It’s A Love Thing 6…Some of the men in my blogging World.

February 8, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

For the next few days till my Valentine Shindig, I will be featuring several blogs a day on one post, as a way of showing some love to fellow awesome and supportive blogger friends of mine.

You can share the fun and the love by sharing the party invitation as much as you can. Bring your Bae, your sweetheart, your neighbourlybloggers, your old lady, your old man, even your dogs and cats are invited.

It’s a way to connect with other bloggers and hey, who knows, you might hit it off with someone 😉

Please share and share alike. Thank you very much.

For today’s features, I am showing some love to the bloggers listed below:

‘Love is patient. Love is kind.’ 1 Cor 13: 4 – 8

Sir Patrick thank you for your kind support and words shared in my blogging life. I appreciate.

Doug, my appreciations for your company in this place.

Sir David, you are a total gem of a grandpa. Thank you for your lovely words and support in this space.

Dave Barclay, I do appreciate interacting with you.

Chape, you are a sport 😉

Kaushal, thank you for being around. My regards.

Ryan, my appreciations for the time you put in visiting me over here.

Nimitode, I enjoy seeing your face and your energy.

Thomas, thank you my friend. My regards.

Paul, thank you for your support.

Wally, thank you Sir for your extended hand of fellowship.

Vincent, my sincere appreciations for being there.

Noirfifre, you have been such a good and steadfast friend. I enjoy our banters and your support. I am glad we met in this space.

‘Walking this path, I have been so blessed to have you all by my side. Thank you very much.’

My regards,

Blogging · Blogging Like Nature. · Humor - Bellyful of laughter · Musings

Blogging To Life #2…

February 7, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha53 Comments

Blogging can be likened to having a child.

When you first start out,

You are expectant. Then you have anguish over everything being okay.

Then you labour over it endlessly.

You nourish it diligently. It takes up all your time and you lose sleep.

You pray that it will grow and be a good child.

…But the growth seems slow.

You worry some more that it’s a slow child suffering some developmental challenges.

Then you pray some more, nourish some more and begin to look for professional or elderly advise.

You hope that every friend that drops by would say ‘oh what a beautiful child you’ve got.‘

Then there’s a growth spurt and you finally feel some pride.

…And the cycle continues.

Some even go ahead to have more blog babies 🙂

Image credit: Pinterest

Challenges · Family · Parenting · Photographs · Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

With These Fingers…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

February 6, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha48 Comments

It’s quite interesting that Linda’s prompt for SOCS which I just saw is ‘fingers.

Why I find it interesting is that I woke up this morning and as I was going through my Bible, for some reason my eyes fell on my hennaed hands and my first thought was how my hands and fingers resembled my dads own and for the fun of it, I took a picture.

I remember that as a child, I wanted my fingers to look like my mom’s own. Her fingers were dainty and nicely shaped, while mine took after my fathers own.

As the years went by, I grew to love mine as much as I love the man who passed on the genes.

His hands were hardworking and I believe that I inherited this trait. His hands were upright and as honest as could be and he had green fingers. Living things thrived in his care and plants bloomed generously in our garden.

I still remember, maybe I was four or less, his hands holding mine and guiding my fingers to scribble on my blackboard.

I remember vividly like yesterday as he walked me down the aisle and he took my hand with my beautifully painted fingers and placed them in my husband’s hands and in a gruff voice, he instructed my dear Himself to make sure that he looked after me.

Who knows, maybe I might equally have green fingers. I have moved around so much from one country to the other, that the last time I grew anything was several years back in my house in Nigeria. I look forward to the coming years to discover my green fingers.

Hold my hands in faith

And clutch my fingers tight

I will walk you through this journey

For you are not alone.

Family · Life · Love · Parenting · Photographs · Poetry/Poems

Since You’ve Been Gone…

February 5, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha42 Comments

I see you around the corner, the likeness of your eyes in the eyes of a total stranger down the shopping aisle.
It startles me.

I see you in everything that I look around me.
In the random formation of the clouds.
I sometimes see your wise eyes peeking through and winking at me.
It gives me joy.

I hear you in my thoughts. Your words of wisdom, of love, of encouragement
Are etched upon my soul.
They keep me warm.

I hear you in the music. The music that you loved so much, that I grew up knowing that love.
They sounds of music comfort me.

I see you in my little boy’s face. Sometimes, I stare at him so hard, as I seek tell tales of you written in his genetics.
It leaves me amazed.

I see you in the hands of a gardener pruning plants, in the gentle waves of a blooming plant, you loved all things green and they did so well in your hands.
It makes me smile.

I feel you in the drumbeats of my heart, because you are me and I am you. Everyday, my thoughts dwell on you, for in every little thing I see you.

I visualize you looking on from high up and I wish my hands could stretch up so high to give you a hug.
I get some comfort from the warmth of the Sun, telling my mind that you are with me.

In the smile, in the laugh, the stare, the walk, the phrase in a young child’s face.

I catch myself holding one-sided conversations with you and your imagined responses prompt me to sigh, to laugh and to cry.

I see you.
In everything that I am.

To you my dear dad. Always.

Yesterday was World Cancer Day, I lost my dear dad to Cancer two years ago. Sometimes, the pain is just so raw that it clogs my chest and my throat. He was a very lovely human and a fabulous dad. If there is one ailment that I could wish away from the World, it would be Cancer.

To those battling The Big C, may abundant Grace and Strength remain your portion. We will beat it. Blessings.

Creative Writing · Musings · Photographs · Poetry/Poems

Play I Some Music…

February 5, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha13 Comments

Dubai · Echos Of My Neighbourhood · Photographs · This Is My Life · Travel

A Visit To The Dunes….Echoes Of My Neighbourhood #8

February 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha36 Comments

On Thursday’s, I share a picture 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 houses, 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 can at least see them through you.

Some pictures from our desert foray.

Over the weekend, we went sand bashing at the desert. An adrenaline pumping rush that dear Himself and the children like a lot. I am okay with it after the highs and lows of going up and down steep sand dunes.

I love seeing the miles and miles of rolling sands and visiting a desert camp where there are a good number of entertainment on offer for a fee, like riding the camels, getting henna painting, some Arabic belly dancing etc.

Last week’s Echoes brought in quite some fresh views:

Lovely, vibrant Munich without snow from Lady Lee Manila

Serene Brooklyn botanical garden from Roaming Urban Gypsy

Charming Sweet Dilham from Writing in North Norfolk.

These pictures from Denmark are gorgeous from Giggles and Tales.

What a bold, vibrant visitor to see Pancake Bunnykins 🙂

Beautiful times with beautiful people from Mandibelle.

Buried, Dangerous and pretty looking icicle all rolled into one from Kat Myrman of Mercury Colliding.

I feel like dipping in my toes in a small town charm from Never a dull bling.

On a zooming escapade with her James Bond 😉 from Diane of Ladies who lunch reviews.

So, when can we get a peek at yours?

Regards,

Devotions · Gratitude · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle

A Wellspring…

February 3, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

Just a few weeks ago, it was Christmas, then New Year and now January 2016 has come an end. It’s gone forever. We can only witness future January’s of other years, but never the last one.

January took some famous and acclaimed personalities with it, as well as so many other souls, but a whole lot of us are blessed to be well and see another new month cycle in.

That just keeps drawing the transient state of our lives home, that we truly have to spend our days living our best lives now and being happy with it.

As we pursue our dreams and aspirations with tenacity, buoyed with the desire to achieve a whole lot of different things, I am thankful for having had the Grace to stay on course with a good number of things that I set to do.

I am grateful that I have not lost the courage or the zeal to keep pushing along, because it is really so easy to get derailed with the little things that life throws in our path.

I am grateful for the stream of ideas that keeps coming to me and the strength to see them through. Sometimes, the wellspring of inspiration and creativity can run dry, leaving one grasping, so, for me, it is indeed a privilege thus far, to have a fountain that bubbles with inspiration.

I am grateful that for the first time in months, the aches and pains that plagued me has receded quite a bit and I can pencil this down to the consistent little exercising that I have been doing.

I feel a lot more limber and thankful for that. Sometimes, the discomfort of my Myalgia that I have in my back would keep me uncomfortable and awake at nights.

Living in a state of thankfulness, keeps the elusive Unicorn of Happiness close by. That way, you get to ride on it often enough.

Welcome to a new month of abundant blessings and inspiration. Never forget that the little seed of gratitude that you sow, grows into a bountiful harvest for your thanksgiving.

You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.

Lifestyle · Personal story · Photographs · This Is My Life

Hacking It Off! What I got up to in January #1 – personal

February 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha109 Comments

My 2016 started with a big step that I had been contemplating for some time. For the first time in forever, I hacked off my hair. It was a way of saying Happy New Year to me.

I even jump in alarmed trepidation as I say this.

I never knew that I would finally have the gumption to take the step to cut my hair down to a low cut and carry it like that, but I am totally loving it.

Why did I take such a drastic decision after decades or perming, curling, weaves and all what not?

The answer is as simple as the fact that I just needed a break from all the stress. Let me give you a brief synopsis.

A lot of African ladies or women of Negroid genetics might relate with me. Our kinky hair can be quite ‘a handful’ to manage and because of that, we have it in constant perm or weaves or braids which takes hours on end to go through the process in the salons. I was just tired of living under the thumbs of a salon dryer.
Due to the time involved in having these hair-dos, and the need to keep it looking good, we avoid our hair getting wet by all means; hence, when I go to the pool, I find myself keeping my hair at an odd angle, never willing to enjoy a good swim because of that. A good number of African ladies that I know don’t mind getting soaked to the skin under the rain but they must find a piece of nylon to shield their hair. Giiirlll! I was sick of the torment especially living in a neighbourhood where the pool stared at me, morning, afternoon and evening.
The cost of keeping the hair in the latest style is not cheap. I am not complaining about the cost, but sometimes, I think it’s a big rip off especially in the Western World where doing your hair costs an arm and a leg. Besides, all the perms and stuff was just making my poor tendrils get thinner by the day.

So there it is and that list up there could go on…..

Now I stand under the shower and enjoy the warm water cascading down and soothing my poor, frazzled brain.

I swim without any worries. I don’t even bother to blow-dry it. Just apply coconut oil and let it dry by itself.

I don’t have to bother plunking my butt down for hours on end for any hairdresser, for now at least. I am totally tickled and thrilled.

Now, I will rock it until I get bored and I can always choose what next to do. I can always revert to the braids and weaves to switch up my looks, though I am seriously contemplating getting them locked into fabulous locks.

The good thing is that I thought I wouldn’t have the nerves to do it, but I braved it and did it. My dear Himself was shocked at first, but it’s growing on him 😉

A few of the different looks.

Dubai · Gratitude · Photographs · Travel

What A Gracious Host…

February 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha28 Comments

Fusion Restaurant At Ghaya Grand. Lovely Ambiance

When a host invites you to eat, you go with your good manners, an empty stomach, a spoon in your back pocket ‘just in case,’ your sharpened teeth, a heart full of gratitude and a sizable dose of thank you.

I went with everything except the spoon ‘cos they had beautiful sets of cutlery and now, I am on the last leg of the cycle. A sizable dose of thank you for the gracious surprise international buffet that we were treated to.

It was a delightful surprise to receive a nicely worded letter from the management of Ghaya Grand Hotel and Apartments here in Dubai, inviting a good number of friends and clients over for brunch, aka ‘free lunch.’

Who am I to look such a lovely gift Horse in the mouth? I love such lovely surprises and this Horse is quite handsome, I must say 🙂

The new Ghaya Grand Hotel is a beautiful and classy, 5 star hotel, located at the International Media Production Zone area in Dubai.

Without much ado, the brunch which was in their Fusion Restaurant was absolutely divine.

Excellent service, array of sumptuous dishes and a lovely ambiance in which to eat to your hearts content.

I must confess, I really, really tried not to over indulge, but with the assortment of all types of food beckoning to you, I did just a little bit above my stomachs budget, but I have no regrets 😉

Should you ever contemplate coming this way, or if you are heading here already, this is one hotel that you will appreciate staying in.

It was not a surprise to me, during my little chat with one of the Managers, to learn that they are 100% full capacity and this is just one year of their business operations.

This is definitely not a sponsored post, but a sizable dose of thank you to those who made my families weekend lovely in their special way.

A few of the photographs that I took.

Some little darlings asking for more sweet stuff 🙂

To the staff and management of Ghaya Grand, we extend our appreciations and regards.

Inspiration - Motivation · Little rants · Social Issues · Three quote challenge

Nope! You Can Never Go Wrong…

January 28, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

People watching is a social science hobby that I spend quite a bit of my time engaging in. Observing people in recent times, some of the little things I see shows that there some fine redeeming human values which seems to be at loss these days. I am quite sure a good number of you would have observed these things as well.

Two days ago, I watched an elderly lady who was counting her steps struggle with the few things that she had and a couple of the items fell from her hands.

She paused briefly, bending gingerly to try and gather them and from my observation, she probably has Arthritis.

My natural instinct was to run up and help her, unfortunately my distance was a little far off to offer immediate assistance.

Meanwhile, two young men, probably in their mid-to-late twenties stood two steps away from this lady, puffing away on their cigarettes and not one of them bothered to render a helping hand to a woman who looked old enough to be their mother.

For all you know, they were probably busy videoing her difficulty for their YouTube Channel, which seems to be the new thing these days.

People would rather spend time shooting a video of a dying man in an accident instead of figuring out how to help.

I honestly had to curb my desire to make my way over and give them a talk or two about chivalry, they might not take it well.

However, I gave them a thorough scolding in my head 😉 and reminded myself that I have to keep teaching my boys how to be gentlemen.

By extending a hand of fellowship or help no matter how little to those around us who need it, we can never go wrong. We are actually not just helping others, but staying in touch with our humanity.

These are some little nuggets of quotes that you might wish to spend a couple of seconds on.

‘Instruction in youth, is like engraving in stone.’ African Proverb

‘The old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth and the young one in turn looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth.’ African Proverb

‘We rise by lifting others.’ Robert Ingersoll

Several dear bloggers have invited me for quote challenges and each day, the invitation increases by a notch.

I don’t like to let these things trail for so long, but I also don’t like to just toss quotes out there with nothing to say about them.

I try to look at the things that I observe around me and let them serve as lessons or inspirations for my thoughts.

I would like to thank Sepultura and That Little Voice for their generous invitation extended to me, to participate in the quotes challenge and would like to invite the following bloggers below to take up the quote baton and run with it.

Bunkaryudo

Sheridan Johnson

GloverDeb

No pressures at all. Just go with it if you wish to.

The Little Rules are: