text: As you know, TIME is my word of the year and I’m well aware of how fast it goes! Can you believe we’re already into May? My monthly wrap-up posts for the year will all have a similar flavour, taking into account the TIME theme.
  Make the most of my alone TIME during April included reading, walking in the forest, a massage, a hair appointment, blogging and catching up with friends. My sunroom was a very comfortable place to while away the hours. Although I enjoyed my time alone, I was very pleased to have some company over Easter and to see my husband return home safe and sound.
  As well as the Mathematician being away, our Rotary Exchange Student Anna was also away most of the month on her group Safari seeing parts of Australia I still haven’t seen. When she arrived back we had a night together as a family before she moved on to her next family in town. We’ll definitely miss having her at home with us.
  We had the official ‘turning of the sod’ celebration while the Mathematician was away, which was a shame as he has been instrumental in getting to where we are today. Construction of the pilot Rail Trail for NSW has started and we couldn’t be happier! You can read more here – Good news about the Rail Trail and in my recent Winners and Losers #6
  Have you seen my new Friday Feature, where I share various bits that have made me laugh or cry during the week? It’s fun compiling these posts and I find I’m taking more notice of things that are going on around me. I’ve been heartened with the response I’ve been getting too, so thank you to all my faithful readers for your continued support, ideas and suggestions.
  I was happy to be a guest on Sue’s Sizzling Towards 60 with a post for Active April – it was all about Chiball and Keeping Active after 50
  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
  The Sunday Stills photo challenge during April included some interesting themes from Terri. For the love of reading and books, I shared a very special book my father wrote. Another prompt was Gate, and I used some photos of Hells Gates in Tasmania. For the prompt of Spirit, I shared a magical stand of trees nearby to home, called Sugar Pine Walk.
  It was fun to have our youngest daughter pop home for a long weekend in early April. She said she just wanted to be home with us for the weekend, and as she lives in Brisbane, over 1000km away, it’s not always easy to just ‘pop’ home. We thoroughly enjoyed having her with us and catching up with her in person. She’s always good at staying in touch but nothing beats face to face chats while sitting in the autumn sun on the front deck. I wrote about her visit in my Winners and Losers #5 post.
  I had a full house over the Easter break, with my mother, my sister and brother-in-law, my daughter and son-in-law and baby granddaughter as well as day visits from my brother and uncle. It was very pleasant catching up and we all enjoyed the glorious autumn weather. It’s quite unusual for my mother to have all three of her children together in the one spot, as we’re all quite spread out around the countryside.