A poem submitted by James Patmore.

April 22, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha7 Comments

If I was an arrow, what would I hit?
Would I kill the beast or fall short
Would the string be pulled to guide me straight?
Or would I break in the fall?

If I was a tree where would I stand?
My supports the ground, yet it’s all just sand
My roots grow down to try and keep
Me from falling, into the deep

If I was a song, would I be sung, If I was a story would I be read?
If I follow the line the world chose for me, would I be truly safe and free?
Or when I have my dying breath, would all I trust be for nought

On this earth, I now stand
My path I must choose
The guide I pick will either lead me home
Or torment me when I’m in the deep

If I was a rose, would I be proud
My colours glowing my petals open
Or would I whither and fade away
To join the litter on the ground.
If I was a cloud,
where would I go
would I cause rain, cause the snow
Or in the pushing winds float far away
Until at last I fade

By myself I am weak,
I have no strength inside of me
Its strength in the Lord keeps me going
He’s my bowman, he’s my roots
If I was a rose, I’d chose to open
Displaying his colours for the world to see.

Poetry credit: James Patmore

Lifestyle · Midnight motivation and musings · Self Help

Midnight Motivations and Musings 67

April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha19 Comments

Naturally as humans, when we are witnesses to the success of others, there’s a deep inclination inside us that experiences a tinge of envy and want.

This is what gives birth to rivalry and competitiveness.

However, there are ways of harnessing our human need to excel and thrive without letting jealous notions be the main driver or our desire.

One, it’s not sustainable to operate that way because your function will be based on clouded emotions that will get the better of you.

Two, it’s never been a successful line to tow and a jealous master is a dangerous one.

Asides from the scriptural angle of things, it’s simply a terrible way for one to spend their lives comparing themselves to others.

It’s a far better approach seeking your own route. If you per chance admire the work of someone else and wish to do the same, be pragmatic about it. Learn

Family · Lifestyle · Personal · The Great Book Of Lists

Oh My! What A Long List..

April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

Please don’t peek too closely at my long list of groceries but I have a household to nourish you know 😉

For this week’s The great book of lists, our grocery shopping list is the prompting word.

I have a love and hate relationship with shopping, but it’s unavoidable and since I cook virtually every day except on evenings that we eat out thus, my grocery/shopping list is a quite lengthy.

I actually have a typed list on my computer which I print off and take along with me, even though taking the list has never stopped me from buying something that’s not on it, especially if it looks like a good bargain 😉

I have two phases of shopping. Regular shopping marts for everything and a visit to the African store for condiments to make our native soups and delicacies 😉

I always like a full larder and I do bulk shopping twice a month and then pick up fresh goods like vegetables, bread, milk etc as the need arises.

My children accompany me and sometimes Dear Himself can be talked into tagging along when he’s not at work.

My kiddos are learning to sniff out good bargains too which is a mix of joy at their company and exasperation 😉

The list runs from food items in one trolley and other needed household items in another basket.

Meat: We are Carnivores. Sometimes I think I am breeding little Tigers.

Fish: To balance out the meat.

Chicken:

Ham, sausages etc:

Eggs: We ate lots of eggs. Scrambled, poached, boiled, omelette…

Cheese: Yess!!! I love cheese

Beverages. My children like Nesquick or Nestle Milo.

Milk. Everyone takes full cream except me *not that it’s helped much

Yoghurt

Waffle mix

Pasta

Rice

Beans

Fresh vegetables

Fresh fruits: Lots and lots of mix of oranges, grapefruit, pomegranates,

watermelon, bananas, dates, clementines, avocado ….

This list could go on for ages so I will let your imagination do the rest.

Somehow, a bar or several of chocolate have a way of sneaking into my trolley 🙂

Hey! Don’t judge! What’s a girl to do anyway? Chocolate always goes well with a good book 😉

Echos Of My Neighbourhood · Travel

Za’abeel Palace’s outer grounds…Echoes of my neighbourhood 15

April 21, 2016April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha33 Comments

On Thursday’s, I share pictures about ‘Echos of my Neighbourhood.

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.

Every Thursday, share a photo of bits and pieces of wherever you are at any point in time. It could be a house, backgrounds of your neighbourhood, activities and so forth and you can tag it Echos of my Neighbourhood, add my link to your post so that I will get the ping from your post.

Every other Thursday, I will publish a post with the links of all those who participated the previous week.

This is just a fun way of getting to see more of the World around us through your eyes since we cannot all be at those places, we could, at least, see them through you.

At night with children running up and down

Part of the grounds that’s beautifully lit at night

This week found me visiting the palace grounds again to go and see the peacocks.

Za’abeel Palace is one of the palaces for the ruling house of Dubai. It’s situated on very expansive ground space, with beautiful ostentatious surroundings. It has some of Dubai’s well-known landmarks like the Burj Khalifa at it’s back and the Emirates twin towers.

The palace grounds is home to so many beautiful peacocks that love to eat peanuts and if you are lucky, they can eat out of your hands.

The ambience is lovely both in the daylight and at night. One day, who knows, I might get a sneak peek into the inner courts of the Palace 😉

Last Week Echoes took us to different neighbourhoods, hop on let’s go see and we will be glad to see some of yours.

Jazzytower shows us beautiful, majestic cherry blossoms and lots of robust looking Geese. There’s so much to like about this cheery photos. Take a peek.

Subic bay skywatch I am literally jealous of Lady Lee. Beautiful photos, frolic in the water, picnic… 😉

Kat will have you hypnotised in two minutes flat. I want one of this 🙂

Giggles and tales shows us beautiful elevated landscape views of Copenhagen. You can fly to Denmark through her link.

Please do share a peek of your neighbourhood with us. Regards

Jacqueline

Uncategorized

Featured Posts …. Let me share your post links.

April 21, 2016April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha

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‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’

Today’s featured blogs are:

Ability to face each day This is a simple message that I believe so much in. It makes a whole lot of difference.

A slice of life Michelle’s new blog is about sharing little bits of Sunshine that happens in her life and will make you smile 🙂

Falling I am certain that possessing certain powers like seeing ghosts is not everybody’s cup of tea, even for the child of magic like Sarn.

A real man a beautiful tribute to a real man. When a man loves his family, it shows in the legacy he leaves behind.

Niki’s thoughts Niki’s blog is a new find of mine and so far, I must say that I like what I see 🙂

‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’

Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.

P.S. Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.

Thank you for your understanding and regards.

‘We create a cohesive community when we come together.’

Everyday People · Photographs · Quotes For You

Work it out!…Every day beautiful people

April 21, 2016April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

‘If you want to go fast you go alone, but if you want to go far, you go together’ African Proverb

#Team work. Sometimes we go it alone, but we wear out easily. When we join forces with others, we go a whole distance further because of their support.

I walked at my own pace and took photos here and there, in-between this time, teamed couples jogged past me, individuals jogged past me and I am not exaggerating when I observed the individuals like me leaving faster and those together stayed longer at it.

This observation was done over several days. I like to call it social engineering aka people watching 😉

Uncategorized

A Monthly Blog Party…Let’s Mingle and Rock..

April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha7 Comments

A good day to you today.
Do keep a date for a lovely party.
Here’s your invitation.
Love and Light.

Jacqueline

a cooking pot and twisted tales

I am saving you a nice seat

With lots of goodies too 🙂

Fabulous Tea Party coming up

Last weekend of the month 30 Apr/1st May.

It’s always a blast and lots of fun.

Let’s connect and mingle.

You are all invited and you can bring a friend along.

The more, the merrier

Please do keep a date

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Lifestyle · Midnight motivation and musings

Midnight Motivations and Musings # 66

April 20, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha12 Comments

Personally, I have sometimes found myself in a quandary as I am filled with an ambitious drive to achieve so much simultaneously and the lessons learnt by so doing, is that something always suffers for the other.

There’s no way to do so many things excellently well when the attention span has been spread so thin.

The need to accomplish often comes hand in hand with the feeling that one is a bit behind, thus the attempt to bundle up and get so much done becomes irresistible.

However, taming the desire to rev all engines and streamlining these projects yields a better result.

One feels less pressured and more productive when they set a deliverable timeline for each one and take it one after the other.

Blog-hopping · Photographs

A Monthly Blog Party…Let’s Mingle and Rock..

April 20, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha6 Comments

I am saving you a nice seat

With lots of goodies too 🙂

Fabulous Tea Party coming up

Last weekend of the month 30 Apr/1st May.

It’s always a blast and lots of fun.

Let’s connect and mingle.

You are all invited and you can bring a friend along.

The more, the merrier

Please do keep a date

Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

That Mysterious Spirit Of Deja Vu…Writers Quote Wednesday

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha14 Comments

Have you ever met someone for the first time, but in your heart you feel as if you’ve met them before? JoAnne Kenrick, When A Mullo Loves A Woman

The prompt for this week’s writers quote is ‘mystery.’ We can write a piece of fiction, poetry etc, incorporating the word mystery.

I chose to write on incident’s that I have experienced severally in my life, especially because I had one just over the weekend and I daresay that you’ve probably had several yourself. I’ve had instances where I run into total strangers and I am totally convinced that our paths have crossed at some point in time. I have this certain feeling of knowing and familiarity which I found to be a bit eerie especially when I was much younger.

This also includes overhead conversations, that would have me questioning myself, trying to recollect where I had that conversation.

For days, I would mull over such episodes, but over time, I no longer bother with it. Now when I run into a seemingly familiar person, if I am close enough, I engage them in a conversation, laugh over the matter and move on.

I wrote the poem below in respect of that.

Our paths crossed each others
and a frisson of familiarity
raced through me.
The drone of your voice
curled inside my eardrums
pulling at memories
that are stored within.

Yet we’ve never met…

A pull to draw closer and eavesdrop
made me pause and stand in clear sight
perplexed thought crossing my mind
as I shamelessly eavesdropped on your conversation
I was sure that sometime, somewhere,
we had the same conversation, you and I.

Yet we’ve never met…

I tried to unravel the mystery in my mind
woolly cobwebs of memories buried
couldn’t cough up the answers that I sought
I dug deeper into dark recesses
seeking the unknown.
Who knew where what time and in what life
our paths had crossed

Yet we’ve never met…

I cease my attempt to decipher
I seek no longer to solve
mysteries of déjà vu
that my mind wouldn’t unravel
But, I’ve come to understand in acceptance
that somewhere, somehow and in some life
You and I are kindred spirits.