Exhaustion's Remedy

No question.

Exhaustion has taken it’s toll

behind red-rimmed eyes ~ Open wide!

concentration sluggish ~ Focus!

moving slowly ~  Don’t stop too long!

Desire to 

go anywhere 

visit anyone 

non-existent ~ except for

a short, lovely walk outside in 

brilliant sunshine, cold polished air!

Three days off!!

Clear my eyes,

all will be restored.

I can do this.

Tomorrow?

A total pyjama day full of

puttering

reading

napping

stillness and calm.

“To do nothing is also a good remedy.”

~ Hippocrates

One Warm Summer Morning

One Warm Summer Morning

They were a charmingly dressed and coifed pair, wearing identically styled light pink summer dresses with lacy white edging on rounded flat collars and short sleeves. The little girl was ahead several paces, skipping her pink handled skip rope, swinging an arc over her head and below her shiny new black patent leather shoes. Stray curls escaped from her dark brown braids that flipped and swung with each hop and skip, hop and skip. A white haired woman followed slowly behind, hands folded together behind her back. Her glistening white hair was also braided, with braids coiled neatly around her head, a fluff of bangs curling loosely at her brow.   

Calling out ‘Wait for me..’ she stopped briefly, reached out to cup a rose on a neighbors fence and, leaning carefully in, breathed deeply of it’s soft scent.  

The sun was warm in the early morning casting their skipping, wandering shadows onto the lane beside the old wooden sidewalk.  ‘Come on, Grandma. Here’s a hop scotch! You like to play hop scotch. Come on - I'll wait here for you.’  

Watching this little scene from the balcony of my imagination, more details came into view - a picket fence, gravelled lane way, a robin on a corner post...........

“Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common 

belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.”

~ W.Somerset Maugham

Abundantly Cluttered

Kitchen table laden with a mound of clothes to iron

Crumbs strewn on the floor await a vacuum cleaner brush

Decorations from holidays,

no longer part of the decor.

I am maid and mistress,

this home of mine to address.

Grateful for the things I have that

make it such a mess.

“He who is plenteously provided for from 

within, needs but little from without.”

~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Dancing in Rounds

Stay where your feet are

Circles of dancers

move slowly, calmly,

deliberately forward, 

hands entwined on either side.

Stay where your feet are

Feet in a circle

shuffle and swing

bells jingling

drums beating rhythm

Stay where your feet are

Hold your head high

Small clusters

Open circles

Close to the land

“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes 

of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture 

that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about.”

~ Joseph Campbell

Island Winter Hope

West coast winters are different, Island winters too.

Blue sky and sun are strangers 

Clouded days with rain - boohoo.

Winter winds for now have calmed.

This morning they were fierce.

Trees are standing quiet now, only dark and damp.

A peek outside my window renewed my hope for spring,

There, tucked beside wet fence boards,

snowdrops blossom in the rain.

“It is the first purpose of hope to make hopelessness bearable.”

~ Robert Brault

The Question of Nursing

Nursing ~

it’s a job but don’t go there.

Advice sometimes heard from the tired.

The job?

Care of broken bodies and spirits requiring mending.

When medicine has been prescribed or surgery has been done,

it is time for healing.

Nursing time. 

A 24/7 time.

When form and function are misplaced or lost, nurses step in, to support and encourage healing, be it long or short, by 

hand holding, 

problem solving

helping the sick to understand their sickness - mental or physical

educating about lifelong health conditions

turning those that cannot turn themselves

bathing those that cannot bath themselves

changing dressings and cleaning wounds ~ large or small

care of beeping and burping life supporting machines

and yes, sometimes unsavoury tasks related to bodily function

And in all of this,

assessing and monitoring an individual’s progression

to wellness and sometimes to the end of a life - whether well lived or not.

Finally, documenting the changes in whatever progression there is,

for the next nurse to see and understand.

Why do we do these things?

Is it just a job?

What holds us together besides

an employer, 

an association 

a union.

What are the reasons?

“As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, 

soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves.  They may

 forget your name but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

~ Maya Angelou

An Open Letter from Your Skin

It’s all about me ~ your Skin ~ and how I feel.

I am your Skin, you know, and you take me for granted every day.

Sometimes - many times - you even complain about me.

Wrinkles that crease and line

Baggy eyes that droop

Wing flaps with no purpose

Cellulite like pitted orange peel

Rolls of extra skin once taut and firm

Those are only a few unkind comments I hear.

But I wrap myself around your core anyway

Stretch and drape over your bones and joints

Hold your insides from falling outside

Keep germs and other nasties outside so they don’t go inside.

Grow hard and calloused on the bottom of your feet, supporting you where ever you go.

The colours of the rainbow are no match for the many shades and hues of skin tones available to my Cousins

So how about a little lotion to keep me from cracking up

Bubbles for a good soak in a hot bath

A drink of water more often than not - or even juice!

Warm socks to tuck my toes in

Soft cozy fleece to keep out the cold.

Satin sheets, smooth and kind, as I age.

The wind in my face with just a touch of sun to make me glad

A snow flake on my nose

Misty rain to touch me softly

It is all about me after all.

I’m your Skin.

“What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize

the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin

more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?”

~ Michelangelo