America is a mess...
But the good news is this:
Americans are good people
and love is rising above hate
and kindness is spreading in every neighborhood.
There is more that connects us than divides us
and optimism is our only choice and our hope
for the future of
the American Dream of Self Governance.
Happy Independence Day!
This just might work...
Testing 3
Testing to see if my new feed in working.
Patience!
Key West, 2008
This is a test for me to figure out which email service is delivering my posts!
Patience!
Key West!
Hello, loyal followers!
Laine's blog is in its 10th year!
(I can't believe it!)
Thank you for being part of my dreams and meanderings!
The subscription service that I have been using, Feedburner
will no longer be available after June.
I have moved my list to Mail Chimp and hope that I did it correctly!
You might get two copies of this if it is working,
so please be patient with me while I iron out the wrinkles.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for Laine's Blog!
With love and best wishes for everyone!
Laine
Spotting a Baby bird outside my window, I watched to see if she was in distress...
And here comes her mom or dad!
A few seconds later, after mom left,
one of her siblings flew in and knocked her off the railing!
They tussled on the ground until the intruder took off and she flew back up to the rail
waiting for the next feeding!
So, she could fly!
And her parents were feeding more than one babe!
And all of this outside my window!
Lucky me!
©Laine Quinn 2021 Baby Tufted Tit Mouse and parent!
Sometimes when I am standing at the water's edge,
looking out over the waves,
I think that I should be having some profound thought
or insight into my life or life in general.
But, I never do.
Sometimes I am worried about something.
Sometimes I am not worried!
Standing there or walking,
loving the wind on my face and the waves bumping into each other
and the low ceiling of clouds moving overhead -
it is enough -
more than enough.
Just being there!
Yes,
it is plenty!
©LaineQuinn 2020
Waves at Vilano Beach, Egrets and Pelicans and Gulls in the distance and Dolphins and fish swimming below!
That we dedicate a day for the celebration of the Earth
is absurd and also necessary.
The, so called, "most intelligent" creatures that life has spawned
can't even protect that which sustains their very existence.
(It wasn't always this way.)
There are people involved in the destruction of our air, water and soil
who just don't care.
They don't see the earth as a living, breathing, life sustaining entity -
all they see is profit and power.
They continue to exploit the natural resources that belong to all of us
without consideration of the consequences,
much to our peril
and all in pursuit of profit and the power that comes with it.
Promises are made and broken.
They just don't care.
You and me - we can do our part and should continue to do our part -
but until corporations and governments stop tearing the fabric of life apart
we are doomed.
It is a few at the top,
the very top of the pyramid who allow the destruction to continue.
There are new promises in the works that will help to mitigate the destruction -
let's hope it is not too little too late
and that those promises are not broken.
It is time to hold their feet to the fire -
hold those in power accountable and don't let up.
"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."
Martin Luther King Jr.
©LaineQuinn 2021
In an attempt to remain positive in my blog, I must say that I am positive that we are in a very precarious situation!
Every day brings us closer to moonlight
But
Where is she now?
(Crescent moon coming soon to your neighborhood sky!)
In Honor of National Poetry Month, an original!
©Laine Quinn
Photos taken in 2013, the moon and Venus just after sunset.
Grounded in springtime -
planting and potting and cleaning!
And the Cicadas are due any minute now!
We called them the 17 year Locusts.
Magicicada.
Living as nymphs, 8 feet below the surface,
feeding on tree root sap in underground bunkers,
(and I thought they were sleeping!),
17 years later,
they emerge through tunnels that they create,
to shed their skins
and reveal the insect that we are familiar with,
the Cicada.
The males sing their hearts out
waiting for a reply from a willing female.
5 weeks later they are gone - deceased- it's over -
except for the thousands of eggs left behind in the bark of their preferred trees.
These eggs become larvae that fall to the ground
and become the hardy nymphs that live quietly underground
for a very long time!
Yes, the "song" can be annoying, deafening even,
but it is truly fascinating to ponder such a life
and to witness its Grand Finale!
Grounded indeed!
©2021 Laine Quinn
Photo of a bog on a farm nearby!
What I have been trying not to say out loud,
is that there are blessings or gifts hidden in tragedies,
and these gifts may not be obvious for some time to come,
but they are there.
If we can make a commitment not to let the anger and helplessness
allow us to disconnect,
and instead turn to our friends and families,
and really see them in that deep way that keeps love alive,
then that compassion spreads to our neighbors, and the person behind the counter,
and we become part of the force that moves us away from the madness,
and towards creating a loving and compassionate world.
Be gentle with each other and kind and open.
Reprinted from Laine's Blog, 4/2013 and 6/2016
I am a thing
among other things.
There was a little book
in the "Tiny Library"
next to the little playground
which is next to the community garden
in my neighborhood.
My young friend wanted to play on his own
for a little bit,
so I picked up the little book,
"The Alphabet of Grace"
to peruse
and sat on the bench
to read.
I forced myself to remember that line,
or close to it
because it seemed to equalize everything!
Me, the swing set, the sliding board,
the moon and the stars.
We are all just here,
doing what we do
with all of the rest of nature and things!
Why be so serious?
Relax.
Enjoy!
You are just a thing
among other things!
No better
and no worse either!
Make good trouble!
When I went back to borrow the book, it was gone!
But I found the author on line, Frederick Buechner.
Photo of lizard on a thing, at the edge of the garden,
© 2021 Laine Quinn
I can see you!
Puma in the ferns, and his gorgeous eyes looking back at me.
©2021 Laine Quinn
Shamrocks seed themselves
all over St. Augustine.
Wild?
I think so!
Delightful?
Definitely!
Lucky?
Let's hope!
Violets too, much to my delight!
©2021 Laine Quinn, backyard shamrocks.
Noisy birds in the Hollies
dozens of them
with a familiar sound from childhood
Robin Red Breasts
feasting in Florida
away from the Arctic Air and ice up North,
and stopping for a bath!
Canadian Robins, a long way from home and probably glad of it, the original "Snow Birds!"
©2021 Laine Quinn
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
T.S. Eliot
From the poem "Ash Wednesday"
Photo ©Laine Quinn
Boat on a pond in Wellfleet.
St. Augustine Harbor
looking east, with the sun low in the west
lighting up the sky,
after an afternoon storm.
(True Colors!)
©LaineQuinn 2015 St. Augustine, Florida
An early morning thunderstorm left behind these beautiful clouds for the rising sun to shine upon.
May all the storms in our lives be blessings in disguise.
(Let's hope!)
©Laine Quinn 2021, reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 13rd, 2011.
2020
Oh My -
Goodbye goodbye goodbye -
and don't come back
ever again.
The odd thing about this horrid year
is that the world is more united
than ever before.
A global pandemic has brought us closer.
The virus crossed from one country to another -
without passport or visa -
sewing together the human race in tragedy and grace.
Tragedy and Grace.
And everywhere in the world
People are kicking 2020 out of the door
and into space
and welcoming the new year -
collectively -
of one mind and heart.
A New Year,
perhaps more welcome that any other in our lifetimes.
2021
You are very welcome!
Come in, come in,
have a seat,
stay for a while.
Hello! Hello!
HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!
(Is it safe to come out yet?)
©2020 Laine Quinn
Rain coming?
Bring it on!
We're ready!
Frogs love the rain!
©Laine Quinn 2020
Keep it Kind
and
Patient
and
Heartfelt
and
Simple
and
Sweet!
The butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough.
Rabindranath Tagore
(Dragonflies too!)
Quotation is from the front of the book,"World of Wonders" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
I haven't read it yet, but soon will, there is time enough!
Merry Merry, Happy Happy!
It's that time of year -
in a very odd year _
when emotions are raw and memories haunt you.
Riding waves of feelings,
not knowing where they come from,
or why,
or how long,
you hang on.
Storms come and they go,
and you hang on.
You hang on.
And they go.
Life is still life -
imperfectly perfect.
Stay safe,
and patient
and perfect.
©2020 Laine Quinn
Simple.
A little planet in a grand and glorious galaxy
in an unimaginable universe.
Our little rock is spinning on its axis,
rotating around our star, the sun,
which is rotating in the galaxy,
which is traveling in the universe,
with other galaxies
and planets and stars.
We've learned so much in the last 50 years!
What will we find in the next 50 years?
Time will tell!
Driving over the bridge to the beach the other night
the sky was strikingly -
striped!
From West to East -
stripes!
A pending cold front,
I was informed
and sure enough -
that night was our first cold one - dipping into the 30's.
Quite a beautiful, remarkable sight!
Vilano Beach, St. Augustine, ©2020 LaineQuinn
How can a year as strange as 2020
appear to be whizzing by?
Already Thanksgiving!
And still grateful -
for the moon and stars and planets
(especially this one!) -
grateful for blue skies and rain
trees and flowers
wild waves and calm.
Grateful to be alive and well
and loving
and loved.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Girl picking flowers depicted on a tile found in the lost city of Pompei.
Out of nowhere
nature paints a rainbow
coming out of the horizon
and it's just sitting there!
I see a guy
coming along in the distance,
too far to shout out
but somehow I get his attention
and point to the rainbow
and he
excitedly
gives me a thumbs up!
He saw it too!
And
then the little rainbow
just
disappeared!
Vilano Beach, 11/20/2020
©2020 LaineQuinn
Just because light and color conspired to spread joy!
One day more...
Here I am surrounded by giant old oak trees,
dripping with spanish moss,
living with a joyful dog
and a handsome cat,
while it feels like the world is coming apart at the seams.
It is not.
The birds still sing.
The frogs still croak and slap themselves onto the windows at night.
The moon rises and shines.
The sun too.
All that is worrying us will change,
and soon.
One way or the other.
To quote Wendell Barry,
Be joyful even though you have considered all the facts.
Be joyful and see the world around you with fresh eyes and love.
"Love is why we have hope"
Love your world!
And hope for the very best for all of us.
Inspired by the book by Anne Lamott, Almost Everything, Notes on Hope.
The quote about love is from the back cover and the Wendell Barry quote is found on the inside front cover.
She is fearless and funny and inspiring!
Photo is a view outside of Lake Lure, NC. ©Laine Quinn 2015
An old Spring House in San Miguel, Mexico -
a reminder to be grounded -
in our friendship with ourselves,
with nature,
with each other.
Grounded in uncertainty, and upheaval,
and accepting the times we find ourselves in.
Grounded in whatever way you get grounded,
for your very own peace of mind.
©Laine Quinn
"...when we try to pick out anything by itself,
we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
John Muir
Quote from Brain Pickings on Sunday, by Maria Popova.
Butterflies from St. Augustine, Key West and Baltimore. © Laine Quinn