Hiatus Highlights
I’m shocked at how quickly my blog hiatus has flown by. Two weeks ago, I announced that I would be taking time out for two weeks. This wasn’t because I was tired or burnt out, or bored with the blog. My reasoning was that I could foresee that the upcoming two weeks was going to be really busy, and I didn’t want to be rushed and stressed. That last sentence is evidence that I am starting to slow down! Just a little. Even though I was super busy, I missed not writing my blog posts, and at times wondered why I made the decision to take time out. Mostly though I missed my readers and bloggy friends. I had to take myself seriously under control to stop myself visiting blogs to find out what was happening out there in the worlds of my friends. Now that I’m back I’m looking forward to touching base again.
So, what have I been up to over the past two weeks?
- My main reason for taking time out was that I had a huge multi day genealogy conference to attend and knew that I would need time to absorb and process the information that I absorbed. The conference, RootsTech, was held virtually, and being free this year, had over 1 million attendees from over 200 countries and territories. In a ‘normal’ year, pre Covid-19, Rootstech was an in-person conference held at Salt Lake City, Utah. I attended in 2016 and was amazed at the size of the largest genealogical conference in the world. I had a great time on each of the three days, updating my knowledge and learning new things. This conference was the biggest highlight of many over the past two weeks.
- Planning my posts for the #AtoZChallenge. For anyone who doesn’t know A-Z is a blogging challenge held every year in April. The idea is to publish a post every day for a whole month, except Sunday. This year will be my eighth year, but spread over three blogs. This year my AtoZ posts will be on my family history blog. Here’s a link to my A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal.
- Even though I’ve been busy, I’ve been making sure to walk everyday, as I’ve spent more time than usual sitting. We went on a bush walk at Whroo, which is a historic gold mining area about one hours drive from home. The purpose of going was really to search for ancestors graves in the Whroo cemetery. The area is beautiful for bushwalking so. we killed two birds with one stone, so to speak
- I’m recovering well from my broken arm, which continues to improve every day. It’s not quite right yet, but very close. I’m having physio, which is helping, and expect that my appointment at the end of March may be the last
- A few days ago, I managed to get back on the bike. I’ve been hesitant because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on my arm, too quickly. I needn’t have worried as my arm felt quite ok on the bike. It was only a short test ride, but I’m feeling confident now about a slightly longer ride in the next few days.
Flowers From A Summer Garden
The photo below, is the first flower on a new banana passionfruit plant that was planted just a couple of months ago. This plant must be in the perfect position, as it’s been growing wildly and is now flowering. I can’t wait to try out a banana passionfruit as I’ve never had one. Have you tried it? We have a normal passionfruit vine which is amazingly prolific. If you come anywhere near me at the moment, you will leave with your arms full of passionfruit. So, another passionfruit vine is exactly what we didn’t need, but Wo could resist a banana passionfruit!
Even though the past two weeks have been busy, there has been time for the garden. The hottish summer days have now gone. I say hottish, because the summer has been very mild. We’ve had hot days but nothing like our usual summer. The milder weather has been great for the garden. At this time of year, the plants are usually still trying to recover from the long hot summer days. This autumn, however, the plants are looking very healthy.
An added bonus of the milder weather is that the fire danger stress hasn’t been anywhere near as severe. It’s been a relief to not have that stress for a change.
How has life been for you over the past two weeks? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. I promise to reply to all comments.
This post is linked to Denyse’s Life This Week
and Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share
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Hi Jen – we’ve missed you and it’s great that you’re back. I can’t believe you’re tackling another AtoZ challenge. I don’t think I could muster the headspace to write so many posts – I’m down to one a week these days and that’s about my limit I’m afraid. I hope you enjoy the process and with connecting with the other participants again – they’re a great community.
Nice to see your arm is doing so well and that you’re back on your bike and almost back to normal – I guess your physical fitness has paid off in the healing process.
Welcom back 🙂
Thanks Leanne it’s so good to connect with you again. I am starting to wonder why I jumped into AtoZ again, but I do have these thoughts every year. Thanks for popping in again
Glad to hear that your 2 weeks off provided you with the time you needed to do other things. I love the photo of your banana passionfruit flower. I’m very familiar with this fruit, as we had a vine many, many years ago in Albany (Australia) and they were one of my absolute favourite fruits at the time! I hope you enjoy them when they finally come to fruit for you. Wishing you a lovely week ahead.
Cheryl you’re the first person I r come across who has tried banana passionfruit. I can’t wait to try it
Welcome back, Jennifer! I’m glad to hear you had a fun-filled blogging break and your arm continues to improve. I’ve had passion fruit but not banana passion fruit. You’ve got a beautiful collection of flowers from your garden. #lifethisweek
Thanks Natalie. Good to catch up again. See you at #weekendcoffeeshare
Jennifer, Glad to see you at #weekendcoffeeshare. All the best with your AtoZ challenge.
Hi Natalie, thanks for popping in again
Welcome back Jen and what an interesting time you’ve had during your time away. The conference would have been so fascinating and good for you doing the AtoZ Challenge again. Glad your arm is on the mend and your bushwalks look just the thing to clear the mind. Have a great week! #lifethisweek
Thanks Sue. Thanks also for popping in again
My other hobby is genealogy as well but I haven’t really done much of it over the last couple of years. I have another blog that I used to write my family history for my sons and nephews. It keeps you busy I expect as I remember staying up til all hours researching if I was on the trail of a new ancestor!
I agree Christina, researching your family history can cause lack of sleep
Good on you for doing the A to Z challenge – you’re a braver woman than me! You certainly kept yourself busy over your “break” the conference sounds so interesting and the garden looks blooming wonderful! Welcome back!
Thanks Sammie. I’ve missed reading your blog so happy to reconnect
Lovely to see you back Jen, yes you’ve been missed! I love passionfruit and that flower is divine! The conference sound huge and I’m glad you were able to attend and spend time concentrating. I’ve never done the A-Z and wish you well. I’m so glad you’ve managed to get back on the bike, it’s a good sign you’re healing well. #lifethisweek
Thanks Deb. Very happy to be catching up with you again.
You were very disciplined and did take the time out needed. Well done. It must feel weird not to be travelling to places. For us, it’s not much different as we do not go to much and are content not to be travelling. I used to be interested but with my eating limitations it’s not worth it. However, not a whinge, just a catch up!!
Thanks so much for linking up for Life This Week #231. Glad to have you add your post as part of the community here. Next week. the optional prompt is Good. Hope to see you there. Denyse.
I’m happier at home these days too Denyse. But I’m very anxious to be able to go to Sunshine coast to see my son and grandsons. See you at #lifethisweek on Monday
I LOVED RootsTech this year. I didn’t feel rushed to view as many sessions as possible because I can still access them throughout the year.
I’ve participated in the A-Z Challenge off-and-on for the past six years or so. I’m not sure I will be able to devote that kind of time to blogging this year, however. We are contemplating a major move from the Midwest (U.S.) to Florida (!) That should provide lots of blogging material for next year’s challenge though 🙂
Wasn’t it great! It’s great to be able to access the sessions for a whole year. I’m not rushing them at all. Im not sure if committing to AtoZ was a good idea, but it’s done now so I’ll just have to make it work. Sounds like next year could be a great year for AtoZ for you.
Funny, as I sit here I have been toying with taking a two- week (or perhaps longer?) blogging break. I have been having severe joint paint in my arms and shoulder and being in front of my computer so much seems to be making it worse and yet the thought of taking a break does make me sad. I know I am going to be tempted to read and comment on all those blogs I do look so forward to reading each week! Glad to hear your time away was so productive. My grandfather was big into genealogy and traced our family ancestry back to the crossing of the Mayflower! Of course while he was alive and interested in all this I certainly wasn’t but now I do think it’s rather fascinating and wish I had learned even more about our family history.
Hi Joanne. I was a bit stress about taking the blog break and had to force myself to stay away. Happy I did it though, and happy now to be back. I’d be very excited to find I had Mayflower ancestors.
I’m looking forward to the A to Z challenge this year too 🙂
My theme is Grammatical Glitches.
This sounds like a great theme. I’m looking forward to seeing how you approach it
Your blog challenge sounds fun. I did something similar a few years in a row called Write 31 Days…not structured, you just chose a topic and wrote every day of the month. I’ve been thinking about doing it again. Maybe this summer. We’ll see. I love the flowers in your yard. So pretty. I’m glad your arm is healing. I’ve joined #weekendcoffeeshare the last month and have really enjoyed it.
I’m new to #weekendcoffeeshare too Kirsten. I’m enjoyed meeting new bloggers. Will pop over to your blog