Hello and Welcome to Deb’s World
Well here we are at end of the first month of 2022 – and I can assure you my year of being a Gift has started well!
I suggest you grab a drink, get comfy and settle in for a bit of a read!
Gift is my WOTY for 2022
As I said in my post announcing Gift as my WOTY:
I can be gift, give a gift, receive a gift, I am a gift, I can gift my time and energy, I have a special gift….the list goes on!
As in previous years I plan to reflect on my WOTY at the end of each month – what I’ve managed to give, how I’ve been giving and what it all means to me.
I’m hoping it will help me focus during the coming year and help me to make good decisions, I think I say that every year 🙂 It’s always great to look back on these posts too!
This year I’m joining co-hosts Donna, Jo and Sue to provide a link party for anyone who also wants to write a monthly update to help keep the focus on their WOTY. Hoping you can join in with us.
Let’s get this party started!
January has been full of gifts – some I’ve given and some I’ve received.
- The GIFT of a first birthday – my grandson turned 1 during January and what a gift he’s been – fun, cheeky, smiley, cuddly and clever!
- The GIFT of friendship – so many fun friend moments creating memories. My co-hosts and I were interviewed by Marsha for her Challenge Host Interview Series and we loved sharing our friendship.
- The GIFT of memories of my father – it was 4 years ago that we lost dad, but I know he’s forever with us. It was good to have mum staying with us for a few days during this time – the gift of time.
- The GIFT of reading – I love reading and couldn’t imagine life without it! Our WOYBS linkup is the perfect place to share our love of books. Donna has suggested I read some books about GIFTS during the year – what books would you recommend?
- The GIFT of marriage – the Mathematician and I celebrated 42 years of wedded bliss (?) in January – that’s a huge number of years!!
- The GIFT of tennis – we’ve had the great distraction of watching the Australian Open tennis during January and it’s always a great way to spend warm summery days! In the past we have attended the event in Melbourne and love the atmosphere and action, but with present conditions in place we gave it a miss this year. We tend to message our daughters throughout the games and it’s a fun way of stay in touch.
- The GIFT of time – I helped a friend with her garage sale recently. Her husband died last year and she is planning on moving so needed to clear things out. It was a group effort and we all enjoyed gifting her our time.
- The Mathematician has a birthday in January so of course I’ve bought him some GIFTS 🙂
- The GIFT of music – you may not know about it, but a tradition in January each year is the Triple J Hottest 100, a countdown of the hottest songs for the year as voted by the public. It’s conducted by the public broadcaster, ABC Radio, and attracts millions of votes – here is a link to the Top 10 songs -such a wide range! This year the children’s group The Wiggles made history by taking out the top spot with their version of Tame Impala’s song ‘Elephant’ – I’ve included the video for your viewing pleasure – make sure you keep an ear out for the Wiggle’s iconic Fruit Salad which makes an appearance! My 3 year old granddaughter loves The Wiggles! Have you heard of them by any chance?
The gift of a New Year
As I’ve done in past years, I’m sticking with having a feature photo for the month. And this was the bright blue sky, a blank canvas to start the new year – a gift! Who knows what the year ahead will hold 🙂
This Leunig cartoon also spoke to me and fits in well with my sky image above.
The Gift of Recognition
The biggest thing to happen during the month was receiving an award in the local Tumbarumba Australia Day Awards. These awards are nominated by the public and a committee selects the winners. There are several categories: Citizen of the Year, Senior Citizen, Young Citizen, Sporting Award, Community Event of the Year, Community Group of the Year and then Special Achievement Awards.
The Mathematician and I were honoured to receive a Special Achievement Award for our volunteering in the local community. We are very proud to have been recognised in this way. Of course we don’t do what we do to get noticed or to get an award, we do what we do because we enjoy it, we love helping others and seeing things happen for the better in our community. We wouldn’t live anywhere else!
The citation reads:
Debbie & Grant Harris have been supporters of the local community for over 30 years. Grant has been a Kokoda Trek leader with Rotary’s Tumba2Kokoda since its inception in 2006 and still leads walks for locals on a weekly basis, a particularly valuable activity especially since the bushfires two years ago. Debbie is an active Rotarian and Past President of the Tumbarumba Club.
Both Debbie and Grant haven been heavily involved in the successful development of the Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail. Debbie spends much time and effort in publicising the Rail Trail on various forms of social media and is keen on getting the message out there about our beautiful area.
The purchase of two Triobikes with funds from Rotary, Lions and the Tumba2Kokoda account plus various other donors, has allowed older and infirm members of the community to have a Rail Trail experience, which would otherwise be denied them. Both Debbie and Grant are very involved as volunteers in this project. Grant has initiated and led the development and training of the TrioBike pilots. He continues to make himself available on request to pilot older community members, and others, on the rail trail while Debbie is more often than not the support rider on these trips, helping make the passengers comfortable and ensuring they have a photographic record of their trip, a significant commitment in time and effort.
Debbie and Grant have, through their joint efforts, make our community a better place in which to live.
You can only imagine how proud and humbled we feel. Having mum there to share the day with us was very special too!
You’re invited! What’s it all about?
What: 2022 Word of the Year Link Party #2022wotylinkparty
When: Last Thursday of the month PM (Northern Hemisphere)/ Last Friday of the month AM (Southern Hemisphere). The link will be open for 3 days so you’ve got plenty of time to join.
Why: To encourage us all to keep the focus on our chosen WOTY.
Where: Link Party, Blog, Blog Comments, Instagram or other Social Media.
Who: This linkup is open to everyone.
How: You can share in the comments, with a blog post, or on other social media of your choice. Include the hashtag #2022wotylinkparty so that we can find you and include your link in our posts. Whichever way you choose to share, don’t forget to leave a note in the comments so we can find you.
We’re live at 9am (AEDST) Friday 28th January, 2022 and if you’re linking up a blog post you can do so by clicking on the blue link below. Take a look at some of the posts to see how others are managing their WOTY in 2022.
“It’s okay to be the teacup with a chip in it. That’s the one with a story .
Matt Haig The Comfort Book
I hope you have enjoyed my first month of my WOTY GIFT.
What’s your GIFT?
Thanks very much for stopping by, I always appreciate your visits and any comments you leave me 🙂
Deb xx
You can find Jo’s, Sue’s and Donna’s WOTY posts here –
Also linking up with Natalie for her #weekendcoffeeshare party
You can also find Deb’s World in lots of other places – stay in touch by clicking any of the buttons below.
Everyone has a story to tell! Deb is a young-at-heart & active 60+ blogger/retiree, after being made redundant from her 22-year career managing education programs in a men’s correctional centre (jail). She now spends her time reading, blogging, riding her ebike and travelling. Deb was awarded a Bravery Award from the Queen when she was 17 after a tragic accident – a definite life changing moment! She is married with 3 grown-up daughters & has 4 grandchildren. She never imagined being Granny Debs would bring so much joy to her life! You can read more of Deb’s story here
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Deb's World 
The first book about gifts that pops into my mind is a lovely old gem…..Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh…..have you read it?
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No Carol, I’ve not read that so will add it to my list! Many thanks 🙂
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You’re welcome! She wrote it at the beach so maybe it should be read there, too?!
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Sounds like a good plan!
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congrats on the award – you both are gifts to the community –
and your word of the year is a great one and the blue sky device cartoon was quite Henry David Thoreau-ish
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I am still thinking of my word for this year- and will link up when I get it down –
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Thanks Yvette, that’s so lovely of you to say! I loved that cartoon about the sky, it’s so true isn’t it? Hope to see you join in at some stage but no pressure 🙂
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🙂
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So many gifts (and so much to love) in one little month! Congratulations to you and Grant – you both do so much for the community and deserve it. I have a feeling I’m going to love your take on this word of the year as much as I did BOLD.
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I know, it’s been a huge month with gifts everywhere I looked! That’s a big call from you Jo, the pressure was on after my BOLD year so I hope I manage OK with Gift this year. Thanks for your congrats, it was a huge honour and we are thrilled to be recognised but also humbled by all the good work that gets done by volunteers.
I’m loving all the various Words and posts, so enlightening!
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Congratulations on your award Deb. What a gift that was and I’d say well deserved. January also sounds like it has been a precious gift. I enjoyed reading about what this month meant to you.
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Many thanks for that Jen. We love what we do in our community. Yes my WOTY has been a real Gift so far 🙂
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Congratulations on your reward!! You have been busy living your WOTY! I’m still at the reflecting on my word stage..
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Thanks Joanne, it’s amazing how my WOTY ends up being just what I need each year to keep on track. Life is full of gifts we just have to see them for what they are sometimes!
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Such a great month Deb – and well done on the award too. You’re obviously living life to the full and you can’t ask for more than that. I don’t publish my Jan post until Monday so can’t link up – but I’ve enjoyed catching up on the ones that have linked. Maybe next month?
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Thanks Leanne, it really has been a big start to the year with lots of ups and downs and emotions. The award was a lovely surprise and we are very proud and happy to live in our community. Looking forward to reading your post on Monday, the linkup is still open then so i hope you can add it in for us all to enjoy.
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Hi Deb, what a fabulous start to 2022 and your WOTY ‘Gift’. Your gift of creativity is shining through with all the ways to use your word in January. Congratulations on your Special Achievement Awards which are so very well deserved and it is lovely to be recognised for all the good works you and Grant do for your community. I love the photo of you both with your awards. So much fun and laughter to start your year and a first birthday celebration is always special. Zac and Emelia look like they are definitely having fun with you both. I think that using our WOTY to focus on helps us to appreciate the good in our lives rather than being affected by what’s happening in the world. Bring on February and I look forward to reading your Gift post. Thanks for being a co-host for the 2022 Word of the Year Link party – the friendship from you and the team is a gift to me, that’s for sure. xx
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Thanks so much Sue, it’s certainly been a full month and I love looking for the gifts around me. I am loving all the posts in the linkup as everyone is so different with some fabulous WOTY. It was such a great idea of yours to have the link party and it will definitely help me to stay on track. We certainly make a good team :
Thanks too for the congratulations on our award, we are both very pleased and proud as shows on our faces!
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That was an awesome catch up for ONE month of Gift….what a time! And congratulations to you both on such an accolade from your local and much loved community where you both make such a difference!
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I know Denyse, hopefully each month I’ll have something to say but probably not as much as I had this month! It’s certainly been a lot happening with all the highs and lows of life. Thanks for your congrats, it’s a wonderful community to be a part of 🙂
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Thanks for the link up…and with the personal development I am doing, I reckon I might be joining in again too.
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Hi, Debbie (and The Mathematician) – Congratulations on your Special Achievement Award and on your 42nd Wedding Anniversary. There’s so much to celebrate. As this post brilliantly shows, your gifts have been abundant!
Thank you for this uplifting and very inspiring post. Your joyful smile is contagious!
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Many thanks for your congratulations Donna, we were thrilled to receive the award. Gifts are all around us and my WOTY is a fabulous way to take note and marvel at them plus share them in a monthly update 🙂
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Great word of the year Deb. You can give so many different types of gift as you say. Congratulations on 42 years too, wonderful. What anniversary is that?
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Thanks Jonno, we are doing well after all those years together!! It seems to be jasper for 42 years, I had to look that up though!
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Debbie, Congratulations to you and your husband on your wedding anniversary and the Special Achievement Award! Looks like January has brought you many gifts and you’ve been giving many gifts to your family, friends, and community, too. Thank you for co-hosting the WOTY link-up. I added my post. Have a wonderful week!
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Many thanks Natalie, we were so honoured to be recognised in our little community as there are many who work hard in helping out.
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Congratulations on your anniversary and the volunteer award, gifts indeed. And what a great WOTY, Debbie! I like that you chose a noun/verb that is so versatile in its definitions. I look forward to reading your experiences with “gift” over the rest of the year. I finally landed on mine and it’s a versatile noun-verb combo word, too, and I think you will agree with it when I share it this Sunday. I hope it won’t be too late for the link-up since I missed the Bonbon linky by hours. I adore that cartoon!
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Hi Terri thanks for your congrats, we are both happy with how things are going. I’m loving my WOTY already despite being worried about it after such a great year of being Bold. So pleased you managed to link up with our WOTY link party too, a great WOTY.
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You two are definitely gifts to your community and to each other. Grandchildren are definitely a gift. Will be linking up shortly with my WOTY
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Many thanks for your kind words Bernie!
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This is great, Deb. I’m looking forward to participating this year. I just read the Widow Badass’s word and love it. I’m going to come back to this later when it’s not so late.
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I loved Deb’s word and her post, such a fun way of looking at the year ahead! Thanks Marsha 🙂
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We’ll forge ahead together!
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How lovely to read about your first month of giving, being, receiving, etc, a gift. Wonderful that you’ve received that award! And it looks like you had a pleasant, gift-filled month. As you know I’ve been at least indulging in the gift of music!
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Thanks Susanne! It’s been a big month with many highs and lows but I’m determined to see the positives and the gifts all around me. Keep indulging in your guitar work, it’s great to have a passion!
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Hi Deb,
Congrats on all the cool stuff you reported above.
Just so you know, I don’t trust myself with a WOTY selection.
I’d be too tempted to pick something like, “pugnacious” and then I’d have to live with the twisted results..
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Thank you Gary, always good to have an interesting WOTY and pugnacious is a brilliant choice!
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What a great WOTY! I love how you’ve already embraced it and made it part of your world. Great post!
My WOTY this year is ‘bloom’.
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Yes Trisha, it’s been a great WOTY so far and I’m enthused to see what the rest of the year will bring me and what I can gift to others along the way! Love the word Bloom too 🙂 Thanks.
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Congratulations Deb on 42 years of marriage (impressive!) and the Tumbarumba Australia Day Award. As you noted, your January was full of gifts. Here’s to an equally fabulous February!
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Thanks Christie, I sometimes can’t believe it’s that many years but yes it is! The award was a pleasant surprise and topped of a very generous January.
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Congratulations on your anniversary and award! So cool!
And… the Wiggles. My son *loved* them (he’s 23 now, so we’re talking quite awhile ago). They came to Portland, Oregon while we were living there, so we took him to see them. He was 4 or 5, and it was his first concert. We told him we were going to see them, but he didn’t really get it till they came onstage. He jumped out of his seat and screamed, “It’s really them!” and went nuts. It. Was. Awesome. And so were they. So talented, so funny. And now I have, “Fruit Salad” stuck in my head 🙂
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This made me smile Janet, your son’s reaction would have been priceless! It’s so funny for me having granddaughter now so enamoured of them 🙂
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I love your word and your thoughts to go with it. So good. Congratulations on the award. Very cool. I haven’t listened to the wiggles in so long. My girls loved them.
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Thanks for your kind words Kirstin! The Wiggles seem to be timeless don’t they?
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A great word to choose, Deb – you’ve already thought of so many great reasons to choose it! Toni x
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Thanks Toni, it’s working for me well so far!
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