#WQWWC #23 Writer’s Choice -My Choices Sunday Stills- Water Details, LAPC – Details, Cee’s FOTD & Sunday Poser from Sadje.
Today I’m leaving the Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays Writing/Photo Challenge topic up to you. Since you know I love challenges, I’m aligning my post this week with challenges and some tips for better blogging.
Start with Details from #LAPC #146
Patti Moed of Lens-Artists Photo Challenge inspires us this week to look for the details in our photographs. While doing Becky B’s challenge, there were times I focused on details, and other times I tried to take a picture of the entire car, but I ended up cutting off part of the body when I squared the picture.
Photographer, Cee Neuner’s solution to that was much the same as Patti’s solution to photographing architecture – focus on the details. Armani suggests that even the smallest detail is important.
Prescott Bike Trail #1 Peavine Trail to Hwy 89A
We saw the most beautiful display of red flowers along the Peavine Trail two weeks ago, but we were on a roll to get to the end of the trail, and we didn’t stop. On the way back, Vince suddenly pulled over, got off his bike and started taking pictures. I followed suit, first taking the landscape view, the a little closer and finally a close up with lots of details.
You can see at a distance how scrubby the trees and shrubs are, which is nice to know as a reference that they don’t look impressive. Up close, when you see the details of the flowers, they are quite beautiful.
Vince looked it up on an app on his phone called Picture This. The plant brought up several names: Desert Paintbrush, Indian Paintbrush, or Northwestern Indian Paintbrush. Further details reveal that the scientific name is Castilleja and believe it or not it is in the subclass of Magnoliids like Magnolia trees.
Wikipedia defines it as a “perennial herbaceous” plant meaning it doesn’t have a woody stem and you can’t easily get rid of after one season.
Sunday Stills Focus on Water Details
Before you get to the Hwy 89A cut-off on Peavine Trail, you come to Watson Lake. Of the four lakes within a five mile radius of our home, Watson, Willow, Lynx and Goldwater, Watson is my favorite because of the rock formations and the fabulous the fact that Peavine Trail is broad and flat – the perfect learner’s trail.
Riding or walking along the trail you are close to the water and can hike even closer if you like. The lake houses many types of wildlife. We see a lot of different ducks.
We walked when we took these pictures. We are not experienced stupid enough e-bikers to take pictures at 12-20 MPH.
Ducks 
Ducks 
Watson Lake graced by Granite Dells 
Ducks 
and more ducks 
Rocks 
Rocks 
and more rocks
Terri reminds us that May is Water Safety Month. Our neighbors took their kayaks out for the first time this week. Keep in mind that it almost snowed – I’d call it spitted on Monday and by Thursday the air temperature here was 80 degrees. The water is still COLD!
Sunday Poser Question: Which Human Trait Inspires You the Most?
I love the spirit of adventure. Maybe that is not a human trait, but it is an outcropping of curiosity, which is a human trait. When someone is adventurous, their spirit inspires me to learn, which is what I love to do most.
I appreciate it when my husband plans adventures for us. He bought me an e-bike for my birthday and took care of all the details to assemble it. He shopped for, bought the hitch, and got it all set up safely so we could travel with our bikes.
I love that he plans exploration outings so we can discover the wonderful sights around us. It is fun to be on this adventure of life with him.
I also admire and am inspired by creativity and try to emulate it every chance I get. We can all learn to be more creative, and that is why I love blogging and why I loved teaching. Blogging, like teaching, gives me a chance to LEARN to be creative, to improve the details that define my creativity both in writing, photography, and graphic design – all by-products of blogging.
Blogging Detail Tips
Whether you are new to the WordPress Blocks, or an experienced in-a-rut block user, it sometimes pays to take a break from blogging and learn about blogging. This morning I discovered the detailed list of blocks you can use to make your blog more attractive and easier to write. The most interesting one to me, T.C. History Gal, was the TIMELINE block.
Whether you are a history teacher creating a post for your students, a student doing a portfolio assignment, sharing your family history, or writing a post about your latest vacation, this is the coolest block ever. You don’t have to create a line and try to add text boxes. It’s all done for you.
Once you experiment with that one, there are about 30-40 more blocks that you don’t see on your six choices when you add a block.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
57 responses to “#WQWWC #23 Writer’s Choice: Blogging Challenges and Tips”
[…] Written for Marsha’s Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays Writing Challenge #23: Writer’s Choic… […]
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[…] you heard of Marsha’s Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays feature? This week is our choice, so I thought I would hop in with a quote about weather from one […]
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[…] For: #WQWWC #23 Writer’s Choice: Blogging Challenges and Tips – Marsha Ingrao – Always Write (tchis… […]
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[…] is my entry for Marsha’s WQWWC#23: adding a quote to my photo. This is not Wednesday, but still, here it […]
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Hi Marsha, here’s my post;
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I love it. What deep, insightful thoughts you share. How did you like writer’s choice?
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Thanks! I loved this idea and I’m glad you liked my choice.
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[…] Marsha is the host of WQWWC […]
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[…] Marsha Ingrao’s #WQWWC #23 – Writer’s Choice […]
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Loved your details this week Marsha – and especially loved your kudos to your adventurous husband! He sounds like tons of fun!
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He’s always got something going. There’s never a dull moment around here. Thanks, Tina. I’ve had a wonderful interview with with John Steiner this week. We spent a lot of time talking about – and looking at Lens Artist Challenge posts. He speaks so highly of you all. The post comes out tomorrow. I hope he gets lots of views. He’s really a fabulous person and wonderful photographer. I learned a lot in one hour. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing all these wonderful details, Marsha. I wouldn’t have thought the desert flower was related to the magnolia. Interesting. I’ll take a look at the new timeline blocks feature you mentioned in WP. Wow! Great information!
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Thanks, Patti. It was a fun post to write. 🙂 Thanks for providing the inspiration.
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I love the landscape and look forward to coming on some of those adventures with you and Vince. It’s funny that Frank said to me yesterday, “I love going on these adventures with you”. Meaning that…we went to pick strawberries again as they are almost done. While there, we talked to another customer that told us about a blueberry farm just down the road. It is not certified organic, but they don’t spray their bushes and they were loaded. With directions of, go up to the light and turn like you are going to Melrose and then go towards Earlville by making a left at the blinking light. Turn into their property when you see the cemetery. With my IPad in hand, I directed us there. We missed the turn down their driveway at first, but turned around and went down the road to the entrance. We met the owner and got the story about the farm. The blueberries are to die for! We are all over the adventures of the unknown and doing it together makes it that much better. 🙂
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That sounds like a very fun adventure. We had one of those type of farms in Woodlake. I haven’t seen any strawberry stands. Maybe they aren’t here, or maybe it’s too early here. I haven’t seen a blueberry farm here either, but one of these days we are going to check out Mortimer Farms. You and Frank do have a great time together. I love how supportive you are with each other. Missed you the other day. 🙂 Here is my story about B L Ranch. https://tchistorygal.net/2018/05/20/what-do-you-do-for-fun-where-agriculture-is-king/
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The berries are so good too. I read your story. What a neat little farm. Back in the day when we could be social. I couldn’t comment because my phone is being stupid again. 😊
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LOL, Lisa. A smart phone has no business being stupid!!!
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Yeah and Siri, Alexa and the others are all a pain in the butt most of the time. LOL! 🙂
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LOL!😂
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Thank you for a fun challenge and a reminder of beauty in details. http://anitashope.com/2021/05/05/wqwwc-23-writers-choice/
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What a lovely post, Anita. Thanks for joining in.
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Beautiful. I love the Paintbrush.
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Hi, Marsha – I wholeheartedly agree with you about details in photographs. They make an incredible difference.
And the Timeline Block. Who knew? I’m off to check it out now.
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It was an interesting read, and I discovered some new things. One thing I like about WordPress is that they are always improving it.
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Interesting as usual, Marsha! I have never heard of the timeline block either – thank you for the tip!
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You are welcome., just a chance read! 🙂
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Those flowers are striking, Marsha and I love the rock formations at the lake 🙂 🙂
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Those beautiful granite dells rock formations are at the heart of what makes Prescott famous, Jo. There are hundreds of hiking trails in Arizona. I think we have 100 mile-high trails in Prescott alone. 🙂 We are going to be busy for a while! 🙂
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Paying attention to the details goes hand in hand with curiosity, don’t you think? When you look at a scene, follow a recipe, listen to a friend, read a book, plan a road trip, or follow a bike trail. Details can make all the difference between success and well, missing out. Personally, I don’t want to miss a thing. Life is richer with your eyes wide open. Thanks for the reminder.
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That is so true, Suzanne. Curiosity is a sign of intelligence. I’m not sure that I gravitate to details naturally, but I definitely have become more detailed as a blogger. One of the things I love about my husband is his attention to detail – even though it drives me crazy sometimes. He will spend hours researching whatever he wants us to do. Meanwhile I blog. 🙂
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Same here Marsha. Malcolm leaves no stone unturned, while I find ways to express myself creatively. Balance.
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There we go! Vince and I are just so different. That’s why I love blogging so much. It gives me my moment in the sun to shine and share my own brand of creativity. 🙂
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Here is my entry for the week. I did it as pick me up 😀
https://ceenphotography.com/2021/05/05/wqwwc-23-writers-choice-i-like-noticing-details/
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I love that you did that! Did you see my sample on the post before? I got my idea from you! 🙂 Copy cat – Marsha! 🙂
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Oh, you put a pick me up widget on your blog! Yay!
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That has been there for awhile. I should put another up. 😀
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Depending if you want to accent it. I had not seen it, but you might move it up. That was a true inspiration for me for my WQWWC. Maybe I should rename the challenge, “Writer’s Quotes Memes” or “Memes Wednesdays.” Or “Meme’s Mondays.”
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[…] is my entry for Marsha’s WQWWC (Writer’s Quotes Wednesday) #23. Marsha is giving us the opportunity to post anything regarding details. So I did up this Pick Me […]
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Oh, I’d never heard of the timeline block. That sounds fascinating!
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I know. We’ve been brainstorming uses.
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This is a great write up Marsha. 😀
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Thanks, Cee. I missed every one yesterday! 🥰
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wonderful photos of those red flowers in the desert – they really stand out. and I wish you the best with your new bike; I have a feeling you will put it to good use. I would have to say that creativity, curiosity, and kindness are my favorite human traits…
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Kindness! I forgot that one. That is so important!!!
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for sure!
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What a wonderful post, Marsha! It is chock full of great ideas and advice for ramping up our blogs. After our chat yesterday, I started thinking of writers’ quotes and I always default to John Muir. You’ve given me some extra inspiration for this week’s Sunday Stills, too. I love that Vince is always looking for new adventures and makes it easy for you to join in safely. I think its wonderful to bike and stop to take photos when possible. I do miss our bike trails in Sacramento but there are more to explore here but we have to drive to them. I’ll be checking out that block, too. Have a great day, girlfriend!
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Thank you so much, Terri. I enjoyed writing it. I guess this is one of the things I meant about crossroads- trying something new with what I am doing. I’ve thought about going once a month, but there’s not much momentum for that. I like what Colleen does with different themes for each week – ie poet’s choice, one of the participant’s choice and others. Becky does her squares every day for a month, then leaves it for two months and works behind the scenes. I don’t think that is a good fit for this either. Cee does pick me ups – meme’s, so I put that on as a sample today. I like that as one possibility for a week. Gotta run. Talk more soon. 🙂
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Great post Marsha…..I love your photos and thoughts about detail. Sometimes an overall picture is what is needed, but sometimes you want to show the details. Yay for an e-bike, I’ve heard cool things about them. I’ve wanted to join a few other photo challenges, but am focusing on just the few challenges I’ve joined to get me back into blogging more. That idea of timeline is cool. I have blogger, and just can’t seem to bring myself to switch platforms since it’s what I’ve always had and I don’t want to lose or forget about everything I’ve posted thus far….lol.
https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2021/05/wqwwcmay-5-thememind-candy.html
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Hi Kirsten, I have a Blogger account as well for my Tulare County History. WordPress Isn’t hard to learn, but it is different. Probably your friends would follow you over, if you decided to switch. The two are much more compatible now. The big difference probably is getting more people to look at your posts. If you are happy with it and with the number of viewers you have, why switch? Thanks for being such a loyal supporter of WQWWC!
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Oh my … providing an open challenge. Interesting how serendipitous thoughts connect. You tapped into Details – and I have a Details beach walk coming later this month. SO – here’s my entry that taps off your human traits idea – Language – https://beachwalkreflections.wordpress.com/2021/05/04/71-language/
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Thanks, Frank I’m coming to check it out. 🙂
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I will have to check out the app “Picture This” as I’ve been using an app called “Plant Snap” to identify plants. I must say I am not impressed with Plant Snap’s results, often suggesting plants that barely resemble the plant I want to learn about.
Thanks for the tip.
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It’s pretty reasonable, too. It costs about $22 per year, which is worth it when you are traveling looking at plants you don’t know. I thought I was going to have to leave the details out of my Details post! YIKES!
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I enjoyed your photos and descriptions of your explorations on your e-bike Marsha, but the most interesting thing of all is your mention of the timeline block! I had never come across it but now that I’ve seen it I’m trying hard to come up with a suitable post to use it on 🙂 I’m sure I’ll think of something in due course!!
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I don’t have a post to put it in right now, but I’ve struggled with timelines in the past, so I was super glad to see it. Even on some of my walks, if we stopped at interesting points of interest along the way, I might have used it. 🙂
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Yes, that could work well. I was thinking on similar lines, e.g. maybe to present an overview of a road trip or similar?
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Yes, or a little history lesson within one of your posts when you describe a building or a statue.
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