Ecola
I walked by the sea-creek side.
The wind laughed, the gulls cried.
Sweet water lapped on the salt sand
between the deep sea and the deep land.
Ursula K. LeGuin
Years ago, Joseph Campbell told us that the poets would save us.
I begin to understand.
From Ursula K LeGuin's book of poems, "Late in the Day."
Joseph Campbell, in his series, "The Power of Myth."
Photo of St. Augustine Beach, ©2020LaineQuinn
Breathe
Walk
Smile
Thich Nhat Hanh
Back to basics,
one of my first teachers'
best advice.
Sunset, Moultrie Creek, from Vaill Point.
Every day the sun rises,
whether we see it or not,
the rotation of the earth allows for one sunrise and one sunset a day.
On the International Space Station the sun rises and sets about 15 times a day!
It's a shift in perspective,
a way different point of view!
St. Augustine Beach sunrise, last month, 2017.
Worrying...
It's quite a distraction...
and then,
well...
Wonder on the other hand,
it will lift you up and up and up!
(I wonder what I will worry about today?)
(I worry what I will wonder about tomorrow!)
Just wonderin'.
Here's a line from one of the poems in Mary Oliver's book of poems,
Blue Horses:
...It must be a great disappointment
to God if we are not dazzled at least ten
times a day.
The poem is Good Morning.
This post was first published in March 2015. The Captain rests at Disney and the sunset was off my deck!
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.
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.
Anchored driftwood-
the top completes the bottom
on reflection.
Yesterday's sunset, yesteryear's tree...St. Augustine Inlet, Vilano Beach.
Worrying...
It's quite a distraction...
and then,
well...
Wonder on the other hand,
it will lift you up and up and up!
(I wonder what I will worry about today?)
(I worry what I will wonder about tomorrow!)
Just wonderin'.
From Laine's Blog, March 26th, 2015.
Captain buried at Disney and the sunset is off my deck.
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, April 18th, 2013.
Another day comes to an end,
or rather
daylight ends!
The night is young!
St. Augustine Beach Pier from Anastasia State Park, yesterday!
On a cloudy afternoon,
sometimes,
all you have to do is turn a corner
for something wonderful and cheering to come your way.
The sun pops out and illuminates the clouds over the harbor.
A little bit of a rainbow on the way to the beach and then this sunset -
It's hard to be miserable under these circumstances.
St. Augustine Harbor and Beach.
The sun was setting and shining shyly on the waves after hiding all day,
and then this!
From my first August of doing the blog 2012, this magnificent rainbow, reprinted with permission!
At the end of the day.
The end of a world.
The end of a life.
Doors close.
Chapters end.
And then it begins again.
The sea oats
going by
will be back in the spring.
The sun that sets
rises again.
The mystery is solved in 533 pages,
yet some things
will remain
forever
beyond our
reach,
just the other side of certainty.
Sea oats and sunset with painterly effect, St. Augustine Beach.
From Laines Blog, October 2013.
St. Augustine's Lighthouse
dwarfed by the rolling clouds
of a summer's evening.
Not exactly a Haiku, but close! St. Augustine, Matanzas River and lighthouse.
Maybe my phone really is smarter than I am...
It took this photo when I wasn't looking.
Saturday's twilight taken by the Samsun Galaxy S4 without my knowing it, St. Augustine Beach, Florida.
Fellow passengers on the cruise to the Bahamas...
Bahamians?
Perhaps...
But nice enough to put the phone down (him) and let me take their photo.
That was back in January, 2015.
Little fish watch out.
As the sun prepares to set.
White bird is dining.
And Human is watching...Vilano Beach, St. Augustine inlet.
When I was a little girl,
I loved the smell of the earth,
flowers and trees and fresh mown grass,
starry nights and beautiful sunsets,
and time spent at the beach.
A lot of life has happened between then and now,
and I still love all of those things,
as well as making people smile,
feeling connected to just about everyone (on a good day!),
and I especially love the deep friendship that I have cultivated with myself.
The essence remains-
we are still those children that we once were
with the refinement that a life lived allows.
Worrying...
It's quite a distraction...
and then,
well...
Wonder on the other hand,
it will lift you up and up and up!
(I wonder what I will worry about today?)
(I worry what I will wonder about tomorrow!)
Just wonderin'.
"Captain" is buried at Disney World and now rests in brine.
Sunset, just off my deck one surprising evening.
Madrid or St. Augustine?
Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, setting sun, January 2015.
The sun setting and the moon rising...
Everything back in place for now!
St. Augustine Beach, March 4th, 2015.
In Disney parks,
a lot of things are make believe.
But the sun setting at Epcot was very real.
As was the food and the people and the friends we came with and the friends we met at the park.
All real!
Epcot Park, Disney World, Florida.
Back to the ship for our second night at sea,
on our way to Nassau.
No worries, there's lots to do on board.
Dancing, gambling, drinking, eating, sauna, swimming...
Not enough time for it all.
And always a new friend in our room at the end of the day...
Can you guess what this next shot is?
(Hint, it's not ice!)
The ship was the Fascination, of the Carnival Cruise Line. Small by some people's standards, huge by others!
A peaceful sunset a few January's ago.
A place to rest your eyes,
and your mind,
for a little while.
Matanzas inlet, January 2012.
This shot is from my old stupid phone,
and it was transferred onto my new smart phone,
and finally onto my computer
yesterday!
Just the one shot that day,
around sunset,
with the almost full moon rising
and two surfers walking along.
It was November, 2011.
Last night the moon was similar,
except waning,
not waxing,
and so bright in the night sky.
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING, ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE
Any road!
The Hideaway Tiki Bar in Cedar Key, Florida, the best place in Cedar Key on land to watch the sunset.
Pelicans flying home
in a dusty sunset sky...
Vilano Beach, St. Augustine.
©2014 Michelle Moore
If you miss a double rainbow,
but a really good friend sends you her wonderful photo of it,
then maybe you didn't entirely miss it,
even though you did miss it!
Anyway, so grateful for friends who see and share!
Double rainbow, November 10, 2014, thanks to Michelle Moore for seeing this in her front yard and sharing it with me!