Soak up the sun

Affirm life’s magic

Be graceful in the wind

Stand tall after a storm

Feel refreshed after it rains

Grow strong without notice

Be prepared for each season

Provide shelter to strangers

Hang tough through a cold spell

Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring

Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky

Be still long enough to

hear your own leaves rustling.

["Think Like a Tree" by Karen Shrag]

a walk into a thin place for Andrew

my textures & photoshop

Affirmer sa solitude revient à aborder sa peur, surtout la peur de mourir, et à mesurer sa propre puissance.

Jacqueline Kelen

What is marvelous about a photograph is that its possibilities are infinite; there aren’t any subjects ‘done to death’.

Gisèle Freund

HBW!! Ukraine Matters!

hybrid camellia, 'Yume', j c raulston arboretum, ncsu, raleigh, north carolina

A powerful affirmation on my birthday day! 🎈

The world has become a very harsh place.

Reconnect with your heart by noticing the sweetness in life.

Feeling gratitude and appreciation for all of life's loveliness will awaken a renewed sense of peace and happiness within you!

🍊Calamondin oranges (Citrus mitis) are believed to have originated in China and are found throughout Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines. Their small white flowers produce a delicate and sweet citrus fragrance. While these small trees are mostly ornamental, the colorful, juicy but very tart fruits can be used in teas and marinades, to flavor drinks, and to make a delicious marmalade.

@Hershey Gardens

I can be in pieces, my whole world falling down around me...

but you won't hear a peep. I'll paint my smile, keep the cheer in my tone. "I'm fine" is my daily affirmation, and one day I'll speak it into existence.

@the coven

*pm* 7 Day Prayer Candle - Love & Heartbreak Set

AsteroidBox. Unmotivational Posters // Everything is fine

Nelle rocce più compatte piante germogliano per la incontrastabile forza della natura che trova in un frammento di incolta fertilità le condizioni per affermare la propria supremazia, comunque e dovunque.

Testo di Armando Dittongo.

Les plantes germent dans les roches plus compactes grâce à la force indéniable de la nature qui trouve dans un fragment de fertilité inculte les conditions pour affirmer sa suprématie, cependant et partout.

Texte d'Armando Dittongo.

Plants germinate in the more compact rocks thanks to the undeniable force of nature which finds in a fragment of uncultivated fertility the conditions to assert its supremacy, however and everywhere.

Text by Armando Dittongo.

San Pelagio. Carso Triestino.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Italia.

Troglodyte de Caroline | Carolina Wren | Thryothorus ludovicianus

Grand merci à mon amie Michèle Daoust pour m'avoir partagé sa fabuleuse découverte...

Une nichée plutôt rarement observée...

Nichant à proximité, à part lorsqu'il travaillait à se nourrir, on le retrouvait soit chantant en se perchant bien haut ou encore dans des positions comme ici bien caché dans les branches sombres de cette haie de cèdres. À ce moment-là j'aurai eu droit à une rare petite fenêtre pour être en mesure de le capter dans cette belle proximité. Observé sur plusieurs sites dans le sud du Québec, la présence de ce Troglodyte demeure tout de même en générale peu fréquente. La nichée de ce beau couple de Troglodyte de Caroline allait bon train alors, nous aurons été en mesure d'observer cinq petits cocos pendant que les parents auront pris une pause pour aller se nourrir et se dégourdir (voir ici une image du nid avec les cinq oeufs). Deux semaines plus tard hier, nous avons été en mesure d'observer les parents quitter le secteur du nid avec un sac fécal au bec, ces sacs ingénieux bien étanches contenant la fiente de l'oisillon encore au nid permet d'en évacuer son contenu loin de ce dernier. Nous pouvons maintenant l'affirmer, les oisillons ont bel et bien vu le jour...

Merci pour vos visites, commentaires et invitations aux groupes !.

Rouen (France) - Journée de mobilisation ce jeudi 19 janvier 2023 dans toute la France. Les manifestants s'opposent au nouvel allongement de l'âge du départ à la retraite (64 au lieu de 62 ans pour une carrière complète).

A Rouen (Normandie) selon le service de renseignements de la police, en début de manifestation et à partir un comptage provisoire, ils étaient plus de 15.000 à exprimer leur opposition à ce projet. 25.000 selon les syndicats. Pour le Havre, le chiffre officiel de la préfecture est de 10.000 manifestants. Quels que soient les chiffres, ce que je peux affirmer que c'est l'une des plus grosses manifestations à laquelle j'ai assisté dans cette ville ces dix dernières années, après l'attentat meurtrier contre Charlie Hebdo.

- Ne pas trop se fier aux données EXIF pour ceux qui s'y intéresseraient, mon Fuji Pro 2 a été victime d'un bug. Et j'ai dû tout réinitialiser en pleine manifestation. Pas pratique.

Rouen (France) - Mobilization day this Thursday, January 19, 2023 throughout France. The demonstrators oppose the further extension of the retirement age (64 instead of 62 for a full career).

In Rouen (Normandy) according to the police intelligence service, at the start of the demonstration and from a provisional count, they were more than 15,000 to express their opposition to this project. 25,000 according to the unions. For Le Havre, the official figure of the prefecture is 10,000 demonstrators. Whatever the numbers, what I can say is one of the biggest protests I've seen in this city in the last ten years, after the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo.

- Do not rely too much on EXIF data for those who are interested in it, my Fuji XPro 2 was the victim of a bug. And I had to reset everything in full demonstration. Not practical.

I drive by here just about every Saturday, thought I would snap a pic and send out some good vibes.

Je crois que c'est le male mais sans pouvoir l'affirmer

Lumigny Safari Réserve (77)

Le loup arctique ("Canis lupus arctos") ou loup blanc est une sous-espèce du loup gris à l'épaisse fourrure blanche. Plus petit et plus ramassé que le loup gris, il se rencontre dans la toundra arctique du Nord du Canada, du Groenland et de l'Alaska en Amérique du Nord.

Hi again everyone. I've decided to take a small break from flickr because I have some things to attend to before we start our trek through central Australia in September.

Who would have thought I would find such inspiration from the friends that I've found on flickr? I'm constantly amazed at all of my contacts' and regulars' talent, ability, empathy and kindness. You guys are an affirmation of everything that is wonderful about photography and flickr!

View On Black

View Original Size

Des chapiteaux sculptés représentent des personnages, des animaux et des cavaliers. L'ensemble est de facture grossière et donne accès à la salle capitulaire. La salle capitulaire se divise en deux travées voûtées. Sa façade romane est composée d'une porte centrale encadrée de deux larges baies dont la sculpture révèle une exceptionnelle qualité. Alors que dans l'église la décoration est antiquisante, le parti pris, ici, s'affirme roman par son répertoire végétal, décoratif, et historié, par sa fantaisie et par sa taille en biseau ou demi bosse d'une grande rigueur.

‘A conversation affirms man’s faith in his own experience. For creative understanding it is immensely important for the person to be located outside the object of his or her understanding.’

-Richard Sennett, Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Co-operation (London, Allen Lane, 2012), p. 115.

So affirmed Nagasena.

From "World Of The Buddha" edited by Lucien Stryk.

Sunflower leaf still life, in a vase by a window. No processing other than sharpness, contrast, color boost and D-light adjustment.

Edited in View NX-i

Elle marchait d’un pas timide, presque invisible parmi la foule … un instant suspendu, un sourire échangé, et je lui ai proposé de poser pour moi !

Elle a hésité, les yeux fuyants comme si elle demandait la permission au vent. Pourtant, elle a accepté, affrontant sa pudeur comme on affronte un miroir pour la première fois.

Chaque regard, chaque geste trahissait l’effort de s’affirmer, de dire silencieusement « Me voilà ».

Elle a fait de son mieux, vraiment … et dans ce mieux, il y avait une beauté sincère, fragile, mais vraie !

Comme promis, la photo lui sera envoyée, un simple message pour lui rappeler qu’elle a su oser …

Il faut parfois un peu de chance pour croiser, au détour d’une rue, un moment aussi sincère 🤔

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

She walked with a quiet, almost invisible step through the crowd … a fleeting instant, a shared smile, and I asked her to pose for me !

She hesitated, her eyes wandering as if asking the wind for permission. Yet she accepted, facing her shyness like one faces a mirror for the first time.

Every glance, every movement betrayed her effort to assert herself, to silently say, “Here I am.”

She gave her best … and within that effort was a beauty, sincere and fragile, yet true.

As promised, the photo will reach her inbox, a gentle reminder that she dared to try …

Sometimes, it just takes a little luck to encounter such an honest moment in the street 🤔

____________________________________________PdF___

Genesis 2:17 King James Version (KJV)

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Captures the essence

Affirmation of the freedom

To create meaning

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affirmation:

i have no body

i have no mind

i have no spirit

i am just the breath of God

the breath of life

breath of life

breath of God

in spanish

afirmación:

no tengo cuerpo, no tengo mente, no tengo espíritu

soy solo el aliento de Dios, aliento de vida

aliento de Dios, aliento de vida

my favorite affirmation given by my yoga teacher; yogi bhajan

AFFIRMATION

May an Angel’s love surround you

Each and every day

May an Angel’s breath keep you warm

And tempt you to stay

May an Angel’s wings protect you always

When your life becomes difficult and hard

When the light seems increasingly dark

And you need help to find your way

May an Angel’s love surround you

Each and every day

*****

Blessings to you all,

Shelley.

Thank you to each and every one of you who has supported and shared your lives and thoughts with me this year.

I cannot thank you enough, as you have kept a light burning for me as well in difficult times.

Even semi-human Angels need love to know they are needed...

I write often of spiritual love, but some days we need to feel real tangible love.

I seek ways out of the darkness, and I hope you will continue to fly with me into the New Year.

Forgive my lateness in replying to comments and faves from my last batch of work, I will get to you...life is demanding and even Angels have to sleep....sometimes..haha!

Angels drive cars and have to get them fixed and sort out dodgy freezers right before Xmas. Angels have family and they sometimes need your surety.

But Angels also have friends on Flickr who have supported them and commented, faved and viewed with astounding generosity.

Thank you, thank you, with all my heart.

*****

This image is a detail from a stained glass window in St. Mary's, Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK.

Angels like it here a lot.

If you would like to see more of my work have a look at my website at:

www.shelleyturnerpoetpix.com

Check out all the details on my blog @ : Nothing to Wear SL

I will be your Father,and you will be my sons and daughters, say the Lord Almighty..

2 Corinthians 6:18

I am very beautiful.

I am very cute.

I am very adorable.

I am very smart.

I deserve lots of love.

I deserve many more treats.

And everybody loves me.

"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”

–Stuart Smalley (Al Franken)

Saturday Night Live, 1991 debut

Happy Caturday!

This is a photo of the shadow of my left arm and hand on the door of the fridge.

Digital photographic fine art of the Giant Panda. The giant panda, also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda. In 2016, it was reclassified from "endangered" to "vulnerable", affirming decade-long efforts to save the panda. In July 2021, Chinese authorities also reclassified the giant panda as vulnerable.

I didn’t become who I am alone.

The people I’ve let close - the rare few - have shaped my architecture. Some challenged me and forced me to grow sharper; some offered quiet stability and taught me how to rest without vanishing; some widened the inner horizon I didn’t know could hold so much light.

And others, in their own ways, taught me refinement through fracture; not because they intended harm - though sometimes they did - but because not everyone is capable of seeing someone clearly, even when standing right in front of them. Every bond - tender, volatile, brief, or breathtaking - has become part of my design.

I still believe in beauty, not as decoration, but as something constructed with intention, protected with discernment, and chosen again and again in spite of everything that may try to dismantle it.

I may not be the pretty skinny girl who has her picture gawked at, but I am me. I am a human being, and I am happy with myself. I have curves, and I don't wear a size 2. Call me what you want, I know I truly am.

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument

I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands

I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you

I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do

I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem

I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned

I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned

I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side

I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality

I believe that trust is more important than monogamy

I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul

I believe that family is worth more than money or gold

I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair

I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned

I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned

I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side

I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe forgiveness is the key to your own happiness

I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed

I believe that God does not endorse tv evangelists

I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned

I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned

I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side

I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

Until you say goodbye

-Savage Garden "Affirmation"

Excerpt from the plaque:

O Wonders Wild and New

Royal Botanical Gardens stewards’ extensive natural lands, including 1,000 acres of forest within its nature sanctuaries and nearly 4,000 specimen trees across its cultivated gardens. In addition to stewardship, RBG has repurposed over 175,000 trees into restoration projects that support the health of local waterways and ecosystems.

Drawing from the original 1900 text The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we’re introduced to the Fighting Trees who, though protecting the forest, meet their fate by the axe of the Tin Woodman as Dorothy and her companions travel North.

This act of destruction is viewed as necessary by the travelers even though they recognize the conservation role the Fighting Trees play in protecting the forest – their quest takes priority. Much like the City Beautiful Movement, a design and city building philosophy popular at the time of the writing of OZ, humankind is conflicted as it both reveres and seeks to control the natural world.

This sense of duality, or conflict, in values is ever-present in Oz and our present day. The notion that nature can be both celebrated and sought after yet casually discarded in pursuit of progress is central to our global climate and conservation crisis.

In Of Wonders Wild and New, our artists explore the themes of the power and beauty of nature, duality, our impact on the environment, and the material splendour and diversity of wood as a material.

Excerpt from www.blouin-division.com/en/artists/renee-condo:

Renee Condo (b.1979) is a contemporary visual artist of Mi’gmaw First Nation ancestry from the community of Gesgapegiag. She is currently working in Tiohtià:ke | Montréal. Condo’s work is a practice-based investigation into the power of the bead to communicate ideas derived from the reflection on and application of a Mi’kmaw worldview.

Condo holds a BFA in studio arts (with Distinction), and an MFA in sculpture from Concordia University. She is the recipient of several bursaries and scholarships, some of which include Concordia Merit Scholarship, Concordia University Indigenous Graduate Scholarship, Indspire Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries and Scholarships. Condo has received support by way of grants from the Conseil des art de Montréal and the Canada Council for the Arts. She has participated in group exhibitions including the 5th edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) (2022). Her solo exhibitions include Shifting Perspectives at the Warren G. Flowers Gallery, Dawson College, Montreal (2023), and Pemitg - Heart Knowledge at Galerie Laroche/Joncas, Montreal (2021). She completed her first public artwork in 2021, installed in Laval, Quebec. Condo’s work is represented in numerous collections, including Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank.

Renée Condo’s work centers on a Mi’gmaq worldview with a particular interest in connectedness and interdependence. Flow, balance, harmony, duality, unity, interconnectedness, interdependence, the importance of reciprocity, soul/spirit: Mi’gmaq traditional knowledge contains a comprehensive structure in which these ideas are central. “Through a material and spiritual practice, I honour my personal discovery and growing understanding of this beautifully holistic framework, bringing focus to spirit as energy, as flow (Pemi), while centering heart knowledge, an intuitive knowledge premised on the Mi’gmaq fundamental law of relating through Empathetic Love. The bead as fundamental entity, as infinite potentiality, can appear as divided, as unit, as part, but is at once whole and all-encompassing, holding secrets of the world and to the nature of reality.” — Renée Condo

Excerpt from the plaque:

Pewa’utieg

Renee Condo’s practice often explores the relationship of part and whole – how each element belongs to something larger, while the larger also resides within each part.

She turns to the Mi’gmaq Sky World, exploring cyclical time, creation as continuous becoming, the presence of ancestors and spirt, and the idea that different realms are distinct but not entirely separate – connected through portals and thresholds that invite reflection on continuity and transformation.

Mi’gmaq law is based on heart knowledge, the understanding that how one feels about something is more important than how one thinks about it. Research now suggests that humans have between 22 and 33 senses, far beyond the five usually acknowledged. For Condo, this affirms the deep wisdom of prioritizing feeling – an approach that engages our whole selves.

With this understanding, she is very aware of the energetic state when handling her materials. Her intention is to infuse the work with care and love, with the hope that this can be felt by the viewer. Condo hopes people take away a feeling above all – a sense of vast interconnectedness, of belonging to something greater. She also hopes the work helps us question our own ingrained paradigms and creates space for the perspectives of others, opening the possibility of relating differently to one another and to the world around us.

In searching for answers about how everything is connected – beyond her own feelings and intuitions – Condo first turned to quantum physics. Ideas like wave-particle duality and entanglement felt familiar, almost like memory. She later recognized that these principles were also integral to a Mi’gmaq world view. Not having been raised in an explicit Mi’gmaq consciousness due to historical disruptions, this realization came later in life. Today, as her connection to Mi’gmaq world view and cosmology deepens, she uses quantum physics as a point of comparison, choosing instead to highlight a Mi’gmaq perspective on space and time.

EVERY DAY

You can leave me in the light

And not worry about finding me

You must surely know

That I will always seek you out

When you feel your sanity

Might be in doubt

When your heart feels sore

And you can’t take anymore

When you hide in dark corners

Shunning the current conversation

All so trite and full of spite

Come and find me

Where you left me

Just look for the light

Because that is me calling you

Every moment of the day

From the light

Look it’s alright

From the light

I love you

From the light

Day and night

*****

Thank you to my Friends and Followers,

an Affirmation for Every Day.

Dear friends and followers, and those who have viewed and faved recently on my last batch of work. I have been thinking of you all and wanting to get back to you before now.

The past few days I have been unwell however, but recovering now.

So this was just a little offering to keep you all going until I can cast my eyes over your lovely work and thank you all for supporting me.

Grail Keepers do not forget their friends. Grail Keepers are people who do not forget and have loyalty as their middle name.

Behind the scenes I have been working, thinking. Seems to me we need beauty and decency back in this world. We need the sort of values that anybody, regardless of who or what they are, or what faith they follow, can have.

A Grail Keeper in my mind is someone who will help in this way, even if its only in small ways, it all adds up to something bigger.

Martin Luther King was a Grail Keeper. John Lennon was a Grail Keeper. Mother Teresa was a Grail Keeper. Alexei Navalny was a Grail Keeper. There are so many, the list could go on.

These are courageous well known examples. But there are also Grail Keepers who work diligently in their own communities. There are Grail Keepers who perform small acts of kindness every day.

I want to start to expand on this idea, and the work I do I hope will bring some light into this dark uncertain world of ours. It doesn’t have to be this way, and Grail Keepers even if its only in a simple, small way, need to find their courage and continue to hold up a light.

This work is from Glynde Church, in Sussex in the UK. I take my Grails out into the area I know and have lived in all my life. With them I seek to find a connection to the spiritual world that will heal and enlighten.

Short of having you there with me, the least I can do is share my work in images and words.

And as always, if you would like to see more of my work, have a look at my website at:

www.shelleyturnerpoetpix.com

March 13th, 2024. Dear Friends...I am still catching up...if I haven't got to you yet, I will.

Meanwhile...The Grail is obsessing me again, when does it not you might ask. Fair point. I really think there is going to be more written as I think upon it. I mean, I have thought about it pretty much all my life, but I think it has a poignant relevance now. I can see some Blogs might get written in the future, especially on the Grail Keeper theme. Modern Grail Keepers are also our future.

Think of any? Might be somebody in your local community.

Like the Post Master in mine, who helped me sort out the right postage to get my new Driving License there and back safely. He got it in the right envelopes and everything for me.

My notes are expanding. But then so is love for the Grail.

All my love everybody, Shell x

Everything is as it was, as it should be.

Château du XIIIe siècle bâti par les seigneurs de Dampierre (famille originaire de Moëslain). Le seigneur Gui II de Dampierre, proche du Roi de France, Philippe Auguste, choisit d’implanter son domaine au confluent des rivières Marne et Ornel. L'enceinte en pierre flanquée de tours, est une création typique du premier tiers du XIIIe siècle, elle affirme la puissance territoriale des seigneurs de Dampierre. Au début du XVe siècle, le passage de la seigneurie des de Dampierre à celle des de Vergy a un impact sur l’architecture du château avec de nombreux travaux de restauration. Au XVIe siècle, les fortifications et les systèmes défensifs ont été améliorés par les ingénieurs royaux, notamment Marini. L’architecte de François 1er est à l’origine de la création des fronts bastionnés et du cavalier à l’extrémité sud du château. Le château a accueilli plusieurs souverains dont François 1er en 1542, Marie Stuart qui fut Dame de Saint Dizier en 1560, Henri IV et Marie de Médicis en 1603.

En 1633, Louis XIII y vint plusieurs fois, puis Richelieu qui était tombé malade dut y rester une quinzaine de jours.

One day an affirmed photographer told me: if you want to become a photographer you never have to photograph poppies, the photographs of poppies are trivial.

That same day, I decided that I never wanted to be a photographer.

14 rue François de Sourdis, Bordeaux

En 1982, les lois de décentralisation font de la Région une collectivité territoriale de plein exercice. Désireux d’affirmer, par l’architecture, la réalité et la puissance de cette collectivité naissante, de nombreux conseils régionaux souhaitent alors s’installer dans leur propre immeuble. À Bordeaux, en lisière du nouveau quartier Mériadeck, face au cimetière de la Chartreuse, va alors surgir de terre un colossal parallélépipède de verre, aux reflets verts, pris dans un péristyle de piliers en béton de section quadrangulaire.

En 1983, un concours est ouvert pour choisir l’équipe d’architectes qui construira le nouvel hôtel de la Région Aquitaine. La délibération d’octobre 1983 mentionne qu’il sera fait appel à des concepteurs uniquement aquitains regroupés par équipe de trois membres de départements différents.

Le lauréat est désigné en février 1984 : il s’agit du groupement conduit par la Société bordelaise d’architecture - Perrier S.A. complété des architectes P. Claudel, G. Lechene, B. Maydieu, J.R. Millies-Lacroix, G. Balhadere et M. Madoz-Moussard.

Francisque Perrier est déjà connu localement pour son implication dans divers projets comme l’ensemble de Saige-Formanoir à Pessac en 1965, la résidence « Centre » à Mériadeck en 1976 ou le Conservatoire de Bordeaux en 1977.

L'inauguration a lieu le 9 janvier 1988.

www.google.fr/maps/place/14+Rue+Fran%C3%A7ois+de+Sourdis,...

inventaire.aquitaine.fr/decouvertes-de-laquitaine/gironde...

www.docomomo.fr/sites/default/files/2018-10/hotel-region-...

meriadeck.free.fr/Meriadeck/Hotel_de_Region.html

Miraflores, Lima

Claudine Ronnay-Docmans écrit dans Le Patrimoine majeur de Wallonie :

« À l'intérieur de l'église, plus encore qu'à l'extérieur, on est saisi par l'ampleur des volumes et la rigueur des articulations orthogonales. L'axe médian s'affirme par la succession des trois arcs diaphragmes qui scandent le vaisseau ; emportant le regard au-delà des croisées de transept vers l'un ou l'autre chœur. Sous un plafond plat, le vaisseau règne entre deux files de neuf piliers reliés par de grands arcs en plein cintre. Un cordon continu court le long des murs gouttereaux sous l'enfilade de deux fois quatre baies cintrées. La même ordonnance mais en réduction, caractérise les bas-côtés. Ici, le plafond initial a été remplacé, à la fin du XVe siècle et au début du XVIe siècle ; par des voûtes sur nervures en pierre bleue, dont les clés sont peintes aux armes des abbesses. Le plafond de la nef se poursuit au-dessus des croisées des deux transepts, dont les bras ont été couverts de voûtes sur nervures au XVIIe siècle. Les chapelles au plan carré qui y sont greffées sont voûtées d'arêtes. Ce cadre évoque irrésistiblement la splendeur des liturgies ottoniennes, telles que nous les connaissons pour l'abbaye d'Essen en Allemagne.

Claudine Ronnay-Docmans writes in Le Patrimoine major de Wallonie:

“Inside the church, even more than outside, one is struck by the size of the volumes and the rigor of the orthogonal joints. The median axis is affirmed by the succession of three diaphragm arches which punctuate the vessel; looking beyond the transept crossings towards one or the other choir. Under a flat ceiling, the vessel reigns between two rows of nine pillars linked by large semi-circular arches. A continuous cord runs along the gutter walls under the row of two times four arched bays. The same order, but in reduction, characterizes the aisles. Here, the original ceiling was replaced, at the end of the 15th century and at the beginning of the 16th century; by vaults on ribs in blue stone, the keys of which are painted with the arms of the abbesses. The ceiling of the nave continues above the crossings of the two transepts, whose arms were covered with ribbed vaults in the 17th century. The chapels with a square plan which are grafted there are vaulted with ridges. This framework irresistibly evokes the splendor of the Ottonian liturgies, as we know them for the Abbey of Essen in Germany.

of a coldness to the touch with the fingers

of hurting and healing simultaneously

in the familiarity of a warm heart

Kaya Project ft.Randolph Matthews ~ Playful New World

You are amazing! Yes - You :-).

I just love this video by the Duirwaigh team.

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f4CG18FPCj0

www.duirwaighgallery.com/

"When inspiration knocks - open the door."

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

I will be one of the greatest

That is a vow, yeah, that is a promise

Always wanted to be famous

Just being real, yeah, just being honest

{.⋅ ♫ ⋅.}Vibes {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.}

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Dana Bodysuit-Clothing

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Enjoy in LARGE and smile at least one tag line on right. Have many Blessings!

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Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today, tomorrow, and Monday 3.17.2008, by blessing your family and yourself at www.e-water.net/viewflash.php?flash=irishblessing_en

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Pope: Augustine Is Model of Humility

Says His Conversion Lasted Until He Died

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In his final reflection on St. Augustine, Benedict XVI spoke of the saint's interior conversion, calling it "one of the greatest" in Christian history.

The Pope affirmed this today during the general audience given in Paul VI Hall. He recalled how his trip last year to pay homage to the mortal remains of Augustine was meant to "demonstrate the admiration and reverence of the entire Catholic Church toward St. Augustine, and my own personal devotion and recognition of a figure with whom I feel I have close ties to due to the part he has played in my theological life, in my life as a priest and a pastor."

Recalling Augustine's own retelling of his conversion in the "Confessions," the Holy Father said that the process is best "described as a journey that remains a true example for each one of us." It was a journey that "continued with humility until the end of his life."

"We can state that all the stages of his life -- and we can easily distinguish three phases -- together make up a single long conversion," the Pontiff explained.

Truth seeking

Benedict XVI characterized the first phase as a "gradual approach to Christianity," since Augustine was a "passionate seeker of the truth."

He explained: "Philosophy, and especially Platonic philosophy, led him closer to Christ by revealing to him the existence of the Logos, or creative reason. The books of the philosophers showed him the existence of 'reason' from which the whole world is derived, but did not tell him how to reach this Logos, which seemed so inaccessible.

"It was only through reading the letters of St. Paul, in the faith of the Catholic Church, that he came to a fuller understanding. […] His eyes fell on the passage of the Letter to the Romans, in which the apostle urges the abandonment of the pleasures of the flesh in favor of Christ. He understood that those words were specifically meant for him. They came from God, through the Apostle, and showed him what he had to do in that moment."

Augustine thus began to seek God, the Pope explained, "the great and inaccessible."

"His faith in Christ made him understand that God, seemingly so distant, was in truth not distant at all. In fact he has come near us, becoming one of us," the Holy Father said. "In this sense his faith in Christ allowed Augustine to accomplish his long search for truth. Only a God who made himself 'touchable,' one of us, was a God to whom one could pray, for whom and with whom one could live."

Mercy

Benedict XVI said a last step, or "third conversion" in the journey, "led [Augustine] to ask God for forgiveness every day of his life."

The Pope explained: "At first he thought that once christened, in a life in communion with Christ, in the sacraments, and in the celebration of the Eucharist, he would attain a life as proposed in the Sermon on the Mount, which is one of perfection given through baptism and confirmed in the Eucharist.

"In the latter period of his life he understood that what he had said in his first homilies on the Sermon on the Mount -- that we as Christians permanently live this ideal life -- was a mistake. Only Christ himself realizes truly and completely the Sermon on the Mount. We always need to be cleansed by Christ, who washes our feet, and be renewed by him.

"We need a permanent conversion. Up to the end we need to demonstrate a humility that acknowledges that we are sinners on a journey, until the Lord gives us his hand and leads us to eternal life. It is with this attitude of humility that Augustine lived out his final days until his death."

A model

The Holy Father said that Augustine, once "converted to Christ, who is truth and love," became a model for every human being, "for all of us in search of God."

"Today, as then," the Pontiff said, "mankind needs to know and to live this fundamental reality: God is love and meeting him is the only answer to the fears of the human heart.

"In a beautiful text St. Augustine defines prayer as an expression of desire, and affirms that God answers by moving our hearts closer to him. For our part we should purify our desires and our hopes in order to receive God's gentleness."

"In fact," the Holy Father concluded, "this alone -- opening ourselves up to others -- can save us."

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2nd post on 20080315

I am emailed below from www.medjugorje.org

or Steve Shawl

Peace to All! Below please find the official English translation of Our Lady's February 25, 2008 message to the world as provided by the Information Center in Medjugorje.

“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you anew to prayer and renunciation. May your day be interwoven with little ardent prayers for all those who have not come to know God´s love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

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The Abandoned Valley

Can you understand being alone so long

you would go out in the middle of the night

and put a bucket into the well

so you could feel something down there

tug at the other end of the rope?

Poem by Jack Gilbert in

“Refusing Heaven” (Alfred Knopf 2007)

winner of National Book Critics

Circle Award For Poetry

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In 2006, the local electorate blessed Dallas County, Texas with a new District Attorney (DA) who has been exemplifying extremely different philosophies like: “Society wins when justice is done, even if the Government fails to convict and lengthy imprison in most cases”.

What leadership qualities resulted in Texas’ old Dallas County DA’s Office causing Dallas County to be the “Send Innocent People to Prison Capital of the USA”. Is it worth studying those procedures, goals, attitudes, techniques to encourage or discourage their continued use else where?

Question: Is the criminal justice system dysfunctional and merely about the sneaker attorney winning?

Question: How do we start drastically altering such a screwed up trophy system? Does innocents being imprisoned, embarrass no one anymore? Why? Because there is so much of it going on?

Answer below please: ______

______________________________________

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Reflections on Holy Scripture at the Procession of Palms:

Matthew 21:1-11

At the Mass:

Isaiah 50:4-7

Responsorial Psalm:

Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24

Reading II:

Philippians 2:6-11

The Gospel:

Matthew 26:14—27:66 or 27:11-54

Today we begin the most sacred week of the year—Holy Week.

It all begins with the Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, seated astride a donkey, with the crowd shouting "Hosanna!" and it ends with the most astounding event in history, the God-man Jesus, rising from a borrowed tomb. He rises with the light shining from the wounds of His horrible passion and death.

As our Savior rode toward His great confrontation with the powers of evil, the words of today's first reading were very possibly in His mind:

I have set my face like flint, knowing that I will not be put to shame.

(Isaiah 50:7)

No, the shame is ours that our sins and those of the millions before us have brought Him to this hour. This is the week for us to bow our heads and hearts in sorrow and compassion as we put aside our daily distractions and focus on the events of the dying and rising of our loving Redeemer. We need to reflect prayerfully on the ancient Christian hymn that forms our second reading for this Mass:

He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave . . .

he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,

even death on a cross. (see Philippians 2:7-8)

No wonder every knee must bow at the mention of His name! The early Church fought long and hard to establish the doctrine for all time that it was both God and man that took up that cross for our redemption.

So what is our cross?

It's the cross of responsibilities, the cross of sickness, the cross of loneliness and failure. We gain so much strength to carry those crosses when we take time this week to journey with Jesus to Calvary.

The Church is a master of drama in the liturgies of this week. Through the use of the celebrant and two readers for the Passion this week, and in the voices of the congregation, we all become part of the action. Most of us feel embarrassed to cry "Crucify Him" with the palm branches still in our hands. We feel like hypocrites. Yet it was our sins which brought Him to Calvary.

The Passion Narrative of Matthew is a reminder of the ugliness of sin—Christ's betrayal by Judas, the denial of Peter, the hearings before Caiaphas and Pilate—the awful scourging by the Roman soldiers, the thorny crown jammed upon His weary head, the whip cutting slashes into His flesh, the blood running down his shoulders and back, the cursing by the crowd, the nails tearing through His hands, the thud of the cross into the ground. As He hangs on the Cross, He cries, "I thirst!" How that cry echoes down the centuries as a reminder of His search for our love!

The shock of Palm Sunday's liturgy compresses nearly two thousand years into this present moment. We have no place to hide.

We need to suspend all other activities, quiet our busy-ness, and focus on the events of this week—the local penance services, the Stations of the Cross, the Thursday night adoration and the Good Friday veneration of the Cross.

All this will prepare us for the coming out of darkness into the new fire, the new light, the new saving water of the Easter Vigil—and the Resurrection.

- Msgr. Paul Whitmore | email: pwhitmore29@yahoo.com

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Our distinctive, velvety Rosa Gallica have already produced their first blooms; they bring us so much joy and flower three times a year!

[Porst Color Reflex Auto 55mm / 1.4]

There are four species of godwit (Black-tailed, Bar-tailed, Hudsonian and Marbled), two in North America and two in Eurasia. Marbled are on average the largest of the four. Marbled Godwit has not, so far, occurred in Europe, though it was first described in 1750 by Englishman George Edwards from a specimen sent from Hudson Bay in Canada. He called it the Greater American Godwit, though Linnaeus gave it the scientific name Limosa fedoa in 1758. Limosa means muddy while fedoa is probably an old term for godwit, mentioned by William Turner back in 1544. For completeness Turner said "I confidently would venture to affirm that the Attagena was what the English call the Godwitt or Fedoa" (Avium Praeciparum...1544).

Marbled Godwits breed in three disjunct areas in North America. The largest population is in mid-continental North America (straddling the Canada/USA border), next there is a population adjacent to Hudson Bay in Eastern Canada, then there's a population in Alaska. They winter on both coasts of North America, usually in the warmer, southern parts. These birds were on the coast of the Sea of Cortez and ringing studies show that they are from the Alaskan breeding population. These are of the subspecies beringiae which have slightly shorter legs and bill than eastern birds. I took these ones feeding, backlit against the early morning sun but I found the composition quite appealing.

~~Le long des quais, l’identité maritime s’affirme : criée, chantiers de constructions navales, pontons accueillant des bateaux de toute nature y compris des voiliers de course le temps d’un départ de transat.

~~Ce port, peu profond, abrita toutefois jusqu'à 600 chaloupes pendant la saison de la sardine et, par la suite, les thoniers vinrent s'y ajouter. Des maisons bourgeoises sont édifiées le long des quais hors de la « Ville close ». Cette dernière devient, en cette période, un quartier populaire abritant matelots et sardinières. La Station de biologie marine de Concarneau est fondée par Victor Coste en 1859. Il s'agit de la plus ancienne station marine du monde.

~~À partir de 1851, les premières conserveries, remplaçant progressivement les fritures et les presses à sardines, apparaissent. Elles sont spécialisées dans la sardine et le thon. Elles feront la fortune de quelques négociants et permettront une élévation du niveau de vie de la population.

~~ En 1877, la ville compte 20 usines dont l'usine Béziers et en 1900 30 usines employant 2 000 ouvrières (qui portent la coiffe penn sardin) sur une population de 7 000 habitants. ~~À partir de 1902, la disparition des grands bancs de sardines plonge Concarneau dans la misère.