Great Egrets

A similar image was posted earlier but I received some feedback from a Flickr friend saying they would like to have seen it more cropped and done with warmer tones. So I obliged happily and this is the result. They didn't ask me to re-do it I like to play. I'll attempt to put the other image in the footer.

I thought the title was good for what's been going on in our world.

youtu.be/bWTuKd2lTo4

I know you've suffered

But I don't want you to hide

It's cold and loveless

I won't let you be denied

Soothing

I'll make you feel pure

Trust me

You can be sure

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart

I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask

I want to exorcise the demons from your past

I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

You trick your lovers

That you're wicked and divine

You may be a sinner

But your innocence is mine

Please me

Show me how it's done

Tease me

You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart

I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask

I want to exorcise the demons from your past

I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Please me

Show me how it's done

Trust me

You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart

I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask

I want to exorcise the demons from your past

I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Location: shangdu

simplicity, patience, compassion.

these three are your greatest treasures.

compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.

― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“Yellow is synonymous with you

I cannot see anything yellow without thinking of you

and the daffodils are blooming despite the stormy weather

and the rain reminds me of you too … “ - AP

In memory of my friend …

Mon cher ami, please let me know what you see beyond the observable universe …

“Beyond the observable universe is something wonderful …

Simply é and much more … “ - Ciprian

Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3TvXZtXtu8

The Bridges of Madison County – Standing in the Rain

The greatest influence on our lives

at the time is not always known

but looking back I see the truth of it

now the most beautiful of us has flown

we didn't always see eye to eye

but made our peace and recognised something more than love

so gentle and so fragile; mutually in sync

a poet and another poet flying high above

you hid your deepest secret very well

I did not guess and that was your intention

you knew my heart would break and I would fall

but don't you know you made me strong; did I forget to mention

some of all the poetry we shared

the thoughts; the impossible maths that disappeared

into the ether long ago before we reconciled

and only fragments of the fire remain to whisper in our ears

to infinity and far beyond we said ...

I look up at the newest, brightest star

and everything I feel is still remembered

will last the distance no matter how near or far

Remember, mon cher, the words I wrote to you

they are imprinted on my soul forever

you reached out and touched my life in ways I cannot still explain

you are irreplaceable; you know that I will never

forget the codes and seemingly nonsensical ways of our communication

to anyone else that saw it; must have thought

who are these two; these poets; who do they think they are

but it does not matter; all that matters was that you taught

to look beyond the ordinary everyday things of our existence

to reach for stars into infinité

I am risen up to be a better person; little é and much more

you are infinite, mon cher ami …

- AP - Copyright © remains with and is the intellectual property of the author

Copyright © protected image please do not reproduce without permission

🎧< Aural Inspiration *Muse- Undisclosed Desires- 🎧

You may be a sinner

But your innocence is mine

Please me

Show me how it's done

Tease me

You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart

I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask

I want to exorcise the demons from your past

I want to satisfy.. the undisclosed desires in your heart

Portrait/Close Up/ Landscape/ Eyes/Face/AnimalNature

-wood

💕 Majestic at Twinlight on the Edge of the Woods -Part II✨ -the 6th Chakra mysterious & mystical✨

💕 Majestuosa al Anochecer al Borde del Bosque -Part II✨ -El 6) Chakra mysterioso & mistico✨

Music : youtu.be/srbfRmHZIRA

******************************** ❤ ***********************************

✨💕 Majestic - Part II " Looking beyond " 💕

The 3rd Eye, "Ajna" both open-mindedness and imagination.

The third eye chakra, "Ajna" in Sanskrit, is the sixth of the seven chakras. It is translated both by “know”, “command”, but also by “perceive”, “command” or even “authority”.

It embodies wisdom and reconciles the sensitive (intuition) and intellectual (knowledge) faculties.✨

******************************** ❤ ***********************************

✨Misterioso & Mistico ✨ Majestuosa al anochecer al Borde del Bosque ✨

✨💕 Majestuoso - Part II " Mirar mas Alla " ... 💕

El 3er Ojo, "Ajna" tanto la mente abierta como la imaginacion.

El chakra del tercer ojo, "Ajna" en Sanscrito, es el sexto de los siete chakras. Se traduce tanto por "saber", "mandar", pero tambien por "percibir", "mandar" o incluso "autoridad".

Encarna la sabiduria y reconcilia las facultades sensitivas (intuicion) e intelectuales (conocimiento) ✨

* Thank you for your tags/awards *

🌟(create by me, imagination not a URL Place in SL🌟

This illusion is created by back-lighting and the translucence of the leaf. The veins are recessed on the side of the leaf that you are looking at and are highlighted from behind and above making them appear to be raised above the leaf surface. After looking at the top portion of the leaf I can reconcile the correct texture but I can't do the same with the bottom of the leaf. Knowing that the veins on the bottom are also recessed doesn't help. I can't make my brain see what is actually there! How about you?

Part 1 of 3 of my Ancient Egypt series.

I do appreciate you all ❤️

We were woken up very early this morning by our son. He is a Police Officer. He phoned to tell us that he was okay, but that two Officers were killed in the night. They were responding to a domestic dispute. They were ambushed and gunned down. Two young men, 30 and 35. Slaughtered. They did not have a chance. The murderer turned the gun on himself. Three senseless deaths. How can you reconcile this brutal, horrific and senseless act!?!

There are no answers - just a whole lot of questions.

I have cried all day. I am depleted, but we still have our son. What are the Officers’ families going through right now?

Every time our son puts his boots on…

Thank you for your service Constable Travis Jordan and Constable Brett Ryan.

Your watch is now over…

FOREVER TRYING TO RECONCILE A HOPELESSLY ROMANTIC HEART AND A FIERCELY INDEPENDENT SOUL.

∶

WARPAINT EVENTIDE EYESHADOW

RESILIENCE TATTOO MEDUSA

AURICA VELMA DRESS

BEAUMORE ANN BOOTS

DOUX ROSE

SAKURA HEART ARM STRAPS

LITTLE FOXY B HIME LIPSTICK

∶

FOLLOW ME ON ALL MY SOCIALS

Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in the emergent synthesis which reconciles the two......

Sadly, more mass murders in the world; the larger this weekend, a hate, racial nonsense shooting at a shopping mall. We must have conscience about the place where we live, we must have gun control, we must have peace, we must end hate, we must end racial differences.

"All walls fall over time

To reconcile our hearts

All walls fall over time

There's only one human race

Many faces, everybody belongs here..."

The epic song by James: youtu.be/WS5FrkLy3c0

"But I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can't help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced. I am going to dream about you the whole night, the whole week, the whole year. I feel I know you so well that I couldn't have known you better if we'd been friends for twenty years. You won't fail me, will you? Only two minutes, and you've made me happy forever. Yes, happy. Who knows, perhaps you've reconciled me with myself, resolved all my doubts.

When I woke up it seemed to me that some snatch of a tune I had known for a long time, I had heard somewhere before but had forgotten, a melody of great sweetness, was coming back to me now. It seemed to me that it had been trying to emerge from my soul all my life, and only now-

If and when you fall in love, may you be happy with her. I don't need to wish her anything, for she'll be happy with you. May your sky always be clear, may your dear smile always be bright and happy, and may you be for ever blessed for that moment of bliss and happiness which you gave to another lonely and grateful heart. Isn't such a moment sufficient for the whole of one's life." - Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights

youtu.be/6c3INnCozPc

At This Point in My Life

Tracy Chapman

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRBzThST8hE

Done so many things wrong

I don't know if I can do right

Oh, I, oh, I've

Done so many things wrong

I don't know if I can do right

At this point in my life

I've done so many things wrong

I don't know if I can do right

If you put your trust in me

Hope I won't let you down

If you give me a chance I'll try

You see it's been a hard road

The road I'm traveling on

And if I take your hand

I might lead you down the path to ruin

I've had a hard life

Just saying it so you'll understand

Oh, that right now, right now

I'm doing the best I can

At this point in my life

At this point in my life

Though I've mostly walked in the shadows

I'm still searching for the light

Won't you put your faith in me?

We both know that's what matters

If you give me a chance I'll try

You see, I've been climbing stairs

But mostly stumbling down

I've been reaching high

Always losing ground

You see I've conquered hills

I still have mountains to climb

Oh, and right now, right now

I'm doing the best I can

At this point in my life

Before we take a step

Before we walk down that path

Before I make any promises

Before you have regrets

Before we talk commitment

Let me tell you of my past

All I've seen and all I've done

The things I'd like to forget

At this point in my life

At this point in my life

I'd like to live as if only love mattered

As if redemption was in sight

As if the search to live honestly

Is all that anyone needs

No matter if you find it

You see when I've touched the sky

Earth's gravity has pulled me down

But now I've reconciled that in this world

Birds and angels get the wings to fly

If you can believe in this heart of mine

Oh, if you can give it a try

Then I'll reach inside and find and give you

All the sweetness that I have

Oh, at this point in my life

At this point in my life

Songwriters: Tracy Chapman

Photo Taken at: Elvion maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Calantha/19/38/22

the Christmas season has so much fun and joy, laughter, gifts, lights, colors! but then life does not cooperate and bad things happen. so every year i struggle with this, trying to reconcile the joy and sadness. what i decided was, this holiday is about the coming of baby Jesus. and with Him comes hope and promise. if it was a perfect world, He wouldn't need to stop by.

for all the tragedy i see, i also see people like you. struggling but doing it nicely. thanks to you all for your friendship, love and inspiration!

Merry Christmas!

Love Valley, (Turkish Aşıklar Vadisi) is a valley in Göreme Historical National Park, Cappadocia, Turkey. It is known for its rock formations called fairy chimneys.

The history of Love Valley dates back to at least Roman times. There goes a legend that there once was two dynasties living in the same village. A fight broke out between the two dynasties, which resulted in the village effectively being split. One day, two villagers complained about the situation which resulted in the recruitment of two people from opposing sides. The two recruited soldiers fell in love with each other as soon as they saw each other. The feuding villagers, having had knowledge of this, tried their best to separate the two but failed. After they struggled to separate the two, the villagers decided to get them married. Time passed, the couple had a child, However the situation wasn't enough to reconcile the opposing families. Finally, they killed the boy. The girl couldn't stand her husband's death and later committed suicide. It is said that after the death of the two lovers, God rained stones to punish the feuding villagers. These stones are to kill anyone who opposes the reunion of youth.

A more modern explanation for the name Love Valley can be due in part to the heart-shaped fairy chimneys that dot the landscape.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I did not shoot 35mm B&W since 1992. I did 35mm but it was colour. Then digital. At that time I had a Pentax MX camera. My favourite. As many other things, it disappeared during that period from '92-'95.

Few months ago I decided to buy it again. Just to reconcile with the past. I shot a film and I share some of those modest results. I am a bit rusty.

... not my first choice of tonight's captures, but with the unpleasant conditions outside apparently I mostly failed to properly check if the focus was right. Since I'm too lazy to head back out again I've reconciled with the idea of posting this one ;-)

O das Morgenlicht und ich, wir gingen nun uns entgegen, wie versöhnte Freunde, wenn sie noch etwas fremde tun und doch den nahen unendlichen Augenblick des Umarmens schon in der Seele tragen.

Hölderlin

O the morning light and me, we now went to meet each other, as reconciled friends, when they are still a little strange, and yet carry the near infinite moment of embracing already in the soul.

Hoelderlin

Albtrauf von Horst Mall

Morgenrunde von Anette S.

Silence in the morning II von Ralf Kirchner

Blog: Something About Autumn

I know you've suffered

But I don't want you to hide

It's cold and loveless

I won't let you be denied

I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Ces jeunes cousins se font un câlin pour se réconcilier après une dispute pour un jouet

These young cousins are made a cuddle to become reconciled after a quarrel for a toy

ONE BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR(YOURS) VISIT AS WELL AS FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND FAV

I wish I had saved this image as a larger file, as it is a really beautiful place. One thing I always find difficult to reconcile is Lord Byrons love of boxing. To me boxing and poetry seem an odd mix. The only explanation I can provide is that it was his insurance against being caught in the wrong bedchamber!

Astana, Kazakhstan

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.”

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching -

Location Sleepy

“Didn’t St. John of the Cross hide himself in a room up in a church tower where there was one small window through which he could look out at the country? Benedictine tranquility. Pax. That’s what I think about. I have more of it perhaps because I am less mixed up today in peculiar tensions of desire and pride that come from fighting the will of God in an obscure way, under the pretext of a greater good.

There is only one way to peace: be reconciled that of yourself you are what you are, and it might not be especially magnificent, what you are. God has His own plan for making something else of you, and it is a plan which you are mostly too dumb to understand.”

- Thomas Merton (July 2, 1948) A Year with Thomas Merton

John 5:30: “I can of mine own self do nothing…” - Jesus of Nazareth

Blueberries

by James Lasdun

I’m talking to you old man.

Listen to me as you step inside this garden

to fill a breakfast bowl with blueberries

ripened on the bushes I’m planting now,

twenty years back from where you’re standing.

It’s strictly a long-term project—first year

pull off the blossoms before they open,

second year let them flower, watch the bees

bobbing in every bonnet,

but don’t touch the fruit till year three,

and then only sample a handful or two . . .

Old man I’m doing this for you!

You know what they say about blueberries:

blood-cleansing, mood-lifting memory-boosters;

every bush a little fountain of youth

sparkling with flavonoids, anthocyanin . . .

I’ve spent all summer clearing brush

sawing locust poles for the frames,

digging in mounds of pine needles, bales of peat moss—

I thought I’d do it while I still could.

You can do something for me in turn:

think about the things an old man should;

things I’ve shied away from, last things.

Care about them only don’t care too

(you’ll know better than I do what I mean

or what I couldn’t say, but meant).

Reconcile, forgive, repent,

but don’t go soft on me; keep the faith,

our infidels’ implicit vow:

“not the hereafter but the here and now . . . ”

Weigh your heart against the feather of truth

as the Egyptians did, and purge its sin,

but for your own sake, not your soul’s.

And since the only certain

eternity’s the one that stretches backward,

look for it here inside this garden:

Blueray, Bluecrop, Bluetta, Hardy Blue;

little fat droplets of transubstantiate sky,

each in its yeast-misted wineskin, chilled in dew.

This was your labor, these are the fruits thereof.

Fill up your bowl old man and bring them in.

I searched a poem about blueberries and found this one. It touched me in a way and I wanna share it with you... a wonderful day to you all :-)

History of the Ana Kakenga cave:

Like all the caves on the island, this one also has a volcanic origin. The dry lava created the volcanic rocks and then the passage of the lava through these same rocks formed the openings that we know today as the windows to the sea.

The natives used this cave as a refuge during the internal struggles between the tribes. At the entrance I still saw cave ceramics that were used to narrow the entrance and thus make it impossible for enemies to enter.

flic.kr/p/tqVJUc

_______________________________________________

The name of the cave:

flic.kr/p/t9hHyf

It has not yet been 100% deciphered, but it is said that the name Ana Kakenga is related to a young couple who, due to inter-tribal wars, had been prohibited from forming a relationship.

These young people, looking for a hiding place to be able to love each other, found the cave and remained together there until death took them both. Their families found the bodies months later and after the sadness they decided to reconcile and put aside their differences.

___________________________________________________

The name of the islets are Tautara & Ko Hepoko.

Motu in Rapanui = islet in English.

Deer

Shy in their herding dwell the fallow deer.

They are spirits of wild sense. Nobody near

Comes upon their pastures. There a life they live,

Of sufficient beauty, phantom, fugitive,

Treading as in jungles free leopards do,

Printless as evelight, instant as dew.

The great kine are patient, and home-coming sheep

Know our bidding. The fallow deer keep

Delicate and far their counsels wild,

Never to be folded reconciled

To the spoiling hand as the poor flocks are;

Lightfoot, and swift, and unfamiliar,

These you may not hinder, unconfined

Beautiful flocks of the mind.

~ By John Drinkwater.

“Forks and spoons have probably done more to reconcile people who cannot agree than guns and bombs ever did.” – Theodore Zeldin (British academic and Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford).

The theme for "Smile on Saturday" on the 22nd of March is "fork(s) reflected in spoon(s)", which I found to be both a fascinating and interesting theme for this week. Here I have photographed one of my Sheffield silver dinner forks reflected in a dessert spoon from the same cutlery set. I photographed it using my glass topped outdoor terrace table as a backdrop for interest, as the day I photographed this, it was a very warm day. So, to sit outside in the cooling afternoon after the heat of the day was a very enjoyable experience. I think the image has a rather abstract appearance, which I quite like! I hope you like my choice of this week’s theme too, and that it makes you smile!

Tracy Chapman

At This Point In My Life

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViWW98U3Iao

Done so many things wrong

I don't know if I can do right

Oh, I, oh, I've

Done so many things wrong

I don't know if I can do right

At this point in my life

I've done so many things wrong

I don't know if I can do right

If you put your trust in me

Hope I won't let you down

If you give me a chance I'll try

You see it's been a hard road

The road I'm traveling on

And if I take your hand

I might lead you down the path to ruin

I've had a hard life

Just saying it so you'll understand

Oh, that right now, right now

I'm doing the best I can

At this point in my life

At this point in my life

Though I've mostly walked in the shadows

I'm still searching for the light

Won't you put your faith in me?

We both know that's what matters

If you give me a chance I'll try

You see, I've been climbing stairs

But mostly stumbling down

I've been reaching high

Always losing ground

You see I've conquered hills

I still have mountains to climb

Oh, and right now, right now

I'm doing the best I can

At this point in my life

Before we take a step

Before we walk down that path

Before I make any promises

Before you have regrets

Before we talk commitment

Let me tell you of my past

All I've seen and all I've done

The things I'd like to forget

At this point in my life

At this point in my life

I'd like to live as if only love mattered

As if redemption was in sight

As if the search to live honestly

Is all that anyone needs

No matter if you find it

You see when I've touched the sky

Earth's gravity has pulled me down

But now I've reconciled that in this world

Birds and angels get the wings to fly

If you can believe in this heart of mine

Oh, if you can give it a try

Then I'll reach inside and find and give you

All the sweetness that I have

Oh, at this point in my life

Turkey squabbles can get a bit out of hand. These two went at it for quite a while before finally reconciling their differences.

Seillans fait partie des plus beaux villages de France.

A quelques kilomètres de Fayence, Seillans a tout du village provençal typique : ses maisons étagées à flanc de colline, ses ruelles pavées, ses passages voûtés et ses placettes où chantent les fontaine, son climat ensoleillé et ses paysages de vignes et d'oliviers. L'endroit séduisit le peintre Max Ernst qui y vécut les dernières années de sa vie et dont on peut admirer l'oeuvre à la Donation Tanning-Ernst.

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, c’est l'histoire de la rencontre, en 1981, entre un homme et un livre. Le livre, était l’album éponyme édité par Sélection du Reader’s Digest, l’homme était Charles Ceyrac, Maire de Collonges-la-Rouge. L’élu de Corrèze trouve alors dans cet ouvrage le moyen de servir une cause qui lui tient à cœur : unir forces et passions pour protéger et promouvoir le patrimoine remarquable de ces communes d’exception et leur offrir ainsi une alternative à la désertification rurale. 66 maires suivront Charles Ceyrac dans cette aventure officialisée le 6 mars 1982 à Salers (Cantal).

Aujourd’hui, l’association compte 164 villages répartis dans 14 régions et 70 départements. Eviter les écueils du village-musée sans âme ou, à l’inverse, ceux du « parc d’attraction », réconcilier les villages avec l’avenir, voilà son ambition raisonnée et passionnée.

Seillans is one of the most beautiful villages in France.

A few kilometers from Fayence, Seillans has everything of a typical Provencal village: its tiered houses on the hillside, its cobbled streets, its vaulted passages and its squares where the fountains sing, its sunny climate and its landscapes of vineyards and olive trees. The place seduced the painter Max Ernst who lived there the last years of his life and whose work can be admired at the Donation Tanning-Ernst.

The Most Beautiful Villages of France is the story of the meeting, in 1981, between a man and a book. The book, was the eponymous album published by Sélection du Reader’s Digest, the man was Charles Ceyrac, Mayor of Collonges-la-Rouge. The elected representative of Corrèze then found in this book the means to serve a cause close to his heart: to unite forces and passions to protect and promote the remarkable heritage of these exceptional municipalities and thus offer them an alternative to rural desertification. 66 mayors will follow Charles Ceyrac in this adventure formalized on March 6, 1982 in Salers (Cantal).

Today, the association has 164 villages spread across 14 regions and 70 departments. Avoiding the pitfalls of the soulless village-museum or, conversely, those of the "amusement park", reconciling the villages with the future, this is his reasoned and passionate ambition.

Réconcilier la joie de vivre avec ce sentiment de finitude.

BETTER LARGE View On Black

The dawn is replete with fruit; day and night, reconciled, flow like a calm river,

day and night in a long caress like a man and woman in love,

like a single endless river under the vaults of centuries, where the seasons and people flow toward the living center of origin, beyond end and beginning.

Octavio Paz

♫ The Mood

HQ : prmfd.co/p/pb3a9Wgqa3Qg

---

Note :

All the poses used in my pictures are made from scratch

No AI used

Seillans fait partie des plus beaux villages de France.

A quelques kilomètres de Fayence, Seillans a tout du village provençal typique : ses maisons étagées à flanc de colline, ses ruelles pavées, ses passages voûtés et ses placettes où chantent les fontaine, son climat ensoleillé et ses paysages de vignes et d'oliviers. L'endroit séduisit le peintre Max Ernst qui y vécut les dernières années de sa vie et dont on peut admirer l'oeuvre à la Donation Tanning-Ernst.

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, c’est l'histoire de la rencontre, en 1981, entre un homme et un livre. Le livre, était l’album éponyme édité par Sélection du Reader’s Digest, l’homme était Charles Ceyrac, Maire de Collonges-la-Rouge. L’élu de Corrèze trouve alors dans cet ouvrage le moyen de servir une cause qui lui tient à cœur : unir forces et passions pour protéger et promouvoir le patrimoine remarquable de ces communes d’exception et leur offrir ainsi une alternative à la désertification rurale. 66 maires suivront Charles Ceyrac dans cette aventure officialisée le 6 mars 1982 à Salers (Cantal).

Aujourd’hui, l’association compte 164 villages répartis dans 14 régions et 70 départements. Eviter les écueils du village-musée sans âme ou, à l’inverse, ceux du « parc d’attraction », réconcilier les villages avec l’avenir, voilà son ambition raisonnée et passionnée.

Seillans is one of the most beautiful villages in France.

A few kilometers from Fayence, Seillans has everything of a typical Provencal village: its tiered houses on the hillside, its cobbled streets, its vaulted passages and its squares where the fountains sing, its sunny climate and its landscapes of vineyards and olive trees. The place seduced the painter Max Ernst who lived there the last years of his life and whose work can be admired at the Donation Tanning-Ernst.

The Most Beautiful Villages of France is the story of the meeting, in 1981, between a man and a book. The book, was the eponymous album published by Sélection du Reader’s Digest, the man was Charles Ceyrac, Mayor of Collonges-la-Rouge. The elected representative of Corrèze then found in this book the means to serve a cause close to his heart: to unite forces and passions to protect and promote the remarkable heritage of these exceptional municipalities and thus offer them an alternative to rural desertification. 66 mayors will follow Charles Ceyrac in this adventure formalized on March 6, 1982 in Salers (Cantal).

Today, the association has 164 villages spread across 14 regions and 70 departments. Avoiding the pitfalls of the soulless village-museum or, conversely, those of the "amusement park", reconciling the villages with the future, this is his reasoned and passionate ambition.

Piazza Venezia, 1, 34123 Trieste TS, Italy

Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg-Lorraine, archduke of Austria and prince imperial, was born on 6 July 1832 in Schönbrunn Palace, near Vienna, the second son of Archduke Franz Charles and Archduchess Sofia, Princess of Wittelsbach.

Later, on February 28, 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph appointed him governor general of the Lombardo-Veneto kingdom, in an attempt to reconcile the minds of the Italian population with the post-Quaratottesque Habsburg regime.

He meets Carlotta at a court ball in Belgium with whom he will marry on July 27, 1857, in Brussels.

On 20 April 1859, he moved to Trieste, where he designed the Miramare complex.

In 1863 he received in the Castle of Miramare a delegation of Mexican notables, presided over by Gutiérrez de Estrada, who had come to offer him the crown of Mexico on the initiative of Napoleon III. Maximilian ascends the throne as Maximilian I of Mexico.

He leaves, together with Carlotta, from Miramare for Mexico, where he will arrive on May 28th. A country devastated by civil war and in a much more difficult political situation than expected awaits him.

In June 1867, with the support of the French troops lacking, Maximilian was captured in Querétaro by the republicans of Benito Juàrez. On 19 June he was shot at the age of 35, not yet completed.

Il 6 luglio del 1832 nasce nel Castello di Schönbrunn, presso Vienna, Ferdinando Massimiliano d’Asburgo – Lorena, arciduca d’Austria e principe imperiale, figlio secondogenito dell’arciduca Francesco Carlo e dell’arciduchessa Sofia, principessa di Wittelsbach.

Più tardi, il 28 febbraio del 1857, l’imperatore Francesco Giuseppe lo nomina governatore generale del regno Lombardo Veneto, nel tentativo di riconciliare gli animi della popolazione italiana con il regime asburgico post quaratotteschi.

Conosce Carlotta ad un ballo di corte in Belgio con la quale convolerà a nozze il 27 luglio del 1857, a Bruxelles.

Il 20 aprile del 1859, si trasferisce a Trieste, dove progetta il complesso di Miramare.

Nel 1863 riceve nel Castello di Miramare una delegazione di notabili messicani, presieduta da Gutiérrez de Estrada, venuta ad offrirgli la corona del Messico su iniziativa di Napoleone III. Massimiliano sale al trono come Massimiliano I del Messico.

Parte, insieme a Carlotta, da Miramare per il Messico, dove arriverà il 28 maggio. Lo attende un paese sconvolto dalla guerra civile e in una situazione politica molto più difficile del previsto.

Nel giugno del 1867, venuto meno l’appoggio delle truppe francesi, Massimiliano è catturato a Querétaro dai repubblicani di Benito Juàrez. Il 19 giugno muore fucilato a 35 anni non ancora compiuti.

Rain In My Heart by Edgar Lee Masters

There is a quiet in my heart

Like on who rests from days of pain.

Outside, the sparrows on the roof

Are chirping in the dripping rain.

Rain in my heart; rain on the roof;

And memory sleeps beneath the gray

And the windless sky and brings no

dreams

Of any well remembered day.

I would not have the heavens fair,

Nor golden clouds, nor breezes

mild,

But days like this, until my heart

To loss of you is reconciled.

I would not see you. Every hope

To know you as you were has

ranged.

I, who am altered, would not find

The face I loved so greatly changed.

Part of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley, as modified by George Whitefield. The image is modified from Pixabay, which allows such use. A blessed Christmas season, and beyond, to all of you. I'm going on hiatus.

Thanks for looking!

I don't think I'll ever feel that business is complete at any location. Not even at the so often photographed lighthouse at Godrevy, eleven miles down the road that appears in a disproportionate percentage of my posts as well as the avatar I use here and elsewhere. I'll never capture the perfect shot- and if somehow that happened, I suspect some form of disillusionment would follow - but at the same time there are pictures that make us happy as we develop them into a pleasing final result. Especially so when we return to a place for the second time to find the star of the show has actually bothered to put in an appearance. As Lee said to a fellow tog on the beach here "Well I've been to Vestrahorn twice, but this is the first time I've seen it." The young English photographer apparently furrowed his brow questioningly, waiting for a further explanation. "When we came here in 2019, the entire mountain range was covered in a blanket of cloud that went all the way down to ground level," Lee continued. "We stayed here for about three hours, hoping things might change, but they only got worse, and we needed to move on."

Lee's retold tale took us back to what was without question the most disappointing episode of that whistle stop tour three years earlier, the only other visit either of us had made to Iceland when we'd circled the entire country in a bright yellow VW campervan named Brian. The day beforehand we'd driven from the far north for hours and hours through increasingly bad weather and disappearing visibility. The mysterious southeast corner between Egilsstadir and Djupivogur remained almost entirely a mystery, the occasional hint of untouched fjord looming silently out of the mist as we made our way south. We arrived at Eystrahorn, just forty minutes away to spend the small hours hoping for a change in the weather, but the morning only delivered more of the same. And when you're attempting to encircle a nation of this size in six days where road conditions and speed limits are designed to keep progress at the steadiest of paces, you can only give a location so much time before you have to move on. By the time we arrived at Vestrahorn and paid the entrance fee to get down to the celebrated viewpoint we'd dreamed of seeing for so long, its total absence from the scene was received in the manner of a firm blow being delivered to the solar plexus. We weren't happy. Ironically, I did eventually turn the camera around to take what was later received on Flickr as one of the most successful images from the trip in "The Life of Brian." I've shamelessly added a link to the bottom of this story as a plug. Later, we moved on to Hofn and then to Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon and Diamond Beach, which happily delivered happier results.

So if nothing else happened on this return to the scene, what we wanted to do was actually see Vestrahorn in all of its magnificence. Whether we'd get any worthwhile images under such a bland sky was a question in point, but as we were staying nearby for four nights, we'd get at least a couple of stabs at laying the spectre of that July morning 2019 to rest. The sense of anticipation in the car as we made our way along the sometimes bumpy track from the main road was infinitely palpable. Every corner turned found us expecting to see the iconic view at last, but what we hadn't realised was that you can only really see Vestrahorn once you head out over the causeway towards the dunes. If we'd had a glimpse on the previous expedition we'd have known that. "Where is it?" I screeched excitedly as I drove slightly more urgently than I should have done. "Have they moved it since last time, just to annoy us?"

Of course, it was there. Why after all would the custodians remove it when they do such a roaring trade charging entrants 900kr a head for the pleasure of seeing the place. We can all rant about being charged to stare at a mountain range, but I find that if you've done your research and know the only way you're going to get a good view is to reconcile yourself to the fact you'll be parting with cash to do so, it at least makes things easier. In fact, we happily parted with the fee on two consecutive days to be here, and I've no doubt we'd have gone again given the time to do so. After all, what a place it is when you finally get to see the mountain range that's featured in countless images for yourself. If there were architecture prizes for natural landscapes, this one would definitely be on a shortlist for a major prize. And when you do arrive, you're immediately faced with so many opportunities. You can shoot reflections over a tidal lagoon, or you can choose a golden grassed dune to perch upon or behind as you try to eliminate the billion footprints on the volcanic black sand. You can zoom in to only include one part of the range, but it would be rude not to take the wide angle lens and consign the entire majesty of it to your SD card. And then you can head down to the water and shoot the incoming tide as big sweeps of white water leave streaks across the shoreline. I could happily spend days here, learning the location and capturing it in every imaginable mood. Even the fact that every tog in southeast Iceland will be competing for elbow room here with you as the light intensifies seems tolerable to me. As I stood in this spot, opening the shutter again and again, earning a welly boot full of seawater for my efforts, I was surrounded by a collection of clackers from across the globe, each seemingly lost in their own happy worlds. Some would smile in the knowledge that they were spending hard earned precious time in one of the world's great photography meccas, while others stood behind their tripods with fixed expressions, knowing this might be their only chance to return from this magical land with an image worthy of their wall or their online gallery.

In this image, which was the sixteenth edition of the original, I found myself sacrificing the immediate foreground drama continued by that big sweep of seawater, by cropping the bottom of the shot to bring the viewer closer into the scene. It definitely falls into the "best viewed large" category, so I hope you've switched the computer on to take a closer look. The almost featureless sky was rescued by a yellow sunset glow to the west, while a couple of tufts nestled pleasingly atop the highest peaks on Vestrahorn. And that foreground wash of water towards me made the shot an easy selection from the many I took of this wide angle view. I've got to confess I'm pretty pleased with the result, and the ghost of 2019 has been happily banished from the back catalogue of despondency. Vestrahorn had made its peace and repaid us for that dismal afternoon three years ago. Happy? Well, yes, I rather think I am this time.

The Life of Brian -

www.flickr.com/photos/126574513@N04/49476904751/in/album-...

Undisclosed Desires

I know you've suffered

But I don't want you to hide

It's cold and loveless

I won't let you be denied

Soothing

I'll make you feel pure

Trust me

You can be sure

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart

I want to recognize your beauty is not just a mask

I want to exorcise the demons from your past

I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

You trick your lovers

That you're wicked and divine

You may be a sinner

But your innocence is mine

Please me

Show me how it's done

Tease me

You are the one

“It's hard to reconcile this August with the other one. and to be honest I don't try very hard. I've seen flashes of this August before-This brightness, this conviviality, this generosity of spirit - but I know what he's capable of, and I won't forget it. The others can believe what they like, but I don't believe for a second that this is the real August and the other an aberration.”

― Sara Gruen

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"In our age everything has to be a ‘problem.’ Ours is a time of anxiety because we have willed it to be so. Our anxiety is not imposed on us by force from outside. We impose it on our world and upon one another from within ourselves.

Sanctity in such an age means, no doubt, traveling from the area of anxiety to the area in which there is no anxiety or perhaps it may mean learning, from God, to be without anxiety in the midst of anxiety.

Fundamentally, as Max Picard points out, it probably comes to this: living in a silence which so reconciles the contradictions within us that, although they remain within us, they cease to be a problem. (of World of Silence, P. 66-67.)

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insoluble problem. We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values which make them trivial by comparison."

- from "Thoughts in Solitude"

Thomas Merton

It was a Presence, not faith, which drew Moses to the burning bush, and what happened there was a revelation, not a seminar. It was a Presence, not faith, which drew the disciples to Jesus, and what happened then was not an educational program but his revelation to them of himself as the long-promised Anointed One, the redeeming because reconciling Messiah-Christos.

-Aidan Kavanagh, On Liturgical Theology

...when stopping to reflect can hurt you but at the same time

Understanding how useless it is to continue to believe that the ocean

Let it be just water

The strength of his restlessness

It leaves us overwhelmed and drained

Until, far from the maelstrom of the crowd

We reconcile with ourselves

Thinking I've found the answers

But these will always have to be

Stimulate because the dark darkness without end

May he eventually find the light