Visible de tous côtés à l'approche d'Albi, la Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile, imposante par sa hauteur et la majesté de son clocher, est comme un phare qui balise la route et invite à s'en approcher. Deux siècles auront été nécessaires pour son édification, de 1282 à 1480.

L'édifice surprend par le contraste entre son allure extérieure austère de forteresse militaire et la richesse picturale et sculpturale de son intérieur. Monument sans égal, elle affirme sa puissance à travers un style typique du Sud-Ouest de la France, le « gothique méridional ». Son style, unique, est renforcé par sa décoration intérieure. 18 500 m² de fresques et décorations en font la plus grande cathédrale peinte en Europe.

La cathédrale Sainte-Cécile est classée avec la cité épiscopale d'Albi depuis le 31 juillet 2010 sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco

- le rouge gorge :

je suis à fond sur le champignon, et je devrais y aller à toute vitesse, je devrais sentir le vent sur les plumes, comme on me l'a affirmé, mais là, il ne se passe rien...Que faire, et quelle déception...

- le champignon :

oh là ! je te croyais tout léger, mais c'est pas le cas : tu fais pencher mon chapeau !!!

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

“We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.”

― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHJd9x7AG0

WAITING FOR THE MIRACLE – LEONARD COHEN

Whenever I need to affirm my belief

that the world is still beautiful beyond the grief

I look through the window to the distant view

and realise the dreams that lie beneath

waiting for Spring and Summer to come

so that this long bitter Winter can be put to bed soon

the sickness the rain; the snow and the feelings

that run high depress our moods and fill the room

inside our heads feel the pressure mounting

the lowlands that draw us up into the mountains

so that we can stand on the highest peak

find peace and solace in the knowledgeable fountain

I cast my eyes and drink in the view

the elexir of life that springs eternal and new

lifting my spirits and soul to the heavens

sweeping the cobwebs from my mind; whisper adieu

diamonds of dew glisten in sunlight

the long stretch of lawns awake from the night

the air is filled with the songbirds sweet melodies

the view from the window is such a beautiful sight

some trees are naked but buds are appearing

the evergreens are full and stand fat in the clearing

a shaft of sunrays enters the room through the window

alights on the windowsill charmingly and endearing

I could stand here or sit and read E M Forster's

A Room With A View; why remain in our cloisters

never be afraid to show your true feelings

love is the answer and the world is our oyster

small pearls of wisdom bead on my brow

moisten my lips reveal who I am now

I hid from the world too long so it seems

yet I found love and gave vent to my dreams and how

the epithany; the revelation; the windows that opened

the closed doors behind me that prevented me hoping

the past may shape us but we can still evolve

cast the shadows behind us; be a wonderful copine

draw strength from each other; put roots down in the Earth

look to the future; a glorious rebirth

so as I open this window of opportunity in my life

I value myself and give back for all I am worth.

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

Copyright © protected image please do not reproduce without permission

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

Jacqueline Kelen

i had a great night last might watching Afro Celt Soundsystem in Cardiff. Their music is infectious and so full of life and colour so I needed a photo to try and give that sense of fun and life affirming enthusiasm. After so much dancing everyone was Breathless, by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

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

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

Crimson Rosellas affirm their commitment. Stanthorpe Queensland.

More info on blog.

★ NEW! Positive Affirmation Tattoo Pack

• 2k BOM for ultimate clarity

• All 10 tattoos are included

Buy it here

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of abandoned homes strewn throughout the countryside in Alberta. They did not fall out of the sky, but rather, were thoughtfully placed with the intentions of building a life within the four walls and a roof - a very long time ago.

When I come across these homesteads, I just have to stop. I don’t know why I am drawn to these old relics. Fossils of the past. It is as if can hear their heart beat in the solitude of the countryside.

Who lived here? What kind of life did they have? Did they conquer their hardships or challenges? It is without a doubt that the occupants encountered insurmountable struggles.

I try to imagine the essence of the house. Were there moments of joy and contentment despite the harshness and difficulties of the environment? I find it incredulous that it still stands even though it has been ravaged by time.

My imagination begins to percolate.

I want to hear the happy, contagious squeals of children giggling as they raced to the warmth of their beds at night; the sound of Mother humming as she lovingly brushed her daughter’s hair by the fire, or Father whistling with an air of fulfillment at a satisfying day of work that had been done and in anticipation of the hot meal waiting for him as he walked in, through the door. Goals, dreams and aspirations were quietly shared in the secrecy of night. Stolen kisses and affirmations of love and commitment were whispered as the children slept.

I wonder if this house had been enough for them? Why did they leave? What were their parting thoughts as they turned the key for that one last time? So many questions. No answers…

I snap a photo of the old gal.

I start driving down the lonely road but take one last look in my rearview mirror. I see a house surrounded by mass plantings of flowers, a thriving garden, chickens milling about and a clothesline that has a congregation of well worn clothes that are being gently seduced by an unusually warm summer breeze. The children are playing Kick-the-can out in the fields.

The joy of their laughter is a welcome sound to their Mother and Father who are sitting together on the porch sipping lemonade and enjoying a respite from the monotony of chores. No words pass between them. They bask in the silence of their mutual contentment.

I see a house that was once brimming with life and love. It stands proud and tenacious as a testament to those who happen to pass by on this lonely country road and those who have the ears to hear the echoes of laughter wafting in the wind, proclaiming that this house was more than four walls and a roof - it was a home…

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

2 Corinthians 6:18

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

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

Captures the essence

Affirmation of the freedom

To create meaning

AN AFFIRMATION OF SELFLESS LOYALTY

My fearless heart

Of diamond clarity

Where expression and thought

Are proof of your bravery, justice and swiftness

That cut through ignorance and malcontent

To reveal the pristine awareness of being

Where the freedom of the mind

Is like the sweet chorus of the birds

*****

Sometimes the reinforcement of gracious qualities and love can be a good thing.

So I decided to start an Album on Flickr doing just that.

I like to take shots of the things I have collected over the years that are sharing their presence with me in my home.

Some of my Grail shots have this quality, but often the poem ends up being longer than an affirmation, to me they end up more like a prayer. You can see the Album that contains those works in my Flickr account as well.

But in a sense this is the same principle, as the things I have collected over the years often have a sacred presence or meaning, so I thought I would start to share them here.

On rainy days or when I am not in a writing mood, it is good to still keep working, using the camera in this way, and it is not only enjoyable, it is an opportunity to appreciate these wonderful sacred items and sculptures all over again, and listen to what they have to say.

This Garuda is a modern piece, but the history, energy and protective instinct is the same as from his first incarnation.

This shot is from where he resides, in my glass cabinet, where I keep many other precious things..

Affirmation - www.youtube.com/watch?v=peXeXadf1D4

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

"Everything comes out in blues music: joy , pain , struggle . Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance"

Wynton Marsalis

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

Affirmation solennelle d'attester l'engagement et la sincérité d'une promesse.

A solemn affirmation attesting to the commitment and sincerity of a promise.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zviagm1Mp-E

Night without a DAY

Day without a NIGHT🌙

Somebody wanders maybe into my DREAMS 💭

•

♫ www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH9vdvK9Xwo - Gaia MESIAH

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

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"

Everything is as it was, as it should be.

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.

...vues par ma nièce, Geneviève...

Je peux aussi affirmer que c'est un bonheur d'y admirer un coucher de soleil ...

*******

Les îles de la Madeleine sont un archipel canadien du golfe du Saint-Laurent appartenant au Québec. Ses habitants sont les Madelinots et les Madeliniennes.

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Îles_de_la_Madeleine

Si vous désirez les découvrir davantage virtuellement

www.tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com/fr/decouvrir-les-iles/

*******

Vous lire est un plaisir. Merci de vos commentaires, votre visite, vos invitations et favoris!

To read your comments is a pleasure. Thank you for your visit, comments, invitations and faves!

*******

ATTENTION!

Pas d'invitations à des groupes dont les photos du pool sont inaccessibles aux non-membres!

No invitations to groups whose photos of the pool are inaccessible to non-members!

Miraflores, Lima

For Inuit, a sea people, the boat launch remains a ritual of continuity. Though fiberglass and stainless steel hulls and high‑velocity rifles mark the hunt in the 21st century, each departure carries echoes of ancestral journeys.

Harvesting from the wild affirms identity, resilience, and belonging—transforming a practical act into a culturally significant gesture of survival and meaning.

“Both the grand and the intimate aspects of nature can be revealed in the expressive photograph. Both can stir enduring affirmations and discoveries, and can surely help the spectator in his search for identification with the vast world of natural beauty and wonder surrounding him.” - Ansel Adams

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."

La ficaire fait le printemps

Cette affirmation rappelle un proverbe à propos d’un autre symbole du printemps, l’hirondelle (sous-entendu l’hirondelle rustique, l’espèce qui niche au plus près des hommes dans les fermes et arrive dès les premiers jours d’avril). Effectivement, il existe un lien avec cet oiseau via le nom anglais de la ficaire : lesser celandine ; lesser de nouveau pour « petite » mais celandine dérive du vieux français célidoine, la chélidoine. On recroise aussi cette dernière dans un autre nom ancien de la ficaire : Chelidonium minus, la petite chélidoine. Or, chélidoine dérive lui-même de chelidôn, l’hirondelle, que l’on retrouve dans le surnom d’herbe à l’hirondelle (swallow-wort en anglais). Cette association remonte à Dioscoride, le célèbre botaniste grec de l’Antiquité, qui déclarait que la chélidoine fleurissait à l’arrivée des hirondelles et mourrait quand elles partaient ; là-dessus est venu se greffer une légende : les hirondelles récoltaient des feuilles de chélidoine pour frotter les yeux collés de leurs oisillons et leur rendre la vue (on retombe sur les propriétés médicinales ophtalmiques !). Par déformation, ce nom a donné au Moyen-âge « coeli donum », don du ciel d’autant que l’hirondelle représente un oiseau céleste (qui reste en l’air) et est associé au soleil et au ciel. Ainsi, ficaire et chélidoine se trouvent à jamais unies pour saluer l’arrivée du printemps !

Plusieurs des surnoms de la ficaire renvoient à sa couleur jaune d’or brillante dont jauneau ou pot au beurre. Ce dernier nom, outre l’allusion directe à la couleur jaune, rappelle une pratique connue des enfants d’autrefois à la campagne (j’en fais partie !!) : on place une fleur de ficaire (ou de renoncule : voir paragraphe suivant) sous le menton d’un(e) ami(e) et on lui demande « Aimes-tu le beurre ? » et la réponse s’écrit immédiatement sur le menton sous la forme d’un halo jaune doré projeté par la fleur magique ! Cette capacité de réfléchir un faisceau de lumière jaune intrigue depuis longtemps les biologistes et le mécanisme physique commence seulement à être pleinement compris (1) : il implique la structure cellulaire de l’épiderme des pétales. La lumière traverse la couche superficielle épidermique transparente chargée de pigment tandis qu’une coloration diffuse jaunâtre provient de la dispersion de la lumière par une couche sous-jacente chargée de grains d’amidon. Une mince couche d’air qui sépare ces deux couches explique la réflexion orientée du faisceau lumineux. L’ensemble donne cette apparence si brillante, intense qui doit certainement jouer un rôle dans l’attraction des insectes pollinisateurs (voir ci-dessous). Cette illumination dégage de la chaleur et fait de ces fleurs en sous-bois des sites chauffés pour les visiteurs et donc plus attractifs.

Our spirits are eternally free and invincible.

Daniela Norris

Affirmations positives...

badly decaying music room at the long abandoned Oddfellows Complex in Liberty,MO.The complex was once one of the biggest in the US,boasting a hospital,school,retirement home,and an orphanage closed for good in the '70s . This was shot in the old nursing home which,according to employees and paranormal investigators, is the most haunted of the remaining buildings. There is a morgue in the basement here, and if I had known that, I might have walked a little faster while I was "exploring in there...

Today's affirmation brought to you by the letter Y and the colour Red.

Note the Koolaid guy stenciled on the side-this is all over the place in Graffiti alley.

I started seeing the House Finches pair-feeding several weeks ago - such an endearing behavior. Andover, NJ

Audrey’s Affirmation- Today will be interesting.

Life may not happen just the way you expect, and that’s okay. Roll with the punches. Embrace the chaos. We are living this together.