They say that the Universe
is giving us messages all the time.
I think that I got one the other day.
I always sit at the back of a plane to get a window seat,
and waiting for my turn to depart
I was listening to some music that another passenger was playing,
and I heard these words:
"Just enjoy your life, stop trying to get it right."
My new mantra!
©LaineQuinn 2025
The Swallow Tail Kite
glides into view over the roof
and catches my eye.
Then as quickly and quietly is gone,
leaving my gaze on the pale blue patch of sky
between the trees
with their Spanish moss
and the Jagged rooftop.
I wait for it to circle around,
but it never does.
We are all made of the same star stuff.
Not only all humans on the planet,
not only all mammals, insects, reptiles,
but everything from the core of the earth
to the single cells that paved the way to you and me.
The first primitive plants
took the initiative to evolve
into the vast complex variety that we have today.
Look at the diversity of trees birds fish -
all interconnected and dependent
on sunshine and air and water.
The improbability of life on this little ball in space -
when we pay attention -
boggles the mind
and we begin to feel a kinship
with all things.
We are made of the same stuff, after all!
Photo: NASA, Earth Rise one of the first photographs of Earth from space.
©LaineQuinn2025
Be happy and safe
Peaceful and Wonderful!
And Happy New Year!
©LaineQuinn 2024 LainesBlog
I like who I am
Puts you squarely in the present
No baggage from the past and no worries about the future
I like who I am
Cuts through the clutter in you mind
And brings you home to what really matters
I like who I am
©Laine Quinn 2024
Photo by Aden Fike
One misty, moisty morning
When cloudy was the weather
I met a fine young lass
Dressed all in feathers!
She was full of compliments
And I was full of grins
With a How do you do
and a How do you do
And a How do you do
Again!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Poem from a collection of Children's poetry, from memory!
If you ask me what I miss most
from my time on Cape Cod
it is this -
these amazing animals!
While working on the Whale Watch boats
I found myself eye to eye with a beautiful
Humpback Whale.
I was all alone on the back of the boat
and there she was with her huge eye
looking right at me!
I'll never forget that!
Photos taken in 2015, my last whale watch so far!
©LaineQuinn2024
There is beauty all around us!
Angel's Trumpet, beautiful for a day or two or three...
©LaineQuinn2024
Moonlight through the trees
shining on the clouds
lights my way home.
Backyard Moonlight
©LaineQuinn2024
I met a book worm
last night.
More than one, really-
in my old Thesaurus -
I threw it out the door!
...and then there was one.
Thesaurus and Book Worm!
©LaineQunn2024
The closer I look at flowers
the more amazed I am at the complexity and diversity of my little world!
Even to take a few extra seconds to gaze into a flower
I am treated to such simple complex beauty
that it takes my breath away!
"They can eat light, isn't that enough?"
This is the quote at the beginning of the amazing book, The Light Eaters By Zoe Schlanger
Do plants communicate? Do They have personalities? All of these questions are considered and much much more in this wonderful book!
First Quote is byTimothy Plowman, ethnobotanist.
Hibiscus and Water Lillies
©LaineQuinn 2024
When all is said and done,
we are all just walking each other home.
Ram Das
Humpback Whales, Cape Cod
©LaineQuinn
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, May 2014
It is still the birds that bring me back to the wonder of this world, flying over the waves or diving for their dinner, wild and free and alive!
Outside my door
this white Bird of Paradise
has been blooming since December!
First just one, then another and now 5 altogether!
My morning joy!
©LaineQuinn2024
Did you know
that a total solar eclipse happens
every 18 months?
Mostly in places where humans can't see it!
In your particular location,
totality happens
every 400 years!
Today is a big day!
Partial eclipse in Florida today, next total eclipse of the sun that can be viewed from Florida in 2045!
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!
©2024LaineQuinn
Republished from Laine's Blog, May 21st, 2014
It's the birds' songs lately,
just before dawn (how do they know?)
that make me smile
and remind me of life's simplicity.
Then the ride over the river,
seeing the calm waters filling the marsh -
all of this soothing to the restless mind.
Deep breath in...
Deep breath out...
Ahhh, almost whole again.
Moultrie Creek, St. Augustine.
©LaineQuinn Reprinted from Laine's Blog, April 2014
Pansies planted now
Our azaleas blooming soon
Shamrocks everywhere!
Spring in North East Florida, pansies on the deck!
Haiku by Laine
©LaineQuinn 2024
Say yes to the unique individual self that you are
in this time and space.
You might have been here before
and you might come again,
but never as this particular person
in this particular time
and this particular space -
ever evolving
with our expanding universe.
Say yes!
To your place in the world of wonder!
Photo credit: Cosmos Eric Coles and Mel Helm 2015, from The Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD.
PEACE
In our hearts and souls
and
In our lives
Peace
I remember days that felt like...
it was raining daisies.
From the song by John Sebastian, "She's a Lady".
Photo Gerbera Daisy!
Ahhh, to be a bee, and feel the soft inside of a flower-
breathe in the heady scent and take the sweet honey home to my queen!
Late blooming Cosmos, with Bee!
©LaineQuinn2023
Grateful as always for the wonders around me!
Mexican Sun Flowers, blooming now!
©2023LaineQuinn
At the risk of repeating myself,
we really do live in a beautiful world.
Nature persists.
In spite of what men do to each other and to the planet
to distract us,
Nature persists.
There is beauty and diversity and wonder
all around us.
And we,
who are a part of that wonder,
must insist on PEACE.
We must revel in the beauty and the possibility of Peace
in our hearts and in the world.
Sunrise, Vilano Beach September, 2023
2 different days!
This man was right next to our table at the very best restaurant in Tihany, Hungary.
He was fine, really.
Reprinted from LainesBlog October 2014
If life is "but a dream,"
then the paradox is
that the only way to realize the Dream,
is to
WAKE UP!
Spanish moss hanging from the trees in Blue Spring State Park, Florida.
Reprinted from my first year blogging, September, 2012
©LaineQuinn 2023
As I grow older and and can glimpse the end of my days,
there seems to be more time
or time is more expansive somehow.
Although the weeks zoom past with the years,
the present moment is huge!
You realize that you don't have to be in a hurry all the time.
That there is time. That that's all there is is time!
Time to smell the roses or listen to a friend - really listen;
time to tend the garden of your soul and spirit,
time for love.
Of course, this can happen at any age,
learning to take a step back,
take a beat
and pay close attention.
It's grand when we can master this even a little!
A rose is a rose!
©Laine Quinn 2023
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.
Reposted from Laine's Blog, July 2014
©LaineQuinn2023
Last call, last chance
Last song, last dance
Sometimes you just don't know when that's gonna be
Hold me baby, give me a kiss
Like tonight is all there is
Cause there's a last time for everything
It's a Brad Paisley song that someone mentioned in a piece I found somewhere,
and it stuck with me.
Can we really cherish our days and nights like it's the last time?
Why not?
This is our life, our time, our blessings,
why not cherish them always?
"Last Time For Everything", by Brad Paisley.
Sunrise at Vilano Beach, St. Augustine.
Republished from LainesBlog, June 2017
©LaineQuinn2023
Is there a part of you that is the essence of who you are?
A part that is not corrupted by the culture that you grew up in
or the family that tortured you one way or the other?
I call it your core.
It is pure, whole, and located just below your heart, deep inside you.
It is incorruptible.
It's who you really are.
Getting there is a journey of acceptance,
a journey of non-resistance to loving yourself,
warts, craziness, lovliness and all.
This core is there all along.
It might take your whole life to uncover it,
but it's there guiding and protecting and loving you,
just as you are.
From the Archives, Laine's Blog, January 16th, 2012
©LaineQuinn2023