Here's An Idea!: My Vacation Scrapbook (#atozchallenge)

Northern terminus of California State Route 23 outside Moorpark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

            So how's your summer going so far?   I'm on the road right now.  Actually I've settled in for a few weeks at my mother's house in East Tennessee.  I'm enjoying time with family and hopefully will have a chance to see some old friends.   But the main purpose of the trip is to spend time helping my mother and just hang out with her.   I don't get to see her very much since I moved to California 23 years ago.

           I'll also be visiting my daughters in New Jersey and Houston and have some special times with my grandkids.  Don't get to see any of them nearly enough either.  The family is scattered and that means a major vacation trip in order to see everyone.

           So what's all this have to do with the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge?  Well, since I'm doing a series about coming up with theme ideas for the 2015 Challenge (visit Part 1 here), I thought why not use this summer's activities as a basis for your blogging theme in April.  It's kind of like the "What I Did During Summer Vacation" essays you probably had to do back when you were in school.  Same thing for your month long A to Z theme except you can get super detailed and add pictures.

          Travelling affords so many inspirations and opportunities for good blog post ideas that you can not only use them now, but you can still organize them later for your April A to Z theme.

Here's a Few Ideas:

• I Spy Travel Game--This is always a good way to entertain the kids if you're in the car for a long ways.  Have them look for something that starts with the letter A and so on through the alphabet.  And while they're playing the game find some inspiration of your own for your April theme.
• Places A to Z--When you're traveling you come upon all sorts of place names that will range through the alphabet.  Towns, streets, rivers, mountains. and all sorts of other place names will give you ideas for every letter.  Make a list as you go for reference later on.
• Business names--This is one I've been tempted to do.  Use the restaurants you eat at, the places you stay, stores you shop in, or just businesses you pass by.  Take pictures of them if you can.  If you have time you can even interview the owners or customers to add some dimension to your blog post.  There are plenty of businesses from Aamco to Zaxby's and you can fill up your theme fast.  And you don't even have to leave your home town to do this one.

      This is just to get you started.  Get your creative mind to working and I'll bet you can come up with a lot more ideas that will keep you busy while on your vacation.  Have fun with it!

          Be sure to visit Wednesday's post with more on this idea and some links that might inspire you.

          What travel games did you play as a kid or do your kids play now?     If you're traveling during the summer, where will you be going?   What are some other A to Z themes you can think of that relate to travel?

Related articles

• Top Tips for an Affordable Family-Friendly Vacation
• Shifting Gears to Locate the Hottest (Blog) Spots on A-Z North #atozchallenge #roadtrip
• #AtoZChallenge: "B" is for BALBOA PARK
• #AtoZChallenge: Letter A for Arkansas

Happy 4th of July to our American Readers!

We are so glad that the A-Z Community is a global one, with bloggers from all over the world.

However, most of the co-hosts are from the US, and today we are celebrating the independence of our nation.

We will be back with "real" posts on Monday. Meanwhile, enjoy whatever today brings you.

~Tina, for the A-Z Team

Storyteller's Perspective: Something old, something new...

I like old stories. I think most of us do. During the month of April A to Z, I especially love finding blogs that choose themes like mythology (Greek, Norse, or anything else), folklore, or even ghosts. It always makes me happy to see that people still read, share, and cherish these tales.

Of course, I am a storyteller, so I might be biased.

Today I would like to share with you a game that I have been playing. It is useful for me, both as an author and as a storyteller, to know what the stories that are the most popular these days (anything between Captain America and The Fault in Our Stars) are doing right. And I especially love to find old, old stories in new costumes, sometimes so masterfully re-done that it is a challenge worthy of Indiana Jones to recognize them.

(How many of you realized the Hunger Games is a version of the myth of Theseus?)

Here is how the game goes:

1. Pick a film, a TV show, or a game that is popular (and you have needed an excuse to watch or play)

2. Give it a chance. It might end up being boring or generally not your thing, but hey, gotta try it before you criticize it, right?

3. Make a list of things - characters, places, visual elements, plot points - that you especially liked. This can be anything from Merida's archery skills to Loki's mischief (There Shall Be No Storytelling Post Without Trickster References!)

4. Go scour the Internet for other people's opinions - what did the good people of the Web find especially awesome or memorable? (you can make a safe guess based on fan art, if everything else fails)

5. Now that you have a handy list, go on a quest: Try to find old stories that have the same things. Search in Google Books, or story collections, or even the very handy Thompson motif index for folktales. See what you can dig up. If you want to see a few examples, you can check on the StorySpotting blog.

The more you play, the easier it gets (and, also, you find more and more intriguing bits). It is not only fun to play with the idea of "nothing is ever new," but it can also provide tremendous help and inspiration: It teaches you about what values, characters and motifs remain popular over the ages and across cultures, and have the constant power to amaze and inspire modern readers and audiences.

Have fun!

As usual, you can find Csenge (@TarkabarkaHolgy) at

The Multicolored Diary - Adventures in Storytelling

MopDog - The crazy thing about Hungarians...

Summer Doldrums Hit Your Blog? Here's an Idea...

How is your blog doing this summer?  Hit a snag?  A rough patch?  Having trouble keeping on keeping on?  You may have hit the doldrums.  You've probably heard the expression, but do you know where it comes from?  Since I'm there myself, stuck in the doldrums, I thought I'd look it up and share.

The Merrium Webster dictionary defines it as:

Full Definition of DOLDRUMS

1

:  a spell of listlessness or despondency

2

often capitalized :  a part of the ocean near the equator abounding in calms, squalls, and light shifting winds

3

:  a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or slump

Wikipedia offers us (abbreviated by me)

Colloquially, the "doldrums" are a state of inactivity, mild depression, listlessness or stagnation

The doldrums is a colloquial expression derived from historical maritime usage, in which it refers to those parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean affected by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calm.

The doldrums are also noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sail-powered boats for periods of days or weeks.


I had thought that sailing was involved somewhere in there, and I was right.  Just reading about sailing cheered me up a bit.

What does this have to do with your blog?  Well I hit upon an idea that I thought I'd share.  My blog schedule is three times a week, so I decided that once a week I'd write an episode in a series.  I chose my college days as the topic.  Yes, I'm writing true, sometimes embarrassing stories of some of my college adventures.

Having the topic decided for at least once a week has helped me a LOT.  I have no end of material, considering, well, how coordinated I am, how naturally, socially savvy I was back then (was not...) and the stupid things that my roommates used to do.

I'm not saying that you have to have the kind of a blog that writes the naked truth about your life for this this to work, but is there a topic that could be a recurring theme once a week?

Of course you could choose a real-life series if that fits your style, and here are some ideas:

- my first year as a parent

- my first year as a (name of job)

- the horrors of working in a fast food establishment (haven't we all had to endure that?)

- the life lessons I learned from being a (fill in the blank)

If your blog isn't that style, maybe you could do once a week:

- how to...and pick something that fits your category of blog

- organizational ideas for your (name of room)

- my new favorite song, and include a YouTube clip

- I found this great, but unknown movie...

- My favorite beach combing finds

- The best thing I ever ate (thanks Food Network)

If you're stuck in the doldrums, having the topic decided for at least once a week might help.  Just a suggestion.  Come on over to Life is Good if you'd like to know how I experienced college...series usually runs on Mondays, but it might be Tuesday this week. After all, it's my blog, and like a good friend told me, "Will the world end if you for one week don't have a Monday post?"  (The answer is: it won't.  It just feels like that if you're a Schedule Woman like me...)

~Tina, who may or may not finish tomorrow's College Life series episode...and maybe the world WILL end, but I haven't seen any zombies today...so I'm thinking not...

©2014 All Rights Reserved

Dictionary reference

Wikipedia reference

#atozchallenge #roadtrip - Stormy jumps for joy!

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride
I'm feelin' okay this mornin'
And you know,
We're on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go

(Road to nowhere by Talking Heads)

Welcome to leg four of the Post A-to-Z Road Trip!

Stormy the Weather Gnome and I are going to try to hit at least 20 new blogs a week from the Challenge list and tell you about a few of them in each of my posts.

When you go visit these awesome blogs, please make sure you tell them that you're visiting on the Post A to Z Road Trip!


Tina Downey
During April, Tina took us on a journey to 'Explore the differences, big and small, between American and Swedish culture'. We learned about new foods, places, booze, vacation spots, language and of course, 'having coffee'. I might just move to Sweden for the care and consideration they give to coffee alone! And, the goodies they serve with it! Thank you, Tina, for showing us the way!


Maybe you wonder where you are
I don't care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there...take you there
We're on a road to nowhere



A Life Less Ordinary
Holli Moncrieff

Want to achieve A Life Less Ordinary? Follow Holli's 26 letters to learn more about about putting yourself out there and living life to the fullest!


Rachna's Scriptorium
Rachna Chhabria

Rachna's theme was Emotions and Feeling Writers Experience. You may have heard of a few. Anxiety. Depression. Passion. Unease. Wonder. Yearning. It's a hard, smart look into the world writer's live in.


There's a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
and it's all right, baby, it's all right 


Sukanya Ramanujan, A Glimpse into My World
Sukanya Ramanujan

Some stunning photography, from all over the world, for every letter of the alphabet.


Finley Jayne's Going to the Library...
Finley Jayne

Finely's theme...Books I Hate! (I hope my book is not on her list.) Here is the letter Z post which contains a link to every letter post for the whole month!

Thanks for visiting with us today!
Are you finding any great blogs on your trip?