Music Moves Me - Cars and Trucks

Today, on Monday Moves me, songs about cars and trucks.  Or so I thought.  I apparently picked up next week's theme, but that is the kind of week it has been for me.

First, how about the theme song of a classic 60's TV show - Car 54 where are you?  OK, it wasn't about the car, but it's the first thing that popped into my head.

Drive (the Cars).

Hot Rod Lincoln - first released in 1955, this version is the cover by Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.

I am keeping this short and sweet today.  My back is still bothering me but I am pulling double duty - my husband fell Saturday, broke his nose, and strained his neck.  Thank heavens; it could have been so much worse.  So you all be careful out there!!

Guess, since I am out of sync, I will blog about whatever music I want to next week!

Join this #MusicMovesMe blog hop every Monday - here are the people responsible for it:
X mas Dolly is the Conductor of this trip, and the other Conductors are her fellow bloggers Callie of JAmerican Spice, ♥Stacy of Stacy Uncorked♥  and Cathy from Curious as a Cathy.

Day 16 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost 

Music Moves me - Songs about Autumn

Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year in upstate New York.

I remember, in early elementary school, being given assignments to pick up autumn leaves that had fallen on the sidewalks of my native New York City and bring them to school.

Later, as a Mom, I took my son for walks.  We would collect colorful leaves and press them between sheets of wax paper. 

That's why, when I decided to take part in the Music Moves Me challenge for today, asking for songs of autumn, I immediately thought of the song Autumn Leaves.


Researching this song, covered by so many artists (the first song on my playlist is a version sung by Nat King Cole), I discovered that this song, which I thought was written by Johnny Mercer, was actually (originally) a French song called "Les feuilles mortes".  Well, I guess autumn leaves are dead, but why think of them that way?

This is the first song on my autumn playlist.

Here are the other songs on my playlist:

2.  More Than This, by Roxy Music. From 1982, perhaps this isn't totally a song about autumn, but it does mention falling leaves.  So why not? (Plus, I love love love this song, especially how Bryan Ferry stops singing and the music keeps on going.)

3.  Autumn in New York, here sung by Billie Holiday.  The song itself was written in 1934, and was covered by many artists.  I had thought about linking to the cover by Frank Sinatra, but decided to feature Billie Holiday's cover instead.

4.  Harvest Moon, by Neil Young

5.  And finally, from 1966, Leaves That Are Green, by Simon and Garfunkel.

What music moves you today?

P.S. I hurt my back and may not be online much today.  But I will come visit you soon!

Day 9 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost 

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Problogger October 2017 Blogging Challenge .

Join this #MusicMovesMe blog hop every Monday - here are the people responsible for it:
X mas Dolly is the Conductor of this trip, and the other Conductors are her fellow bloggers Callie of JAmerican Spice, ♥Stacy of Stacy Uncorked♥  and Cathy from Curious as a Cathy.

Nostalgia - Skywatch Friday

This first Friday of October, I am being hit by a wave of nostalgia.

One thing climate change has produced in our part of upstate New York is a lessening of the fall colors.  I miss those falls.  This year, our color is also endangered by a blight that has hit maples, killing their leaves prematurely.

But, I found some trees turning in a supermarket parking lot yesterday afternoon.  Too bad that the clouds fascinated me even more.  I could have adjusted the color to make the trees stand out but I so loved the color of that sky.

At least, sunsets are still sunsets.

And now, for my nostalgia fix - October 26, 2012.  But then, I tell myself, it's still the beginning of October.  There's still time for more color.

Join Yogi and other bloggers watching the sky each Friday for #SkywatchFriday

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Problogger October 2017 Blogging Challenge .

And finally, day 6 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Music Moves Me - Patterns and Rhythms

Music is full of patterns.  We love the rhythms our culture teaches us should be part of music, too.

Today, the first day of the Write Tribe Problgger October 2017 Blogging Challenge (held every Monday and Friday in October), the prompt is "patterns".  Since this a week in Music Moves Me (a blog hop that takes place every Monday), I thought, why not feature songs about patterns?

 I couldn't find many, so I expanded the topic to include songs mentioning rhythm. And I was immediately transported to my youth - the 1950's and 1960's

Today I made a You Tube Playlist for the first time.    That's the wonderful thing about blog challenges - I hope this works.


The playlist includes:
1.  Patterns, by Simon and Garfunkel (1965).  I owned the Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album, and probably drove my father crazy by playing it over and over. 

2.  The Syncopated Clock, composed by Leroy Anderson, which features a clock with a syncopated rhythm. This piece was written for The Boston Pops and first performed by them on May 28, 1945.  This brings back memories of growing up in New York City, where, every weekday at 4:30, WCBS-TV would show The Early Show, featuring a movie.  My Mom loved the Early Show - it was her time to rest after her housewifely duties were completed. I understand this was used for the Early Show in other cities.

3.  The Typewriter, by Leroy Anderson (again).  Is there a, um, pattern here?  Well, this one dates from 1950 and was also written to be performed by The Boston Pops.  I should ask here "does anyone remember typewriters?"  If you don't, you may especially enjoy this video, because a pops orchestra can't perform this piece without a typewriter.

4.  I've Got Rhythm, with music by another fave (I can't believe I've never included his music in one of my music posts) George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin.  This piece was written for a Broadway show called Girl Crazy.  There is a lot to this song - I will defer to the true musicians in Music Moves Me to talk about how much this song influenced jazz music.

5.  And finally, from a more modern era, Janet Jackson's classic Rhythm Nation, from 1989.  I have to admit, I am not a great fan of Janet Jackson, but there is no denying the talent showcased in this song and video.  The lyrics still have great relevance today.

If you have any problems with the playlist, could you let me know?  This is a learning experience for me, done in hopes that my music posts will load faster for mobile fans. 

I hope you enjoyed this little musical journey.  Come back again next Monday, same time, same place, for more music.

Day 2 in the Ultimate Blog Challenge, a 30 day challenge this month #blogboost.

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Problogger October 2017 Blogging Challenge .

And last, but not least: Join this #MusicMovesMe blog hop every Monday - here are the people responsible for it:
X mas Dolly is the Conductor of this trip, and the other Conductors are her fellow bloggers Callie of JAmerican Spice, ♥Stacy of Stacy Uncorked♥  and Cathy from Curious as a Cathy.


 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 2016

Wasn't it just June 15?   Why does the short summer speed by so quickly?

Welcome to this edition of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, where gardeners and flower lovers from all over the world post pictures of what is blooming in their houses, and yards, that day.  Hosted by Carol from May Dreams Gardens each 15th of the month, every photo in this meme is posted with love by each blogger, hoping to refresh and inspire you.

In my zone 5b garden near Binghamton, in upstate New York, some of my flowers are enjoying our hot weather - others, not so much.  But I love every one of these flowers.  For so much of the year, it is too cold here to have outdoor blooms.  Perhaps, if I had year round flowers, I would appreciate this time of the year so much.

My daylilies are in full bloom.  Every year for the past three years, I've bought one or two new plants.  Enough of them were "we don't know what they are" type plants, which were a lot cheaper.

Here are some of my lilies.

Another.

This is my latest day lily.

This short yellow lily, which I got at a closeout at a local nursery, is such a prolific bloomer.

This is one of my oldest lilies.

I took this one a few days ago (but it is still blooming) after a rain shower.

More and more each year, I fall in love with daylilies.

This one, in a semi shade area, still blooms despite not being in full sun.  This one, I believe, is my oldest lily, bought from a mail order nursery and still blooming after all these years. 

My hostas are blooming merrily in the hot weather.  Since I don't seem to be too good in remembering names, here they are, anonymous just like my daylilies.

I've had this one for years. We've divided it into a small patch.

My last astilbe.  Some contractors working on our house stomped several of our astilbes into - well, we'll know if they come up next year.  We only had two this year, this white one and a red one.  This one is fading away just in time for GBBD.

One of my two lantanas.  I love variegated plants - I also have a variegated petunia in a basket with lovely small pinkish flowers.  But the pink flower in this picture is one of my geraniums.

A hanging geranium basket given me for Mother's Day by my son.  I love how it glows in early morning light.

Here's another. 

At this time of year I marvel at how many flowers I had to keep out of this posting, while, by the end of winter, I am hunting through my house for a tiny flower to show.

Today is day Six of Write Tribe Festival of Words #6, and I welcome all my new (and returning) readers.  I hope that seeing my flowers gives you as much pleasure as taking and posting these pictures gave me.

And now, please visit May Dreams gardens and click on other linked blogs, and visit gardens from all over the world.

What is blooming in your neighborhood or yard today?

Raisins and Almonds

On Sunday, a blogger started a series of posts about songs of her childhood.   

It inspired me.

I remember a lullaby my father used to sing to me.  I can still hear his voice singing the refrain from the lullaby, in the language of his parents (a language I, in turn, never learned).  I said to myself, "After all these years, I wonder if I can use You Tube and a search engine to find the song?"

And, since today would have been his birthday, what a wonderful way to celebrate a man who meant so much to me.

I have many childhood memories of my Dad.  I remember, especially, walks he would take me on some Sunday afternoons (no doubt, to give my stay at home Mom a break).  He would love to watch houses under construction, and we would walk to the construction sites. He would look at the houses-to-be.  I would listen to baseball games on a tinny sounding transistor radio.

Then, after my mother died, Dad raised me as a single father.  Things got rather stormy as I traveled through my teenage years, but he hung in there.

Anyway, about that lullaby.  It took about 20 minutes, but I found it. 

The English name is Raisins and Almonds, and this is the English version.

And this is the original Yiddish version, as sung by actress Jane Seymour.

Jane Seymour, (not her birth name) by the way, had a Jewish father.  Who knows, maybe her father sung this song to her.

Thank heavens for the Internet.  And, happy birthday in heaven, Dad.

This is Day Five of Write Tribe's Festival of Word #5. Why don't you visit some of the bloggers participating in this from all over the world?

Torn on the 12th of July

There's something in all of us, I think, that enjoys watching a building being demolished.

A landmark building is being demolished not far from where I live.    People visiting me always remark about the demolition in progress.  It's going to be in progress, perhaps, for perhaps three months more (including cleanup of all the debris and the land replanted in grass.)

It seems I've blogged so many times about Air Force Plant 59, built during World War II, whose last tenant, BAE Systems, left in advance of raising flood waters on September 8, 2011.  The building had stood, vacant, ever since.

The  BAE building (some locals still call it the "GE Building", a tenant for many years), on September 10 2011, as the flood waters were already receding, is shown in this video.

As my neighborhood walked the trail of recovery, this building stood patiently, as a disaster recovery tried to salvage it.  After almost two months of effort, it was decided (in November of 2011) that it was not salvageable.

It took so long for this distinguished building, once the largest wood framed building in the United States (some 600,000 square feet), to meet its fate.

Finally, demolition began 1625 days after the flood. 

On May 7, Bradford Pears bloomed in front of the building for perhaps the last time (as of today, they are still there). 

May 12.

On June 6, everything looked so green from this angle. But, in back, the building was being torn up from the direction not facing the public.

The skies were so beautiful on June 21, as summer began (the smokestack to the left is not part of the building).

Goodbye to what was once executive parking, I believe

Then, on June 23, we saw part of the building collapsing into itself in controlled demolition.  I haven't witnessed this demolition personally, since I work during the hours when this demolition takes place.  But, perhaps it surprises me that so many people love to watch a building being demolished.  Almost everyone you see walking along Main Street, where this building is, stops to stare.

There are some videos on You Tube.  One (not this one) even has such dramatic music it's - well, it's an experience.

Taken on July 4 - no demolition due to the holiday

As of this morning, piles of rubble replace more and more of the building.

Fields of Debris

Any historic building meeting its end saddens me.  So much was built in this factory.  Airplane engines during World War II, hybrid buses and other projects more recently.

Over 1,300 people worked here (they've moved a few miles down the road, but BAE only committed to five years - and, later this year, that time will expire.)

And,  no one knows for sure what will replace the old Air Force Plant 59.  The future of this plot of land may well be the future of any neighborhood that floods.  There is technology out there - green roofs, parking lot materials that allow water to penetrate and not collect.  This land can be used.  We can co exist with flooding.

One plan is for a solar power plant.  Another plan is for multi use, and that is what I am hoping for.  Imagine if they even included plans for senior living.  Buildings can be built to co exist with flooding. People are already trying to figure out how to co exist with hurricanes, and that is not a problem where I live.

We MUST learn to live with floods.  With climate change, we have no choice.  But it's almost like we've lost our will to try anything new.

As with everything else in New York State, it seems, nothing moves fast.  The town still hasn't made a decision.

Five years of no decision.

In the meantime, the demolition continues.  It should be all completed by-fall.

Have you ever watched a building be destroyed?

This is Day Three of Write Tribe's Festival of Word #5.  Why don't you visit some of the bloggers participating in this from all over the world?

Raspberry Recipes

Are you ready to make a delicious raspberry applesauce and some raspberry vinegar?

I am not noted for my cooking skills, but yesterday, I blogged about picking raspberries at a local U-Pick operation near Binghamton, in upstate New York.  This left me with about four pounds (1.8 kg) of delicious, fresh raspberries for recipes.  But, frozen berries will also work in what I am about to tell you about.

For my raspberry applesauce, this was a spur of the moment thing.  I had had breakfast at the orchard cafe, and was able to get raspberry applesauce as a side.  I told the server the applesauce was heavenly and he told me I could buy it by the pint or quart.  When I saw the price, I decided to try to duplicate it myself, given that I was about to go out and pick raspberries.  I already had apples in the house.

I looked online, and chose this recipe.  The only problem was, the resulting applesauce had a lot - and I do mean a lot - of seeds in it. (and nowhere did the recipe say anything about cooking and straining the berries separately).  So, if you have digestive problems with seeds, this is not the recipe for you.

I am sure one of my blog readers will tell me what I should have done.

Anyway, this is what I did do.

Raspberry Applesauce

Ingredients

3 lb apples  (sorry, metric folks, you are on your own once again)
1/4 cup sugar (you may want to adjust for taste and add towards the end of cooking)
1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
Small amount of lemon zest

Method 

1.  Core and peel apples.  This is not done in my home anywhere near perfectly, so don't worry if you have leftover skin.

2.  Add other ingredients, except the zest.  Again, you may want to leave out the sugar until after step 2, so you can adjust to taste.  If you do, keep in mind the sauce will taste sweeter as it cools.  It's easier to add than to take away.

3.  Cook about 1/2 hour or until apples are tender.  At this point, add the lemon zest.  Then, take a potato masher and mash the apples.   I wanted this to be somewhat lumpy, to duplicate what I had been served at the cafe.

4.  Let cool.  This can be refrigerated or frozen.

It's too thick now to strain out all those seeds, but if I ever make this again, I am going to have to figure out a better way.

And, since one of my readers wanted my spouse's recipe for raspberry vinegar, I looked and looked on my blog, because I thought I had published it a while back. But apparently not, so here it is.

Raspberry Vinegar

Ingredients

Clean mason (canning) or other jar (we use a canning jar)
Enough raspberries to fill jar
champagne vinegar or a good white wine vinegar
cheesecloth or straining bag (some call them jelly bags)
Another clean jar (for when the vinegar is ready to strain)

Method

Fill jar with raspberries.
Fill jar with vinegar, enough to cover.  For a pint jar, this would be approximately one cup.
Let sit for 2-4 weeks.
Then pour through the cheesecloth or straining cloth into a second clean jar. Discard the berries.

If you use raspberries, what is your favorite recipe?

 I am participating in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #5, a seven day blogging challenge.

Both are communities for bloggers from all over the world to gather, and to share.  After reading my post, why not visit other fellow bloggers and see what they have to offer?

Raspberry Fields Forever

Yesterday was just another day.  Or was it?

It was the birthday of two people I know.

It was my cousin's birthday.  I haven't seen her in nearly 13 years, and her career choice keeps her overseas a lot of the time.  I hope she had a happy day yesterday.   And for another person, who has spent a lot of her life helping others, I hope it was a good celebration.

But, for still another person, a member of a Facebook group I've belonged to for several years, yesterday was the end of her time here.  She left our world yesterday, all too soon, another life taken by cancer.

All the more, I am reminded that every day of our lives is a gift.  Whatever each day brings in opportunity, it is our responsibility to take advantage of those gifts. Learn. Observe.  Do something to help a fellow traveler on this planet. Or take advantage of the bounty of nature.

Yesterday, there were so many gifts in my life.  My spouse and I ate out at a local orchard (more on that later in the week), and then went raspberry picking.

In the stores, raspberries are so expensive.  They are fragile, and they don't last long.  But if you are able to pick them yourself, they are a treat.  Some years, the crop doesn't last long.  This year, however, it's a bumper crop.

So red and ripe (the white blobs are the cores left from raspberries already picked - the raspberry is hollow in the middle).  If you have never picked, here is a crash course:

The berry should come right off of the white core without a wrestling match.  If the raspberry is reluctant to fall into your hand, move onto the next one.  If it is too ripe (it would have turned purple), do not take it, either.  Raspberries will not last long, especially if they are overripe.

Examine the berry for mold.  Unfortunately, if it rains, ripe raspberries will mold right on the plant.

And use bug spray, because you will need it.

And most importantly, take someone you love to pick with you.  Some things are better not done alone.

Raspberry fields forever.

After you've picked, you've returned home with your raspberries, now what?

You can eat them fresh, over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

You can make a raspberry vinegar, which my spouse does, but I need to get a recipe from him.

You can make raspberry quick jam (noting this is a refrigerator jam, and won't keep long).  But my jam making days are over (at least for now).

You can put them on a cookie sheet, one raspberry thick (don't pile them), and put them in the freezer.  As soon as they freeze, put into freezer bags and store in the freezer.  You can use them like fresh in many recipes.

Or you can make raspberry applesauce, which I ate with my breakfast yesterday morning at the orchard restaurant.  I decided to try to duplicate it at home.   I hope to blog more about in the next few days.  I will have my homemade version today with breakfast.

Starting today, in addition to the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I am participating in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #5, a seven day blogging challenge.

Both are communities for bloggers from all over the world to gather, and to share.  After reading my post, why not visit other fellow bloggers and see what they have to offer?

Do you like raspberries?  How do you like to eat them?

Some A to Z and Blog Roundup #10

Welcome to my 10th weekly Blog Roundup of some of the blog posts I enjoyed this past week.

I am one of over 1,000 bloggers signed up for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge that starts on April 1.  At the end of this post I'll share a post that gives some useful advice about participating (and surviving) that challenge.  But first:

Shari blogs about living with tinnitus - and I realize that I've had it nearly all my life.

Alice explains why we should not be afraid of change. 

Corinne blogs about The Blessing of the Irish. 

A therapist, Dr. Margaret,  blogs about how to confront your own insecurity.

My father was stationed in India during World War II and always wanted to go back.  I wonder if he had ever seen Lake Pichola, as described by Ami Bhat.

Now, one final link. Tomorrow is Reveal Day for those signed up for the Blogging from A to Z challenge. Tomorrow, we reveal our themes. I am one of a large group of  bloggers posed to blog about something beginning with A on April 1, B on April 2, and so forth for the 30 days (no Sundays) of April.

If you are planning to participate, this blog post full of tips is a must read.  And, may I mention, I am one of those giving advise (shameless plug!)  But all the advice is worth a good read whether or not you are participating.


I hope you are, though, because it will be (as we said in the 60's) a "blast".

Are you going to participate?

Civil War Sunday - The End

Today, on Day #7 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words #4, we are encouraged to flex our writing muscle.  So with that, I have to make a decision about a Sunday blog feature I've been writing for the past four years.  It is a "Civil War Sunday", blogging about an American war whose 150th anniversary we just commemorated.  It began in April of 1861 and it ended on....

Well, it depends, which is why I am calling today's blog post "The End".

I've discussed the future of this Sunday feature with my readers, and my decision is at the end of this post.

But first - why is it so hard to determine the end of a war?  And, should the question actually be "has the United States Civil War ever ended?"

If you consult Google, Google will respond with an end date of April 9, 1865, the date of the first major Confederate surrender to Union troops.  There were other surrenders after that, however - Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, so enshrined in our history, was only the first of the major surrenders.  It was not even the biggest, which took place later in April 1865 in North Carolina.

Consult history.com and it gives you a date of June 2, 1865, when Confederate General E.K. Smith formally surrendered Confederate troops west of the Mississippi.

But was that the end?  Well, there were the guerrilla wars that persisted after the official end, especially as freed blacks, former slaves, tried to assert themselves.  This sad history, in some ways, continues today. 

Possibly the most comprehensive argument I have ever read (full of trivia that trivia lovers will love) in favor of the war never ending is in this New York Times blog post suggested by one of my readers.
And yet, the article reenforces which I also believe is true, which is that much of the greatness of our nation today (despite its flaws, of which there are many) also came from that same Civil War.

Which is why I am going to continue the Civil War Sunday feature and continue to flex my writing muscles.  At the end of the New York Times blog post is a Civil War pop quiz.  I got seven out of 15 (shame on me!) and the Times, said, of me:

"LIEUTENANT (5 - 7)

You are a competent officer and fight bravely in battles for historical knowledge but sometimes you get distracted, go to the sutler's tent, and drink too much overpriced whiskey. This is what has kept you at the same rank for a while."

Now, I need to return to the battle for historical knowledge.

And, I do need to investigate that link between the Civil War and the soft drink Coca-Cola some more.  Just, I guess, without the fine bourbon.

Title Envy

I've said it before:  I sometimes wish I had picked a different name for my blog.  Maybe something more clever.  Something that would draw readers like a blog magnet.

I know, I know. It's like saying you don't like the name of your child.  But you picked it, and you have to take responsibility. 

When I started to blog, in 2009, I didn't do that much research on how to name a blog. The name "Ramblin' with AM" reminded me of a radio show of my youth.  I do write about anything that crosses my mind.  My initials are "AM".

So here I am, almost six years later, with Title Envy.

There are certain blogs, certain books, certain stories, that have titles so perfect- or so different, that you just HAVE to check them out.

If there was a Best Title Causing Envy Award, my nominations would be as follows.

Best Blog Titles

Vomiting Chicken.  Yes.  This blogger owns chickens.  She also blogs about so many other things.  And, two of her grown daughters blog, too.  It's a farm blog!  It's a family blog!  It's a blogging dynasty!

Cut the Crap Solutions  She blogs to teach and delight. She does both.

Best Book Titles (and yes, I've read these books).

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee  - possibly the best book written in the 20th century.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K Dick. Phillip K. Dick is an experience.  Go treat yourself. (This sounds vaguely dirty, but it's not.)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:  A Savannah Story, by John Berendt.  You will want to visit Savannah, Georgia after reading this book.  I did.  Twice.

Waving Girl Statue, Savannah, Georgia

Best Short Story Titles (I've read the first one.  I haven't read the second one)

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (possibly the best short story written in the 20th century).

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O' Conner

Perfect titles.  Great writing.  I can only aspire to both.

If you were a judge in a Title Envy Contest, which titles would you choose?

Linking back to Write Tribe and a shout out to my other blogging challenges - the Ultimate Blog Challenge and the Ultra Blog Challenge.

Local Saturday - Must Frosty Die?

Snow and upstate New York go together like - well, snow and upstate New York.

You may love snow, you may hate snow, but in January, you are going to have snow if you live in upstate New York.  I work in Binghamton, which is on the edge of New York's snowbelt.  I live near Johnson City, about four miles from Binghamton.

 In some years we get over 100 inches (254 cm) of snow.

We are realistic about snow here, even having a friendly annual competition with other snowbelt cities in New York State called the Golden Snowball.

It doesn't mean you have to like it.

Snow can be beautiful.

It can be so decorative, if you don't have to walk or drive in it.

Along I-81, December, 2014

And, if you look past the snow, you see the beauty of bare trees, water, and hills in the distance.

And, people decorate with fake snow, too, directly from (well, maybe not) Buffalo, NY.

Poor Buffalo.  Their reporting station was in the wrong place.  Back in November, some places in and near Buffalo got almost 100 inches in one storm.  Yes, one storm.  I bet the residents wished they could have bagged that stuff up and sent it somewhere else.  They should have won the 2014-15 Golden Snowball without effort, but are struggling.

The readers of my blog know how much I hate snow.  And today, we are supposed to have "one of those days" snow, changing over to sleet and freezing rain.

But, as much as I hate snow, and appreciate snow melt products, I also think wishing Frosty the Snowman dead is a little harsh.

Do you like snow?  Or do you agree that Frosty must Die?

This is the third day of the Ultra Blog Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge.  It's not too late to join the fun.

Ten Tips to Survive a Blogging Challenge

Have you signed up for blogging challenges this month that require you to post daily, for 31 straight days?

Day one was intoxicating - you spent time reading and commenting on a lot of blogs.

Now it's day two.  You know there is no way you are going to do this.  You are already running out of ideas and energy.  Are you thinking of quitting?  Are you wondering how you are going to survive the next thirty days?

I have been blogging daily since late April of 2011.  When I took my first challenge in May of that year, I had been blogging for almost two days, but my schedule was irregular, and almost no one (except friends and relatives were reading my blog.

Several days out, I hit a wall.  Yes, I almost didn't do it.  I remember that feeling so well, and want to help anyone feeling they need the extra boost to succeed.

I'm just an ordinary woman.  You don't have to be a super person to complete a blog challenge.

The challenge is worth it!  And I am going to show you how to do it.

1.   You can do it!  You MUST believe in yourself.  You WILL do it.  Believe in yourself.

2.  Use the prompts your challenge provides, at least at first.  If not, find prompts online. One nice place to find prompts is a site called NaBloPoMo, which gives prompts each month for Monday through Friday blogging. Eventually, you won't need them except if you run out of inspiration.

3.  Pre scheduling is your friend!  No, it's not cheating. All of us have obligations, and sometimes you know you aren't going to be able to write a daily post.  All the major software (I use Blogger, but many bloggers use Wordpress, either the Wordpress hosted or self hosted) allows you to.

4.  Keep a supply of "evergreen" posts - always relevant posts that can be written months in advance, and kept in your drafts, just in case.  They should not have any material in them that "dates" them - and, if you use links, please make sure the links still work before you post.

5.  Read and comment on other blogs, but not so many that you feel overwhelmed.  A blog challenge with thousands of participants will overwhelm you. But do read and comment on blogs that sound interesting.    And, learn from them.  What content interests you?  What turns you off?  Reading other blogs will give you inspiration.

6.  If something isn't working for you, don't be afraid to change.  If you don't enjoy your blog, it will show, and you will run out of energy.

7. Make sure you are in the right challenge.  Is the challenge giving you what you want? Are you looking for writing practice, increased page views, encouragement, support, or something else?  If the challenge isn't right for you, you will get discouraged.  But do give it a chance.  Wait several days and see if you still feel the same way.

One of the most supportive challenges I have found is the Ultra Blog Challenge. There are several "levels" of participating, but there is a free level, and there is nothing wrong with staying "free", if it meets your goals.  It has an excellent moderator, and is held monthly.  Other challenges I have enjoyed, and participated in, include Write Tribe (excellent articles), the four times a year Ultimate Blog Challenge, and the WordCount Blogathon (June only).

8.  Post daily, even if your challenge doesn't require it.  I can't emphasize this one enough.  You MUST develop the habit of writing, of blogging, of reading/commenting of other posts.

9.  Don't get discouraged if you don't meet your goals right away.  Overnight successes rarely are overnight.  You are seeing the tip of the iceberg if you look at overnight successes. 

Finally,

10.  HAVE FUN!  Without having fun, it is hard to succeed.

Do you have any other suggestions for those participating in challenges?

I am linking back to the Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge:  writetribe.com/write-tribe-pro-blogger-challenge/