I certainly hope that you enjoyed my modest contribution to the poetry world. You are welcome to leave a comment if you would like to. I would like to know if anybody enjoyed them, or if they are really awful. I don't know unless someone tells me, till now I never had the courage to even consider sharing them with anyone before. But my Sister has given me a bit more courage, so I thought I try. So what do you think?

Do you

Do you have a good friend?
Do you have a great Sister?
Do you see the beauty where ever you go?
Do you see the tings that are around you?
Do you see the things that are there?
Do you see the things that are every where?
Do you see the things that everyone else sees,
or do you see the things the others keep missing?
Do you see the things that are hidden?
Do you see the truth?
Do you see the lies?
Do you open your eyes?
There is much to be seen!
There is much to be done!
There is much to be heared!
There is much to be said!
If you open your eyes,
if you open your ears,
if you open your heart,
you can see all that life has to impart!


Author: Elke Ogestrat

Time of my Life

Time is going OH so slow!
Life is going OH so fast.
I thought I'd never grow up.
I hoped that life would stay like this,
now and forever.
Time is standing still,
School has started,
Life is going oh so slow.
No more fun, now it's gone.
Time is going oh so fast,
life is going oh so slow.
Now I've grown.
The time was that things would get done,
still plenty fun do be had,
now it's hard to get the basics done,
just a little fun.
Time, Time, Time is gone,
I've moved on,
grown, up, grown old.
I've seen life unfold.
Time is now at just the right pace.
Time to do the things you need,
Time to do the things you want.
Time is going at just the right pace.



Author: Elke Ogestrat

What makes a family

They say you can't choose your family but you can choose your friends. Well I beg to differ, would you like to meet my lovely family?
Well my father comes from a very large family, yet we have nothing to do with any of them, as they are not exactly very nice people. So in my biological family there are my Father, Mother, Brother and me. I am from Germany, originally.So much for my biological family, now come and meet the rest of my great, wonderful and lovely family!
This is my Dad, his name is Bill, he is over 70 years old. I met him when I first came to England, he took me under his wing and has been very much like a real dad to me. We have a good relationship. My parents know about him, but they have never met as yet.
Now come and meet my Mum! Like any Mum, she's a very caring, loving Mum. She is from India originally. She is a very petite woman, just over 5 foot tall. I on the other hand am nearly 6 foot tall. One day I was walking down one side of the road & Mum happened to be walking up the other side of the road the same time, but she hadn't seen me, so I called out "Mum", and as any Mum does she looked around. I ran, that is to say, walked across to her and gave her a hug, naturally. Wouldn't you? Every one up & down the street turned & looked at us. ( It's a short street.) There is this little petite Indian woman giving this huge white brick outhouse built woman a hug ,and every one heared me call her Mum. You can imagine the strange looks that we got.
My Mum is a very loving giving person. I have a great relationship with my Mum. I can talk to her about anything and everything, just as I can with my Mother.
My Parents came over to England from France, where they have retired to, a few years ago, and after having been here for a few hours, having had a cup of coffee and a wee rest, my Mother and my Father both asked, " isn't your Mum coming, we hoped that we would meet her." they were very happy when I told them that she would be there in a few hours. My Parents and my Mum got on very well, as if they had known each other for years. It was a very lovely, enjoyable, funny meeting.
I, kept the best till last.
I have a very very wonderful Sister and I adore her. She is an inspiration to me. I met her first when we both were on a course in carpentry. She was half a year ahead of me, I was sitting on the wood bins outside ( it was summer) reading and this beautiful woman came over and started talking to me where as no-one else had ever tried to talk to me in college unless they had to. We got on great , right from the start. She took me under her wings and the guys then started to make friends with me as well. I loved doing the carpentry. We even worked together at some point when my Sister had her own timber decking busyness. Oh I could write a novel about my Sister so I better stop now. My parents have sort of adopted her as well. She has proven that she is a very good person that any family would love to have in their midst. She was there when I needed her the most. She is someone I can always rely on. I just hope that I'm as good as her in regards to being there when needed. I know I try.
Because my Sister and I sort of unofficially adopted each other I thereby also inherited her family. She has 3 children of her own. 2 boys & 1 girl. My Sister has also got an adopted son and an adopted nephew.
My family is a very mixed and loving family. My family is made up of various colours and cultures. My Parents are from Germany, my Dad is a cockney, from the east end of London, my Mum is from India and my Sister is from England. My Nephews are from England but they are black. So you see a real family can have many colour and cultural backrounds. And the best part of it is that we all love each other very much. More than that I have a very good friend who is black and deaf and my Parents have met him and they got on great with him, he is sort of adopted into the family as well. My Father said to him Son. My Parents met him the same time as they met my Mum. That was a great meeting when I had to translate english into english sign language and at the same time into german, well that made for quite a few laughs. Good thing is that my Mother can speak some english so a lot of the time, after making a few big silly ooopps mistakes when translating, I only had to translate into english and sign language. My Nephews are great guys as well. I better stop or you will end up sitting there for the next few hours reading about my very mixed but absolutely wonderful family.

Gardens

I was just looking out the window at my Sister's house at her garden. I live in a block of flats and I don't have a garden, so I made my `non existing` Garden. I put plants outside my door in the area between the 2 flats .( I'm on the top floor) I have a table that has these leaves that come out & 1 of them doesn't work so I put it outside in the empty space & put plants on it.
It all started when I moved in to my flat , 11 years ago & the previous tenant had left an ugly bench that I couldn't take down so I put plants on it & eh presto it looked so much better .
I have lots of plants outside my flat. I started others off as well now. Downstairs, by the entrance, the lady has put out a plant pot out there and now it looks very inviting as soon as you walk into the building.
I have started to grow various vegetables & salads from seed. I have basil, mint they are both doing well. I have just started growing salads from seed & I replanted some of them into new pots so that , hopefully, they will grow into good lettuces.
I also planted some butternut squash & they're growing & blooming but if they'll give me anything is jet to be determined. I hope that they will. I also have some peppers that have as jet to decide what they want to do, but they are showing some leaves. Maybe I get the chance to take some pictures & to work out how to download them so that others can see as well, but don't hold your breath till then.

Self esteem

My Sister has just shown me this self esteem test, so I took it. Didn't do to bad, though. I actually thought it might be nice for you to have a go as well. Self esteem is not an easy thing to come by, but I was thinking that even though a lot of it depends on how people treat you and talk to you that gives you self esteem, but at the same time you shouldn't let other people bully you into believing that you're not worth anything. People like that usually are the ones who are lacking self esteem and need to put others down in order to make them self feel better . They can't see their gifts and they are usually the ones that can't stand someone else who has a talent or a gift.

Here is the self esteem test go see how you do.

Victory

Look at what I've just done. I made a play list of some of my favourite music. My Sister showed me how to do it.
I hope that you like it as well, if not you can always turn down or off the volume. I hope that you decide that it's worth listening to the music.
You can find my play list at the bottom of the page.
yeepee!!!

Parents

I phoned my parents last night , whenever I do that they, or more to the point , my father likes to show off his garden, even though I can`t actually see it. My Father is 83 years old & my Mother is 70 years old. They have retired to the south of France in 2000. They grow their own food & veg as well as their own fruits. They grow lots of lavender & rosemarien. That is where I get my organic lavender from.
My Father loves to tease my Mother , which is a beautiful thing as they have plenty of laughs. It is even more amazing since in the last few years we thought several times that he would soon not be with us any more .
I am blessed, I have a very loving family. My parents are still very much in love with each other in more then 45 years of marriage. It just goes to show it can be done.

pleasures

I enjoy trying new things. I love making Jewelry. She said why don`t we try some beading, so off to the bead shop we went and bought us a suply of beads, and the things that are needed to start beading.
Well I then went home with my loot, and as I went home I thought what if I don`t like it, what if I hate it. The big joke is that unbeknown to me, my sister had exactly the same thoughts as I did.
We both took to it like ducks to water though. We both enjoy it very much. I observe her sometimes and she is quite willing to teach me and help me out when I get stuck.

Just having a go

I`m just trying to have a go. I enjoy beading, making cards, knitting ans some crocheting. I enjoy taking my Ferrets for a walk on the leads. My sister thinks that I`m mad for doing that. She says that I should never come round with them nor think of asking her to join me on one of my lovely walks, it`s not as though I do it all the time.