Moonlight through the trees
shining on the clouds
lights my way home.
Backyard Moonlight
©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
The closer I look at flowers
the more amazed I am at the complexity and diversity of my little world!
Even to take a few extra seconds to gaze into a flower
I am treated to such simple complex beauty
that it takes my breath away!
"They can eat light, isn't that enough?"
This is the quote at the beginning of the amazing book, The Light Eaters By Zoe Schlanger
Do plants communicate? Do They have personalities? All of these questions are considered and much much more in this wonderful book!
First Quote is byTimothy Plowman, ethnobotanist.
Hibiscus and Water Lillies
©LaineQuinn 2024
When all is said and done,
we are all just walking each other home.
Ram Das
Humpback Whales, Cape Cod
©LaineQuinn
Sunshine
Moonshine
Earthshine...
Let your light shine!
St. Augustine Inlet
©LaineQuinn 2024
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!
Outside my door
this white Bird of Paradise
has been blooming since December!
First just one, then another and now 5 altogether!
My morning joy!
©LaineQuinn2024
Are there angels among us?
This world seems to be divided
between the warring
and the loving.
Are we approaching a tipping point,
weary of war,
and resolved to truly love our neighbors,
even if they are very different from us?
If you think that living a compassionate,
kind life,
isn't making a difference-
think again.
And thank you!
©2024LaineQuinn
Republished from Laine's Blog, May 21st, 2014
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
Pansies planted now
Our azaleas blooming soon
Shamrocks everywhere!
Spring in North East Florida, pansies on the deck!
Haiku by Laine
©LaineQuinn 2024
I remember days that felt like...
it was raining daisies.
From the song by John Sebastian, "She's a Lady".
Photo Gerbera Daisy!
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
Grateful as always for the wonders around me!
Mexican Sun Flowers, blooming now!
©2023LaineQuinn
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!
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
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
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
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
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, 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
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!
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
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
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
Curiouser and curiouser!
Mural of Cat in Baltimore, Remington neighborhood. Sensa the cat on the rail and watching the fish!
©LaineQuinn2022
Here comes the sun!
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