Haiku My Heart! Family

  There are some years when we celebrate family more than others.  This past year has been a banner year and the celebrations are continuing!  

   Last year we  had a wedding, and a 90th birthday party. Soon we will gather again for another wedding and several graduations both high school and college.  Later on this summer, a much anticipated and already beloved baby will arrive.

  Although the family is flung out across most of the East Coast, we delight and rejoice with one another at each and every milestone.

 My mother,at 90,is our matriarch, the glue which seems to hold us together.  Every one of her grandchildren and one great grandchild, adores her and she them. Although she does not get around so much anymore, she continues to be interested in all the accomplishments of her extended family.  

  On those occasions when we are all together, it is gratifying to look around the table, at all the glowing young faces,off-spring of my parents,  each one with his or her own unique features, yet all sharing a set of values , a sense of humor, and a sense of family - passed on from my parents.

 A light seems to shine from those young faces - connecting past to future - our hope for the world!   

©Barbara Kaufmann 2013

For Recuerda Mi Corazon'haiku my heart' 


Thought for this day -  It is good to gather and celebrate as family!

Spring Shadow and Light

  Of all my gardens, I think I get the most pleasure from my shady garden.  Everyone thinks gardening in shade is a challenge, but the reality is, if you plant the right stuff, it's a charm.

Ferns Unfurling ©Barbara Kaufmann 2013

 My tiny shady garden is best enjoyed by strolling through it, looking for tiny treasures since many of the woodland flowers that bloom there are tiny and can  best be appreciated up close.

Ferns 

  My shady area is underneath my weeping cherry, which itself can be planted under taller trees.  I added some shade shrubs that grow wild in the woods in the Northeast, like andromeda and rhododendron. 

Delicate Epimedium.....

   Next I put in ferns, lots and lots of ferns.  These lovely plants, although shy and retiring, can show off the dappled light that filters to the floor of the garden.

.....also comes in pink

 Some of my favorites shady perennials are  are dicentra, epimedium, lobelia, wild geranium, lady's mantle, anemone, daffodils,  astilbe, primrose and lenten rose.

Daphne scents the whole garden

  Some of the best shrubs to plant in the shade include the above mentioned andromeda, rhodos, daphne, viburnum, red- twigged dogwood and hydrangea.

Viburnum just opening

Jonquils- these late bloomers light up the spring shady garden

Lenten Rose starts to bloom in March and is still going strong!

Solomon's seal with vareigated leaves looks great in shade

    The flowers and flowering shrubs, light up the dark corners all spring and summer  and into the fall.

  This selection, along with the ferns and hostas, give the shady garden interest in every season. (And best of all, the weeds are not very aggressive in the shade!

  The other morning, as I watched the sun slowly begin to awaken my garden, this poem arrived unbidden:

*****

Spring Light

the Light begins

 to move

 across the sky

slowly it creeps north

awakening my soul,

opening my sleepy eyes 

after the dark night of winter,

the sun's warmth

soaks into my bones,

lighting the way,

 the earth begins to hum

with budding potential,

green unfurls its tiny flags

and then my heart

opens to new possibilities,

take me, 

spring Light.

*****

Thought for today:  Gardening in the shade can be rewarding and inspiring!

Blessed Be These Hands, Blessed Be These Voices

 Happy Nurses Week!

© Barbara Kaufmann 2013

 

Blessed Be These Hands....

 Nurses' Week begins on May 6th and ends with  Florence Nightingale's birthday on May 12th.  It is a time to honor nurses and , for that matter, all caregivers who fulfill the role of nurse.

 I have been blessed to know many, many wonderful nurses in my lifetime.  Some taught me to use my hands, my heart and my head to minister to the sick.  Some worked along side me, encouraging, supporting, nurturing me through my career. Some became my closest friends, forming a special bond forged in the fire of our challenging profession.   Some cared for family members and brought healing to them and when healing was no longer possible, they comforted my loved ones.   Someday, I have no doubt,  nurses will care for me with kindness and compassion when I am in need of  their special healing touch.

   John O'Donoghue, an Irish poet, suggested in his book, To Bless the Space Between Us, that we don't need a minister or a priest to invoke a blessing.  We can and should bless one another. In honor of all the nurses who minister daily to the old, the young, the terminally ill and all  recovering bodies and souls, I offer this blessing.  It is part of the American Holistic Nurses Association's yearly celebration, to be held this year on May 12 at 12 noon and called  'The Nightingale Moment.'

                                               Nurses’ Hands

Blessed be these hands that have touched life.

Blessed be these hands that have felt pain.

Blessed be these hands that have embraced with compassion.

Blessed be these hands that have been clinched with anger or withdrawn in fear. 

Blessed be these hands that have drawn blood and administered medicine. 

Blessed be these hands that have cleaned beds and disposed of wastes.

Blessed be these hands that have anointed the sick and offered blessings. 

Blessed be these hands that grow stiff with age.

Blessed be these hands that have comforted the dying and held the dead. 

Blessed be these hands, we hold the future in these hands.

Blessed be our hands for they are the work of Your hands, O Holy One. 

The Nightingale Moment, May 12 Blessing of the Hands 

On May 12, 2000 at 12 noon after a moment of silence AHNA members Mary Gorka, RN, CHTP, Charlottesville, Virginia networker and Cindy Westley, RN, MSN, HNC, University of Virginia Medical Center, Community Services Coordinator, along with Joan Murray, Chaplain at UVA, and a former nurse at the Medical Center of the University of Virginia gave a local blessing of hands to nurses. That year, other Chaplains joined in to lead a wonderful effort in support of nursing. This tradition has been continued each year as way to celebrate the Nightingale Moment and honor the spirit of holistic nursing. Copies of the blessing were given to those who attended the ceremony to take back to their units to extend the blessings. The blessing is a responsive reading, leader says one line, the group the next. 

This Blessing of the Hands is from In Praise of Hands, Diann Neu, Waterwheel, Winter 1989. Adapted by Corlette Pierson, Pastoral Care Resident at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago, IL. This Blessing of the Hands may be copied and used for Nightingale Moment activities, but is not intended to be sold. 

Thought For Today :  I am thankful for all the wonderful nurses with whom I have shared my life's journey and I pray for and remember them in a special way this week.

For Recuerda Mi Corazon 'Haiku My Heart'

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