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 thing is that Venus has been so bright in the Western sky lately
that she takes my breath away.
It is difficult to take an interesting photograph of a little white dot of light,
so I borrowed this moon shot with Venus, taken in 2013.
But seeing it is the best!
Venus is at it's brightest now, while the moon is waning and visible in the late night or early morning sky.
Beauty in the world is experienced by the individual as feeling.
If we look more closely at beauty and try to describe more carefully the beauty of the world,
we do not arrive at aesthetics, but rather love.
Is not beauty the particular way in which the world expresses itself as love?
...love, the interior presence of beauty.
From the book by Robert Sardello, Love and the Soul, Creating a Future for Earth.
Movement in the stillness,
more in the woods behind us,
squirrels and owls,
and under the surface of the water.
A balance is struck at the end of the day
as the light fades
and we rush to beat the darkness home.
Sunset at Vail Point on Moultrie Creek.
Bless us all
on this
unusual
inauguration day.
And Bless America.
How many years did this tree stand taller and taller
before a mighty wind took her down?
My 4 year old friend is dwarfed in the cave of her roots,
with his bag of treasures -berries, leaves and feathers.
Aden and Oak, Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve trail. That's a mouthful! Wonderful park with a full size Right Whale in the nature center.
The longest night,
the shortest day,
the light returns,
slowly,
but it returns!
Celebrate the dark,
Celebrate the light!
Happy Winter Solstice!
Christmas day is almost upon us in much the same way as a beautiful fog bank on the shore.
Sneaking up on some of us,
while others have seen it coming for months.
Oh, well, it will burn off before you know it
and all will be well.
Just a little bah humbug to go with the fog bank engulfing Vilano Beach this morning!! Happy Holidays!
If I were a dolphin I would have to make a lot of changes -
move much more quickly,
eat a steady diet of fish (without the taco!)
talk more, laugh more,
and play more everyday!
I'd have to get rid of ALL of my things
and stop worrying about anything!
Hmmmmmmmm...
Dolphins in the Chesapeake Bay, Cape Charles, Virginia.
This post first appeared in Laine's Blog in December, 2012, and then again in 2013!
Is this the party to whom I am speaking?
Resident Lizard at Grover's Gallery!
Grateful for the usual suspects...
dear friends, family, cats, dogs,
blue skies and the moon and stars,
but especially for my time spent in nature.
Time that pulls me out of my head
and back to this beautiful complex world.
I am grateful for that.
Lights reflecting on the bay by the Bridge of Lions
remind me of sitting on the end of a pier, a long time ago,
and hearing the water lapping gently on the shore,
while being hypnotized by the rippling reflections of the lights from across the way.
One of my very favorite things!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Let the beauty that you love,
be what you do.
Rumi
Fish together!
Vilano Beach, this morning!
Human, Stork, Egrets.
Our Moon was closest to us last night...
could you feel it?
She climbed out of the clouds and was beautiful for the rest of the night.
The tides were crazy high
and the cats were just crazy!
Lots of folks out to see the "Super Moon."
Full Moon over the Harbor in St. Augustine, November 14th, 2016.
Ducks still swim in ponds and the sky still reflects beautifully on the water.
The sun rises and sets and the moon too.
And so we must also,
rise and set with the rhythms of life.
Ducks at Treaty Park where a historic treaty was signed with the Natives and subsequently broken.
St. Augustine, Florida.
Anchored driftwood-
the top completes the bottom
on reflection.
Yesterday's sunset, yesteryear's tree...St. Augustine Inlet, Vilano Beach.
What, you can't see my spoon bill?
O well.
Can you see the Roseate?
Okay, then.
Roseate Spoonbill, at the Duck Pond, St. Augustine.
Black skimmers, passing through Vilano Beach.
St. Augustine inlet, Saturday morning...
waves going in all directions!
Oh, by the way, Laine's blog turns 5 this month!!!!!!!!!!!
Boundless Energy!
The urge to make art, anytime, anywhere...
And making easy friends with driftwood creatures...
St. Augustine Beach, nearly a week after the Hurricane, with Aden, October, 2016.
There is a ton of debris and the St. Augustine Beach Pier
is still closed,
but we are survivors,
we, who love the beach...
The Atlantic's back porch...
Yoga? Anyone?
It's still dangerous to swim, but people were swimming
and surfing and kite surfing.
Bless us all.
In St. Augustine,
summertime has been extended...
indefinitely!
Live Oak with tire swing along the marsh of the Matanzas River.
Mountains and valleys in microcosm...
the eroding beach has its own beauty.
St. Augustine Beach; an astronomical high tide and a stiff North East wind. 9.16.16.
Watch this...
Can you do this?
Or this?
I didn't think so!
Pelicans doing what they do! St. Augustine, Florida.
St. Augustine's tiny skyline in the distance
on a warm summer morning
promising
rain.
Vilano Beach at the inlet.
Sunny Flowers!
When visiting a "Foreign" country,
and you see familiar things,
it brings home closer
and strangers become friends.
Holloku, Hungary, which is a very very old town situated in rolling hills that reminded me of Maryland or Virginia! Familiar flowers and great food and company!
September, 2014.
Just have to make art...
Most people, actually,
whether or not they call themselves artists,
do indeed make art,
one way or the other.
Beach art, St. Augustine Beach, August, 2016.
On a day like this,
you can see the wave of energy
underneath the water
rippling toward the beach
like a friendly giant
flexing its mussels.
St. Augustine Beach, August 2016.
(Just a reminder, HUGE Garage sale at Butterfield Garage, lots of great art at great prices! 137 King Street.
The Bahamas?
Maybe.
But here in St. Augustine we have the best beaches!
The Bahamas, and St. Augustine Beach, July 2016.
I want one!!!
St. Augustine Beach.
Connection...
with our natural world,
with the beauty that is all around us,
and with each other.
Love
and
Kindness
Guana Tolomato Matanzas Research Reserve. Ponte Vedre, Florida.