Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography
This blog is for my insights on life, the Bible, hiking adventures with my grandson and whatever is important to me
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. I appreciate y’all.
The Misadventures to our Adventures began on Late Sunday morning, 2023 June 25th. Deciding not to use to much of my daughter’s gas (No car of my own), I chose to take my grandson to the South Fork Trail and Blueway Access to do some hiking. However, when we arrived, we encountered the Danger Trail Closed signs preventing us from hiking the South Fork Trail.
Upon seeing the Danger Trail Closed signs, we climb back into the car, and I search for where to go next to try to accomplish our hike for the day. I looked up the Carolina Thread Trail and it was closed for the day as well. The next stop on our Misadventure to Adventures was the McDonald Field at the Pharr Family YMCA. There didn’t appear to be a trail that we could hike at that location just a short Fit-Trail. Therefore, we decided to get back in the car and figure out where to try next.
After a short drive Coleman and I arrive at our fourth destination of the day, The South Fork River Park. This location looked more promising. So once again we climb out of the car, load ourselves with our backpacks (mine with camera equipment, his with snacks) and proceed to locate the trailhead. We found the trailhead with no problems and proceeded to hike on the natural surface trail which was approximately 1.25-mile loop trail and also included 800 feet of river frontage. The day was hot and humid; however, I believe Coleman enjoyed his time hiking by the riverfront.
Coleman enjoyed hiking by the river. He probably would have liked it better if I had allowed him to get in the river, but we were not prepared for that adventure. Even though this was a wonderful adventure, our day was not over yet.
On our way back to the car, Coleman heard some noise and thought we should investigate what was making the bleat or baaing sound. Located just across the road from the parking lot was a farm with several goats. I was not sure at first how close to allow Coleman to get to the goats. Turns out the farmer was out in the yard and heard Coleman approaching the gated area. The farmer was friendly and gave permission for him to pet the goats. He liked that idea but was a little shy about doing so.
This turned out to be a pleasant day even though it started out with a few mishaps. Once back in the car, the afternoon was still bright and calling for more adventure. I drove us to another park for more hiking and adventure. I will leave those tells for another day.
Lens-Artists #255: Telling a Story
God Bless. Thank you for partaking in our misadventures to adventuring. I appreciate y’all.
Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #18: Cacti
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Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge
Photo Credit: 1-3 ~ ©️Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
If I were forced to wear only one outfit over and over again it would not be a problem for me. I would wear my favorite pair of blue jeans, my favorite Til Valhalla Thank You Vietnam Veterans Remembrance T-shirt and my hiking boots ( if I needed shoes). Why wouldn’t I wanna wear was comfortable and meaningful over and over.
God Bless. Thank you for listening. I appreciate y’all.
Do you practice religion?
Practicing religion is different than living a life of faith. According to Oxford, Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. It also has 2 other definitions: 1) a particular system of faith and worship; 2) a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
When I think of religion, I think of Catholicism, Protestant, Baptist, Methodist, and a few others which are all subsets under their banner of Christianity. I think of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. There are many different versions and belief systems under each of the basic religion categories.
I would not say that I practice religion, I would rather state that I try to live my life based on my faith in God and my belief that Jesus came into the world to save me and bring me to an everlasting relationship with Him. I believe that Religion can take away the closeness that God wants us to have with Him. It is more important to have faith and believe in God than it is to be caught up in the rituals that many religions practice on a regular basis.
My life is by no means perfect or what some would call religious but that does not mean that my faith and belief in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are not real. They are very real. I believe that God answers prayers. His answers may not be what I’m looking for, however, that doesn’t mean that He does not answer. I trust in God. I know He provides for me, protects me, and will never leave me.
God Bless. Thank you for listening to me. I appreciate y’all.
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Fire Station 10 North 321 VFD Lincolnton, North Carolina
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Fire Station with Coleman and myself. I appreciate y’all.
Cee’s Black and White Challenge and Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Leannes Monochrome Madness
Photo Credit:©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF75-300mm lens.
Settings: f/7.1 1/320s ISO500 210mm
Location: South Fork Trail and Blueway Access, McAdenville, North Carolina
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
This type of plants are DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. Their typical butter yellow autumn leaves fall leaving the flowers exposed on this later flowering selection with slightly larger flowers than the species.
These particular witch-hazels were located near the Lake Trail at Crowders Mountain State Park in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S18-55mm lens.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all.
Jez’s WWE challenge
Photo Credit:©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Photos 1 & 4 – iPhone 14 Pro Max
Camera: Photos 2 & 3 – Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF75-300mm lens.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
Cosmic Photo Challenge-Music on Film
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Crowders Mountain State Park Visitors Center, Kings Mountain, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2023-Week 25
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Altura Macro Wide-Angle Fisheye Lens for Canon EG-S18-55mm.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all.
Di’s questions for this week:
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie
God Bless. Thank you for sharing in a small piece of my world. I appreciate y’all.
My grandson and I spotted these spectacular flowers near the entrance to the Nature Trail at The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium located in Gastonia, North Carolina when we went there to go hiking this past week.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: (c)Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S18-55mm Lens.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Cameras: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
Ludwigs Monday Windows
Photo Credit : Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for following along with my blog. I appreciate y’all.
Jez’s WWE challenge
Johns Cellpic Sunday
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time. I appreciate y’all.
Photo Credit: ©Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
What activities do you lose yourself in?
I lose myself in reading for at least thirty minutes everyday. Once a week or more I try to get out in nature and lose myself in the woods. Mind you I don’t actually get lost. I just enjoy communing with nature and enjoying the wonders of God’s amazingly beautiful creation. When I’m reading a book or hiking in the woods, I’m able to release any stress from the day or week & am able relax and thank God for the positives in my life thereby not focusing on negativity.
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. I appreciate y’all.
Nature Photo Challenge #17: Bees
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My entry for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge (CMMC), the topic is Pick Your Topic from My Photo below. This week Cee is combining it with Kammie’s, Oddball Challenge.
Kammie’s, Oddball Challenge
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
Tina of Lens-Artists Photo Challenge
Photo Credit:©️Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
The Helianthus schweinitzii is a perennial wildflower endemic to the Piedmont physiographic province of North Carolina and South Carolina. It is one of the rarest species of sunflower in the United States. It is common along utility and highway rights-of-way in North Carolina and South Carolina. These particular Schweinitz’s sunflower are located along the Lake Trail at Crowders Mountain State Park.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S18-55mm lens
God Bless. Thank you for visiting my blog. I appreciate y’all.
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Altura Macro Wide-Angle Lens for Canon EF-S18-55mm with Fisheye Attachment.
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
Cee’s Black and White Challenge
Photo Credit:©️Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
Leanne’s Monochrome Madness
Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for visiting my family’s Throwback Homes. I appreciate y’all.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max and Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Altura Macro Wide-Angle EF-S18-55mm lens for Canon
God Bless. Thank you for visiting my blog. I appreciate y’all.
For Coleman and me, The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium is just a short jaunt of a bus ride away. The bus stop is an even shorter jaunt away from our place than the Planetarium.
The following is what we saw at the Planetarium when we jaunted out for an amazing adventure.
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for sharing in our Planetarium visit. I appreciate y’all.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
Here are this week’s questions:
1. If you could reinvent yourself, how would you like to be? I’m not sure by how I would reinvent myself. If I reinvented myself I wouldn’t be where I am today or enjoying adventures with my grandson.
2. Would you like to be a pet in your household? No, I would not like to be a pet in my household. I would not like to make messes or rummage through the garbage like the dogs do here.
3. How many house moves have you had as an adult? As an adult I have moved to sixteen different houses or apartments in four different states. That does not count the times I have lived in a tent in various campgrounds.
4. What was your favourite home? Choosing a favorite home can be difficult. There are things about various homes I enjoyed & things I didn’t almost about each one. Like my first apartment with my husband. We went there very long but we were all together and spent the most time enjoying being a family.
“Everything we do should be a result of our gratitude for what God has done for us.”
-LAURYN HILL
Country Living
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts in my world. I appreciate y’all.
Di at Pensitivity101 hosts Share Your World and here is a look into my responses.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all.
Cosmic Photo Challenge-Summer Views
Photo Credit: Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for sharing in my summer views. I appreciate y’all.
Interesting Facts:
Red clover is a good pollen and nectar source for bumblebees.
Red clover’s flowers and leaves are edible, and can be added as garnishes to any dish. They can be ground into a flour.
The flowers often are used to make jelly and tisanes, and are used in essiac recipes. Their essential oil may be extracted and its unique scent used in aromatherapy.
It is widely grown as a fodder crop, valued for its nitrogen fixation, which increases soil fertility. For these reasons, it is used as a green manure crop.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. I appreciate y’all.
These Hots Air Balloons Adrift over Plano, Texas and New Mexico were photographed by my brother approximately in 2002. These photos were among ones he gave to me along with old pictures of my mom’s and dad’s.
The last photo (Slide 7) I dedicate in memory of Barcardi Girl, Bren.
Photo Credit: Larry D. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all.
Ludwigs Monday Windows
Photo Credit : Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for following along with my blog. I appreciate y’all.
Slender Vervain is a perennial that spreads by rhizomes and is native to South America. Is an annual north of zone 7 but needs winter protection in that zone. It has naturalized from southeastern North Carolina to Florida and is very tolerant of heat and drought.
These Verbena rigida are in the garden in front of The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit :©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. I appreciate y’all.
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
God Bless. Thank you for visiting with me. I appreciate y’all.
Like many others I was saddened to hear of Bren’s passing. I couldn’t just pick one flower. Bren loved photographing flowers so much and she loved life. I didn’t know her very long, but still I called her my friend. She liked my posts, made encouraging comments, and I enjoyed participating in her challenges. She was always kind, compassionate, and supportive.
I hope you understand one flower was just not sufficient. It took me awhile to be able to write this post. The day I found out about Bren was the anniversary of my husband’s passing from Cancer. Even though the news made me feel sad inside, i know she’ll live on in are heart’s and memories forever.
Debbies One Word Sunday: One
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S 18-55mm and Altura macro wide angle fisheye lens for Canon lenses.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me in remembrance of Our friend, Bren. I appreciate y’all.
Except for a few clouds it was a beautiful day even though it was a bit humid. Coleman and I still loved being hiking outside in nature.
Photo Credit: ©️Deb L. Waters
Cameras: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. Enjoy your day! I appreciate y’all.
Johns Cellpic Sunday
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
God Bless. Thank you for visiting. I appreciate y’all.
My Dad, Nornal Hule Waters in Monochrome:
Nornal Hule Waters,
Forever in my Heart ♥️
My Dad in Color:
This last picture of my Dad with my mom , my brother & myself is the very last picture I have of him before he passed from Cancer. It was taken in 1994, he passed 12-31-1996.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing in my memories. I appreciate y’all.
Coleman
trekking along the trails
at
Crowders Mountain State Park
Kings Mountain, North Carolina
It was a beautiful day for hiking until the rains came pouring down. Luckily Coleman and I completed our hike and were headed to the car before the rains began pounding down upon us.
Posting for Alive & Trekking’s Which Way Photo Challenge.
Photo Credit: (c) Deb L. Waters
Cameras: iPhone 14 Pro Max and Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Altura Wide-Angle Macro Lens with Fisheye Attachment for Canon.
God bless. Thank you for sharing in our hiking adventures. I appreciate y’all.
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 