A-Z Challenge - Theme Reveal

It's six years since I took part in the A-Z challenge on this blog. Most recently I participated on my genealogy blog in 2021. 

After reading that fellow Australian blogger Jennifer of the Best Bookish blog was taking part I made a rash decision to join her. I had been pondering for a few months but wasn't ready to commit. While I missed the opportunity to join the Theme Reveal I will add my entry to the Master List tomorrow and start posting on April 1st.

In the past year since  travel opened up for Australians Robert and I have taken several journeys at home and overseas. While I posted many photos of these adventures on Facebook I want to leave a more permanent record of some of our adventures. This challenge provides me with opportunities to share my photos and stories while recording some personal history. 

I plan to share photos and stories from our travels between April 2022 and March 2023. My theme sounded rather boring in English so I turned to Latin. The theme is In Anno Itinerantur. 

I invite you to come travelling with me here on the jillballau blog. 

You can read all about the challenge here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Feast for the Senses

Our trip to Sydney yesterday took us to a school that five of our grandsons attend. We got great value from this trip down the motorway to the big smoke.

We had a long-standing commitment to attend the school's production of Shrek in which one grandson had a big role. Earlier this year we found that another grandson would be playing in the orchestra for the production so we had two good reasons to make the trip. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the show which was lively and bright. We are in awe of the passion of these young men who, with the girls from a neighbouring school, demonstrated such commitment to the musical. 

Shrek - Program Cover

But wait ... there's more. Last weekend we discovered that two more of the grandsons would be participating in inter-school debates at school on the same evening. That presented us with an opportunity to see our young orators in action by arriving at the school a couple of hours earlier. We could only manage the 6pm debate as the older boy's debate was scheduled for the same time as the musical. 

But what about grandson number five? His dad messaged us yesterday to tell us that, as we were coming to Sydney for Shrek, we may be interested in arriving earlier and attending a musical soiree at the school at 6pm in which this young chap was playing percussion in the orchestra. 

I replied that we were coming at 6pm anyway to see a cousin debate and that we would "divide and conquer." Robert attended the debate and I went to the musical performance. Of course both of the boys distinguished themselves with their performances (and I am not at all biased). 

We relish the opportunities we have to see the boys indulge in their co-curricular activities, we wonder if the boys realise how privileged they are to attend a school that offers such a range of co-curricular activities. It's refreshing to see an emphasis on cultural as well as the more traditional sporting activites.

How fortunate we were to be able to enjoy such a feast for the senses all in one evening. 

March Birthday

On this day many years ago I remember being told that I had a new baby cousin. Today she is celebrating another birthday. As I do each year I sent her a message. This year it was in the form of a card made on Canva and sent to her via Facebook.

The first photo of Jane and I together

Today I am sending a shoutout to Jane on her birthday and to one of my favourite tools, Canva, that makes it so easy to prepare graphics for all occasions. 

Reading Challenges 2023

Last year I enjoyed participating in the Goodwill Librarian's Reading Challenge. I really enjoyed this activity which forced me to read a set number of books, many of which were outside my comfort zone.

You can read my challenge reports here.

I was all fired up for another year of the challenge but could not find it online so I went searching for alternatives.

I devoted a bit of time to finding challenges and signed up for two hosted by the Aussie Readers' Community at Goodreads. My aim is to read some of the books on my "To be Read" Pile.

A Section of my To Be Read pile


The first is Aussie Readers' A - Z Annual Challenge - Follow the Clues!

In this challenge there is a list of 26 prompts, one for each letter of the alphabet, that can be read in any order. From time to time I will share progress reports on this blog.

The Second Challenge is Aussie Readers' Annual Challenge 2023 - Calendar of Books

I have opted for the Hard Challenge

Hard Challenge. (24 books - minimum 6 Australian Authors) Do both Titles PLUS Authors, choosing a book for each month where the first letter of the author's christian or surname is the same as the month.
e.g. January. James Patterson
February. Nicci French
March. Michael Connelly

and the title that starts with the same letter as the month

e.g. January. Justice for Sara
February. Forty Words for Sorrow
March. Mistake Creek

While I am on track for both of these challenges I haven't had time to blog my progress due to our recent gallivanting in Japan and the Pacific.

Mapping our ways

While some folk may find this intrusive I love the monthly Timeline update I receive from Google that tells me where I have been in the preceeding month.

My February Travel Map

I receive this  "because I turned on Location History, a Google Account-level setting that creates Timeline, a personal map of my visited places, routes and trips."  In a nod to security I have this data set so that only I can access it. 

While it may miss those rare journeys I take without my mobile phone the app keeps a record of most of the places I have visited in Australia since 2013 and internationally since 2017. My all-time data report does not therefore list all the places in countries like India, Tibet and Egypt that I have been!

Some of the places I have visited since 2013

I try to label all my photos each night when travelling but sometimes I can't remember the spelling or correct names of particular sites, Google plots these for me so I can apply accurate labels later. It also helps when I am trying to date some random photos. I also use this data as a reference to update my Google travel map.

Being able to look at a map of places I have been for each day since 2013 is a great way to reminiscence and, for a blogger, provides many ideas for stories. 

Following is a map of our recent pre-cruise day when we hired a car in Tahiti and drove as far as we could around the perimeter of the island. These maps can be expanded to show fine detail.

A Day's driving in Tahiti

It came our way

Great show at The Civic Theatre in Newcastle on Saturday. 

It's wonderful to see some of the major shows are heading north to our regional city. I'll certainly be supporting the next two musicals that are coming our way later in the year

Thanks to my daughter for taking me to see "Come from Away", a simple but engaging show that doesn't rely on glitzy costumes or spectacular sets to tell a story. 

I first saw the show several years ago in London because I didn't think it would make its way to Australia. It did come downunder and has been a huge success.

I enjoyed it as much the second time around.

Come from Away set at The Civic

Skip-Bo

 Paddy loves joining the family for a game of  Skip-Bo. He enjoys teaming up with his big sister. 

Sea Days

I love cruising for a variety of reasons and have spent more than 500 of my days at sea on various ships.

Most of this time has been spent in recent years on our favourite cruise line. When we were young and single both Robert and I cruised separately around the Pacific. Our cruising today is much more relaxed and comfortable than in last century.

I now find the port intensive cruises where we visit a new site each day are exhausting. I have developed a love of  "Sea Days" that give us a chance to sleep in and recharge our batteries in between our explorations. 

On our recent cruise last month we had about half of our days at sea, we were fully occupied with, games, lectures, leisurely meals and socialising. My favourite activity was a series of workshops/lectures with professional photographer, Benedict Brain who encouraged us not just to take photos but to Make Photos. As well as sharing many practical tips Ben talked philosophically about photography. He made this person who takes snapshots think about taking and making photographs.

I spent much time on those Sea Days experimenting with my phone camera, exploring new apps and thinking about and playing with my photos.

While on board I took many shots of the sea, some of which I put in this collage. Thanks to Ben for encouraging me to try different things.