Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Don't Worry...

 

(Not sure where I found this gem, but found it again and decided to share it for a laugh!)

 

 

Just Bee...

 

Ahhh, to be a bee, and feel the soft inside of a flower-

 breathe in the heady scent and take the sweet honey home to my queen!

 

 

 

 

Late blooming Cosmos, with Bee!

©LaineQuinn2023

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Grateful as always for the wonders around me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexican Sun Flowers, blooming now!

©2023LaineQuinn

 

 

Insist...

 

At the risk of repeating myself,

we really do live in a beautiful world.

 

Nature persists.

In spite of what men do to each other and to the planet

to distract us,

Nature persists.

 

There is beauty and diversity and wonder

all around us.

 

And we,

who are a part of that wonder,

must insist on PEACE.

 

We must revel in the beauty and the possibility of Peace

in our hearts and in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise, Vilano Beach September, 2023

2 different days!

 

 

 

I'm Fine, Really!

 

"I'm fine, really."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This man was right next to our table at the very best restaurant in Tihany, Hungary.

He was fine, really.

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog October 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This man was right next to our table at the very best restaurant in Tihany, Hungary.

He was fine, really.

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog October 2014

Are You Real?

 

Mom, is that a real lizard?

 

 

 

 

 

A little levity!

Reposted from LainesBlog September 2012

©LaineQuinn2023

Mom, is that a real lizard?

 

 

 

 

 

A little levity!

Reposted from LainesBlog September 2012

©LaineQuinn2023

If Life Is But a Dream...

 

 

 

If life is "but a dream,"

then the paradox is

that the only way to realize the Dream,

is to

WAKE UP!

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish moss hanging from the trees in Blue Spring State Park, Florida.

Reprinted from my first year blogging, September, 2012

©LaineQuinn 2023

 

If life is "but a dream,"

then the paradox is

that the only way to realize the Dream,

is to

WAKE UP!

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish moss hanging from the trees in Blue Spring State Park, Florida.

Reprinted from my first year blogging, September, 2012

©LaineQuinn 2023

Time...

 

 

 

As I grow older and and can glimpse the end of my days,

there seems to be more time

or time is more expansive somehow.

Although the weeks zoom past with the years,

the present moment is huge! 

 

You realize that you don't have to be in a hurry all the time.

That there is time. That that's all there is is time!

 

Time to smell the roses or listen to a friend - really listen;

time to tend the garden of your soul and spirit,

time for love.

 

Of course, this can happen at any age,

learning to take a step back,

take a beat

and pay close attention.

 

It's grand when we can master this even a little!

 

 

 

 

A rose is a rose!

©Laine Quinn 2023

 

 

 

The Fruits of Summer...

 

 

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

 

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

Last Chance...

A Last Time For Everything...

 

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.

Republished from LainesBlog, June 2017

©LaineQuinn2023

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.

Republished from LainesBlog, June 2017

©LaineQuinn2023

Your Core...

 

 

Is there a part of you that is the essence of who you are?

A part that is not corrupted by the culture that you grew up in

or the family that tortured you one way or the other?

I call it your core.

It is pure, whole, and located just below your heart, deep inside you.

It is incorruptible.

 

It's who you really are.

 

Getting there is a journey of acceptance,

a journey of non-resistance to loving yourself,

warts, craziness, lovliness and all.

 

This core is there all along.

It might take your whole life to uncover it,

but it's there guiding and protecting and loving you,

just as you are.

 

 

 

From the Archives, Laine's Blog, January 16th, 2012

©LaineQuinn2023

Is there a part of you that is the essence of who you are?

A part that is not corrupted by the culture that you grew up in

or the family that tortured you one way or the other?

I call it your core.

It is pure, whole, and located just below your heart, deep inside you.

It is incorruptible.

 

It's who you really are.

 

Getting there is a journey of acceptance,

a journey of non-resistance to loving yourself,

warts, craziness, lovliness and all.

 

This core is there all along.

It might take your whole life to uncover it,

but it's there guiding and protecting and loving you,

just as you are.

 

 

 

From the Archives, Laine's Blog, January 16th, 2012

©LaineQuinn2023

Is there a part of you that is the essence of who you are?

A part that is not corrupted by the culture that you grew up in

or the family that tortured you one way or the other?

I call it your core.

It is pure, whole, and located just below your heart, deep inside you.

It is incorruptible.

 

It's who you really are.

 

Getting there is a journey of acceptance,

a journey of non-resistance to loving yourself,

warts, craziness, lovliness and all.

 

This core is there all along.

It might take your whole life to uncover it,

but it's there guiding and protecting and loving you,

just as you are.

 

 

 

From the Archives, Laine's Blog, January 16th, 2012

©LaineQuinn2023

Is there a part of you that is the essence of who you are?

A part that is not corrupted by the culture that you grew up in

or the family that tortured you one way or the other?

I call it your core.

It is pure, whole, and located just below your heart, deep inside you.

It is incorruptible.

 

It's who you really are.

 

Getting there is a journey of acceptance,

a journey of non-resistance to loving yourself,

warts, craziness, lovliness and all.

 

This core is there all along.

It might take your whole life to uncover it,

but it's there guiding and protecting and loving you,

just as you are.

 

 

 

From the Archives, Laine's Blog, January 16th, 2012

©LaineQuinn2023

A Welcome Ordinariness...

 

 

Friends, paddling along together through life's currents.

It's a calm evening and mild in between the storms and troubles.

There's peace and quiet and a kind of welcome ordinariness,

a rightness about things.

 

All's well.

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog May 2013

Two Pelicans in the quiet evening, St. Augustine

©Laine Quinn 2023

 

 

Friends, paddling along together through life's currents.

It's a calm evening and mild in between the storms and troubles.

There's peace and quiet and a kind of welcome ordinariness,

a rightness about things.

 

All's well.

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog May 2013

Two Pelicans in the quiet evening, St. Augustine

©Laine Quinn 2023

 

A Welcome Ordinariness...

 

 

Friends, paddling along together through life's currents.

It's a calm evening and mild in between the storms and troubles.

There's peace and quiet and a kind of welcome ordinariness,

a rightness about things.

 

All's well.

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog May 2013

Two Pelicans in the quiet evening, St. Augustine

©Laine Quinn 2023

 

 

Friends, paddling along together through life's currents.

It's a calm evening and mild in between the storms and troubles.

There's peace and quiet and a kind of welcome ordinariness,

a rightness about things.

 

All's well.

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog May 2013

Two Pelicans in the quiet evening, St. Augustine

©Laine Quinn 2023

 

Hibiscus...

 

 

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

 

 

Make Good Trouble...

 

You Don't Have to Choose Between Happiness and Being Informed

 

We are living in an amazingly beautiful world and when you focus on that more than on the bad news of the day,

you begin to see that as confused and crazy as our civilization is

the world is crazy beautiful!

 

Her beauty is so much vaster and more ancient than all the conceptual dis-information that has been heaped upon the human experience.

You start to find joy in real things. 

The thundering majesty of nature.

That spark of authenticity in people's eyes. The crackle of magic at the water's edge.

Something as simple as a Morning Glory catching the light just right can renew your faith in the universe.

And you learn to live from there.

 

You settle into an understanding that while the suffering and abuses of our world are very real and of immense consequence,

the fact that there is anything at all is immensely more significant than any of our tiny human problems.

The fact that we get to live in these bodies and inhabit these brains and move around on this amazing planet

and perceive it and think thoughts about it is a much, much bigger deal than any of our difficulties.

 

 

So, go ahead and "make good trouble"

but don't forget to see and hear and wonder at all the beauty behind your eyes and in your own back yard!

 

 

 

 

This Blog is mostly from a posting by Caitlin Johnstone on May 12, 2023 and edited and used with her blanket permission to share her work.

I thank her for her bravery and honesty and generosity!

And her husband Tim Foley.

Photos of Morning Glory by Laine!

 

 

 

Clinging Vines...

 

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

 

No Other Way...

 

There are paths taken,

and paths not taken.

It doesn't pay to have regrets.

 

Each life is so unique, yours, mine,

that it can only be lived by a you or a me.

There is no other way.

 

No one will ever get the whole story of your life except you.

It's how it is.

 

So, relax,

trust, and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog March 2013.

©LaineQuinn 2023

 

Treasure Enough...

 

 

 

When we have long departed from this beautiful blue/green planet,

will we one day long for a glimpse of a new leaf in springtime,

missing the seasons and colors of Earth?

 

Perhaps that depends on the treasures that we find on the other side.

 

For now, a new green leaf in springtime is treasure enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, February, 2013

©LaineQuinn 2023

 

When we have long departed from this beautiful blue/green planet,

will we one day long for a glimpse of a new leaf in springtime,

missing the seasons and colors of Earth?

 

Perhaps that depends on the treasures that we find on the other side.

 

For now, a new green leaf in springtime is treasure enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, February, 2013

©LaineQuinn 2023

In Sync...

 

These two pelicans, flying and diving together in the shallow waters of Tampa Bay, 

in time to their own music -

Reminded me of the two humpback whales dining together off Cape Cod,

and the pilot whales, cruising in perfect harmony.

 

Occasionally humans can, without a word, step together harmoniously to the shared music of life.

It's great fun when it happens,

and like the dance instructor said,

"Don't worry if you misstep, it's part of the fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog February 2013.

©LaineQuinn2023

 

These two pelicans, flying and diving together in the shallow waters of Tampa Bay, 

in time to their own music -

Reminded me of the two humpback whales dining together off Cape Cod,

and the pilot whales, cruising in perfect harmony.

 

Occasionally humans can, without a word, step together harmoniously to the shared music of life.

It's great fun when it happens,

and like the dance instructor said,

"Don't worry if you misstep, it's part of the fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog February 2013.

©LaineQuinn2023

 

Remember?

 

Sometimes it is impossible to remember

that we live on an improbable accidental planet

that might not have come into existence

without the perfect balance

of gravity and heat and cold and atmosphere and water

at the perfect distance from our star.

 

Spinning on its axis and orbiting around the sun

 with the moon and our sister and brother planets,

and traveling with our Milky Way Galaxy

through space as our Universe still expands -

our little spaceship Earth is in perfect harmony

with the forces that made it all possible to begin with.

 

And here we are, the "children of flowers" on an evolutionary journey

65 million years in the making and still going strong.

 

So relax,

Earth is on auto pilot and won't fall from the sky anytime soon!

 

This is our time to revel in being alive in a world of wonder!

We do live in a beautiful world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: NASA, Earth Rise one of the first photographs of Earth from space.

Children of Flowers, borrowed from Maria Papova and her Marginalian.

 

 

Meow!

Curiouser and curiouser!

 

 

 

 

 

Mural of Cat in Baltimore, Remington neighborhood. Sensa the cat on the rail and watching the fish!

©LaineQuinn2022

Light...

 

Here comes the sun!

 

 

 

 

Gratitude...

 

 

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

Love...

 

 

Love is why we came here

To learn how to love

 

Everything

Everyone

All the time

 

It's a lot to learn

But worth the effort

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday...

 

The beauty around us 

No matter where you are

 There is beauty around you!

 

 

 

 

The Inlet St. Augustine

©LaineQuinn 2022

Shedding...

 

 

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

 

Go Placidly...

 

Does anyone remember this?

 

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

 

That worthiness is the thing that was missing in my early years.

There is a book that has convinced me that I am equally deserving of my life

as anyone or anything in the universe -

that the universe spawned everything and everyone to this moment and beyond -

each of us unique and meant to be here!

 

 

 

 

 

The book, is THE GREAT WORK, OUR WAY INTO THE FUTURE, by Thomas Berry

In this book you find the amazing story of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and how they revered their place in nature and the universe, and had deep respect for all life.

"Desiderata" was translated by Max Ehrmann in 1927

 

 

 

 

Why Not?

 

 

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

That Light...

 

 

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

 

 

 

A Thing Among Others...

 

 

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!