Category: A-Z Challenge

A-Z Challenge: Quotes

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Busted! I’m a quotes junkie, yes I admit it. I can read them for hours. They help me understand myself better, often times they express thoughts and feelings, I can’t manage to put into words myself. And, quotes can provide “food for thought” or be a comfort as well.
Below, I am sharing a few favorites….

“I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness. In reality those who satisfy me are those who simply allow me to live with my ”idea of them.” – Anaïs Nin

“No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich.”
– Louis Sabin

“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato

A-Z Challenge: Picture

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Picture: Claudia Braun 04/2025

The picture above my couch has a very special meaning. Every time I look at it, I remember my best friend Jamie and her husband Allen. They loved to go antiquing on the weekends, and quite often I was invited to join them. One of those Saturdays, we ended up at the Water Street Vintage Store in New London, Wisconsin, where I found this picture. Do you know the feeling when you see something and are drawn to it immediately? Spotting this picture, among all the other beautiful items being displayed at the store, was such a moment for me. It is precious, because it will always remind me of the quality time with two of the best friends I was ever blessed with in my life.

A-Z Challenge: Operetta

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Just a few months ago, my mom started treating us both to evenings in the theater. Most often we enjoy an operetta, because traditional ballet [my favorite] is mainly on schedule around Christmas. Until recently, I had completely forgotten, that those evenings at the theater used to be a part of my life fairly regularly, and how much I actually missed them. During my 20 years in America I stopped going, because I could not find anyone to join me…..

“Do I look like your granny to you?”
“Operetta, are you bonkers?”
“Oh hell no, that’s for old people!”
“That awful music is an offense to my ears!”

Responses like these prevented me from asking. And going by myself wasn’t an all too appealing option, honestly. Thanks to my mom I have a theater companion again. Hopefully we will enjoy quite a few more evenings with lovely performances, no matter if operetta or ballet. 🎻🩰

A-Z Challenge: No

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The 47th president of the United States shakes up the entire world. And it has been what, three and a half months? The American people voted for Donald Trump, but the rest of the world didn’t. Yet, we get to read about him, and see his face nearly every morning in our newspaper. Not only the Americans have to worry about, which ridiculousness they are going to wake up to next.
The antics of this president and his troll brigade have negative and challenging effects on so, so many people, well beyond the borders of America. If I would not have left my heart in the States, I would say “Sir, go ahead and ruin your own country, but leave the rest of the world to their own affairs, please. We’re all stocked up on crazy over here, and certainly don’t need your help”! Unfortunately it is not nearly that easy. The worst part is, that this president doesn’t care in the least about “the common folk’s problems”. He is an attention-needy, power hungry old man, who should enjoy time with his family and play golf. To three and a half more years of his presidency, I can only say “No. Please. No.”

A-Z Challenge: Milwaukee

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It was my home, sweet home for nearly 20 years: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
You’ve been so welcoming. I learned so much, met a lot of truly lovely people. The country roads and highways have been frequented by me quite a bit, especially during the warm months….moonroof open, music loud. Lots of long nights and tired mornings. Countless walks by Lake Michigan. And the Starbucks on HWY 100 was my second home. When they saw my car in the drive-up, my coffee was ready when I got to the window, without having to order. It’s a bit scary in hindsight, how much money I left there. Just like Barnes & Noble. I think at the Mayfair Mall location, which was my favorite, they silently cheered when they saw me coming, because they knew, that I’d leave quite a bit of money there. The same goes for Best Buy, TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory, Pier 1 Imports, or JC Penny Outlet Store, to name a few. And I really miss Chili’s restaurant. Every Sunday night I’d get a take-away Southwestern Cobb Salad, with extra Cilantro Dressing….yumm-tumm-tumm, that was so very good. I loved that salad. Another highly frequented place was the observation area at Milwaukee Int’l Airport. How many afternoons and evenings I did I sit in the grass or the car with my puppy girls and watched the planes take off or land? Gosh, I don’t know. And the very cool thing was, that you could tune your radio to the frequency at which the pilots were communicating with the tower!
A great thank you goes out to my last employer Dental Associates, headquarters on Burleigh Street. They’ve been like a family to me for almost 13 years. They saw my potential and gave me a chance. Hopefully they never regretted hiring me.
Milwaukee, it wasn’t always a cakewalk, because there have been some difficult and dark years, that I gladly could have done without. But overall it’s been an amazing experience, that I will always treasure, and be thankful for. I would never be, who I’ve become, if it weren’t for these 20 years in the beautiful Midwest of America, in which I had to fight my way through life alone. Thanks so much for having me! Love, always 💓

A-Z Challenge: Layout

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About two and a half years ago I discovered junk journaling. When watching tutorials to get ideas, you see all these fancy tools and pretty papers being used. And? You guessed it, you’d like to take your own handmade books to that level as well. Needless to say, all of those fancies are quite expensive. When it comes to the pretty paper pads, often times there are a couple of patterns that I truly like and the others, well, not so much. But it is a package deal…
Lately, I’ve heard more and more creatives say, that they design their own papers with Canva and print them out. Aha! So, here I am learning the basics of Canva and what I can do with it. My struggle is, to get good looking layouts that actually make sense, in terms of placement and size. There’s lots for me to learn, still. And the funny thing is, depending upon how many papers and designs I end up printing out, it probably won’t be cheaper at all, but at least I can have exactly what I like. Now, if I get my layout struggles managed, I’m on my way to having fancy papers just like the others.

A-Z Challenge: Klutz

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Here we have yet another unbecoming truth about me: I’m a klutz. Not every day, but quite often I bump into furniture or door frames. How dare they get in my way, right? The same applies to my dropping things. Don’t hand me an item of value, if you want it to last for a long time. I may have a klutzy day and drop it – not intentionally, of course. Likewise, I fall up the stairs, because I missed a step, spill liquids, and pour too much into a cup or glass. That’s me, all of it. Regrettably, my fine motor skills aren’t the greatest, so that’s not helpful either. It gets nice and awkward, when I’m going for a walk and trip over my own feet. Luckily most often, no one sees me.
Unfortunately, my klutzy moments are worse when I’m in social situations, especially around people I don’t know or like. Yep, klutzy beyond repair. And there’s no way to put a positive or charming spin on it. 😊

A-Z Challenge: Jewelry

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During my time in the USA I fell in love with Native American jewelry and acquired a few truly lovely pieces over the years. Most of them came from a shop, called The Silver Eagle, located in the next town from where I lived for the last nine years. I was there quite often to browse new items, or to purchase gifts for friends and co-workers.
Unfortunately I don’t have any of my Native American and Black Hills Gold jewelry anymore. Back in Germany it was “taken away” by a mean-spirited and manipulative man, as a punishment for not loving, and later leaving him. That was seven years ago, and I still get upset about it. This jewelry had so much meaning, as a memory of my time in the USA. One of the vacations we took, when my parents came to visit, was to South Dakota, which is known for Black Hills Gold. My dad bought a necklace for me, as a souvenir. No one and nothing can replace it.
These cherished jewelry pieces were a part of few truly American items I brought back to Germany with me. And now they’re gone.

Um, What Was That?

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Daily writing prompt
Describe something you learned in high school.
View all responses

Besides German, English, French and basic math, high school didn’t teach me a lot. Listening to the teachers and reading books didn’t do anything for me. The knowledge I was supposed to gain didn’t stick with me because even to this present day, classroom education is not my way of learning.
Oh, right. What school did teach me is, that some teachers are really cruel if they don’t like you, or, that others really don’t give a rip whether or not you learn and understand a subject, because they only show up for this mandatory circus to cash their paychecks. [We did have a couple of awesome teachers, too, who really cared].
Everyday life was, and still is, the best and most valuable teacher. There have been some hard lessons in the past, but you best believe, that they will stick with me til kingdom come.


Um, high school?….Wasn’t there something?…..Oh! Thank goodness a very long time ago!

A-Z Challenge: Imitator

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To begin with it is important to mention, that every autistic person has their individual set of challenges. If I understand correctly, however, quite a few of them imitate reactions and behaviors they see displayed by their peers, in an effort to learn. Count me in. Now some folks may label this as “seriously creepy conduct”. If you are one of them, do tell me how you would learn how to fit in with regard to social situations? What would be your strategy instead?
Since childhood, I’ve been watching people closely, without ever knowing, that doing so is not “standard practice”. My parents prepared me for life to the best of their abilities, always wondering about certain behaviors and reactions. I am not sure, how well known autism was in the 70’s, but no one ever thought to “shove me into that drawer” back then. Was this a blessing or a curse? In hindsight, life might have been easier in more ways than one, if I could have had therapy or some form of training to help me learn, what neurotypicals “just know”, or understand without effort. Especially social situations were an overwhelming mystery to me. And I started watching and imitating behaviors of others. Everything I learned was “filed away for future reference”, whenever needed and “hopefully” appropriate. To this day, I watch and imitate other people. Fortunately, I’m at that point in my life now [that old age], that I can judge unavoidable social situations better, and how to react properly. The stored away behaviors I choose to utilize, will now have my own spin and personality added. But it was a long way of getting there.