bees, lots of bees, in our eranthis. They should be visible  and audible - in this video.

Jeg ved ikke, om det kan ses tydeligt, men de fleste af bierne er brune bier. Det vil sige oprindelige nordiske honningbier. Jeg var henne og lede efter dem i det hule træ, hvor de boede sidste år, men der var ikke nogen. Jeg må lede videre.

-- 🐝 --

I do not know if you can see it, but most of the bees are of the dark variety, native to Denmark.
I tried looking for them in the hollow tree where I found them last summer, but there were none now. I'll go on looking