Laine's Blog, Thinking Out Loud

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

October - harvests and bright moons, bales of hay and straw, pumpkins,

ghosts and goblins, spider webs, dressing up and acting out.

What was your favorite costume for Halloween?

Mine was Robin Hood!

I remember a burlap tunic, a bow and arrow and the perfect pointed hat.

I think that my mother made it for me.

 

Did you have a scary neighbor like we did?

Of course the only reason we were afraid of her was

because she was sooooooo old and she lived alone and

she had a cat.

Now I am old-ish and I live alone and I have a cat!

Scary!

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog's very first year, 10 years ago!

This month I will do a retrospective of my favorite blog posts from those years!

I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Halloween!

Laine

Dolphin Rising...

 

 

Coming up for air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jake for encouraging me to get my camera out, otherwise I would have missed this shot! Cape Charles, Virginia, August, 2010.

©Laine Quinn 2022, Reprinted fro LainesBlog, January 2012

 

 

 

Coming up for air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jake for encouraging me to get my camera out, otherwise I would have missed this shot! Cape Charles, Virginia, August, 2010.

©Laine Quinn 2022, Reprinted fro LainesBlog, January 2012

 

 

Thirty Days...

 

 

Thirty days has September,

April, June and November,

and you know the rest!

The last day of November,

December coming on-

take it gently, lovingly,

wisely!

Let the others get crazy and drive crazy and etc.

Let's be wise!

And Enjoy!

 

 

Bales in Virginia, some years ago, forgotten by now by the farmer who used them to feed his livestock over the winter.

© Laine Quinn

P.S. I have deleted my facebook account, so the best way to reach me is my email, or telephone!

[email protected]

Nestlings...just like us?

 

Nestlings are so very vulnerable.

This little one endured severe thunderstorms, only to be stalked by a crowd of noisy crows

and survived that too.

 

Nature provides lots of drama for her creatures.

Perhaps we all have a nestling within us...our inner hatchling.

 

It's the part of us that has come through the storms

and evaded or slayed the scary monsters -

sometimes with grace and other times not -

but through it all have come to trust the deep instinct to grow stronger and to thrive.

 

Spring is upon us - a good time to acknowledge our strengths

and our connection to the fragile new arrivals.

 

After all, we were once just like them.

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Robin, reprinted from Laine's Blog, March 2012.

 

If I Were a Dolphin

 

If I were a dolphin I would have to make a lot of changes -

move much more quickly,

eat a steady diet of fish (without the taco!)

talk more, laugh more,

and play more everyday!

 

I'd have to get rid of ALL of my things 

and stop worrying about anything!

 

Hmmmmmmmm...

 

 

 

 

 

Dolphins in the Chesapeake Bay, Cape Charles, Virginia.

This post first appeared in Laine's Blog in December, 2012, and then again in 2013!

Dreaming...

 

 

If someone dreamed up the world that we live in,

(and believe me someone did)

then we can dream up a better world.

Together.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes...

 

Sometimes with all of the bad news in the air,

it is difficult to remember that we live

in a beautiful,

magical

world.

 

 

We must remember to love.

That is the only way out of the madness.

Love.

 

 

 

 

 

Faery Garden at Avis' and Lee's house in Roanoke, Virginia.

 

 

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.

 

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)

Related articles

99 Bottles of Beer...

Perusing the Archives...

 

 

What do we look like to the butterfly -

clumsy, mobile trees with no nectar to recommend us?

 

If butterflies only live two weeks or so, and some trees live 300+ years,

then the span of one human life must look to the tree the way that the butterfly's life looks to us - brief!

 

So,

What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?

 

 

 

 

 

Reprinted from Laine's Blog, November 2011. 

Vulnerability

 

 

If our self hatred is rooted in our vulnerability,

why?

 

Good question.

Something to do with our conditioning for sure.

"It's not ok to be vulnerable or to show that you are."

Wrong.

It is ok and even necessary.

 

 

Dig deep and don't let the hatred outscream the love,

the love that you inherently have for yourself,

even when you are vulnerable.

 

We were all babies after all,

and still need some tenderness in this world,

especially from ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Robin, being extremely vulnerable, and broadcasting that to the neighborhood, "Squeek, squeek!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

Vulnerability develops Courage: Kind of an Oxymoron

Heart and Soul

Whack a Demon

 

 

Is the spider who spun this web waiting in ambush in the vortex at the center, or is she so confident

that dinner will come sooner or later that she is napping there?

This web is very close to the ground. The filaments are probably very sticky.

If you were a little thing and got caught in it, you might not escape.

 

Our demons seem to wait in ambush for us. They set little traps and just when we get comfortable in the world,

they wake up from their naps and pounce on us, or laugh as we struggle in their sticky webs.

What to do? Run and hide? Stay and fight?

Ideally, we could play a game with them...

"Whack the demon!"

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

"Bye, bye, demon, until the next time."

If that doesn't work, go for a long walk in the wind or to the gym.

That usually helps. Eventually they go away and you remember what a swell person you really, truly are.

It can be sticky though. So, if you find yourself in a demon's clutches, hang in there and

try not to be too serious!

 

 

 

Reprinted from LainesBlog, November, 2012, with permission! 

(Dragons we thought already slain, come out of nowhere to trap us again, can we ignore them?)

 

 

 

 

If I Were A Dolphin...

 

 

 

If I were a dolphin I would have to make a lot of changes -

move much more quickly,

eat a steady diet of fish (without the taco!)

talk more, laugh more,

and play more everyday!

 

I'd have to get rid of ALL of my things 

and stop worrying about anything!

 

Hmmmmmmmm...

 

 

Bottlenose dolphins, Chesapeake Bay, off Cape Charles, Virginia.

This post reprinted with permission from LainesBlog, December, 2012! ;>)

 

The Bend In The Road

 

 

Sometimes you can't see which way the road bends up ahead,

(especially if you're older and driving at night - not pictured here!)

But if you keep the faith,

the way reveals itself

like a ray of light.

 

 

Cascades Park, Virginia, ©2010.

Dolphin Rising

 

 

Coming up for air.

 

 

 

 

 

(Another re-visited post from January, 2012)

Bottle nose dolphin, Cape Charles, Virginia.

 

If I Were A Dolphin

 

 

If I were a dolphin I would have to make a lot of changes -

move much more quickly,

eat a steady diet of fish (without the taco!)

talk more, laugh more,

and play more everyday!

 

I'd have to get rid of ALL of my things 

and stop worrying about anything!

 

Hmmmmmmmm...

 

 

Bottlenose dolphins, Chesapeake Bay, off Cape Charles, Virginia.

 

Some Girls...

 

Some girls have all the fun!

 

 

 

Cascades, Virginia

Our Inner Hatchling

 

Nestlings are so very vulnerable.

This little one endured severe thunderstorms, only to be stalked by a crowd of noisy crows

and survived that too.

 

Nature provides lots of drama for her creatures.

Perhaps we all have a nestling within us...our inner hatchling.

 

It's the part of us that has come through the storms

and evaded or slayed the scary monsters -

sometimes with grace and other times not -

but through it all have come to trust the deep instinct to grow stronger and to thrive.

 

Spring is upon us - a good time to acknowledge our strengths

and our connection to the fragile new arrivals.

 

After all, we were once just like them.

 

 

Fuzzy

 

 

"I'm feeling all fuzzy inside."

"Maybe because we're out of focus."

"Oh, don't pick on the photographer."

 

 

The pond was designed and installed by Bill Garren of Green Acres, LLC in Virginia and is in focus. 

 

 

Dolphin Rising

 

Coming up for air.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jake for encouraging me to get my camera out, otherwise I would have missed this shot! Cape Charles, Virginia, August, 2010.

Pink Flamingos Spotted Again

 

Pink Flamingos Spotted in Virginia!

 

They look as though they are about to land.

They are probably looking for some goose down.

If you see them, try to keep them calm and warm until help arrives.