Tag Archives: Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

January 1, 2025 · 8:07 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: New Books I Want to Read this Month/Year

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

Top Ten Tuesday had a similar topic last month and another one coming out later on this month, so there will be some repetition in my answers.

Book cover for Isaac's Song by Daniel Black. Image on cover shows a drawing of a young black man whose facial features are just barely included. You can see his eyebrows and the ridge of his nose. He’s standing in front a city filled with skyscrapers as an orange bird flies in the air behind him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My #1 answer is  Isaac’s Song by Daniel Black

Publication Date: January 14

I gushed about the first book in this series, Don’t Cry for Me, last year. It was written from the perspective of a (black) man who grew up in the south during the segregation era. He had a harsh childhood and passed on those impossible and sometimes abusive expectations to his son, Isaac, who cut contact with the protagonist as a young adult.

That was not an easy read by any means due to the themes of racism, homophobia, and generational abuse, but it was beautifully written. I can’t wait to view this world through Isaac’s eyes and hopefully see some sort of reconciliation or other form of healing by the end of it.

 

 

My #2 answer is speculative in nature and I don’t know if it will happen this year. I want a new book from Becky Chambers who is one of my favourite modern science fiction and fantasy writers. She has written some wonderfully gentle, cozy stories, and I need another one of them from her if possible.  (Especially after I read #1 on this list, I think!)

 

 

Book cover for Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Image on cover is a drawing of a flame that has a blue centre, a white middle, and then various shades of red and orange as one moves closer to the edges of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My #3 answer is Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publication Date: March 4

Why I’m Interested: A little literary fiction in the spring sounds nice. I’ve really enjoyed the previous work from her that I’ve read, too.

 

 

My #4 answer is another wish for a book that may or may not exist yet. Sarah Waters hasn’t released anything new in years, and I’d love for that to change this year.

6 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , ,

December 11, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Myths or Legends From Where I Live

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

A photo of a plastic toy shaped like Bigfoot. It is about six inches tall and is sitting in a forest that’s strewn with last year’s autumn leaves and that has just begun to grow this year’s crop of leaves. The toy is positioned so that it looks like it’s walking through the leaves.

One of the negative stereotypes about people from Toronto is that we think we’re the centre of the universe and that the way life is here is the way it is everywhere else in Canada, too.

I certainly do not agree with that, so I am purposefully not mentioning my city at all in the rest of this post.

A few years ago I blogged about famous urban legends in Toronto, so today I’ll be sharing some legends from other parts of Ontario. It’s a big province, and I only wish I had space here to talk about all of our amazing myths and stories.

Old Yellow Top

Many different parts of North America have legends about Bigfoot or Sasquatch, but Ontario is the only one I know of who has stories about one of these creatures that has blonde hair. All of the other stories I’ve heard about this cryptid describes it being covered in brown hair. Maybe there was a rare genetic mutation in this one?

 

The Little People of Doghead Mountain

The Anishinaabe in Northern Ontario have a very cool story about the little people of Doghead Mountain which is close to the town of Nipigon. 

The mountain is called Doghead Mountain because it is shaped like the head of a dog, and the Anishinaabe word for it is Memegwesiwijiw. It is said that the little people who live there like to trick anyone who crosses their path, so watch out for things like your water being spilled or your trap lines being set off without catching any prey if you decide to visit.

 

Black Donnellys

The Black Donnellys were an Irish Catholic immigrant family who settled in Biddulph township, Upper Canada (which is now known as Ontario) in the 1850s.  There was a dispute between them and their neighbours about who really owned the farm that the Donnellys believed they had legally purchased but who others had been squatting on for a long time. After multiple altercations, a local group ironically named the Peace Society visited the farm with the intention of merely harming the Donnelly men and scaring them into giving up their land.

Tensions rose, though, and many members of this family ended up being murdered that night. Some of the details are kind of violent, so I’ll leave it up to my readers to click on the link above if they want more information.

 

Gaasyendietha

The Seneca tribe in Ontario tells of the legend of the Gaasyendietha, a fire-breathing dragon that is said to live in all of the Great Lakes but prefers Lake Ontario. It is said to have been created when a large meteor fell from the sky into the lake. All of their tales warn people to avoid this creature, so I will definitely not be seeking it out!

9 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , , , ,

December 4, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Something I Wish Would Come Back Into Fashion

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

A photo of a large, spotted, white and black dog wearing a black and white cloak while sitting in the snow in front of an evergreen forest. I have one word for you all today: cloaks.

Why should they come back into fashion?

They are versatile. Other than being used as a coat, you can wrap up in one if you need a blanket, take it off and use it to carry all sorts of things, or spread it out and share the warmth with someone else.

They fit people – and animals – of all sizes. It’s uncommon for a cloak to be too large or to small for someone as the fabric is purposefully designed to have a lot of extra space in it just by the nature of how such items are made. This means that you don’t have to try six different cloaks on to find the right fit.

They are unique. The colour or pattern of a cloak can make one of them look quite different from the next.  I think there’s something to be said for standing out from the crowd sometimes.

They are beautiful. I adore the way the edges of cloaks seem to float through the air when someone wearing one is walking at a fast pace. It almost looks as thought they’re flying from a certain angle!

In short, cloaks are amazing and I wish they were popular.

 

8 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as ,

November 27, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Musicals I Liked

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

A red rose lying on a sheet of musical notes. When I was a kid, I loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because I was fascinated by the flying car and the child catcher in the other world the characters ended up once their magical flight ended. I desperately wanted to ride in that car. While I didn’t want the child catcher to steal me away, I did understand his desire for peace and quiet and wished he’d make an exception to his child-stealing ways for kids like me who could silently amuse themselves for hours as long as there were plenty of books to read.

For a long time, I thought that was the only musical I liked, but I eventually found a few more of them that appeal to me.

The sorts of musicals I enjoy these days are generally the ones that are aware of how silly it is to suddenly burst out into song in the middle of conversation and that either poke gentle fun at that aspect of this genre or purposefully lean into the oddness of it all.

Let me give you two examples of what I like.

Schmigadoon!, which was about a couple who accidentally end up stuck in an overly-cheerful musical after going out for a hike in the woods,

and

Avenue Q, which was about muppets and humans who are friends and who all have real-life problems that a lot of adults have. It was sort of like a PG-13 version of Sesame Street.

Another musical I liked that did not follow this pattern was Hamilton because it tapped into my love of two topics that aren’t mixed together very often: history and rap music.

8 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , ,

November 20, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: How I Spend My Weekends

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

Of course, there are often errands and appointments to take care of over the weekend like dental cleanings, getting this year’s flu and covid vaccines, grocery shopping, mailing off birthday cards to relatives, or buying a new shower curtain.  My assumption this week is that we’re focusing on fun things we do on weekends instead of the necessary grownup stuff.

I’ve already talked about a lot of my interests in previous Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge posts, so I’d imagine this isn’t going to be a particularly surprising post for anyone who has followed me for a while.

How I spent my weekends depends on the season. If it’s spring or autumn and rain is not in the forecast, I like to go outdoors and enjoy places like walking trails, parks, or beaches (which, aside from the general lack of waves and saltwater creatures, look and feel a lot like Pacific or Atlantic beaches because of how huge Lake Ontario is. You can gaze out upon it and see nothing but water shimmering from here to the horizon. It’s spectacular.)

Toronto Island is a particularly fun place to visit because of how much there is to do there. They have an amusement park, a maze made from large trimmed evergreen bushes, beaches, petting zoo, cycling trails, golf courses, haunted lighthouse, and so much more. It can be an expensive day if you want to ride all of the rides, but it can also be a free one other than the cost of your ferry ticket and whatever food you pack for a picnic. I love versatile options like this.

Nature is so soothing to me.

Late November is a tossup when it comes to enjoying the outdoors. It might be relatively warm and dry (about a high of 10 Celsius or 50 Fahrenheit) on the odd day, but it can also easily be snowing, sleeting, foggy, raining, and/or bitterly cold at this time of year.

A photo of a painting called “Woman With Bangs” by Pablo Picasso. The painting is of a sad-looking woman who does, indeed, have bangs in her dark brown hair. She is looking morosely to the side in this painting. There is a blue hue to the painting that only makes it look even sadder. On damp, chilly days, I do things like:

  • Go to the library for bookish events or to visit their free little museums of vintage books
  • Buy a tea or a vegan donut at a coffee shop
  • Do dance, kickboxing, yoga, or weightlifting workouts at home
  • Watch Spanish films (I’m understanding a lot more Spanish now!)
  • Take short walks out in the snow if it’s only moderately cold
  • Go out for coffee or dinner with a friend
  • Get all holiday shopping done ASAP so I can avoid the huge crowds next month
  • Take a nap
  • Play board or card games
  • Spend too much time on social media (If we’re being honest here 😄)
  • Find fun, free cultural events like food festivals, musical events, art shows, vegan Christmas markets, etc.  They’re not as numerous now, but they do still happen!
  • Visit museums that have cool new exhibits. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see some of Picasso’s paintings, one of which I included in this post. It just depends on who they have in the gallery.

5 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops, Personal Life

Tagged as ,

November 13, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Thoughts on the Mystery Genre

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

Photo of a magnifying class that is enlarging a cryptographic message printed on a white piece of paper. The message includes a few letters but is mostly comprised of symbols and pictograms. Mysteries are a great form of escapism.

I love the way that books in this genre virtually always end with justice being served and criminals being held accountable for their actions, especially since neither of those things are at all guaranteed to happen in real life.

Figuring out how clues fit together amuses me, too. I’ve previously mentioned not being a big fan of red herrings, but I do like when a clue can be interpreted in more than one way. This leaves plenty of space for readers – and protagonists – to change our mind about who the culprit is depending on which explanation of what is going on we decide to accept as the most accurate one. It can also be a nice way to practice skills like critical thinking, observation, and developing a stronger memory.

While I don’t read a lot of romances, paranormal romantic mysteries can be appealing to me. This is especially true if they’re set in the past, involve ghosts, and/or are about a cold case. It makes me smile to think of a ghost helping to solve his or her own murder case before finally being able to rest for good.

My favourite niche in this genre are cozy mysteries. Not only do they often have delightful puns in their titles, many of them seem to be set in or near cozy places like bakeries, libraries, or coffee shops. This softens the edges of the murders in them and makes it more likely that I’ll keep reading.

Historical mysteries can be interesting, too, as they generally feature characters who lived many years before the development of modern investigation protocols like dusting for fingerprints or testing blood or hair left at the scene that might have belonged to the culprit. This can leave a lot of room for other types of evidence like eyewitness testimony, letters or diary entries that talk about the crime, or, if the investigator is lucky, maybe even a straightforward confession!

In short, I think this genre is cool  to visit on occasion and am open to any suggestions you all may have from the cozy, paranormal,  historical, and/or romantic mystery subgenres.

10 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as ,

November 6, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Things I’ve Learned from Another WWBC Blogger

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

A photo of a white neon sign that says “think about things differently.” The word differently is spelled backwards. This sign has been placed against a black background so it really stands out!Here are my answers for this week’s prompt.

George taught me that food can be a sensitive topic for some people. I appreciate his candor about his eating disorder and am proud of how far he’s come so far. (I hope I’m not embarrassing him by bringing this up as it’s truly not my intention. He is a gem.).

On a lighter note, Michael introduced me to Festivus Geekiatum, a holiday he invented to help deal with the doldrums of winter at the end of February when it feels like spring may never arrive. What a fantastic holiday to look forward to at that time of year!

I celebrated it last year and intend to again this year. If anyone else wants to join in, I’ll happily promote your post on my blog, too.  Just leave a comment with a link to your post or let me know through some other way if we’re friends elsewhere on line.

Thank you both for widening my perspective of our world. I appreciate it.

4 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , , ,

October 30, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Superstitions I Secretly Believe In

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

 

Photo of two teardrop shaped mirrors in wooden frames that have been hung on a black wall. Reflected in the mirror you can see the white covers and white pillows on a bed that’s been made but is still a little rumpled. (I received my annual covid and flu vaccines yesterday, so I may be a little late responding to other people’s posts depending on how I’m feeling today.)

I am not a very superstitious person, but these are the superstitions I do follow. Yes, I know most of them are nonsensical, but somehow they still feel important to me.

Crossing fingers for good luck.

When someone I care about is waiting to hear if they’re being offered a job, or what their test results are from the doctor’s office, or any other number of things that could change their lives for the better or worse but that I have no way to influence in a positive direction, I cross my fingers for them and hope for the best.

 

Don’t walk underneath ladders.

I mean, honestly, this is common sense. A collapsing or unsteady ladder could really hurt you or someone nearby.

 

Saying gesundheit or bless you after someone sneezes.

Can I assume that the majority of you know about gesundheit? It’s the German word for health and a pretty common blessing after a sneeze here in North America. I cannot hear someone sneeze without saying either that word or bless you even though logically I know they’re not actually a cure for anyone. It simply feels wrong to ignore sneezes or not wish other people good health.

 

Four leaf clovers bring good luck.

I have never found one, but I have searched for them now and again since childhood. Maybe someday I’ll find one and reap the good luck of not plucking it as I’d rather let it grow in peace!

 

Knocking on wood for good luck and/or to avoid tempting fate.

I didn’t know about the history of this practice. It’s simply something I saw happening occasionally when I was growing up that was presented as a good idea.

 

Don’t place mirrors so that they face each other in a room. 

My spouse taught me this one. It’s apparently bad luck, and I’ve seen too many spooky tv shows about spirits coming out of mirrors to test fate on this one even though I logically know that nothing would happen.

 

Don’t kiss babies

This is a superstition in a few different cultures. In the southern United States, they would warn not to do it because it will make babies drool, but this is also good medical advice in general. Babies, especially very young ones, have underdeveloped immune systems. What presents as a cold in healthy adults or older children could make a newborn dangerously ill if, for example, you happen to be infected with a cold sore, RSV, or the flu but don’t yet know it.

I did not realize kissing babies was so dangerous when I was younger, but I would not do it now! My apologies to the little ones I kissed before I knew better, but so far as I know I didn’t get any of them sick.

12 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , ,

October 23, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What I Do When I’m Bored

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

A photo of an autumn forest. The trees are still holding onto about half of their orange leaves. The rest of the leaves have fallen to the forest floor and are covering it and the trail between the trees. If I’m bored but cannot leave my surroundings because I’m sitting in a waiting room or the weather outside is frightful, I’ll probably people watch, read a book, or play Royal Match (a tile matching game) on my phone.

Those are all pretty common answers I’d bet, though, so let’s talk about other possibilities. Most of them are free activities and the rest are inexpensive.

Taking Long Outdoor Walks

If weather is okay for some outdoor time, I’ll go take a walk.

Walking is free, good for you, peaceful, highly customizable, and lets me discover all sorts of new shops and other places that have recently popped up or been renovated in my area. If you ask me, this is a highly underrated form of entertainment.

Asking Lots of Questions

I’m quiet, but every so often I get the urge to be talkative and share some of the thoughts that I normally keep to myself. When I was a kid, my parents and siblings were the relatives I’d bless with questions. Now my spouse gets to hear them. (The questions are normally about topics we’ve spoken a lot about, so chess or Star Trek for example).

Gazing at the Ceiling

Ceilings are often an under-appreciated aspect of architecture in my experience. I love looking up to see what sort of light fixtures, sky lights, or decorative objects might be up there. Some of them can be rather plain, I’ll admit, but others are works of art.

Exploring Library Events

I’m lucky to live in a city with a large and active library system. There’s something going on there multiple times a week, so there is a decent chance I’ll see an event on their website that would be fun to attend either virtually or in person.

Visiting Coffee Shops

I love the ambiance of coffee shops that offer seating.  They’re such cozy and friendly places to visit as I enjoy a beverage or snack.

Enjoying the Park 

The squirrels are currently searching for food to store away from the winter, and watching them find it can be amusing. Since some people feed them, they can also be unnervingly friendly at this time of the year. Last autumn I had one follow me for several minutes until it realized I’m not the sort of human who feeds wildlife.

I like snapping photos, so going to the park is also a good chance to look for moments that I want to capture for posterity.

 

12 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , ,

October 16, 2024 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Something That’s Improved Since I Was a Kid

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

Six speech bubbles lined up in three equal rows. The row on top is coloured peach, the middle row is pink, and the bottom row is sea green. One of the biggest improvements I’ve seen since I was a kid has to do with how much easier it is now to find people who share the same hobby, interest, identity, or diagnosis.

Among countless other possibilities, if you are:

LGBTQ+,

A fan of a specific book series, tv show, or obscure hobby,

Trying to learn more about a new hobby,

A llama herder, or

Just coming home from the hospital or doctor’s office after you or someone you love has been diagnosed with disease X,

 

You can find communities of people online who are in the same boat.

This is valuable for everyone, but it is even more important for folks who are living in rural areas or with health conditions that limit how much they can travel and who therefore may not be able to find anyone in their neighbourhood to discuss such things with in person.

When the Internet became something that virtually everyone in the western world has daily access to, countless people were finally able to meet others like themselves online for both serious and lighthearted purposes.

For subjects like life-changing illnesses, this means that information about the latest tests, studies, and treatments can spread much faster and farther than it could have a few decades ago. There is no doubt in my mind that this has saved a lot of lives as well as reduced suffering.

But even if you’re only searching for likeminded folks online who share your interest in topic X, it is still a wonderful thing to find those kindred spirits and finally get to dig deeply into the minutia of what you enjoy. Hobbies are an important part of living a fulfilling life, and I love how much easier is to meet other people who like the same very specific things you do these days.

I am so grateful that such things are possible and common nowadays.

8 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as