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Some days, more than others, you feel like a grownup.
Today is like that for me.
Got reliable internet.
A home phone.
A smart phone on the way.
Welcome to the 21st century, baby!
What has all of this to do with the stuffed bunny?
Something, I am sure.
Snowing at night and sticking to everything,
the branches of the trees, the trunks,
the street lights.
One of the most beautiful nights of my life,
keeping me cool tonight!
The Valentine's snow storm, Baltimore, 2014. What you can't see are the marvelous hardwood trees in the background, all covered in snow.
Wild things,
singing to my heart on my short walk over the short dunes to the beach.
St. Augustine Beach.
Gravity, according to Webster, is the force of attraction
by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the
center of the earth.
Tilting the camera, does not affect the effect of gravity,
but it might make you dizzy!
(Hey, where'd the ball go?)
St. Augustine Beach, tilted and not tilted.
A Haiku
He's two years old now
and still falls asleep with me
in the red hammock.
How many blessings in this photo?
Aden, red hammock, sunshine, deck, summertime...
If you ever get the chance to visit Bryce Canyon in Utah, do it!
Magnificent views from top to bottom dance with the sun all day long.
And hiking among the Hoodoos is a strange and wonderful experience,
as is the switchback that gets you back to the top!
Thanks to Patti Chappell for sharing this beautiful photograph.
Thunder boomers every day.
Sometimes in the morning,
sometimes in the evening,
sometimes at night.
Lots of rain,
St. Augustine is very green,
and the internet/cable providers are busy with blown out systems.
Beautiful at the beach after work and a swim in time to beat the rain!
Life is still good!
St. Augustine Beach, between two storms.
Delicious sweet watermelon.
A gift from the gods.
(And a friend,
and a farmer in North Carolina!)
Thanks to all, and
to sun and rain and earth,
and to seeds that are so willing to grow.
Enjoying the fruits of summer.
When the wind is blowing the sand like this,
it can hurt!
The little dog at the end of the beach didn't want to walk on the beach that day,
and her human pal was kind and they soon left to find friendlier footing.
Some days are like that,
you just can't get to the thing that you most want to do.
Keep the faith,
and smile and love the moment that you are with.
Time will come around again and deliver your dreams,
like a clear blue sky after a heavy rain.
All will be well.
Villano Beach, St. Augustine, Florida.
Trouble getting onto the internet,
working it out,
but there may be some interuptions in the coming days.
GROWL!
In the midst of nature's perfection,
there's not much more to say-
at least not today!
Hope today is sunny in all different kinds of ways!
Reprinted from LainesBlog, July, 2012
"So many songs about rain,
I don't know which one to sing first.
La la la la la..."
"Where'd everybody go?"
Lizard, about to sing in the rain, on the deck, St. Augustine, Florida.
Almost full already,
when only yesterday you were a cheshire grin
on the other side of the sky.
You are running away with the summer.
Was it something that I said or did?
I am sorry, whatever it was, I am so sorry.
Please don't run anymore,
I can't keep up.
We'll talk, ok?
Let's talk.
You are beautiful still,
even if you keep surprising me.
Tomorrow,
I will know what to expect,
I think!
Almost full moon, St. Augustine Beach, a little earlier than expected.
If our self hatred is rooted in our vulnerability,
why?
Good question.
Something to do with our conditioning for sure.
"It's not ok to be vulnerable or to show that you are."
Wrong.
It is ok and even necessary.
Dig deep and don't let the hatred outscream the love,
the love that you inherently have for yourself,
even when you are vulnerable.
We were all babies after all,
and still need some tenderness in this world,
especially from ourselves.
Baby Robin, being extremely vulnerable, and broadcasting that to the neighborhood, "Squeek, squeek!"
Almost lost my back scratcher the other day and was reminded of this post...
Recently a friend of mine was bemoaning the fact that there was no special someone
in her life who could scratch her back right where she needed it scratched.
I understood the desire and the longing and I didn't rush in (in my usual way) to scratch her back,
but for me, my bamboo back scratcher, with the little hand on the end,
is just wonderful and a tad more accurate than some dear someones!
No offense...
Stained glass window discovered in Welaka, Florida.
From the archives of LainesBlog, and used with Laine's permission.
"99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer.
If one of those bottles should happen to fall,
98 bottles of beer on the wall."
Does anyone remember this song?
I was the girlscout in the back of the bus on those long trips,
who could sing it all the way to 1,
and start all over again.
Don't know exactly what that says about me,
but that was me as a young girl!
Lots of beer at the Rendezvous, in St. Augustine, Florida.
The nice thing about living in a tourist town
is that you get to pretend that you are on vacation from time to time.
A long walk on the beach (thank you knees!),
dinner after, at your favorite taco shop,
sitting at a colorful picnic table,
under the palm trees...
2 fish tacos and a beer,
enjoying the evening breezes and the other tourists,
as the day's light fades.
Ain't it great to be alive!
St. Augustine Beach Pier sign.
According to the great mythologist, Joseph Campbell,
"...we cancelled the Declaration of Independence," when we entered the First World War
and re-joined the chaos of Europe.
He believed that it was a turning point in American politics that has led us away from idealism
and onto the slippery slope of greed, "the principal passion in politics".
There are a great many freedoms in America and more on the horizon,
and we are still part of the Great Experiment of Democracy,
and there is still time to get it right.
Happy 4th of July!
Reprinted from LainesBlog, July 4, 2012, with her permission!!
The storm off shore stirred things up at the beach.
A little too wild for this boogie boarder,
but there were some fool hearty souls out there.
Not much rain, but a great gusty wind,
just right to stir the spirit.
Villano Beach, St. Augustine, Florida.
You know that you must be busy
when you are surprised by the crescent moon in the evening sky.
Where did that week go?
It feels like someone is bending time and it's impossible to keep up.
Breathe.
Being busy is a good thing,
as long as you can punctuate it with quality down time.
Time alone.
Time with friends.
Time out in the air, (even if it is a little humid!).
It's nice when the moon smiles at our folly,
and reminds us to
hold onto our hats,
as the earth is spinning a little faster than it used to.
Cresent moon off the deck, St. Augustine, Florida.