Wednesday Words & Whimsy
Posted on by Debbie

A new book, a sunset and BlueyFest…#WWWhimsy

Another new book is out with a story from me in it

Tumbarumba Under Siege
Tumbarumba Under Siege

This book came about after the devastating bushfires swept through our area in December 2019 and January 2020. The local Writers Group received a grant to put together a book of stories and photos and set about asking locals to submit their stories. Although we were away at the time I have been included with my thoughts and perspective on being on the other side of the world watching it all unfold. I used my blog posts, written at the time to share my thoughts, and some of these words are now in the book.

To be honest I can’t read the book for too long as I get goosebumps and tingles and feel very anxious, despite knowing the outcome of the fires. The raw emotions are too much to handle and I have to pace myself on reading everyone’s words. I think that’s pretty normal for this type of situation though.

The posts I used were:

I’m very proud to have my words in this new book which is available in town for $40 with all proceeds going to charity.

Sunset after a storm

I took this photo just last night after a storm had been through. I love the colours and layers in the sky and as I was driving home the whole sky in front of me changed from oranges to pinks before the sun went down altogether.

I’m reading (or listening to in actual fact), a great book called The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair and it is so interesting, I can’t help but think of it when I see such colours in nature!

sunset after the storm

I’ve also been telling everyone about the historical facts I’ve picked up about colours and how they started out their lives (from the book) – fascinating stuff!

BlueyFest Countdown

A few weeks ago my daughter let us know that the ABC were calling for votes on the top 100 Bluey episodes, called the Biggest Little Bluey Countdown. Bluey has been around for five years now! So of course I voted along with 50000 other people.

They then had a BlueyFest on ABC Kids TV, playing the countdown from 100 to 1 on Sunday November 19 and while I didn’t watch it all day, I did tune in and out to see what was happening with my favourite episodes.

My daughters also were messaging during the day with their take on it all. It was more fun than the triple j Hottest 100 which is held on the 4th Saturday of January each year and collects millions of votes for the top song, counting down to the number 1 song for the year.

FUNFACT: The triple j poll has been going since 1989 but it seems the Bluey countdown has now tapped into many of those parents who used to vote for their song of the year but are now watching more Bluey episodes than listening to music!

The top five episodes as voted by the public are listed below and here’s the link for the BlueyFest countdown in case you missed it!

  • #5 Here come the Grannies
  • #4 Sleepytime
  • #3 Granny Mobile
  • #2 Baby Race
  • #1 Cricket

I love all of these episodes especially Sleepytime which is just beautiful with cinematic and, like some other Bluey episodes, uses classical music. The Cricket episode is fabulous and almost brings me to tears – it says so much about what Australians are like and shows the world in a lovely light rather than all the doom and gloom that’s about at the moment. It’s uplifting

One of my all time favourites is Rain and came in at #8 – it has no talking and is just Bluey and her mum playing in the rain damming up the water in the front yard. At first Chilli, Bluey’s mum, is upset at Bluey tracking mud into the house but she ends up joining in with Bluey’s game and at the end a double rainbow appears it’s such a sweet story done so well!

Bluey Rain episode
Bluey Rain episode

Anyway I enjoyed the BlueyFest way more than a 62 year old Granny with no kids at home should have but it was such a pleasant time, watching happy TV with playful sounds in the background, rather awful people being mean, political, cynical and depressing!

A bit of whimsy for this week!

Wednesday Words & Whimsy #WWWHIMSY

Since the sad demise of Denyse’s Words and Pics blog a few weeks ago, along with her weekly linkup, Min at Write of the Middle, has taken up the mantle and started a new linkup for bloggers. It’s called Wednesday Words & Whimsy – it started on 25 October 2023 and you can read more about it here.

Here is the logo Min has devised and everyone is invited to join in with a post – just go to her blog for the linkup – here.

WWWHIMSY LOGO
WWWHIMSY LOGO

What’s life without whimsy?

Dr Sheldon Cooper – The Big Bang Theory

Deb x

Also linking to Natalie’s #WeekendCoffeeshare

WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE
WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE

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!

Debbie - mother of a 40 year old

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. You can read more of Deb’s story here

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38 Replies to “A new book, a sunset and BlueyFest…#WWWhimsy”

  3. Hi, Debbie – It is amazing that those devastating bush fires happened four years ago. It feels so much closer than that. I am so pleased that you were able to contribute your beautiful writing. I understand that this would be a very emotional book to read.

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  4. Love all the whimsy items in the post, the direct opposite of the fire which you lead with. I must pull up a Bluey episode when the grandkids are here. That sunset — hm delicious. Glad your thoughts made the book. I remember when you were away and how concerned your were. Bernie

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    1. I’m sure you’d enjoy Bluey Bernie but for me at the moment with all that’s going on in the world I’d be happy to watch Bluey til the cows come home and ignore all the rest of it!

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  5. Congratulations on being a published author yet again! It is so hard to read or watch something so traumatic.

    I’ve never watched Bluey, but I must now. My grands are all teenagers so it’s been a minute.

    Your photos are always amazing, Debbie, but this one of the sky after the storm is so beautiful.

    Thanks for sharing your world with me.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Thanks Marsha the books are rolling in at the moment!! Bluey is just lovely and makes me smile every time and the world needs more of it! The sunset sky was gorgeous and my photo didn’t capture it properly but I’m glad you got the idea!

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  6. Hi Deb, that’s wonderful to have your stories and thoughts from that time included in the book! I remember when that all happened and how worrying it was for you. I can totally understand how hard it would be to read when it’s your town and you know the people in it etc. Beautiful sunset photo! Thanks so much for linking up with #WWWhimsy Hope you enjoy the rest of the week! xo

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  7. Congratulations on another publication, Debbie. I can imagine how difficult it must be reading about the fires so close to home. Also, that nature photo is stunning. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  11. My grandchildren love Bluey. I have just bought my granddaughter the new computer game for her birthday. Actually It took me a while to discover Bluey was a girl.

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    1. HI Anne, good to hear your grandchildren like Bluey and lucky giorl getting the video game. My daughter has bought it for my granddaughter for Christmas. Yes a lot of people get confused about Bluey being a girl 🙂 Thanks!

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  14. Oh I did love seeing that sky when you posted. I don’t think I could read or see the pics in that special book without having some kind of emotional response. I remember well that you and G had no idea of what you would come home to. I watched Bluey a while back and LOVED it but it also made me “sad” because those days of watching TV with little ones had long gone. I think the show is very clever. My TV viewing with little ones..who are now adults included The Night Garden, The Teletubbies, The Wiggles et al and our bank account suffered from my ‘deep need’ to have ALL the items associated with the shows. I am enjoying being back as a commenter….Denyse

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    1. Hi Denyse, the sky shot was a case of being in the right place at the right time and I love the layers of colour. Yes I can imagine that as the grandkids get older the TV shows change and Bluey is probably not theirn preferred show. Lovely to have you back as a commenter 🙂

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  15. So good that there’s a book to commemorate all that the town went through. We had a major bushfire nearby several years ago that decimated one of our little local towns. They did a commemorative book about it – and I think it was really cathartic for those who were interviewed.

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