Author: Deb L Waters

Cameras: Apple iPhone XR and Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF 75-300 mm and Canon EF-S18-55mm lenses.

Location: Glencairn Gardens; Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Gardens with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Thursday Doors & Monday Window #7

This is my Seventh installment of my combination of Thursday Doors & Monday Window featuring Antique Automobiles. This is the final one from this batch of antique automobiles from California. Next week I will begin posting Antique Automobiles from Washington D. C. and then moving on to Dearborn, Michigan.

1913 Rolls Royce

Town Carriage

6 Cylinders

After doing a bunch of research, I think the antiques I’ve posted thus far were captured by my dad when they toured The Nethercutt Collection located in Sylmar, California. The Collection houses what it calls “functional fine art.” It contains a collection of pristine vintage automobiles and unique antique mechanical music instruments.

Dan’s Thursday Doors

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Wordless Wednesday: 08.14 —- Comparison

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Hugh’s Wordless Wednesday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm (I’m not sure what camera my dad had in 1963).

Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: Carlsbad Caverns National Park; Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA

God Bless. Thank for visiting Carlsbad Caverns & our memories with us. Thank you sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

Birds of the Carolinas #16

Brown Thrasher

The Brown Thrasher’s name stems from its unique feeding behavior of foraging on the ground for its food. It usually forages amongst leaf litter and other thick ground cover. It quickly sweeps or thrashes its long bill in a side-to-side motion thrashing through leaf litter and other ground cover to uncover food. Its distinctive feeding strategy of thrashing for its food is shared with western relatives like the Bendire’s Thrasher.

The Brown Thrasher can be seen in abundance throughout the Eastern and Central United States. Interesting enough, the Brown Thrasher is the only thrasher which lives primarily east of the Rockies and central Texas. It is the state bird of Georgia. The photos of these Brown Thrashers were taken in Lancaster County, in the Piedmont region of South Carolina.

It is known as the “Mimic Thrush”, however, it is out mimicked by the Northern Mockingbird. It only repeats one or two phrases unlike the mockingbird which repeats three or more. Its sound is more mellow and musical in quality.

Springtime is the best time of the year if you desire to spot a Brown Thrasher. After they pair off, they tend to become more elusive, staying hidden underneath thick cover. They are monogamous during breeding season and both males and females incubate the eggs ( around 3-5) and feed the nestlings. Even so, the females still do the majority of the incubation.

The Brown Thrasher typically feeds heavily on insects during the breeding season and on fruits, berries, and seeds during other times of the year.

Bird of the Week #LXXV

Birds of the Carolinas

Location: Lancaster, Lancaster County, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

Words for Thought #31

Numbers 33:2

We are all at different stages of our journey of life. We have differences and similarities in our journeys. Just as Moses recorded the stages in the Israelites Journeys, so we record, in our blogs, our journeys through our various stages in our lives for ourselves. We share our thoughts we have recorded regarding our experiences along our journey with each of you, our blogging community, with our friends, and those we love and care about deeply.

Think About It Tuesday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park (now known as San Diego Zoo Safari Park); Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the flowers. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 FOTD: 08.12 — Rosa ‘Anuschka’

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF 75-300mm lens.

God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Monday Window & Portrait: 08.12

Smithsonian Castle

And

Joseph Henry Statue

This was one of the many stops on my parents cross country vacation during the summer of 1985. They visited The Smithsonian Institution Building on their Washington D. C. Tour.

The Smithsonian Institution Building is
Aka Smithsonian Castle, The Castle

The Castle was the first Smithsonian Building. It was designed by architect James Renwick Jr. and built between 1847 and 1855 to house the Smithsonian Institution, which was established by Congress in 1846. It was designed in the Norman Revival style, which combines late Romanesque and early Gothic motifs. It is made up of Seneca red sandstone from the Seneca Quarry in Montgomery County, Maryland.

***Close Up***
of
***Joseph Henry Statue***

The Joseph Henry Statue is located at the entrance of the Smithsonian Institution Building, or “Castle.” Joseph Henry was the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1846 to 1878. The bronze statue of him was commissioned in 1880 and installed in 1883. At its installation it faced the Smithsonian Building (The Castle.) In 1965, the bronze statue was turned to face the National Mall.

Monday Portrait

Macro Monday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: Smithsonian Institution Building; The Castle; Washington D. C., USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Weekend FOTD: 08.10/11

Loropetalum chinense

Weekend FOTD

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF 75-300mm lens

Location: Martha Rivers Park; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Silent Sunday: 08.11 —

Gateway Arch

Silent Sunday

Hammad’s Weekend Sky

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Location: Gateway Arch Monument; St. Louis, Missouri

God Bless. Have a funtastic rest of your weekend. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Pull Up a Seat: 08.10

California Marriott’s

Great America Addition #5

THE LOBSTER

Continuing our adventures from long ago at California’s Great America; we come to segment #5 of the series with The Lobster; won’t you Pull Up a Seat and ride with us.

At Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, California; The Lobster was located in the Yankee Harbor section of the amusement park. The ride in Santa Clara opened for the public in 1976. This Lobster was an Eyerly Aircraft Monster ride.

This Lobster has six (6) arms with the end of each arm having four (4) passenger cars. The Lobster in Santa Clara ride had to lower two arms at a time to allow for the unloading and loading of eight passenger cars simultaneously. This was repeated two additional times per cycle to complete the unloading and loading for all six (6) arms.

This outing was so long ago I do not remember if I rode this ride or not, but then again my dad did take the shot.

You can no longer ride this particular Lobster ride since the Santa Clara location of Great America closed, however, you may ride a similar one at the Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois.

Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 32

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: Santa Clara, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for Pulling Up a Seat with Us. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 LAPC #310: Zigzags

This week, Patti of https://pilotfishblog.com has asked us to show some of our Zigzags.

***Coleman***
***Zigzagging on Zigzagged***
***Interlocking foam blocks***

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #310-Zigzag

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing with us your time and thoughts. Remember you may click on each image for enhanced visibility. I appreciate y’all very much.

Bright Yellow Zinnia on Sunny Saturday

I’m hoping to have some sunny sunshine anyways. We’ve been having a tremendous amount of rain and wind from the outskirts of Hurricane Debby/Tropical Storm Debby ( now Tropical Depression Debby). At least I can dream of sunshine even if we do not get it for several days yet.

Debbie’s Six Word Saturday

Leigha’s Sunny Sunday Challenge

Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge

Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2024 Week 31

Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max

Location: Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Take time to stop and smell the flowers. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Overd

Ppl a. B k op

GOGg

I don’t

2024 CWWC: My Which Way — August – Week 2

For this week in doing Cee’s Which Way My Way I’m choosing a theme of Roads, Pathways, or Waterways. And as always, signs are welcome anytime. I’d love for y’all to join me in posting your Which Ways whether on Land or Sea. Remember to link your Which Way posts to Cee’s Which Way here or if you wish you can link to My Which Way here.

For my own Which Way this week I have combined it with Sunday Stills Challenge from Terri with her theme of #Float, #Afloat. In other words, my Which Ways are on both Land and Sea. These are from a visit my parents took to The Ports O’ Call in San Pedro, California. They toured the Ports O’ Call Village walking the pathways and took a tour cruise around the Bay. My dad loved to take pictures when they went places (thus my love of photography).

Cee’s Which Way Challenge

Which Way My Way

Sunday Stills-#Float #Afloat

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Location: Ports O’ Call, San Pedro, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Ports O’ Call Village with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Floral Friday: 08.09 —Colouring Flowers #32

Flowers on Stamps
Coloured by Me
Via Zen Color App

Floral Friday

God Bless. Enjoy Nature. Take time to Smell the Flowers. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all.

2024 Monochrome Madness: #14 — Shadows & Silhouettes

Dawn from The Day After is this week’s host for Monochrome Madness with her chosen theme of Shadows and Silhouettes . I decided to display my shadows in two different monochrome aspects to see which aspect the shadows are represented better.

These photos were all taken at Hume Lake Christian Camps located in Hume, California. They were taken by my dad using his Minolta XG-7 35 mm camera. For enlarged viewing click on each image.

Dawn‘s Monochrome Madness

Leanne’s MM

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Locations: Hume Lake Christian Camps; Hume, Fresno County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Sequoias with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much. Have a wonderful day.

2024 Thursday Trios: Boats on Hume Lake

Click on each photo for enlarged viewing of images. These were taken at Hume Lake Christian Campgrounds in Hume, California by my dad back in 1979 with his Minolta XG-7 35 mm camera. Fun and relaxing times can be had at Hume Lake.,

Carol’s Thursday Trios-08.08

Jez’s Water Water Everywhere

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: Hume Lake Christian Camps; Hume, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 FOTD: 08.08 — FLORIBUNDA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Thursday Doors & Monday Window #6

This is my Sixth installment of my combination of Thursday Doors & Monday Window featuring Antique Automobiles.

1947 Lincoln

Continental Coupe

12 Cylinders

The antique automobiles I have been sharing were photographed by dad when he (possibly we) went to a car show in California way back in July of 1980. My dad loved attending Car Shows and we went to many of them over the years.

Dan’s Thursday Doors

https://videopress.com/v/0mm7bVu4?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 RDP: Tuesday—Travel!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

In the aftermath of Covid, travel has increased dramatically upwards to around 60 percent from the same time last year. This increase is comparable to the amount of travelers in 2019. People are more relaxed and have an increased willingness to travel. My daughter began working at the airport earlier this year and is amazed by the number of travelers traveling by airplane. She is also quite delirious about the items travelers try to get away with bringing onto an airplane and the items which airport TSA agents have to confiscate.

Watching this video of an airplane leaving Charlotte-Douglas International Airport reminded me of a song sung by John Denver called “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

All my bags are packed
I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye … So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
John Denver

Personally, I have not travelled any lengthy distance since 2020. I’m not convinced Covid is over, but believe it is ongoing and will keep being around for a long time. Even though there are not as many, I don’t think, Covid related deaths; the long term effects of the virus drastically affect peoples lives.

With limited resources, I do not do the traveling I imagined I would be doing at this particular stage in my life. I travel vicariously through the reading of books which take me (in my mind) to interesting and fascinating places I’d never dreamed possible. Someday ( hopefully soon), I hope to travel long distance to the west coast once again. Though the traveling will not be on an airplane, most likely will be in a rental vehicle or in my daughter’s car along with a U-Haul. I’m hoping to eventually more out west to be closer to my husband’s gravesite, where I’ll be able to visit often.

Do you travel abundantly? Are you relaxed or skeptical about traveling surrounded by large crowds of people? Me, I do not like large crowds and never really have.

Ragtag Daily Prompt-Travel!

Camera: iPhone 14 Plus

Location: Charlotte-Douglas International Airport; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Numbers Game #33 — 154

To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in Judy’s Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.

I’m using a Word in place of the number 154 this week. My Word I’m choosing to use is Julian.

Visiting Beautiful Julian

From where I used to live in San Diego; we would drive east on I-8 towards the mountains for a day of exploring, hiking, and a stop for Apple pie Julian Pie Shop before returning home. The first half ( more or less) are from our day trip back in 1978. The rest of the photos are from a virtual trip I took with a friend of mine from San Diego this past weekend.

Julian is a popular destination in the beautiful Cuyamaca mountains. It is approximately 0ne (1) hour and six (6) to fourteen (14) minutes away from the Allied Gardens Neighborhood in San Diego. The route we took takes us through the backcountry and into the Cuyamaca mountains past Cuyamaca State Park and Stonewall Peak (both wonderful places for hiking.)

When visiting Julian it is like stepping back in time to the days of Julian’s beginning rooted in the 1870’s gold rush. You can see where gold was discovered plus several historical buildings which date back to the 1870’s. When you go hiking in the area, you won’t want to miss stopping by Lake Cuyamaca for relaxation and great photo opportunities of the amazingly beautiful scenery. If you’re inclined to go out on the lake the area does have boat rentals or you might decide to fish along the bank.

Judy Dystra-Brown’s Numbers Game #33-154

Location: Julian, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting Julian with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. Have a great rest of your week. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Wordless Wednesday: 08.07 —

The Spirit of St Louis

Hugh’s Wordless Wednesday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: National Air and Space Museum; Washington D.C., USA

God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

Words for Thought #30

1 John 3:18 (NIV)

***Flowers***
at
***San Diego***
***Wild Animal Park***

Think About It Tuesday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park (now known as San Diego Zoo Safari Park); Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the flowers. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Monday Window: 08.06

The Yankee Whaler Inn

***Yankee Whaler Inn***
***Ports O’ Call*** ***Village***
***San Pedro, California***

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: Ports O’ Call; San Pedro, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Monday Portrait: 08.05

Peafowl

Peafowls is the common name for two bird species of the genus Pavo and one species of the closely related genus Afropavo of the family Phasianidae (pheasants and their allies.) Phasianidae includes male peacocks, female peahens, and their young which are called peachicks.

It is the male Peafowls which are referred to as Peacocks. The males are the ones who have the vibrant blue and green coloring, long tails and dramatic displaying to attract mates. Mating season occurs between March and September.

Peacocks are polygamous birds that mate with multiple females during the mating season and have multiple partners throughout the breeding season. After mating season, the Male Peacocks shed their tail feathers and grow new ones before the next breeding season.

Monday Portrait

Bird of the Week LXXIV

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park; Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

OWS: Nature’s Framework

For One Word Sunday this week Debbie has chosen Framed. She is not referring to placing a photo in a frame, but rather using nature to frame a scene or subject.

Debbie’s One Word Sunday

Cameras: 1-3) Minolta XG-7 35 mm; 4) iPhone 14 Pro Max

Locations: 1-3) Sequoia National Forest; Tulare County, California; 4) Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Macro Monday/FOTD: 08.05

Viburnum opulus

FOTD

Macro Monday

Camera: Apple iPhone 13 Pro

Location: Riverwalk; Piedmont Medical Center Trail; Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Silent Sunday: 08.04 — Drum Musicians

Entertainment at Wild Animal Park

Silent Sunday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park; Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Pull Up a Seat: Week 31 —

California Marriott’s

Great America Addition #4

Continuing our adventures from long ago at California’s Great America; we come to segment #4 of the series with a Ferris Wheel; won’t you Pull Up a Seat and ride with us.

Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 31

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: Santa Clara, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for Pulling Up a Seat with Us. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 LAPC #309 – Balconies

PR from the blog flightofthesoul wants us to show balconies we’ve come across on our adventures or in our localities. I had to search through my photos to find some balconies. Luckily, I managed to find a few.

PR’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #309 – Balconies

God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Monochrome Madness #Turtle Sunbathing

***Turtle*** 🐢
***San Diego Wild Animal Park***

Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

Jez’s Water Water Everywhere

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park; Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Numbers Game #32 —153

To play along with Judy’s Numbers Game simply go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a choice of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.

I have chosen to pick a word to select my photos for this week’s Numbers Game hosted by Judy Dykstra-Brown’s blog. The Word I have chosen is Zoo. My selections come from four different zoos.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Riverbanks Zoo & Garden

Greenville Zoo

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Judy’s Numbers Game #31-153

Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 31

Jez’s Water Water Evverywhere #230

Camera: 1-3) Canon EOS Rebel T3i; 4) Minolta XG-7 35 mm

God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Zoos with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much. Have a wonderful day.

2024 Floral Friday: 08.02 —Colouring Flowers #31

***Cactus Flower Blossoms***
***Coloured by Me***
***Via Zen Color App***

Floral Friday

God Bless. Enjoy Nature. Take time to Smell the Flowers. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all.

2024 CWWC: My Which Way — August – Week 1

For this week in doing Cee’s Which Way My Way I’m choosing a theme of Any Dirt Roads, Pathways, or Trails. I’d love for y’all to join me in posting your Dirt Roads, Pathways or Trails.

For Cee’s Which Way doing it My Way I have chosen to select Dirt Trails from our favourite Greenway with Coleman. If desired, you can click on each photo for enlarged viewing.

Cee’s Which Way Challenge

Which Way My Way

Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max

Location: Dogwood Trail; Horse Stables Entrance; Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your Dirt Roads, Pathways, and or Trails with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Thursday Trios: 08.01

Small, Medium, Large

Carol’s Thursday Trios-08.01

God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 FOTD: Lone Flower

Epiphyllum

This Epiphyllum was captured by my dad while walking along the Epiphyllum Trail at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (Now recognized as San Diego Zoo Safari Park).

The Epiphyllum Trail is located between Walkabout Australia and Condor Ridge at the Wild Animal Park. The Trail is a beautiful tribute to these orchid cactuses. The Epiphyllums bloom in April and May to an unforgettable glorious burgeoning of brilliant tropical jewel-toned blossoms.

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park; Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Thursday Doors & Monday Window #5

This is my Fifth installment of my combination of Thursday Doors & Monday Window featuring Antique Automobiles.

1938 Lincoln

LeBaron Coupe

Model K

Dan’s Thursday Doors

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Last On the Card — July

Brian from Bushboy.blog asks us to post our last photo on our SD card or phone on the last day of the month. No editing. Explanations not necessary. Create a Pingback or leave a link in comments to Brian’s blog. Use the tags The Last Photo and #LastOnTheCard. Your last photo doesn’t have to be on the very last day of the month if you didn’t take any photos on that day. Maybe it was earlier in the month when the last photo was taken.

From My iPhone:

**Coleman**
**in his new**
**Grave Digger shirt**

From my Canon EOS Rebel T3i:

***Patterson Pond***
***Anne Springs Close Greenway***
***Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA***

From My Dad’s Slides taken with his Minolta XG-7 35 mm Via My Wolverine Digital Converter:

San Diego Wild Animal Park
San Diego, California, USA

Brian’s Last On the Card

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Wordless Wednesday: 07.31

Equestrian Show

Hugh’s Wordless Wednesday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park; Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

Birds of the Carolinas #15

House Sparrows

The House Sparrow is a common to abundant resident throughout the Carolinas. These birds can be found nesting almost everywhere people live. They are often strongly associated with man-made habitats. They are found in the Piedmont region year-round in good numbers with counts sometimes as high as 300 in a single day.

Passer domesticus
Seen at Martha Rivers Park
Gastonia, North Carolina was

The House Sparrow is a small bird with a typical length of merely 16 centimeters (6.3 inches). Females and young birds are colored pale brown and grey. The males have brighter black, white, and brown markings.

The House Sparrow feed on almost any type of seed or grain, and also enjoy eating insects. Even though insects are considered highly nutritional being rich in protein calcium, and low in carbohydrates; I think I will pass.

South Carolina Ornithologists consider the House Sparrow to be noisy, quarrelsome, and aggressive. I have not noticed them being aggressive. I have seen them flighty and a little noisy, but then I like hearing the variety of sounds from different birds.

The House Sparrow, having originally been native to Eurasia, has adapted to and thrived within man-made environments throughout the world for hundreds of years.

Birds of the Carolinas

Bird of the Week LXXIII

Location: Martha Rivers Park; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 RDP: Olympics!

Paris Olympics 2024

The Olympic Games are only held every four years. They are an athletic festival/competition that originated in Ancient Greece. Athletes from all over the world compete in various sports competitions. Athletes train for years for the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games.

This year the Summer Olympics are currently taking place in Paris, France. There has been much controversy surrounding the Opening Ceremonies which took place on Friday. I’m not discussing the specifics or opinions regarding the controversy.

I am interested in discovering whether you are watching this year’s Olympic Games. I am watching/ following how the United States athletes are performing during their Olympic qualifying Trials and Final Medal matches for their respective events. I believe the athletes have worked extremely hard to achieve their goals of becoming an Olympian and should be supported for their efforts.

If you are watching the Paris Olympic Games, are you watching every single game/competition or are you just watching and enjoying specific events? As for me, I am only watching/following specific sporting events like swimming and gymnastics.

Did your children complete/play in sporting activities while they were growing up? My daughter participated in ROTC Drill Team competitions during high school. My eldest son participated in Taekwondo (aka Tae Kwon Do), football, and swimming. He concentrated on swimming and competed in many swim meets from twelve (12) through eighteen (18) years of age. His best events were the 100-meter, 200-meter butterfly even though he competed in all strokes including the individual medley and team relays.

These pictures show him swimming the butterfly in the California Interschlastic Federation’s (CIF) State Swimming Championships in 1999. He was there competing with his High school Swim Team.

These may not be at the same level as the Olympics, but many Olympic Athletes begin their training through local clubs, training programs, or their high school or college athletic programs.

Ragtag Daily Prompt-OLYMPICS!

Jez’s Water Water Evverywhere #230

Location: Long Beach, California

God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. Have a fabulous week. I appreciate y’all very much.

Words for Thought #29

Psalm 75:6-7 (NIV)

Think About It Tuesday

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm

Converter: Wolverine Digital Converter

Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park (now known as San Diego Zoo Safari Park); Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the flowers. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Monday Window: 07.29 — San Francisco Financial District

Transamerica Pyramid

The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest building in San Francisco from its completion in 1972 until 2018 when the new construction of the Salesforce Tower which surpassed its height.

The Transamerica Pyramid is a pyramid shaped 48-story modernist skyscraper in San Francisco, California. The building is a tall, four-sided pyramid with two “wings” to accommodate an elevator shaft on the east and a stairwell and a smoke tower on the west. The building’s top 212 feet is the spire. At the top of the spire are four cameras pointed in the four cardinal directions thereby forming the “Transamerica Virtual Observation Deck.”

It is located between Clay and Washington Streets in the city’s Financial District. It once housed the headquarters for the Transamerica Corporation. Even though the Transamerica Corporation moved its U.S. headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland; the building is still associated with the company by its depiction on the company’s logo.

Skyline San Francisco California

***View of San Francisco Financial District***

Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm

Location: San Francisco, California, USA

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 Monday Portrait: 07.28 –Elephant Rising

***Elephant Show***
***San Diego Wild Animal Park***

Monday Portrait