A is for Apples

Here begins Blogging A to Z 2026. A book-cover scavenger hunt is this year's theme. Please see this post for general rules on how to participate.

For day one, the cover item is...

Apples 

My choice is:

Winter--Marissa Meyer  

This seems to be a popular cover item, that  seems to have taken off after the Twilight series. It's been years since I read this and the other fairy-tale retellings this series. I got each of these from the library. This somehow came to my mind first when deciding on a cover with an apple. This is a Snow White retelling, so it's only natural an apple would appear on the cover. 

Now it's your turn. Provide a link in the comments (from Amazon, Goodreads or other sites) to a book with the item of the day. Just naming the book in the comments is also acceptable. Remember, you cannot use the same one in my post. Otherwise, just comment on the post. Good Luck!

The Month Ahead

It's almost the end of March. I got all my A to Z posts written and scheduled, and am looking forward to seeing comments and to seeing others' posts as well. A lot of people have signed up. One blogger is doing an 80s theme--one I'll be reading for sure!

As usual, the A to Z will post every day except Sundays. And once again, I'm not sure how often I will be on the blog in April outside of A to Z.  If I choose to do any other posts, I will try to limit them to Sundays. I've not been posting at the Thursday 13 much lately, but will likely skip it next month, returning in May. As fas as the Book Blog Discussion Challenge goes, I may be able to count my A to Z posts, but am not sure about that. A lot of posts to link, and I don't know if they'll count as discussions. 

No Kings 3.0

I didn't get any pictures or videos this time, as I only drove by after stopping at the local Ace Hardware on the way to pick up a friend. I honked as I passed them. Once again the protest was in front of the  local Safeway. And again, the former Kmart lot was packed was cars, the most it's gotten since the last protest, which occurred last October when Spirit Halloween was set up in the building. And as about as many as there were at the first protest last June.

I went looking for pictures on a Facebook group for what's happening in my town but can't seem to find any. Some friends posted pictures on their feeds, mostly coming from protests in nearby counties. Here are some I got:

Click here and here to see pictures and videos of the last two protests. 

And today, I found this protest picture on Facebook.

Been off for a While

Over the last few days I was having computer issues. I won't to go into the details, but will say that technology can be daunting. But I'm glad to be back. Now I can catch up on drafting my A to Z posts. I've started scheduling some of them, even though I still have some to draft. I'm just a little stuck on some letters.

And the hot weather in my area has continued. It's barely the start of spring, but it's already feeling like summer. 

Hot Weather!

It's only March, and barely the start of spring. Yet in my neck of the woods, it's been hot this past week! Quite unusual for this time of year. 

This is a historic heatwave. Feeling more like summer now. The hotter is gets, the more tired I get! It's been hard to do some things these past few days, like cooking. And except for drafting A to Z posts, I haven't done much writing this week. I get sleepy from reading sometimes, but now I can blame the weather more right now!

Our group at work took a field trip on Wednesday to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was not quite as hot over there as it was in my town. We were inside most of the time, but sat by the beach nearby for lunch, in a shade area. We even stopped  at some of the stores nearby on Cannery Row. A lot of walking and I came home exhausted, but it was a great trip! It was good way to get away from the heat in our town.

More on the A to Z Theme This Year

I have begun drafting my posts for the A to Z Blogging Challenge next month. The official sign-ups begin next week. As I said in my theme reveal post, it will be a book-cover scavenger hunt. 

In the past, I have had trouble with linking services (see here), so I have decided to allow links to books in the comments. Other general rules:

1. You cannot post the same cover that is in my post, and cannot use the same cover for more then one letter.
2. Since comments are moderated, you will not know (in most instances) what cover others are going to post, so do not worry about possibly posting the same book as another person.
3. The number of the item on the cover does not matter. If the item of the day is in the plural, the cover may have one or more than one of that item.
4. The link may be from Amazon, Goodreads or other sites. Just mentioning the tile in the comments will also be acceptable.
5. Even if you do not want to the join the scavenger hunt, you are still welcome to comment on the posts in general.
6. Commenting and/or participating is open to all, not just those joining the A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Also read this.

Good luck to all, whatever you decide to do.

13 Phone Cartoons

Colleen at The Thursday 13 holds a weekly blogging prompt where bloggers make a list of 13 things on Thursdays. The topic is for you to choose. The blog host doesn't have any official graphics to display on the Thursday 13 posts, so I decided to whip one up myself. 🙂  

After seeing this post on Mikra's blog today, I got this idea for the topic for today. Also, I just got a new phone, my first iPone. It's not a current one, but it was good deal and will work for the time being. Some of these are old and some are new to me. This first one I took from the link above.