Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Love Letters...

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Love letters on Flagler's Fishing Pier.

 

Remembering...

 

Remembering Clara...

 

What a great jumping off point for a poem or a short work of fiction.

 

 

It gets even more interesting when you see the rest of the line...

 

 

What great names,

and loved enough for family or friends to immortalize them on the Fishing pier at Flagler Beach,

or at least as long as the pier lasts!

 

What's the rest of their story?

 

 

 

Flagler Fishing Pier, Florida.

Cine Dreams...

 

 

Sometimes in our lives we have dreams that aren't going to come true.

 

These dreams sustain us and inspire us for years,

until one day we wake up and know it is a dream,

and just a dream.

 

 

Maybe next lifetime we'll get the skill set needed to realize our unmet dreams,

or we'll dream new dreams for our new life.

Who knows?

 

Either way, keep dreaming!

 

 

 

 

Cinematographer, at Disney's Hollywood Studios Park.

I always dreamed I'd be a filmmaker...

 

What a Difference...

 

What a difference a day makes.

24 little hours!

 

 

This is true for many things,

but in this case it was the weather in Florida!

77 degrees, and surf's up!

 

 

 

 

Flagler beach from the Flagler Fishing pier, Sunday, February 22nd, 2015.

 

And It Was...

 

Beautiful!

 

 

Fifteen minutes later, and you can see Mars...

 

 

Another fifteen minutes and it's nighttime...

 

 

Venus is the brightest star.

Mars is just above.

 

Tonight Mars will move closer to Venus,

but the moon will be farther away.

 

 

 

Crescent Moon, with Venus and Mars, February 20, 2015.

 

 

Tonight...

 

Look West for the Crescent Moon and Venus and Mars this evening,

just after sunset.

Should be beautiful, if your aren't under a sky of clouds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo from the archives, September, 2013, the Moon and Venus!

 

Wouldn't It Be Great?

 

Considering love,

romantic love is all that you hear about,

either beginning or ending,

but the best love is the love you have for your world-

your world, not THE world,

but your world which includes you.

 

 

What that can mean is seeing the beauty that is all around you,

but especially in your own heart.

 

This excerpt from a Neil Jordon novel, Shade,

describes a woman who might be loving her world in this way.

 

"But she was easy going, Maggie,

things that would have bothered others didn't bother her a bit;

she was part of the grass that grew and the world that turned

and she woke up each morning like it was her first.

Her first day in a whole new world"

 

 

 

Wouldn't it be great if we all lived like Maggie?

 

 

 

 

 

Love Works...

 

 

It isn't really how BIG your friends are,

it's how big they are in your heart.

 

 

And they don't have to be going in the same direction as you either.

And they might have a goofy grin,

but

love works,

it just does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alligator and lizard pals shot at the Alligator Farm, in St. Augustine, Florida,

This post, originally entitled, Big Friends, reprinted from Laine's Blog, February 2012, with permission!

 

 

Big Day...

 

 

Big sky,

big beach,

big wind,

big day,

 big life...

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, 10 days ago, before the sun came back.

 

The Perfect Wave...

 

 

High Surf Advisory: Coastal Hazard Statement

 

 

These words are music to a surfer's ears.

 

And wonderful to watch from the safety of the shore,

the wind blowing back the spray of the elegant swells.

 

Wild horses, indeed.

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, just one of those days!

 

Landing Gear Down...

Check.

 

 

Landing gear up...

 

 

Check.

 

These Brown Pelicans, up close enough to see the accordion wings against the sky,

are proof positive that we live in a very beautiful, complex,

and fascinating world.

 

You are clear for takeoff!

 

 

 

Saint Augustine Beach Pier, once again hosting the people who fish and the birds who love them.

 

Setting Sun...

 

In Disney parks,

a lot of things are make believe.

 

 

But the sun setting at Epcot was very real.

 

As was the food and the people and the friends we came with and the friends we met at the park.

 

All real!

 

 

 

Epcot Park, Disney World, Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

Do You Believe In Magic?

 

 

Three days, three Disney parks...

and oh so many princesses!

 

 

A whirlwind of fun, crowds and surprises,

the first time for this old gal,

with a new appreciation for the creativity

that is Disney.

 

 

 

 

The Magic Kingdom, Castle and a lovely Princess and her little Prince.

Nasau's Other Side...

 

Taking a buggy ride through the little town of Nassau,

past the funky souvenir stores and restaurants on the front street,

you find boarded up shops and run down housing.

Seems a shame with all the money on Paradise Island to let this little bit of real paradise decay.

 

 

Maybe it will turn around in a year or two.

No matter,

the Bahamians seem to be happy people

who don't mind us tourists in their lives if briefly.

 

 

 

 

Nassau, The Bahamas, city scenes and our friend made of towels on the bed.

 

Two Sides To Nassau...

 

The water, the boats, Paradise Island, Atlantis, the Bahamians, the tourists...

 

 

6 cruise ships in a day and they are gone at night,

leaving the Islanders to themselves and the lucky folks who stay on.

 

 

 

 

Nassau, The Bahamas, someone's Island home,Cruise ships, tugs, ferry boats, and Atlantis on Paradise Island.

Just Like In The Movies...

 

 

Don't you just love these uniforms?

 

 

 

 

 

Nassau, The Bahamas, Law Enforcement, or Movie Stars?

 

Guess Who's Coming...

 

To Breakfast?

 

 

First reaction was to shoo them away which turned out to be ridiculous.

So I pulled out my camera and joined in the fun!

 

 

 

(Anyone who went to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Baltimore,

might recognize the Holy Ghost in this shot!)

 

 

They cleaned all the plates on that table and off they went

for more adventures.

It was our day to explore Nassau.,

after breakfast.

 

 

Sea Gulls on the Lido Deck, Carnival Cruise.