Carpe Diem #1842 End Of Year

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

The year 2020 is almost over. What a year it was. The pandemic, corona, and the tough times healthcare had (and still has). Even here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, we have had our lockdown and, how sorry I am for it, we still have that lockdown here at CDHK.

As you all know I am an oncology nurse and covid-19 takes all my energy and now it is even more worse, because my Mom has Covid-19 too. She is almost 91 and I am worried about her. As you (maybe) know, my Mom lives in a nursing home for the elderly, because of her dementia, and she lives in the nursing home were I am working myself.

In our nursing home we have a very big covid-19 outbreak and that makes that I really don't know how and when I can start posting our daily posts again.

It makes me sad, but ... well it is out of my hands, I cannot control what is happening at the moment in the world and in my personal life.

If I look back ... than 2020 is a year we will always remember as the "corona-year" and as I look at myself, 2020 will be a year full of loss. At the nursing home we have lost a lot of our patients to Covid-19 and a lot of my co-workers, are suffering of Covid-19 too. We just have to do our work with almost one third less co-workers. So it is tough, very tough.

I really hope that 2021 will be a year in which we all can return to a (more) normal life without Covid-19. I really hope that you all, my dear Haijin, are okay and in good health. Take care my dear Haijin ... take care.

I wish you all a wonderful new year and I hope that 2021 will bring us joy again.

In classical Japan (following the Lunar calender) there was a fifth season ''New Year", and this season was from approximately 20 december 'til 20 January. I have a few haiku which have been written for this season:

the Great Morning:
winds of long ago
blow through the pine trees

© Onitsura

The Great Morning is the morning of New Year's Day.

for this New Year's Day
the sight we gaze upon shall be
Mount Fuji

© Sokan

And a last one:

the first sunrise
there is a cloud
like a cloud in a picture

© Shusai

All wonderful haiku on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

And here are a few haiku by Issa and Basho:

my shadow too
in good health...
"Happy New Year!"

New Year's gift of tea--
where did you go
on your journey back to me?

© Issa

Both are wonderful "new year" haiku. Let me look at a few haiku by Basho on New Year:

has spring already come?
I feel wealthy this New Year
with five sho of old rice

New Year's Day
I feel lonely just like
an autumn evening

And what do you think of this one by Yozakura, the Wandering Spirit?

nothing changes
every day will be the same
this new year

A wonderful series of haiku about New Year's Eve of New Year's Day. Let those haiku inspire you:

after New Year's Eve
life hasn't changed a bit -
another year gone

listen! listen!
the sweet silence
the day after

New Year's Eve
fireworks enlightens the sky -
bad ghosts flee

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you enjoyed this episode of our Haiku Kai. And I hope you are inspired to create your own haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 7th at 10:00 PM (CET). Enjoy your New Year's Eve and I hope that 2021 will bring us more joy ...
You can find the linkinking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem #1574 New Year's Eve

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai of 2019. This month we will explore the classical and modern kigo for winter. So first HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope 2019 will be a wonderful year full of inspiration and joy.

To start this month with I have chosen for a modern kigo taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". New Year's Eve ... well needs no explanation I think (smiles).

alone
at the end of the road
a New Year's party

New Year's Eve
the angel atop the pine
a full moon

New Year's Eve
on the country porch the sound
of a full moon

© Jane Reichhold (taken from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

(credits logo)

Here is my response:

Ah! that silence
after New Year's Eve ...
the wind of last year
plays with bare branches
nothing has changed

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 7th at noon (CET). Have an awesome New Year's Eve !!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #65 Crossroads ... Troiku ... New Year's Eve

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday December 30th 2018 at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have a few announcements to make: next month January 2019 all our prompts will be modern and classic kigo (seasonwords). This is the last weekend meditation of 2018 and in the last month of 2018 we were on a roadtrip along the Pan American Highway. We have only one regular episode to go, December 31st, and that means that we will not reach the end of our trip. To complete the Pan American Highway I will create next month an (extra) feature, because I love to complete our roadtrip along the Pan American Highway.
Second: Next month I will probably start in a new job more close to my home. As you all know recently I started in a new job at the VU Medical Center Amsterdam, but it turns out that traveling to the VU Medical Center has a big impact on my health and well being. So I have decided to resign my job.

Okay ... back to our weekend meditation, the last of 2018, ... I have chosen to challenge you with a "Crossroads" episode with a "twist". The goal of this weekend meditation is to create a "fusion ku" and a Troiku with that "fusion ku". The theme I have chosen for this last weekend meditation is "New Year's Eve" and here are the haiku to work with, both by Jane Reichhold and taken from her online "dictionary of haiku":

Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

a new year
rising from wild seas
a few stars

filling
the glass with candlelight
champagne

© Jane Reichhold

As you all know Jane was a very close friend of mine and she was co-host several years here at CDHK. Back in 2016 she died, but she will never be forgotten. Her spirit is dwelling here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and she is still missed.

So this last weekend meditation of 2018 is in honor of Jane Reichhold (1937-2016). Let her be proud on us all.

Have a great weekend!

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday, December 30th 2019, at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 6th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #13 New Year's Eve

!! Open for your submissions January 1st at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai 2017. We have had a wonderful year and I am looking forward to host CDHK for you in a whole new year. For this weekend-meditation I have chosen the theme New Year's Eve ...

I had a very busy day so that's the reason why this weekend-meditation is later than planned, this weekend-meditation takes also a day longer, because you can submit your Japanese poetry a day later than I mostly do. This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions January 1st at 7:00 PM (CET).A New Year is within reach ... what are your plans, your dreams, your thoughts and ideas for 2018? Maybe you can share them with us through your posts or through your Japanese poetry. I hope to make CDHK even better than it already is and there are several ideas I am thinking about to make CDHK better than ever. Of course I hope to create several CDHK E-books and we will have again our season retreats in 2018.

!!!! Our CDHK prompt-list for January is ready you can find it above in the menu !!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The theme for this weekend-meditation is New Year's Eve so here are a few haiku for your inspiration.

In classical Japan (following the Lunar calender) there was a fifth season ''New Year", and this season was from approximately 20 december 'til 20 January. I have a few haiku which have been written for this season:

the Great Morning:
winds of long ago
blow through the pine trees

© Onitsura

The Great Morning is the morning of New Year's Day.

for this New Year's Day
the sight we gaze upon shall be
Mount Fuji

© Sokan

And a last one:

the first sunrise
there is a cloud
like a cloud in a picture

© Shusai

All wonderful haiku on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

And here are a few haiku by Issa and Basho:

my shadow too
in good health...
"Happy New Year!"

New Year's gift of tea--
where did you go
on your journey back to me?

© Issa

Both are wonderful "new year" haiku. Let me look at a few haiku by Basho on New Year:

has spring already come?
I feel wealthy this New Year
with five sho of old rice

New Year's Day
I feel lonely just like
an autumn evening

And what do you think of this one by Yozakura, the Wandering Spirit?

nothing changes
every day will be the same
this new year

A wonderful series of haiku about New Year's Eve of New Year's Day. Let those haiku inspire you this weekend.

after New Year's Eve
life hasn't changed a bit -
another year gone

listen! listen!
the sweet silence 
the day after

New Year's Eve
fireworks enlightens the sky -
bad ghosts flee

© Chèvrefeuille

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions January 1st at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 8th at noon (CET). Have a great weekend and a wonderful start of 2018.

Carpe Diem #1112 Music For The Royal Fireworks by Händel

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Here it is our last episode of 2016. We have had a wonderful year and now we are facing a new year, 2017, and I hope 2017 (our first lustrum, our first fifth anniversary) will become an awesome year starting in January with that wonderful novel by Paulo Coelho "The Pilgrimage". In January I hope to go on a pilgrimage together with you all to Santiago De Compostela while we are reading "The Pilgrimage". Maybe you can remember our pilgrimage months back in 2015, they were awesome and I hope this pilgrimage will be awesome too, I hope even more awesome than our first one.
Of course we have to remember Jane Reichhold, so I have created a wonderful Theme Week around her birthday, January 18th. If she was alive she had become 80 years, so a festive month to honor her and tribute her cannot be forgotten. By the way I hope to create a tradition around Jane's birthday every year of our existence.

This is our last episode of 2016 and I have a wonderful piece of music for you. Maybe you have read the prompt-list for December 2016, than you have seen that I had planned two musical compositons, but I decided to do just one and that one fits this day in a perfect way.

Today I love to inspire you all with this magnificent piece of music by Händel, "Music For The Royal Fireworks".

This wonderful piece of music inspired me to create the following haiku:

New Year's Eve
the sound of fireworks
scares the demons

© Chèvrefeuille

Well .... what can I say more to this episode? Just this:

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, pilgrimage, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #67, New Year's Eve (toshi no yo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are gliding into our second part of this Carpe Diem month with classical kigo. The next ten days the kigo which I have chosen are all kigo for mid winter. In the middle of winter the year is changing and we have New Year's Eve (toshi no yo). New Year''s Eve is our prompt for today.

In classical Japan (following the Lunar calender) there was a fifth season ''New Year", and this season was from approximately 20 december 'til 20 January. I have a few haiku which have been written for this season:

I have selected a few haiku from other haiku poets than the ones I have used 'til now:

the Great Morning:
winds of long ago
blow through the pine trees

(c) Onitsura

The Great Morning is the morning of New Year's Day.

for this New Year's Day
the sightwe gaze upon shall be
Mount Fuji

(c) Sokan

And a last one:

the first sunrise
there is a cloud
like a cloud in a picture

(c) Shusai

All wonderful haiku on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

OK ... let's do it myself ...

after New Year's Eve
life hasn't changed a bit -
another year gone

listen! listen!
the sweet silence
the day after

New Year's Eve
fireworks enlightens the sky -
bad ghosts flee

This prompt will stay on 'till december 12th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post the new Carpe Diem Special today around 10.00 PM (CET). Another wonderful haiku written by our haiku master of this month Buson.

This is the new Special haiku:

adabana wa ame ni utarete uri batake

fruitless blossoms
are beaten by the rain
in the melon fields

Have fun, be inspired and share your creativity with Carpe Diem. By the way: I have a busy week, so it's possible that I haven't time to comment on your post. I will catch up later on.