Category Archives: Blog Hops

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Favourite Memory and Why

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

My family lived in Laramie, Wyoming for four years when I was a little girl. We were low income, so my parents came up with all sorts of creative ways to enjoy their days off without spending money. (I honestly didn’t even realize money was so tight for us during those years until I was much older. They made do with what they had really well).

The cool thing about living in Wyoming is that it’s filled with mountains, national parks, and other free places to take three small children who have boundless energy. For the cost of a little bit of gas and some sandwiches or other simple meals culled together from fridge leftovers, we could spend all day outdoors together.

One of our favourite places to visit was Vedauwoo National Park. It was a short drive from our home and was filled with rocks to climb, chipmunks to greet, and trails to conquer. There was nothing more exciting than hiking those trails with my parents and siblings.

A photo of Lydia Schoch, her parents, and two younger brothers at Vedauwoo National Park in the 1990s. My youngest brother was about two or three then, so sometimes he’d need a parent to carry him if we walked for a long distance. But the important thing was that we were together and we got to explore rocks that felt impossible large to me as a child.

I also remember picking and eating berries in a little patch of forest near the park. That was a wonderful treat! I think they were raspberries, and, yes, I did get permission from mom first.

I believe the picture I included in my post was the one my parents sent out to extended family as our Christmas card greeting that year? We’ll see if mom or dad can confirm this when they read this post

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Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I’d Follow on Social Media

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Arrangement of seven hexagons. The one in the midle contains a gear graphic. The rest contain graphics for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, and Linkedin. I’m going to perform a magic trick today and give Internet access and knowledge of how to use it to the characters on this list who didn’t actually live in times and places where social media, much less the Internet itself, existed.

1. Shori from Ocatvia E. Butler’s Fledgling

Why: Imagine all of the stories that a vampire who is commonly mistaken for a child could tell about her life as she met people from every walk of life on Facebook.

2. Damon Salvatore from L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries series

Why: His witty personality would be the perfect fit for social media, especially somewhere like Instagram or Twitter.

3. Francie Nolan from Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Why: Her life was filled with difficult twists and turns that were poetically described. I’d want her to share every detail she was comfortable sharing (and accept donations so she could flee to a better life). There is a lot of compassion online for people who are going through financial trouble and who have troubled family relationships. She could find a real sense of community on a place like Twitter or Instagram.

4. Pecola Breedlove From Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye 

Why: She was by far the most interesting character in this book. Since it wasn’t written from her perspective, getting her to share small moments of her life on Snapchat would be a nice way to get to know her better. I’m sure she’d be filled with things to say about her childhood.

5. Elsa from Frozen (and Frozen 2, although I haven’t seen it yet)

Why: She’d be great at condensing her thoughts into bite-sized tweets on Twitter. I think that medium would suit her well, too, because of how easily it combines words and pictures together.

6. Hermione Granger 

Why: Her LinkedIn profile would be legendary. She’d have so many accomplishments to share.

7. Santa Claus

Why: If he were on every social media platform, social media would be a much friendlier place in general.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Types of Exercise I Enjoy

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

There are quite a few types of exercise I enjoy.

  1. Weightlifting
  2. Swimming
  3. Dancing
  4. Power Walking
  5. Canoing*
  6. Hiking*

Animated Figure lifting weights*Although I haven’t done either of these in a long time and definitely would need to recondition my body for them. That is to say, let’s pick the easiest versions of these things if you want to do them with me.

What all of these activities have in common is that they’re non-competitive, fairly easy on the joints in most cases, and can be done solo or in a group.

When I was a kid, the vast majority of my exposure to exercise was team sports.

I’ve never liked team sports, so it took me a while to realize how many forms of exercise are out there that don’t require competition, keeping score, or having winners and losers.

Kudos to those of you who thrive on competition and being the biggest, strongest, and/or fastest person in a group.

But to me, exercise is most enjoyable when it’s about doing something cool either by myself or with a few other laid-back people.

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Top Ten Tuesday: The Last Ten Books That Gave Me a Book Hangover

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Person reading a book.I’d never heard of a book hangover until Jana mentioned them in this week’s prompt.

Most of the strong attachments I formed to books happened when I was a child or teenager. It was fairly rare for them between that point in time and my current age until pretty recently for reasons I haven’t figured out yet.

So this list is a short one, but a few years ago it wouldn’t have existed at all. The links in this post will go to my reviews of these books.

1) The Deep by Rivers Solomon

The imagery in this book was so strong that reading it made me feel as if a movie were playing out in my mind. I sure hope this gets made into a film or TV show someday. We’re overdue for an aquatic show, especially one that tackles as many important themes as this one does.

2) Patient Zero by Terry Tyler

There’s something about reading about pandemics that comforts me every flu season. I still need to read the rest of this series, but, wow, was this a good introduction to this universe! Jumping around among so many different characters really drew me into this world.

3) The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 

I’ve been a huge fan of The Handmaid’s Tale for many years now. It was immensely satisfying to finally get a sequel to it. I can’t wait to see how the updates on so many characters from the first book are integrated into the TV show based on this series, too.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Reread in the Winter

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

I am a creature of habit. This is especially true when it comes to what I reread and when I return to those old, friendly stories. Often my urge to reread things are tied to the seasons of the year and specific holidays.

Since we’re currently in the middle of winter, I tweaked this week’s topic a bit so I could talk about the books I’m most likely to reread at this time of the year.

Book cover for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë . Image on cover shows Jane teaching her pupil as another woman looks on.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I first read this book one winter when I was in high school. Cold, dark weather makes me feel sad and glum at times. There was something oddly comforting about reading about a character whose troubles were much bigger than my own.

The happy ending she eventually received is a nice mood lifter as well.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) by C.S. Lewis book cover. Image on cover is of the lion Aslan.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) by C.S. Lewis

There comes a time every March when I feel like winter will linger on until the end of time itself.

This is when I like to pull out the first Chronicles of Narnia book and read about an enchanted winter that lasted there for a century and never included a single Christmas to look forward to. Imagine how tired of the cold and snow the Narnians must have been by that final year! And yet spring did arrive for them eventually, so I can have hope that the same thing will happen for our completely non-magical winters, too.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey book cover. Image on cover is of a child hiding behind a tree on a snowy day.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

As much as I dislike winters in southern Ontario, there are places that are much colder, snowier, and darker than Toronto. The Snow Child is set in Alaska about a hundred years ago. Back then the people who lived there were basically snowed into their homes for months on end, especially if you lived out in the country away from any towns.

The main characters were a couple who had longed for a child for many years. When a little girl showed up in the middle of a fierce blizzard, they took her in while trying to figure out where on Earth she must have come from.

Figuring out what was happening with her and with the kind couple who looked after her is so engrossing. I could reread this book a dozen times and still want more.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Romantic Quotes

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week’s prompt is a love freebie, so I decided to share some romantic quotes for it since this isn’t actually a holiday I observe.

How many of the other Top Ten Tuesday participants live in countries where candy conversation hearts are sold at this time of the year?  I enjoy them, but I haven’t seen them around much the last couple of years. Here’s hoping that changes soon.

If you celebrate Valentine’s Day and have a different favourite candy from it, I’d like to know about that, too!

1. “The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

A pink plate covered in candy conversation hearts. The six hearts we can read say "soul mate," love bug," "sweet talk," "say yes," "love," and "xoxo."2. “And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

3. “Come sleep with me: We won’t make Love, Love will make us.”
Julio Cortázar

4. “It’s bullshit to think of friendship and romance as being different. They’re not. They’re just variations of the same love. Variations of the same desire to be close.”
Rachel Cohn, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List

5. “your hand
touching mine.
this is how
galaxies
collide.”
Sanober Khan

6. “Love is too precious to be ashamed of.”
Laurell K. Hamilton, A Stroke of Midnight

7. “Before I fell
in love with words,
with setting skies
and singing birds—
it was you I fell
in love with first.”
Lang Leav, Love & Misadventure

a hot chocolate topped with whipped cream sitting in a pink, polka dotted mug. There are two heart-shaped cookies sitting on a doily next to the mug. 8. “Love, like everything else in life, should be a discovery, an adventure, and like most adventures, you don’t know you’re having one until you’re right in the middle of it.”
E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly,

9. “It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love.”
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

10. “Giving generously in romantic relationships, and in all other bonds, means recognizing when the other person needs our attention. Attention is an important resource.”
Bell Hooks, All About Love: New Visions

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Celebrity Crushes

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

What a fun topic as we move closer to Valentine’s Day!

My celebrity crushes include:

Red carpet photo of actress Julia Stiles

Julia Stiles.

I’ve thought she was cute ever since I saw her in 10 Things I Hate About You back in the 90s. She tends to play characters who know what they want out of life and go for it.  I really like that.

Nina Dobrev on the set of Vampire Diaries playing the character Elena Gilbert

Nina Dobrev.

A few weeks ago, my spouse convinced me to start watching season one of The Vampire Diaries. Nina plays the main character, Elena Gilbert, on that show, and I immediately thought she was pretty. Obviously, I have no idea what the actor’s personality is like, but her character is so sweet that I can’t help but to have a crush on her.

William Jackson Harper as Chidi

Photo by: Robert Trachtenberg/NBC

William Jackson Harper.

One of my longterm goals with the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is to convince everyone else to give The Good Place a try. Yes, I’m joking there. (Probably 😉 ).

Not only is this show funny, many of the characters in it are quite attractive if any of you are looking for eye candy. Wlliam’s character, Chidi Anagonye, is a nerdy, intellectual guy which is something I find irresistible.

Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil

Jameela Jamil.

Jameela Jamil plays Tahani Al-Jamil in The Good Place. She plays her role as a wealthy, sheltered, but still incredibly likeable person extremely well. I was surprised by how quickly I developed a crush on her.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Does anyone else find it tricky to predict which books they’ll give five-star ratings to ahead of time? My list is short and sweet this week due to that. I hope my predictions will be accurate.

Everfair by Nisi Shawl

I love alternate history novels, so I have high hopes that this exploration of what would have happened if Africa developed steam-powered boats before Europe did will be as amazing as I expect.

The Three-Body Problem: Remembrance of Earth's Past Series, Book 1 by Cixin Liu. Image on cover is of person standing next to a pyramid as two moons shine overhead at night.

The Three-Body Problem: Remembrance of Earth’s Past Series, Book 1 by Cixin Liu 

This was recommended to me on Twitter a few weeks ago after I asked if anyone knew of good science fiction novels about aliens that don’t look or act human-like.
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series, Book 1 by Rick Riordan. Image on over is of a young boy holding a scroll and wading through water while lighting strikes a city in the background.
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series, Book 1 by Rick Riordan 
I accept the fact that I’m probably the last person in the whole world to begin this series. Everyone tells me it’s amazing, so I’m taking them at their word!
If any of you have recommendations for books similar to these ones, I’d sure like to hear about them.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Best TV Couples

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

I narrowed down this week’s prompt from best Book/Movie/TV Couples to Best TV Couples. There are some mild spoilers for these shows in the rest of this post.

David and Patrick from Schitt's Creek standing in their store and kissing.

David and Patrick from Schitt’s Creek

If you haven’t started watching Schitt’s Creek yet, I highly recommend checking it out! The storyline follows a wealthy family who moves to a small town after losing all of their money.

David was the spoiled adult son of this family. Patrick’s childhood had been full of hard work and thrifty choices. That is, it was the total opposite of David’s experiences in many ways! And yet somehow these two characters complement each other beautifully.

Chidi and Eleanor from The Good Place hugging each other

Chidi and Eleanor from The Good Place 

One of the things I love the most about Chidi and Eleanor is how similar their personalities. They both have a tendency to over-think things and spend more time brooding over their choices than actually picking one.

Chidi showed these traits immediately. Eleanor was more subtle about it, but I chuckled as soon as I realized that both of them were dealing with the same flaw (even if it wasn’t always expressed in identical ways in their lives).

Mr. and Mrs. Kim from Kim's Convenience. He says "I see everything" and she replies, "yeah, me too" in this gif.

Mr. and Mrs. Kim from Kim’s Convenience

Kim’s Convenience has become my favourite Canadian sitcom over the past few years. Many shows focus on the early years of a romantic relationship when everything is brand new and exciting. The cool thing about Mr. and Mrs. Kim is that they’ve been together for at least 25 years by the time the audience first meets them.

It’s wonderful to see how their relationship has matured and grown over time.

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers That Make Me Hungry

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Be warned: you may want to grab a snack before reading this post. I won’t be held responsible for any cravings these book covers might encourage.

On a more serious note, I chose these books based on their covers alone as I haven’t read any of them yet. If you’ve read them, I’d sure like to hear your thoughts on them!

Noah Can't Even by Simon James. Image on the cover is of a peeled banana.

1. Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green

Hello Cupcake by Alan Richards and Karen Tack. Image on cover is of cupcakes whose frosting has been piped on to make them look like miniature poodles.

2. Hello, Cupcake by Alan Richardson and Karen Tack

The House of Rajani by Alon Hilu, Evan Fallenberg (Translator). Image on front is of oranges growing on an orange tree. There is a butterfly on orange at the top of the image.

3. The House of Rajani by Alon Hilu, Evan Fallenberg (Translator)

Everyday Food- Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart. Image on cover is of spaghetti with tomato sauce, cooked tomatoes, and shrimp.

4. Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart

The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum book cover. Image on cover is of a bumble berry pie that does not have a top crust.

5. The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking byJeff Hertzberg and  Zoë François book cover. Image on cover is of a freshly baked loaf of bread.

6. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking byJeff Hertzberg and  Zoë François

,

Food Yoga- Nourishing the Soul by Paul Rodney Turner and Priya Vrata book cover. Image on cover is of many different vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, etc. all piled together.

7. Food Yoga: Nourishing the Soul by Paul Rodney Turner and Priya Vrata

The Adultery Diet by Eva Cassady book cover. Image on cover is of a box of nine chocolates.

8. The Adultery Diet by Eva Cassady

One Bowl: Simple Healthy Recipes for One by Stephanie Bostic. Book cover is of a bowl of hearty vegetable soup. There are two bread rolls, a lime, and a spoon sitting next to it.

9. One Bowl: Simple Healthy Recipes for One by Stephanie Bostic

Book cover for The Bite of Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland. Image on the cover is of someone holding a mango in their hands.

10. The Bite of Mango by Mariatu Kamara

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