2026 A to Z Reflections #AtoZChallenge

It's time to reflect on my experience in the 2026 Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Along with many other bloggers, I participated in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge this past April  I've done this Challenge successfully every April starting in 2015, missing only 2025 because, well, life happened.   What happened also made the 2026 Challenge more difficult than previous Challenges but I had the time and energy this year.  Last year, it never would have happened.

Life lesson:  never take anything for granted.  Life is fragile and can change in an instant.

Many of us assign a theme for the month and yes, I did, also.  Mine was: beauty of our land.  

If anything, I appreciate the beauty around me even more than in the past.  I am a digital photo hoarder (I may have passed the 20,000 mark on my phone recently-I'm almost afraid to look) and going through my photos to choose the ones I would post this past April brought back so many memories.

Good memories.

Good memories sustain us for the hard times, and also make us realize that beauty still exists even if we are not in a mindset to enjoy it.  It will be there for when we can be receptive enough to enjoy it.

So, looking at these photos also made me feel, once again, gratitude.  Gratitude for the blogging community I discovered, after nearly two years of blogging, when I participated in my first blogging challenge (not A to Z) back in 2011.  Gratitude for the blogs I read regularly and for the blogs I discover each year of the A to Z Challenge.

We are asked to answer some questions.  I'll put them at the end so if you weren't part of the Challenge, you can skip them, but I'll answer one up front so you don't have to wade through questions and answers that don't interest you.

I won't name the blogs, as I don't want to leave anyone out.

So, how am I feeling?  Tired.  I pre-wrote many of the posts, but still had to scramble towards the end.  But then again, I wasn't the only one.

In reflecting, I also decided I would not go back to daily blogging like I did for so many years, but it's good to know I still have it in me to do that.

Finally....

Today is a special one year anniversary in my life.  

So, to any new bloggers who discovered me during the Challenge, thank you.  And, if you are a regular reader, thank you, too.

I appreciate all of you.

And now the questions and my answers in red

Our team theme this year was: A is for Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals

Do you feel like our team's posts from this month met your expectations for that theme?  True confession: I didn't read the team's posts.  

While you reflect on your blog's April Challenge posts, please consider this:

• How do you feel about the Theme Reveal? (Especially if this is not your first year doing the Challenge.). I always find it helpful; I base some of the blogs I will read on their reveals.
• In what ways does the reflection post help you? It helps me look back on the month, something that's impossible to do in the midst of the Challenge.
• What experiences have you had in the past, or hope to have this year, with the Road Trip? I haven't taken the Road Trip in the past; I don't plan to this year.
• Does the HTML on the badges/ graphics page help you? Yes.
• Did you meet your blogging goals in April? Yes.
• What were your top five favorite blogs from the challenge to visit in April this year? I choose not to reveal them because several common blogging genres don't interest me at all and I'm sure my subject matter isn't universally loved, either.
• Did a co-host (J Lenni Dorner, Arlee Bird, Zalka Csenge Virág, John Holton, Jayden R Vincente, or Ronel Janse van Vuuren) comment on your blog during the challenge? Yes.
• Is there a comment you received on your blog in April that is your favorite? I don't rate my commenters; I appreciate everyone who takes the time to visit and comment.
• Who were your top comment-leavers this challenge, and did they do the challenge? Hard to say because some of my favorite bloggers were those I met through the challenge -some years back, some recently, and some don't do the Challenge every year. Some didn't do it this year but still read my blog.  
• Is your blog open to comments from everyone, or only comments from those who "sign in" to the platform?  Open to everyone, although I moderate posts and therefore they may not be published for hours or even the next day.
• Do you feel this helps or hurts your blogging comment goals? I have no blogging goals other than making myself happy.  I don't blog for revenue or to promote a business.  If I didn't enjoy blogging, I wouldn't do it.

• • Are there any other blog hops you regularly take part in? Yes, all my current blogging involves participating in blog hops: Music Moves Me, Wordless Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, Shadowshot Sunday, Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
  • Did you discover anything interesting because of the Challenge? Yes.
  • Will you plan to do the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in 2027, and why (or why not)? That will depend on my personal situation in 2027.  I had to sit 2025 out due to the fickle finger of fate saying otherwise.  Life is always uncertain.
  • Will you recommend this blog hop to others? Yes.
  • If RoadTrippers only visit one of your Challenge posts, which would you suggest and why? (This question is also the prompt if you create a RoadTrip post.). 
  • Do you plan to visit the A to Z site every month? No although I may drop in from time to time..
  • The site gets many hits, even in the off-season!
  • Did you refer someone to hope to win a guest post spot? No, because what would I say? 
  • What else could the team offer you to persuade you to encourage others to join the challenge? Perhaps come back and ask me that next year.

Yale (Dinosaurs) #AtoZChallenge #WordlessWednesday

Once again, I have a two meme day.  First, Wordless Wednesday, brought to us by Sandee at Comedy Plus (for the link, please see bottom of post). Also, it's Y day in the Blogging from A To Z Challenge.  Two memes for the price of one.

In 2024, my spouse and I visited Yale University.  Visiting their Peabody Museum has been a bucket list item for my spouse since childhood, when he became interested in dinosaurs.  Dinosaurs are one of the specialties of this free to the public museum.

Yale Peabody Museum sign.

Life size Torosaurus latus dinosaur statue outside the museum. There were plans to erect a garden next to this with plants that grew during the times this dinosaur existed when this was erected in 2005, but if they did, I didn't see signs of it.

Dinosaur Skeleton.

Skeleton and architecture.

The building the Peabody Museum is in.  This is a fantastic museum, as you might expect from a world class university.

I have more pictures, many of them not related to dinosaurs.  Maybe one day I'll publish some more on my blog. Y not?

Y Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Beauty of our Land.

Sandee's Comedy Plus: 

 

Xanthic #AtoZChallenge

X, for me, is the hardest letter of the alphabet in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  I think all of us A to Zers struggle with this letter.  I've used this particular X word (xanthic) too many times but it is perfect for spring. There are so many yellow flowers associated with spring where I live: tulips.  Daffodils.  Forsythia.  And even more.

So, I'm revisiting the topic of Xanthic.  Or, in plainer language, Yellow, especially related to flowers.

The dictionary defines xanthic as yellow, or yellow-like.  That works for me, because I have lots of yellow flowers to show you from this spring.  Some are still blooming.

Euphorbia, my yard, April 26.  

Tulips, neighborhood, April 22.  I like photographing them from above to get the interior in the picture.

Barrenwort, my yard, April 14.

Yellow daffodil, my yard, April 22.

Fringed yellow tulip, my yard.  I only had one of these beauties come up this year.

Short tulip, variety long forgotten, my yard, April 23.  Now, isn't that Xciting?
 

X day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Now off to see how others conquered X. 

Winter #AtoZChallenge #MusicMovesMe

Today, two memes for the price of one.  First, W day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, followed by Music Moves Me (linkup is at the bottom of this post). 

Winter.  It's a large part of our lives where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.  Some people like it.  I am not one of them.

I am so happy that spring has finally come, but perhaps we would not appreciate spring so much if we didn't have winter.  So here are some photos of our winter. Several are from my guest photographer, who has a DSLR, and lives out in the country.  Me, I'm more small city, and I use an iPhone.

A flower garden sleeps.

No picnic today.

Ice on the river.

Trees sleep and ice takes over.
 

My guest photographer: rural New York State winter scene.

My guest photographer: a heron she named Harriet. 

My guest photographer: Duck and ice.

Now, it's time for Music, as I join the Music Moves Me bloggers. We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  We are brought to you by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie, and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.  Why not join us?  Our optional theme for this week is "America’s favorite past time for many starts up again for professional baseball players.  You don’t have to be a fan but it could be fun to pick songs that include the teams’ mascot. Stretch this prompt to fit your play set however you want!" but I am going to choose Songs beginning with W as my theme because I accidentally did the official theme several weeks ago.

From 1969, Blood, Sweat and Tears and Sometimes in Winter.

2004's Wizards of Winter from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. 

Finishing with 1967's Wintertime Love from The Doors. 

And that's a wrap! 

W day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme "Beauty of our Land".

 Music Moves Me - here are the participating blogs.  If you have at least one song to share, why not join us?

Virginia #AtoZChallenge

Today I am spotlighting the state of Virginia.  I have visited it several times.

First, a beautiful university campus in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Welcome to the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819.  

Its Rotunda was designed by Jefferson and its construction was completed shortly after Jefferson's death in 1826. If you wonder, viewing these pictures, if it resembles Monticello (Jefferson's home) - it does.

Monticello from a distance, April 2016

It should be noted that buildings on the original campus were built with the labor of enslaved people, and that scholars (male, of course).  Women also had to fight hard to be able to go to this university, which only became fully co-educational in 1973.

Near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Rolling rural hills. 

Along I-77, fog can be scenic, and also dangerous.

Virginia Welcome Center, I-77. (Interstate 77)

I'll end here with beautiful dogwoods in bloom, Monticello, April of 2016. 

V day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme:  Beauty of our Land.

 

Unity (In the Fog) #AtoZChallenge #SkywatchFriday

Once again, today I give you two memes for the price is one:  U day for the Blogging of A to Z Challenge, and Skywatch Friday.

On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday.  Having a national birthday isn't restricted to the United States; our neighbor to the north, Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1.  They do us one better, too, with various towns and cities serving cake to their residents.

But will our national birthday bring us needed Unity?  I hope it does.

Years ago (1999?) my spouse, young son, and I traveled to Washington DC to enjoy the various July 4 celebrations. We also went to historic Arlington Cemetery to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and graves of John F Kennedy and its eternal flame.    If I took any pictures they are probably in a box somewhere, alas, with others of my printed out photos.

I was so impressed by the guards who keep a 24 hour watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  

I can't show you any pictures of that future celebration but I can show you pictures from Plymouth, Massachusetts taken on July 4, 2023.   Plymouth holds an important part in our national history.

Much of the day was foggy, which made for some interesting sky pictures.   I've had some of these pictures on my blog before, but here they are again.

Plymouth's harbor on a foggy July 4 morning. 

Looks like it's hanging in mid air, doesn't it?  It's not.

The Mayflower II.

Nothing like a parade to Unify us.  Parades are held in hundreds of cities and towns throughout our nation.  There will be even more this July 4, I suspect.

A parade in the fog is even better, especially if it includes a dinosaur.

We are fortunate to have a beautiful land.  Let us continue to honor it with Unity.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.

U Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme: Beauty of our Land.

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Towanda #AtoZChallenge

I'm a little surprised that, for all the pictures I have from our neighboring state of Pennsylvania, I'm only now getting to one if its small towns for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Towanda, Pennsylvania, population about 2800, is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and has over 400 historic building.  I've never officially visited the borough, but I had to pass through it several times in late 2024.

I took these pictures of some of the beautiful architecture downtown or near downtown in November of 2024.

The MacFarlane House on Main Street.  This is a 1854 Greek Revival home that once housed the Bradford County historical society.

The Bradford County courthouse.  Towanda is the county seat.

Another view.

Part of the downtown historic district.

The Keystone Theater, originally Hale's Opera House.  Unfortunately I had to take this picture from a moving car (I wasn't driving!) and couldn't capture the beauty of this historic building.  You can find more about this treasure here.   I love it when I find historic theaters still operating.

This is only a small sample of the beautiful houses in and around this community.   I wish I could have spent more time there.

T day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme:  Beauty of our Land.

South Carolina #AtoZChallenge #WordlessWednesday

Today, for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge and Sandee's Wordless Wednesday, I visit the United States state of South Carolina.

Before I get going, I want to pay tribute to South Carolinian Pearl Fryar,  who died on April 4, 2026.  My husband and I had the pleasure of meeting him in 2015.  I blogged about it, and his special topiary garden in Bishopville, South Carolina, for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in 2015. I invite you to read my post, which had some pictures of his works.

I also invite you to read this interview, if you are into gardening.  Son of a sharecropper, this self-taught genius overcame prejudice and became world renowned.  His death was reported by the Washington Post, New York Times, and CBS Sunday morning, among other news outlets.

Pearl Fryar, RIP.  You proved that one man can overcome hate with love through Beauty. 

Participants in Wordless Wednesday: 

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of this beautiful state. 

Greenville, Falls Park on the Reedy, February 2023.

Columbia, state Capitol building. 

Clemson, mural.

Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, Columbia. 

College of Charleston, Charleston, Pinxterbloom azalea, a native azalea.

College of Charleston, Sunset.

Charleston City Market mural.

Charleston, corner of Queen and State Street.
 

S Day in the Boogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme:  Beauty of our Land.