Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Treasure Found...

 

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.

 

Spanish Soldiers

 

 

While our Castillo de San Marcos was closed

during the government shutdown,

these wonderful re-exactors,

(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 Well...

 

 

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

Total Eclipse...

 

 

The brightest moon went dark last night...

 

 

 

© Laine Quinn, Eclipse, January 20th, 2019. St. Augustine Florida

Your Table is Waiting!

 

 

The crowds are gone,

town is quiet,

for awhile!

 

 

 

Old Town, © Laine Quinn, 2019, Gaufre's Restaurant.

St. Augustine Weather...

 

 

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

 

 

Progression of the Full Moon Rising...

 

 

 

This is nothing like watching the Moon rising over the ocean in person,

but it's all I got!

It was truly breathtaking!

 

 

Full Moon Rising...

 

 

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

An Old Favorite...MOM?

 

 

  That's not Mom.                                                (Why are they staring at me?) 

        Are you sure?            

  It's not Mom.                                     (Hey, guys, I didn't do it, whatever it is,

        No, too tall, I guess.                                              I didn't do it, okay?)          

 

         Mom?                                                   (Why are they standing so close?)

 

   It's not Mom.

 

 

 

When It Rains...

 

It sometimes pours!

 

 

 

 

 

St. George Street, Grover's Gallery, and Victoria's Vintage photos, St. Augustine, last Friday!

© Laine Quinn 2018

Thirty Days...

 

 

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

It's been awhile, but I can explain...

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime...

 

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

 

"Hello!"

 

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

It's a Love Story...

 

An affair of the heart and soul...

 

 

Where waves crash

hearts are mended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, June 2018. © Laine Quinn 2018

The Stuff Of Life...

 

Frog eggs!

Day 2, the little dots will soon be tiny tadpoles!

 

 

 

How life begins, began, begun! © Laine Quinn 2018

Determination...

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Perfect Job...

 

...for a shrimp!

 

Great hours, 3-6, $9.79/hr, plus tips!

 

 

 

Schooners Restaurant, where everyone loves the shrimp!

© Laine Quinn, 2018

Silhouette...

 

 

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.)

Strange Landscape...

 

 

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

Frozen Fog!

 

 

On top of the mountain

the frozen fog

persists!

 

 

 

 

Bald Mountain, at the Appalachian Trail, with a view of 5 different ranges and frozen fog clinging to the branches.

© Laine Quinn 2018.

I'd Forgotten...

 

 

I'd almost forgotten that daffodils were my Mom's favorite flower.

She'd be 100 this year,

if she had survived her difficult challenges -

impending divorce, depression, alcoholism.

Back in the 70's it was all behind closed doors.

 

I'll never know her as a wise old woman,

but as a woman,

who loved the ocean,

daffodils,

and her home.

 

I'd almost forgotten about the daffodils,

but then

I didn't

forget.

 

 

 

 

For my mom, Nancy T. Quinn, born April 12, 1918.

The daffodils are from my recent trip to the mountains in North Carolina, and yes, it snowed! And the daffodils bounced back by the afternoon! © Laine Quinn 2018.

Top o'the Mornin'...

 

 

 

March Winds...

 

 

March winds,

and look at the trees.

What are they whispering to each other

and now they are laughing!

 

How many years have they stood

side by side

chattering in the wind

and silent in the calm air?

 

How many years?

How many stories in all that time?

 

Old souls,

Good neighbors.

 

 

 

 

Spanish Moss dancing in the wind on Hontoon Island, ©2007.

 

That Moment Thing...AGAIN!

 

Stop worrying,

be here now,

or the days will slip away

in the river of time,

and THIS is all we have,

This

NOW.

 

 

 

 

Just trying to take my own advice as I ponder the reflections at Moultrie Creek, 2.02.2018.

Requited Love

 

"Are they coming?"

"Yes, I see them now."

"You look good."

"You're a sight for sore eyes too!"

"It's funny, you and me. I never imagined that I'd fall in love with...well, you!"

"Yeah, it is funny. You're not changing your mind are you?"

"No, even if I could, I couldn't change my heart. I've never felt this good before,

and I wouldn't go back for anything, you know that."

"Me too. You are the bees knees and I just love being with you.

Look at this beautiful day!"

"Isn't it glorious?"

"Better than I ever imagined it would be."

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

 

 

A blast from the past! From 2/15/2012.

 

Why Parallel?

 

Well, the rest of the story from yesterday's post is this:

when I am reading a book and have to put it aside to do other things,

 the characters stay with me,

sort of like parallel lives.

I am wondering how that date is going to go

with the hired assassin and the waitress from the diner who he is obviously falling in love with,

and I have to wait a long time to find out, because the story takes a lot of detours,

and so do I!

So they are here, next to me...

Parallel!

 

I have discovered a fascinating author,

Andrew Vachss,

who's books are complicated and intriguing, and seedy and uplifting!

The assassin and the waitress are from the novel,

Two Trains Running

not the easiest read, but well worth the trouble.

 

 

 

It's the fourth book of Vachss' that I've read and I want to read more and more. He is very prolific, so there are no worries there!

 

Parallel Worlds...

 

That's what a good story provides,

 a Parallel universe.

Introducing characters and places

that you never imagined or would ever bump into in your everyday life.

 

 

Between books and some of the marvelous shows streaming on television,

you can be in outer space one minute, in Kabul the next,

or on the seedy streets of New York,

all of it giving you a window into the imagination of your fellow travelers

in your universe.

 

"Fiction as we currently think of it, the novel and short story...offers one the very best

means of understanding people different from oneself, short of experience.

Fiction is often really much more useful than lived experience;

it takes much less time, costs nothing (from the library), and comes in a manageable,

orderly form. You can understand it. Experience just steamrollers over you and you begin to see

what happened only years and years later, if ever. Fiction is much better than reality

at providing useful factual, psychological, and moral understanding."

 

That's a quote from Ursula K. Le Guin, who has recently departed this world,

but left us with a treasure trove of other wildly imaginative worlds.

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from the wave of the mind, by Ursula K. Le Guin. 

 

 

The Humbled Star...

 

Haiku

 

Coming towards the end

of my life flashbacks so clear

the star - not so cool

 

                              By Laine

 

 

When you get to the last chapters of your life, there are flashes from your past,

like movies,

and you are the star.

 

    (A good chance for humility and forgiveness.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original Haiku by Laine and the painting, "Leftover Paint" by Laine too, ©Laine Quinn 2018.

 

Original Simplicity...

 

 

Breathe

Walk

Smile

 

                                                         Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Back to basics,

one of my first teachers'

best advice.

 

 

 

 

Sunset, Moultrie Creek, from Vaill Point.