salt marsh – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #366 – City Mouse/Country Mouse

September 25, 2025Posted in PhotographyTagged City Mouse/Country Mouse, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, salt marsh, Savannah49 Comments

Tina’s challenge is City Mouse/Country Mouse. Her challenge is based on the “classic Aesop fable “City Mouse/Country Mouse”. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, its moral is that no matter how appealing someone else’s life may seem, there really is no place like home.”

Full disclosure: I am a country mouse. The closest I ever got to big city life was living in the Atlanta suburbs when I was first married in the early 1970’s. I rode the bus to work in downtown Atlanta. Even though the city wasn’t as big then as it is today I had my fill of big city living. I was thrilled when my husband’s job required a move to coastal Georgia.

Technically, where I live in coastal Georgia isn’t in the country. It’s not really even a suburb. I live in a small neighborhood with only two streets and friendly neighbors. I enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with being surrounded by nature. I also enjoy being a short ride from the Atlantic Ocean where I can see sunrises like the one in my featured image.

The nearest city is Savannah. Savannah was founded in 1733 and was Georgia’s first planned city. Today the population is around 148,000 and it has become a popular tourist destination. I enjoy an occasional trip to downtown Savannah to be a tourist for a day.

My home is located about 30 minutes from downtown Savannah and a short drive to the Atlantic Ocean. When I am home I am surrounded by the beauty and quiet of the salt marsh and salt water creeks and rivers.

Many of the trees in my neighborhood are covered with Spanish Moss

During our travels we have visited big cities like New York City, San Diego, Dublin, Glasgow and Edinborough. They were fun to see but my favorite places were all the small towns and rural areas. When we are on a road trip we go out of our way to avoid the traffic of the big cities. As much as I love travel, I am always happy when we cross the last bridge across the marsh on the way home. As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home.”

Thank you to everyone who responded to Egidio’s wonderful Longing challenge last week. Be sure to check back on Saturday, September 27 at noon Eastern Time when Joanne of Joanne Mason Photography will be our guest host..

I hope you will join in for this week’s challenge. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to Tina’s post Lens-Artists #356 – City Mouse/Country Mouse

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

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #345 – My Go-To Places

April 24, 2025Posted in PhotographyTagged beach, Coastal Georgia, Lens-Artists, My Go To Places, ocean, Photo Challenge, salt marsh35 Comments

John of Journeys with JohnBo asks us to share the places we go when we are feeling down and need to take a break.

My favorite go-to place is at home. When I am home I like to see the sky at sunrise or just sit on my back porch overlooking my back yard and the salt marsh.

*My day gets off to a beautiful start when I catch the sunrise from my own backyard*.

*Sometimes I see birds like this Great Egret*

I like to take a walk in my neighborhood which is surrounded by salt marsh and salt water creeks with palm trees, palmettos, and Spanish Moss draped live oak trees creating a peaceful landscape.

The beach is my happy place. If I want to go to the beach there are four barrier islands in coastal Georgia that can be reached by car. There are numerous uninhabited small barrier islands that can be reached by small boats and others that can be reached by ferry.

*Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean on Tybee Island, Georgia, the closest beach to my home.*

*In January we spent two nights on Jekyll Island where we enjoyed the quiet beaches.*

*Sapelo Island is one of the Georgia islands that can be reached by ferry.*

We no longer have a boat but I have fond memories of how peaceful it was to ride through the nearby creeks and rivers.

*Slow boat ride through the coastal Georgia salt water marsh*

Many thanks to John for this challenge Lens-Artists #345 – My Go To Places

Learn more about the Len-Artists challenges and how to participate by clicking here.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #317 – Walking in the Neighborhood

September 26, 2024September 26, 2024Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged beach, Lens-Artists, marsh hammock, Neighborhood, Photo Challenge, salt marsh, walk, walking in the neighborhood33 Comments

Tina is our host for the latest challenge. In her post she took us on a walk around her beautiful neighborhood and has challenged us to share a walk around our neighborhood.

There are only two streets in my small neighborhood in coastal Georgia. We are surrounded by salt water creeks and salt marsh. Some days I like to walk around the neighborhood but when I want to take a walk on the beach I take a 10 minute drive to the nearest beach access.

The road to our neighborhood goes by the pond shown in the header image. I love to see the marsh, creeks and wildflowers whenever I .go for a walk around my neighborhood.

Fall is one of my favorite times of year to go to the beach. The beaches are often crowded in the summer so I usually do my beach walking after most of the visitors are gone. The next gallery shows scenes from my most recent beach walks.

One day I strolled along Tybrisa Street on Tybee Island to capture the mural featured in the next gallery.

Many thanks to our host Tina for the challenge Lens-Artists #317 – Walking in the Neighborhood

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #313 – Cool Colors

August 29, 2024Posted in PhotographyTagged Atlantic Ocean, beach, Blue Ridge Parkway, Caribbean, Clouds, Cool Colors, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, salt marsh23 Comments

Our host Johnbo asks us to feature cool colors for this challenge. He tells us “Cool colors evoke calmness, serenity, and tranquility, feelings often associated with water, sky, and nature.” I’ve included a few of my favorite cool colors for this challenge.

Blue umbrellas on the beach under a cloudy sky

A river runs through the Georgia Salt Marsh

Green Palms against a brilliant blue sky

Many thanks to our host Johnbo for the challenge Lens-Artists #313 – Cool Colors

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #306 – Habitat

July 2, 2024July 2, 2024Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Coastal Georgia, Georgia Salt Marsh, Habitat, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, salt marsh34 Comments

Tina’s challenge is to examine the habitats of both humans/and or animals.

A quote from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources tells us that “Georgia’s coastal marshlands encompass approximately 368,000 acres in a four to six mile band behind the barrier islands. Thriving in the waters of the estuaries, these marshes have been identified as one of the most extensive and productive marshland systems in the United States. There are nearly 400,000 acres of coastal marshlands in Georgia which represent a considerable portion of all remaining marshlands along the entire eastern coast of the United States.”

I chose to feature images of some of the birds that feed on the fish, shrimp, snails, and other small creatures that live in the salt marsh. Sometimes I see the birds perched in a tree or on a dock above the marsh as they search for food. It’s fun to watch them wade through the marsh or a creek as they feed.