A Once In A Lifetime Love…

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; But it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

LeGuin

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On this day, May 20, 1961 my parents, John V. Marchell and Connie A. Mitchell were married.  It was a bittersweet wedding for my mom’s father, G. Clifford Mitchell, had passed from a heart attack less than a month prior to their wedding date.  Their love for me is crystal clear as I was the honeymoon baby.  Dad would often say to me that I was a ‘much loved child.’

I do believe that Grandpa Cliff’s Spirit has been with me always, as he was a graphic artist who, at an early age, was asked to work for Walt Disney.  He declined the offer and went into business for himself with many of his creative works promoting IBM in their beginning stages with their first place of operation located in Endicott, New York.

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So on this day, I honor my parents unconditional love and everlasting guidance still evident miraculously in my life as love transcends our human understanding.  It is through building a firm foundation by focusing on the gift of union which makes the relationship stronger and resilient to withstand any storm.  With the extraordinary gift of a once in a lifetime love,  one hundred percent belief, trust and faith in one another with open heart awareness; together the two open their arms wide to embrace the unknown.

As their hearts joined together pictured in the glowing setting sunset clouds, I know that their gift of new beginnings is approaching for me as their message permeates my soul.

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“It’s time to unite your hearts, for together your energies  combined are magnetic, magical and infinite in their abilities to manifest miracles.”

Mom and Dad

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“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore.”

Andre Gide

©Art and Photography by Loriginal Designs

Highland Lake, PA

(©wedding photograph, unknown)

A Relaxing Afternoon At Dorchester Park

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“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.

Emily Bronte

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“Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree.”

Emily Bronte

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“I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading; It vexes me to choose another guide.”

Emily Bronte

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“I see heaven’s glories shine and faith shines equal.”

Emily Bronte

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“Honest people don’t hide their deeds.”

Emily Bronte

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“I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.”

Emily Bronte

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“But first a hush of peace, a soundless calm descends; The struggle of distress and fierce impatience ends.”

Emily Bronte

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“If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.”

Emily Bronte

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“A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad…”

Emily Bronte

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“I have to remind myself to breathe, almost to remind my heart to beat.”

Emily Bronte

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“…But most where trees are sending; Their breezy boughs on high; Or stooping low are lending a shelter from the sky.”

Emily Bronte

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“I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free…”

Emily Bronte

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“I cannot express it:  but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be, an existence of yours beyond you.”

Emily Bronte

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“With wide-embracing Love Thy Spirit animates eternal years; Pervades and broods above; Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears.”

Emily Bronte

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“No coward soul is mine.  No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere.”

Emily Bronte

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“From the midst of cheerless gloom I passed to bright unclouded day.”

Emily Bronte

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“I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town.  A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.”

Emily Bronte

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© Loriginal Designs

©Emily Bronte Quotes

 

 

This is the Day!!!

“The transcendental state of Being lies beyond all seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting – beyond all thinking and beyond all feeling.”

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

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There are sacred moments in time where all the senses are so attuned that you feel saturated in the love of the Universe! It is places like Highland Lake which have brought that sense of awareness in timelessness. Prior to having internet and cell service there, it seemed to magically bring you to a place of peacefulness, wonderment and awe as moments seemed to span lifetimes!

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There is a glorious Willow Tree named “The Lady of the Lake” whose graceful limbs with lacey leaves reach towards the heavens! Her hour glass womanly figure-shaped trunk has weathered many a winter’s wind and basked in the summer’s vibrant glory! An earlier limb was used for children to swing out into the lake as they would splash cheerfully into the water! Through the years, she had to relinquish this part of herself to the past, full of memories of her lifetime!

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On the pathway walking around Highland Lake there is a stoic moss covered tree known as “The Lord of the Forest” whose stately presence breathes embodiment to all of nature.

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Further along the pathway around the lake, there is a section where the stream and pond flow out into the lake. Oftentimes you will see turtles and bullfrogs, together with dragonflies and you may even encounter a fairy or two!

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As you continue along the pathway, the senses of sight, taste, smell, hearing, feeling and knowing are awakened in the freshness of the fragrant, soothing air. It is moments like this which span our awareness of time and we become one with all that is around us and within us. This bliss full state of consciousness allows for incredible insights as the mind drops into sacred heart-centered alignment and inner knowing. You may see a spiritual rainbow cone, or even an orb or two!

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Peaceful mornings and throughout the day, the lake transforms her appearance into something new! There is much to be learned from her deep lesson of inner knowing.

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Cloud formations pass throughout the day, bringing colorful rainbows, angelic wisps of glistening crystals, as the sunlight reflects brilliantly off the textured glassy water.

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And so after a splendid sunset, the campfires begin to emerge surrounding the water’s edge. Oftentimes, the fireflies will gather around the sloping hills as the crickets and peepers and tree frogs begin their harmonic evening melodies which accompany the sparkling starts lighting up the gradually darkening vast evening sky.

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Sunfish Sailboats sport around Highland Lake with moments of gusty winds and other peaceful doldrums. There is a gentleman who has configured a way to sail his rainbow colored sailboat around the lake using just the one arm that he has – remarkable the ingenuity of the power of invention, determination and necessity!

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Then there is the early morning choir of birds singing, as the stillness of the morning air and water invigorates the soul. Timelessness revisited.

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Various boating activities and music festivals as well as floatilla competition are just some of the many activities at Highland Lake. Not to mention the fireworks! They simply begin on the Fourth of July weekend and continue throughout the season!

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And so our lives are to be lived to their fullest, richest, reaching for the stars, pressed down and flowing over! As my Mom would say, “Keep Joy in your life, Jesus wants it that way!” and as Grandma Marge would say, “Happy, Happy, Happy!!! Joy, Joy, Joy!!!”

“Rejoice in the Lord always! And again I say, rejoice!”

Philippians 4:4

©Loriginal Designs Photography

Heaven on Earth

Chert Dog’s Greatest Gift:  Quantum Leaps of Faith

There is a favorite saying from the Law of Attraction which states “No amount of action can compensate for misaligned energy.”  Potent statement which reveals the vital importance of inner clearing, aligning, strengthening and empowering to connect with all that is, our purest relationship with God, Source, Love, Light, Peace, Joy to embody the music of our heart.  This moment captured in time conveys the rainbow loving energy of God’s Love embracing, surrounding and flowing from within, the softness of angelic whispers blowing through Dad’s Crimson Kind Maple, the fragrance of roses, the taste of fresh, crisp enlivening air, the harmonics of birds singing and the inner knowing of an incredible monumental moment where the saturation of joyousness shown through to remind us of how loved we are.  This was my first experience of transcending the linear to embody the infinite.  I even had an orb caught on my face!  This digital age has allowed for things which were not seen but felt to now being revealed.

If faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen (Hebrews 1:11), why are we “seeing” and “hearing” amazing colors, bell-tones and applying quantum leaps of faith now more than ever?  Sometimes we just have to have faith, trust and patience in the process of our new journey to living in peace, where the lion lies down with the lamb.  It is time.  Grandma Marge would say in Slovak “uj moy dost” or “uj je ches.”  Sometimes, we just have to believe.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord…”plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.

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