My Boy Lollipop…

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha26 Comments

On my stroll, I saw this leftover or should I say the accidentally leftover lollipop, its bright sticky sweetness attracting little black ants that I could see drawing closer.

It’s just a mere stick of lollipop but it brought this old tune to my mind, ‘my boy lollipop, by Millie Smalls,’ and I hummed and reminisced as I enjoyed my stroll.

I grew up listening to my dad play this song on his old Grundig. I couldn’t have been more than 5 years old if memory serves me well and I didn’t know what the lyrics meant, but that tune was partly responsible for my kindness to lollipops 😉

I can imagine the disappointment of the young one whose lollipop popped out of their mouth but he or she doesn’t know that their loss offered me a brief dip into beautiful old memories and I daresay the ants were glad too.

Sometimes unexpected things trigger off memories stored in the recesses of our minds; sweet, bittersweet, poignant, dark, sharp memories of childhood and I’ve learnt to embrace all these memories both the beautiful and the ugly ones. They weave together to make me the tapestry of the soul that I am today.

Here’s a little offer of ‘my boy lollipop.’

The Daily Post

Birds At War

July 22, 2017July 22, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha25 Comments

The light had turned green but I couldn’t move. Not because my car had broken down, but because three birds chose to have a street fight right in front of my car.

At first, I couldn’t figure out what was going on with all the squawking and strutting back and forth. I thought one of them was dead – the one that was lying down and being stomped on – and that they were trying to lift it up and take it home with them.

I watched for a couple of minutes, tapped my horn but they didn’t respond. The light went back to red and the cars behind me were upset that I was causing a delay. All the cars zipping past and the horn didn’t perturb these angry birds. I took several shots with my phone camera and decided to get down and lift the supposedly dead bird to the side walk.

To my surprise, when I got close enough they all took off and continued their squabble on the side walk. Now in retrospect, I wish I had taken a video of the unusual scene.

The Daily Post – Unusual

Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

Unseen Ceilings… Stream of Consciousness Saturday

July 22, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha8 Comments

They say that the sky is the limit
well, that’s a half-truth
‘cos they will place unseen glass ceilings
to keep you tightly sealed in.

They’ll watch with keen interest
to see how you can push through,
to see if you’ve got the gumption
to put cracks in that ceiling

I say that putting cracks is not enough;
and I know it won’t be easy,
but if you take the sealing off your mind
you can bring that ceiling crashing down.

When I saw the prompt for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday ‘sealing/ceiling,’ many things came to my mind.

I wanted to write my thoughts about glass ceilings and its effect on women, but it would have become an essay, ‘cos I have a lot to say on this subject. I’ll, however, leave off delving into it right now and save it for the day that I’m ready for a war of sexes.

Jacqueline

Poetry/Poems

Chewing The Fat…

July 21, 2017July 21, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha10 Comments

On days misery eats at me

I listen to classical music,

eating dark chocolate and

chewing the fat on pages

of Pulitzer winning literature,

just in case anyone ever died from misery

and I end up being one of such ‘anyone’

at least I shall be found

keeled over genius stuff and

looking halfway intelligent

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Friday Fiction in Five Sentences

Treachery…Friday Fiction in Five Sentences

July 21, 2017July 21, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha14 Comments

Stumbling across details of his secret family – a mistress and two sons, twelve and seven-year-old boys ensconced in a nice town house downtown, whilst she played Martha Stewart at home – had been beyond a rude shock.

Cecilia was still dumbfounded at the turn of things.

How did she not see the tell-tale signs, a consistent barrage of questions raced back and forth in her mind.

Her emotions were all over the place as she struggled to reconcile with the enormity of Tom’s treachery and how he had managed to live a lie for so long.

Their twenty-five-year-old marriage was now confined to a file in a divorce lawyers office.

Echos Of My Neighbourhood

Hibernating in the malls – Echoes of my neighbourhood

July 20, 2017July 21, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

Our Summer days over here are not filled with barbecues and frolicking at the pool side. It’s steaming hot, that staying outside for longer than is required is asking for heat stroke. If the idea of leaving your side of ribs on the sidewalk to sizzle and grill appeals to you, then by all means indulge and yes it’s possible, I’ve eaten sand-baked lamb and the gentle roast is flavourful.

So, these days with children on vacation and going cabin crazy, most malls are flooded with folks and families seeking momentary respite while we wait with bated breath for the cooler months of Autumn and Winter for our days by the poolside and other wonderful indulgences. For now, we turn into night bats and recreate as the weather permits.

Echoes of my neighbourhood, night scenes, Malls, Dubai, people and places, sweet things

Today

Today…

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

Today, I’ll walk the sunny sides of the streets and let the shadows fall behind.

Personal

Taking Notes…An emotional attachment

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha15 Comments

Pretty notepads are one of my favourite things. I indulge in going to a book or stationery store often and the way that I look at the journals for sale – each time with shiny eyes like a child let loose in a candy store – I visualise my words coming alive and filling up the notes.

I always carry a notepad and pen in my bag, maybe that’s why I like sizeable shoulder bags – hubby always teases me about lugging a bag full of wonders all over the place.

Ever since I became aware of my writing passion, I’m known to squeeze in a little notepad inside a dainty purse so that I can quickly scribble my observations at a dinner party, outing or wherever. It makes me feel like a professional sleuth. I know all about using gadgets and computers, but it just doesn’t feel the same to me as writing into my journals.

In so many years, I haven’t chucked out any of my notepads, except some weeks ago when I went to the mall with the children. After galloping through the shops, we sat down to eat and I left my notepad on the table to briefly use the ladies.

By the time I returned, horror of horrors, my notepad had gone missing! Unfortunately, the kids had excused themselves to use the washroom as well and it was left on the table for a whole five minutes.

I felt robbed and I literally interviewed everyone within the vicinity, but no one had seen my beautiful butterfly pink pad. For several days I was simply upset thinking of all the spur of the moment ideas that I had scribbled down and some unknown person was privy to my naked thoughts. Lesson learnt. Where ever I go, never leave notepad lying around again.

If and when we leave the UAE, I am going to find a way to smuggle my journals along with me – though I know my husband will query my sanity for paying excess luggage to carry dog-eared notepads along 😉

Sadly, I failed to keep those that I had during my much younger days because I’ve moved around quite a bit in my life and carrying them didn’t occur to me back then. I bet the notes written in them would have made an interesting read for me.

Do you have a journal passion? Earlier in the week, I read a post where a blogger shared her fear of someone stealing her notes and I could totally relate to that. I’d rather give away the clothes off my back than my journals.

Jacqueline