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Snippets of my books

THE BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY page 11

DAD I would like to describe my dad with some of his hobbies, as I was a bit of a daddy’s girl. I think I understood him in many ways. I had travelled just as he did but for him was because of the War. And I remember his tattooed arm and myself out of the 7 kids, bothered with tattoos. The funny thing was I had a butterfly done in Hong Kong and my second butterfly when returning to the UK. A handsome chap was Alfred, sky blue eyes that shone a flawless complexion and a Hollywood smile that caught the eye of any woman’s heart. Shoes always polished, a clean hanky every day and his cap on before leaving the house. He had a handshake that summed him up, hands like bricks with a handshake that would leave another a little weaker at the knees showing his manly strength. He cycled everywhere and we know sometimes pedalling could be hard but some days it was easy as the pedals seem to go all around by themselves, claiming a free ride as cyclists called it! Also a walker where mushroom picking was included on early morning Sunday walks round Brumby woods. He was a keen gardener who still at retirement age did 3 to 4 gardens a week for widowed neighbours who still lived in big houses with their large front and back gardens. One year he started a new hobby, pigeons were becoming popular for racing and breeding them. He built a large pigeon hut in the back garden and we kids enjoyed every minute of it. I remember watching an old film on telly, black and white, it was where a pigeon had a message attached to one leg then set free, how it tickled me with wonder. (Before the post man arrived I thought.) Sometimes he would put a couple at the back of his bicycle and went out of town to test his homing pigeons. And school lunch times wondering down the back garden to see a pigeon sat in a tiny hut of wood and glass on a pot egg, I didn’t understand at the time the methods of breeding. When the pigeons finally fizzled out it was replaced by a dog, he went for a true breed, a grey and white Whippet and a certificate with its name on, “Scinder Earl.” What a beautiful looking dog and everyone loved it, the kids, the neighbours and even the post man. Yes he liked showing it off, it wasn’t put to racing, though he caught real rabbits in Brumby woods which the wife Annie was expected to cook, not a pleasant job for mum and not forgetting our cartoons of Bugs Bunny that we absolutely loved. But it was a daft dog that never got trained properly, having a houseful of kids confusing it. Oh and the embarrassment of our dad and the dog coming back from walks alone, twitching curtains! “There goes one” and then later “the other one,” after all our dad was a proud man. The silly thing was at home the dog followed him everywhere, often laying his head on his knee looking up with big mousey eyes pining to be out on adventures again!

Summer time was car boot time as dad tried to go to as many as possible all in one morning up to 3 at least to take a nosey at. He never owned a car so bus trips were popular to sea sides and castles all through summer. Bicycles were bought cheap he knew how to repair them, he use to have quite a few, with interested neighbours to sell to. He would repair televisions as well and a bit of a handy man on DIY in the house. A man who never missed the news and his favourite programmes, like Davie Attenborough, on Wild Life and Sea Creatures from all over the world. “Sky at Night” by Patrick Moore, was enjoyed for astrology interested him. Music was played for leisure regularly with a fine voice that carried effortlessly through the house to Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman and so on. I remember his LP of all guitar music on it, no singing just soft guitar exotic melodies. Ah . . . nonstop guitar music is gorgeous, it’s like going on a mini holiday! All our vegetables came from the garden as Alfred was the king of gardeners or in this day and age an organic genius. He grew everything and there was plenty of room to do it. Rows and rows of fresh veg and a greenhouse with grapes hanging in it, the front garden was always grass lawns and lots and lots of scented roses that I myself loved getting a close up to sniff at. There was long rows of tall orchids that were later introduced, the bees were very happy! And all from a council house 3 bedrooms, but generous gardens. Living room windows were permanent homes to some of the biggest prettiest cacti I’ve seen, sat on large dinner plates quite exotic indoor plants that I read in an unheated house these plants came from a 200 species! Exotic names, like Graptopetalum pachyphyllum, family Crassulageae whose habitat mainly Mexico. “The dwarf variety is a real gem and should be in every collection”. And a man who sometimes needed a little piece and quiet. With a houseful of kids that should be seen not heard, who would often say to our mum with a smile on his face “Annie, get your gun!” I was reading one day in a magazine about poems, about your pets so I decided our pet dog deserved one, excuse the Yorkshire accent….. . . . . . . . .

WISDOM page 10 

So sitting opposite the medium for first ever reading a lady who had excused herself almost straight away after I just sat down, to go to the toilet after finishing her last reading was also aided by a walking stick, has she had clearly been recovering from something yet here she was getting on with life despite her physical condition.

The following reading shocked me! Shocked me and the word brave or maybe just denying could this be the real me questioned her somewhat detailed answer on my life. I remember I had an immediate connection to her for since as long as I could remember years and years I had doodled the same playful image on paper as a young girl which was a pair of eyes with female eyebrows in fact I would repeat these mystical eyes with my little pen over and over harmless doodling but unaware why and her poster had the exact image! The eyes had finally become as big as life and they was looking at mine!

The following reading hit me in a spiritual way the big question life and death, here we go. “The following reading is for Linda, you’re quite an old soul, meaning lives before this one, I have a man stood behind you A JAPANESE SAMURAI WARRIOR, you have remanence of a past life where you fought for justice, you hate injustice and use to serve people. Now I don’t often get animal totems, but he comes with the BLACK PANTHER to give him strength, you give a lot of strength to others, but it’s not often returned. And you have chosen one of the hardest life themes! (wish me luck!)

THE HABITS page 11

Married to the hoarder, yes somewhere out there in deep dark space or you can just see them a mile away the hoarder who’s always in full flow. With cries, “don’t chuck that out that out they’ve stop making them,” in fact come to think of it he has got a genuine alter of hoarded goodies, some would call it the living room cabinet but it’s kind of a bookshelf, with lots of vintage stuff on it and is tricky to impossible to dust around each centimetre gap of its’ maze of memories. Even cracked cereal bowls and cracked Gala specials head, almost March to that alter, it might make a good picture puzzle if I took a snap shot though good luck with that multidimensional puzzle picture.

Even cracked cereal bowls under the inspection of his mother shuddered at the amount of germs that were in the crevices bolted into the garden as water dishes with the words, “I may have cracked up a little bit but I’m only human and everyone else is still here” sort sanctuary in the garden and blended beautifully with its’ yellow exterior against the green exterior.

3 GIRLS 1 UNICORN page 43

Welcome to this meditation called

3 Girls 1 Unicorn

But first into bed

Squeeze your pillow now

Make it nice and fluffy

Rest your head into the pillow

Closing 1 eye goodnight

Closing the next eye to dream

Get very comfortable

Let me tell you a story

Once upon a time a unicorn helped

Mr and Mrs Jones and their family

Mr and Mrs Jones have 3 children

They are different

But then again not

They are triplets a set of 3 girls

They look the same

But didn’t act the same

At the age only 8 something big did happen

It was great news for for one Sally

Poor news for the other Molly

And bad news for the third Jilly

5.0 out of 5 stars   I'm amazed how fast this book helped.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom Guided Meditation Stories For Children by Linda Owen

Verified Purchase

I’m going to start off being perfectly honest with you. I was a little sceptical as to how a book could help with the issues I’ve faced with my children and bedtime. Georgia, bless her is a very anxious child and we’ve been working hard with her, talking to her on her level, trying different bits to help her through what I hope is a phase that she will overcome or learn to cope with. Bedtime has not been the easiest some nights, sometimes she’s fine, other nights it’s horrible and she just needs you constantly near her to feel safe and happy.

When this book popped up I honestly thought, why not?. It couldn’t hurt to give it a try. So I sat down the 1st night with both children and read the first story to them. Both loved the idea of listening to the story, then drawing what they had seen in their mind afterwards, so after night 1 I was felling quite happy.

Then night 2 came… I read to Georgia first and within 5 minutes she was fast asleep! I then read to Abi and again, within 5 minutes fast asleep! I’m still not sure how that happened ha ha.

Was this a one off you might ask? Nope, My wife has also got onboard and read with the girls and again both of them were flat out!

I sat with the girls and asked them to tell me what they thought of the book and it was a resounding “AWESOME” from them with big smiles on their faces! Georgia especially liked it and she said it really did help her sleep and she wants to continue with the stories. She seemed more happy that she felt understood a little better, sometimes is hard to deal with kids and anxiety, to get the conversation on the right level so I really feel this booked helped us all.

What I loved about the book myself was not only that it engages the child but also it helps set the mood, the adult’s tone, the fact the kids have their eyes closed, relaxed. Everything is just nicely designed to help forget about the stress of the day and just enjoy being with the girls and for me it was nice to just sit with them and not simply be focused on finishing a story so I could do something else, I was there.. part of it, life can be busy, this helped me realise sometimes I just need to take a step back too.

I do hope others find this book useful, I know I did. I’ll certainly be carrying on with this one.

I’m amazed how just reading calmly and engaging with Georgia in a different way made an instant impact on her anxiety levels

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2022

Verified Purchase   Heidi Lynn’s Book Reviews.   Wow

First I want to thank Linda Owen and Zooloo Book Tours for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review. WOW! Guided Meditation Sleep Stories For Children was a brilliant idea for a book! First off not only can children benefit from this but the big kids at heart can too. It is a great for both the parent and child to bond with each other. The stories are fun, interesting and very relatable. Plus, at the end of each story there is a fun little activity that coincides with what the story was about. It is definitely an easy fun and quick read. Not to mention that the geographic artist did a brilliant job with the colour and the fun graphic on the cover. Any child would love this 

4.0 out of 5 stars   Relaxing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2022

My son and I used this book together at his bedtimes. We have used guided meditations before so this wasn't a new concept. The book details out what to do though if you are new to guided meditations. The book sets the scene and allows you to get comfy in your space before starting the stories. They use simple imagery to guide slowing down and getting ready for sleep.

We liked how there is the suggestion to draw what you've imagined from the meditations, we wouldn't do that at bedtime personally but enjoyed doing it as a follow up to the stories in the daytime.

Overall this is a lovely addition to the bedtime routine.

5.0 out of 5 stars   Ideal to help the bedtime routine

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 October 2022

I’m a big fan of meditation and really credit it with helping me improve my sleep hygiene – lovely eye mask with headphones on, hit play and I’ve never once made it to the end before falling asleep! Quite honestly bedtimes are becoming a little bit of a battle in our household. Not dreadful but the same process of “I’m not tired” on repeat and various levels of tears or anger when sadly bedtime has to come around does start to get challenging. Getting the opportunity to review this book has appeared at a perfect time for me and my family! My daughter is very keen on drawing and using her imagination to create stories so this is right up her street too! I had a pdf copy but would definitely invest in a paper one to avoid the blue light from the device. The content is great and is at a lovely level for younger and early school age children. I suspect they might well work for older primary children too but mine hasn’t gotten there yet! The stories are creative and allow plenty of imagination as well as referring to items and scenes that children will be familiar with to give them a somewhere to begin. I think this is an excellent idea and a great resource to try and smooth out bedtimes and fulfil the wish for more stories whilst winding down gently. I am a fan!

5.0 out of 5 stars   A magical bedtime

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 October 2022

Verified Purchase

Linda has creative a wonderful resource for aiding children’s relaxation at bedtime. The stories are unique and take them on a magical visualisation. Great for spiritually minded parents. A lovely book

5.0 out of 5 stars   Precious time spent together

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 April 2023

I am really enjoying reading these meditation stories to my children at bedtime. It’s lovely having that quality time together and they are enjoying the visual imagery they are gaining from each story. What a great idea.

5.0 out of 5 stars   Amazing help with 8 children x

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 January 2023

What an amazing book. I was lucky enough to get her to sign it too.

I would strongly suggest buying this book for your children as it has helped a lot x

4.0 out of 5 stars   Relaxing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2022

My son and I used this book together at his bedtimes. We have used guided meditations before so this wasn't a new concept. The book details out what to do though if you are new to guided meditations. The book sets the scene and allows you to get comfy in your space before starting the stories. They use simple imagery to guide slowing down and getting ready for sleep.

We liked how there is the suggestion to draw what you've imagined from the meditations, we wouldn't do that at bedtime personally but enjoyed doing it as a follow up to the stories in the daytime.

Overall this is a lovely addition to the bedtime routine.

5.0 out of 5 stars   Helps children sleep

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2022

Meditation is a fantastic way to help parents and children learn how to focus on many things. Sleep is something that some parents can find a challenge this book helps parents encourage children to sleep and think about calming behaviour, not only is it encouraging reading time which ultimately has proven to also help benefit children in life with literacy skills it allows learning in subtle ways before bed time. We all know literacy skills are important from very early on. Fantastic book! I hope that Library’s and local children's groups can use this useful resource!

5.0 out of 5 stars   A magical bedtime

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 October 2022

Verified Purchase

Linda has creative a wonderful resource for aiding children’s relaxation at bedtime. The stories are unique and take them on a magical visualisation. Great for spiritually minded parents. A lovely book.

5.0 out of 5 stars   Full body relaxation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 July 2022

Verified Purchase

Linda’s meditations invite you to become anything, anywhere. Her descriptions invite a visceral experience, whether that’s embodying a fearless, bold tiger or leaning into the softness of a healing unicorn. A creative, nourishing narrative allowing the nervous system to relax. Embodiment and sleep quality are two significant priorities for a child and an adult. Gorgeous read.

4.0 out of 5 stars   Brilliant read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 May 2023

The children love these stories here at nursery

5.0 out of 5 stars   Ideal to help the bedtime routine

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 October 2022

I’m a big fan of meditation and really credit it with helping me improve my sleep hygiene – lovely eye mask with headphones on, hit play and I’ve never once made it to the end before falling asleep! Quite honestly bedtimes are becoming a little bit of a battle in our household. Not dreadful but the same process of “I’m not tired” on repeat and various levels of tears or anger when sadly bedtime has to come around does start to get challenging. Getting the opportunity to review this book has appeared at a perfect time for me and my family! My daughter is very keen on drawing and using her imagination to create stories so this is right up her street too! I had a pdf copy but would definitely invest in a paper one to avoid the blue light from the device. The content is great and is at a lovely level for younger and early school age children. I suspect they might well work for older primary children too but mine hasn’t gotten there yet! The stories are creative and allow plenty of imagination as well as referring to items and scenes that children will be familiar with to give them a somewhere to begin. I think this is an excellent idea and a great resource to try and smooth out bedtimes and fulfil the wish for more stories whilst winding down gently. I am a fan!

5.0 out of 5 stars   Uplifting book for the young ones

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 May 2023

Good value and has great stories...

Just holding the book lifts your vibration!