Although the camera stopped the action,
these sandpipers are running to beat the band!
Up and down the wave as it ebbs and flows,
faster than anything,
and then flying to the next wave, and running again,
and again and again.
They tickle the funny bone,
these masters of slapstick,
making any willing heart lighter.
St. Augustine Beach.
Sometimes we get distracted and miss something really wonderful
happening right behind us.
Or if we are lucky,
there is a nice person there to say,
"Can you see the colors in that cloud?"
Oh My!
Yes, I can!
Thank you!
St. Augustine Beach, not really as dark as this shot suggests, but the cloud was as bright and beautiful!
Wonderful wind at the beach this evening.
Kite surfers in their element.
Photographer coated in sand by the time she got home!
St. Augustine Beach, Florida.
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?)
You can find stones or shells on the beach in the shape of hearts.
Sometimes the leaves against the sky will connect in such a way
to form a glittering heart.
Here is a heart door in a hollow tree.
I wonder,
is anyone home?
(Who invented rectangles anyway?)
Related articles
Shadow and light and light and shadows,
and all the colors in between.
What would we do without our sun to paint the world for us?
Not much, I suppose.
Without the sun…
let's not go there!
Let's just enjoy the show!!
Life can sneak up on you and shake you up
with a sudden tragedy.
(impossible to see it coming)
Even though the tragedy isn't mine,
it's touched me,
made me pause,
and shake.
(Does anyone read poetry anymore?)
A line from a much loved poem by Howard Moss,
…the seed falters in the marsh…
perfectly describes the suspension of time,
when something extraordinary has happened to someone we love.
All will be well,
everything for a reason,
everything in its season.
But dang…
Shaky photo of El Galleon, elegantly lighted in St. Augustine Harbor.
A larger shard of the poem, Water Island, by Howard Moss…
Written to the memory of a friend,
drowned off Water Island, April, 1960
Maybe you heard, the last you'll ever hear,
The cry of the savage and endemic gull
Which shakes the blood and always brings to mind
The thought that death, the scavenger, is blind,
Blunders and is stupid, and the end
Comes with ironies so fine the seed
Falters in the marsh and the heron stops
Hunting in the weeds below your landing stairs,
Standing in a stillness that now is yours.
(It wasn't a death, but a house fire, a terrible house fire.)
You might think that having dinner under a canopy of Jasmine,
might be a bit heady.
But it didn't bother these diners,
or the birthday party upstairs.
The combination of good company,
Jasmine and wine,
make for a sweet, heady evening!
Jasmine at O. C. Whites, in St. Augustine, Florida, birthday party too!
Are you…
my mother?
(What are you?)
Lizard contemplates Parrot on the deck.
If you were a Banyan tree and could send roots to the earth from your "branches"
that could shore you up for your journey,
how strong you would be.
Confident and grounded!
Beautiful too!
Reprinted from LainesBlog, May 4th, 2012, with permission!
Gleanings From Living Long
Lainesblog Thinking Out Loud 