Z is for Zen bu Kan Kempo

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Unsurprisingly there are no Olympic sports starting with Z but once again martial arts have come to my rescue with Zen bu Kan Kempo which is a form of Karate.

I'm sure there are lots of interesting Z words just not relating to sport.  Although I did notice I'd overlooked Yak racing for yesterday's letter so maybe somewhere they race Zebras.  What do you think?

So that's the end of my A-Z journey through sports.  I hope you've found it interesting.  It's been tough getting all my posts out on time some days.  I wasn't as prepared as I'd hoped to be.  And I haven't been able to visit as many other participants as I'd like to but I'm thankful to all those who've dropped in on me and glad that I've completed the challenge.

I'll wear my survivor badge with pride!
 

Review: The Fear

The Fear by C.L. Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lou Smith is used to being headline news as, aged seventeen, she ran away with her 37-year-old teacher, Mike, during a short-lived affair.

Now 32, Lou’s life is in tatters – and she resolves to return home to confront Mike for the damage he has caused. But she soon finds that Mike is unchanged, and is now grooming a young 15-year-old girl called Chloe.

Determined to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself, Lou decides to take matters into her own hands. But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as she tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that Lou could once again become his prey…

Difficult subject matter (child grooming) and told from various POVs. Took a little while to get me hooked but then I couldn't wait to see how it was going to pan out.

View all my reviews

Y is for Yukigasson

 

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Yachting came to mind when thinking of a sport for Y but it tends to be referred to as sailing. I had to delve deep to find alternatives but there were a few:

Yukigasson is the name for a snow balling game in Japan. Played with 7 a side the object is to hit your opponents with a snowball and eliminate them.  They wear protective gear and that's not surprising as the snowballs are made in advance so they must be like chunks of ice!

If you don't like the cold you could go to Manipur in India and try Yubi Lakpi, a football game with similarities to rugby but played with a coconut.

Or, if like me you're a bit of a couch potato, you could always whip out a YoYo for a bit of fun without too much effort required!

X is for Xing Yi Quan

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Well I expect some of you were thinking my theme would come unstuck here but with so many Chinese Martial Arts it's not surprising there is one starting with X - Xing Yi Quan is that one.

But I could also have had Xiangqi which is a Chinese board game. It's a strategy game also called Chinese Chess so it's definitely more my cup of tea.

I love board games and strategy games and logic puzzles. Hubby and I enjoy doing crosswords together and we're quite competitive with the pub quiz in the weekend newspaper.

These might not be very energetic passtimes but having seen the effects of Alzheimer's first hand I'm determined to keep my mind in good shape even if I can't say the same for my body!

W is Weightlifting

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Well there are actually several W sports in the Olympics including Weightlifting.  I'm not a fan.  Most of the time it looks as if the contestants are in absolute agony.  I appreciate that lots of sporting events stretch competitors to their limits but watching them lifting those weights I'm always worried that they will really hurt themselves if it goes wrong.  I'm also not a gym goer so the only weight I'm lifting at the moment is my grandson Nathan.  He's almost 10 kg now so lifting him up and down if my work out for the days I'm with him.

There are also two types of Wrestling in the Olympics, Freestyle and Greco-Roman.  With Freestyle pretty much anything goes within the rules but Greco-Roman is limited to using the upper body.  Who would have known?  My memories of wrestling are watching it on TV on a Saturday and it was so obviously fixed.  Something else I no longer watch.

My favourite W sport has to be walking.  But I quite like the sound of Wallyball (Volleyball played on a squash court) or you could try tossing a Waboba, a ball that bounces on water or, if you need a few logs for your open fire you could always try competitive Woodchopping!

Is walking your limit too or are you more energetic?

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 25/4/18

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at 

 From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

Have fun!

1. They say you learn something new every day. What did you learn yesterday?

Than my Grandson doesn’t like satsumas.  He was very adept at separating them from fromage frais and spitting them out!
2. Have you ever had a now or never moment? Elaborate.
When our daughter and her wife invited us to join them on a trip to Australia.   Hubby has always wanted to travel more but I’ve had mental health issues that have made travelling difficult for me.  It’s something I’ve worked hard to overcome so when the offer was made I decided to take the bull by the horns and just say yes.  Hubby’s response was, “Quick book the flights before she changes her mind.”   The trip wasn’t totally anxiety free but I am so glad that I decided to go. 

3.  April 25th is National Telephone Day. Do you still have a land line or have you gone mobile only? When you receive a text message do you respond immediately? Last time you turned your phone off?  In two or three sentences share with us a story/memory/incident from your childhood (or something current if that's too hard) where the telephone is featured.

We still have a landline but our mobiles get more use.  I do try and respond to text messages fairly quickly and although I try not to be a slave to my phone it is hard.  I rarely turn my phone off but in places like theatres, cinema, hospitals it’s always off.  When I was younger we had a landline but my cousin still had to rely on the call box at the corner of her street.  She would ring me and then I would call her back. 
4. Close call, at someone's beck and call, call the shots, call a meeting, call it quits, call in sick, call on the carpet, wake up call...which call have you 'heard' recently? Explain. 

Well I am at Grandson Nathan’s beck and call 2 days a week now and he has a very loud call lol.   He also has a very infectious laugh.
5. What subject do you wish you'd paid more attention to in school?

Umm I hate to admit it but I was pretty much a goody two shoes at school so I pretty much listened to everything I was told.  Not that I can remember much of it now!
6. Insert your own random thought here.

We’ve nearly got an empty nest again!  My son and his wife got the keys to their own flat on Monday and are in the throes of moving out.  We’ll miss them and now I have no excuse for sorting out our clutter!

V is for Volleyball

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

After the madness of yesterday's Underwater Ice Hockey it was a relief to find an ordinary sport for the letter V - Volleyball which made its debut in the 1964 Olympics.

Apparently it was invented as a less strenuous version of Basketball.  I haven't actually played Basketball but I have tried my hand at Volleyball and it seemed pretty strenuous to me.  I also managed to nearly break a finger when mishitting the ball.  Needless to say it's something I haven't played a lot!

Of course there's also Beach Volleyball which I'm sure some people find more pleasing to watch although if you were playing on a British beach you would probably need a lot more clothing on, even in the height of summer.

As for other V sports well there are of course martial arts such as Vajra Mushti, which involves knuckle dusters, Vale Tudo which is weapon free and popular in Brazil and Vovinam which originated in Vietnam.

The V sport that might suit me best as it can be done from the comfort of my sofa has to be Video Gaming.  Shame it can be so time consuming!

U is for Unicycle

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Unsurprisingly there are no Olympic sports starting with U.  The first one I came to on the list* was Unicycle.  Well it's not one I'll be trying.  I struggle to balance on a bike with two wheels.  I never really had a bike growing up so I didn't do much cycling.  It was something I tried when I stayed with my cousins but I have a vivid memory of not making a corner, tipping over the handlebars and ending up in a rose bush.  Rather puts you off getting back on!

Like me you probably think of Unicycling as a performing art usually seen in a circus or street parades but, apparently,  you can combine it with Basketball, Handball or Hockey.  Or not.  Those sports are hard enough to play when (balanced?) on two feet let alone one wheel.

Now for the weird, daft and dangerous:  Underwater Ice Hockey. Yep, Ice Hockey played not only underwater but under ice with a floating puck and the players are upside down.  And if that isn't daft enough for you, they do NOT wear breathing apparatus.  Instead they have to surface as necessary to take in air.  I am not making this up although it does sound far fetched.  You can check it out below and they have even held World Championships!  I don't think it's a sport that will catch on very fast though and not particularly great for spectators when you have to watch via a monitor.

Fancy giving it a try?

 * List of sports - Wikipedia

 

T is for Table Tennis

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

There are several T Olympic sports but I've chosen Table Tennis because it's one I have played. That's not surprising when apparently Table Tennis has the most participants across the world, especially since its growth in popularity in China.

It has progressed a long way from its origins as an after dinner sport played using whatever equipment might be available, including champagne corks and a row of books used as a net. Rackets are now very high tech and players can smash the light, hollow ball at speeds of over 150 km per hour. You wouldn't want to get that in the face! It's definitely fast and furious.

There have been World Championships played since 1926 but it wasn't an Olympic sport unti 1988.

When I say I've played Table Tennis that's perhaps an exaggeration. I've tried to play table tennis. I'm not good at it but it's fun to play with friends and family. When we all get together for our summer break there is a table there and most of us will enjoy a game or two. Although chasing after the ball can become a bit tiring after a while.

But it's less tiring than chasing tennis balls. Tennis is one of the other T Olympic sports, along with Taekwondo, Trampoline and Triathlon. Martial arts are not my thing and although I have been on a trampoline in the past you definitely wouldn't get me on one now. Trying to do it with your legs crossed would be tricky. (Women of a certain age will understand the reference!)  We've already decided that anything ending with athlon isn't for me!

 

For stranger T sports there is Tent Pegging which has nothing to do with tents, is carried out on a horse, involves weapons and targets. I stopped at horse!

You could also give Tractor Pulling a try or if you want to get up close and personal Toe and Thumb wrestling are considered sports. I think I'll stick with Table Tennis what about you?

S is for Skeleton

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

The Olympic sport of Skeleton has got to be one of the scariest -

Skeleton racing involves plummeting head-first down a steep and treacherous ice track on a tiny sled. 
 
In fact the sled doesn't look much bigger than a tray. I watched an item on it during the Olympics and one of the presenters commented that it looked like it was being held together with duct tape and basically it was. The weights and other things inside the sled that can be adjusted need to be accessible so the top layer of the sled can be removed and then put back and held in place with new duct tape! I think the whole set up is a little more sophisticated.
Even so, hats off to anyone daft enough to try it. It is exciting though and I did enjoy watching Lizzie Yarnold retain her Olympic title at the recent games.

Having trained as a dancer, Synchronised Swimming has always appealed to me, except I don't like swimming underwater or out of my depth. I don't actually like swimming much at all but I do enjoy watching the graceful and co-ordinated movements of the synchronised swimmers but the nose clips are not particularly attractive.

I could get into a big debate about the virtues of having shooting competitions but gun laws are such an emotive issue and I can't get on my high horse about recreational shooting when I've actually tried Clay Pigeon shooting. It was something we did on a weekend away for my daughter's 30th birthday and it was actually fun though I did have a sore shoulder afterwards. 

For a weird sounding S sport I give you Sepak takraw, which is a type of kick volleyball but uses a rattan ball. And for a daft sport what about Stacking? As in cards, dice and plastic cups! (And I guess anything that can be stacked.) You could also try Skibobbing combining a bicycle frame with skis. I can just about manage to stay upright on a bike, add in slippery snow and I'd have no chance!
 
There are a number of difficult to pronounce martial arts beginning with S then you have simple names like Snooker which we've probably all heard of and became much more popular once colour TV was introduced. I tried to find a clip of commentator Ted Lowe's classic quote online but without .  His helpful comment was:

'And for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green.'  

Well that would have been as clear as mud which leads me on to the prize for the worst S sport - Swamp Football, yes football played in a swamp. I'm speechless.

Friday's Fave Five - 20/4/18

Friday is time to look back on the week and find five things to be grateful for.  Drop in to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for full details and other participants.

Here are mine:

1)  Here 2 weeks running!  I'm also up to date with the A-Z challenge although the final week could get a bit tricky.  I miss it when I don't get around to blogging but sometimes other things get in the way.

2)  Wonderful supportive comments on my posts.  It's so nice to get feedback although sometimes I do feel a bit guilty if I've not managed to get around to responding to everyone.  It's just nice to know you're not posting into a vacuum and your posts aren't just disappearing into the ethernet.  Apologies if I didn't get to you all last week.  

3)  Summer weather.  Yep we've been moaning for weeks about the absence of spring and then we get several days of hot weather.  I even dug out my sandals! 

4)  Coffee with friends - met up with a couple of friends today and we were able to sit in the outdoor seating area of the cafe.  It was lovely.

5)  Successful shopping trip - I went to Hobbycraft to get some wool for the second baby blanket I need to make plus some bits and pieces for the baby shower next week.  It's getting exciting around here!

Hope you are enjoying spring weather and have a lovely weekend.

R is for Rugby

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

I must admit that I'm not really a fan of Rugby.  Probably because I grew up in a family that was more interested in Football so although I might watch an International football game or loosely follow a team I've never watched a full length rugby match.  The biggest attraction with rugby was turning up at a clubhouse post match and hoping to get chatted up by a fit player.  (Rugby players tend to take a lot of beating during a game and some of them are not a pretty sight!)

As an Olympic sport it had been missing since 1924 but made a reappearance in the form of Rugby Union Sevens in 2016.  You see I don't even know the differences between Rugby Union and Rugby League apart from that they don't have the same number of players (although I couldn't tell you how many either have with any certainty).  It's always been easier to set up a game of football - after all you only need someting to mark where the goals are, a ball and you're off.

Rugby is not as simple but efforts have been made over the last few years to try and introduce it into schools, particularly by using the "Tag" version that is not as physical, to encourage youngsters to get involved.

When it comes to other R sports I thought I might have found one I could handle - remote control.  Until I investigated further.  These tend to be controls for model airplanes, robots or cars.  Or slot cars, which looked an awful lot like Scalextric if you ask me.   We had scalextric at home but I was usually only allowed to play when my brothers were feeling generous toward me which wasn't very often so I was never very good at it.  Now give me the remote control to the TV and I'm an expert.  Unlike my husband.  He gets very confused, especially if the kids have been using the Wii or Playstation and he has to switch back to the TV source.  

We've decided in our house that he has to predecease me as he couldn't cope on his own.  Of course he would cope but I'm not sure our kids will have enough patience to deal with his frequent questions.

But I'm back to my favourite sport of waffling!  I should get back to running.  Well I would if I hadn't injured my knee last year.  I have done a fair amount of running over the years.  We even took part in a relay race in Holland in our youth and hubby was quite a keen runner.  Our boys have followed his example and competed in half and full marathons.

Thankfully they are not taking part in the London Marathon which takes place this Sunday - we have just started a mini heatwave here.  I think the runners will find it very hard going.  Hopefully there will be no collapses as there were in the Commonwealth Games Marathon last week in Australia.  Well unless you count me collapsed in a chair watching it on the TV.  The atmosphere when watching it on the course is great but it's a lot of hanging about and can be crowded and with no one to cheer on this year, we'll be staying home.

Q is for Quidditch

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

OMG.  When preparing my list of sports corresponding to the letters of the alphabet Q was always going to be Quidditch.  I have read all the Harry Potter books and seen all the films.  I am not however a fanatic.  But, as a sport many people will have heard of, it seemed perfect for the letter Q.

I was going to start this post by apologising for using a fictional sport until I googled it and discovered that it's actually become a real one, played internationally and with a World Cup!  Who'd have thought that this would take off in this way - although it's actually played on the ground and although some of the players use broom sticks there is nothing magical about them.

Definitely a sport that combines the weird and wonderful. 

I could also have gone for Qianball which originates from China and combines elements of tennis and squash but no walls!  Surprisingly there were no martial arts beginning with Q although you can have a Quadrathlon that combines the elements of a Triathlon with Kayaking.

I've decided that anything ending in "athlon" is to be avoided at all costs.  I prefer to do my sports one at a time, or not at all!

Do you multiplay when it comes to sport?

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 18/4/18

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at 

 From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

Have fun!

1. Three things on your spring bucket list? If you don't have an actual list that's fine, pretend you do.

Get to the beach

Afternoon tea out

Work on the garden
2. Where do you find rest? What restores your soul? When was the last time you did whatever it was you answered here?

Umm in my bed? A Walk along a deserted beach but it’s been a long time since I’ve done that, hence being on the bucket list.
3. April is National Celery Month. Who knew? Do you like celery? What's your favorite dish made with celery? On a veggie and dip platter which would you reach for first-carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumbers or cherry tomatoes?
I’m not a lover of celery although we often have it in stews etc and I do eat it.  I’d reach for the cucumber on the dip platter.
4. I read here eight things to do before 8 am to make your day less hectic-Start one load of laundry, drink water, empty the dishwasher, read your Bible, know what you're having for dinner, get dressed, brain dump (two lists-one what you're thankful for and one what's weighing on your mind), and after the brain dump make your to-list for the day
How many of these are you currently doing? Which one do you think would help the most if you added it to your early morning routine?
Before 8 am!  Well getting dressed would definitely help although I do tend to do chores like the dishwasher, washing etc before that.  And I do often jot down things that I want to do during the day but having the dinner planned is something I want to work on – I tend to be a day behind because I don’t get things out of the freezer in time.  I guess if I was still working my answers might be different but being retired does change your perspective on these things.
5. Describe the view from your window.
From where I’m sitting I can see into our garden.  Which is looking better now that we managed to get the grass cut and the sun is shining!
6. Insert your own random thought here.

Well we’ve been wishing for spring to arrive and stay but today we’ve got summer!  It’s been really sunny and warm and tomorrow is promised to be even hotter.  I shall have to check on the supplies of sunscreen.