[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - A Little Lightness of Being

I originally had planned on doing photos of the fire, but I am willing to bet you guys are tired of hearing about it, so I thought I would post a couple light pictures.  This is [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday Light.

This ladybug landed on her hand and crawled all over her for a couple minutes.  She was a giggly delighted little bundle of girl for awhile there.

This is my cat, Cleo, and my friend's bird, Mabel, while we were packing up at one of the hotels.  These two were hysterical.  Cleo wanted to eat her, but didn't understand why she was so rude as to keep pecking her nose and paws when she stuck them in the cage.  They were both very calm and civil about the whole thing, which was maybe the funniest part.

This [not so] little guy was learning how to fly our first full day back at the house!  It was a delight to see.  His mom kept flying down to nag at him, and he would just ignore her and peck at the berries that had fallen on the top of our shed.  This photo is through a window, by the way, so please pardon the weird dim coloring of it.  Don't you love his eyebrows?  He miraculously came up with the ability to fly when he turned toward the window and saw me and the cat staring at him.  He'd been out there for about an hour by then, and I'd even walked around down in the yard and greeted the neighbor who lives behind me and spoken with her for awhile.  Funny stuff!

I have a couple random facts for you: Did you know some elephants purr when happy?  And that they can't jump?  Also, ladybugs can swim.

Now for some links:

If you want to get yourself out there and have something interesting to say, you can hijack Lee's blog Tossing it Out.  Also, the A-to-Z Challenge blog is always looking for guest posters.

Need a little encouragement?  "Encouragement!"  Here is a list of 11 Famous Writers Who Were Rejected Before Making it Big.

I had a couple contests for you that I gathered for last Wednesday's post, but they are closed now.  I'll have something good for you next week!

Any helpful links you'd like to share?  How'd you do on BuNoWriMo?  Seen any baby birds learning to fly?  Ever heard an elephant purr?

May you find your Muse.

A-to-Z Challenge Official Announcement!

I'm delighted to have the honor of being a member of the 2012 A-to-Z Challenge team, and to be announcing that sign-ups for this year's Challenge will be opening up on the 30th of this month.

For those who aren't familiar with the A-to-Z Challenge, it is a challenge wherein you post every day except Sunday, and you do so with an alphabetical theme, in order. So, for instance, on the 1st of April you would post something that had to do with the letter "A." You can do it any which way you want, in any theme, or lack thereof, as long as you post all but Sunday, and you do so in alphabetical order. For more information on what this means and how it began, click HERE, where you can hear it from the creator, himself, Arlee.

I will be joining this esteemed team:

Arlee Bird Tossing It Out
Damyanti Biswas Amlokiblogs
Alex J. Cavanaugh Alex J. Cavanaugh
Tina Downey Life is Good
DL Hammons Cruising Altitude 2.0
Jeremy Hawkins Retro-Zombie
Matthew MacNish The QQQE
Elizabeth Mueller Author Elizabeth Mueller
Jenny Pearson Pearson Report
Konstanz Silverbow No Thought 2 Small
Stephen Tremp Breakthrough Blogs

Please take a moment to visit their blogs and show them some love. You won't regret it!

As a member of this team, I will make occasional announcements concerning the A-to-Z Challenge. For the best and most up-to-date information, though, please go to the official A-to-Z Blogging Challenge site and be sure to follow so you get the updates. The number of followers on that blog will help us determine some tentative numbers for the upcoming challenge, and help us in our preparations.

While you're there, check out some of the reflections posts from last year's A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, as well new posts on the upcoming challenge. I hope to see you there!

Have you participated in the A-to-Z before? Do you plan on participating this year?

May you find your Muse.