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
Calm mornings at the beach...
The sea oats are already turning from green to gold to brown,
about to drop their seeds for next spring.
A Poem
Walking down my stairs,
I see a lizard.
It turns and looks at me,
tilting her head!
I wonder,
WHAT does she see?
By Me
St. Augustine Beach, © Laine Quinn
An affair of the heart and soul...
Where waves crash
hearts are mended.
St. Augustine Beach, June 2018. © Laine Quinn 2018
Frog eggs!
Day 2, the little dots will soon be tiny tadpoles!
How life begins, began, begun! © Laine Quinn 2018
The sun is shining in a break
in this long hollow log,
giving life to any number of creatures
and green living things.
Fallen Oak, Wolfe Laurel, North Carolina.
© Laine Quinn 2018
This little seedling rooted itself in the crack of my deck table.
That's how all of the forests began...
one seedling at a time.
"Life's longing for itself."
© Laine Quinn, 2018
On top of the mountain
the frozen fog
persists!
Bald Mountain, at the Appalachian Trail, with a view of 5 different ranges and frozen fog clinging to the branches.
© Laine Quinn 2018.
I'd almost forgotten that daffodils were my Mom's favorite flower.
She'd be 100 this year,
if she had survived her difficult challenges -
impending divorce, depression, alcoholism.
Back in the 70's it was all behind closed doors.
I'll never know her as a wise old woman,
but as a woman,
who loved the ocean,
daffodils,
and her home.
I'd almost forgotten about the daffodils,
but then
I didn't
forget.
For my mom, Nancy T. Quinn, born April 12, 1918.
The daffodils are from my recent trip to the mountains in North Carolina, and yes, it snowed! And the daffodils bounced back by the afternoon! © Laine Quinn 2018.
Breathe
Walk
Smile
Thich Nhat Hanh
Back to basics,
one of my first teachers'
best advice.
Sunset, Moultrie Creek, from Vaill Point.
Happy New Year, and Welcome 2018!
(And so long 2017, and Good Bye!)
(Good Riddance!)
Leaving a difficult year and venturing into the unknown new one.
Learning to balance the bad news and sorrows with the joy and love that is all around.
Thanks to all for the Joy and Love that is all around!
Sunrise, Crescent Beach, December 26, 2017.
Let the beauty that you love
be what you do.
Rumi
This was spotted on my way home from the beach yesterday evening...
My life is better than your vacation.
So, assuming a lot, like if any of that is true,
would you be the "My" in that sentence, or the "Your"?
Maybe a little bit of both, I hope!
The thing about evacuating ahead of a powerful, deadly storm, that may or may not be a direct hit on your world, is that you say
"goodbye" to your life, your things and your home,
not knowing what you will find when you return.
Here in St. Augustine, most of us have been lucky -
loss of power means everything in the refrigerator and freezer must be thrown away.
Tons of debris from the trees and the mighty winds that must be cleaned up.
Days of work lost.
Lucky to be sure.
Some have lost all.
It puts things into perspective, though, saying goodbye to your physical world.
You know first hand what is really important in your world,
and it can be summed up in one word-
LOVE.
We are lucky, those of us who can feel the love,
lucky indeed.
Crescent Beach, not a Hurricane! July 11, 2017.
Rain to the left of me,
Rain to the right,
here I am,
stuck in the middle
with a view!
More from the Crescent Beach storm, 7.10.2017. That's the shrimp boat on the horizon!
In between the sky and the sea.
Rain clouds closing in from the south and the north.
Whenever a boat takes to the water,
there is a story to tell.
Storms, sea creatures,
and the one that got away.
There is always a story!
Crescent Beach, storms brushing by and a shrimp boat minding it's own business. 7.10.2017.
Lucky shot!
or
The Visitor.
I thought this might be the flower of the eggplant, because of the color,
but it turned out to be a Pipe Vine,
which is host to a certain caterpillar,
which turns into a beautiful
I will let you know if we get the butterflies!
After last night's rain, the larger caterpillars are missing in action.
But there are still some little ones.
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.
Happy Flowers!
Laine's Orchid and daisy!
Isn't that sweet?
No, I didn't do it!
Replica of the Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine Beach.
Hibiscus and Morning Glory on a morning bike ride through the neighborhood.
So many beautiful flowers blooming these days
and wonderful scents...
Ginger, Magnolia, Jasmine...
Hmmmmmmmm...
Spiders and webs, what a brilliant idea!
How did Mother Nature come up with these things?
This spider is so curious that it is difficult to discern its head from its toe.
There are so many secrets in life to unravel, it's astonishing.
Reprinted from Laine's Blog, 2012.
Here today...
gone tomorrow.
Deck flowers, April colors, 2017.
Good Morning!
Actually,
this was a good night!
Sunset at The St. Augustine inlet.
Worrying...
It's quite a distraction...
and then,
well...
Wonder on the other hand,
it will lift you up and up and up!
(I wonder what I will worry about today?)
(I worry what I will wonder about tomorrow!)
Just wonderin'.
Here's a line from one of the poems in Mary Oliver's book of poems,
Blue Horses:
...It must be a great disappointment
to God if we are not dazzled at least ten
times a day.
The poem is Good Morning.
This post was first published in March 2015. The Captain rests at Disney and the sunset was off my deck!
You learn something everyday,
even at my advanced age!
lichen (li ken), n. an organism composed of a fungus
in union with an alga, commonly forming patches on rocks and trees.
What I didn't know was that "alga" is the singular of algae!
algae (al je), n.pl., sing. -ga (ge), any of numerous
one-celled or colonial organisms that contain chlorophyll
and usu. flourish in aquatic environments.
How about that?
Vail Point Park, St. Augustine.
A possum at the door last night reminded me of this one...
No worries!
Reprinted from Laine's Blog October, 2011.
Nestlings are so very vulnerable.
This little one endured severe thunderstorms, only to be stalked by a crowd of noisy crows
and survived that too.
Nature provides lots of drama for her creatures.
Perhaps we all have a nestling within us...our inner hatchling.
It's the part of us that has come through the storms
and evaded or slayed the scary monsters -
sometimes with grace and other times not -
but through it all have come to trust the deep instinct to grow stronger and to thrive.
Spring is upon us - a good time to acknowledge our strengths
and our connection to the fragile new arrivals.
After all, we were once just like them.
Baby Robin, reprinted from Laine's Blog, March 2012.
A sunny day with my young friend,
and a walk in the park.
Sometimes the trees just take my breath away!
Yes, there are grander trees in St. Augustine,
but with the sun shining through this relatively young Oak,
it was a delight.
Lighthouse park, with Aden. 3.16.17.
Stay safe, my Northern friends,
it will soon be over.
Valentine's snowstorm, Baltimore 2014.
Be kind
To your web-footed friends,
for a duck may be somebody's Mother.
Be kind to your friends in the swamp,
where the weather is very very damp....
The End!
Muscovy Ducks at Treaty Park being very friendly.