A-Z Challenge 2024 - Reflections Post

Well I completed the challenge in that I posted for every letter of the alphabet and on time!  (Although some came close to the wire.)

Did I win?

I'm not sure that I did.  There's a lot going on in our house right now so I'm not sure that I gave the same amount of input as I've done in some of the previous years of taking part.  I certainly didn't find time to check out too many new blogs but I did try to visit those of people who had visited mine.

Thank you to all those who did, especially if you left a comment.  Apologies if I missed getting back to you.

Thanks also to the A to Z Team (Arlee Bird, J Lenni Dorner, Zalka Csenge Virág, John Holton, Jayden R Vincente, and Ronel) who supported everyone through the challenge and do such a great job every year.

There were lots of suggestions from the team of what to consider for this post (read more here) but if I tried to address all of them this post would probably never see the light of day.

For me one of the main reasons for doing the challenge is to try and keep my blog active and interesting and to stretch my writing.  Well I need to work on the being active part as this is the first post I've done since completing the challenge!  I'm also not sure that I really stretched myself as there was very little forward planning done apart from drafting out what each letter would be.  Many of the posts were written either on the day or maybe a day or two in advance.

But, having said all that I expect to be doing it all over again next year!

A- Z Challenge 2024 - Z is for Ziggy's

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

One of the shops in Highams Park is called Ziggy's

It's actually a gift  shop selling a variety of gifts and cards but they also serve coffee and cake.

It's directly opposite the entrance to our Tesco supermarket so in an ideal location to catch passing trade.

And that's the A-Z of my local area done!

Thank you to all those who have visited and left me comments.

A - Z Challenge 2024 - Y is for Yellow birds

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

Wildlife is always a plus and there are plenty of different types of ducks on the lake near us plus swans of course.  And in the forest there are deer and cattle as well as squirrels and foxes.

We get a number of different birds in the garden too including yellow tits (which I have no photos off yet) and parakeets.

There are lots of parakeets around here - and yes they are mainly a green colour but they definitely have yellow on them too.  Yes I was scraping the barrel trying to think of a word for Y lol.

These pics were taken in the park a while back.

but we often get them squabbling over our bird feeder in the garden.

I only managed to get a pic of one this afternoon.

A - Z Challenge 2024 - X is for Xylography

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

Right, hands up who knew that xylography is: the art of making engravings on wood especially for printing

Well my hand is up because I found the word when looking for an "x" word for the challenge.  And it fits in nicely with the "Wild about Highams Park Animal Sculpture Trail".

Not exactly the same sort of woodwork - the animal sculptures that are dotted around Highams Park were created with a chainsaw by artist Marshall Lambert.

The trail contains 12 sculptures but I think there are a couple of additional ones in the park.  I've got photos of most of them but need to get to the park area for the last couple (I did a long walk today!).

The animals are as follows:

1)  Terrapins

2) Fallow Deer (this is about 25 yards from our home!)

3) Otters

4) Hedgehogs

5) Squirrels

6) Tawney Owl

7) Frogs

This one has seen better days!

8) Badger

9) Rabbits

10) Foxes

11) Swan (Apparently this one is on the base for the Maypole - never noticed that in the park before.)

12) Ducks  (This one is the other side of the park - I just didn't have time to get there today.)

The sculptures and trail were created in 2019 when Waltham Forest was the London Borough of Culture and the trees were donated by the Corporation of London who are responsible for Epping Forest.