A serene scene for anxious times...
Mother Nature hasn't given up on us yet.
St. Augustine Beach, 9.11.19 ©Laine Quinn
What we can do to support the climate strike on Friday, the 20th of September-
Don't buy anything on line that has to be delivered to your home, buy local.
Don't throw away any plastic at all for that day.
Drive as little as possible.
Be kind!
Whatever the outcome of a great love,
whatever the duration, it is still a triumph
and a transformation to be celebrated.
Edward Carpenter
There is a saying that, "Youth is wasted on the young."
But how could we survive our youth if we weren't physically young
and emotionally naive?
Believing that we should know what the hell we are doing, and fumbling along
and feeling embarrassed and ashamed because we messed up, is so unfair and misses the point.
Life is for learning about love and life.
Not about acting like we already know.
Knowing is not possible without living and making a mess and moving on to do better.
The better saying is, "You have to break a few eggs in order to make an omelette."
So, whatever our age, from teens to 70 year olds, we are still young in so many ways and
compassion and kindness should be the order of the day,
first for ourselves, and then for the others we meet.
Then, when we err, we will know it and be aware of how to be-do better.
Quote found on Maria Papova's writings "BrainPickings".
©Laine Quinn, 2019
The seed factory in a Sago Palm brings to mind part of a quote from Kahlil Gibran,
...life's longing for itself.
Isn't that how this gorgeous planet evolved,
one seedling at a time?
© 2019 Laine Quinn Sago Drama!
The sea oats are green again,
beginning their cycle from spring to fall to winter...
Living in Florida, it's easy to forget what season it is,
but there are ways of being reminded,
and the sea oats jarred me out of late summer to early summer,
right where we are!
Shooting with my phone, I couldn't see the screen and only hoped that I had gotten the line of pelicans in the shot!
©2019, Laine Quinn St. Augustine Beach
Through the trees...
June 17th Full moon!
©Laine Quinn 2019
Tree of Life,
re-imagined at Disney Park, Animal Kingdom.
Look closely at the life carved into this man-made tree.
Real trees have even more mysteries and secrets,
kept over the centuries and passed down the generations.
©Laine Quinn 2019, Disney's Pandora Tree of Life. Possibly Ostrich in the foreground!
Backyard Buddha, with 2 lizards! © Laine Quinn 2019
Disney = long lines and sore feet and exhaustion!
BUT...
the Avatar ride in Pandora was worth it all!
You are gliding on a Banshee through the Fantastic Pandora landscape,
even though you never leave your seat,
you duck and lean to avoid hitting branches and arches and going into the ocean!
WILD!
A giant plant, along the 3 hour walk to the ride!
Very well thought out exhibit!
© Laine Quinn 2019.
Good morning, Glory!
From the Archives, May, 2012.
A fallen blossom
Is coming back to the branch.
Look, a butterfly!
by Moritake (1473-1549)
Happy Earth Day!!!
Of course, everyday is Earth Day!
And since April is National Poetry Month,
here is a Haiku from a book I have had with me all of my adult life,
One Hundred Famous Haiku
Selected and translated into English by
Daniel C. Buchanan
It is divided by season.
This is one for Spring.
Butterfly shot at the Key West Butterfly And Nature Conservancy, © Laine Quinn 2008.
Many years ago I began a novel by Zora Neale Hurston and couldn't find the rhythm of her words
and abandoned the effort.
About a month ago I picked up her autobiography, "Dust Tracks on a Road" at our local Library and was blown away.
Here is a writer with an understanding of life and love and the world, with a truly unique view into the cosmos,
that rivals the greatest poets.
Ms. Hurston can lift you up and encourage you to get on with it, no matter what,
because this is a BIG Beautiful Life!
She hears the wisdom of the trees and understands that we are all ONE
and that one day our bodies will join the earth and the earth will fall into the sun
and the sun will implode into the universe
and we are ALL a part of that.
That is where we came from and that is where we will go.
"Dust Tracks" was written in 1941, before Stephen Hawking came up with the Big Bang Theory,
before the Hubble Telescope,
and before researchers confirmed that trees are actually communicating with one another (and with Ms. Hurston.)
Since reading her autobiography, I have read "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
and found the rhythm of her dialogue and loved every word.
Zora, ( I can call her that because she wants us all to be "kissing friends" so that we can cultivate peace in the world),
is a treasure I have discovered late in life and am ever grateful that I did.
Photo from Astronomy Picture of the Day, (APOD) by Coles and Helm. ©2015.
While our Castillo de San Marcos was closed
during the government shutdown,
these wonderful re-enactors,
(volunteers all,)
took to the streets.
Here they are in our temporary gallery on Aviles Street.
We thank them for helping to authenticate the experience of 17th and 18th centuries Spanish Soldier's life in the fort.
© Laine Quinn 2019
The Gallery Group will stage a "POP UP" show every first Friday weekend.
March to be announced!
All is right with the world
on an evening like this,
after a cloudy day,
all is well.
St. Augustine harbor, leading out to the inlet, almost sunset. © Laine Quinn 2019
The brightest moon went dark last night...
© Laine Quinn, Eclipse, January 20th, 2019. St. Augustine Florida
The crowds are gone,
town is quiet,
for awhile!
Old Town, © Laine Quinn, 2019, Gaufre's Restaurant.
Hot and humid one day, foggy the next, rain and then cold after that...
That's our winter,
here in St. Augustine,
warm again now,
in the 70's all week!
Not too shabby!
Porpoise Point, Vilano Beach, December 30th, 2018.
©Laine Quinn
This is nothing like watching the Moon rising over the ocean in person,
but it's all I got!
It was truly breathtaking!
A perfect full moon, coming up over the horizon.
Nothing marks the daily passage of time so acutely as the phases of the moon.
Four clear beautiful nights (and sunny days) at the beach,
and she's practically at half mast when it is time to go home.
On cloudy days, we are clueless that time is marching on so relentlessly.
So, another year ends and another begins and on and on and on!
We live on a tiny planet that will one day be gone too,
so live it up and have a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Full moon, December 22nd, 2018. Crescent Beach.
© Laine Quinn 2018
It sometimes pours!
St. George Street, Grover's Gallery, and Victoria's Vintage photos, St. Augustine, last Friday!
© Laine Quinn 2018
Thirty days has September,
April, June and November,
and you know the rest!
The last day of November,
December coming on-
take it gently, lovingly,
wisely!
Let the others get crazy and drive crazy and etc.
Let's be wise!
And Enjoy!
Bales in Virginia, some years ago, forgotten by now by the farmer who used them to feed his livestock over the winter.
© Laine Quinn
P.S. I have deleted my facebook account, so the best way to reach me is my email, or telephone!
laineq95@gmail.com
Little did I know that when I accidentally shot the door to this cottage in May,
(while trying to find a bird in the oak tree at dusk that was making an unusual call),
that 4 months later, I would be moving in there.
That's most of the reason for my absence!
Then there is the other,
my new old car!
And now it is Thanksgiving,
and there is much to be grateful for.
Thank you to
all the friends who helped me along the way,
clearing out and painting and cleaning and moving.
It seemed endless.
And especially to the "Land Owner" who invited me to move into her studio,
Thank You, for all.
For All.
And to the one who practically donated the car to me!
Thank you!
Thank You!
Thank You!
Now that things have settled down a bit, I just might have more time to Blog!
Everything has to do with loving
and not loving.
Rumi
Calm mornings at the beach...
The sea oats are already turning from green to gold to brown,
about to drop their seeds for next spring.
A Poem
Walking down my stairs,
I see a lizard.
It turns and looks at me,
tilting her head!
I wonder,
WHAT does she see?
By Me
St. Augustine Beach, © Laine Quinn
Do you come here often?
Nice view, hey?
What's your sign?
Do I know you?
Pigeons on top of the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse, St. Augustine, Florida.
©Laine Quinn 2018
An affair of the heart and soul...
Where waves crash
hearts are mended.
St. Augustine Beach, June 2018. © Laine Quinn 2018
Frog eggs!
Day 2, the little dots will soon be tiny tadpoles!
How life begins, began, begun! © Laine Quinn 2018
This little seedling rooted itself in the crack of my deck table.
That's how all of the forests began...
one seedling at a time.
"Life's longing for itself."
© Laine Quinn, 2018
...for a shrimp!
Great hours, 3-6, $9.79/hr, plus tips!
Schooners Restaurant, where everyone loves the shrimp!
© Laine Quinn, 2018
A trick of the eye...
how close are they to the crashing waves?
No photographic tricks,
just a matter of perspective.
St. Augustine Beach, © Laine Quinn, 2018
(Zooming in with the phone, poor quality.)
Whichever way the wind blows,
so blows the fog,
and clings
when the weather insists.
Top of Bald Mountain, the Appalachian trail on the right, and a well trod trail it is.
© Laine Quinn 2018
Zora Neale Hurston: Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)