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2012
The year of changes.
Earth changes, shifts in consciousness, access to other dimensions, mind boggling catastrophes.
None of that matters.
Real change comes from the heart.
When the heart listens and loves, everything changes.
Everything.
So, have a Happy New Year celebration and keep an eye out for those changes of heart.
They just might make you feel really great!
All the very best of everything in 2012!
In some Florida yards, nature provides her own idea of ornaments.
And...they're edible!
A beautiful sunset.
A man walks barefoot at the edge of the tide with the help of two canes.
A warm end to December in St. Augustine.
How did you feel the day after Christmas?
Maybe a little like this guy?
He's in the middle of a mock battle and seems to be taking a breather.
It's a good week to do that. Step outside of time, and breathe.
Sure there's still plenty that has to be done - people to visit, dinners to prepare, battles to be won, and work too -
but just a moment for yourself, out of the fray.
It's a good week to do that,
before the new year sweeps you away.
Flamingos Seen Over Marsh in St. Augustine South on Christmas Morning!
Welcome home!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Stay safe until we meet again!
Love,
Laine
Flamingos Glide Into Times Square in New York City!
They seem to have regained their color.
It appears that the hot chocolate the was so kindly shared with them in Baltimore has revived them.
It's Christmas Eve, how are you doing?
Are you getting your color back and warming up to the holiday?
That is my wish for you today,
no matter how busy or unfinished the day is,
may it be warm and filled with kindness.
FLAMINGOS SEEN NEAR CITY PIER IN BALTIMORE'S FELLS POINT!
Are they turning blue?
Pink Flamingos Spotted in Virginia!
They look as though they are about to land.
They are probably looking for some goose down.
If you see them, try to keep them calm and warm until help arrives.
Although the WInter Solstice marks the longest night of the year, it is a celebration of light.
It's the birthday of the sun.
Our red star turns his warm face back to earth once again and like the ancients,
we are assured that there will be another spring and another harvest and back again to another winter solstice.
So, make peace with the year behind you and get your dreams rolling for the one to come.
Here comes the sun!
Lawn ornaments take to the sky!
(Seen here flying over the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida.)
They seem to be headed North, bad idea! It's cold up there you guys, it's a big mistake!
Are humbuggers as much a part of Christmas as sleigh bells and carols?
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is as perennial as Christmas itself.
So too Dr. Seus' How The Grinch Stole Christmas,
and John Grisham's Skipping Christmas.
All of these vehicles attempt to circumvent Christmas and all of them fail.
Is Christmas inevitable?
If it didn't exist, would we have to invent it all over again?
Perhaps.
What is it that makes Christmas Christmas?
How often have you heard someone say,
"It doesn't feel like Christmas this year"?
What does that mean?
The immediate answer might have something to do with the weather,
followed by an,
"I don't know, it just doesn't seem like Christmas."
If you really ask yourself this question, what would the answer be?
What would reawaken the magic of Christmas that seems to be missing for you?
There might not be an obvious answer to that.
Perhaps there are moments that sneak up on you and before you know it, you've created a Christmas memory
that you will long for during a future Christmas season.
It could be a smile from across the room that makes your heart swell to overflowing and boom - it feels like Christmas.
Maybe someone steals a cookie from the batch cooling by the stove and sets off a string of laughter and silliness.
Is it the moments then, strung together like a garland for the tree, that make Christmas,
and all the rest, the madness of shopping, and baking, and being ready in time,
is just a backdrop - the stage set for the moments that provide the magic?
Whatever part you play in the Christmas pageant, be patient and
"believe that behind Christmas is something greater than what stands before us."
Don't look for the moments, they will find you.
The bah humbuggery of this post was inspired by a google search for Bah Humbug that led to a charming post by Stephen Arod Shirreffs.
Other parts were spun off from a conversation with Lauren, my godchild who is no longer a child child.
The rest is from my own attempts to skip Christmas, which I now regard as the immovable feast. Try as you might to ignore it, stare it down, or even curse it, it won't go away! In the end, when you make it your own, it kind of works!
So, trust that the moments will come and that the magic of Christmas lies dormant in your heart.
The critter in the photo at the top of this post might have been a whitness to Scrooge's nocturnal visits. He was found hiding in the Southern Lights Candle Shop in St. Augustine, Florida. There are many such remembrances of things past at this unique gift shop.
All the very best!
Laine
BAH HUMBUG!
(More on this tomorrow.)
(Although the gargoyle is not a typical Christmas icon, this one seemed menacing enough to stand in for Ebenezer Scrooge.)
What are you baking for the Holidays?
At the pool in Cocoa Beach, after a week of rain in St. Augustine! (Summer,2008)
An open gate, an open door - it's inviting.
Will you come to the feast?
Or will you say,
"Oh, I wasn't invited."
or
"I don't have anyone to go with."
You're invited.
Everyone comes alone.
The feast begins when you wake up and it never ends.
Coming?
What's your soul's favorite color?
Blue beach, blue sky, blue water.
There are so many blues.
Can a color really save your soul?
Rainy days at the beach -
they're challenging for the shop owners in this tourist town, but what can you do?
Complain?
As kids we would complain, then play cards and laugh and complain some more.
Now we might walk in between the raindrops, enjoying the wind and the wild sea,
or use the weather as a good excuse to stay indoors and start that book.
Rainy days - some people love them, others not so much.
It's a good thing that the rain doesn't need us, or we might hurt its feelings,
and then it might not ever rain again.
This is the time of year to be gentle with everyone you meet.
The guy who just cut you off in traffic might have gotten some really bad news,
and be so distracted that he forgot his manners.
Or the young woman on her cell phone who doesn't seem to realize that she is
driving a car on a busy highway, might be talking with her mother who is in the hospital
five states away.
Whatever the reason, people are driving badly these days.
It seems to happen around the holidays.
So, be cautious, be patient, breathe, and get there safely.
The rising moon, almost full.
Anyone for a moon dance?
There's time enough for worry and care and grief, they'll wait.
Let's Dance!
Late blooming grasses - patient, resilient, beautiful.
"Mom, I can't get down."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't."
Yes, you can."
"Mom!"
"Dj!"
When you are right in the middle of a storm, it's all there is -
wind, rain, noise, thunder, lightening.
You feel as scattered as the sand that relentlessly blows away and away.
From the air it looks quite different.
Blue sky above, sun shining and billowy clouds below.
If you are in a plane, and about to descend, you might see the lightening in the distance,
silent and soft, like a secret code, transmitting within the chambers of the clouds.
As you lose altitude you'll see the bands of rain, miles away and thankfully not where you are about to land.
The storm could be headed up the eastern seaboard, about to slam the barrier islands,
or on its way out to sea, to test a wary captain.
You worry some for the people caught in the siege, whether in their cars or their homes, or on the water.
But before you know it, you are in the baggage claim area waiting for your luggage, the threat forgotten.
When you are right in the middle of it though, it's all there is -
wind, rain, noise, thunder, lightening.
Anger is like that, grief too, and falling in love.
It's all there is.
It is so much fun to spend a day reading, even if it is loaded with guilt, it is pure pleasure!
Writers of fiction are magicians who conjure up characters and places and whole lives of people we believe exist.
We root for them, or we want to know them, or we are afraid of them.
This photograph, taken in Mt. Dora, Florida, is the charming facade of the Dickens-Reed bookstore.
Two children are depicted sitting under a shelf of books, reading together.
They are surrounded by books.
In the windows are reflections of the vehicles that take us in and out of our busy lives.
Finding balance between the busyness and the quiet is challenging.
A good book can help.
The facade was created by artist Thomas Merrell.
When I lived in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, and was ready to launch my little daysailer for the very first time,
(not pictured here)
I went to the Harbor Master thinking that I might have to pay a ramp fee.
I asked him if I needed anything to launch and he answered,
"Water."
We got along very well after that.
The moral of the story is to cultivate your sense of humor,
especially when dealing with persons in authority,
and never launch your boat without water.
From a moving car, these neat rows of plants offer the eye a hypnotic symmetry.
It's comforting, like the rocking of a train as it moves along the tracks into the future.
Is it the marking of the motion that is soothing, forward motion, like a dance, or a Bach Concerto?
The parallel rows originate from here - now - with you - and go to infinity.
The sight of them and the movement seem to speak to the soul:
Enjoy the ride, you're doing great, we'll meet in the end...
Enjoy the ride, you're doing great, we'll meet in the end...
Enjoy the ride, you're doing great...
You're doing great...
You're great!