Why not have a bit of fun on April 1?

• We spend 1/3 of our life sleeping, 1/3 working and 1/3 cooking, eating, shopping doing laundry, cleaning, going out, entertaining, and having FUN.

• By that I don't mean a site I just stumbled on to download for fun things to do on April 1, which would give you fun viruses and so on. I look for reviews on all sites before downloading.

• I don't mean practical jokes, either.

What do I mean for fun things to do on April 1?

• I live in Edmonton, Alberta. Some fun things to do are here.

• They include the petting zoo, the Muttart Conservatory, going to a play at the Citadel (the Kite Runner has just finished a run), many other things you could do on April 1 with the family, with children, or by yourself, if you're a lone wolf like I sometimes am.

• The Geek Stuff, oh, my son would have loved this, and I have a friend who is a geek as well! If you are a computer geek go here for things to do on April 1 or any other day of the year.

• Festivals, Japanese culture, art and design, and more: FUN things to do in Toronto! Hello, Don Gillmor, author of Mount Pleasant.

Above all, remember the reason for the season is Christ's death and resurrection, or Apollo's...we are saved.

Roman soldiers at crucifixion

Apollo, Greek god who dies and rises in the spring

I was curious why I had so many visitors - initially - from Russia but wasn't able to come up with an answer.

I did find out about a site called Yandex which is suspicious of new websites and which is more popular in Russia than Google.

The site about Yandex is written in Russian so unless I translated it, I'd be unable to figure it out, or what I might have said to attract so many visitors from Russia.

They seem to have fallen off, in any case, and I don't want to attract attention to myself by googling the reasons I may have attracted attention from Russian audiences in the first place.

If you're interested in some Russian news on a couple of later blogs, see here and
here.

I never paid much attention to keywords or SEO other than trying to fit the post to its description. So I certainly didn't attract an audience from Russia on purpose.

I'm very grateful to all my readers and followers, so want to thank those who follow me, but a comment would be great from one of my followers in another country, so I know what I'm saying that you like - or hate.

I suspect many bloggers try to stuff their posts with SEO now that Google and Amazon have made it easier by posting cool keywords. I notice one of those sites is no longer on-line, Amazon's keyword posts.

I've never been very cognizant of SEO or using keywords, but lately have begun to think my blog might be more popular if I paid attention to what people are really interested in.

Yandex in Russia wouldn't really want me to focus on diet, sex and money, as was suggested on one blogger's site I visited, but I wonder what do Russian audiences look for and why was my site more attractive to you at first? What did I say?

I'm a cool Canadian senior woman, don't know much about the rest of the world and am just learning to network. Most of my traffic comes from the USA, and Canada is only slightly ahead of Russia and other European countries. I can understand the USA is the biggest user of the internet, perhaps, and the language is in common.

I love it when people comment and will try to answer all. Perhaps someone can explain to me what brought you to my site?

I've been trying something different recently, just being myself and writing about what interests me. Maybe that isn't of interest to my Russian and other international audiences. I don't want to spam my readers with content about my books and writing. But would you like to know about bees and wasps and Sasquatch aliens lost on Earth? Note that SpaceHive is set to a large extent in India, yet I don't see that I have a large Indian audience.

Kenna searching the globe for an audience

I'm going to experiment with international audiences including what I think my Russian, south American, Asian, European and African audiences might be interested in.

Just because I'm weird that way and I have a B.A. undergraduate degree in Anthropology, the study of various cultures. I was led askew to Classics at one time, but return now to my first love, humanity in all its variations.

Ever wonder about picking out healthy, free range chicken eggs, boiling them for your kids or family at Easter time, and then putting artificial chemical dyes on them?

Ever wonder when you peel that egg the day after Easter and find it's stained with blue or green chemicals?

Shannon McRae posts in KIWI Magazine "Natural Ways to Dye Easter Eggs."

You'll need a troupe of children just before Easter morning and some turmeric or curry powder, blueberries, and beets for yellow, blue and pink Easter eggs. They can put stickies on the eggs before dying them and then take the stickies off to reveal patterns.


Another trick we used to do as children is writing on the eggs with white or colored wax crayons. The wax won't allow the dye to penetrate and you'll be left with cool designs.


The article goes on to say:

"Shannon McRae is a work-at-home mom of three young children whose days are spent wiping mouths, playing Candyland, planning dinners and stealing time in between at the computer for her freelance writing. She's a stickler for healthy eating, with a slight exception for Oreos. She lives in Alabama with her precious children, loving husband and 13-year-old Australian Shepherd named Ricky Martin."

More of Shannon McRae's fascinating and useful articles can be found here.

This is one of my favorite poems. Do you like the message?

Abou Ben Adhem

My author friend, Eileen Schuh, is having an event at Famous Five Plus. Answer a question about her debut novel, THE TRAZ, and win a FREE eBook of THE TRAZ.

It's a great book and you'll find the answer to the question in the comments section. I answered it...

She's also written two other great novels, SCHRODINGER'S CAT, and FATAL ERROR.

Look for this great author and her books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in  bookstores everywhere.

Eileen Schuh at home

Why is it that the Bible is the number one bestseller and yet the world is worse than it ever was?

Something's wrong here, and I'd like an answer. Here's a link to a book that purports the Bible is 666 and created by the antiChrist.

Then I'll wait for the sugar to hit the fan.



Note there are two reviews and both of them pan the book. It's interesting, though, that the authors say we should depend on the spirit of God, not scriptures, and that's what Jesus always said.

I heard a minister say once that evangelical churches today are like the Pharisees.

I've always thought that.

Have you read this poem about a godly man who lives with the spirit of God?

large delicious cinnamon roll tempting a Christian

I posted a comment recently about fundamentalist Christians loving their potlucks and sashaying up to the trough. I wonder if they're fatter than the average North American?

I have a long history with fundamentalist churches and most of them are well meaning and considerate of others in their fold, if not in the entire world (look at the Baptist church which pickets funerals of American soldiers).

My observation lies with dieting and their potential for feeding themselves like little greedy cliques.

I think feeding the homeless and poor is a worthy venture. I do that myself, if I can, buy lunches or coffee for the homeless. There but for the grace of God go I.

I do have a problem with overweight adult WASPs who sidle up to the communal dinner table rather than get out there and work with their hands and move their feet for God's world and the people beyond their little cults.

Now that Easter is on the equinox horizon, it's time to revisit Jesus and his actions and what he said or was purported to say, not the misguided words of his followers.

Have lunch with a homeless person or sit down and don't evangelize, really get to know your neighbor there on the main drag, realize they're not so different from you.

Don't just serve food to fill your belly and then feel good about yourself because you've worked at a soup kitchen. That's "them and us" thinking, and Jesus, if you recall, actually sat down with the sinners.

We're all sinners, remember that, and let's not forget gluttony is a sin, and there are no sins that are lesser or greater than others. Baptist church.

Dieting for dummies. I haven't seen that particular book out yet but I think I might write one if I ever find an audience.

Churches seem to be full of cookies, cakes, squares and good intentions.

Read this, too, if you'd like a new outlook on the Bible.