Friends, paddling along together through life's currents.
It's a calm evening and mild in between the storms and troubles.
There's peace and quiet and a kind of welcome ordinariness,
a rightness about things.
All's well.
Reprinted from LainesBlog May 2013
Two Pelicans in the quiet evening, St. Augustine
©Laine Quinn 2023
Friends, paddling along together through life's currents.
It's a calm evening and mild in between the storms and troubles.
There's peace and quiet and a kind of welcome ordinariness,
a rightness about things.
All's well.
Reprinted from LainesBlog May 2013
Two Pelicans in the quiet evening, St. Augustine
©Laine Quinn 2023
Hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii was once commonly called good night at noon
because it blossoms for only a short time!
I like that, "good night at noon!"
Some days are like that.
From the book Garden Flower Folklore by Laura C. Martin
Blog post from Laine's Blog, May 2012, with permission!
©Laine Quinn 2023
You Don't Have to Choose Between Happiness and Being Informed
We are living in an amazingly beautiful world and when you focus on that more than on the bad news of the day,
you begin to see that as confused and crazy as our civilization is
the world is crazy beautiful!
Her beauty is so much vaster and more ancient than all the conceptual dis-information that has been heaped upon the human experience.
You start to find joy in real things.
The thundering majesty of nature.
That spark of authenticity in people's eyes. The crackle of magic at the water's edge.
Something as simple as a Morning Glory catching the light just right can renew your faith in the universe.
And you learn to live from there.
You settle into an understanding that while the suffering and abuses of our world are very real and of immense consequence,
the fact that there is anything at all is immensely more significant than any of our tiny human problems.
The fact that we get to live in these bodies and inhabit these brains and move around on this amazing planet
and perceive it and think thoughts about it is a much, much bigger deal than any of our difficulties.
So, go ahead and "make good trouble"
but don't forget to see and hear and wonder at all the beauty behind your eyes and in your own back yard!
This Blog is mostly from a posting by Caitlin Johnstone on May 12, 2023 and edited and used with her blanket permission to share her work.
I thank her for her bravery and honesty and generosity!
And her husband Tim Foley.
Photos of Morning Glory by Laine!
Delicate clinging vines - this is a time when clinging is good.
Good for the vine and the wall benefits too, aesthetically.
Is clinging ever good for us? We humans?
Holding on to that good or bad feeling - joy or anger?
Being in the moment is preferred, but if you have to cling,
cling to the things that become more beautiful with your clinging,
like a baby's smile or the best day ever in the water with the boogie board.
It makes you more beautiful to do that!
Clinging vine and wall found in Old St. Augustine, Florida.
(This post is from October 4th, 2011, the first week of Laine's Blog.)
©LaineQuinn 2023
There are paths taken,
and paths not taken.
It doesn't pay to have regrets.
Each life is so unique, yours, mine,
that it can only be lived by a you or a me.
There is no other way.
No one will ever get the whole story of your life except you.
It's how it is.
So, relax,
trust, and enjoy.
Reprinted from LainesBlog March 2013.
©LaineQuinn 2023
When we have long departed from this beautiful blue/green planet,
will we one day long for a glimpse of a new leaf in springtime,
missing the seasons and colors of Earth?
Perhaps that depends on the treasures that we find on the other side.
For now, a new green leaf in springtime is treasure enough.
Reprinted from LainesBlog, February, 2013
©LaineQuinn 2023
These two pelicans, flying and diving together in the shallow waters of Tampa Bay,
in time to their own music -
Reminded me of the two humpback whales dining together off Cape Cod,
and the pilot whales, cruising in perfect harmony.
Occasionally humans can, without a word, step together harmoniously to the shared music of life.
It's great fun when it happens,
and like the dance instructor said,
"Don't worry if you misstep, it's part of the fun!
Reprinted from LainesBlog February 2013.
©LaineQuinn2023
Sometimes it is impossible to remember
that we live on an improbable accidental planet
that might not have come into existence
without the perfect balance
of gravity and heat and cold and atmosphere and water
at the perfect distance from our star.
Spinning on its axis and orbiting around the sun
with the moon and our sister and brother planets,
and traveling with our Milky Way Galaxy
through space as our Universe still expands -
our little spaceship Earth is in perfect harmony
with the forces that made it all possible to begin with.
And here we are, the "children of flowers" on an evolutionary journey
65 million years in the making and still going strong.
So relax,
Earth is on auto pilot and won't fall from the sky anytime soon!
This is our time to revel in being alive in a world of wonder!
We do live in a beautiful world!
Photo: NASA, Earth Rise one of the first photographs of Earth from space.
Children of Flowers, borrowed from Maria Papova and her Marginalian.
Curiouser and curiouser!
Mural of Cat in Baltimore, Remington neighborhood. Sensa the cat on the rail and watching the fish!
©LaineQuinn2022
Here comes the sun!
Sincere, unapologetic gratitude
goes a long way towards
opening our hearts.
And there is lots to be grateful for,
lots!
Maple tree in Baltimore.
©LaineQuinn2022
Love is why we came here
To learn how to love
Everything
Everyone
All the time
It's a lot to learn
But worth the effort
The beauty around us
No matter where you are
There is beauty around you!
The Inlet St. Augustine
©LaineQuinn 2022