Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Flowers...

 

"...flowering plants were revolutionary in their appearance on the earth

some two hundred million years ago,

are dominant on land from the arctic to the tropics,

and are crucial to our survival."

 

Since reading those lines in Rebecca Solnit's book, Orwell's Roses,

I haven't been able to look at a flower without a deep sense of wonder

and gratitude!

 

Without flowers and their seeds,

birds and humans would not have evolved.

Period!

 

Without flowers and their seeds,

birds and humans would disappear from the earth.

 

Amen!

 

 

 

 

Quote from Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit

Flowers from Baltimore and St. Augustine, Mums, Lilies, Hibiscus

©LaineQuinn 2022

 

 

 

Rock Solid...

 

 

This solid chair, situated in a garden beneath a huge live oak tree is made up of trillions of bouncing molecules,

just like you and me.

Sometimes we feel as grounded as a boulder.

Other times scattered as the northern lights.

Most days fall somewhere in between.

 

Having unshakable faith that life is unfolding exactly as it is meant to do is difficult at times,

but worth whatever effort it might take to arrive there.

So, sit, and be grateful for who you are, no less than the moon and stars and the mighty oaks.

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph taken at the Cummer Museum and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida

Reprinted from LainesBlog, January 4, 2012

©LaineQuinn2022

 

This solid chair, situated in a garden beneath a huge live oak tree is made up of trillions of bouncing molecules,

just like you and me.

Sometimes we feel as grounded as a boulder.

Other times scattered as the northern lights.

Most days fall somewhere in between.

 

Having unshakable faith that life is unfolding exactly as it is meant to do is difficult at times,

but worth whatever effort it might take to arrive there.

So, sit, and be grateful for who you are, no less than the moon and stars and the mighty oaks.

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph taken at the Cummer Museum and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida

Sunday Morning...

 

Jupiter sailing past Venus in the early morning hour.

 

 

Venus is the brighter planet although Jupiter is larger, it's much farther away!

That was Sunday morning, just before sunrise.

Each day Jupiter moves farther away from Venus.

 

But what a wonderful pair!

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2022, St. Augustine, Florida

Earth Day!

 

There we are

on that little blue ball

happily floating through space

 

that gorgeous blue ball

we call our home planet

spinning out the seasons

and the days and nights

as we delight in the joys of being alive

 

seeing the flowers and birds and sunsets

oceans rivers mountains and valleys -

our very own earth.

 

 

 

 

 

NASA photo of the earth from outer space.

What Comes Next...

 

 

Collectively it is time that we imagine a better world.

No matter what happens in the next months or years,

it is time to put our minds on better things.

 Call it the power of positive thinking,

of visualizing,

of collective prayer -

it all works and can change the world.

 

Psychopathic leaders of politics and industry - be warned -

it is time for the Human takeover of our world.

Time to imagine a world where we live harmoniously with the earth,

harmoniously with each other - near and far,

harmoniously with all creatures -great and small.

A world in partnership.

A world of compassion and love and generosity.

 

If it fits in your mind,

it fits in your world.

 

We are more than what we can imagine.

 

Collectively it's time to imagine

what comes after -

to dream big and have faith in the human heart,

in the human desire for connection.

 

 

 

 

Photo of Park in Godollo Hungary, outside Budapest.

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, October 2020

©LaineQuinn2022

Peace of Mind...

 

 

An old Spring House in San Miguel, Mexico -

a reminder to be grounded -

in our friendship with ourselves,

with nature,

with each other.

 Grounded in uncertainty, and upheaval,

and accepting the times we find ourselves in.

Grounded in whatever way you get grounded,

for your very own peace of mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog October 20, 2020.

©LaineQuinn 2022

What If?

 

 

What if you are here on this beautiful, physical, gravity based planet,

simply because you want to be here?

 

You like a challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog 

©LaineQuinn 2022

 

What if you are here on this beautiful, physical, gravity based planet,

simply because you want to be here?

 

You like a challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog 

©LaineQuinn 2022

The Language of Love...

 

 

Resembling luminescent jewels,

the colors of the ocean at sunset

on a calm evening,

raise the spirit,

like the sails of a great ship filling with a welcome breeze.

 

Filling the heart with Love!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, 2.10.14.

Reprinted from Laine's blog, 2014, with additions!

©LaineQuinn2022

More Pelicans...

 

 

Landing gear down...

Check.

 

 

Landing gear up...

 

 

Check.

 

These Brown Pelicans, up close enough to see the accordion wings against the sky,

are proof positive that we live in a very beautiful, complex,

and fascinating world.

 

You are clear for takeoff!

 

 

 

Saint Augustine Beach Pier, once again hosting the people who fish and the birds who love them.

Reprinted from LainesBlog, February 2015

©LaineQuinn 2022

 

Love Letters...

 

   

 

Remember when people used to write letters to one another?

A lost art, to be sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Love letters on Flagler's Fishing Pier.

Reprinted from LainesBlog, February 2015, with additions from Laine! 

©LaineQuinn2022

Pelican Sets Sail...

 

Does a pelican in the water ever doubt that he can raise his sails and take to the air?

In three powerful strokes, this huge bird is airborne and glides away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2022, Republished from LainesBlog January 2012.

Dolphin Rising...

 

 

Coming up for air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jake for encouraging me to get my camera out, otherwise I would have missed this shot! Cape Charles, Virginia, August, 2010.

©Laine Quinn 2022, Reprinted fro LainesBlog, January 2012

 

 

 

Coming up for air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jake for encouraging me to get my camera out, otherwise I would have missed this shot! Cape Charles, Virginia, August, 2010.

©Laine Quinn 2022, Reprinted fro LainesBlog, January 2012

 

 

Keeping It Simple...

 

My Christmas Tree this year is a Live Oak Tree!

 

The tinsel is silvery Spanish Moss.

 

The ornaments are Squirrels and Birds and Lizards!

 

The Star at the top is our very own Star, the Sun!

 

 HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! 

 

 And this is my Christmas Card to Everyone! 

 

With Love,

Laine

 

 

 

 

 

Sign created by Aden with Lizard lazing on top!

Birds are, Black and White Warbler, Red Bellied Woodpecker and unknown maybe sparrow or warbler!

©Laine Quinn 2021

Home...

 

 

 

A lot of people will be traveling over the coming weeks,

going home.

 

Where is home? 

 

Is it where you spent your childhood?

 

Or where you choose to live?

 

Is home a moveable feast?

 

Do we carry it within us?

 

 

Is it a place we cherish or a person we love?

 

Is it all of these things?

 

A place, a person, where you've been and where you're going

 

and where you are right now?

 

 

The heart and soul of home

 

seem to be everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airplane window, setting sun, clouds.

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 2012, long before traveling became so precarious because of the pandemic.

©Laine Quinn 2021

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of people will be traveling over the coming weeks,

going home.

 

Where is home? 

 

Is it where you spent your childhood?

 

Or where you choose to live?

 

Is home a moveable feast?

 

Do we carry it within us?

 

 

Is it a place we cherish or a person we love?

 

Is it all of these things?

 

A place, a person, where you've been and where you're going

 

and where you are right now?

 

 

The heart and soul of home

 

seem to be everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airplane window, setting sun, clouds.

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 2012, long before traveling became so precarious because of the pandemic.

©Laine Quinn 2021

 

 

It's A Lie...

 

It is a lie - any talk of God

that does not

comfort

you.

 

 

 

 

 

Poem by Meister Eckhart, 13th century mystic, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

From the Penguin publication, Love Poems From God, Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.

Copyright © 2002 Daniel Ladinsky and used with his permission.

 

Re-Posted from Laine's Blog, November 2012

 

It is a lie - any talk of God

that does not

comfort

you.

 

 

 

 

 

Poem by Meister Eckhart, 13th century mystic, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

From the Penguin publication, Love Poems From God, Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.

Copyright © 2002 Daniel Ladinsky and used with his permission.

 

Setting Sun...

 

 

The sun sets on another day

another week

another year.

 

 

 

 

 

©2021 Laine Quinn

Inlet, Vilano Beach

 

Gratitude...

 

Grateful for all the people who have come and gone in my life

and helped me to become the person I am today -

for better or worse!

 

Grateful for all the things that are going right in my world -

and there are many.

 

Grateful as always for the sun and moon and stars,

for blue skies and rain and trees and flowers.

 

We are all made of the same star stuff -

the same stuff.

 

All one.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

 

 

Sunrise, St Augustine Beach

©LaineQuinn2021

Everything...

 

 

Everything has to do with loving

and not loving.

                                                       

                                                  Rumi

 

 

 

 

From Laine's Blog, November 2018.

©LaineQuinn 2021

 

Just Because...

 

 

Just because light and color conspired to spread joy!

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog November 2020 with added photo!

©LaineQuinn2021

 

Friends...

 

 

 

Life can be overwhelming at times - aging parents, sick children, losing a treasured pet.

Even joy can flood the heart, so much beauty, so much love, so complex.

That's where our friends come in.

They walk with us even when we are apart and help us to make sense of our mortal lives.

Where would we be without our friends?

Here's to old friends, new friends and the friends we are about to meet!

Thank You!

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November, 2011

©LaineQuinn 2021

Sculpture found at Cummer Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

Let The Autumn Light Reach You

 

What nourishes you

in the middle of a Pandemic?

 

What nourishes you

when political forces take a dark turn

and plunge us into a past that should be long forgotten?

 

 

For me it is Poetry -

Poetry and Music that soothe my soul

and the beauty all around me -

flowers still blooming in our Florida gardens and

the angle of the sun in the trees at a certain time of day,

and of course the beach!

And happy dogs and peaceful cats!

And friends, young and old!

 

Let the autumn light reach you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

©2021 Laine Quinn, photo of Spanish Moss in Live Oaks at Washington Oaks State Park.

 

 

 

Egret With Fish...

 

 

Does the Egret apologize to the fish?

Is the fish feeling like a victim, getting angry and huffy?

These two marvelous creatures are

  living and dying on the same page.

No apologies.

No blame.

When we seek honestly that which nourishes us,

we thrive.

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, October, 2011

©LaineQuinn 2011

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

October - harvests and bright moons, bales of hay and straw, pumpkins,

ghosts and goblins, spider webs, dressing up and acting out.

What was your favorite costume for Halloween?

Mine was Robin Hood!

I remember a burlap tunic, a bow and arrow and the perfect pointed hat.

I think that my mother made it for me.

 

Did you have a scary neighbor like we did?

Of course the only reason we were afraid of her was

because she was sooooooo old and she lived alone and

she had a cat.

Now I am old-ish and I live alone and I have a cat!

Scary!

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog's very first year, 10 years ago!

This month I will do a retrospective of my favorite blog posts from those years!

I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Halloween!

Laine

I'm ok 2...

When memories pop up that remind you of your mistakes, missteps and lost opportunities -

do they come to make you feel bad all over again?

Or are they coming to maybe help you?

Help you to find forgiveness and compassion for your self?

To finally move off - move on - to the happiness you found in life -

the happy memories?

 

Sure it's all intermingled but remember the kindness, the love and the friendships,

the comraderie and the joys you found in nature - in being alive,

in reading a good book and sharing a good meal,

the good work that you did.

In the BIG tapestry of your life

the missteps  would shrink beside all the good all the joy and happiness -

all the little things that made your life whole.

 

Funny that they come, those haunting memories,

but next time flood them with the joys and maybe they will cease and desist

eventually.

 

Maybe after forgiveness and compassion there is acceptance.

"Yeah, I did that , but I also did this and this and this...

I'm okay!"

 

You're okay!

I'm okay.

 

 

 

 

©2021 Laine Quinn

Tapestry, "Tree of Life", Astoria Grand at Wayfair.

 

A note to my email subscribers, the email address [email protected] is no longer active, an I have corrected it so that you can reply to my blog in your email and I will get it in my google account.

Thanks for all!

 

What I know...

 

What I know - what I know is -

Love will find a way.

 

Conflict in your life?

Say this -

Love will find a way.

 

Anxious?

Say this in your heart and mind -

Love will find a way.

 

It does.

It will.

 

 

Somehow it opens your heart and reminds you of the love there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a song that goes like the first line of this post but I can't find it!

But there are 2 others with the title of "Love Will Find a Way" by Pablo Cruise and Lionel Ritchie.

In any event, Love will find a way!

©Laine Quinn 2021 Photo of sunrise with steady waves, one after the other, 09/08/2021

Not Like That...

 

I wanted to write about the unsettling times we find ourselves in

and then there was that date,

September 11, 2021

staring me in the eye.

 

In 2001, almost a week after that horrible day,

I was on a sailboat in Provincetown Harbor

and witnessed the most magnificent sunset

caused by the dust in the air all the way from 

New York City to Cape Cod,

from that terrible tragedy at the World Trade Center Towers.

 

I lived in Provincetown at the time and my friend invited me out on the water.

Planes were still grounded and it was eerily quiet and peaceful, calm and beautiful.

 

We talked about how the U.S. behaved in the world

and how that created more enemies than friends.

 

The Country stood still for a while - 

collective grief - shock - compassion - empathy.

 

And you know the rest of the story.

They said,

"Get on with your lives." "Go shopping."

We'll start a war or two and make it right.

 

A primitive response lacking insight, intelligence, even compassion for the victims.

It's not what their families wanted.

 

It wasn't misguided -

it was exactly what some people wanted.

 

Will America ever be the Beacon of Democracy she promised to be?

 

Not like that.

Not like that.

 

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2021, photo September 17th, 2001.

 

 

Getting Grounded Again...

 

How's it going?

Personally - within?

 

Take a moment to remember

that you are here now

with your very own life.

 

Your very own precious life.

 

How's it going?

Within?

 

Breathe.

 

 

©Laine Quinn2021

 

Wonderful...

 

Between cloudy nights

and thunderstorm days,

the moon only showed her face two times

for an entire month.

 

But the clouds - the clouds were wonderful!

building each day in the willing sky,

between sun and rain and rainbows!

 

 

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2021 Stormy July!

Test #346

 

Just Checking Something

 

 

What's she doing?

I don't know.

Just checking something, I guess.

 

 

 

 

Ducks at Treaty Park, just wondering which service is sending our my blog to email. 

We'll see tomorrow.

Google or FeedBlitz?

 

Yes and Yes...

 

Can you be stressed and joyful at the same time?

Worried and happy at the same time?

Yes

and

Yes!

 

It takes some living and loving and forgiving

to arrive at a time in your life

when your emotions balance

without effort.

 

Joy and happiness can rise to the top like bubbles in water.

 

Stress is still stress and worry is still worried,

but they're paired with your innate joy

and they don't eat away your minutes and hours-

your days and nights.

 

The edges are smoothed and softened.

You can still find gladness in the little things

and laugh at your clumsy self.

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2021, Vilano Beach July 2021.