Poetry Inspiration

Pops of yellow paint a scene,

Bobbing heads on stalks of green.

Silent authors of stories yet to be spoken,

Inspire the pages of a heart awoken.

Dancing in the wind, caressing a child’s fingers,

Your beauty brief, but eternally lingers.

Mother of Spring, I know we soon will part,

Your wind scattered words, leave a stain upon my heart.

                                         © Deborah Jackson March 2012

I have noticed

Flodigarry - Isle of Skye

There seems to be a bit of a theme in the blogs I am reading, and that is to share inspirations, music, food, or anything that takes your fancy. So, I thought I would give it a try, some of the delectations I am offering up are my own, and others I have found cooking on other blogs.

I'll be getting on my stomping boots tomorrow night, The Peatbog Faeries are playing in Clitheroe, based on the Isle of Skye, the Peatbog Faeries have become one of Scotlands best known names in contemporary folk music.

Have you seen this? -  taproot magazine


Who would you be without your story? Byron Katie in London 16th June 2012.


Check out this artist, I am captivated by her work, Izumi’s work features the magic of growth, the miracle of flowers and the life of the trees and hedgerows, alive with bees & insects. Her paintings shimmer with light and living energy, capturing transitory moments of many-layered life and growth in layers of paint & texture. They have both strength and delicacy; a blending of Cornish elements with Japanese style and sensitivity. Izumi’s paintings grow into existence by a process of building up & paring down, allowing the paint to speak & develop as it needs.*sigh*

Something to blog about

OK, so today was a first for me in my baking world, I made a chocolate olive oil cake.  I came across this on Tara's blog as she baked this cake yesterday, only hers looks a little more professional than mine (I tried to disguise, in a rather badly fashion all the cracks on top of my cake by dusting it with icing sugar)

It felt quite an odd experience, mixing chocolate and olive oil together, but as the two ingredients  melted and blended together, the oil gave the melted chocolate a smooth, velvet and glossy texture. 

It tasted really nice too!

You can find this recipe at http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/17062/chocolate-olive-oil-cake. 

This cake is very easy to make, although you do have to fiddle about lining your cake tin with parchment! It is dairy free and I made it with wheat free flour to cater for the man of the house who is on a gluten free diet. It is very rich and moist, but I would probably cut down on the quantity of olive oil, the recipe uses 80g olive oil, I think 50/60g would be better.

If you decide to try this recipe, let me know how you get on, it's good to share!

Imagine

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.
John Lennon

Books and Birds

A shelf in my bookcase

The photo above is the top shelf of my book case in my study, which is home to alot of books I have on Person Centred Counselling.

This is a picture of a seagull I took whilst walking my dog

What have these pictures have in common?.....the connection is finally clear to me........being oneself.  As a Year 3 student in my studies of person centred counselling, I was assessed today by my fellow students and course tutors as meeting the criteria to go out onto placement and practise counselling with real clients in the real world.  But what does this have  to do with seagulls you may ask, as I did. Now it makes perfect sense.  Seagulls are "just seagulls".  They aren't their ego, their job, their salary they just "are" and this (is my theory) between a seagull and me.  To counsel, I need to be my authentic self, just "be me" and this I feel is why I have been taking many pictures of seagulls  recently, because I see in them authenticity, freedom to be their real selves.....how can they be anything else other than a seagull?....doing their job just perfectly.  I found the same of myself....so yes I am a bird! (but not of the feathered variety) but I do have wings none the less,and they have led me to fly from someone who wasn't my authentic self to someone who is, this is why I took voluntary redundancy from my job in IT and began training as a PCT counsellor.
I have mourned the bird I was in the world of IT to the free spirited bird I have become now - this is just the start of my counselling journey, I am now flying into the real world of client counselling.

Reminders of mindfulness

I have relocated my Buddha, she now sits on the dresser in the hallway, she is the first thing your eye gets drawn to when you enter my home, I like her new situation, she reminds me of mindfulness.  She radiates peace and tranquillity.  By night I surround her with t-lights and incense, she sits in silent meditation.

I have enjoyed capturing special moments of my day this Sunday:

Jenna & Jasper sharing a tender moment

Capturing the moon during my afternoon dog walk

The beauty of silent flight

Sunlight & Tree Silhouette