Let me briefly introduce you to Raili of Soul Gifts and leave it to you to get to know her yourself.

We met during our photo 101 class and have interacted well ever since. I totally enjoy her witty sense of humour, the delivery of her vivid stories that can transport you from mirth, to wonder, to daydream and much more .

I feel honoured that she accepted to grant me an interview and responding very nicely to my nosey -pokey questions 😉

In her responses below, you will agree with me that I chose well.

Do sit back and have a read. Thank you and my regards.

• Introduce yourself (a bit about you), background, your likes, dislikes and general outlook towards life.

Thank you, Jacquie, for so generously hosting this series of interviews with fellow bloggers. What a good way to meet and greet each other !

What a good way to meet and greet each other !

I’m a happily married and retired woman of leisure with a 30-year career in mental health nursing behind me. Born in Finland, I migrated to Australia with my family as a 7-year-old.

My family moved around a lot while I was growing up, following Dad’s footsteps. He was a Minister of Religion to the Finnish Lutheran Community in Australia. Growing up in a Christian home gave me a strong foundation, values, and beliefs.

Married with two adult sons, I have pretty much-stayed put, moving house only once, and that was in the same city. We were DINKS (double income no kids) for the first 15 years.

Infertility imposed that on us. Eventually, after a long and arduous journey, we adopted our two boys from overseas – India and the Philippines. My husband has just recently retired too. He has his very own category in my blog – The Retired Husband. We look forward to many years of enjoying a leisurely life together. So far life has been pretty good. I wouldn’t change a thing.

This, my first post, is a tongue-in-cheek intro of myself to the world of blogging. It took a leap of faith and courage to press that ‘publish’ button the very first time! https://soulgifts.com.au/2015/08/01/hello-world/

• Tell us about your blog and your purpose for starting it. Did you have any set goals in mind when you were setting up your blog? What do you think about the blogging phenomenon itself? Here, you can share some links of your top posts or blog posts that you particularly like with us.

I’ve always loved writing. Back in primary school one of my teachers gave me a 10 out of 10 for a descriptive essay I wrote, saying he wished he could give me more.

The best he could do, he said, was read it out to the class. Mortified as I was back then, I have never forgotten how thrilled I was deep down. Starting my own blog emerged as an itch that had to be scratched. So I plunged in the deep end back in August 2015 and got started.

Knowing nothing about blogging, it took me weeks to get it set up. And I have been tweaking it ever since! Better late than never I recently discovered WP Blogging University. It has skyrocketed my learning curve.

Why do I blog ? Because I love writing. About lots of things. From the deeply serious to the flippantly funny. Now, having spent the best part of the last 9 months blogging, there’s a whole host of other reasons too –

Meeting new people from all over the world
Armchair travelling through others eyes
Reading – fascinating words that I would not normally come across anywhere else
Making wonderful new friends
Reading the comments on blogs sometimes is so entertaining and informative
Keeps my brain alive and active with the never ending challenges and learning opportunities that seem to go hand in hand with the whole blogging experience

Here are a few links to my work –
I asked friends, readers and followers for 3 word prompt to write stories to. All in all, I wrote 19 of them –

I tell a tale about my colonoscopy experience in this one: Shat me pants

This is a two-part story in response to a prompt from the feathered sleep and a Sandbox Challenge
Voyage of Time – part 1
Voyage of Time – part 2

This is the all-time top post so far. It is about the building of our boat. There are many more boat stories in the Finally category – Boat in the Backyard

This poem was read out on the David Snape radio show recently. It is one that emerged from my Soul – Birth

This is a Dr-Seuss inspired tongue twister – Thinking puddle

The more serious side of me writes about :

Mind, Body, Soul newsletter about nurturing and growth – April 2016

Citizenship rights, equality, dignity and respect for all – Declared Insane

World free of fear – Prayer for Peace

Health and wellbeing – Green Therapy

• Take us on a typical day spent with you. Show us a bit of your World and yes we love photos of your pets.

Being retired, my mornings are leisurely. We have no alarm clock in the bedroom to jar us awake. A usual morning for me starts with a glass of lemon water, reading the local paper and having a go at the crossword and scrambled letters puzzles. 

Followed by a leisurely breakfast and a bit of housework, I then head off to make the bed, have a shower and get dressed. Via my office to see what’s new in the Inbox. 

The afternoons may include more housework, perhaps a bit of time in the garden, shopping, meeting up with friends for a spot of lunch, more blog time. After the evening meal and a bit of television ( we are cooking show tragics…) I head off to the world of blogging. And bed anytime between 10pm and 1am. Throughout, I am shadowed by my faithful little four legged friend Tess. She is happiest when I’m home.

• What’s the next pit-stop for your blog’s outreach? Are there any publishing plans in the offing?

I am in the final throes of drafting a Circle of Friends based theme for May. In it, I will invite fellow bloggers, readers, followers, visitors to share their stories, experiences, ideas etc about what friendship means to them… there will be more to come about this very soon. As for publishing – who knows what the future holds!

Thank you, Jacquie, for this opportunity to share a little about my world and my blog.

Would you like to guest post or an interview? Feel free to contact me through my contact page or on email: JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com