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.
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.
Ducks still swim in ponds and the sky still reflects beautifully on the water.
The sun rises and sets and the moon too.
And so we must also,
rise and set with the rhythms of life.
Ducks at Treaty Park where a historic treaty was signed with the Natives and subsequently broken.
St. Augustine, Florida.
Yesterday was the first day of summer,
and here in St. Augustine it was a perfect summer day-
clear skies with occasional clouds,
temps in the mid 80's,
and a soft breeze.
Later the Full Moon rose large and bright over the river or ocean or road,
depending on where you were.
A perfect day.
Appreciated, enjoyed and needed...
Guana Talamato Matanzas Research Reserve.
A Walk in the Woods.
...around the moon.
St. Augustine Beach, December moon 2015, Anastasia State Park, sea oats.
Another day comes to an end,
or rather
daylight ends!
The night is young!
St. Augustine Beach Pier from Anastasia State Park, yesterday!
Getting a closer look at a large piece of driftwood on the beach,
reveals some of its secrets.
Can you see the river and the mountains?
And a Ram?
The interior life of a tree...
Anastasia Island State Park, St. Augustine, Florida.
After a day of storms,
the beach beckons
and there's a wedding against the backdrop of the green water
under a canopy of clouds.
Meanwhile...
Life goes on-
surfers surf,
and birds scamper for their food,
while folks walk or ride their bikes or swim,
oblivious to the special moment that is paramount to the people attending,
especially, one could hope, to the hapless couple!
All best to one and all!
St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia State Park, September 12th, 2015.
Isn't it wonderful
that no matter how busy we are
with our very important lives,
nature carries on,
with or without us!
There go the sea oats again,
from green to golden,
to brown,
to gone.
Anastasia Island State Park, Sea Oats in Golden phase, yesterday.
Well, not having mastered the art of stitching photos together,
I still had to share this imperfect attempt.
St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia Island State Park.
It's great when the drama in your life is in the sky!
Saturday's afternoon thunder storm literally rolled in on a wave of air.
The wind was rearranging these clouds so fast,
and then the rain came and it came BIG!
St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia State Park, Storm TIme!
The sun setting and the moon rising...
Everything back in place for now!
St. Augustine Beach, March 4th, 2015.
A voyage begins...
If the sun keeps his promise,
there will be turquoise water on these pages soon...
(Are we excited?)
(Oh Yeah!)
Stay tuned!
The turquoise water of Alexander Springs, Florida.
Peace Rose.
The conga line, so fun to watch,
as the pelicans surf through wave after wave after wave,
on their way to where?
The next wave, the next fish, a good night's sleep?
Who really knows?
But these playful birds are definitely onto something!
St. Augustine Beach.
Is this oak tree burdened by the spanish moss?
If you really pay attention to your life,
then you recognize that your burdens are connected to your joys.
All you have to do is remember where the love is.
And that gets easier and easier,
when you realize that your love
is everywhere!
Blue Spring State Park, Florida
Reprinted (and rewritten!) from Laine's Blog, August 2012, with permission.
Where's Laine?
I don't know.
Maybe she's hungry.
Did you say Hungary?
No, I said hungry.
Oh. Why?
I don't know!
Laine's Blog will be shaken and stirred for the next couple of weeks, with some help from guest blogger, Sue Harrison and some repeats from the archives. Have a great few weeks and be back before you know it!
There comes some mud in everyone's life that you have to go through,
whether it's an awkward situation that you wish hadn't happened,
or something that you must do,
that you'd rather not.
It helps to take yourself lightly,
not so seriously,
get through it as gracefully as possible,
dust yourself off,
and carry on.
Or in this case,
rinse yourself off
and carry on!
(Wings help too!)
Egret and Heron walking in the shallows at Wakulla Springs State Park, ©2007.
Borrowed and added onto from LainesBlog, August 2013. Used with permission!
After a rainy, chilly Saturday,
the sun is deciding whether or not to come out
just before it sets.
It did,
and the clouds moved on,
and Sunday was a beautiful warm sunny day!
St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia Island State Park.
The first blossom on Easter morning...
Once it gets started,
it doesn't stop!
There is a saying that you can't put your foot in the same river twice,
because the river is constantly moving, constantly changing.
Our days are like that too,
if we let them be.
Guana Tolomato State Park, St. Augustine, Florida.
From the archives, January 2013.
This post is recycled from 2011, with a few changes, but all in all the gratitude is still the same!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Never too gnarly for these avian surfers,
and always a joy to behold.
More wind in St. Augustine with the Brown Pelicans making the best of it.
Hovering clouds,
here one day and gone the next.
Sunshine follows,
almost
always.
In case we need to be reminded
that we live in a beautiful world,
rainbows appear
when we least expect them!
Looking over Moultrie Creek toward St. Augustine South from Vaill Point, the shard of a rainbow is reflected in the still water.
Ok, so this is going to take longer than I thought, after all, that's a lot of posts...500!!
So, this is just the begining and it might go on for the next week or so...we will see.
ENJOY!!!
Thanks to all of my subscribers and fans!
Meet me Friday, Barley's, 6 P.M. - for a toast!
St. Augustine!
Blue sky.
Sunshine.
Spanish moss.
A swim in the cool, refreshing springs.
Summertime!
DeLeon Springs, pancakes, canoeing and swimming!
This is how to walk in mud...
It helps if you have a pair of wings!
Egret and Heron walking in the shallows at Wakulla Springs State Park, ©2007.
Zora Neale Hurston: Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)