Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Are We Dead Yet? or What Are You Waiting For?

 

 

Now here's a gruesome thought...

(bear with me)

Since we - each and every one of us -

(except those magicians among us)

are going to die one day,

then we really are the

living dead.

 

Rather than being a depressing thought,

this idea has the potential to liberate us

from the fear of living...

of really being alive.

After all, it will too soon be over and then what?

 

Ok, so the idea is a little rough around the edges...

how to smooth it out?

Perhaps with a question...

 

What are you waiting for?

 

There, that's better.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who's Your Monster?

 

 

There are so many scary movies around now,

and tv shows that showcase murder and horror.

If your everyday life were anything like that

you'd live in a state of high anxiety.

You'd be a mess.

 

Our demons and monsters come out to play at Halloween.

Our shadows are allowed to shine.

You can be scary and ugly and it's ok!

No one minds.

 

The rest of the year,

you'd better behave though,

or you really will scare somebody.

 

 

 

 

Scary, but smiling Lochness Monster found in the woods at DeLeon Springs, Florida.

 

The Bye-biscus!

 

 

A fading hibuscus becomes a bye-biscus.

Every hello is a good-bye.

 

We never know how or when,

but all beginings

have their endings.

 

 

 

Here's something I never knew, according to Webster, good-bye is a contraction of God be with ye.

Favorite Autumn Colors

 

 

The maple tree leaves,

my favorite autumn colors.

 

What are yours?

Do you have a favorite mum?

How about those white pumpkins?

Maybe we'll have purple pumpkins next year!

 

Are you carving or baking them,

or just enjoying their company?

 

And always the perennial worry,

what to do with the pumpkins once they strart to decay.

 

And they will decay!

 

 

 

Beware The Shadows...

 

 

Shadows projected on a screen create a monochromatic garden.

 

Is it an illusion

or

a delusion?

 

 

 

Reluctant Lady

 

 

Yes.

Of course I have a story...

but,

not now,

another time.

 

Come back another time.

You'll see.

 

Yes,

I have a story.

 

 

 

The Reluctant Lady is tucked away in one of the magnificent hedges at LaDew Gardens, in Jarrettsville Maryland.

Golden Moments

 

 

Another season comes and goes,

another year.

The moments add up -

beautiful moments, sad moments,

anxious moments,

and some golden moments.

 

You can't grasp them -

they're not for that,

but you can notice

with a breath,

a moment in time.

 

Breathe in...

 

 

 

 

Maple leaves with painterly effect in Autumn in Baltimore, Maryland.

More Shine

 

 

Ok, there is a name for this phenomenon.

The sun is setting behind you,

and looking east, there are rays of sun and shadow -

created by what?

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, this was opposite the previous photo. Rays in the west and east.

Sunshine

 

 

 

 

 

Hovering Clouds

 

 

Hovering clouds,

here one day and gone the next.

Sunshine follows,

almost

 always.

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty Berry

 

 

All dressed up for autumn in St. Augustine,

the marshes are starting to turn from green to red to gold to brown,

thier winter clothes coming out of storage,

while the Beauty Berry shows us just how pretty magenta can be.

Another nor'easter rearranges the beach

and the salty winds prove irresistible

to beach crawlers like me

and that ghost crab

running away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time To Paint

 

 

It has taken me a lot of lot of years,

to finally knuckle down

and really learn how to paint.

 

Thanks to all my friends,

who have given me brushes, and paints, and paper, and canvas,

over the lot of years,

and to the two friends who have bravely begun the arduous task of teaching me.

 

I hope to do you proud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Fly A Kite

 

 

The guy who was flying this kite must have the soul of a bird.

He could make it hover inches above the sand and water,

only to bring it soaring into the sky with a wave of his magic wand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kite and sunset, St. Augustine Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

A Look Back

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quotes from Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud.

Green Giant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail of an "Elephant Ear," Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.

Time For A Change

 

 

Upside down?

Downside up?

 

 

 

 

Just In Case...

 

 

In case we need to be reminded

that we live in a beautiful world,

rainbows appear

when we least expect them!

 

 

 

 

Looking over Moultrie Creek toward St. Augustine South from Vaill Point, the shard of a rainbow is reflected in the still water.

 

 

 

 

Soft Edges

 

 

Edges

so soft,

it's impossible to bring them into focus.

 

(How many faces can you see?)

;>)

 

 

 

 

 

Everything Changes

 

 

Clouds reflected on the water until the sun shifts.

 

 

Everything changes.

 

 

 

 

At the edge of the water gardens at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.

Sea Oats Going By

 

 

At the end of the day.

The end of a world.

The end of a life.

 

Doors close.

Chapters end.

 

And then it begins again.

 

The sea oats

going by

will be back in the spring.

 

The sun that sets

rises again.

 

The mystery is solved in 533 pages,

yet some things

will remain

forever

beyond our

 reach,

just the other side of certainty.

 

 

 

 

 

Sea oats and sunset with painterly effect, St. Augustine Beach.

 

Karaoke Night

 

 

Do be do be do...