Moonlight through the trees
shining on the clouds
lights my way home.
Backyard Moonlight
©LaineQuinn2024
If you ask me what I miss most
from my time on Cape Cod
it is this -
these amazing animals!
While working on the Whale Watch boats
I found myself eye to eye with a beautiful
Humpback Whale.
I was all alone on the back of the boat
and there she was with her huge eye
looking right at me!
I'll never forget that!
Photos taken in 2015, my last whale watch so far!
©LaineQuinn2024
I met a book worm
last night.
More than one, really-
in my old Thesaurus -
I threw it out the door!
...and then there was one.
Thesaurus and Book Worm!
©LaineQunn2024
Although the camera stopped the action -
these sandpipers are running to beat the band!
Up and down the wave as it ebbs and flows,
faster than anything,
and then flying to the next wave, and running again,
and again and again.
They tickle the funny bone,
these masters of slapstick,
making any willing heart lighter.
St. Augustine Beach, May 2014
It is still the birds that bring me back to the wonder of this world, flying over the waves or diving for their dinner, wild and free and alive!
It's the birds' songs lately,
just before dawn (how do they know?)
that make me smile
and remind me of life's simplicity.
Then the ride over the river,
seeing the calm waters filling the marsh -
all of this soothing to the restless mind.
Deep breath in...
Deep breath out...
Ahhh, almost whole again.
Moultrie Creek, St. Augustine.
©LaineQuinn Reprinted from Laine's Blog, April 2014
I remember days that felt like...
it was raining daisies.
From the song by John Sebastian, "She's a Lady".
Photo Gerbera Daisy!
Hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii was once commonly called good night at noon
because it blossoms for only a short time!
I like that, "good night at noon!"
Some days are like that.
From the book Garden Flower Folklore by Laura C. Martin
Blog post from Laine's Blog, May 2012, with permission!
©Laine Quinn 2023
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
Sincere, unapologetic gratitude
goes a long way towards
opening our hearts.
And there is lots to be grateful for,
lots!
Maple tree in Baltimore.
©LaineQuinn2022
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!
Sea oats in the breeze
Sun getting ready to set
One more wave - no two!
Vilano Beach, July 2022
©2022 LaineQuinn
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
"...flowering plants were revolutionary in their appearance on the earth
some two hundred million years ago,
are dominant on land from the arctic to the tropics,
and are crucial to our survival."
Since reading those lines in Rebecca Solnit's book, Orwell's Roses,
I haven't been able to look at a flower without a deep sense of wonder
and gratitude!
Without flowers and their seeds,
birds and humans would not have evolved.
Period!
Without flowers and their seeds,
birds and humans would disappear from the earth.
Amen!
Quote from Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit
Flowers from Baltimore and St. Augustine, Mums, Lilies, Hibiscus
©LaineQuinn 2022
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
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
Coming up for air.
Thanks to Jake for encouraging me to get my camera out, otherwise I would have missed this shot! Cape Charles, Virginia, August, 2010.
©Laine Quinn 2022, Reprinted fro LainesBlog, January 2012
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
The sun sets on another day
another week
another year.
©2021 Laine Quinn
Inlet, Vilano Beach
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
I wanted to write about the unsettling times we find ourselves in
and then there was that date,
September 11, 2021
staring me in the eye.
In 2001, almost a week after that horrible day,
I was on a sailboat in Provincetown Harbor
and witnessed the most magnificent sunset
caused by the dust in the air all the way from
New York City to Cape Cod,
from that terrible tragedy at the World Trade Center Towers.
I lived in Provincetown at the time and my friend invited me out on the water.
Planes were still grounded and it was eerily quiet and peaceful, calm and beautiful.
We talked about how the U.S. behaved in the world
and how that created more enemies than friends.
The Country stood still for a while -
collective grief - shock - compassion - empathy.
And you know the rest of the story.
They said,
"Get on with your lives." "Go shopping."
We'll start a war or two and make it right.
A primitive response lacking insight, intelligence, even compassion for the victims.
It's not what their families wanted.
It wasn't misguided -
it was exactly what some people wanted.
Will America ever be the Beacon of Democracy she promised to be?
Not like that.
Not like that.
©Laine Quinn 2021, photo September 17th, 2001.
Between cloudy nights
and thunderstorm days,
the moon only showed her face two times
for an entire month.
But the clouds - the clouds were wonderful!
building each day in the willing sky,
between sun and rain and rainbows!
©LaineQuinn 2021 Stormy July!
Can you be stressed and joyful at the same time?
Worried and happy at the same time?
Yes
and
Yes!
It takes some living and loving and forgiving
to arrive at a time in your life
when your emotions balance
without effort.
Joy and happiness can rise to the top like bubbles in water.
Stress is still stress and worry is still worried,
but they're paired with your innate joy
and they don't eat away your minutes and hours-
your days and nights.
The edges are smoothed and softened.
You can still find gladness in the little things
and laugh at your clumsy self.
©Laine Quinn 2021, Vilano Beach July 2021.