Another A to Z successfully completed! My theme this year was the Illuminate SF project where I went to find the different light installations throughout San Francisco. Here are my posts in alpha order in case you missed any.
F is for Federal Building and the SkyGarden
G is for Grant Avenue where you can see the Lantern Stories
H is for Hope Will Never Be Silent
I is for Illuminating Facts and Finds
J is for John F. Kennedy Drive where you will find Psychedelic Photosynthesis
K is for Joseph Kosuth who designed WFT
N is for Ivan Navarro who designed the Ladder (Sun or Moon)
O is for Olafur Eliasson’s Seeing Spheres
R is for Reading the Language of the Birds
T is for Traxon Technologies who created the lighting sequence for Coding
V is for Valencia Street where you will find the Handsignals
X is for the EXploratorium where you will see Buckyball
Z is for Zuckerberg San Francisco General where the Ethereal Bodies are
I think my personal favorites were the Entwined, Buckyball and Ethereal Bodies just because they have so many lights flashing. My least favorite were the Bayview Rise, Coding and SkyGarden. Kind of boring.
I did not visit as many new folks as I probably should have. I did go a few times to see what others were writing about but to be honest, some of them weren’t interesting to me or when I did stop by they were not really doing the challenge or were so many letters behind that I figured they had dropped out. Totally understandable as it is a commitment. I suppose I could have just said, “Hello from the A to Z,” but that seems kind of lame. I did respond to everyone who commented on my posts and I visited my regular sites. I also had trouble with folks who wrote very lengthy posts. I understand that you may have a lot to say on a particular subject but it is just too hard to read something several pages long. I tried to keep mine a reasonable length.
I think honestly this was one of the easiest challenges I’ve done. I had drafts of all my letters in the beginning of March and as I took the corresponding pictures I uploaded them right away. I did the writing at least the day before so that I only had to give a final check and then hit publish on the actual day. I will say that even though I had mapped out where I needed to go to see the lights, I should have been just a bit more careful in checking addresses and in actually reading the description of what was supposed to be in the installation as there are a few that I want to go back to, like the Language of the Birds to read what is on the ground around it and the Conservatory of Flowers to see more of the Psychedelic Photosynthesis show.
For sure I will be watching for the Illuminate SF Light Art Festival in November so I can see what new lights will be there. I’ll also make sure to post if I go back and revisit any of the ones I did this year.
Thanks to Arlee Bird, J. Lenni Dorner, John Holton, Zalka Csenge Virág, and Jayden R Vincente for their hard work to keep us all organized. I do have to say that I was not a fan of the graphics this year so I just didn’t use them. I think they were too hard to read, including the trophy for finishing. Thanks to everyone who stopped by my place. Appreciate it.
I think I have my theme for next year already. It’s one I have done previously so we’ll see if I can pull it off. For now, back to our regular programming – LOL.
Janet's Smiles 
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Congratulations on completing the challenge. I followed along more than commented so my bad. But I did enjoy learning more about your city. I’m already looking forward to what you’re dreaming up for next year.
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Thanks Ally! It was fun for me to go exploring.
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HI Janet, congratulations on completing the A to Z. I also noticed that a lot of bloggers started and tapered off after the first few days.
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Thanks Roberta. The A to Z is a big commitment and if you are not prepared or if life gets in the way it is hard to stay with it for a whole month! Thanks for visiting!
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Great reflection. I didn’t visit as many as I had hoped I would either–as I have in the past even. It’s quite an accomplishment to stick with it. If you came to mine, you might have thought I’d quit–but I just do it my own way!
Congrats on winning!
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I do see your A to Z posts throughout the year and it helps me remember to look for my theme for the next year!
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I enjoyed exploring the light installations with you, thank you so much for taking us around your town!
I agree with your statements about the challenge and some participants. I have a hard time reading lengthy texts such as book reviews that are just not my cup of tea. I’ve had a reader commenting “thank you for sharing your experience about XY” numerous times. I was *this close* to do the same on their blog. I didn’t even think of writing “Hello from the A to Z,” ;-)))
Kidding aside, I’m glad I have you and a few other long-time blogging friends! ❤️
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You had me entertained with your travel experiences too! Also a little afraid to travel now – LOL. I am glad we found each other too.
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Congrats on finishing the challenge.
Ronel visiting for Reflecting on a Double A-Z Challenge 2023
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Thanks!
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Congratulations for finishing… I knew you would. The posts I got to see were awesome as usual. You always do a great job with your themes. Next year will be here before we know it. Can’t wait to see what you will be ‘recycling’. I do that a lot lately. Now, off to get my own reflection written. Ugh!
Cheers,
Barbie
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Thanks Barbie! Nothing wrong with recycling in my opinion. Or up-cycling for that matter – LOL. Thanks for visiting when you could.
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I loved exploring SF with you and seeing all the installations. You definitely put way more effort into the challenge than I did.
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Thanks Wendy! Some were definitely harder than others.
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I enjoyed touring SF with you, Janet. Congratulations on another successful challenge!
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Thanks Deborah!
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Your theme was so different – I really enjoyed it. I’m sticking around for whatever you post next. {{grin}}
Our Prime Years – Life in Tennessee
DB McNicol – author | traveler | shutterbug
My Snap Memories – My Life in Photographs
Hopping thru my day – Personal Thoughts, Memories, & Ramblings
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Thanks so much, Donna! I appreciate the follow.
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Awesome!
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Thanks LA! After all the cool stuff you post it was fun for me to show a little of the West Coast.
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💗💗
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Congratulations – for the great posts and for being so organized up front. That is never me (although I have aspirations of organization every year…)
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Yeah, me too. It just worked out this time.
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I loved your series on SFO light installations. Wish we had some of them here in NYC! I wrote about a week’s worth of posts ahead of the challenge, but still found myself playing catch up. I has also guilty of the “too long” posts, but couldn’t do the subjects justice in a shorter post. But next year I hope to follow your example and photo blog shorter posts ahead of time. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Molly, you have some pretty cool stuff in NYC I think. Maybe you could do an A to Z about them!
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Looks like you had a good month.
Sorry you didn’t like the graphics. That is why our person stayed anonymous, because she was doing a favor last minute and wasn’t willing to face negative feedback. When looking for our 2024 person, I’ve been sure to hunt for thicker-skinned artists who can shrug it off. Stupid Covid taking Jeremy away from us! He’s becoming one of those artists more appreciated after death.
I enjoyed the April Blogging from #AtoZChallenge 2023.
Proof of Existence, book two in my dark urban fantasy series, came out in April. I hope you’ll check it out.
And please don’t miss the amazing giveaway on my blog. Act fast and enter now!
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction &Reference Author, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, and Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge
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I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, just my personal opinion. I will go check out your giveaway and I went to Amazon to check out your books! Thanks for stopping by, J.
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Nicely done. Congratulations on finishing the challenge
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Thanks!
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You’re welcome
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What a cool theme to allow for some exploration. I really like the idea. I’ll have to take a look at your posts as I didn’t see this until now (thanks for popping over to my blog and saying hello — that’s how I found you)
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Thanks Monty!
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Congratulations on finishing the A to Z! I enjoyed your theme and wish we had something similar near me.
Alphabet of Alphabets: Zebras
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It was fun going exploring to find them all.
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I missed your blog posts in April. I will surely check the posts in the coming days. San Francisco is a city I have been to twice. So, it’s of great interest to me.
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Nice! I did find some really interesting things so I’d love to know if you have ever seen them.
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Thank you for the recap! This will be perfect to share with my kids.
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You’re welcome. I’d love to hear if they end up visiting any of them.
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I will let you know!
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