Georgia – Page 2 – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #357 – Into the Woods

July 21, 2025July 21, 2025Posted in Georgia, Nature, PhotographyTagged Forest Bathing, Georgia Marsh Hammock, Into the Woods, Lens-Artists, Maritime Forest, Nature, Photo Challenge, Trees35 Comments

This week Egidio challenges us to go Into the Woods for some Forest Bathing. He tells us “Shinrin-yoku is a concept that was developed in Japan in the 1980s as a form of natural therapy and stress relief. In English, it is translated as “forest bathing” or immersing oneself in a forest atmosphere. It is a way to allow all your senses to experience nature mindfully.” His challenge is to show how we do forest bathing in our corner of the world.

I think I was “”forest bathing” before I knew what it was. I just know that I love the quiet of being in the woods. I feel peaceful and calm when I stand in the woods surrounded by trees.

I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree. – Joyce Kilmer

The trees in my home state of Georgia vary depending on where you are in the state. In coastal Georgia the common trees are pine trees, oaks, palmettos, and palm trees. The featured image is of a maritime forest on Jekyll Island. The following gallery was taken on a Georgia marsh hammock near my neighborhood. Wood Storks are one of the many wading birds that are seen on the trees here.

The Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia is filled with Cypress trees. Seeing these ancient trees from a boat makes me feel like I have stepped back in time.

*Cypress Trees in the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia*

Sweet Gum, Winged Sumac, Maple, Sycamore, Pine, and Water Oaks are just a few of the trees that I see when walking in the woods of middle Georgia. The landscape changes with seasons. No matter what the season I feel a sense of serenity in these woods.

*Wild Dogwoods bloom in the spring in the Georgia woods*

Many thanks to last week’s guest host SH for his challenge of Quiet Hours. Your responses to the challenge took me to many beautiful quiet places. I hope you will join us next week as Tina leads us in our next Lens-Artists challenge on Saturday, July 26 at noon Eastern Time.

Many thanks to Egidio for this challenge Lens-Artists #357 – Into the Woods

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift.

Cellpic Sunday – Early Morning on the Darien River

July 20, 2025Posted in Georgia, Photography, Road TripTagged Cellpic Sunday, Darien Georgia, Darien River, Morning Walk, Shrimp boats, Waterfront33 Comments

View from my morning walk in Darien Waterfront Park on the Darien River in Darien, Georgia

Shared with John’s Cellpic Sunday

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #355 – Creativity Looking Back to #42

June 30, 2025Posted in Georgia, PhotographyTagged creativity, Lens-Artists, Looking Back, Photo Challenge, Public Art, Tybee Island, Tybee Turtles36 Comments

Ann-Christine is our host for the first “Looking Back” topic and she explains the challenge like this: “This week we are starting to look back… each month or maybe every 6 weeks, one of us in the LAPC – team will repeat a PREVIOUSLY USED subject for the week. We will share a link to the old post, and then create a new post on the same subject. This will also give us all a chance to address challenges we may not have done before.”

Ann-Christine is asking us to look back to the topic #42 Creativity from April, 2019. I didn’t start participating in the challenges until later that year so I don’t have a previous post to look back on. You can visit Ann-Christine’s #42 post here.

Tybee Island, Georgia is home to many creative artists. In 2006 a few residents came up with the idea to display turtle statues painted by local artists around the island. In 2007 I photographed most of the turtles that were here at that time. Sometime later some of the turtles were auctioned off to raise money for sea-turtle research and preservation. For more about the project please visit Public Art on Display – Tybee Island.

I’ve always thought I didn’t have a creative bone in my body. When I was in school I was terrible in art classes. I can’t draw, I can’t paint, I can’t sculpt. I got the idea for this challenge when I saw one of the turtle statues on a morning drive around Tybee Island.

The featured image is the turtle that greets everyone at the Welcome to Tybee Island sign. I photographed it and the following image this morning.

The following gallery are some of the turtles I photographed in 2007. Each turtle was done by a different artist and each turtle is unique. These statues show the creativity of the different artists who made them. A few are still located around the island.

Last week I enjoyed all of the great responses to Anne’s challenge Reflections. The Lens-Artists team is taking a break next weekend so be sure to check back on Saturday, July 12 at noon Eastern Time when our guest host SH will be hosting the challenge. And as always, please remember that Every Day is a Gift.

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this challenge Lens-Artists #355 – Looking Back to Creativity

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

Afloat during the 1996 Olympic Games

August 1, 2024Posted in Georgia, Sporting EventsTagged 1996 Olympics, Afloat, Atlanta Olympics, Centennial Olympic Games, Float with Me, Games of the XXVI Olympiad, Olympic Volunteer, Savannah Olympic Yachting Events, Sunday Stills, U. S. Sailing, Wassaw Sound12 Comments

Are you enjoying watching the Paris Olympics and cheering on your country’s team? I sure am. 28 years ago, I wasn’t watching the Olympics on television. I was an Olympic volunteer.

During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Henry, our daughter, and I were volunteers at the Olympic Yachting events in Savannah. For two weeks we got up at the crack of dawn to spend our days on the Day Marina, a floating barge system where the boats were launched and the athletes prepared for their events.

Athletes and volunteers rode a shuttle boat from the mainland to the Day Marina each day

1996 Olympics Yachting Day Marina in Wassaw Sound near Savannah, Georgia

Our job was to help with launch and recovery of the boats. It was great meeting athletes, coaches and trainers from around the world and to see the boats up close.

It was exciting to see the athletes returning to the Day Marina after their events.

Being an Olympic volunteer was a once in a lifetime experience. The memories of those days will stay with me forever.

Shared with Sunday Stills challenge Float with Me

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #291 – Cityscapes

March 23, 2024March 23, 2024Posted in Georgia, Photography, TravelTagged Cityscapes, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Savannah, Savannah Georgia23 Comments

Patti has chosen cityscapes for this challenge. I’m not a city girl. I would much rather be in a small town, out in the country, or exploring nature.

There is one city that is near and dear to my heart and that is Savannah, Georgia. I was born in Savannah (I’m not telling you how many years ago that was) when my father was in the U. S. Air Force stationed at Hunter Air Force Base (now Hunter Army Airfield). We moved away when I was three years old. Many years later my husband’s job brought me back to Savannah. I’ve lived within 20 miles of Savannah for over 40 years.

Savannah is a popular tourist destination with it’s beautiful squares, ancient live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, a picturesque river front, Bonaventure Cemetery, and lots of history. Tourism increased after the release of John Berent’s novel “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. In Savannah the novel is known as “The Book.” Hollywood discovered Savannah and it has become a popular filming location for movies such as “Forrest Gump”, “Glory”, “The Last Song” and of course the Clint Eastwood directed “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.