We are delighted we were able to make another donation of dog bowls, dog food (wet, dry and senior) and dental chews to DOTS (Dogs on the Streets) last week with funds raised from the sale of Sharing Our Horizon during the 2020-2021 tax year.
DOTS is a Multi Award Winning Charity dedicated to the welfare of dogs belonging to the UK’s homeless community. They operate weekly in London as well as running regular services in Birmingham, Kent, Milton Keynes, Oxford and Taunton with a view to expand even further.
With a fully equipped mobile veterinary surgery vehicle allowing ease of access to dogs in need, DOTS ensures all the essential items and services are provided for free each and every week. From food provisions to new harnesses and leads plus training and grooming sessions.
Working tirelessly, DOTS aim is to find permanent accommodation for rough sleepers and regularly represents clients and their dogs with services/ borough councils. Many refuse housing when offered simply because it is not dog friendly. This has been a major challenge during the Covid-19 pandemic and DOTS has been able to foster dogs for the homeless in their sanctuary until suitable accommodation can be found where they can be reunited with their owner.
When an owner is no longer able to care for their dog through ill health or other circumstances, DOTS will find a suitable new home for the dog and can offer peace of mind that their beloved companion will be cared for.
If you want to support DOTS directly please visit their website where you can find out how to make a difference.
A very big thank you to all of you who have bought a copy of Sharing Our Horizon, left a review and helped spread the word.
If the book is new to you please click on the icon below for a peek inside.
Look inside …
Wishing you all a happy Monday and a wonderful new week,
The temperature has dipped and yesterday’s snow lingers on the higher ground. The light bounces through scattered clouds as we walk along the soft sand. The tide is rolling in. Even with restrictions in place there’s freedom in each movement.
To be inspired by another life and their routines helps us in our writing, blogging, and life. I always look for inspiration, and with the help of a few blogger friends, I have created this “let’s get inspired series”,click hereto read the introductory post.
Today we share with you the second part of our interview with Xenia Tran. We will discuss her love of Poetry and the books she has written. If you missed part one,click hereto read. In part one, we spoke about Xenia’s blogging and photography journey.
What inspires you? Featuring Xenia Tran – Part 2
Xenia and I started blogging at the same time – that is- March 2016. We have become friends over that time. What drew me to Xenia’s blog –Whippets Wisdom, was her Whippets’ photos and her poetry.
I have no pets.However, the photo’s that Xenia takes of…
Welcome to the Let’s be Inspired series, where we get to know our fellow bloggers on WordPress.com. Where we learning their blogging journey, book writing journey, their passion for photography, and more. The purpose is to be ‘inspired’ by their journey and learn from them. To be encouraged by their dedication, motivations, routines and how they make it happen. So that the fire within us to write, blog, or to take better photos etc., is ignited.
Today, we speak to Xenia Tran, the forth blogger, of this series. I hope you enjoy this two-part interview with Xenia.
Where does the inspiration to write come from? Featuring Xenia Tran – Part 1
Xenia and I started blogging at the same time – that is- March 2016. We have become friends over that time. What drew me to Xenia’s blog –Whippets Wisdom, was the photos of her Whippets and her…
Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4.5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 200, f/8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 1000 and f/5.6 – 1/640 s – ISO 100.
The above haiku has subsequently been published in EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2021 – Entering the Earth as part of a four-haiku sequence which includes my earlier poems Sunlight on her Wings and Seeds of Peace. A warm thank you to Jim Kacian and The Haiku Foundation for featuring my poems and putting this beautiful edition together.
We are deeply honoured and delighted that Frameless Sky Issue 13 on the theme of Our Connection with Nature is now available on DVD and YouTube link. The video features forty nature photographs by yours truly, poems by seventy-six poets from eighteen different countries, a special reading by Hemapriya Chellappan and music by Sascha Ende. A very big thank you to Chrissi Villa and Shloka Shankar for featuring my work and putting this beautiful edition together!
Wishing you all a very happy Monday and a happy Burns Night to our friends in Scotland,
with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4 – 1/800 s – ISO 100, f/4.5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100 and f/4 – 1/640 s – ISO 100.
The mild Winter that began in 2019 continues into 2020 and we go hiking in other parts of the Highlands and Perthshire to make the most of the ice-free roads. Waves of Gratitude, Love at First Sight and Windows of the Soul become the most popular posts in this period and reflect some of these unexpected journeys.
News of the pandemic begins to filter through and on 23 March the country goes into lockdown. We can only go out once a day for exercise, all non-essential shops and services are closed. Many people begin to hoard and panic-buy, leaving the rest of us without essentials.
village store the parrot tells us there’s no bread
Without traffic and tourists, our air, our beaches, river and sea become cleaner than we’ve ever seen them before. The birds and wildlife are rejoicing. It is truly amazing to see nature bounce back as soon as humans retreat.
shaded meadow a range of flowers surrounds our nest the lockdown gives us time to see each other clearly
At the beginning of July our travel restrictions are lifted and we venture out for the first time in four months, avoiding all the tourist hot spots. Because it is crowded in the places we would love to visit we continue to spend most of our time close to home.
We donated dog food, dog bowls and other items on the Wish-List to DOTS (Dogs on the Streets) with the proceeds from Sharing Our Horizon and made donations to Dogs Trust and Children with Cancer UK with proceeds from Between Heather and Grass. A huge thank you to all of you who buy and read our books!
Autumn begins with sunny, mild weather and glorious trails for walking. Aureate becomes our most popular Autumn post and the most popular post of the year, closely followed by Chosen Route and Daydream.
Through an unusual sequence of online encounters I meet someone who turns out to be a distant relative. He is able to fill me in about part of my ancestral history. Another contact provides me with old film footage that features them and the village they grew up in.
all souls’ night my great-grandparents play in the snow
As Winter arrives we look back at an unusual year. We lost people from our haiku community and our local community, many local businesses struggled to survive. At the same time nature and wildlife were thriving.
the air so clean in our lockdown days a healing pulsing through the stars at night where earthlight weeps and breaks
(Haiku Dialogue: Connection with Others, Troutswirl, 25 November 2020)
With so many people now working from home, adoptions from animal shelters increased. It was lovely to see so many dogs and cats from shelters we support find their loving forever homes and we hope this is a trend that will continue.
If you are thinking about getting a dog or a cat, please consider adoption as your first option. Please consider adopting an older pet too if you can. We have done this several times and it is very rewarding.
We want to thank all our readers and followers for your support and inspiration this year. We had more time to write and there was a lot to write about.
Feel free to browse the monthly archives for posts about the support within our community, a tribute to a poet lost early in the pandemic, the Hope project and many more moments that made this year so special.
Thank you to all the editors and publishers who featured my work in journals, anthologies and special features.
Huge thanks to Eve, Frank, Kristjaan, Misky, Ronovan and the team at dVerse Poets for a great variety of poetry prompts, to Becca, Sheryl, Kristian, Brian, Christine, Emily, Heather, Katherine, Ping, Punam and Tracy for your wonderful writing prompts and to Cee, Jez, Paula, Sue & Gerry, Cathy, Terri, Amy, Ann-Christine, Patti & Tina for your fabulous photographic prompts throughout the year.
A big thank you to all the healthcare workers and people who kept us fed and cared for during the pandemic.
We wish you all a blessed, happy, healthy and creative New Year!
We are deeply honoured and delighted that our poem Where Moss Flows has been published in Dance Into The World, The Tanka Society of America Twentieth Anniversary Anthology (2020). A very big thank you to Michael Dylan Welch for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful anthology together.
For a summary of recent poems featured in anthologies please visit our Anthologies page.
Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4 – 1/800 s – ISO 200, f/4.5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 250 and f/5.6 – 1/100 s – ISO 200.
We are deeply honoured and delighted to have a new haiku (in Dutch) included in the Haiku-kantelkalender 2021. The calendar features fifty-two haiku by poets from Belgium and The Netherlands and is available from Haiku-centrum Vlaanderen (9 Euro per calendar plus postage). A very big thank you to Ferre Denis and the team for including my poem and putting this beautiful calendar together.
Wishing you all a happy Monday and a peaceful week ahead,
with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.2 – 1/640 s – ISO 100, f/3.2 – 1/400 s – ISO 100 and f/4 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100.
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