Delicious sweet watermelon.
A gift from the gods.
(And a friend,
and a farmer in North Carolina!)
Thanks to all, and
to sun and rain and earth,
and to seeds that are so willing to grow.
Enjoying the fruits of summer.
Reposted from Laine's Blog, July 2014
©LaineQuinn2023
According to some observers the pelican will actually enter the water upside down in order to catch the fish.
Imagine a pelican in the grocery store asking the pelican behind the counter,
"Is that fish wild or farm raised?"
The pelican behind the counter stands on his head and says,
"They came in fresh this morning, catch of the day!"
The first pelican is skeptical, but buys a dozen anyway, because, well, she has a family to feed.
The so called lower species seem to have things figured out much more simply than we bipeds with the complex brains.
Wake up in the morning, stretch, fluff up your feathers, shuck off the night with a shudder and you're ready for takeoff.
On your way to the beach you catch the wind over the ridge of dunes and glide gracefully over the sleepy cottages and rows of sea oats.
Then over to the ocean, and you find yourself riding the waves, your wing tips touching the water.
Ahhhh...you see fish, so you climb up the ladder of the sky just enough to let yourself drop and dive and you slice the surface of the ocean with your beak and
GULP! Breakfast!
Then you're airborne again, daring the waves to curl over you.
Like one note among many on a musical scale, you catch up to your friends and together you luxuriate in the sensual pleasure of being alive,
of being completely in your body, doing exactly what you were meant to do.
And so the day goes on into night.
Meanwhile the bipeds, also known as humans, are trying to figure out if they can afford fish today and
hoping that there is enough left over for some beer too.
Angel's Trumpets, that's what these magnificent flowers are called.
They are blooming all over St. Augustine now.
Maybe we can invite the angels to come and play for us on these delicate instruments,
and be blessed with their songs.
We are in need of angels here and everywhere.
This is the week that our attention goes to giving thanks and we turn our thoughts to sharing -
our love, friendship, time, food and drink.
It's a time to be gentle with each other,
to recognize our fellow travelers on this journey called life and be grateful.
And maybe we should keep an ear out for the tender sound of angel's trumpets.
Once invited, the angels can't say no!
(Apologies to anyone who is on a diet!)
Aren't these beautiful!
Hand cooked at the Hon Fest in Baltimore, back in the spring.
I really like watermelon.
Do you like my bow?
I always wear one.
My mommy is really good at matching my bows to my dresses,
and, no, they don't always match my food,
but this time it is really close!
Do you like my dress?
I like you.
On a warm January day off, sitting on the beach,
enjoying the skimmers, pelicans and gulls, and a family fishing nearby.
In Vietnam each seaside village has a secret fish sauce recipe.
Reading Vietnamese-American, Andrew X Pham's
Catfish and Mandala -
a very brave piece of storytelling about one man's search
for his bearings, that takes him back to the village in Vietnam
where his life began. Through foreign yet familiar landscapes,
the author bicycles his way across memories,
encountering dangers he hadn't imagined and finding
the grace that his soul so badly needed in a simple encounter.
It is a true hero's journey.
The family scurries off the vanishing sandbar and gathering my book and chair
I head to my favorite Chinese restaurant for some scallion pancakes.