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Music:  Farewell to Mystic Harbor

Whispers - Home
Old New Orleans
Friday's Journal
A Single Candle
Friday's Journals often take on a life of their own as I'm creating a page, evolving into
something completely different than my original plan, and that was certainly true of this
page.  I started out along the New England coast, with quotes from John Muir and other
naturalists in mind...and I wound up along the Baltic Sea, with quotes from Anne Frank.  I
don't know why I wandered, but I'm glad that I did, because it presented the opportunity
for me to re-read "The Diary of a Young Girl" - a study of the remarkable capacity of the
human spirit to endure under horrific circumstances.  And Anne Frank did more than
endure, she persevered with optimism, love and kindness in her heart.  All of the quotes
on this page are from Anne Frank's diary, including the title, taken from this entry:
"Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”

The photos on this page were taken in countries on the eastern coast of the Baltic
Sea:  Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.  I've grouped them by individual country below,
which is something I don't ordinarily do.  But, there are more images of buildings than
landscapes (also, something unusual for Friday's Journal!) and I was impressed by the
interesting designs of so many castles, manor houses, chapels, churches and more, it
seemed only fair that each country should get credit for its own unique architecture.

-- Nancy
The photos in this section are from
Estonia
How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start
slowly changing the world.  How lovely that everyone, great and small, can
make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway.  And you
can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness.
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news.  The good news is that
you don't know how great you can be.  How much you can love.  What
you can accomplish.  And what your potential is.
Our lives are fashioned by our choices.  First we make
our choices.  Then our choices make us.
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
As long as there is this sunshine and this cloudless sky,
and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and
goodness.  People are just people, and all people have faults and
shortcomings, but all are born with a basic goodness.
As long as nature exists, and that should be forever, I know that there
will be solace for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances.  I firmly
believe that nature can bring comfort to all who suffer.
The photos in this section are from
Lithuania
The photos in this section are from
Latvia
Anne Frank died in a Nazi concentration camp in March, 1945, just weeks
before the camp was liberated.  She was 14 years old.
She wrote in one of her diary entries, "Who else but me is ever going to read these
letters?"  In her wildest dreams, she could never have imagined how many people
would.  After the war, Anne's father, the only member of the family who survived,
found the diary and had it published.  Since then, it's been translated into more
than 60 languages and read by millions of people all over the world.
As Pres. John F. Kennedy said:  "Of the multitude who throughout history have
spoken for human dignity in times of great suffering and loss, no voice is more
compelling than that of Anne Frank."
The Freedom Monument, located in Riga, Latvia, honors soldiers killed during the Latvian War
of Independence, 1918-1920.  In 1940, five years after it was unveiled, the Soviets occupied
and annexed the country of Latvia.  Throughout the Soviet occupation, the monument
remained an important symbol to the people and played a part in regaining Latvia's freedom.
 In 1987, 5,000 people gathered at the monument to commemorate the victims of the reign of
the Soviets.  This rally renewed the independence movement, which culminated three years
later in the re-establishment of Latvian sovereignty after the fall of the Soviet regime.