It is a lie - any talk of God
that does not
comfort
you.
Poem by Meister Eckhart, 13th century mystic, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
Just before the Hurricane,
this little one emerges.
She's on her way to the turbulent waves.
We on the shore want so badly to help,
but we know better and walk beside her,
well meaning, helpless, guardians,
until a wave envelopes her -
back and forth
and she is gone
on her long journey
to everywhere.
Baby Turtle, September 1, 2019. The lifeguards assured me that she would make it!
© Laine Quinn 2019
A serene scene for anxious times...
Mother Nature hasn't given up on us yet.
St. Augustine Beach, 9.11.19 ©Laine Quinn
What we can do to support the climate strike on Friday, the 20th of September-
Don't buy anything on line that has to be delivered to your home, buy local.
Don't throw away any plastic at all for that day.
Drive as little as possible.
Be kind!
The sea oats are green again,
beginning their cycle from spring to fall to winter...
Living in Florida, it's easy to forget what season it is,
but there are ways of being reminded,
and the sea oats jarred me out of late summer to early summer,
right where we are!
Shooting with my phone, I couldn't see the screen and only hoped that I had gotten the line of pelicans in the shot!
©2019, Laine Quinn St. Augustine Beach
Hot and humid one day, foggy the next, rain and then cold after that...
That's our winter,
here in St. Augustine,
warm again now,
in the 70's all week!
Not too shabby!
Porpoise Point, Vilano Beach, December 30th, 2018.
©Laine Quinn
This is nothing like watching the Moon rising over the ocean in person,
but it's all I got!
It was truly breathtaking!
A perfect full moon, coming up over the horizon.
Nothing marks the daily passage of time so acutely as the phases of the moon.
Four clear beautiful nights (and sunny days) at the beach,
and she's practically at half mast when it is time to go home.
On cloudy days, we are clueless that time is marching on so relentlessly.
So, another year ends and another begins and on and on and on!
We live on a tiny planet that will one day be gone too,
so live it up and have a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Full moon, December 22nd, 2018. Crescent Beach.
© Laine Quinn 2018
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
A trick of the eye...
how close are they to the crashing waves?
No photographic tricks,
just a matter of perspective.
St. Augustine Beach, © Laine Quinn, 2018
(Zooming in with the phone, poor quality.)
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.
A Beautiful sunny holiday.
Lots of families out to enjoy the beach,
playing, fishing, reading in the sun.
An overheard conversation about Hurricane Harvey -
on people's minds -
and another Hurricane barrelling toward the islands.
But life must go on, if we are to make sense of any of it.
Compassion and worry are alive, but so are joy and happiness.
Enjoy the moments!
Labor Day, Porpoise Point, St. Augustine, Florida, 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.
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.
One beautiful day after another...
people go to the beach,
the waves roll in and out again,
pelicans fly in their lines.
Just another day in Paradise!
St. Augustine Beach, May, 2017.
Good Morning!
Actually,
this was a good night!
Sunset at The St. Augustine inlet.
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.
Some really good surfers out this morning,
riding the incoming tide.
Vilano Beach, 1/12/17.
Where waves break,
souls are mended.
Reprinted from December 2013.
Anything can happen!
And hopefully we will all be here at the end of it!
Throw caution to the wind?
Why not?
It might just be the thing to do.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Sunset, Porpoise Point, St. Augustine, 2016.
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!
Let the beauty that you love,
be what you do.
Rumi
Fish together!
Vilano Beach, this morning!
Human, Stork, Egrets.
Anchored driftwood-
the top completes the bottom
on reflection.
Yesterday's sunset, yesteryear's tree...St. Augustine Inlet, Vilano Beach.
Black skimmers, passing through Vilano Beach.