When all is said and done,
we are all just walking each other home.
Ram Das
Humpback Whales, Cape Cod
©LaineQuinn
Where the Cape ends in a fantastic spiral,
there is Provincetown,
surrounded by water on three sides and shimmering with a luminosity
that bounces off the sky and the land and the water.
This unique juxtaposition of ocean, sand, bay, and light
is one of the reasons that Cape Cod is so beloved.
Some say there is no other place like it on the planet.
New Sunset, shot from the East end of town, looking toward Pilgrim Monument.
The year that this photo was shot was a very good year for whale watching.
"Very good," being defined as lots and lots of whales.
What's a very good year for you?
Lots and lots of...?
Fill in the blank.
Sometimes our most difficult years turn out to be our best.
It's nice when it works out that way.
Photograph entitled "Just a Fluke" was shot off Provincetown in a very good year.
This was my favorite beach to walk on Cape Cod.
If the weather was warm and the tide was out and I had a buddy with me,
I might swim there too.
When you follow the sandbars at Head of the Meadow Beach as far as they will take you,
it feels like you are going deep into the ocean,
and there is a primal excitement about it,
as though with one wrong turn, you could be lost at sea forever.
The clouds along the beach often mirror the shape of the Cape,
adding to the painterly beauty of light reflected on sand and water and water and sand and light.
Just a little something to cool you off on these hot summer days.
Happy Hot Summer!
Race Point Beach, Provincetown, Cape Cod, Winter!
Red sky at night,
sailor's delight...
and whale watch Captains too!
The tidal flats in Provincetown with the Pilgrim Monument and sunset!
Standing on a ridge on an isolated stretch of beach on Cape Cod, my shadow is cast on the retreating waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
I call this photo The Dragon, following the mythic thinking that the only dragons that need slaying in our lives are our very own shadows.
Have I finished slaying my dragons?
Probably not.
But they are not as powerful as they once were
and
I am not as fearful.
Standing on a Cape Cod beach one day, I watched as a wave climbed a short ridge
to settle on the sand and then disappear.
It lasted only a moment and then another wave would come along and do the same thing.
Sitting in a noisy restaurant with some friends the other night,
drinking beer and playing trivia,
there was a moment when I looked at each of their faces
and realized how lucky I was to be there with these friends.
No one noticed that I had stepped out of time to do this.
It felt as though I had stolen the moment,
and then returned to the scene with a bigger heart.
Photo taken near Race Point Beach in Provincetown.
What to do with the unlovable parts of ourselves?
Try as we might, we can't run away or separate ourselves from our shadows.
What happens if we sit and stay, like a good dog that wants to jumpandrunaround so badly,
but we sit and we stay, and we don't look away?
The poets say that's when the light gets in.
And it's true.
If we can love ourselves in our worst moments, then we are that much closer to just about everyone on the planet.
Our compassion shines through the dark.
We love more and judge less.
If you're having one of those days, (weeks, years),
try to sit and to stay long enough for the light to find you,
and believe that you are equal to the best of us.
You've heard of armchair gardeners?
I am an armchair winter person.
I love snow!
Photograph shot from the old Dusty Miller Inn, looking down Bradford Street, in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
When I lived in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, and was ready to launch my little daysailer for the very first time,
(not pictured here)
I went to the Harbor Master thinking that I might have to pay a ramp fee.
I asked him if I needed anything to launch and he answered,
"Water."
We got along very well after that.
The moral of the story is to cultivate your sense of humor,
especially when dealing with persons in authority,
and never launch your boat without water.