If life is "but a dream,"
then the paradox is
that the only way to realize the Dream,
is to
WAKE UP!
Spanish moss hanging from the trees in Blue Spring State Park, Florida.
Reprinted from my first year blogging, September, 2012
©LaineQuinn 2023
Last call, last chance
Last song, last dance
Sometimes you just don't know when that's gonna be
Hold me baby, give me a kiss
Like tonight is all there is
Cause there's a last time for everything
It's a Brad Paisley song that someone mentioned in a piece I found somewhere,
and it stuck with me.
Can we really cherish our days and nights like it's the last time?
Why not?
This is our life, our time, our blessings,
why not cherish them always?
"Last Time For Everything", by Brad Paisley.
Sunrise at Vilano Beach, St. Augustine.
Republished from LainesBlog, June 2017
©LaineQuinn2023
Delicate clinging vines - this is a time when clinging is good.
Good for the vine and the wall benefits too, aesthetically.
Is clinging ever good for us? We humans?
Holding on to that good or bad feeling - joy or anger?
Being in the moment is preferred, but if you have to cling,
cling to the things that become more beautiful with your clinging,
like a baby's smile or the best day ever in the water with the boogie board.
It makes you more beautiful to do that!
Clinging vine and wall found in Old St. Augustine, Florida.
(This post is from October 4th, 2011, the first week of Laine's Blog.)
©LaineQuinn 2023
These two pelicans, flying and diving together in the shallow waters of Tampa Bay,
in time to their own music -
Reminded me of the two humpback whales dining together off Cape Cod,
and the pilot whales, cruising in perfect harmony.
Occasionally humans can, without a word, step together harmoniously to the shared music of life.
It's great fun when it happens,
and like the dance instructor said,
"Don't worry if you misstep, it's part of the fun!
Reprinted from LainesBlog February 2013.
©LaineQuinn2023
Curiouser and curiouser!
Mural of Cat in Baltimore, Remington neighborhood. Sensa the cat on the rail and watching the fish!
©LaineQuinn2022
Here comes the sun!
The beauty around us
No matter where you are
There is beauty around you!
The Inlet St. Augustine
©LaineQuinn 2022
Like snakes, lizards shed their skin.
This one is in the middle of that shedding,
frozen almost, not moving.
It must be a difficult process,
making them vulnerable,
like us when we go through changes -
shedding the layers of our defenses,
opening up to the world and love!
When I was much younger
I used to take vacation days from myself!
I would pretend to be the person that I really wanted to be!
It has taken most of my life
to shed the things that were in the way of my being that person.
But here I am, most days,
the person I always wanted to be!
(Too bad I couldn't get new skin too!)
©LaineQuinn 2022
Life longing for itself...
Quote from Sweet Honey on the Rocks quoting Kahlil Gibran.
Tadpoles, 2 generations, life goes on and on - no matter what the humans are doing!
Birds, bees, bugs, frogs,squirrells - all of it!
And Why not?
©LaineQuinn 2022
The way the light catches the sails
at a certain time of day...
it's irresistible,
delicious,
wonderful.
The Schooner Freedom returning to safe harbor.
©LaineQuinn 2022
I am a thing
among other things.
That line from the book The Alphabet of Grace,
seemed to me to equalize everything.
Me, the lizard, the leaf, you-
We are all just here,
doing what we do
with all of the rest of nature and things!
Why be so serious?
Relax.
Enjoy!
You are just a thing
among other things!
No better
and no worse either!
Book by Frederick Buechner.
Photo of lizard on a thing, at the edge of the garden, in St. Augustine Florida.
© 2021 Laine Quinn
Parts reprinted from Laine's Blog!
What's up is down!
And what's down is up!
It stretches the mind...
Reflections
©LaineQuinn2022
Unfortunately, Monday, there was no photograph of the snails as I moved them into the grass and continued walking the dog.
So, to make up for it, here are another photo for you to enjoy!
A tiny frog, just graduated from the tadpole pond!
©LaineQuinn2022
What if you are here on this beautiful, physical, gravity based planet,
simply because you want to be here?
You like a challenge!
Reprinted from LainesBlog
©LaineQuinn 2022
Resembling luminescent jewels,
the colors of the ocean at sunset
on a calm evening,
raise the spirit,
like the sails of a great ship filling with a welcome breeze.
Filling the heart with Love!
Happy Valentine's Day!
St. Augustine Beach, 2.10.14.
Reprinted from Laine's blog, 2014, with additions!
©LaineQuinn2022
Landing gear down...
Check.
Landing gear up...
Check.
These Brown Pelicans, up close enough to see the accordion wings against the sky,
are proof positive that we live in a very beautiful, complex,
and fascinating world.
You are clear for takeoff!
Saint Augustine Beach Pier, once again hosting the people who fish and the birds who love them.
Reprinted from LainesBlog, February 2015
©LaineQuinn 2022
Remember when people used to write letters to one another?
A lost art, to be sure.
Love letters on Flagler's Fishing Pier.
Reprinted from LainesBlog, February 2015, with additions from Laine!
©LaineQuinn2022
My Christmas Tree this year is a Live Oak Tree!
The tinsel is silvery Spanish Moss.
The ornaments are Squirrels and Birds and Lizards!
The Star at the top is our very own Star, the Sun!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
And this is my Christmas Card to Everyone!
With Love,
Laine
Sign created by Aden with Lizard lazing on top!
Birds are, Black and White Warbler, Red Bellied Woodpecker and unknown maybe sparrow or warbler!
©Laine Quinn 2021
It is a lie - any talk of God
that does not
comfort
you.
Poem by Meister Eckhart, 13th century mystic, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
Grateful for all the people who have come and gone in my life
and helped me to become the person I am today -
for better or worse!
Grateful for all the things that are going right in my world -
and there are many.
Grateful as always for the sun and moon and stars,
for blue skies and rain and trees and flowers.
We are all made of the same star stuff -
the same stuff.
All one.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Sunrise, St Augustine Beach
©LaineQuinn2021
Everything has to do with loving
and not loving.
Rumi
From Laine's Blog, November 2018.
©LaineQuinn 2021
Life can be overwhelming at times - aging parents, sick children, losing a treasured pet.
Even joy can flood the heart, so much beauty, so much love, so complex.
That's where our friends come in.
They walk with us even when we are apart and help us to make sense of our mortal lives.
Where would we be without our friends?
Here's to old friends, new friends and the friends we are about to meet!
Thank You!
Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November, 2011
©LaineQuinn 2021
Sculpture found at Cummer Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida.
What nourishes you
in the middle of a Pandemic?
What nourishes you
when political forces take a dark turn
and plunge us into a past that should be long forgotten?
For me it is Poetry -
Poetry and Music that soothe my soul
and the beauty all around me -
flowers still blooming in our Florida gardens and
the angle of the sun in the trees at a certain time of day,
and of course the beach!
And happy dogs and peaceful cats!
And friends, young and old!
Let the autumn light reach you.
©2021 Laine Quinn, photo of Spanish Moss in Live Oaks at Washington Oaks State Park.
Does the Egret apologize to the fish?
Is the fish feeling like a victim, getting angry and huffy?
These two marvelous creatures are
living and dying on the same page.
No apologies.
No blame.
When we seek honestly that which nourishes us,
we thrive.
Reprinted from Laine's Blog, October, 2011
©LaineQuinn 2011
What I know - what I know is -
Love will find a way.
Conflict in your life?
Say this -
Love will find a way.
Anxious?
Say this in your heart and mind -
Love will find a way.
It does.
It will.
Somehow it opens your heart and reminds you of the love there.
There is a song that goes like the first line of this post but I can't find it!
But there are 2 others with the title of "Love Will Find a Way" by Pablo Cruise and Lionel Ritchie.
In any event, Love will find a way!
©Laine Quinn 2021 Photo of sunrise with steady waves, one after the other, 09/08/2021
How's it going?
Personally - within?
Take a moment to remember
that you are here now
with your very own life.
Your very own precious life.
How's it going?
Within?
Breathe.
©Laine Quinn2021
Spotting a Baby bird outside my window, I watched to see if she was in distress...
And here comes her mom or dad!
A few seconds later, after mom left,
one of her siblings flew in and knocked her off the railing!
They tussled on the ground until the intruder took off and she flew back up to the rail
waiting for the next feeding!
So, she could fly!
And her parents were feeding more than one babe!
And all of this outside my window!
Lucky me!
©Laine Quinn 2021 Baby Tufted Tit Mouse and parent!
Every day brings us closer to moonlight
But
Where is she now?
(Crescent moon coming soon to your neighborhood sky!)
In Honor of National Poetry Month, an original!
©Laine Quinn
Photos taken in 2013, the moon and Venus just after sunset.
Grounded in springtime -
planting and potting and cleaning!
And the Cicadas are due any minute now!
We called them the 17 year Locusts.
Magicicada.
Living as nymphs, 8 feet below the surface,
feeding on tree root sap in underground bunkers,
(and I thought they were sleeping!),
17 years later,
they emerge through tunnels that they create,
to shed their skins
and reveal the insect that we are familiar with,
the Cicada.
The males sing their hearts out
waiting for a reply from a willing female.
5 weeks later they are gone - deceased- it's over -
except for the thousands of eggs left behind in the bark of their preferred trees.
These eggs become larvae that fall to the ground
and become the hardy nymphs that live quietly underground
for a very long time!
Yes, the "song" can be annoying, deafening even,
but it is truly fascinating to ponder such a life
and to witness its Grand Finale!
Grounded indeed!
©2021 Laine Quinn
Photo of a bog on a farm nearby!
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