You, Me And Raintree

My heart is with nature and I am at my best when surrounded by trees in a forest or even a single tree I can see from a window. With all the changes in my life I have decided to adopt a name of something I admire - A Tree. Strong firm roots that are unshakeable, branches reaching for the sky, flexible and adaptable to the winds...

Rain is essential to life,life giving, life enhancing. Not always seen as a positive by many "Oh no its raining again" but without some rain we would suffer. Water is amazing in all its forms when giving life. So thats the Rain part of it.

I am gradually adopting this name Raintree over the Web. However some of you may also know me as Jasmine Ann. I answer to either !!

 .....and You? Well I am writing any pages here for you to read and enjoy so I would love your comments and feedback.

This is my first page here so I am looking forward to getting to know people here

Gentle Hugs

Raintree

Life has its ups and downs no doubt. Most of the time we just trot along living each day. Each day is special and precious. Sometimes there are events which shape our lives for the better or the worse. Ride the storms and enjoy the good times.

I am finding it a little difficult to write this page right now as I am to some extent I am reinventing myself...

I am very happily married to a wonderful man for the last 18 years and still don't feel married. We have faced a lot together and look forward to whatever is next! We live in a comfortable home on the outskirts of a town in Yorkshire UK. We used to share this with our gorgeous Golden retriever boy until we lost him to cancer and we still love him and miss him. I only have my Mum now having lost my dad to cancer too. My Dad was a source of strength to me, a rock and I now carry that within me to help me in life. Both my husbands parents  have passed away and I do regret that we were not married long when that happened as I would have loved to know them better.

I have had back and sciatic issues as part of my life for many years and spent a long time looking for my solution. Having severe debilitating pain taught me lot about who i am and how I cope. I still need to be careful due to damage which occured but I do not get regular pain anymore and live my life and concentrate on what I can do :) ....which is a lot!!!

I am at the very beginning of my career again. For over 20 years I have worked with and on behalf of young people with special needs helping them to achieve what they want to do. That role was recently and suddenly axed by the employer due to government cuts. After the shock I am feeling settled and have adapted and have let it go. I am at the starting line again and it is exciting and challenging and I feel free and happy and nervous all at the same time!

So now I am seeking new opportunites and new ways of working and living. My husband and I stand side by side to face any new challenges.

You will find me in several places on the web!

I have been writing at Squidoo for about 5 years now. I also have a page over at Hubpages.

I am over at Wellsphere. I am a member of Blogcatalog and have a page at Delicious. I am a member of Tagfoot and Twitter.

Recently I started on Zazzle and Redgage but am just finding my way around there.

I enjoy helping at an animal rescue centre, this is a no kill rescue so the animals that come there will be cared for until a new loving home is found. It is very rewarding and sad at the same time but while I am there I try to be with the dogs in that moment. We loved having our own dog and had such a lot of fun with him but as we are not yet in a position to offer a dog a home I consider all these rescue dogs part of our lives.

My husband and I love countryside walks and exploring new places both in UK and abroad.

I love gardening and have recently made a veg plot which is doing better than I could have hoped. We had our first mini harvest recently and I was so proud!

I have studied Reiki to second degree and am studying other complimentary therapies as well which I am finding very interesting. I hope to be able to help people and animals in the future.

Although I rarely watch TV much,  I am a bit of a Star Trek fan! I particularly like The Next Generation and Voyager.

On the other hand I love period dramas and the Jane Austen adaptations. I also love reading a variety of books from Jane Austen to George Orwell to James Herriot and many more. 

We also seem to enjoy our decorating and doing up our home! We usually have a lot of fun doing that!