March madness didn’t hit me too hard this year, in fact it was a relatively quiet month in many ways. I wasn’t at home the whole month but I was home more days than I was away, so that’s saying something for me!! After all the busy-ness of previous months it was kind of nice to be in one place and take things a bit slower. How about you?
As you probably know by now, TIME is my word of the year and I’m well aware of how fast it goes! Can you believe we’re already into April? My wrap-up posts for the year will all have a similar flavour, taking into account the TIME theme.
I invite you to grab a cuppa, make yourself comfortable and settle in for a chat as we look back over the month together.
AUTUMN – TIME
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
George Eliot
Autumn is my favourite month, with its orange, yellow, red colour palette, gently floating leaves, (which I love to kick through) and cooler, but still pleasant, temperatures. Unfortunately we seem to have gone from gentle autumn temps to full on winter weather in the blink of an eye this past weekend. It has been freezing with cold temperatures and snow falling nearby – yes in Australia already!!! Thankfully the next few weeks look like returning to our normal autumnal temperatures, it’s far too early for the fire to be on and wearing layers of clothing!
FUN – TIME
March started with a first birthday party for a little friend of ours. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a first birthday party and I must say it was pretty hectic but hugely fun too!!! I loved the blue Thomas the Tank Engine cake, made just for Master Thomas, by his mum and dad 🙂
AA otherwise known as Aqua Aerobics ended mid-way through the month as the pool season has officially finished now. I wrote a post about how AA helped me through the long summer months and how much I enjoyed the peaceful start to the day with like minded people. The lady who has taken the class for many years does so voluntarily and all our gold coin donations go to a local charity of her choice at the end of the season. It’s an example of good community spirit.
I managed to go out to lunch with friends a few times, worked a few days as an outdoor activity leader with school camps, attended an International Womens Day lunch, took our Exchange daughter to the local Tumbarumba Show and managed a quick spontaneous night away with friends where we went bike riding on a rail trail a few hours away from home.
BLOGGING – TIME
Have you seen my new Friday Feature, where I share various bits that have made me laugh or cry during the week?
I was doing Friday Flower posts, which I must admit were a LOT easier to do, but I am enjoying myself and loving the interaction with others. If you have any suggestions for winners/losers of the week just let me know and I’ll include them 🙂
I also celebrated 7 years of blogging this month 🙂
I have continued with my Wordless Wednesday posts and enjoy letting a photo tell the story. You can see them all here and feel free to join in at any time: Wordless Wednesdays
I was fortunate to be a guest blogger for several of my blogging buddies this month.
Sue at Sizzling Towards 60 and Beyond had a great theme for the month – #MakingMarchMeaningful and invited me to write a few words for a post about What brings purpose to your life
Jo at Lifestyle Fifty included me in her series Women Over 50 who Blog
My Sunday Stills posts have been ramped up a touch given the creative input of my sister over the past two weeks! With topics such as Spring, Tropical, Green, Daylight and Wildlife, it’s been quite a creative month! It’s always so good to see how others interpret a prompt!
FAMILY – TIME
Sadly we didn’t get over to see our baby granddaughter at all during the month!!!! Except on FaceTime, which is better than nothing I suppose. She is growing up fast and is on the move, rolling around and trying to crawl. And she also has two little teeth now.
Our daughters all manage to stay in touch with messages, photos and news, almost daily so I am very lucky to have that relationship with them, especially when I can’t just drive around the corner to see them.
I’m looking forward to having my baby daughter home for a long weekend soon. Over Easter I will have my mother, sister, brother-in-law and one of my daughters, son-in-law and granddaughter staying with me, while my husband is off walking the Kokoda Track for the 8th time, with school students.
I have just returned from a week with my sister in Melbourne – in case you didn’t know, she has now completed her breast cancer treatments and is slowly recovering some of her zest and exuberance for life.
We had a great week together and I improved my city driving skills and became a storm chaser! On the 6 hour drive down I was engulfed in a horrendous storm and pulled over to try and wait it out and then on the way home the same thing happened in almost the exact same spot. It’s not much fun driving on your own in those conditions but I managed to get home in one piece.
READING – TIME
I’m well into my 2019 reading challenge and I have just read two books in a row that featured home schooling, controlling parents and both kept me reading well into the night at times. One was Educated by Tara Westover a true account of her Mormon family upbringing and how she managed to get a university education and the other was a fictional story set in Tasmania called The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these books and highly recommend them.
Another good read was our bookclub book The Golden Age by Joan London about Hungarian refugees in Australia in the 1950s and how their son contracts polio – it met with mixed reviews on Goodreads but we all enjoyed the slower pace and story telling.
SOCIAL MEDIA – TIME
As one of my issues noted in my Word of the Year (WOTY) post, I’ve been trying to limit my social media time and it’s hard isn’t it? When blogging is all about being online and promoting your work, it’s difficult. I don’t do very much promoting of my own work but being involved in Facebook groups and linkups, I spend a lot of time reading and sharing other people’s work. I enjoy this aspect of blogging as I’m quite a sociable person, but it does eat into my time online. Do you find this too?
I love this meme I found on Leanne’s Cresting the Hill facebook page recently – it is so true! Bloggers will understand 🙂
THAT’S A WRAP – TIME’S UP!
And so another fun month was had by all! I also managed to fit in lots of walks while listening to podcasts, movie club, book club, a fabulous massage, new reading glasses (they’re red) and some down time – I do have priorities!
Thanks for the chat, I’ve enjoyed your company as always.
Wishing you all the best for April, what do you have you planned for the month ahead??
Deb xx
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Linking up to Denyse’s #Lifethisweek
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You take amazing photos, by the way!
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Many thanks for your kind words!! I enjoy it 🙂
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I love the idea of your AA class with the gold coin donation – what a brilliant idea and great to hear that your sister is feeling in finer fettle. I read a brilliant book called Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson – a compelling but inspiring memoir. Now I’m off to hunt down Educated, it’s been on my To Read List for a while now. Hope your April is awesome!
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Thanks Sam. I had Educated on my list for ages too and a friend lent me a copy, which meant I got to finally read it. Let me know what you think once you’ve read it.
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Loved this as I always do with your catch ups. I miss the season’s changes that are somewhat less dramatic on the coast. I toyed with the idea of coming to Canberra this autumn to catch up with blogging friends and see the colours but when I added another two hours to the trip, what used to be around 3.5 hours from our Sydney place doesn’t work for me. I love Canberra and have visited since i was a kid. There is always something to see. I am amazed that you have been blogging for this long and I had not come across your blog in the Australian Blogging community. That is where I first started and attended the first conferences and even spoke at one about how my blog started. We all got to know each other way back on twitter too and the then mamamia site which was a very friendly space to share. Not like that now. Anyway, the good news is I know you know blog-wise!
Thank you for linking up for #lifethisweek. Next week’s optional prompt is Share Your Snaps. 15/51. Hope to see you there! Denyse.
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Yes I agree, it’s been great to meet you and other Aussie bloggers along the way. My first year of blogging was very quiet but I’m still here blogging away!!!
I love Canberra too and we’re not that different in our colours in Autumn so if you ever get down there let me know! I didn’t know about the mamamia site at all back then, but obviously it’s changed a lot since. Have a great week and I’ll hopefully see you on Monday!
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From your photos it looks like you get spectacular autumn colour. We don’t get such great autumn colour here in WA, but we have planted a Chinese Tallow that has turned a beautiful burnished red over the past week. Enjoyed having a cuppa with you and enjoying your little chat. Hope your winter weather backs off for a while yet.
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Thanks Chris, it has warmed up a bit thank goodness but we’re definitely changing seasons. Yes we get some glorious colour in autumn due to being about 700mt above sea level here. Ws great to have you join me for a cuppa 🙂
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It’s always so interesting to hear about you transitioning to winter when I’m hoping for spring-time flowers to appear! Autumn is my favorite season, so it was nice to see the colors of the leaves. Spring is slow in coming even if March seemed to whiz by. Congrats on 7 years blogging! Amazing!
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It’s weird isn’t it Pat? To know about what’s going on in the garden on the other side of the world is a great treat!! Enjoy your spring flowers as I enjoy our autumn tones, I love them! Yes 7 years have flown by, thanks for the congrats 🙂
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Congrats, Debbie, on seven years of blogging! I love your quote about time. I’m doing a 2019 reading challenge proposed by my city’s library. It has certainly made me read more widely, not just in the number of books read, but the variety of authors and genres. Happy April! #lifethisweek
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Yes I really like that time quote and it fits my WOTY so well doesn’t it? I’m enjoying a few different genres too and love finding good books. Enjoy your reading challenge and April! Thanks 🙂
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Hi, Deb – I LOVE your quote about time. It’s true – we are the pilots – and that does change everything! 🙂
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Thanks Donna, it really was a great quote and so fitting for my post I thought! Glad to hear you liked it too.
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Where did March go? Seriously??
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I’m with you, where did it go….
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I don’t know, but I’m not sure I want it back…!
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Such a fun post about Time, Debbie. I have felt that time flies fastest when I am engaged in activities I like the most.
Weather-wise, south of India is experiencing unpreceded summer, with many people being affected by sunstroke. We are all expecting the first summer shower in the weekend.
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Forgot to leave the link to my post … http://bit.ly/TT-AtoZ-A
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Oh dear that’s not good to hear of your hot weather! You’re right when we’re busy it just flies by sop fast!!
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You enter autumn, I enter spring…one of my favorite seasons. Flowers are starting to peak out, leaves are coming back and I’m sneezing in the season!
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Thanks Jennifer, always great to have you pop by for a cuppa and a chat!
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I enjoyed reading your catch up post Deb. I agree with you about how Time has flown by so quickly this year. For me I put it down to being so so busy as I’m working full time for a while to cover for colleagues taking leave. Happy blogging Deb
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Thanks Jennifer, always great to have you pop by for a cuppa and a chat!
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So glad your sister is recovering & loving these flashes of Autumn colour. I’m reading The Orchardist’s Daughter now & really struggling. I’m sure that it’s just me as everyone else has loved it – and the writing is so good and so real. Perhaps that’s what I’m struggling with. The puppy thing gave me nightmares. Wishing you a great April.
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Oh that puppy scene was traumatic and the whole bully boy storyline was so believable. The writing was good but it was a bit of a bleak story in many ways. I’d just read Educated by Tara Westover so I was on a roll for such unusual family lifestyle.
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It was so real – and dark…& I needed some light. As I say I think it was me, not the book – if that makes sense…
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Yep it sure does! Move onto something lighter!
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I like autumn but it’s been a bit too cold and I miss summer! Plus the rain hasn’t helped in the last couple of weeks. Nice to see how you’ve used your word of the year to recap your month. I hope you have a wonderful April!
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Thanks Sanch, it’s a fun way of looking back at the month!
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Congrats on 7 years of blogging!
So glad you’ve got precious family time planned soon.
SSG xxx
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Thank you, it’s been fun blogging so I’ll continue a while longer 🙂
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How do you find time for all this Deb? You seem to fit in so much, good job you’re the pilot! Really enjoying following your blog so congrats on the 7 year anniversary.
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Thanks so much Jonno! I’ve been called a Hummingbird on speed for a good reason….I just continually buzz around everywhere (without the actual ‘speed’ in my system I must add). My daughters tell me I’m living the dream and I think they’re right, I just try to fit everything in. I crashed on the weekend though and hardly moved or did anything useful. Oh and my housework leaves a lot to be desired 😦
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Hi Deb what an entertaining post and I loved reading about your March. Autumn colours are my favourite although we don’t really get them up north as much as you do. I remember traveling to the US/Canada and seeing the most magnificient ‘Fall colours’ as they call them. I’m so lucky to live 10 minutes from my grandsons but alas only for a few more weeks as we will be moving to the Coast for a time after selling my MIL’s home. We hope to buy something in Brisbane that we can stay at during the week. Life is always full isn’t it? I’m sure we wouldn’t have it any other way though. I loved the Meme about Blogging. I missed seeing that one from Leanne but boy is it true! Happy April and I hope the Easter Bunny visits.#lifethisweek xx
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Thanks Sue, it’s always fun to do these monthly catch up posts isn’t it? we are very lucky with our distinct four seasons down here and i just love the colours. You really are under the pump at the moment aren’t you? So much going on for you so make sure you take time to relax too, when you can! Yes that meme just sums it up so perfectly!!!
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I’m having coffee over on my blog today too Deb – so I’ll pretend we’re having it together while I type this. Autumn is slowly creeping into WA too – a few cooler days scattered around and that makes my morning walks a lot more pleasant. Lovely to see you have family for Easter – we have my Mum and son, DIL & grandgirls for Easter so I’ll be revelling in g/baby love too. Thanks for the shout out to my FB page meme – I laughed so much when I saw her fervour in “have you shared me?” because that’s certainly what it feels like sometimes (and without a lot to show for it most of the time!) I’m so useless at selling myself and my blog I’m afraid. Happy April! xx
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Thanks Leanne, I enjoyed my cuppa with you too while reading and commenting on your post! I agree the sharing and promoting does my head in some time, I’m much better sharing other people’s work, than my own. I just love that meme 🙂 Have a fun month ahead, it’s always so good to catch up with you!
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Loveliness!
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Thanks Cindy!
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