Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Sunday Morning...

 

Jupiter sailing past Venus in the early morning hour.

 

 

Venus is the brighter planet although Jupiter is larger, it's much farther away!

That was Sunday morning, just before sunrise.

Each day Jupiter moves farther away from Venus.

 

But what a wonderful pair!

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2022, St. Augustine, Florida

What If?

 

 

What if you are here on this beautiful, physical, gravity based planet,

simply because you want to be here?

 

You like a challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog 

©LaineQuinn 2022

 

What if you are here on this beautiful, physical, gravity based planet,

simply because you want to be here?

 

You like a challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog 

©LaineQuinn 2022

The Language of Love...

 

 

Resembling luminescent jewels,

the colors of the ocean at sunset

on a calm evening,

raise the spirit,

like the sails of a great ship filling with a welcome breeze.

 

Filling the heart with Love!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

St. Augustine Beach, 2.10.14.

Reprinted from Laine's blog, 2014, with additions!

©LaineQuinn2022

More Pelicans...

 

 

Landing gear down...

Check.

 

 

Landing gear up...

 

 

Check.

 

These Brown Pelicans, up close enough to see the accordion wings against the sky,

are proof positive that we live in a very beautiful, complex,

and fascinating world.

 

You are clear for takeoff!

 

 

 

Saint Augustine Beach Pier, once again hosting the people who fish and the birds who love them.

Reprinted from LainesBlog, February 2015

©LaineQuinn 2022

 

Pelican Sets Sail...

 

Does a pelican in the water ever doubt that he can raise his sails and take to the air?

In three powerful strokes, this huge bird is airborne and glides away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2022, Republished from LainesBlog January 2012.

Keeping It Simple...

 

My Christmas Tree this year is a Live Oak Tree!

 

The tinsel is silvery Spanish Moss.

 

The ornaments are Squirrels and Birds and Lizards!

 

The Star at the top is our very own Star, the Sun!

 

 HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! 

 

 And this is my Christmas Card to Everyone! 

 

With Love,

Laine

 

 

 

 

 

Sign created by Aden with Lizard lazing on top!

Birds are, Black and White Warbler, Red Bellied Woodpecker and unknown maybe sparrow or warbler!

©Laine Quinn 2021

It's A Lie...

 

It is a lie - any talk of God

that does not

comfort

you.

 

 

 

 

 

Poem by Meister Eckhart, 13th century mystic, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

From the Penguin publication, Love Poems From God, Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.

Copyright © 2002 Daniel Ladinsky and used with his permission.

 

Re-Posted from Laine's Blog, November 2012

 

It is a lie - any talk of God

that does not

comfort

you.

 

 

 

 

 

Poem by Meister Eckhart, 13th century mystic, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

From the Penguin publication, Love Poems From God, Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.

Copyright © 2002 Daniel Ladinsky and used with his permission.

 

Setting Sun...

 

 

The sun sets on another day

another week

another year.

 

 

 

 

 

©2021 Laine Quinn

Inlet, Vilano Beach

 

Gratitude...

 

Grateful for all the people who have come and gone in my life

and helped me to become the person I am today -

for better or worse!

 

Grateful for all the things that are going right in my world -

and there are many.

 

Grateful as always for the sun and moon and stars,

for blue skies and rain and trees and flowers.

 

We are all made of the same star stuff -

the same stuff.

 

All one.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

 

 

Sunrise, St Augustine Beach

©LaineQuinn2021

Egret With Fish...

 

 

Does the Egret apologize to the fish?

Is the fish feeling like a victim, getting angry and huffy?

These two marvelous creatures are

  living and dying on the same page.

No apologies.

No blame.

When we seek honestly that which nourishes us,

we thrive.

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, October, 2011

©LaineQuinn 2011

What I know...

 

What I know - what I know is -

Love will find a way.

 

Conflict in your life?

Say this -

Love will find a way.

 

Anxious?

Say this in your heart and mind -

Love will find a way.

 

It does.

It will.

 

 

Somehow it opens your heart and reminds you of the love there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a song that goes like the first line of this post but I can't find it!

But there are 2 others with the title of "Love Will Find a Way" by Pablo Cruise and Lionel Ritchie.

In any event, Love will find a way!

©Laine Quinn 2021 Photo of sunrise with steady waves, one after the other, 09/08/2021

Getting Grounded Again...

 

How's it going?

Personally - within?

 

Take a moment to remember

that you are here now

with your very own life.

 

Your very own precious life.

 

How's it going?

Within?

 

Breathe.

 

 

©Laine Quinn2021

 

Wonderful...

 

Between cloudy nights

and thunderstorm days,

the moon only showed her face two times

for an entire month.

 

But the clouds - the clouds were wonderful!

building each day in the willing sky,

between sun and rain and rainbows!

 

 

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2021 Stormy July!

Yes and Yes...

 

Can you be stressed and joyful at the same time?

Worried and happy at the same time?

Yes

and

Yes!

 

It takes some living and loving and forgiving

to arrive at a time in your life

when your emotions balance

without effort.

 

Joy and happiness can rise to the top like bubbles in water.

 

Stress is still stress and worry is still worried,

but they're paired with your innate joy

and they don't eat away your minutes and hours-

your days and nights.

 

The edges are smoothed and softened.

You can still find gladness in the little things

and laugh at your clumsy self.

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2021, Vilano Beach July 2021.

 

America Is...

 

America is a mess...

 

But the good news is this:

Americans are good people

and love is rising above hate

and kindness is spreading in every neighborhood.

 

There is more that connects us than divides us

and optimism is our only choice and our hope

for the future of 

the American Dream of Self Governance.

 

Happy Independence Day!

 

 

 

 

 

To My Email Subscribers...

 

Hello, loyal followers!

Laine's blog is in its 10th year!

(I can't believe it!)

Thank you for being part of my dreams and meanderings!

 

The subscription service that I have been using, Feedburner

will no longer be available after June.

I have moved my list to Mail Chimp and hope that I did it correctly!

 

You might get two copies of this if it is working,

so please be patient with me while I iron out the wrinkles.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for Laine's Blog!

 

With love and best wishes for everyone!

Laine

 

 

 

No Worries...

 

Spotting a Baby bird outside my window, I watched to see if she was in distress...

 

 

And here comes her mom or dad!

 

 

A few seconds later, after mom left,

one of her siblings flew in and knocked her off the railing!

They tussled on the ground until the intruder took off and she flew back up to the rail

waiting for the next feeding!

 

 

So, she could fly!

And her parents were feeding more than one babe!

 

And all of this outside my window!

Lucky me!

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2021 Baby Tufted Tit Mouse and parent!

Sometimes...

 

 

Sometimes when I am standing at the water's edge,

looking out over the waves,

I think that I should be having some profound thought

or insight into my life or life in general.

But, I never do.

 

Sometimes I am worried about something.

Sometimes I am not worried!

 

 

Standing there or walking,

loving the wind on my face and the waves bumping into each other

and the low ceiling of clouds moving overhead -

it is enough -

more than enough.

 

Just being there!

Yes,

it is plenty!

 

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2020

Waves at Vilano Beach, Egrets and Pelicans and Gulls in the distance and Dolphins and fish swimming below!

 

Moonlight...

 

Every day brings us closer to moonlight

But

Where is she now?

                                                               

 

(Crescent moon coming soon to your neighborhood sky!)

 

 

 

 

In Honor of National Poetry Month, an original!

©Laine Quinn

Photos taken in 2013, the moon and Venus just after sunset.

 

 

                                                                         

Getting Grounded...

 

Grounded in springtime -

planting and potting and cleaning!

And the Cicadas are due any minute now!

We called them the 17 year Locusts.

 

Magicicada.

 

Living as nymphs, 8 feet below the surface,

feeding on tree root sap in underground bunkers,

(and I thought they were sleeping!),

17 years later,

they emerge through tunnels that they create,

to shed their skins

and reveal the insect that we are familiar with,

the Cicada.

 

 

The males sing their hearts out

waiting for a reply from a willing female.

 

5 weeks later they are gone - deceased- it's over -

except for the thousands of eggs left behind in the bark of their preferred trees.

These eggs become larvae that fall to the ground

and become the hardy nymphs that live quietly underground

for a very long time!

 

Yes, the "song" can be annoying, deafening even,

but it is truly fascinating to ponder such a life

and to witness its Grand Finale!

 

Grounded indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

©2021 Laine Quinn

Photo of a bog on a farm nearby!

 

 

Hidden Gifts...

 

 

 

What I have been trying not to say out loud,

is that there are blessings or gifts hidden in tragedies,

and these gifts may not be obvious for some time to come,

but they are there.

 

If we can make a commitment not to let the anger and helplessness

allow us to disconnect,

and instead turn to our friends and families,

and really see them in that deep way that keeps love alive,

then that compassion spreads to our neighbors, and the person behind the counter,

and we become part of the force that moves us away from the madness,

and towards creating a loving and compassionate world.

 

Be gentle with each other and kind and open.

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, 4/2013 and 6/2016

 

Things...

 

 

I am a thing

among other things.

 

There was a little book

in the "Tiny Library"

next to the little playground

which is next to the community garden

in my neighborhood.

My young friend wanted to play on his own

for a little bit,

so I picked up the little book,

"The Alphabet of Grace"

to peruse

and sat on the bench

to read.

 

I forced myself to remember that line,

or close to it

because it seemed to equalize everything!

 

Me, the swing set, the sliding board,

the moon and the stars.

 

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!

 

Make good trouble!

 

 

 

 

When I went back to borrow the book, it was gone!

But I found the author on line, Frederick Buechner.

Photo of lizard on a thing, at the edge of the garden,

© 2021 Laine Quinn

 

 

Pretty Eyes...

 

 

I can see you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puma in the ferns, and his gorgeous eyes looking back at me.

©2021 Laine Quinn

Wild Flower...

 

Shamrocks seed themselves

all over St. Augustine.

Wild?

I think so!

Delightful?

Definitely!

Lucky?

Let's hope!

 

 

 

Violets too, much to my delight!

©2021 Laine Quinn, backyard shamrocks.

A Round of Robins!

 

Noisy birds in the Hollies

dozens of them

with a familiar sound from childhood

Robin Red Breasts

 feasting in Florida

away from the Arctic Air and ice up North,

and stopping for a bath!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canadian Robins, a long way from home and probably glad of it, the original "Snow Birds!"

©2021 Laine Quinn

 

 

More Light After a Storm...

 

 

St. Augustine Harbor

looking east, with the sun low in the west

lighting up the sky,

after an afternoon storm.

 

(True Colors!)

 

 

 

 

 

©LaineQuinn 2015 St. Augustine, Florida

 

Blessings...

 

An early morning thunderstorm left behind these beautiful clouds for the rising sun to shine upon.

 

May all the storms in our lives be blessings in disguise.

 

 

(Let's hope!)

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2021, reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 13rd, 2011.

How Are You Doing?

 

 

It's that time of year -

in a very odd year _

when emotions are raw and memories haunt you.

 

 

 

Riding waves of feelings,

not knowing where they come from,

or why,

or how long,

you hang on.

 

 Storms come and they go,

and you hang on.

You hang on.

 

 

 

 

And they go.

 

 

Life is still life -

imperfectly perfect.

 

Stay safe,

and patient

and perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

©2020 Laine Quinn

Yikes Stripes!

 

Driving over the bridge to the beach the other night

the sky was strikingly -

 

 

striped!

 

 

 

 

From West to East -

stripes!

 

A pending cold front,

I was informed

and sure enough -

that night was our first cold one - dipping into the 30's.

 

Quite a beautiful, remarkable sight!

 

 

 

 

Vilano Beach, St. Augustine, ©2020 LaineQuinn

 

A Gift!

 

 

Out of nowhere

nature paints a rainbow

coming out of the horizon

and it's just sitting there!

 

I see a guy

coming along in the distance,

too far to shout out

but somehow I get his attention

and point to the rainbow

and he

excitedly

gives me a thumbs up!

 

He saw it too!

 

And

then the little rainbow

just

disappeared!

 

 

 

 

 

Vilano Beach, 11/20/2020

©2020 LaineQuinn

 

 

Connections...

 

"...when we try to pick out anything by itself,

we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."

                                                                                       John Muir

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from Brain Pickings on Sunday, by Maria Popova.

Butterflies from St. Augustine, Key West and Baltimore. © Laine Quinn