Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Beautimus...

 

 

Words escape me...

 

 

 

 

Bearded Iris from last May!

 

Can You Fly?

 

 

 

A young hawk sitting on a car roof in the parking lot.

Patient and fearless, it watches me as I watch it.

 

If the hawk could ask me one question, what would it be?

 

"Where are your feathers?"

 

"Can you fly?"

 

or

 

"Is this your car?"

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, May 2012, with permission!

 

It's Complicated

 

 

If I were to climb aboard this hard working boat,

I wouldn't have the foggiest, or the sunny-est, idea of what to do.

But someone does and they are probably very good at it too.

 

Do you give yourself credit

for the things you've learned,

the things you know for sure,

and the things that you do well and might take for granted?

 

This is a good day for that!

 

 

 

 

Hard working boat docked on the San Sebastian River in St. Augustine, Florida.

 

Related articles

Connections

Peace and ...boats?

 

You never know what you'll find at your local boatyard,

until you get there.

 

Boats?

Yes!

 

 

All kinds of boats!

 

 

And an homage to world peace...

 

 

And what's this,

a yellow submarine?

 

 

No silly,

it's a Bug.

A yellow bug!

 

 

 

Marine life in St. Augustine.

 

Pretty Eyes...

 

 

Pirate smile...

 

Welcome,

my new furry friend!

 

 

 

 

Elton John song, which one? And Puma the black pirate!

 

Angels?

 

 

Are there angels among us?

 

This world seems to be divided

between the warring

and the loving.

 

Are we approaching a tipping point,

weary of war,

and resolved to truly love our neighbors,

even if they are very different from us?

 

If you think that living a compassionate,

kind life,

isn't making a difference-

think again.

 

And thank you!

 

 

 

Pretty Petunias

 

 

Pretty purple petunias,

posing perfectly,

on the porch.

 

 

 

 

Masters of Slapstick...

 

 

Although the camera stopped the action,

these sandpipers are running to beat the band!

 

Up and down the wave as it ebbs and flows,

faster than anything,

and then flying to the next wave, and running again,

and again and again.

 

They tickle the funny bone,

these masters of slapstick,

making any willing heart lighter.

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach.

 

Oh My!

 

 

Sometimes we get distracted and miss something really wonderful

happening right behind us.

 

 

Or if we are lucky,

there is a nice person there to say,

"Can you see the colors in that cloud?"

 

Oh My!

 

Yes, I can!

 

Thank you!

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, not really as dark as this shot suggests, but the cloud was as bright and beautiful!

 

Wild Windy Waves

 

 

Wonderful wind at the beach this evening.

 

Kite surfers in their element.

 

 

Photographer coated in sand by the time she got home!

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, Florida.

Whack a Demon

 

 

Is the spider who spun this web waiting in ambush in the vortex at the center, or is she so confident

that dinner will come sooner or later that she is napping there?

This web is very close to the ground. The filaments are probably very sticky.

If you were a little thing and got caught in it, you might not escape.

 

Our demons seem to wait in ambush for us. They set little traps and just when we get comfortable in the world,

they wake up from their naps and pounce on us, or laugh as we struggle in their sticky webs.

What to do? Run and hide? Stay and fight?

Ideally, we could play a game with them...

"Whack the demon!"

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

"Bye, bye, demon, until the next time."

If that doesn't work, go for a long walk in the wind or to the gym.

That usually helps. Eventually they go away and you remember what a swell person you really, truly are.

It can be sticky though. So, if you find yourself in a demon's clutches, hang in there and

try not to be too serious!

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, November, 2012, with permission! 

(Dragons we thought already slain, come out of nowhere to trap us again, can we ignore them?)

 

 

 

 

Heart Wood

 

 

You can find stones or shells on the beach in the shape of hearts.

Sometimes the leaves against the sky will connect in such a way

to form a glittering heart.

 

Here is a heart door in a hollow tree.

 

I wonder,

is anyone home?

 

 

 

(Who invented rectangles anyway?)

 

 

 

Related articles

Hide Away...

Shadow and Light...

 

 

Shadow and light and light and shadows,

and all the colors in between.

 

What would we do without our sun to paint the world for us?

 

Not much, I suppose.

Without the sun...

let's not go there!

 

Let's just enjoy the show!!

 

 

 

 

 

"...the seed falters in the marsh..."

 

 

Life can sneak up on you and shake you up

with a sudden tragedy.

(impossible to see it coming)

 

Even though the tragedy isn't mine,

it's touched me,

made me pause,

and shake.

 

(Does anyone read poetry anymore?)

A line from a much loved poem by Howard Moss,

 

...the seed falters in the marsh...

 

perfectly describes the suspension of time,

when something extraordinary has happened to someone we love.

 

All will be well,

everything for a reason,

everything in its season.

 

 

But dang...

 

 

 

 

Shaky photo of El Galleon, elegantly lighted in St. Augustine Harbor.

 

A larger shard of the poem,  Water Island, by Howard Moss...

Written to the memory of  a friend,

drowned off Water Island, April, 1960

 

 

    Maybe you heard, the last you'll ever hear,

    The cry of the savage and endemic gull

    Which shakes the blood and always brings to mind

    The thought that death, the scavenger, is blind,

    Blunders and is stupid, and the end

    Comes with ironies so fine the seed

    Falters in the marsh and the heron stops

    Hunting in the weeds below your landing stairs,

    Standing in a stillness that now is yours.

 

 

(It wasn't a death, but a house fire, a terrible house fire.)

 

 

 

 

Heady

 

 

You might think that having dinner under a canopy of Jasmine,

might be a bit heady.

 

 

But it didn't bother these diners,

or the birthday party upstairs.

 

The combination of good company,

Jasmine and wine,

make for a sweet, heady evening!

 

 

 

Jasmine at O. C. Whites, in St. Augustine, Florida, birthday party too!

 

 

 

Are You?

 

 

Are you...

my mother?

 

(What are you?)

 

 

 

Lizard contemplates Parrot on the deck.

Think Like a Tree

 

 

If you were a Banyan tree and could send roots to the earth from your "branches"

that could shore you up for your journey,

how strong you would be.

 

Confident and grounded!

Beautiful too!

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, May 4th, 2012, with permission! 

After The Rain

 

 

After a rainy, chilly Saturday,

the sun is deciding whether or not to come out

just before it sets.

 

It did,

and the clouds moved on,

and Sunday was a beautiful warm sunny day!

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia Island State Park.

 

 

 

Happy Adults?

 

 

Although the expected order of things

is that the adults in the world guide and teach the children

how to become happy and healthy adults,

there is a school of thought that claims

that the children are here to teach us

how to be happy and healthy adults.

 

Looking at this another way,

perhaps the children are here to correct our misguided adultness.

 

It couldn't hurt!

 

 

 

Young boy engrossed in building at the beach, watercolor effect! St. Augustine Beach.

 

Losing Streak Ended!

 

 

Poker with the girls last night (not pictured here!),

and you know you're in good company when you offer to lose

just to balance things out and the dealer says,

"Oh, no, we'll pick your pockets clean next time, don't worry!"

 

The yin and yang of life.

Sometimes you win

and it feels really good!

 

 

Sculpture of card players found in apparent scrap yard in Key West, Florida

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, May 2012, with different title! May is a good month for winning!