Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

What Comes Next...

 

 

Collectively it is time that we imagine a better world.

No matter what happens in the next months or years,

it is time to put our minds on better things.

 Call it the power of positive thinking,

of visualizing,

of collective prayer -

it all works and can change the world.

 

Psychopathic leaders of politics and industry - be warned -

it is time for the Human takeover of our world.

Time to imagine a world where we live harmoniously with the earth,

harmoniously with each other - near and far,

harmoniously with all creatures -great and small.

A world in partnership.

A world of compassion and love and generosity.

 

If it fits in your mind,

it fits in your world.

 

We are more than what we can imagine.

 

Collectively it's time to imagine

what comes after -

to dream big and have faith in the human heart,

in the human desire for connection.

 

 

 

 

Photo of Park in Godollo Hungary, outside Budapest.

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, October 2020

©LaineQuinn2022

Home...

 

 

 

A lot of people will be traveling over the coming weeks,

going home.

 

Where is home? 

 

Is it where you spent your childhood?

 

Or where you choose to live?

 

Is home a moveable feast?

 

Do we carry it within us?

 

 

Is it a place we cherish or a person we love?

 

Is it all of these things?

 

A place, a person, where you've been and where you're going

 

and where you are right now?

 

 

The heart and soul of home

 

seem to be everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airplane window, setting sun, clouds.

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 2012, long before traveling became so precarious because of the pandemic.

©Laine Quinn 2021

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of people will be traveling over the coming weeks,

going home.

 

Where is home? 

 

Is it where you spent your childhood?

 

Or where you choose to live?

 

Is home a moveable feast?

 

Do we carry it within us?

 

 

Is it a place we cherish or a person we love?

 

Is it all of these things?

 

A place, a person, where you've been and where you're going

 

and where you are right now?

 

 

The heart and soul of home

 

seem to be everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airplane window, setting sun, clouds.

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 2012, long before traveling became so precarious because of the pandemic.

©Laine Quinn 2021

 

 

Just Ask Any Whale...

 

It's a good idea to embrace

the other's otherness,

because

we are the other's other.

 

 

Just ask any whale!

 

 

 

 

 

We are all in this together!

Two Whales, ©2015, Laine Quinn, Cape cod

The Tree Of Life...

 

Tree of Life,

 

re-imagined at Disney Park, Animal Kingdom.

Look closely at the life carved into this man-made tree.

 

Real trees have even more mysteries and secrets,

kept over the centuries and passed down the generations.

 

 

 

 

 

©Laine Quinn 2019, Disney's Pandora Tree of Life. Possibly Ostrich in the foreground!

Disney, Animal Kingdom...

 

Disney = long lines and sore feet and exhaustion!

BUT...

the Avatar ride in Pandora was worth it all!

You are gliding on a Banshee through the Fantastic Pandora landscape,

even though you never leave your seat,

you duck and lean to avoid hitting branches and arches and going into the ocean!

 

WILD!

 

A giant plant, along the 3 hour walk to the ride!

Very well thought out exhibit!

 

 

© Laine Quinn 2019.

Earth Day and Poetry

 

 

A fallen blossom

Is coming back to the branch.

Look, a butterfly!

 

                                                                                by Moritake (1473-1549)

 

Happy Earth Day!!!

Of course, everyday is Earth Day!

And since April is National Poetry Month,

here is a Haiku from a book I have had with me all of my adult life,

One Hundred Famous Haiku

Selected and translated into English by

Daniel C. Buchanan

It is divided by season.

This is one for Spring.

 

 

 

Butterfly shot at the Key West Butterfly And Nature Conservancy, © Laine Quinn 2008.

The Hollow Log

 

 

The sun is shining in a break

in this long hollow log,

giving life to any number of creatures

and green living things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fallen Oak, Wolfe Laurel, North Carolina.

© Laine Quinn 2018

 

Strange Landscape...

 

 

Whichever way the wind blows,

so blows the fog,

and clings

when the weather insists.

 

 

 

Top of Bald Mountain, the Appalachian trail on the right, and a well trod trail it is.

© Laine Quinn 2018

It's been awhile!

 

Well, for at least two weeks, I can account for my whereabouts!

 

 

My first trip to Mexico!

San Miguel de Allende-

cobblestone streets,

colorful houses and shops,

lovely people,

and steep steep streets,

surrounded by mountains.

 

A great vacation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holloku

 

 

The rain did not deter us from enjoying such a well preserved town,

dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

AND they were renovating the cobblestone streets.

 

 

All of the houses were white with very thick walls,

and the shops offered hand made items that were irresistible.

 

Always great food and a Church in the center!

 

Holloku, Hungary,

a World Heritage Site.

 

 

 

 

From my trip to Hungary, 2014.

 

Blue Sky

 

Sunny Flowers!

 

 

When visiting a "Foreign" country,

and you see familiar things,

it brings home closer

and strangers become friends.

 

 

 

 

Holloku, Hungary, which is a very very old town situated in rolling hills that reminded me of Maryland or Virginia! Familiar flowers and great food and company!

September, 2014.

 

Just Wonderin'

 

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.

 

 

 

STOP!

 

 

What?

 

(You are about to get run over by - What?)

(This political season?)

(Bad news from around the world?)

What?

Stop

and smell the roses,

breathe.

 

 

 

Tulips

 

 

 

These I miss,

and the daffodils and the crocus and snowdrops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tulips at Mount Vernon Place, May 2013.

 

 

Not My Orchid!

 

 

But mine is blooming!

 

 

 

 

Savannah Georgia, restaurant and Inn. The Mansion, on Forsythe Park.

The Essence...

 

Love, and Joy!

 

Like flowers bring!

(People can bring that too!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cape Cod Hydrangeas!

 

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In A Hurry?

Good Neighbors?

 

Awkward neighbors?

Indifferent neighbors?

 

Either way it is a good idea to get along with our

different neighbors.

After all,

Peace begins at home.

 

 

 

 

 

Nutcracker and neighbor, New Hope Pennsylvania.

The Little Dog Laughed...

 

To see such craft...

 

 

And the dish ran away with the spoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which Provincetown Restaurant?

Childhood rhyme, 

 

Hey Diddle Diddle.

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon.

The little dog laughed to see such craft,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

 

 

Green and Red...

 

 

 

No Poinsettias yet!

(It was October)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flower box in New Hope PA, October 2015.

Peak-A-Boo

 

 

I see you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butterfly in Asters, one Autumn Day.

A Question...

 

If you put bottled beer in the freezer to get chilled

and forget about it until morning,

does it explode?

 

Answer:

Yes.

 

 

It's not as messy as you might imagine,

as it is frozen,

but it is messy!

 

 

 

 

 

A few years back, in the freezer of my sister on the occasion of her son and Daughter in Law's wedding celebration.

(Is it really 5 years already?)

(oh my)

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99 Bottles of Beer...

A Little Grounding...

 

 

Sturdy,

solid,

ready for anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountains in North Carolina.

In A Small Seaside Town...

 

 

It was the blue that saved my soul

when I lived in this small seaside town.

 

Perhaps there is someone there now

soaking up the shimmering light and colors,

healing from a loneliness she doesn't even know is hers.

 

 

 

 

 

Provincetown Blues.

 

From The Bridge...

 

 

Floating in the clouds,

a swan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Delaware River, between Lambertville NJ and New Hope PA.

Another Town...

 

 

The Full Moon Cafe,

serving dinner once a month on the Full Moon.

 

Breakfast and Lunch -

most other days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another town, another great meal on the road in Lambertville, New Jersey.

 

 

 

 

Location! Location! Location!

 

 

Marley's Cafe,

situated on a teeny tiny island in Essex Connecticut,

with nary a Jamaican in sight,

but great atmosphere,

food

and service!

 

 

 

 

 

You have to take a little ferry across the little waterway and back again! New England in Autumn.

 

 

It Was A Good Day!

 

 

 

 

 

A good day indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finback Whale and Humpbacks off Cape Cod on the Dolphin Fleet out of Provincetown. 

Thank You!

 

Thar She Blows!

 

 

On our way back to the dock,

leaving the Humpback whales to their stomping grounds,

and the humans to forage on land.

 

 

 

 

Whale watching on Cape Cod with the Dolphin Fleet.

This I miss the most!

More photos tomorrow!

 

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Rare footage shows five humpback whales breaching in near unison

The Moon

 

What is it about the moon that speaks to us?

Perhaps it is that our ancestors from long long ago admired and loved that rocky orb,

and it is deep in our cells to respond somehow to its beauty.

 

 

 

Last month's super moon,

the night before the eclipse.

 

The eclipse!

 

Earth's shadow moves across her moon.

 

Sun, Earth and Moon in perfect alignment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On vacation and settled into a little cottage on a clear night, on Cape Cod, without my tripod!

(These shots are a testament to the genius of the engineers who developed digital cameras.

I was able to change the "ISO" (film speed) to a whopping 1600. The only wobbly shots are the ones in total shadow.)

 

© Laine Quinn

 

Have a Seat!

 

 

Lobster traps and buoys.

And a place to sit,

On your way down the pier.

 

 

 

 

 

Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

(Apologies to the friends I didn't get to see!)

 

 

Who Can Stop Us?

 

 

The clouds above us join and separate,

The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns.

Life is like that, so why not relax?

Who can stop us from celebrating?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The poet Lu Yu quoted in The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff. 

Photo of celebrating flowers taken in a small New England town while waiting for lunch!

 

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The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff