Impressions from a trip through the South Island of New Zealand

We traveled this summer for 10 days through the South Island of New Zealand. Just some random impressions of our stunning country which I so enjoy.

My heart is however full of sadness as well as my favourite poet has passed away

Thanks Mary for your wisdom and beauty RIP

Morning Poem 

by Mary Oliver 

Every morning

the world

is created.

Under the orange

sticks of the sun

the heaped

ashes of the night

turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches—

and the ponds appear

like black cloth

on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.

If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere.

And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead—

if it's all you can do

to keep on trudging—

there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted—

each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly,

every morning,

whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy,

whether or not

you have ever dared to pray.

A lonely tree standing rock steady at Doubtful Sound

Mount Cook towering above its shedded tears

The Lindis Pass where mountains ruffle and rumple over earths crust

Near Punakaiki  a fly hovering placidly above, the ocean clashing with the rocks 

The sound of lapping water, the soothing sight of the Hawea river and the bush

The tree whispers in the wind in the water at Lake Wanaka

Lake Dunstan basking in beauty

Happy holidays

I wish all my blogging friends and every visitor

A Merry Christmas and a beautiful 2017.

Thanks for visiting my blog in 2016 even though I have been away lots of the time. This is going to happen again as work is busy, my brother is coming soon to NZ, it is holiday time, Christmas time and I already have lots of plans for 2017. I love blogging, taking photos and writing poems so whenever I can I will be there.

What I wish for 2017 is peace. Personal Peace in the first place so I am able to pass it on next year as much as I can and create peace around me. I defenitely hope there will be more Peace in the world.

So my symbol for 2017 is the peace symbol ✌☮

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." John Lennon

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Peace begins with a smile."  Mother Theresa

The following add is beautiful and it really happened.

I leave you with a poem by Suzy Kassam, an amazing poet, writer, philosopher and more

COMING FORTH INTO THE LIGHT

I was born the day
I thought:
What is?
What was?
And
What if?

I was transformed the day
My ego shattered,
And all the superficial, material
Things that mattered
To me before,
Suddenly ceased
To matter.

I really came into being
The day I no longer cared about
What the world thought of me,
Only on my thoughts for
Changing the world.

Suzy Kassem

See you somewhere in 2017

Marja Out for 2016 :)

Turn your face to the sun

Turn your face to the sun

by Maithri Goonetilleke

Beloved,

There are days when nothing seems right. When every shell you pick up on the winding shore is broken. When the silken treasure slips through your fingers too quickly. When comforts are empty. And the world is noise.

On those jagged edged days, when the wind is screaming for a reason only she understands. And you find yourself all alone.

Turn your face to the sun.

There is goodness in the world, that even the river of tears cannot erase.

There is love in the world, that the numbed armies of fear can not destroy.

Sometimes that goodness is everywhere apparent. It pours from the heart of every moment. From the light of every smile.

On those soft days, love hides in the eaves to drop like sweet honey on your forehead and sings her lilting lullabies in the arms of the winds.

But on some days, Beloved. On days like today....

We need to look, to see.

So turn your face to the sun.

Even when she is nowhere to be seen.

Go inside yourself. Find a speck, a splinter of beauty to be grateful for.

'Yes', the day has worn you. And 'Yes' our mistakes have been so many.

But say 'Thank you' anyway.

Take account of all that is in your possession.

A mind. A heart. A body.

A life that breathes, even if for just one more day.

Now count the eyes that have smiled
at you on your wild journey,

the hands that have held you tenderly,

the ears that have listened,

the prayers that have been made on your behalf.

And whisper your 'Thank you' again.

Count the sky that has watched you grow
with His painted eyes,

The heaving waves that find their echo
in the tides of your breathing,

The little birds that have sung
you their songs,

The stars which have been a lamp
to your path,
and are your
rightful inheritance.

Count unexpected laughter,

Count undeserved grace,

Count Passion and Love making and Dreams yet to be born,

And bow your head and say 'thank you',

Now count the lives who still need your light,

The hungry, the sick, the helpless,

Count the children who will die today

and imagine if with the breath of your body
you could help just
one.

Turn your face to the sun,
And know yourself as a child of the light.

You are the Goodness that cannot be extinguished,

The love that burns through the darkest night.

And perhaps,
In turning
You will see what i have seen,
that this day where everything seemed wrong,
was not your curse,

It was your gift,

Your chance...

To find inside yourself a forgotten 'thank you',

To smile in the face of the grim suppressors,

To stand in the heart of the glowering darkness
and turn your face to the sun.

Update from my corner of the world

Lots of things happening here but I still managed to catch some beauty and read some great poems.

A friend from Williams work made this gorgeous fish from driftwood for us. I love it
 Thank you so much Susan 

We have been busy again. Second sleeping room renovated. It has a new false ceiling, wallpaper, windows and walls painted, new curtains and the floor is varnished. The curtains for the small window still have to be shortened.

 A walk along the Heathcote river (Cracroft)

Some autumn colours. It is one more month till winter and it hasn't been to bad up till now.


While writing this we had an earthquake. It has become a habit to guess how strong it is and than check on GeoNet. So I checked. I thought it was a 3.5 but wow it was a 6.3 and it was 40 km NW of Kaikoura which is about 180 km from here. I hope the people in Kaikoura are all right. See how far it travels. Can you imagine what it does when the major Alp fault line goes off? It runs along the Southern Alps that runs almost the entire length of the South Island. But maybe let's not. Reminds me of updating our survival pack as we drank all the water and the torches are on the wrong place etc. Yes NZ is on shaky grounds. 

The view from my kitchen window. One morning I had to run outside to catch this gorgeous
 rainbow. In the future they are going to build houses on that part in the name of progress.

A beautiful poem which speaks to me at the moment:

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken
By Rainer Maria Rilke

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.

I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for

may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,

but this is what I need to say.

May what I do flow from me like a river,

no forcing and no holding back,

the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,

these deepening tides moving out, returning,

I will sing you as no one ever has,

streaming through widening channels

into the open sea.

The power of beauty

I believe in the power of beauty and then I don't talk about handsome people although there was a time that I fell for that magic as well, no the power of beauty of art like dancing, music, painting and poetry and of course nature. 
The last one and a half year I have been dealing with challenge after challenge. You could argue that   it is part of normal live, but the hardest thing is when you don't have any clue as how to deal with some things. In some cases, you have to choose options that are the least bad instead of good.
Talking about it helps but the main thing what gets me through is a high dose of trees, flowers, poetry and music. They are miracle workers to me. Today I give myself the following potion of incredible beauty. I am very great full for these treasures.





The Quiet Power

I walked backwards, against time
and that’s where I caught the moon,
singing at me.

I steeped downwards, into my seat
and that’s where I caught freedom,
waiting for me, like a lilac.

I ended thought, and I ended story.

I stopped designing, and arguing, and
sculpting a happy life.

I didn’t die. I didn’t turn to dust.

Instead I chopped vegetables,
and made a calm lake in me
where the water was clear and sourced and still.

And when the ones I loved came to it,
I had something to give them, and
it offered them a soft road out of pain.

I became beloved.

And I came to know that this was it.
The quiet power.
I could give something mighty, lasting,
that stopped the wheel of chaos,

by tending to the river inside,
keeping the water rich and deep,
keeping a bench for you to visit.

Tara Sophia More

Sunrise and sunset

A beautiful poem to enjoy

 

Sunrise and Sunset
I’ll tell you how the sun rose,
A ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.
The hills untied their bonnets,
The bobolinks begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
That must have been the sun!”
But how he set, I know not.
There seemed a purple stile
Which little yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while
Till when they reached the other side,
A dominie in gray
Put gently up the evening bars,
And led the flock away.
 Emily Dickinson

Youth by Samuel Ullman

Youth
 Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter
 of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of
 the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;
 it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

 

 Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over
 timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease.
 This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty.
 Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.
 We grow old by deserting our ideals.

 

 Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm
 wrinkles the soul.  Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the
 heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

 

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's
 heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of
 what's next, and the joy of the game of living.  In the center
 of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long
 as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and
 power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

 

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with
snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown
old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the
waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty

 

Awaken by Ralph S. Marston, Jr

Beauty to touch the soul, raise the spirits, cushion the mind, release the butterflies in the field of hopes and dreams. Thank you for this present I gently bumped into today :)

Lake Tekapo

Awaken
by Ralph S. Marston, Jr.

In your life
A new day is dawning
Awaken and touch the beauty

Wherever you've come from
Whatever you've been
New possibilities beckon
Right here and now
Awaken and make them real  

 

There was a time when you held in your heart
The most magnificent of dreams
A time when life seemed to carry
Endless promises and possibilities  

 

Those dreams are still with you
Awaken and bring them to life  

 

What you long for
Is longing for you
What you dream of
Is what you are meant to create  

 

The doubts you have exist only in your mind
The anxieties that seem so burdensome are of your own making
Now is the moment to awaken,
and allow those doubts to melt away  

 

Awaken, and dive deeply into the beauty of this moment
Allow your spirit to fully experience the richness of it all

 

Awaken
Allow peace to fill you completely
Let it touch your deepest longings
Let it bring those longings to life
Your most treasured possibilities are real,
If you will simply let them live through you

 

Awaken to this moment, and life begins anew
Reach inside, and allow
your most treasured
dreams to awaken with you
Into a bright and shining new day

 

Remind yourself again and again
Of how beautiful life can be
Remind yourself again and again
That you can make it so  

 

Awaken
Step boldly and lovingly forward
Into this day  

 

You've already come
So very far  You're stronger, more experienced
and more determined than ever
To fulfill those longings
That tell you who you are  

 

Now is your moment to create real meaning
Now is your moment to awaken
And to truly and fully live

For when the light goes out

 



One day the light goes out, one day flowers will loose their petals. There is a rhythm to all that lives. There is birth, there is dead. Everything is here only temporarily. While we are here we have to make the best of it and make sure to smell the flowers.
We have been helping a client at work collecting songs and poetry for the day people will say goodbye to her. I showed her the one I would very much like to be read which I posted. I would also love music of Andrea Bocelli. Here in NZ I experienced that people had celebrations of life to celebrate the good times they had. I would love that with flowers and laughter and music.

 Our client is not ready to go yet. Me neither.

It is a part of life though what is going to happen. I hope not for long as I still have so many tasks to fulfil in this life and so many things I would like to do. But we don't get to choose that day so I rather like the idea of people listening to your favourite song or poem and be a little prepared what about you?

 

Do not stand at my grave and weep

Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.      

quote of the week

Photo D. Blom
 

If you listen,
Not to pages or preachers
But to the smallest flower
Growing from the crack
In your heart,
You will hear a great song
Moving across a wide ocean
Whose water is the music
Connecting all the islands
Of the universe together,
And touching all
You will feel it
Touching you
Around you
Embracing you
With light

It is in that light
that everything lives
and will always be alive.
John Squadra

The moment by Margaret Atwood

 

THE MOMENT

By Margaret Atwood

The moment when, after many years

of hard work and a long voyage

you stand in the centre of your room,

house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,

knowing at last how you got there,

and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose

their soft arms from around you,

the birds take back their language,

the cliffs fissure and collapse,

the air moves back from you like a wave

and you can't breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.

You were a visitor, time after time

climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.

We never belonged to you.

You never found us.

It was always the other way round.

A poem by Bill Manhire

The Voyage

All night the water laps
the hedges. I hold you in the middle
of the air
Don't sleep
all night. It is pitch
black, but since
there is a vista, let
your throat be the
the lantern.
Since there is a window, let us
open it.
Let us dress
for a voyage. Let me
go out, with
your voice, to call for you.

Bill Manhire, NZ poet

 

We are responsible for children

Photo Kim Anderson

I had a very busy week. Worked far too much but had some really good moments. I  enjoyed today the laughing of some children. I love kids. I think kids are hard work but nothing gives me more pleasure. They are honest and straight forward, an open book, flexible, keen to learn, innocent and fun loving. I have the experience that they all want to succeed and to be good. When it doesn't seem like that there is usaully a good reason for it.
So when I found this poem I hope you take it in. And think about it, if you change the life of a child by giving them your real attention, you not only help them you help their future children and all surrounding people. Children are wiser than you think. . They should be valued a lot more than they are at the moment. That doesn't mean giving in to them. No they want you to set limits to give them clarity.  No it means to respect them, care about them and listen to them and they wil respect you. After all we are responsible for children!

Photo Kim Anderson

We are responsible for children

By Ina Hughus

We are responsible for children
Who put chocolate fingers everywhere,
Who like to be tickled,
Who stomp in puddles and ruin their pants,
Who sneak popsicles before supper,
Who erase holes in math workbooks,
Who can never find their shoes.

But we are also responsible for those
Who stare at photographers from behind broken windows,
Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
Who never "counted potatoes,"
Who are born in places where we wouldn't be caught dead,
Who never go to the circus,
Who live in an x-rated world.

We are also responsible for children
Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
Who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,
Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money,
Who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off key,
Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,
Who slurp their soup.

But we are also responsible for those
Who never get dessert,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
Who watch their parents watch them suffer,
Who can't find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures won't be on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real.

We are also responsible for children
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
Who like ghost stories,
Who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the tub,
Who get visits from the tooth fairy,
Who don't like tob e kissed in front of the carpool,
Who squirm in church and scream in the phone,
Whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
Whose smiles can make us cry.

We are responsible for those
Whose nightmares come in the daytime,
Who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
Who aren't spoiled by anybody,
Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
Who live and move, but have no being.

We are responsible for children
Who want to be carried and for those who must,
For those we never give up on
And for those who don't get a second chance,
For those we smother...

And for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

I was bad this week but I will visit you all in the coming days. Arohanui marja

And the winner is..........................

We are tired, I am tired. Forall people in the east of Christchurch are tired. Some have stopped digging the liquifaction from their gardens, driveways and houses. They've reached their limits. I only have expierenced a fraction of what others go through. I am a "rich" person inside a troubled city. Also rich because I had an overwelming response of warmth and care from so many bloggers. That's one of the reasons I can't stop blogging, because the love and care. I move on and get back on track and  remember I promised a souvenir for one of my bloggers and Beach. I printed out the comments and I cut them up and my daughter pulled one out of the hat.

and the winner is roffle, roffle, roffle.................................................................Miss Footloose


Please Beach and Miss Footloose email your adresses to me . My email adress is marja.blom@gmail.com

For all of you thank you and the following wishes are for you and I will visit you soon :)

By Sandra Sturtz Hauss


"May you find serenity and tranquility
in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding will always be there,
even when you feel most alone.

May a kind word,
a reassuring touch,
and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts
as well as receive them.

May the teachings of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours
are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter
that is more important than its form.


May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value
on the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see beauty and love
in the world around you.


Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard
you may be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.
May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.
Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent
on another's judgment of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.”

Arohanui marja

The Two Bears

picture from here

Two Bears
By Hafiz

Once

After a hard day's forage

Two bears sat together in silence

On a beautiful vista

Watching the sun go down

And feeling deeply grateful

For life.

Though, after a while

A thought-provoking conversation began

Which turned to the topic of

Fame.

The one bear said,

"Did you hear about Rustam?

He has become famous

And travels from city to city

In a golden cage;

He performs to hundreds of people

Who laugh and applaud

His carnival

Stunts."

The other bear thought for

A few seconds

Then started

Weeping.

Hafiz

Phenominal woman

When I was young it was good to be a woman. I loved to dress up to parade at night before the crowd in the pub. Being very shy I wasn't aware of anybody interested though. I wish I had the confidence I have now. As the night progressed and I got warmed up to the music and I lost myself in dance. When I danced I felt like a woman.

When I was older I married and got my first child. Just after she was born I had to walk a couple of times to the cot just to believe there was a little human being I brought forwards. From than on I lived for my children and turned into a lion who protects her young. I played with them, laughed with them, worried about them, thaught them a lesson. I was happy to be a woman.

When I was older I lost a bit of it. I dance when nobody is there as I feel like an elephant dancing the swanlake. My kids don't want my care and company anymore. I mourn a little about this loss but I am more a woman than ever before, in every way I am still very emotional and sensitive. This goes with a sprinkle of wisdom settled in my first wrinkles. There is a bucket full of confidence. There is some left overs from my protective and motherly instincts and the matriarch is stil on the background. There still lingers a shadow from a femme fatale, no not really I am just a phenominal woman and I love this poem:

Phenominal woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

Phenomenal Woman

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

 

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Maya Angelou

Back in town

 

Butterfly garden Thames (NZ)

I am back in town and wish a happy New Year to you all. This morning we dropped my brother of at the airport after we had a wonderful time with him. Together we went on holiday to the North Island of NZ and it was wonderful. I will show you a lot about it in the coming weeks.

The photo above is one of the beauties we saw in the butterfly garden in Thames and I uploaded it for a special reason as 2011 is for me the year of the butterfly. Although I always loved this animal I feel especially attracted to it this year and it seems to be everywhere. It appears on my diary for 2011: A Christmas present from my brother with Paulo Coelho quotes and beautiful illustrations. On my holiday I spotted butterflies everywhere and one is hanging before one of my windows, which I bought as a souvenir.

Butterflies are bot only beautiful. They also spread beauty by pollinating flowers. They are a symbol of joy as they flutter around in freedom, but for all they are a symbol of transformation. They leave a cocoon in beauty and winged they fly up in freedom, leaving behind the crawling slow caterpillar they once where. In the Greek language both soul and butterfly is represented with the word Psyche. A soul is also undergoing transformations and therefore the butterfly is a great symbol.

This year is going to be exciting as we are working on a new future for my work place which I see as a place not only of learning but also as a place for the community which brings people together.

This year we are going to plan for a trip to Holland as my mother is going to be 80 next year and we are going to be 50. Celebrations to share with family.

This year I hope to read and write more and one of the books I want to read is Anam Cara by John O'Donohue. Anam Cara is a Celtic word for soul friend. John O' Donohue was an Irish philosopher, poet and mystic who passed away in 2008. His poetry is beautiful and the following one is for you. A good one to start the year with.

For a New Beginning
By John O'Donnohue

“In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plentitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”

Great isn't it. This year I also will get in shape to have a lot of energy.

I already started work and soon everything will be back to normal.I sense though that this is going to be a special year. I also hope for relieve and strength for the many people who didn't have a good start and as we see that nature is going to challenge us more and more we will need each other more than ever.

Arohanui Marja