Blogger Help Group

Make sure you check out the AOL Imports section of the Blogger Help Group. This is being actively watched and responded to by the folks at Blogger.

Update on Private Journals and Comments

As Joe mentioned earlier today, in order for Blogger to be able to migrate a private journal, you would first need to make it public. There was an issue in this process that would result in the comments being deleted once you made the journal public. We subsequently requested you hold off until we sorted this out. We have.

I'm pleased to report that those of you who maintain private Journals and have been holding off migrating them while we corrected this, you may now proceed to make them to public and start your migration. We made the necessary adjustments which will allow your comments to follow your posts over to Blogger.

How you can help us help you...

Hi again,

In order for us to be able to help with migration issues, especially if you got as far as being able to create a Blogger URL, it really helps if you include that URL in your comments when looking for help. While you're at it, please include your AOL Journal URL too, although your comment is associated with a blog we want to make sure we have all the facts.

Migration Update

A Couple of Updates

Issue 1- Failures to Find Journals
Blogger have been examining some of the failure cases that have been reported and after testing URLs given to us, it appears there may be some confusion around URL to use when starting the migration.  So the Journals URL you need to enter should be the one people use to view the blog. The URL should never contain white space.

Example:

Good URL:  http://journals.aol.com/screenname/TitleOfBlogWithoutSpaces
Not So Good URL:  http://journals.aol.com/screenname/Title Of Blog With Spaces

Issue 2- Failure to Upload Journals Image
Blogger is currently having problems uploading Journals images that were added directly from AOL Photos when that feature became available March 2007. These images use the URL structure http://pictures.aol.com/ap/singleImage.do?pid= . Blogger is working on the issue. If you've already imported your Journal to Blogger you may need to reimport it to copy these photos over. Oct 10 Update: Images of the form pictures.aol.com/ap/simgleImage.do?.... are now importing into Picasa Web Albums.

Blogger.com Transfer Update

All,

Now that we've had about a day's worth of transfers to Blogger, we've tracked a couple of issues that I wanted to make you aware of, and I wanted to reiterate a couple of important tidbits.

Private Journals & Comments - While it's possible to move a private journal to Blogger by first making it public, it does look like there is an issue in importing the comments from that journal, and they may in fact be deleted upon import. We're is investigating a solution to this one, and will let you know the moment it's in place. Until then, unless you either don't have any comments, or don't care to keep them, I'd suggest you hold off on migrating private journals for now.

Account Name Already In Use - If you had established your Blogger blogs prior to the import using the same blog name, the Blogger importer will *not* be able to use it as it will not overwrite any files.  You'll first have to clear out or rename your placeholder Blogger blog, then re-initiate the import process. 

Feature Requests for Blogger - While we've been working very closely with the good folks at Blogger for the migration, we're really not at all involved with the future development or enhancement of their product.  I'd encourage you to use their feedback mechanisms to make these suggestions, as they may never see them here in Magic Smoke.

AOL Pictures and Albums - As Frank commented below, individual AOL Pictures images in your Journal are actually getting copied over to Google's Picasa. AOL Pictures albums, however, will not be included in the import process.  If you wish to re-associate your AOL Pictures albums with your new Blogger blog, you'll have to do that manually.  Ditto if you wish to move them to Picasa.

Blogger Can't Find Your Journal - Is your journal marked private?  If so, that would be why. Prior to making it public and initiating the import process, please review the first bullet point above.  If the journal is *not* private, let us know and we'll try to figure out why it's not being found.

Images Not Stored in AOL Pictures - Images hosted anyplace *other* than AOL Pictures are not being automatically copied to Picasa, and will have to be copied over manually, if you desire.

I think that about covers all of the known issues at this point.

I know there is a lot of anger and frustration out there about this shutdown, but please understand that we are doing everything we can to make this as painless as possible.  The team doing this work is primarily composed of the same people who developed and managed Journals through it's launch and growth stages, and we're just as sad as you are that the call was made to retire the product. Our partnership with Blogger isn't making us a dime, and was done solely because they offer a very solid product and are backed by very passionate people who were willing to take on quite a bit of heavy lifting to make this a smooth transition. Our collective hats are off to them for being such great partners in this, and if you give this a shot, I think you'll be very happy being part of the Blogger family.

Tags: Journals, Blogger, Shutdown, Migration, Import

Blogger.com

As you probably know by now, AOL Journals is scheduled to be permanently shut down on Oct. 31. It’s never an easy decision to shut down a product, especially one like AOL Journals that some of our members have used and loved for many years. But with a decline in Journals usage, we have to look carefully at all of AOL’s features and products to ensure we’re using our limited development and operational resources in ways that provide the greatest value to the largest number of members as possible.
 
Though we know this is an inconvenience, the good news is that we've partnered with the good people at Blogger.com to provide a smooth transition for your journal. Blogger is a free service from Google that makes it easy to share your thoughts with friends and the world. Blogger supports most of the features you've come to expect from AOL Journals, and it's easy to get started. If you wish to transfer your journal to Blogger, they will move your posts, comments and photos to your new blog on their service. When you're ready, go to this link to get started.

 

We've conducted a fair amount of internal testing against the Blogger.com import process over the past few weeks, and have identified a few issues that you may run into:

• Some users may get "Transfer process failed" error when trying to import their AOL Journals. They may need to clear their cookies and try again.


• Badly formatted HTML may cause Embed or Object tags not to be imported.


• Some users may see the import fail during the final "Publish imported posts now" step. Refreshing the page usually solves this problem. Also, some users will be able to go to www.blogger.com to view, edit, and publish their imported blog, even after the failure message.


• AOL Pictures Albums embedded in your Journal will not automatically migrate over during the standard process. Individual images will migrate just fine, but any albums you wish to re-associate with your Blogger blog will have to be done manually, post-migration.


• If your Journal is currently marked Private, you'll have to flip it to public status prior to the migration, otherwise the import tool will not be able to find it.  Once you've moved the Journal to Blogger, you'll be able to set it to private again at your leisure.

You can always find the latest list of general Blogger Known Issues here: http://knownissues.blogspot.com and Blogger's AOL Journals Help here: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=112742.
 
If you are planning to move your Journal to Blogger, we recommend that you help your readers find your new blog by posting a redirect link in your AOL Journal, which will stay live and fully functional until Oct.31.

Tags: Journals, Sunset, Blogger

AOL Hometown

Instructions for downloading your files from AOL Hometown are contained in this entry on the AOL People Connection blog. This only works for US-based accounts.

Keeping in touch

With the demise of AOL Journals, we'll lose the Alerts system for keeping track of journals. So, something else needs to take its place. I suggest to use a feedreader. One is provided by Google, called Google Reader. If you've set up a Blogger blog, you've set up a Google account. Google Reader is part of that. It's fairly simple to use.

Each blog has a so-called RSS feed, often indicated by an orange graphic in the address bar. You can subscribe to that by clicking on the graphic . You are then prompted to specify which feedreader to use, and confirm. All you have to do from there on is check back the Reader at regular intervals. You will be notified of comments through Blogger, or whichever journaling hosting service you use.

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_1

Wednesday 1 October

I'm very pleased that many are already changing to a Blogger blog.

Sue [catslittertray] has come
up with an idea to keep in touch through Facebook. I'm unfamiliar with
that site, but email her direct for details. Suffix her screenie with
@aol.com, and it'll reach her.


Similarly, Sal has set up a group on MSN.
(edit 13.34 BST)


I am extremely concerned about the number of people that are as yet
unaware of the changeover, and have requested Vish to transfer all the
unclaimed blogs to a dedicated Blogger account, admin'd by me. Haven't
had word back yet (it's 5.10 am in CA), but hope it's going to work.



If you don't know which blogs you host on AOL, put the following into your browser's address bar: journals.aol.com/screenname and hit Enter. It'll come up with a list. Or not.



The migration link will be accessible in a couple of days from now.

In case you haven't been reading my comments..

Some of my responses to users comments

To Paul, yes a copy of your journal will be made on Blogger. Your journal will still be available till Nov 1st. Also, the migration will be opened up to Journals users starting on or after Oct. 7th. We will be using this week to iron out any kinks in the process.

To
Sherri - I would not worry about the migration too much. It should be
fairly straightforward. Blogger will also have a helpdesk that you can
send email to, if you have any issues and a live real person will
respond and help out. So, all efforts have been made to minimize the
pain.

To Yasmin (cayasm) and everybody else - Your journals will
be copied over in its ENTIRETY (entries, comments, about me). So,
anything else you hear is not true.

And no, your email account is not affected by this at all as some have been suggesting.

I understand that people are upset and that is okay. However, I request you to be patient and understanding as we work thru this process.

Vish

Trying out Blogger

I know a lot of you are trying out Blogger by creating blogs. So, when you create a test blog over there, call it something other than the name you want to use for your journal.

The reason I say that is because during the migration (read:copy) process, it will ask you for a blog name on Blogger into which to copy your journal. At which point you might not get the name that you wanted, because you have used it up on the test blog.

Of course, like everything in life there is a way around this, but I do not want to complicate your life any more than it is now. If you are savvy with Blogger then feel free to go and grab a name of your choice. I will show you a way to use that name to migrate your journal later.

The best thing you can do ahead of the actual migration is to create a gmail or blogger account.

Vish
p.s I created a blog on Blogger called jlandhub.blogspot.com as a placeholder for magic smoke(sadly i could not get magicsmoke.blogspot.com).

1 November

On this date:

All AOL Journals will be deleted, and no longer be accessible. Their content will be migrated to Blogger before that time - again, TBC.
All files, images, data, hosted on AOL Hometown will be deleted and no longer be accessible. It is advisable to download photo albums hosted on AOL Pictures (see procedure a couple of entries back) and host them somewhere else.

I've got to leave it to Vish to alleviate concerns regarding the private journals - I'm just giving technical support and relaying whatever info comes my way.

Migration - the timetable

This week, a trial-run will be performed on one or two selected journals. They will be transferred to Blogger, to ensure the procedure works. A further announcement will be made when this procedure goes live to all users.

Please be patient, a heck of a lot of work is going into this. Keep monitoring Magic Smoke for updates.

Stating the obvious

PLEASE RELAY ALL INFORMATION TO ANY USER OF AOL JOURNALS WHO MAY NOT BE AWARE OF THIS CHANGEOVER.

Private journals

Only public journals can
be migrated. The plan is that the user just prior to migration will
change the status of the journal to public. After which s/he will
migrate the journal and will be given a choice to make the Blogger blog
private at the end of the migration.The user of course has to come back to AOL Journals to revert the journal to private status again

Backing up journals

If you have qualms about the transfer process to Blogger, it might be an idea to invest some time (read: hours or days) in backing up your journals. The procedure below does not take comments along, but at least you have your posts and graphics.

1. Go to the front page of your blog, and click just left of the date stamp on the top entry. Holding your left mouse-button down, drag the mouse cursor to the bottom right of the page. It will automatically scroll to the bottom, you don't need to work the slider yourself. Now press Ctrl-C.

2. Change to your wordprocessing application, which you have opened on a blank page, and press Ctrl-V. Your entry will be copied into the word processor.

3. Return to the journal page and go to the bottom, where it says Older Entries. Click this link. The URL indicator will now change to your journal's URL and the suffix /?page=2.

Repeat points 1 and 2 BUT take care to paste your entries at the TOP, i.e. at the START of your wordprocessing document EACH TIME. Journals entries are listed in reverse chronological order on the site.

If your journal has many entries, this will take a long, long time.

Dormant journals

Guido wrote:


I do restate my concerns about blogs which are not being updated
(temporarily or permanently), and a very sore point would be those
journals that were written by those that have since passed away. Will
the transfer to Blogger be an active, or a passive move - by that I
mean: do we as users have to make a move, or will AOL do it for us,
whether we are actively involved in that or not.

Vish's reply:

Unfortunately, this will be
an opt-in process. Meaning users will have to create an account on
Blogger, and go to the migration page and request for the migration.
So, dormant blogs will be lost..sadly.

Guido's comment:
I have requested the dormant blogs to be copied over to my Blogger account. I'll probably be inundated with blogs on November 1st, but I don't care. If anyone has any thoughts or problems with that, please leave a comment. There is a procedure on Blogger to transfer ownership of a blog.

Start now - AOL Hometown

AOL Hometown (including File Manager) is heading for the chop as well. So, head for http://hometown.aol.com/_fm (if you're in the US) or http://hometown.aol.co.uk/_fm if you're in the UK.

The easiest way to deal with image files from Hometown is to open a Photobucket account, if you don't already have one. Apologies for singling out one site, but they offer the option of uploading from a URL.

1. Right-click each link on File Manager and copy the link location
2. Go to the upload location on Photobucket, selecting upload by URL
3. Paste (Ctrl-V) the URL into the relevant box
4. Repeat for each and every image file.

File Manager also contains your AOL hosted webpages (*.html), which you will also lose when Hometown goes by November.

1. Open each page on a separate browser window or tab (if your version of Internet Explorer allows).

2. Click File, then Save Page As - complete HTML, which will save the HTML to your harddisk drive. You can then clean the HTML of all the AOL garbage that it contains and upload it to your own website outside AOL.

Clarification

I hope Vish won't mind if I clarify a few things.

Back in July, it was decided by Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of Products for AOL, that a plethora of products should be sunset because they don't make enough money. Read this official email here.

Apart from AOL Journals, this also includes AOL Hometown. Some of us are familiar with AOL Hometown as an area of FTP-space (storing static images, not animations), with a very poor user interface. I have no official word at all about AOL Pictures: the AOL Pictures blog has not been updated for 13 months, and there is no word on the Pictures site. Personally, I'd suggest to save anything stored on both 'products' to your own harddisk asap.

Finally, please don't shoot the messenger. 

Sad but true..Journals closing its doors

As most of you already know, Journals will be officially closing its doors on Nov 1st, 2008. This has been a tough month for me, as I am as much a part of JLand as you (having been part of the product's development team since its inception).

The good news here is that AOL is working on a migration plan and most likely destination is Blogger. So, you will soon receive another email (I think scheduled to go out Oct 7th) describing the migration process.

Although, it is incredibly
sad that JLand as we know it, is going away, I think this is the best thing to
happen for JLanders. In fact, the advantages of moving to Blogger are many..
- users can
permanently save their blogs as books or other files (something that a lot of you have been asking for).
- we can grow the
community over there.
-
users can monetize their blogs by putting ads in their blog

- you can get better themes and so on...

I am planning to migrate the Magic Smoke blog over, so that it can be the hub that we had here. So, in the coming
days and weeks I look to your support and ideas to make sure we keep the
community together after the migration.

And finally, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for some great memories. I have made lot of friends and you guys deserve all the credit for making JLand the finest example of community on the web.

Thanks and
Peace,

Vish
p.s Folks are wondering if their entire journal will be migrated and the answer is yes. ALL entries, comments, pictures, polls, videos will be migrated.

AOL Community Challenge Poll "September" Reminder!

AOL Community Challenge Poll for September Challenge is up & running on our Challenge Journal.
Don't forget to stop by & vote for the best September image
at AOL COMMUNITY PHOTO CHALLENGE

A Special Thanks Ü, to Krissy from "Sometimes I think" for assistance with the new Polls.
We are still having problems with AOL polls so she found Polldaddy.com
& shared her new tool with us.
THANK YOU Krissy!!!!

Tags: septembe, r photo, challenge, polls, blogplugs

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

Be Not Afraid!

Open a newspaper or turn on the television and more then likely something on there is going to cause you pause at the very least.

In Bible stories have you noticed whenever an angel appears the first words out of its mouth are "Be Not Afraid!"   Perhaps it's because they startled the unlikely individual to whom they were appearing, or perhaps they are just really scary looking. (I doubt that one!)  My thought is this, the angel knows that it is about to deliver information that will drastically change the persons life.  This change is often very wonderful, however we humans are terrified of change, so this requires the angel to start comforting us right out of the gates. (pun intended)

                 

We fear change because it takes us into the unknown and out of our comfort zone.  It disrupts our life.  It is however at these times that we have our greatest opportunities to learn and grow.  Change can be miserable and uncomfortable yet if you approach it with a good attitude and an open mind, anxiety and anguish can turn into joy and great success.

As a country we are facing some very big changes that are totally unpredictable. To help you find ways to cope with change may I suggest some of the following books:

Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson M.D.

Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson 

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

 

What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are no match for what lies within us.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson.

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

Caption Game #24!...

Hi, Val here.  Did you guys like the new poll yesterday?  It seemed to go over well.  We will be using it this week, and possibly from now on.  Now, it's time to reveal a new picture for "What's the Caption? Wednesday" #24!  Before revealing, we would once more like to congratulate last game's winner, Marc of Sober Gay Poz Ex-Con!  If you haven't congratulated him yet, please do.

This week's picture will follow the rules below.  Please read the rules if you never have, or haven't in a long time.   As always, we will help you along with entries,  so you may want to keep Magic Smoke  on alerts.    Have fun and thanks for playing!  Val (and Krissy)  =)

                   
                                                    <><><><>
               We will place a picture around 9AM EDT (or as soon after
               as we are able to) in Magic Smoke each Wednesday morning.
                                        <><><><>
               After the picture is posted, place a Caption you feel is
               appropriate for the picture in the Comments Section.  Please
               DO NOT email your submission or put it under any other
               Comment Sections.  We will not hunt down your submission. 
               Only submissions placed in the Comment Section under the
               picture will be eligible for judging.  If you do this as an
               entry in your blog, please return to Magic Smoke and put
               your submission in the Comments Section.
                                                    <><><><>
               Only submit one Caption so others can play!
                                                    <><><><>
               Submissions are due by Saturday 4PM EDT.  Those
               submitted after this time will not be eligible for judging.
                                                    <><><><>
               A panel of a few Jland judges (3 or 4) will look over the
               Captions and choose what they feel are the best 3 or 4.
               These will be posted on Sunday 9 AM EDT (or when
               we are able - usually Sunday morning) by poll.
                                                    <><><><>
               Here comes the fun part!  Where you get to participate!
               You will be voting for your favorite Caption by poll from
               Sunday, 9 AM EDT (or as soon as we get it posted)
               through Tuesday 9 AM EDT!!  At this time we will check
               the poll and see who the winner is!!  Please DO NOT vote
               after 9AM on Tuesday.  Any voting after 9AM on Tuesday
               will be ignored.
                                                    <><><><>
               We will announce the winner on Tuesday morning with an
               Award for his/her sidebar!!
                                                    <><><><>
               A new picture will appear the next morning (Wednesday)
               and we will have fun all over again!!
                                                    <><><><>
               "What's the Caption? Wednesday" was created and is run
               by Val from There is a Season and Krissy from
               Sometimes I Think.
                                                    <><><><       

      

Tags: What's the Caption? Wednesday, caption game, word game, word games, blogplugs, brrrrrrr....

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_2

Weekly Sentence Game...

Hi, this is Val from There is a Season.  If you would like to play "Weekly Sentence with Val" this week the letters are ASCOMD.  The deadline is extended once again to Saturday at 9 AM EDT.  Click on graphic below to play game!  Have fun!

            

 

Tags: Weekly Sentence with Val, Weekly Sentence, word game, word games, give it a shot!

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_1

Winner of Caption Game #23

Hi Caption Game players!   Valerie here.  Boy, it's good to be back!  I missed bringing this game to you guys.  It seems you guys really liked this poll site.  Great!  Now on to the winner of "What's the Caption? Wednesday" #23!  Krissy, and I and the judges would like to congratulate:

                            Marc of Sober Gay Poz Ex-Con

Please visit Marc's blog and congratulate him and say hello.  His winning submission with this week's photo is below:

           
                    The initial introduction of Prince Harry to
                         Camila Parker-Bowles did not go well.

Marc, your award for your sidebar is below.   Right click and save as .jpg.  If you have any questions on saving it or posting it in your blog, just pop me or Krissy an email.                                     

                                               

We would also like to congratulate runners-up (in order of placing in poll) Paul, Deborah, and John.  Thanks for playing guys, and great job!

We would also like to thank everyone who submitted a caption and/or voted this week!!  I will be posting a new picture tomorrow morning and we will be back on track.  See you then!   Congratulations again, Marc!!   Val (and Krissy)  =)


Tags: What's the Caption? Wednesday, caption game, word game, word games, winner, Sober Gay Poz Ex-Con, what animal is it?, blogplugs

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_2

What's the Caption? Wednesday poll #23: Take 2!

 

Hi Caption Game players!  Krissy coming at ya!  It's so nice to be back.   I want to ask you all for forgiveness for having had neglected this game for two weeks.  But I have had several family emergencies, one of which was my Mom breaking her neck.  I think you will excuse me for my laxness as of late - as I did need to help my family out.  The same goes for Val -- she was sorely needed also.  I am sure you understand. 

 

Okay, now on to regular business!  That would be the poll.  I bet by now you've taken a look below and noticed Val and I have started using a new poll site to help us to create and run the caption polls.  It's just something Val and I are trying out.  We may stick with it, or we may go back to AOL polls.  We'll see.

 

Now let's get on with "What's the Caption? Wednesday" poll #23.   

 

We would like you to vote in "What's the Caption? Wednesday" poll #23 in THIS entry.  It doesn't matter if you voted two weeks ago.  Those votes are being thrown out.  Everything is started fresh.  So please, everybody, vote in "What's the Caption? Wednesday" poll #23, right here in this entry.    

 

Okay, let's go over a few of the old rules, although you probably remember them anyway:  We want the most popular caption of the poll below to win.  We don't want a popularity contest, so don't vote for your favorite author, vote for your favorite caption!  Please vote only once.  Please don't campaign for votes.  Remember, you are on your honor!

 

You have until 9 AM EDT, Wednesday, September 24, to vote.  

 

On Wednesday morning after the votes have been officially recorded, the winner will be announced here in Magic Smoke, and will receive an award logo for their sidebar.  Then on that same morning, or possibly on Thursday morning, Valerie and I will post a new photo, and another round of "What's the Caption? Wednesday" will begin!  So please put Magic Smoke on alerts so you will always be ready to play the game! 

 

Now, have fun and vote!... 

 

Please remember that voting ends at 9 AM EDT on Wednesday, September 24, 2008. 

 

"What's the Caption? Wednesday" was created and is run by Krissy of Sometimes I Think and Valerie of  There is a Season.

Tags: What's the Caption? Wednesday, caption games, caption game, word games, word game, polls, poll, horse, boy

What A Thrill !

What a thrill to be invited to be a Guest Editor ! 

My name is Linda
and I've lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest all my life.  Other
than living in eastern Washington as a baby/toddler with my mom when my
dad was overseas during World War II....I've always lived in the same
town... within a 10 miles radius of where I grew up.  After 47 years of
working I retired February 1, 2007 and
I'm loving it!  I've taken my readers on several long road trips up and
down the west coast...and on three cruises.  You've been to the Pacific
Ocean coast with me, and to the Puyallup Fair.   I love taking you all along on my adventures. And pack your bags because I'm about to take off on another adventure.  

In 2005 my daughter, Julie, kept telling me about AOL JLand
and all the neat and interesting people she was meeting.  I read her
journal and decided "I can do that!"  I had many pen pals as a student
in Junior High School and this would be no different~well it would be a
little different...no paper, pen or stamps would be involved.  So on
May 6, 2005 I posted my first journal entry.  I didn't even tell my
daughter...but somehow she discovered it and put the word out.  So,
that's how it all began~my great collection of"electronic" pen pals.
Sadly, my daughter later decided to quit her journal and I do miss it.

I have been
blessed to get to know so many wonderful people, all over the world,
 in the last 3 plus years.  So many, in fact, I can't begin to name you
all.  I've been able to share in your good times and bad times...happy
and sad times.  Many of you have been added to my prayer list when
there were things going on in your lives that needed a little extra help from above. 

One of the first commenter's in my journal was Sandra over in the U.K. And Sandra's journal "Sandra's Scribbles" was one of the first I began reading.  There are other journals from the U.K. that I began reading early on also.  Ally writes "Life with Ally",  Jan writes "Serendipity" and Jeannette writes a private journal  "Welcome to My Travels." 

Then there's a journal that I just began reading, recently.  I heard about it from Beth & Ken (aka Bucko).  The journal is "The Wildcat's Lair" written by Bill.  This man is amazing~if you love cats and/or cartoons be sure and check out this journal.

Living in
Florida is my dear friend Robin~a mom and an Air Force
wife......holding down the fort when her husband is called away in the
service of his country. I just wish he was stationed at the base a few
miles from me~then we could share
a cup of tea  & hit the local thrift shops when he's away.  I know
most of you know Robin but if you don't stop by "The Yellow Brick Road" and say hi to a sweet gal.

Down in southern California are three ladies that have been such an inspiration to me~ Betty writes "Koda's Corgi Tales." We (my kitty Gabi & I) love to hear about Koda's escapades and I am blessed by Betty's spiritual insight.  Kathy writes "A Little Left of Center II." She's a wife, mom and grandma and  she recently took us with her on her journey to Italy.  Kelli writes "noonmom." Kelli is married to Rusty and is a homemaker with teenage children   She fosters kittens, and does wonderful things for the Marines at the local Marine Base. Thank you Kelli for all you do for returning Marines.

Also in California is another Linda.  She write's "Foot Prints In The Sand." 
Linda's busy life makes me tired sometimes but I love reading about all
the activities of her family. She takes great pictures and someday, I'm
going to her house and pick all her flowers !!  And my Gabi thinks her Raisin is one handsome cat. 

Just about 60 miles north of me is Jae.  She writes "The Gag Order"
She works in a pet boarding facility & writes hilarious stories of
her adventuresat work, and her life with her 14 yr old son & her
sisters.

I'm always interested to see what Meg is "In Quest Of."  I love to read her thoughts and see her lovely pictures.

And speaking of pictures....even though I'll always be just an amateur photographer, I love reading each new entry from Greg.  He write's "Photo Trek." He has lots of hints and tips for all who love to take pictures.

In Pennsylvania is Lisa who writes " Life On A Bison Farm."  She and her family have a 230 acre farm, where virtually no animal who needs a home, is turned away.  I particularly love to hear the stories of the many cats that live in the cat house, barn and main house on the bison farm.

Also on the east
coast is a dear man, a retired actor, who makes me think.  Sometimes my
brain hurts trying to figure out his weekend word puzzles.  If you
haven't already, stop by and say hi to my friend,DB, who writes "Vagabond Journeys."

Way down in the
other corner of this country, in Florida,  is a crazy guy who makes me
laugh.  Everyday, at almost the same time  I get that alert from Jimmy
who writes "Jimmy's Journal." And Gabi has a little crush on his cat Possum S. Hemingway who also has his own journal. I'm proud to be an honorary member of his "Area 51."

I would be remiss if I didn't thank some of our very special people for all they do for the rest of us in JLand.  Thank you Sugar for your entries on pet care and pet hints. And also for you "Pet Loss Memorial Journal."   Krissy & Val, sisters in life and friends to us all.  Thank you for your contributions to "Magic Smoke." And the fun games you post in your journals.   Guido, thank you for your storm tracking, and for creating the "Call for Support" journal. If you're not aware this journal~it's available for all of us to post a "call for support" when one of our Jland friends is in need of added support.  Jeannette in the U.K. also is such a blessing to Jland.  We thank you Jeannette (Jeannette's Jottings)  for "These We Have Loved."
Another public journal where any of you can post an entry.  A journal
where we are all able to memorialize a loved one and/or a friend.  I
also want to thank Donna for making JLand beautiful. Her journal "This and that and hockey"
is not only the story of her day to day life but Donna continually
creates beautiful name tags for anyone who wishes them.  And also
thanks to Linda for her beautiful Saturday Snags.  Linda writes "The Long ClimbBack Up"

There are so many other folks out there that are special to me.  You know who you are.  Please keep writing to keep JLand the special place that it is.  

Thank you for the honor of being this weeks's Guest Editor.

http://journals.aol.com/lsfp1960/LindasWorld/

AOL Community Photo Challenge-September

AOL Community Photo Challenge for this week is........September!
Remember to follow guidelines & leave permalink on Our Community Photo Challenge Journal.
All
entries need to be in by Thursday Sept 25th @ 9PM EST to be included
for the selection that will be posted on Friday the 26th for the
community voting.

If you haven't joined in yet....now is the time!!!  Ü

Tags: blogplugs, photo challenge september

Polls service restored!

Polls should be working for everybody now. Sorry it took a little while to figure out the problem. But it is finally fixed.

Please let me know if it is not working for you.

Vish

Weekly Sentence Game #30...

Hi, Val from There is a Season here =).  If you would like to play "Weekly Sentence with Val" this week the letters are RSTHFS.  I have extended the deadline to Saturday at 9 AM EDT.  Click on graphic below to play game!  Have fun!

              

Tags: Weekly Sentence with Val, Weekly Sentence, word game, word games, give it a shot!

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_1

Drumroll, please..............

AOL Community Photo Challenge for Summer

Drumroll, please..............
...and the winner is: Clyde from OldTownePhotos. It was a close race but not a photo finish. Congratulations Clyde!

Thanks to all who entered and congratulations to the runners up.

The polls closed at 9 p.m. tonight (Sunday, 9/14) but,
if you haven't had time to visit all the participants, you can still go to
the Challenge entry and visit the links in the comment section...lots of worthwhile photos to view in those journals!

Tags: summer photo challenge, blogplugs, winner

AOL Community Photo Challenge-Summer VOTE!!

AOL Community Photo Challenge
Time to Vote!

NOTE: Many viewers are having difficulty with the poll and cannot vote. Anyone with this problem, please email your vote to me (cmishvicki@aol.com) AND Marie (mariebm56@aol.com).  Get your vote in and BE COUNTED!!!

Choose your favorite summer photo...voting ends 9 p.m. Sunday, 9/14.

 

 

PLEASE GO TO- AOL Community Photo Challenge  to vote!

Remember, only one vote per person. Thanks~

Tags: blogplugs, vote, polls, Photo, challenge, summer

Guest Editor

 I must say I was very excited to be asked to be guest editor!  My name is Rosemary and I am a certified life coach.  The name of my journal is called Inspiration.  Life Coaching is a relatively new field and I created my journal so that people would be able to learn about the coaching process and how it can help them.

You also may know me from Thursdays here at Magic Smoke... as I host the Challenge YOURSELF Challenge.  

                                                

As a coach my job is to help you see your life in a radically different light, challenge you to create the changes you desire, and help you develop a plan to over come your fears, challenges and dilemma's.  I love my job.  I love working with people and seeing the look on their face (or hear the surprise in their voice) when I ask a question that helps them see their life through a whole new perspective.

 

With the first taste of crisp fall air that is felt at dusk, thoughts of October start to creep into my mind.  October is my favorite month of they year.  It is also the month I dread the most.  I love October because I love the fall.  I live in an area where the harvest truly is a festival!  Besides the pumpkins, apples and corn, the grapes for the wine are ready to be picked.  October also holds my favorite holiday of all, HALOWEEN!

 

October also brings to mind some terrible changes that have happened to me.  It is the month that my best friend, my mother, and my father died.  It is the month that my life came crashing down around me and had to be rebuilt.  October has come to be a time of changes and challenges.

 

Changes and challenges seem to be the overall theme of many of you who write journals here on AOL.  When thinking of whose journals to mention here it was very difficult.  Many of the journals I read have already been mentioned here, or in blog plugs, or been a guest editor them self.  As I thought about it I decided to mention two, that I have never seen mentioned here at all.

 

One of them is "My Extremely Simple Life" written by Joyce.  Joyce has reached a time in her life where she has the wisdom and health to be able to enjoy where she is.  She shares with us her every day life which she often says is "simple", but that I think is filled with the peace and joy that comes with understanding the beauty that can be found in just "being".  She also takes us down memory lane and shares her past with us.  This I find truly to be a treat as she has had a very interesting journey!

 

The other journal I would like to mention is "Good Mourning" written by Doreen.  Doreen used to live on Long Island, not too far from where I live now.  We "met" when she found me in J-land.  She shares what challenges she is facing while coping with the tragedy of losing her daughter to suicide.  Somewhere in her grief she is reaching for hope and a sense of community.  I am very impressed with her strength.

 

Have a great weekend!

Fondly

Rosemary