Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Hidden Gifts...

 

 

 

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

 

Pretty Eyes...

 

 

I can see you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puma in the ferns, and his gorgeous eyes looking back at me.

©2021 Laine Quinn

Take The Day Off...

 

It's Sunday, 

take the day off!

With all of the bad news and incompetence of our government,

and missing being close to our loved ones -

our hearts get heavy.

But that's because of the love in our hearts.

Love and compassion and empathy and sorrow.

So, take a break.

Forget the bad news and focus on the love -

the love inside your Big Heart.

 

 

Love is everywhere evident -

even in this pandemic.

Look inside,

past the confusion and pain,

to the love.

 

That love - your love, my love,

will see us through to the other side of this.

Trust that love.

Feel it.

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, Sunrise

©2018 Laine Quinn

 

Really Good Friends...

 

Often I catch myself sitting with my hands folded,

like a good school girl at her desk.

 

 

As a child I always loved this painting of "Praying Hands" by Albrecht Durer

 

 

Hands -

one hand washing the other -

like old friends.

 

Like how we help each other now -

keeping our distance, but checking in on friends and family.

 

 

 

Our hands,

are like good friends -

really good friends!

 

 

 

 

 

"Praying Hands" by Albrecht Durer.

Necklace in Mexico, and Door Hand also! ©2017 Laine Quinn

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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.

A Simple Solution...

 

Respect

 

That's the word that seems to be missing from the conversation

about harassment and abuse.

 

Respect.

 

That powerful men abuse their power is nothing new.

    That we objectify beauty is as old as time

and isn't going away!

 

But throw in respect and that beauty is recognized as other,

as another person,

not mine.

 

It creates a healthy boundary, something that eluded my generation,

as we were taught to be nice to people

no matter how they treated us.

(Smile!)

 

Teach children to respect themselves and others,

and there will be a systemic change,

a change that has already begun.

 

It's all good.

 

Now that we are sticking together.

 

 

 

Cummer Gardens Statue, Jacksonville, Florida.

 

Godzilla and Me...

 

There is a boy named Aden

and a creature named Godzilla,

(who is sometimes a good guy

and sometimes a bad guy)

and me.

 

Aden loves Godzilla

and he loves to draw.

 

So one day when I had on one of my striped shirts,

Aden drew this for me.

 

 

It's me and Godzilla.

(Gray wasn't available, so blue hair!)

 

It's still my favorite drawing!

 

 

(Good guy/bad guy, like nuclear energy, good guy/bad guy, Godzilla came out Japan for a reason.)

"I didn't do it..."

 

I didn't do it!

 

 

 

 

 

"HONEY", the new kid on the block looking guilty for no apparent reason!

 

 

Fallen Trees...

 

 

How many years did this tree stand taller and taller

before a mighty wind took her down?

My 4 year old friend is dwarfed in the cave of her roots,

with his bag of treasures -berries, leaves and feathers.

 

 

 

 

Aden and Oak, Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve trail. That's a mouthful! Wonderful park with a full size Right Whale in the nature center.

Tangled in Blue

 

 

The blue Hydrangea,

on a summer's evening,

the year of weddings and funerals.

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from January, 2016, with permission!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Grateful for the usual suspects...

dear friends, family, cats, dogs,

blue skies and the moon and stars,

but especially for my time spent in nature.

Time that pulls me out of my head

and back to this beautiful complex world.

I am grateful for that.

 

 

Lights reflecting on the bay by the Bridge of Lions

remind me of sitting on the end of a pier, a long time ago,

and hearing the water lapping gently on the shore,

while being hypnotized by the rippling reflections of the lights from across the way.

 

One of my very favorite things!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

The Thing About Being Four...

 

Boundless Energy!

 

 

The urge to make art, anytime, anywhere...

 

 

And making easy friends with driftwood creatures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, nearly a week after the Hurricane, with Aden, October, 2016.

Sometimes...

 

Sometimes with all of the bad news in the air,

it is difficult to remember that we live

in a beautiful,

magical

world.

 

 

We must remember to love.

That is the only way out of the madness.

Love.

 

 

 

 

 

Faery Garden at Avis' and Lee's house in Roanoke, Virginia.

 

 

Blue Sky

 

Sunny Flowers!

 

 

When visiting a "Foreign" country,

and you see familiar things,

it brings home closer

and strangers become friends.

 

 

 

 

Holloku, Hungary, which is a very very old town situated in rolling hills that reminded me of Maryland or Virginia! Familiar flowers and great food and company!

September, 2014.

 

LOVE...

 

Tragedy.

Shock.

Grief.

Love.

 

 

An outpouring of love

for the

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender

and Straight

community.

 

 

 

In the wake of the horrific shooting at an Orlando Night Club.

Sending love to family and friends and first responders and second and third...

 

More From The Turtle Pond...

 

The whole fam-damily...

 

 

Daddy too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optimism...

 

 

Life keeps coming!

 

Birds making nests,

leaves coming on the trees,

flowers everywhere,

and best of all,

babies being born!

 

Looks like a lot of optimism to me!

 

 

 

 

 

Angel's Trumpet in the neighbors yard!

 

 

Related articles

Angel's Trumpets...

With a Little Help From My Friends...

 

 

This tiny squirrel accosted my young friend and his dad on their way back to their car

in a parking lot in St. Augustine.

 

No sign of a mommy or daddy squirrel,

so they brought her home with them.

She is doing well with regular feeding and warmth and love.

 

There are times when we can help and do so generously,

and times when we can't,

when we need to focus on the task at hand,

or getting strong,

or just being.

 

It is good to know what time it is for you,

as well as for the other.

 

It is all good time.

 

 

 

Related articles

Nesting...

King From The Hill...

 

It's "King of the Hill"

 

King from the hill...

I'm King from the hill!!

 

Ok...

King!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aden on the dune, St. Augustine Beach, yesterday!

(Laine and Pat's show went really really well, and will be hanging until the 26th of April.)

(Thanks to family and friends for being there. We love you!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of the Mouth of Babes...

 

Are you a kid?

I'm a big kid.

Was you ever little?

Yes, I was.

What happened to you?

I grew up, sort of...

But was you ever little?

Yes!

What happened to you?

 

(A Lot!)

 

Laine and her two sisters,

when we were little...

 

 

 

( I'm the blonde on the right!)

 

Almost There...

 

 

Soon here...

Soon over...

 

 

 

 

 

The Little Dog Laughed...

 

To see such craft...

 

 

And the dish ran away with the spoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which Provincetown Restaurant?

Childhood rhyme, 

 

Hey Diddle Diddle.

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon.

The little dog laughed to see such craft,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

 

 

A Question...

 

If you put bottled beer in the freezer to get chilled

and forget about it until morning,

does it explode?

 

Answer:

Yes.

 

 

It's not as messy as you might imagine,

as it is frozen,

but it is messy!

 

 

 

 

 

A few years back, in the freezer of my sister on the occasion of her son and Daughter in Law's wedding celebration.

(Is it really 5 years already?)

(oh my)

Related articles

99 Bottles of Beer...

Gratitude...

 

 

Ever grateful for the beautiful ocean,

the wind and pelicans,

for night blooming jasmine off my deck,

for the moon and stars,

for family and friends I adore,

for my health and happiness.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach.

Good People and Flying Dogs

 

 

These dogs are rescued by these good people and taught to fly!

(chasing a frisbee, of course!)

 

Patience, perseverance and love are the ingredients that make these dogs great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nocatee Farmer's Market, the wonderful couple make up Disc.connectedK9's and they and their dogs win national competitions on a regular basis.

Amazing to watch! 

 

The Perfect Afternoon

 

The perfect afternoon at the beach.

 

 

The perfect thing to do...

 

 

Get sandy and wet!

 

And later?

 

 

Have a drink with friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach pier, and Aden playing in the tidal pool and later at the Conch House with friends.

 

 

Road Trip...

 

 

From a moving car,

the background is almost stationary - almost.

The foreground is whizzing by.

 

You can learn things about yourself

when you step outside of your ordinary life.

 

 

Things that are obvious once you get hit over the head with them,

like -

we aren't going to live forever,

me and my friends,

we aren't going to live forever.

 

Of course you know that,

but when you lose a friend you were sure you would see again and again,

it hits you.

 

No matter how perfect or imperfect that house on the hill is,

it will one day be gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road near Lake Lure, in North Carolina.

 

Golden

 

 

Sometimes our furry companions positively glow.

(and look all too human!)

 

 

 

 

D J, backlit and giving that look of love!

Water Lilies

 

 

As beautiful as the night.

 

"Which night?"

You might ask.

 

The night of shooting stars or lightening bugs,

or the first time you held the hand of someone you really loved.

 

One of those beautiful nights that you can't forget.

 

 

 

 

 

Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, Water Garden with tropical water lilies.

From Laine's Blog, August 2013, edited  and used with permission! 

 

Catch Laine at the Wednesday Farmers and Craft market and this Saturday at the Nocatee Farmers' Market!