An introduction to my gorgeous friend Brenda Baker of Cybernetic blonde…

June 12, 2016August 8, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha42 Comments

Since I met Brenda a couple of months ago, we’ve got on famously to such an extent that she made a decision to pitch a tent in my blogging camp as a strategic partner.

Her articles pull the writer in so much so that you follow the journey of her words and live in their nakedness. I admire her drive and I see her going far.

All the best my dear friend and thank you for accepting to step in and have a chat with us.

Rose[1]

With one of her gorgeous daughters.

First of all, I would like to thank Jacqueline for interviewing me. I’m both honored and humbled.

Secondly, I ‘m a teacher who loves learning, writing, music and coffee.

I mostly substitute teach with replacement positions. I substitute teach by choice. It offers me the chance to see as many students as possible.

If I took a full-time position, I’d miss all the other students that I know. I’m lucky to live in the small town of Labrador City, Canada where substitute teaching is a full-time job.

I’ve known many of my students for years. They know how much I love seeing them 🙂

I started blogging last August, after a five-week road trip. I figured it was time.

I actually started my blog with no expectations whatsoever. I set up my account and just started writing about whatever came to mind.

My early posts were personal essays which are a little too formal for my tastes. It wasn’t until I wrote my first poem in October that I discovered my true passion.

When I wrote that first post in August, I had no idea how many amazing people I would meet. I love being part of the blogging community. I also had no idea how much support I’d receive or how interactive the blogosphere is.

It’s become my favorite place to be: my home in cyberspace. Bloggers rock!

My life outside the blogosphere is nothing out of the ordinary. My daily routine includes work, workout, chores, blogging and Netflix. I tell students that I’m boring but consistent 🙂

Right now, I share mostly poetry through my blog. I’m hoping to branch out this summer with a fitness and music category. I’ll see what else develops. For now, I’m enjoying the journey with no set destination in mind.

Unlike some of my amazing fellow bloggers, I’ve never been published, nor have I published. I do, however, have an early poem about to be published. I’ll be sure to share when I’m notified of the date.

I wasn’t sure what post to include, but I decided on ‘Color Wheel’. A poem celebrating my belief that despite our differences, we all share a common humanity. A humanity that connects each and every one of us.

Inspired by my amazing friend Jacqueline (just sayin’) 🙂 I may start a series of poems for self-publication this summer. All in due time, right?

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

Is it too cumbersome to ask for more than crumbs?…

June 11, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

Mba! No! I have ambivalent feelings towards politicians and politics and refuse to be caught up in all the ambiguous promises that they make with excessive aplomb while in pursuance of their ambitions.

Most times, I feel as though they simply sit in their big leather chairs, ensconced in their chambers where they think up how to ambush citizens with their assemblage of bombastic weapons of word contest, without concrete thoughts on how to achieve these promises and we are left bamboozled into an almost bemused or benumbed state that you begin to see grown men act like idiots.

The answers I would really like is a combination of disambiguated responses that will curb the constant combative state of today’s World that leaves us dumbfounded.

Is that such a cumbersome request? Are others not tired of the crumbs we get handed after they’ve assumed office and everything continues to remain in shambles? I am.

The prompt ‘mb’ that Linda chose to give us this weekend put me in an initial state of imbalance, but it gave me an opportunity to talk about some silent thoughts that have been going through my mind of late. I hope I did justice to her prompt 🙂

My Country of birth is in an economic and political quagmire at present and I recall all the sugar-coated promises made by the present government as they sought to unseat the incumbent President.

Not a single promise has been delivered to the citizenry and as a matter of fact, the State of the Nation is such to give someone sleepless nights and the senseless killings only got worse.

Quick glossary:

Mba – means ‘no’ in Igbo which is my native language.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Stars, Five Stars, Logo, Icon, Symbol, Five, Rating

She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

9 Great benefits when our young children cook for the family.

June 11, 2016January 28, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha28 Comments

For quite a while now, most weekends I involve all my children in cooking a meal or two.

This was how I learnt in my mothers’ kitchen and it’s invaluable to start them young (as soon as they are old enough to help with bringing the tomatoes) for so many reasons.

It builds their self-esteem, confidence and they feel like valued contributors.
It helps to grow their sense of independence so that even when you are not around, they can easily cope on their own.
It helps you a great deal on days that you are just too worn out to think straight. They can easily whip up an omelette for you.
It’s fun and offers a great bonding time as well. We swap stories or just generally chit-chat.
It offers them the opportunity to learn a basic life skill and you never know what direction life can take them.
Real life science and opportunity to experiment.
Calculation skills are introduced here as well as better comprehension; I ask them to write down what they learnt or to read a recipe and explain it to me.
You increase their imagination – to the point that my children now hunt for new recipes that we can try 🙂
A nice way of sneaking in the vegetables, since ordinarily, two of my children avoid veggies, but taking part in making it does a wonderful thing to the mind.

…and yes, the food tastes extra special 🙂

Yesterday, we made our own version of baked potatoes and vegetable casserole with meatballs.

My daughter selected and washed the items according to my directions – I was the Operations Director 😉

They all participated in the paring, grating, cubing of the vegetables and potatoes, whilst mommy’s responsibility was to add the spices, assemble the processed items and set it to bake.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product before we dug into it, luckily, I took a couple of photos when we started.

Recipe:

1 big sweet potatoes – peeled, washed and grated

3 medium sized Irish potatoes – peeled, washed and cubed

Half a head of Broccoli

3 large tomatoes

1 large onions

4 medium carrots – peeled, washed and grated

4 big white mushrooms

I large yellow bell pepper.

2 beaten eggs for binding.

Fresh garlic – out of a clove, I use like 4 pieces.

Spinach – a handful

A sprinkle of parsley

Oregano – half teaspoon

A dash of curry spice

Salt – 3 teaspoons

2 cubes of Maggi stock

25-50 gms of grated cheddar cheese – layered through and sprinkled on top.

1 pack of minced meat – spiced and rolled into balls with breadcrumbs.

Served a family of 5 with generous helpings and leftovers 🙂

Have a great weekend and do share your tips with us.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.

The Daily Post

Pure and sweetness…

June 11, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha15 Comments

When I saw the prompt ‘pure’ for The Daily Post Photo Challenge, my mind drifted to these things:

❤ The lovely handbook below, ‘Blessings from heaven,’ is a beautiful gift from Ann Hayes.

She’s a lovely friend of mine back in Houston. She surprised me with it at the George Bush International airport on the day we were leaving the US for our move to Dubai. I hadn’t expected to see her, nor the blessing of the book and I always keep it with the Rosary, a gift from my brother-in-law’s trip to Jerusalem.

Though these may seem like simple things, they speak of pure thoughtfulness and sweetness to me. I never forget such gestures.

❤ There’s nothing as sweet and as pure as a baby’s playful delight and gorgeousness. For me, it’s cuteness overloaded. It always gives my heart joy to watch their simple delight.

❤ Cute little puppies spell pure carefreeness and mischief to me 🙂

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Stars, Five Stars, Logo, Icon, Symbol, Five, Rating

From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.

Out of the silent breath

Midnight motivation and musings

Midnight Motivations and Musings # 98

June 10, 2016August 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha12 Comments

It’s our patience that lends us the required strength to endure and those high achievers that you admire, are not necessarily the most talented people in the world.

They are simply those whose feet remain firmly planted on the ground, they run after their lofty ideas and carry on long after others have thrown in the towel.

Sometimes, it may be hard for us to stay the course and to see the small improvements that we make day by day, but if we endure in our endeavours and take it step by step, the job gets done effectively and our talent tends to look brighter.

Keep going.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.

Out of the silent breath

Partners

Would you like to partner with me?

June 10, 2016September 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha4 Comments

A lot of times, we need support from others to get where we need to be and this leads to a mutually benefiting partnership.

Would you consider being my strategic partner?

I am sourcing for blog partners who are interested in renting prime advert space on my sidebar which will be at a very nominal fee and arrangements can be made for convenient durations of 6 months, 1 year…

What are the benefits?

It will be a growth focused team effort.
A mutually beneficial endeavour.
The blog’s logo/URL will be hosted on my sidebar under the title ‘Mypartners’and a click will take an interested party directly to your site.
A weekly feature of partners post.
The high possibility of more visibility.
As I search for more room for growth, I take you along with me.
It will support me to maintain my blog.

You’ll be with an awesome crowd of positive minded and purpose driven people such as:

Inspired beacon – grow towards the light

Cybernetic Blonde – Be kind to yourself

Lifting Taboos – so life goes on

Two are better than one

You can send me an email: JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com or use my contact page on the header.

I look forward to hearing from you and my door is open for suggestions.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Image: pixabay

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

Lifestyle · The Great Book Of Lists

Embracing My Quirkiness….The great book of lists.

June 10, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha28 Comments

La Duchesse gave us a prompt ’embracing my quirkiness,’ that not only made me laugh but also made me spend a little time looking at those itty-bitty sides of me that though they may not be original, are part of me, like dusting of freckles or the little mole that occupies a part of your body.

I’m showing you my clay feet and it’s possible that the list is longer than this, but I’ll keep it short so that you don’t run away into the bush to get away from me 😉

I am a touchy feely person, especially with those who I feel close to (but it’s not uncommon for me to hug a new found friend).
I nibble my husband’s food when he’s eating. This used to drive him nutty, but 16 years has made him soften, that he now feeds me himself 😉
I doodle while thinking or listening intently. I have no idea why, but I hear clearly this way.
I carry a notepad everywhere. Everywhere!
I could go for eons without remembering to watch TV. Just leave me with sufficient books, a thick notepad, and music, please 🙂
I watch people’s feet and mentally try to build a fictitious life about them. Please don’t ask me why.
I make up nonsensical songs about anything and sing when cooking. I think I borrowed the singing when cooking from my mother. She did it all through my growing up years and she’s been in the choir like forever.
I always start a conversation with a total stranger; in a safe vicinity of course.
I write to deal with issues on my mind. I pick it apart on a piece of paper.
Okay, I am a die-hard romantic and still enjoy my Harlequin romances et al… feel free to wiggle your eyebrows 😉
I collect itty-bitty silly dolls and give them names.
I am always barefoot at home; pregnant or not. I just like the coolness of the floor under my feet and only put them into my cozy froggy footwear just before bedtime. I’m still trying to understand that.

Thank you for bearing with me and not running off by now. I’ll be watching your feet 😉

Jacqueline

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Stars, Five Stars, Logo, Icon, Symbol, Five, Rating

I have to say I’m in awe and spellbound by her poetry. She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

Out of the silent breath

Fiction · Friday Fiction in Five Sentences · Short Stories

A little too late…Friday fiction in five sentences.

June 10, 2016August 8, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

He was so mad he couldn’t wait to teach both of them a lesson or twenty.

Furiously he swerved round the bend and simultaneously picked up his phone and took a second look at the incriminating picture.

In split seconds, he failed to see the puppy, the boy, and the mother…

Slammed brakes, screeching tires, a dogs yelp, the mixed cries of boy and mother as they watch their beloved Sandy struggle…

…The angry haze lifted from Tony’s eyes.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

Featured Blogs · Share A Link

Featured posts # 73…Share your post links.

June 10, 2016August 22, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha

‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’

Today’s featured blogs posts are:

Please do step in and show some love.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: are you a split personality? What does your mirror say to you -not to others? Can you take a peek? Short and salient introspective article.

The book trailer journey: Congratulations to Pamela on the release of her second e-book. Is making a book trailer easy? Your guess or mine.

Chasing Dreams: Beautiful and evocative poem of chasing after the dream. Now let’s go and catch it 🙂

Understanding the mathematics of marriage: Have you done the arithmetic of your marriage? This is worth a read.

I remember: Now this is such a beautiful post that brought a teary shine to my eyes and a smile to my lips. Awesome read.

‘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.’

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

She is amazing at describing love and life in her poems. She creates such beautiful images with her words. Truly, she is a talented writer and I’m so excited to have her poetry book and to continue reading through it.

Everyday People

Men’s love for flashy…Every day beautiful people # 64

June 10, 2016August 2, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha17 Comments

“Men love women but, even more than that, men love cars.” Christian Mckay

It was just interesting to watch the smile and gleam in the eyes of these gentlemen as they admired the ritzy, gleaming red, little ride.

I actually think this red ride is more my thing than theirs. I can see myself in a bigger version to accommodate my ampleness, with the roof down, my scarf and locks flying in the air as I nip about town 😉

Well, let’s keep that thought in my mind’s eye for now.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Stars, Five Stars, Logo, Icon, Symbol, Five, Rating

From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.

Out of the silent breath