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X is for Xanthic Sky & Rainbow

Yellow sky with rainbow (photo by Tui Snider)

Phronistery is Phun for Word Nerds

While hunting for words that start with the letter X, I came across a nifty site: Phronistery. It’s a website dedicated to unusual words. It’s well-organized and gives concise definitions. Fun! I’ve bookmarked it ‘cuz I’m a word nerd and I bet a bunch of you all are, too. :D

Xanthic Means…

…yellow! The word “xanthic” means “yellow,” so today’s post features a trio of pictures I snapped after a dramatic hail storm we had last month. I live in Tornado Alley, so I do more than just marvel at the sight of a pretty sky. Green skies, for instance, can indicate that a tornado is near. *shudder* So as lovely as the xanthic sunset and rainbow was, it made me a uneasy, too! Around here, beauty can be a little scary sometimes…

Phew! We’re nearly the A to Z Finish Line

How’s the A to Z blog challenge going for all y’all? For me, it’s been intense, fun, and intensely fun. *thunk* (That’s me collapsing in a happy heap.)

Win a Copy of Unexpected Texas

There’s still time to win a copy of my Amazon Best Selling travel guide Unexpected Texas, too. For details, pop over to U is for Unexpected Texas. This could be your lucky day!

Yellow sky after hail storm (photo by Tui Snider)

Follow me on Instagram & I’ll follow you back!

I’ve gone from turning up my nose at the idea of cell phone pictures, to being an avid iPhone photographer, which is why my theme for the 2014 A to Z blog challenge is Instagram Travel Photos. If you are on Instagram, I’d be delighted to follow you. Simply follow my photo feed (@TuiSnider) on Instagram and I’ll follow you back!

For more, check out my collaboration with Morgan Dragonwillow. Morgan used my iPhone photos to accompany her poems in a book called Wild Woman Waking. Check it out!

What is the April A to Z Blog Challenge?

Each April, people from all over the world participate in the April A to Z blog challenge, and you can too. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a great way to meet other bloggers. To play along, all you do is make a blog post for each letter of the alphabet during April, then use the blog hop linky to visit as many other bloggers as you can.

My A to Z Inspired Book: Unexpected Texas

I’d like to thank everyone who commented on my blog during the A to Z Challenge last year, because it convinced me to take the self-publishing plunge. On March 2, 2014, I released Unexpected Texas as a paperback and eBook and it quickly became an Amazon Best Seller!

Check out other A to Z blogs below:

Check out the other participants of the A to Z Challenge

Frosty the Cowboy

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A few days ago, 12 inches of snow fell here in north Texas. Dormant spores in our next door neighbor’s soil hatched a fleeting snow cowboy, a rare phenomenon, indeed. The chilly fellow was eager to party, however, and invited us all to a barbecue. His tiki torches, alas, failed to properly light.

Looking down the street, it was sheets of snow and pick-up trucks for as far as the eye could see.

Except, of course, in our driveway, where our little hybrid huddled beneath a heap of snow. Brr!

Found Sound

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My boyfriend fell asleep tonight while I read an article out loud from Science News to him. It’s an interesting article about the songs of Humpback whales. Some groovy science chick spent 4 years recording whale ditties. She isolated various riffs and played back her own whale remixes to see how the buoyant cetacean dudes would react. Turns out that they jam with other males, altering their songs when others join in. Maybe next year she’ll take them to a karaoke bar.

I quit reading aloud once I realized Tex had fallen asleep. (Tex is not my boyfriend’s real name, but I find it amusing to call him that since he is originally from Long Island and only drawls when impersonating the locals.)

After finishing the article, I stared off and day-dreamed about how fun it would be to study whale songs for a living like that groovy scientist. Looking at the wave forms for the various Humpback calls made me wonder how I can figure out what that island photo in my previous blog post would sound like if it were a wave form. (Scroll down if you want that to make sense.)

This, in turn, reminded me of a cool ditty I listened to recently in which someone composed a song based upon the position of birds on telephone wires. There were 5 parallel wires, so it looked like a musical stanza. The song is lovely; check it out here. Instead of found art, it’s like found song.

Tex just rolled over and muttered something incoherent, but so earnest-sounding that I couldn’t help but ask him to repeat it. “Sometimes I can really relate to myself,” he said, tugging the comforter up to his chin. He looks ever so content. I wonder if, when I ask him to clarify this statement in the morning, he’ll have any idea what he meant.

Bubbly Clouds

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I’ve decided to see how far my ‘shots from the passenger seat’ obsession will take me this month. Before I explain today’s pic, however, let’s take a moment to grieve together over the ones that got away. I was not quick enough, for example, to get a photo of the billboard showing a 6 pack of Miller beer which read, ‘Show the recession who is boss.’ (I can’t help but wonder if the the ad team come up with that one after sampling large quantities of the product.)

I tried to get a photo of the furniture store marquis offering a ‘big man chair: 400 pounds,’ but it always came out blurry. One that simply caught me off guard was a billboard for a funeral home. This was pretty basic except for a banner tacked onto the bottom which read, ‘Now offering free wi-fi!’ (Does anyone really need to read Miss Manners to comprehend the tackiness of tweeting from an open casket service?) And lastly, I truly regret not taking a picture of the banner hanging at the Dallas Hilton, which read, “Texas Bidness.’ Bidness? (What is that all about? Should I have received a Texan dialect guide along with my voter’s registration?)

As for today’s photo, it was – in keeping with my unintentional NaBloPoMo theme – taken from the passenger seat. The photo doesn’t do the sky justice, but at least it gives you an idea. I don’t know when I’ve ever seen such bubbly looking clouds before.