Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Old Year, New Year...

 

 

The past is just a goodbye,

 

A dream already dreamt.

 

The future a dream coming true.

 

Happy Dreams to all!

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, and sea oats sunset! 

 

 

 

Venus Setting...

 

In the western sky this evening,

a low cloud ceiling left a narrow window close to the horizon,

and after dark you might not have noticed this slice of sky

if Venus hadn't appeared in it shining so brightly like a persistent irresistible smile!

 

Our sister planet got

dimmer and dimmer

as she neared the horizon

before disappearing altogether.

 

WOW!

 

 

 

 

Photo of Venus taken earlier in the year! 

 

 

 

That Spark...

 

 

Perhaps Christmastime is a good time to remember

that Spark of Divinity

that is in every human on the planet.

 

Including

you and me!

 

Here's to remembering

and to taking ourselves more lightly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

There is a spark of Divine in you, in all of us: don't forget......

Evergreens, Southern Style

 

 

Southern tinsel!

 

 

 

Evergreen

 

 

 

“Laughter is the universal joyous

 

evergreen

of life.”

                                                           —Abraham Lincoln

 

 

Hope your day is

Evergreen!

 

 

 

Invitation To The Feast

 

 

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?

 

 

Reprinted from 12.15.11, LainesBlog, with permission!

 

 

 

 

Baking For The Holidays...

 

 

What are you baking for the Holidays?

 

 

 

 

At the pool in Cocoa Beach, after a week of rain in St. Augustine! (Summer,2008)

Reprinted with permission from LainesBlog, 12.16.11! ;>)

 

 

Winter Solstice

 

 

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!

 

 

 

Photo by Paula Post reprinted from LainesBlog, 12.12.12. Words reprinted from LainesBlog, 12.21.11.

Happy Winter Solstice. The days will now imperceptively be getting longer.

 

Where We Live

 

 

Where we put our attention,

our energy,

our focus,

there is where we live.

Our life is there.

 

It might be little things that hijack our thoughts,

or huge things,

but these big and small things

are the ones

that will grow and thrive.

 

 

 

Strands of Spanish Moss capturing my attention for a little while! Vaill Point Dock across the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Vultures

 

 

Lots of vultures in the neighborhood.

Owls at night,

vultures by day.

 

Scavengers and hunters

and

 

humans?

 

Thrifty scavengers

and 

smart shoppers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

In Praise of Vultures

If I Were A Dolphin...

 

 

 

If I were a dolphin I would have to make a lot of changes -

move much more quickly,

eat a steady diet of fish (without the taco!)

talk more, laugh more,

and play more everyday!

 

I'd have to get rid of ALL of my things 

and stop worrying about anything!

 

Hmmmmmmmm...

 

 

Bottlenose dolphins, Chesapeake Bay, off Cape Charles, Virginia.

This post reprinted with permission from LainesBlog, December, 2012! ;>)

 

Waves

 

 

Where waves break,

souls are mended.

 

 

 

 

 

Found this quote without an author at the shop where I work, Expressions in St. Augustine and it was true on the Cape and equally true here in my adopted Florida home.

 

Something In The Stars...(continued)

 

(After a few choice expletives aimed at that  "something" that keeps pulling me into a hole.)

 

    I want to go to the root of my happiness & hang on to it -

    Really I won't need to cling to it, will I?

    Non attatchment - non judgement - 

    What is the root of my happiness?

    Joy

    The Joy of being on this beautiful planet & being human.

    being alive in this miraculous body.

 

    Being human. Not perfect or a god. but human.

    No longer at war with myself or my humanness. accepting, tolerant celebrating.

 

I came here to make friends

with myself

and we're having a fight.

Not speaking really.

one of us wants to be happy

the other melancholy.

So I am beside myself.

...

I am trying to make light of it.

Go out & have a fist fight with the air...

growl and scowl but let it pass.

 

Something in the stars - the waning moon - the front coming through-

What?

 

(Later after a walk...)

 

I left here hungry

without breakfast or love

I walked by the water

on a blue sky day

and came home full of love

 

still no breakfast

no bath

no chores done

but myself has come home

again for - we don't know how long

& welcome back you lovely

beautiful soul

welcome back.

 

 

 

 

 

C-Scape dune shack and Pilgrim Monument in the distance. Provincetown, Massachesetts.

 

 

Something In The Stars...

 

 

 

December 7 2001 Am

     Shack

Last Day

A mouse goes to sleep

in the morning, would you say

good night (sleep tight) or g'day!?

 

The demons came, softly quietly as though they were so comfy & friendly with me and I had a sit down talk with myself like a loving partner might - everytime you get happy you get ahead you get to feeling really good - someone in here makes fun of you - belittles you diminishes your joy & even your pain - Why do you let that happen? Try to keep an eye on the BIG Picture. Leave yourself alone - Be silly Be joyful be a pain - don't apologize or compare - keep an eye on The BIG Picture - It's not just you here - there's lots to do & see - You have as much right as anyone to be here & and to be you here -

    Something keeps pulling you down into the hole -

 

 

 

More tomorrow...

 

 

Photo: Winter Retreat, taken on a very cold day visiting the shack.

 

 

   

 

Cloud Signs

 

December 3, 2001

C-Scape Dune Shack, evening.

 

Walking back toward the shack today after hiking & scketching & napping - I was planning on some lunch -

However there was a group of clouds over the shack in an otherwise cloudless sky. These clouds looked like stylized - Beautifully stylized dolphins in the wild in and out of the water - Just Beautiful & the whole configuration was sort of in the shape of a diamond. So me thinks to meself - maybe there are dolphins in the ocean just over the dune here. So I go inside and put my things away & get my binoculars.

I go down to the beach & think - well the clouds are really over Race Pt and I'm not walking to race Pt. 

So I'm watching the ducks and the Loons and Lo and behold I see splashing in the distance - lots of splashing then I see spouts & dorsal fins & then tails and a few breaches! perhaps some dolphins but most definitely whales!

How wonderful & so cosmic to have that cloud enlighten me to visitors in the neighborhood!

I looked over my shoulder to acknowledge the cloud & it had disappeared!

Disappeared!

 

 

 

 

 

 Photo taken several years prior to the above entry from a whale watch boat.

 Grammer and spelling are true to the original entry!

 

 

 

Dune Shack Stories

 

 

Twelve years ago I won a week's stay in a Dune Shack

in Provincetown on Cape Cod.

Already initiated in shack dwelling by a generous friend

who taught me about wood fires and well water and kerosene lamps,

there was no fear,

only anticipation.

  

Craving the isolation and solitude,

on my first day I bristled when I saw two women approach the shack.

They politely knocked on the door and apologized for the intrusion.

 

"...but would you mind terribly if I showed my friend the shack,

my stay here was so important to my life that I wanted to show her?

We won't be long I promise,

I understand your need for solitude."

 

They were so respectful of my time and space that when they departed

only minutes later, I almost wished that they would stay longer!

 

This week on LainesBlog,

I will revisit that week in December

with some excerpts from my journals

and a few photos as well!

I hope that you enjoy it!

 

The C-Scape Dune shack in Provincetown on Cape Cod.

The "intruder" was the writer, Joan Anderson whose book, A Year By The Sea, is an inspiring story about her late life changes in family and marriage and work.

 

 

Dreaming By The Fire

 

 

Who doesn't like staring into a warm fire on a cold night?

 

Drawn into the magic of dancing light and heat and the crackling sounds,

it is difficult to concentrate on the conversations around you,

and the one in your head is more like a dream.

 

A dream that humans have been having for thousands of years,

restfulness, safety, peace, warmth.

 

Winter dreams...

Human dreams...

 

 

 

 

Prettier Than A Poinsettia

 

 

Cat in the pot!

 

 

Remember not to overwater!

 

Sunset Over St. Augustine

 

 

At the end of a beautiful day,

the sun sets early,

and the town illuminates the night with millions of white lights!

 

Thanksgiving was late

and Christmas will be early,

and before you know it,

the new year is upon us.

 

The seasons come and go,

and we're still here,

older and wiser

and more relaxed

about it all -

mostly!

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine and the Nights of Lights with a beautiful skylight!

 

 

 

 

Odd Friends

 

 

Sometimes new friends sneak up on you

and take you by surprise.

 

Are you just two ships passing in the night,

or lifelong friends in the making?

 

Only time will tell.

 

 

 

Cat meets possum on the outside deck and pretends not to care.

Possum refuses to play possum.

They part amicably.

 

 

Go Slow!

 

 

Once again, it is that time of year when people are driving really really badly.

So,

go slow,

pay attention

and

watch out for the other guy.

 

For whatever reason,

she/he is having a really bad day.

 

Let the fun begin!