Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Our Future Is In The Balance...

 

American Democracy has been considered

an experiment from its earliest days

and has been observed for over 200 years

to see if self-governance actually works.

 

America has faltered many many times yet she still stands.

The way that we participate in the experiment is up to us.

 

Voting is the most crucial and significant thing that we as Americans

can do to participate in this "grand" experiment.

 

Voting can be manipulated -

by gerrymandering Congressional districts,

by turning people away at the polls,

by intimidating people into not voting at all.

Ballots can be stolen, "misplaced" or rejected for some trumped up reason.

 

It is usually the minority party which is invested in suppressing the vote,

one way or the other.

Once they have power, they will do anything to keep it.

 

Whatever the tactics, it is imperative

that every eligible voter casts their vote

no matter how or who discourages us to do so.

VOTE.

The future is in the balance.

The future of our Earth, our food, our water,

healthcare, Social Security, racial justice.

It is all on the line.

 

Talk to your friends, your family - be sure that they plan to vote.

Our Future is in the balance.

 

 

 

 

VOTE!

 

 

I Won't Hate You For It...

 

Never met a stranger

 

When I heard that sentiment many years ago,

I spent several days, weeks, months scratching my head.

What on earth did it mean?

 

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks - of course -

none of us are strangers to one another.

As Joni Mitchell put it so many years ago,

 

"I see something of myself in everyone..."

 

All of our vulnerabilities and insecurities,

all of our hubris and self righteousness -

we all share these things.

Anxiety, arrogance, shame, hate, joy, love, ecstasy, balance -

Who hasn't experienced these emotions and lived to see another day?

 

Our humanity is what connects us.

Perfectly imperfect.

 

Some of us love dogs, others cats.

Some people love the ocean

and for others it's the mountains and valleys.

 

I like blue!

What's your favorite color?

(I won't hate you for it!)

 

 

 

Family at the beach ©2020 Laine Quinn

 

Deep Breath...

 

 

Let's be patient with one another.

We are all in this for the long haul

and depend on each other to remain safe and healthy.

Love and kindness are our best tools to see this through.

Love and kindness and patience.

 

Deep breath.

 

 

 

Sunrise, Saint Augustine Beach, Yesterday!

©2020 Laine Quinn

Love...

 

 

"Anchor the eternity of love in your own soul and embed this

planet with goodness. Lean toward the whispers of your own

heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates.

Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge.

Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that

the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation

wisely, but when it is your time don't be afraid to stand up, speak up, and

speak out against injustice. And if you follow your truth down the road to

peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see,

then the poetry of the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to

manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is

finally at peace with itself."

 

                                                                                   John Lewis

 

 

From his book, Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change,

quoted in a Beautiful tribute to John Lewis in Brain Pickings.

 

Surely he walks with the angels!

 

 

 

 

©2020 Laine Quinn - Sunrise, St. Augustine Beach

 

Human Kindness...

 

Humans are hardwired for kindness and cooperation.

That's how we've gotten this far.

That's how we will go even farther.

As far as we can imagine!

Kindness.

Compassion.

Empathy.

Generosity.

 

 

We take good care of each other.

Let's be patient and trusting -

Like the good earth that we share.

 

 

 

 

 

Shadow and light on the beautiful leaves of the White Bird of Paradise.

©2020 Laine Quinn

 

The Best Way...

 

 

A walk on the beach.

Blue sky

Ocean

Sand

Nature stands by.

Peaceful

Beautiful

Sometimes thundering

 

And what are the humans doing?

 

Try to be nice!

It is the best way.

 

 

 

 

 

©2020 Laine Quinn, St. Augustine Beach, June.

Yoga at the Beach...

 

Full Twist

 

Alternate leg stretch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

©2020, Laine Quinn Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, St. Augustine Beach

Change...

 

 

Change is in the air.

Compassion and righteous anger are walking the streets of America with Lady Justice.

There will be no turning back these pages of history ourstory -

no matter what the impeached president says or does.

 

Change is in the air.

This isn't 2 dozen people with automatic weapons

standing on the capitol steps

protesting the lock down because of covid-19.

This is thousands and thousands of peaceful Americans

supporting one another and walking together

to protest the racial inequality that permeates our society.

Protesting militant police who murder innocent people for sport.

 

Change is in the air

and it's not going away.

Police are on notice.

States Attorneys are on notice.

We are watching now.

And we are many.

 

Change is in the air.

Stay vigilant.

Stay safe.

Stay together.

 

 

In 1953, Rachel Carson penned this...

 

"It is one of the ironies of our time that,

while concentrating on the defense of our country against enemies from without,

we should be so heedless of those who would destroy it from within."

 

Amen.

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2020

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

 

More Praise...

 

 

It's been over a month since I've been to the beach.

Emotions seem to be wrapped up in worry and uncertainty,

and I don't miss it in the usual way.

But I do miss it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2019 St. Augustine Beach, sunrise.

 

Trust Your Feelings...

 

(Sea gull wondering if it is safe to join the others...)

 

*"If social distancing needs to be extended long term,

scientists recommend forming an inner circle of uninfected friends and family

that you can rely on

to maintain social bonds..."

 

Some others call this a pod -

forming a pod of trusted friends and family.

 

But when can we do that?

When is it safe -

when the very best thing we can do is to isolate?

 

Listen to your heart...

when it feels okay,

then wait another week!

If it still feels okay,

take small steps.

Go slowly.

Be sure.

 

Trust your feelings.

 

 

 

 

*Quoted from a CNN article by Ryan Prior.

© 2020 Laine Quinn St. Augustine inlet with the Schooner, Freedom and a gaggle of gulls. Or should I say a pod?

 

I Can't Think...

 

I've lost my head!

 

Me too!

I can't think...

I feel like an April Fool!

 

 

 

Sorry!!

 

 

We Must...

 

It might happen to you,

like it did to me -

when you're singing along to an old sad song

trying to hold it together -

that's when it might hit you -

or in the middle of nowhere

talking to your friend, husband or wife -

it might boil over the top

and then you're crying-

trying not to cry

because you are safe -

you are home.

 

But you cry because others aren't safe

or home -

but are in harm's way -

in the path of an invisible tsunami.

 

 

We must be safe.

We must take care of each other even from a distance.

And we must find ways to release the pressure valve from time to time

and cry if we can.

 

We are all in this together.

For the long haul.

We must be patient.

We must take good care.

We must.

We must.

 

 

 

 

For all of the people on the front lines risking it all to take care of us.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

 

Laine

 

 

 

Waves on the Horizon, © Laine Quinn2019

Social Distancing...

 

 

Social distancing not required...

 

 

 

 

Cat (DJ) and Armadillo, the Moon and Venus, Two Butterflies, Cat (Lucy) kisses Gator, Two Web-footed friends, Five Turtles! All Safe.

Be Careful...

 

 

It is difficult to sit still for an invisible catastrophe -

there's no wind, no rain, no flooding -

in fact the weather here is perfect.

 

We have electricity, water, internet, the pantry is full,

and we have each other.

 

So, wash your hands, enjoy each other -

(they are singing from the balconies in Italy!)

get lots of fresh air

and be creative!

 

Don't panic.

Be kind.

and

Be careful.

 

 

Trumpet Flower, ©Laine Quinn 2007!

 

Glory Enough...

 

 

In her autobiography, Dust Tracks On A Road,

Zora Neale Hurston, with no disrespect to organized Religion,

states that-

 

"It is simply not for me...

The springing of the yellow line of morning out of the misty deep of dawn,

is glory enough for me."

 

 

 

Amen!

Photo, Crescent Beach, © Laine Quinn 2018, sunrise.

 

Poets...

 

 

Ecola

 

I walked by the sea-creek side.

The wind laughed, the gulls cried.

Sweet water lapped on the salt sand

between the deep sea and the deep land.

                                                Ursula K. LeGuin

 

Years ago, Joseph Campbell told us that the poets would save us.

 

I begin to understand.

 

 

 

From Ursula K LeGuin's book of poems, "Late in the Day."

Joseph Campbell, in his series, "The Power of Myth."

Photo of St. Augustine Beach, ©2020LaineQuinn

 

 

Obscene...

 

The word obscene in Greek Tragedies meant that the action took place off scene,

behind the curtain, because it was too terrible to actually depict on stage.

 

I've gone back 100 years to shake up the past and improve our lives.

Going back farther one is confronted with obscene brutality.

 

Imperialism - the way of the world -

an arrogance and entitlement that justified horrible acts of murder,

slavery and abuse on all levels.

Anyone perceived as different, inferior, or threatening,

and women and children of all stripes were dispatched or used with impunity.

 

 

Four thousand years of that arrogance landed in the Americas.

Spanish, French and English fought fiercely for the rights of a land already occupied.

And finally, the newly minted Americans were the victors,

and ran over the continent and her people without conscience.

 

King of the Hill...

whoever gets to the top makes the rules and breaks the rules and changes the rules.

They tell the story, HISstory,

not OURstory.

 

We still live under this archaic model

of might makes right

and the person with the most gold is King.

 

But, it was not always this way.

There is an older way.

A Peaceful way.

Long, long ago...

 

 

More tomorrow...

Re-enactor, St. Augustine.

 

So, Imagine This...

 

So,

in my alternate universe...

There was no degradation of the earth.

Clean Air.

Clean Water.

No lies, no wars in the oil rich Middle East, no lives lost.

The U.S. military would be doing what it is charged with-

protecting Democracy,

not dismantling it worldwide.

Cancer would still be a rare disease,

not the Big Business that it is today.

 

Our Government by the people, and for the people would stand by the people,

and not the greedy aggressive corporations that have given us this dystopia.

 

Family Farms would have been protected,

and the Giant Agri-Business would never have been allowed.

Our food would be wholesome and delicious-

the soil rich in nutrients-

bees would thrive.

 

And the peacemakers never would have been assassinated,

and they would have led the way to peace and prosperity for all people.

 

"You might say I'm a dreamer,

but I'm not the only one."

                                                        John Lennon

 

 

©2020 Laine Quinn, Earth Flag, Home!

John Lennon Quote from the song "Imagine"

Nature's Heart...

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

There Is Hope...

 

There is an interview with the Four Women of "The Squad" on Democracy Now.

After reading the transcript of these four diverse women,

at a time when I was getting very disheartened about the state of the country and the world,

I found HOPE!

 

They are, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York,

Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts,

Rashida Tlaib of Michigan

and

Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

These women are on the front lines and they are passionate and positive

and Hopeful!

 

 

So, whatever you do, don't lose Hope.

Hope will get us through.

Love and compassion

and passion for the things we love -

will get us through.

 

 

 

©2020 Laine Quinn, Wild Waves

The Hungry Caterpillar...

 

 

While burning a few things on the deck in the chiminnea,

I noticed these caterpillars munching away on the Butterfly Weed.

It was over a month ago. There were about 10 or 12 of them, and they decimated that plant.

 

 

Then yesterday,

while leaning over the rail to reach a hanging pot I spied this little one in the same area.

 

She is no bigger than the joint of my thumb.

Will she emerge from her cocoon?

We will have to wait and see.

I brought her indoors, as the temperature was dropping.

 

There is so much hidden in plain sight that we never even notice.

It was chance that led me to the caterpillars and the butterfly.

 

 

Look at the little bugs on the left.

I didn't even see them until I blew the photo up!

 

 

 

 

Garden Joy! February in Florida, annuals to plant!

©2020 Laine Quinn

 

 

 

What if...

 

HELP!

 

What if, when chemical companies came up with the idea

to spray food crops with the deadly compounds

that were developed in wartime,

someone very important had said,

 

"This is a really bad idea."

 

OR

 

What if, 20 or 30 years later, when a bright caring poet/scientist

saw the effects of these deadly poisons first hand

and sounded the alarm, that birds were dying, bees and butterflies too.

And the chemical big wigs had said,

 

"Oh my, this is not what we had intended.

We can do better than this."

 

If either one of those things had happened,

we would have vegetables and fruits

that actually tasted like something, instead of tasting like nothing.

And the bees and butterflies wouldn't be on the edge of extinction.

 

The Earth would be healthier and her people and their children.

 

 

 

 

Silent Spring was published in 1962, by Rachel Carson who died of breast cancer 2 years later, in 1964.

"Though much is taken, much remains and much returns." John Elder quoting Wordsworth with an addition, in Courage for the Earth, Celebrating the life and writings of Rachel Carson.

Things we can do...feed the birds, and plant flowers that attract bees and butterflies and grow our own veggies!!!!  And buy organic when we can afford to.

 

 

 

Soul Ecology...

 

 

"...a soulful ecology is rooted in the feeling that this world is our home

and that our responsibility to it comes not from obligation

or logic, but from true affection.

 

...As long as the heart is involved, care of the place will follow."

                                                              Thomas Moore, Care of The Soul

 

 

The thing to understand is that this in not your fault or my fault

because we didn't recycle enough or we use too much plastic,

or we believed that Round Up was safe.

 

The problem is institutionalized.

From the auto industry to plastics manufacturing,

oil producers have held sway over these industries for a century.

Chemical companies have been spreading their propaganda since WWII.

And governments have been holding their hands ever since

and silencing concerned voices.

 

There are little things that we can do in our lives and homes.

And lots of little things add up.

More later!

 

 

 

Home sweet Home! The cat, the hammock, and the flowers are still with me in my new home!

 

 

This is Dedicated to...

 

 

Whenever I see a line of pelicans coming along the beach, over the waves,

their wingtips just grazing the water, I get a little bit jealous of how simple

their life appears to be.

 

It seems that the creatures of this world are better at meeting their daily needs

than the oh so intelligent higher mammals who actually destroy or poison

the very things that support them.

 

From now on, my blog is dedicated to our home planet,

the lifeboat that we - all of us - are sailing on through space.

I am joining the chorus of concerned citizens of Mother Earth

to do my small part to alleviate the pressure of too many years

of human recklessness that has threatened our time here.

 

 

My first step is appreciation, and gratitude for the beautiful world we still live in.

The wonderful old oak trees in my neighborhood, and just last week, the hungry caterpillar on the butterfly weed,

and of course the beaches and all the life bursting there, the birds and fishes and dolphins.

 

A heartfelt appreciation and gratitude.

 

Bowing in humility before the multiplicity of life, here on planet Earth.

 

 

 

Brown Pelicans doing what they do as they surf along the waves at St. Augustine Beach.

©LaineQuinn 2020

Grateful...

 

From the book of poems, BLUE HORSES by Mary Oliver

 

...Bless the words with which I try to say

what I see, think, or feel.

With gratitude for the grace of the earth.

The expected and the exception, both.

For all the hours I have been given to

be in this world.

 

The multiplicity of forms! The hummingbird,

the fox, the raven, the sparrow hawk, the

otter, the dragonfly, the water lily! And

on and on. It must be a great disappointment

to God if we are not dazzled at least ten

times a day.

...

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

 

 

From the poem Good morning

Egret at the inlet taking flight! ©2019 Laine Quinn

 

The Long Journey Begins

 

Just before the Hurricane,

this little one emerges.

She's on her way to the turbulent waves.

 

We on the shore want so badly to help,

but we know better and walk beside her,

well meaning, helpless, guardians,

until a wave envelopes her -

back and forth

and she is gone

on her long journey

to everywhere.

 

 

 

Baby Turtle, September 1, 2019. The lifeguards assured me that she would make it!

© Laine Quinn 2019

Let Them Go to Mars...

 

 

The American Experiment has never lived up to its promise

of self-government and Liberty and Justice for All.

From the start it was non-inclusive, predatory and rigged

in favor of the "ruling class", the so called "people".

But this doesn't mean that a course correction wouldn't change things for the better.

 

America, (which has never been great, truth be told) can be good.

The promise is there and the vision is there and the American People

are good people.

Corporations are not people and have not been good for the people for some time.

Greed is not pretty, not for Americans or for the planet.

 

Have we reached the pinnacle of American Greed?

Let them go to Mars.

Let's stay here and take care of our own beautiful ailing planet.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the political post, it has been brewing for awhile.

©2019 Laine Quinn Flag at the Oldest Wooden School House in St. Augustine Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections...

 

 

A serene scene for anxious times...

Mother Nature hasn't given up on us yet.

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, 9.11.19 ©Laine Quinn

What we can do to support the climate strike on Friday, the 20th of September-

Don't buy anything on line that has to be delivered to your home, buy local.

Don't throw away any plastic at all for that day.

Drive as little as possible.

Be kind!

 

 

The Nursery...

 

 

The seed factory in a Sago Palm brings to mind part of a quote from Kahlil Gibran,

...life's longing for itself.

 

Isn't that how this gorgeous planet evolved,

one seedling at a time?

 

 

 

 

© 2019 Laine Quinn Sago Drama!