A is for...

This is my 6th year for doing the challenge. To learn more go to The A to Z Challenge Blog.

This year it's all about the 
A to Z of 
A LIZARD'S TAIL

In which I will describe, show pictures of, and otherwise expound on plants and animals mentioned in the novel.

A is for Alfred. 

Alfred is the leader of a gang of three lizards who take great delight in teasing and bullying our hero, Marvin. Like Marvin, he is an anolis (or anoles) lizard. He operates during the daylight hours and sleeps in hidden places.

***

This is also the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

In an effort to keep these posts short and sweet, I'll be sharing an appropriate quote. 

Confidence is the feeling you have before you really understand the problem.  

Ogden Nash

I'm sure NONE of us as EVER experienced THAT before! It's what we do AFTER we understand the problem that REALLY tells the story of who we are.

***

I JUST got back, as in I didn't get into the house until after midnight, from spending the month of March with my sister in St. Thomas. I don't know how much I'll be visiting around today or even tomorrow as I recuperate. I tell you the older I get the longer it takes me to catch my breath.

So... do you know what Ogden Nash meant? Do you think no knowing what your getting into is sometimes a good thing?

Random Thought Thursday

The Christmas That Almost Wasn't

I was going to devote the month of December to sharing with you, The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, 
by Ogden Nash which is delightfully illustrated by his daughter Linell Nash. It is a wonderful story-poem about Nicholas Knock who must save Christmas from Good King Oldwin's evil nephew, Evilard.


However, my good friend Vijaya, over at Reading, Writing, Ruminating reminded me about a little something called copyright.

Even though I cannot share the story with you as I wanted to, I can promote it. I can tell you, it is without a doubt one of the best little Christmas stories out there. It is a story that we read nearly every year and became one of our family traditions. I can tell you it is out of print and that it ought to be reprinted. I can tell you that I consider it as much a classic as A Christmas Carol. And I can tell you that Amazon has 13 used copies starting as low as $2.25 (plus S&H.)





If you want to treat yourself and your family to a truly delightful story, one that is full of humor, with rhymes that will sing in your head long after you put it down, then give the gift of The Christmas That Almost Wasn't.


A little bit about Ogden Nash. He was born in Rye, New York in 1902. He went to Harvard but dropped out after a year. He worked several jobs before he became an editor at Doubleday which is when he began writing humorous light verse.
One of his most famous is:

Candy
Is dandy,
But liquor
Is quicker.

To which he added I believe around 1968.


Pot is not.





There is also this one:

The Lord in His wisdom made the fly,
And then forgot to tell us why.

Ogden Nash died of Crohn's disease (which I have) in May of 1971.

You can find some of his poems here.