Welcome to my weekly Monday Musings
A week of good weather and good times:
As you may know from my recent posts, I have spent the last week with my mother in the north of our state where the weather was warm, especially when you remember that it’s winter time!
We had a lovely week together just hanging out, visiting my dad, walking, talking and catching up with other family for mum’s birthday. It’s so good that we could all be together despite the fact we all live miles apart. It’s also great that I can now spend longer amounts of time with mum and dad and I have my retirement to thank for that. No more juggling leave and work commitments. Just my poor husband who gets a break from me for a week at a time!
I also joined mum’s exercise group in the park which was fun and showed me that although I run and walk regularly, other muscles need to be worked on as well, otherwise they feel left out. I found a few muscles which hadn’t been used for a while and will take that as a wake up call! The group of ladies are mainly nurses and are much younger than mum but they all worked hard and enjoyed their class. It’s good for mum for many reasons, so I hope they can continue the group.
Travel – always good to get away:
Mum and I decided to spend a few nights in a unit at the beach, it was closer to dad’s aged care facility and saved mum a lot of driving backwards and forwards. It was also very pleasant sitting on the balcony in the morning sunshine listening to the waves crash just metres away, watching the sunrise and walking and running along the shared pathways. We both enjoyed the break immensely. My sister didn’t enjoy the messages and photos I sent her as she was freezing in Melbourne. She also resorted to the age old ‘Mum…tell Debbie to stop teasing me, it’s not fair‘…..I just laughed 🙂
Catchups:
While I was up there, mum had a call from old Navy friends who were in the area and wanted to visit dad. It’s always nice for dad to have other friends visit and we all enjoyed lunch at our little beach front unit. This is an old photo from 1975 which Ken had on his computer from our family trip to Tasmania that year. What a blast from the past! It was nice listening to the chatter of old times and revisiting adventures from when they were both away at sea. I didn’t realise that although dad was only a few years older than Ken, and the other men in their Navy unit, they all thought of him as a father figure. Mum was also called upon for advice and support despite being much the same age as the other women.
Blog Wrap-up:
My most viewed post for June was Top 10 Tips for two week of Travel in Tasmania
I’m happy that my Pinterest action plan seems to be working – slowly! I also joined Boardbooster and think it’s helping.
I’ve signed up for Hootsuite this month but can’t seem to make sense of it just yet. If you have any advice I’d appreciate it!
StumbleUpon seems to be growing as a referrer – I’m still not sure how it works!
I am enjoying participating in a variety of link parties and I’m constantly discovering new bloggers: Over the Moon link party, Blogger’s Pit Stop, Grammy’s Grid are just a few of the link parties I regularly join.
Have you tried this type of linking up with other bloggers? I find they are run by nice people who are keen to promote other bloggers and the only requirement is to visit and read some of the other posts and share as appropriate. I end up learning heaps of new things!
My involvement in Facebook groups is also a source of fun and an opportunity to meet new bloggers. They are supportive and encouraging but can be time consuming!
From other Bloggers:
Klaudia was kind enough to include me in her post earlier in the week and here’s my response which links back to her post – Blogger Recognition Award
One of my favourite bloggers at the moment is Sue at Sizzling Towards 60 and Beyond – check out her blog which is full of sensible interesting and fun information especially if you’re a woman over a ‘certain age’.
Another post I loved finding this month was Sue’s packing guide using only carry-on. I’m very keen to try out her ideas – I’ll just have to plan a trip won’t I??.
I’m now home and winter has arrived here – over the weekend it was minus 6!
Mondays are for musing and mulling over the week so feel free to join me.
I’d love to know what you’ve been up to.
Deb
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Deb's World 
Once again, your photography is stunning, Debbie. I also love your ‘Blog Wrap Up.’ Like you, I’ve been venturing into new areas with my own blog. I agree that ‘Link Ups’ are a great way to meet fellow bloggers and bloggers in your niche.
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I’m glad to hear your thoughts on link ups Donna. It’s nice to mix it up a bit. I’m enjoying your series of guests on your blog.
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Minus 6!!! Blimey. That’s a South Island temperature.
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Yes we are quite a fair way down in NSW and at 700mt above sea level so get some good winter temps here. Summer is hot but it cools down at night.
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Sounds nice actually. I’d hate to live somewhere that was always the same(ish); especially if that meant hot.
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Once again, your photography is great, Debbie
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Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your compliment on my photos.
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Welcome !
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Fabulous pictures! I have Hootsuite but haven’t opened it in months. It was useful when I ran several professional accounts because I could view them together and post the same thing to more than one at the same time. I also found tweet scheduling very useful. Now I don’t have anything that important!
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I know what you mean Anabel!! I’m not sure I have anything important to schedule either but it sounded like a good idea at the time.
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It is handy if you’re going to be away and want to appear active, but my social media use has plummeted so far that I don’t think anyone would notice. Chats on WordPress have taken over from Twitter etc!
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I envy you Deb having the time with your Mum but it must have been so lovely for you. The weather looked perfect even though it is Winter. Thank you so much for the shout out to my blog I really appreciate the mention. Have a fabulous week and I wonder what this week will bring for you?
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My pleasure Sue! I know I’m lucky to be able to spend time with mum and dad and I do appreciate it.
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Fantastic pictures
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Thanks very much!!
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How wonderful to spend this time with your family. Treasure that time. It’s gone too soon.
Lovely photos of the winter light in Australia. My Dad is also in aged care and was also in the Navy (HMAS Mildura) but, sadly, his friends are not as many as they used to be. I’m sure your Dad finds the same.
It sounds like you’re not bored in your retirement. I don’t really know how anyone can be.
Thanks for the catch up.
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Thanks for stopping by, always great to hear from you. Yes it’s sad that dad doesn’t have too many friends able to drop by to see him these days. I had a great time catching up with mum and dad but sadly dad seems to be ageing very quickly. I’m definitely not bored in my retirement, I really could do with more hours in the day!
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Hi Deb,
You can keep your minus 6 degrees. We had 17 degrees today and it’s down to 10 tonight. I’m on the NSW Central Coast.
Loved all your photos. They’re fabulous.
I belong to two blogging communities: Weekend Coffee Share at https://parttimemonsterblog.com/ and Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/ and Weekly Smile: https://trentsworldblog.wordpress.com/
I am looking forward to reading more of your blog.
xx Rowena
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Thanks for visiting Rowena, I’m down in the snowy mountains, so we have a real winter here!! I like the coffee share idea and have seen lots of others posting so might join in one day.
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We’d love to have you over for coffee…or hot chocolate with marshmallows. I had my best hot chocolate ever at Perisher up the chairlift. It had toblerone in it and a snowman stick made out of marshmallows. Very decadent. I can understand why your temps are so cold. Do you ski? We’ve been skiing a few times and my husband loves it..and the kids. I did it a few times as a challenge but would rather photograph the snow.
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Beautiful pictures!
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Many thanks for your kind words.
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