States – Page 4 – 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.

Cellpic Sunday – Bloody Point Beach

June 29, 2025June 29, 2025Posted in Nature, Photography, South CarolinaTagged beach, Bloody Point, Cellpic Sunday, Daufuskie Island, Island, summer10 Comments

A beautiful summer day on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.

Bloody Point Beach, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

Shared with John’s Cellpic Sunday

Also shared with Debbie’s One Word Sunday – Summer

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #344 – Abandoned

April 13, 2025April 22, 2025Posted in Florida, Photography, TravelTagged Abandoned, Cedar Key, Florida Gulf Coast, Honeymoon Cottage, hurricanes, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Photo Story, Stilt House33 Comments

Anne has challenged us to tell and show our thoughts on abandonment. I’ve seen many abandoned barns, homes and businesses when traveling along the back roads of the America. Each time I see one of these buildings I wonder what happened to the people that lived there or worked there. I wonder why no one wanted it anymore. Where did they go?

Honeymoon Cottage, Cedar Key, Florida

I have images of many abandoned buildings but I decided to focus on one of them that stands out in my mind. The Honeymoon Cottage in Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast of Florida was a stilt house that was built in 1959. It originally was connected to land by a narrow walkway over the water. I don’t have to wonder about why it was abandoned. Powerful hurricanes destroyed it.

We fell in love with Cedar Key when we first visited in 1997 and have returned several times since then. The abandoned wooden structure standing in the water always intrigued me. The header image shows the way the cottage looked when I first photographed it on a visit in 2003. I couldn’t help but think about how much fun it must have been to stay there and how sad it was that no one could use it anymore.

The rest of the images show how the the cottage continued to deteriorate over the years.

Sadly, in March, 2021 the only thing left of the Honeymoon Cottage was a place for the birds to perch.

We haven’t returned to Cedar Key since our last visit in 2021. Since then Hurricane Idalia caused significant damage to the area in August, 2023. Hurricanes Debby and Helene caused more damage in 2024. Some of the businesses are still closed and the community is working hard to rebuild.

Many thanks to Anne for this challenge Lens-Artists #344 – Abandoned