Monday, December 30, 2019

Carpe Diem Extra December 30th 2019 an update on my mom


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First my apologies for not publishing our traditional feature "Seven Days Before Christmas", because I had a lot to do while caring for my mom. Today I wish to bring you an update on my mom.

My mom has been institutionalized (?) on Christmas Eve she had to move to a nursery home for the elderly people. Her dementia looks very progressive at the moment and it wasn't possible anymore to take care for her in her own home. So we had to decide what to do. The nursing home for the elderly people was our only option ... so she lives now in a nursing home. One positive side to this is, that she now lives in the nursing home were I am working myself. So I can visit her very often even when I am at work.

Nursing Home were my mother lives now
It's sad that we had to decide this, but ... it also gives us rest and peace ... I try to cope with it as does my mom. We will find peace within for this new way of being a family.

To conclude this CD Extra:

I wish you all a wonderful inspirational 2020 ... I hope to start publishing again on Monday January 6th 2020. And ofcourse I hope to see you all again here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.



Nagoaka Fireworks Festival 2019

Namasté,

Chèvrefeuille, your host


Friday, December 20, 2019

Carpe Diem's Seven Days Before Christmas 2019 (2) light


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness." (Genesis 1: 1-4, King James Bible)

What a joy it is to read these first lines of the Holy Bible. God, our Creator, created us Light. With that He provided us with the separation of "day and night", and figurely spoken ... we are now in the dark part of the year, on the Northern Hemisphere, but on the other side of our planet it's the light part of the year .... Isn't that a strange thing? At the same time we have light and darkness. If we look deeper in this matter ... we will see that with that we can say ... it's an everlasting "battle" between light and darkness. Not only in nature, but also in humanity ...

We all know that all around the world there is sadness and war, illness and death. Will that change someday? I don't think so, because that will disturb the balance as created by our Creator. He created the Light and the Dark ... that balance gives us inner peace and it gives us all we need to live our life.


Let There Be Light

As I was doing my research for this episode I ran into a nice revalation. Let us look again at the line: "and there was light". In the Torah, the phrase in Genesis 1:3 which is typically translated in English as "let there be light" is in Hebrew וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; ויְהִי אוֹר (wayyō’mer ’ĕlōhîm yəhî ’ôr wayəhî-’ôr). And there we see something very nice ... In the Hebrew translation "light" is written as "elohim" and "elohim" means "Mighty One". It is not only used of the one true God but is also used on occasion to refer to human rulers, judges, and even angels.

"Elohim" is by the way a neutral plural and points towards all and everything ... as we bring it back to our theme "Light" ... than the Light is in everyone and everything, so that makes us all part of Gods first action ... "let there be light".

gloom 
full moon -
snow falls

© Chèvrefeuille (experimental haiku)

Let there be light in your lives and let there be light in our life during the Holiday season, ... let there be light all around us, let there be light in our creativity ...

Let there be light in your Haiku, Tanka or other Japanese poetry form ... Let there be light ... we are all part of Gods Creation ... shine your light upon your surroundings ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 25th at noon (CET). Have fun!


Thursday, December 19, 2019

Carpe Diem's Seven Days Before Christmas 2019 (1) Peace Within


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of our traditional feature "Seven Days Before Christmas" 2019. It has been a while that I published here during circumstances with my mom. At the moment her dementia looks stable, but she gives me still worries. Because of her behaviour, she sometimes goes outside in the middle of the night, I have slept at her home to give her a feeling of safety. I have now been at her home almost a week and it looks like she starts "to accept" that she will become more and more demented ... I had the possibility to leave her alone in her home with good care by nurses. So it gives me a kind of freedom or to connect with our theme for this first episode of "Seven Days Before Christmas", peace within.

 'The Peace Within' is referring to the balance in your life which brings peace within. To me that's what haiku does. I write haiku since the late eighties and I have grown to a balanced person with a heart full of joy and love. I even think that haiku has a positive influence on my work as an oncology nurse. I am more balanced through haiku and I hope haiku does that also to you all.


gentle breeze
refreshes my troubled mind -
finally peace within
my head completely empty
through the gentle breeze

© Chèvrefeuille


Peace Within ... is what I love to wish you all during this Holiday season and let us hope that the Peace Within will become once also a Peace On Earth. We are enetering a new decade and I hope and pray that everyone and everything on Earth will get that Peace Within.

To conclude this first episode of our traditional Holiday season feature "Seven Days Before Christmas" I love to share a wonderful music composition by one of my favorite composers, Karunesh.




This first episode of "Seven Days Before Christmas 2019" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 24th at noon (CET). Have fun!


Thursday, December 12, 2019

Carpe Diem Extra December 12th 2019 An update on my mom


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to give you all an update on the health of my mom. You all are so supportive and loving. I am glad that you all understand that my mom is more important now than our Haiku Kai. It makes me sad that I had to make this decision, but ... well taking care of mother takes all my time.
I am also happy that my co-workers at the nursing home where I am working, were so kind to take my shifts. That gave me the possibility to take care of mom 24/7 while she is waiting for a room in the nursing home.

My mom's dementia is progressive, she recently left her home in the middle of the night searching for my brother and my dad and couldn't find them (both are deceased), but she couldn't find her way back to home also.

lost in her thoughts
she searches for the dead
between the living


© Chèvrefeuille, your host

PS. I will try to create our special feature "Seven Days Before Christmas" ... it has become a tradition here at CDHK.


Friday, December 6, 2019

Carpe Diem Extra December 6th 2019 ... CDHK on hold


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I feel the urge to tell you how it's going here in The Netherlands. As you all have noticed the last weeks I am not publishing on time or sometimes not at all. I love to explain why. As I told you in one of my earlier posts my mother is diagnosed with vascular dementia. The last weeks her dementia is very progressive. She looses the hold on her life and brings her own safety in danger. I am the only one left, next to my mother, of our family, so I am almost on a daily base at my mother's home.
She is really loosing the hold on our life and needs almost 24/7 care, but at the moment there is no place in the nursing homes for the elderly.
You all will understand that the care for my mother takes all my time and that makes me sad, because you all are in a way my family and I just want to give you all the attention you deserve. That's not possible at the moment. I am exhausted and running towards a nervous breakdown.
So I have decided to take some time off. Ofcourse with pain in my heart, but I cannot cope in a good way with the progressive dementia of my mother ... I hope you all will understand my decision.

I hope to be back as your host in a few weeks, because I really love CDHK and I love to do our traditional "Seven Days Before Christmas" feature ...


it dribbles tears

The man
I used to meet in the mirror
is no more.
Now I see a wasted face.
It dribbles tears.

© Masaoka Shiki

This Tanka by Shiki, gives you an idea how I am feeling right now.

Namasté,

Chèvrefeuille, your host


Monday, December 2, 2019

Carpe Diem #1790 & #1791 (double episode)


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of a new month of CDHK. As I told you in an earlier post, a preview, December is also about "Never Change A Winning Team" ... so it's all about haiku, still my first love, this month too.

During circumstances I hadn't the opportunity to publish earlier, so today I have a double episode. Every episode has its own title and linking widget.

Ofcourse this month I will do, as is tradiotnal at CDHK, our special feature "Seven Days Before Christmas".

A Lovely Sunset (photo © Hernan Pauccara)

#1790 A Lovely Sunset

For this episode I love to challenge you to "revise" a haiku. That haiku is one by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the haiku-poet that I see as my master:

in the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus -
a lovely sunset.

© Basho

A wonderful haiku by the master.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 8th at noon (CET). Have fun!




#1791 Soliloquy No Renga

The second episode I love to challenge you with is a Soliloquy No Renga, or a solo-renga. I will give you a haiku that you have to use as the starting verse (hokku) of your Soliloquy No Renga. For this kind of Renga you have to create at least a renga with six stanza and a maximum of twelve stanza. Your closing verse (ageku) has to close the "chain".


Bare Branches (photo© Floraandfauna(2)

Here is your starting verse (hokku):

I have chosen a haiku by Yozakura, the Unknown Haiku Poet, a beauty I think to work with.

bare branches
a painting against the blue sky
leaves under my feet

© Yozakura

With this haiku you have to start your Soliloquy No Renga.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions until December 9th at noon (CET). Have fun!


Sunday, December 1, 2019

No Weekend Meditation (again)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, 

I will not publish a weekend meditation this weekend during circumstances with my mother. As i told you my mom has been diagnosed with vascular dementia and she is nothing doing well.
So my first attention now is my mom. I hope to publish our first regular episode of December today late evening.

My excuses,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.