Uploads from Majorlight, tagged inspiration, with geodata

The most beautiful yet

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:30:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

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“Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma.
Today you're here and nothing you do will change that.
Today you are alive and here and honored and blessed with good fortune.
Look at this sunset, it's beautiful.
This sunset exists.
Tomorrow does not exist.
There is only now.
Please look.
It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity.
Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature."
~ James Clavell

♥

Beneath Cherry Blossoms

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:18:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

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"What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms."
~ Kobayashi Issa (Poems)

♥

Shoes

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:53:00 -0800

Majorlight posted a photo:

(shoes of worshipers of all ages outside a Buddhist temple)

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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My wish for you in 2012...
That you recognize your blessings each and every day and rejoice in the beauty of your perfect life.
Happy New Year.

♥

44/52

In the Moment

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:18:00 -0800

Majorlight posted a photo:

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

~ Lao Tzu

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Making Christmas cards by hand,
the aroma of freshly brewed coffee floating through the house,
the sun rising quietly through the bare branches of tall trees
is melting the tiny frosty ice crystals that cling to the window panes.
As I pull the wrap back over my shoulders, I breathe in and out deeply.
Realize that yes, nothing is lacking.
I am in the moment.
This simple, ordinary, beautiful moment.

Journal entry

♥

42/52

A Harvest of Apples

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:22:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

Beautiful apples newly picked from a big wild orchard in Massachusetts over the weekend.
The air was crisp, the sun warm on our faces. We filled a bag of apples so big,
that it took two of us to carry it out of the orchard. I have been baking tarts and pies ever since.

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Here is a favorite (and easy to make) French Tart recipe that everyone loves.

French Pastry Shop Tart

For the crust
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of flour

For the cream filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

For the top
3 apples, cored, peeled, and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup slivered almonds

How to make

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F

In a large bowl, make the crust by creaming the butter and the sugar.
Add the vanilla and mix in the flour a bit at a time until it makes a smooth dough.
Press the dough evenly into a tart pan (8 inch pan with a one inch rim).
Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

While the tart shell is in the oven, make the filling by beating together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg until very smooth and creamy. In a separate bowl, toss the thinly sliced apples with the cinnamon, sugar and slivered almonds, and set aside.

Remove the tart shell from the oven. Pour the cream filling inside the shell and arrange the slices of apple on top. Scatter the almonds over the apples. Bake until the apples are tender and golden - about 40 minutes.

Happy Autumn!

♥

38/52

Blooming Along Fences

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:38:04 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
~ Rumi

♥

28/52

A place for inspiration... Beautiful Blur

Learning to Swim Inside my Dreams

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:52:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

I will have to wait for the fog,
the flying salt, the scattered sun,
for the sea to breathe and breathe on me;
because water is not just water
but a hazy intrusion,
and the waves roll on in the air
like invisible horses.

~ Pablo Neruda

What I'm listening to... ♪♫♫

♥

27/52

Kiss of Life

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:52:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

There must have been an angel by my side
Something heavenly led me to you
Look at the sky
It's the color of love...

♪♫♫

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The ultimate love song... it comes to me every time I am lucky enough to step into a magnificent sunset sky like this one. Thankfully I walked with my camera on this beautiful summer evening...

♥

26/52

Peace

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:04:10 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

"Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see."
~ Zora Neale Hurston

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At low tide, this beautifully quiet and serene spot is a peninsula of sand studded with hundreds of seashells and paced on by seagulls...at high tide, it vanishes beneath lapping waves. As I approached the birds, the pale blue sky reflected onto the surface of the sand...it felt as if were walking on the sky itself.

Wishing you peace in your day, wherever you are.

♥

25/52

Little Pencil

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:12:12 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

"I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world."
~ Mother Teresa

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If it seems like I'm posting more often than weekly lately, it's because I am. When I returned from vacation, I realized I was behind in my 52 week project, and I am not sure how it happened. Luckily, my time away has given me some lovely photographs to share with you...like this one. I love writing on the beach and watching the waves wash over my words...

♥

24/52

Flow

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:52:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

♪♫♫

...See me (Within the light)
Flowing (Take me to you)
Like the river to the sea
You come down (I'm in the light)
You cover (Pull me to you)
And the waves rush over me

I feel a love light rush over me
I feel the love turn to me
And then your love just creeps over me
Over me...

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I am back from a beautiful vacation along the coast of Maine...long walks at sunset, sand dollar hunts, lobster dinners and the sound of the ocean putting us to sleep. On the last night, we returned home to see Sade in concert...barefoot in a white dress, she sang to us for hours in a flow of love that is still with me...I hope you are loving your summer. This photograph is the first white horizon line I have ever seen....so beautiful. I will visit you all this week...I can't wait.

♥

22/52

"There is no perfection, only life."

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:28:00 -0800

Majorlight posted a photo:

~ Milan Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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I have always loved balconies. I was inspired to revisit my photographs from my last visit to Sicily, after seeing this image from one of my contacts' trip to Barcelona.

Thank you for your emails and comments, and your trails of pink stars in spite of my not posting for a little while. I am in a blissful state of semi-hibernation, snow outside my window, the house warm and decorated for the holidays, and a small pile of must-read books on a table by the sofa. Have a beautiful week, my friends.

♥

My Sunset Sky

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:29:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. " ~ Rabindranath Tagore

...♥

We're all golden sunflowers inside

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:15:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

~ Allen Ginsberg

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Every year 300,000 sunflowers are planted along a quiet country road in a stunning display that draws people from all over New England. The sunflowers are gathered and sold in bouquets so that funds may be raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that grants wishes to children affected by life threatening conditions. Ever since I discovered this breathtaking place, I make every effort not to miss it every summer. The long ride is always worth it.

This photograph is a stark contrast to our hurricane preparations this weekend. We are expecting storm Irene to reach us Saturday night and stay with us through Sunday. I made our favorite stew and an apple pie to tide us over should we lose power, the plants have been brought inside....and we have lots more to do before we can feel safe. Thousands of people from the Carolinas to New York City and all the way up to Maine are bracing themselves this weekend...and there is storm coverage on the television around the clock.

Wishing all of us in its path a safe weekend.

♥

30/52

A place for inspiration... Beautiful Blur

The Village Potter

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:18:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

I have lived in New England for so long, that sometimes I've been known to say I've seen and done it all around here. So I love it when, with a little research, I discover something new.

The man in the photograph is the village potter in a little 1800s town called Old Sturbridge Village. In the early New England days, the potter made practical pieces such as bowls, pitchers and mugs for the entire village. During most of the day, he would work in his farm and on his land, and in his spare time, he would walk over to his workshop and spin red clay on his wheel. When he had around 800 pieces, they would all go into a massive, wood fired kiln and be fired at the same time. If you've never been to an old colonial village like this one, it really is a journey back in time. The houses are staged as if families still live there, the town store has elixirs and bonnets and all types of period ware on its shelves, and sheep and chickens run around loose on the town green. It's been a while since my pottery classes...watching the village potter make a coffee mug definitely made me want to start up again.

P.S. Something has happened to my list of contacts....and apparently, I am not the only one. I will be going through in the next few days and attempting to restore the friends that might be missing. So if you see that I've just added you as a friend and we have already been friends.......well, now you'll know why.

Happy weekend, everyone!
I have some serious catching up to do!

♥

13/52

A Drive Along the Countryside

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:51:00 -0800

Majorlight posted a photo:

"I found the poems in the fields
And only wrote them down"
~ John Clare

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Fewer things give me an appreciation for life than a drive along the countryside.
I visit this stretch of road every season, and while the landscape changes, this old tractor stays the same, quietly beneath the tree under the warm summer sun, covered in the falling leaves of autumn, and showered by the cool rains of spring. A drive in the country always reminds me of what is really important in my life...and how little I need to be perfectly happy.

Thank you, my friends, for encouraging my new project.
And to all of you who purchased my book.
You fill my heart.

♥

The music on the radio when I took this photograph ...

3/52

The Orchard

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:09:05 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

The air has turned cool and dry here in New England. Everywhere we walk, the rustle of leaves marks our steps in a carpet of yellows, reds, and shades in between. And in the evenings, the sweet smell of burning wood blankets the neighborhoods as families come home to settle in for the night. Autumn is here. Apple Pies. Flannel Sheets. Steaming Hot Tea. Dramatic Colors. Engaging Landscapes. An absolutely beautiful time of year.

My apologies to my wonderful friends for my sporadic presence on your streams as of late. As much as I seek balance in my every day life ... it isn't always possible. I hope you are all well, and I miss you. xo

A place for inspiration... Beautiful Blur.

Summer's Trail

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:06:06 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

...

A train waits for me, a ship
loaded with apples,
an airplane, a plow
some thorns.

Goodbye, harvested
fruits of the water, farewell,
imperially dressed shrimps,
I will return, we will return
to the unity now interrupted.

I belong to the sand:
I will return to the round sea
and to its flora
and to its fury:
but for now -- I'll wander
whistling
through the streets.

~ Pablo Neruda

The World's Tenderness

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:56:01 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

A place for inspiration... Beautiful Blur.

The Days That Make Us Happy

nobody@flickr.com (Majorlight) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:35:00 -0700

Majorlight posted a photo:

View On Black

Waking up to the gentle crash of the waves. The pale blue color of the ocean and the sky in the early morning when they almost look like one. Driving my bicycle through the town with my hair twisted up in a bun. Walking the beach as the sun goes down. The salty air through my open windows at night...days like this make me truly, truly happy.