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
Today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt of Cloudy is so fitting as in our area of the world it was a partially cloudy day. Here are today’s cloudscapes.
Click on images to enlarge.
Ragtag Daily Prompt:Monday-Cloudy
Hammad’s Weekend Sky-2026.09.01
God Bless. Have a terrific week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Goats don’t like the heat any more than humans do. We arrived at The Farm just after 3 in the afternoon. It was still in the high 80’s and even the Goats didn’t feel up to playing around or greeting their visitors.
Normally, on a nice day the would come to the fence and greet us. Not today they said, “The humid midday air completely drained our energy.”
Ah, this spot in the shade feels just right, maybe a nice nap is exactly what we need.
Maybe it’ll be cooler tomorrow, we can dream can’t we?
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location; The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful adventurous week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Front Garden; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a pleasant and funtastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Took the photo to send to her mom, she was at work. Made her mom feel good inside.
Click on image to enlarge.
John’s Cell Pic Sunday-08.30.2026
Photo Credit: ©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Gastonia, North Carolina
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on images to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2023 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhone 13 Pro & 14 Pro Max
Location: Covenant Baptist Church; Gastonia, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a Wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Embrace the adventure with CWWC 2026: Any Which Way – Your Choice! Whether you’re exploring nature trails, navigating indoor staircases, or venturing onto paved paths, there’s a route for everyone. Sign up now and discover your unique Which Way!
Welcome back to the Which Way Challenge (previously hosted by Cee Neuner). This week our theme is CWWC (2026): Any Which Way —Your Choice. Your Which Ways can be Outdoors, Indoors, Paved or Unpaved, Dirt Trails or any natural surface. Your Choice is exactly that, Whichever Way you choose. As always Signs are always welcome.
My choices for this week’s Which Way Challenge are naturalized surfaces on The Schiele Museum’s Nature Trail.
Here are my entries …
Click on images to enlarge.
Thank you to those who have participated and supported the Which Ways Challenge. I appreciate y’all sharing your Which Ways with us.
For an idea of other’s Which Ways from this past week’s challenge, be sure to click on the following links below.
Brian’s More of lifes ups and downs
Geriatri’x’ Fotogallery’s Scandinavian Architecture
Cath’s Which Way… {Up, Down and Around}
Suzette’s For Deb’s CWWC26 Any Which Way – Indoor Stairs/Steps
Marina’s Perspective
Rich’s The Down Staircase
Dawn’s Paladin Indoor Steps
CWWC 2026: Any Which Way with Indoor Steps, Stairs, and/or Escalators. [08.21.2026]
Photo Credit: ©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Nature Trail; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Happy Adventures. Enjoy Nature. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Next Week: Cee’s Which Way Challenge (CWWC)-Any which way with Vehicles
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a lovely weekend filled with love, joy, and laughter. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Looking across the road I spotted a few plants near Coleman’s bus stop. Below are the flowers I noticed …
And just a few steps away in front of a small apartment complex I found this yellow flowers.
Click on images to enlarge.
Also posting in remembrance of …
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
God Bless. Admire the Flowers and the beauty found in nature. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Terri has recently started a new theme for the Sunday Stills challenge called Animal of the Month. This month she is challenging us to share images of insects. Insects include a wide variety of animal species. Common examples of Insects are Bees, ants, wasps; Beetles, ladybugs, fireflies; Butterflies and Moths; True Bugs (Cicadas and aphids); as well as Dragonflies and Damselflies.
In this second Sunday Stills Animal of the Month post I am beginning with the European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) located in The Farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina.
North Carolina’s European honey bees are a highly social insect species native to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
They are the world’s primary pollinator for agriculture. The Honey Bees at The Schiele Museum’s Farm pollinate the wide variety of plants and flowers grown in the Garden.
The European honey bee was first introduced to the Americas by European colonists in March of 1622. The English colonists shipped the first hives to Jamestown, Virginia.
The Schiele Museum of Natural History has four live apiaries located on The Farm. [The Farm is an outdoor exhibit showcasing Piedmont agricultural history alongside live farm animals.]
Visitors to The Schiele Museum’s Farm are capable of safely look into an observation hive during the Annual Bug Day. During this special day visitors can watch honey bees crawl across honeycomb structures through an indoor -facing window housing a working observation hive.
The museum integrates their apiaries into seasonal student programming, including specialized “Buzz about bees” summer camps and hands-on pollination lab experiments.
Enough about Honey Bees, shall we take a look at a gallery of other insects/bugs?
Click on each image to enlarge.
Terri’s Sunday Stills-Animal of the Month
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved. Gallery:©️2019-2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Telephoto; Gallery various cameras.
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA ; Gallery various locations.
God Bless. Enjoy your week. Have a wonderful good and safe week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Terri has recently started a new theme for the Sunday Stills challenge called Animal of the Month. I’m not sure if my animal fits this week’s animal of the month theme or not since I write mine in advance, but hopefully it’ll be alright.
With our extreme heat wave we’ve been experiencing, I found it fascinating that even the Pigs in The Farm area at The Schiele Museum of Natural History thought it was too hot.
Coleman and I stood watching this Pig for a while enjoying its antics and Wallowing.
With it being so hot and humid what else should the Pig do but get in the pool and cool off.
Turn, turn, turn …
Round and round goes the Pig …
And keep wallowing till it’s completely cooled down …
Maybe I’ll just take one more spin wallowing in the pool before I get out and mingle.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Terri’s Sunday Stills-Animal of the Month (Sorry, it’s not insects/bugs).
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Telephoto
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Enjoy your week. Have a wonderful good and safe week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Garden Roses on the Shrub in the front yard are lingering on in this extremely hit and humid summer climate.
Only a few like these are still fighting to keep blooming.
Loveliest of lovely things are they on earth that soonest pass away. The rose that lives its little hour is prized beyond the sculptured flower.
–©️William C. Bryant
We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. -Abraham Lincoln
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” ~ Luther Burbank
Click on images to enlarge.
Also posting in remembrance of …
Bren’s Floral Friday
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Unity Community; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Stop and smell the flowers. Admire them and the beauty found in nature. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
“The sky blushes in shades of pink, as if the universe itself is in love with the world.”
“In the presence of a pink sky, time seems to stand still, allowing us to savor the beauty that surrounds us.” – Unknown
Sailors Take Warning … Stormy Weather is Approaching.
“In the canvas of the sky, the pink hues speak a language known only to the heart—a language of awe, gratitude, and boundless wonder.” – Unknown
Photo Credit: ©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Unity Community; Gastonia North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Enjoy your weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
This is a free week for Leanne’s Monochrome Madness. I decided to show you images of a Grist Mill in black and white monochrome tones this week. This Grist Mill can be seen along the Nature Trail at The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Click on images to enlarge.
Leanne’s Monochrome Madness-2026.08.20_Free Week
Photo Credit: ©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Grist Mill; Nature Trail; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a terrific week and weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a lovely weekend filled with love, joy, and laughter. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time to enjoy nature. Have a funtastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Coleman looking over a Native American Exhibit in the Henry Hall of the American Indian at The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Click on image to enlarge.
John’s Cell Pic Sunday-2026.08.16
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Henry Hall of the American Indian; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on images to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Natural aMAZEment; Nature Trail; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have an Amazingly Wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
2026 Back to School …
Debbie’s Six Word Saturday-2026.08.15
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Unity Community; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a funtastic weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
It has been extremely hot and humid in our area causing havoc on gardens and flowers to wither and fade away. Currently, There are not many left in bloom. However, I did manage to find a few.
These are from The Garden in The Farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural History …
A Pair of Yellow Zinnias …
A Look at a Couple of Rhododendron indicum, aka Azalea indica L. …
Rhododendron indicum, aka Southern Indian azalea, has showy, vibrant funnel-shaped red, scarlet, or pink flowers that bloom in mid to late spring and occasionally again in the fall. ]These are both from the same Rhododendron (Azalea) Shrub.]
Now before we leave let’s take a look at an array of Sulfur cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus) …
That’s all I have for y’all today. Till next time, have a fabulously fun and productive weekend filled with love, laughter, and happiness.
Click on images to enlarge.
Terri’s The #Flower Hour #43-The Randoms
Also posting in remembrance of …
Bren’s Floral Friday
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Garden; The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Stop and smell the flowers. Admire them and the beauty found in nature. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Visiting the Schiele Museum of Natural History on Duke Energy’s free Tuesday gave Coleman and I an opportunity to visit The Farm. It was extremely hot and humid so we didn’t stay too long outside before roaming around inside the museum. Below are a few doors we noticed while walking around the Farm.
Click on images to enlarge.
Dan’s Thursday Doors-2026.08.06
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a funtastic rest of your week and weekend ahead. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with w. I appreciate y’all very much.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a lovely weekend filled with love, joy, and laughter. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Last week I said I would share where we went via the transit system and what we saw along the trails. To visit last week’s post as Coleman and I traveled on the transit network for our Which Way click here.
Now to let you know where we traveled to on the Gastonia Transit system (aka the bus) to go hiking. Our destination to the Warlick Family YMCA here in Gastonia for a bit of hiking and communing with nature. Here are a few images showing the trails we hiked and what we saw along the way.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Thank you to those who have participated and supported the Which Ways Challenge. I appreciate y’all sharing your Which Ways with us.
For an idea of other’s Which Ways from this past week’s challenge, be sure to click on the following links below.
Cath’s Which Way… {Watch Your Step}
Suzette’s Pathways For Deb’s Any Which Way CWWC Your Choice Wk-2
Deb’s Which Way Challenge (CWWC)
Next week’s theme: Next: CWWC 2026: Any Which Way with Outdoor Steps or Stairs. [08.14.2026]
Photo Credit:©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Warlick Family YMCA; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have an adventurous weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Back in 2024 the City of Gastonia ran buses to help people get around the city. Unfortunately, (at least for us) Gastonia discontinued the bus service. Now it is much harder to get around the city unless we are able to borrow my daughter’s car which isn’t too often.
Coleman and I used to travel on the city buses several times a week to go hiking at various locations around the city. Today, I decided on our free week (your choice) to share one of our adventures traveling by city transit and on foot.
** Next week I’ll share where we went via the transit system and what we saw along the trails.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Thank you to those who have participated and supported the Which Ways Challenge. I appreciate y’all sharing your Which Ways with us.
For an idea of other’s Which Ways from this past week’s challenge, be sure to click on the following links below.
Suzette’s For Deb’s Which Way Challenge CWWC: Any Which Way Your Choice – Week 1
Cath’s Which Way… {Path to the Beach}
Chava61’s CWWC: Which Way Challenge = July 2026
Dawn’s Which Way: Rt. 48 to Lost River West Virginia
Dawn’s Chasing a Rainbow Down the Road
Deb’s Which Way Challenge (CWWC)
Next week we’ll continue with the theme of CWWC: Any Which Way Along a Dirt Pathway, Trail, and/or Dirt Road [08.07.2026]
Photo Credit:©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have an adventurous weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hammad’s Weekend Sky-2026.07.19
Photo Credit: ©️Trisha L. Wilson
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Plus
Location: Kings Mountain, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a funtastic weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Brian from Bushboys World hosts a monthly challenge called Last On the Card. His rules are simple to follow if you’re interested in participating.
Here are The rules:
1. Post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for the 30th or whenever your last photo was taken.
2. No editing – who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like or the subject matter didn’t cooperate.
3. You don’t have to have any explanations, just the photo will do
4. Create a Pingback to this post or link in the comments
5. Use the tags The Last Photo and #LastOnTheCard
Here are my contributions …
From my Canon EOS T7 (2000D):
From my Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max:
Click on each image to enlarge.
#Brian’s Last on the Card-2026 June 30
God Bless. Have a funtastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Cave Bear is an extinct species which lived in Europe and Asia approximately 27,000 years ago. It is an early relative to many bears living in North America. Cave Bears are a type of ursine bear.
The Ursine group includes the brown, grizzly, Kodiak, polar, and black bears. All these bears originally lived in Europe and Asia before traveling across a land bridge during the Pliocene time period.
A Cave Bear’s weight possibly ranged from 880 to 2,200 pounds. The largest of these would be comparable in size to today’s polar bears.
The Cave Bear skeleton in The Schiele Museum of Natural History comes quite a distance from the Ural Mountains in Russia. If you ever get the opportunity to visit The Schiele Museum come and say hello to The Cave Bear … don’t worry he won’t bite you.
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Ultra Wide
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a funtastic week. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a terrific week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Trio of
Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’
As the months pass by it seems like there’s another plant deciding to bloom sharing its exquisitely alluring beauty for all to see and admire.
This variegated foliage plant, I had thought was just an ornamental landscaping element (to me) surprisingly blossomed recently. Coleman said to me, “Take a picture.” So I complied with his request and am sharing a couple with y’all.
The Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ also referred to as Plantain Lily is a fast growing perennial with variegated foliage and is highly aromatic with its summer blooms. It forms a lush, open mound of heart-shaped, apple-green leaves highlighted by creamy-yellow margins.
It has large trumpet-shaped flowers that range in colour from near-white to pale lilac. The sweet fragrance is said to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, however, I have not seen evidence of that on this plant.
It is planted next to a hydrangea bush and almost covering it completely as if hidden from view until it began to increase in growth and its blossoms became evident in the summer breeze.
Carol’s Thursday Trios-2026.06.26
Also posting in remembrance of …
Bren’s Floral Friday
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Fusion
Location: Unity Community; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Stop and smell the flowers. Admire them and the beauty found in nature. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on image to enlarge.
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2023 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time to Enjoy Nature’s Beauty. Smell the amazing fragrance of flowers. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Dan from No Facilities hosts the Fun Foto Challenge at and this week he is asking for our The Crayola Box of 8 – Blue . I have gone into my recent and archive files to see what I could locate to best represent this week’s theme. I will also be sharing Blue Along Trails as part of Friday’s CWWC post (Stay tuned to more Blue and feel free to share your blue with Cee’s Which Way Challenge as well as Dan’s CFFC challenge this week.
Here are my entries …
Click on each image to enlarge.
Dan’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC)-Blue
Photo Credit:©️2020-2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
God Bless. Enjoy your week. May it be filled with love, joy, laughter, and lots of fun. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Nature Trail; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a terrific week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Mexican Fire Bush (Hamelia patens) is grown as an annual in Gastonia, North Carolina. It is a vibrant, fast-growing tropical shrub known for its fiery orange-red tubular flowers. It is highly prized for attracting pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies. It typically grows 2 to 4 feet tall in a single season. Sinc North Carolina winters are too cold for it to remain evergreen, the plant will experience dieback, but it serves as an exceptional summer filler for local gardens.
The gardens at The Schiele Museum of Natural History are supported and maintained by the Master Gardener Group of Gaston County. This is not your traditional private garden club, but instead it is an organization that is a specialized volunteer network extension of the NC State Extension Master Gardener Program. The certified Extension Master Gardener Volunteers manage and improve the specialized flora spaces at The Schiele Museum which include The Farm and Along the entrance and nature trail. The Garden in the Farm at The Schiele Museum showcases Piedmont-native agricultural crops and plant varieties.
Click on image to enlarge.
Remembering ….
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Bren’s Floral Friday
Photo Credit: ©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter Attachment.
Location: Entrance Gardens; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take Care. Help those in need. Spread Love and Kindness all around you. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
In the Catawba Indian Village …
XingfuMama’s Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2026-Week 25
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: 1-2)Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment; 3-4) Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Catawba Indian Village; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a fantastic weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
Terri’s The Flower Hour-2026.06.15
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden; The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a terrific week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
XingfuMama’s Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2026-Week 24
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a fantastic weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Obscure or Not
Sometimes when Coleman and I are out and about hiking or visiting a museum like The Schiele Museum of Natural History I will try to capture objects, like doors, the majority of people wouldn’t ordinarily think to capture with their cameras. These I’m sharing today are ones more obscure than others you might expect to see.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Dan’s Thursday Doors-2026.06.11
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Cameras: Canon EOS Rebel 2000D with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment; Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take Care. May your week by filled with love, laughter, and happiness. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Fragaria virginiana, is also known Scarlett Strawberry and Wild Strawberry. It is a flowering perennial that produces edible fruit. It spreads by runners making it an easy choice for use as groundcover. It can also be used as erosion control holding soil on slopes.
Wild Strawberries are native to North America, from Newfoundland and Alberta in Canada , south down Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma as well as the states in between like North and South Carolina. The plant produces small white flowers in the Spring with tiny, highly flavorful red berries following in late spring and early summer. They are primarily pollinated by a diverse mix of native bees, hoverflies, and small butterflies.
These Scarlett Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) are grown in the garden in The Farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina. The Garden also contains several bee hives providing the bees which pollinate many of the flowers grown here.
Terri’s The #Flower Hour #34-2026.06.09
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden; The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time to Enjoy Nature’s Beauty. Smell the amazing fragrance of flowers. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Dan from No Facilities hosts the Fun Foto Challenge at and this week he is asking for our The Crayola Box of 8 -Yellow. I have gone into my recent files to see what I could locate to best represent this week’s theme. I am also linking this Friday’s CWWC with Dan’s CFFC for a Which Way Challenge theme of Any Which Way with Yellow along a Trail, Path, or Road.
Here are my entries …
Dan’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC) – The Crayola Box of 8-Yellow
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Unity Community; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Enjoy your week. May it be filled with love, joy, laughter, and lots of fun. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Patrick,
The Eastern Spiny
Softshell Turtle
Patrick is an Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle residing in an aquarium at The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Spiny Softshell turtles are found in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. The state of North Carolina considers these species of turtles to be of Special Concern. Patrick, like other Spiny Softshell turtles, does not have a hard shell covered in scutes. He is covered in leathery skin instead.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Fusion
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Gardens; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The snowy petals whisper grace,
And leave a perfume in this place.
These luminous and trusting blooms,
Are shining through the solemn glooms.
A sacred blossom, pure and white,
Unfolds its heart to meet the light.
The elegant and silent trust,
Will bloom in beauty since it must.
This graceful flower shows devotion,
To stir the spirit like an ocean.
It rests beneath the moonlit skies,
Where quiet magic never dies.
Debbie’s Six Word Saturday-2026.06.06
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden in The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. May your day be filled with love, peace, happiness and an abundance of laughter. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) is also referred to as wild bee balm, Appalachian Bergamot, Eastern Bergamot. It is a hardy, perennial wildflower native to North America and is in the mint genus family. It has distinctive lavender-pink blossoms, aromatic foliage which has an exceptional ability to attract pollinators and historically has been used for medicinal purposes.
It serves as a pollinator magnet drawing an enormous amount of bumblebees, native bees, predatory wasps, and butterflies. [The Garden where these are planted also has a section of four beehives with plenty of bees to help pollinate the flowers grown therein.]
For those interested in expanding their palates, you might want to try tasting its edible leaves and flowers. They add a spicy, citrusy, oregano-like kick to salads, jellies, and meat dishes. Also may note that historically the leaves have been used, by indigenous peoples, to brew teas to treat colds, flus, and digestive issues.
Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge-What’s Flowering Where You Are?
Also posting in remembrance of …
Bren’s Floral Friday
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden; In The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Admire the Flowers and the beauty found in nature. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Brian from Bushboys World hosts a monthly challenge called Last On the Card. His rules are simple to follow if you’re interested in participating.
Here are The rules:
1. Post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for the 30th or whenever your last photo was taken.
2. No editing – who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like or the subject matter didn’t cooperate.
3. You don’t have to have any explanations, just the photo will do
4. Create a Pingback to this post or link in the comments
5. Use the tags The Last Photo and #LastOnTheCard
Here are my contributions …
From my Canon EOS T7 (2000D):
From my Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max:
Click on each image to enlarge.
#Brian’s Last on the Card-2026 May 31
God Bless. Have a funtastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens
Locations: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Unlike Terri or Brian, I have not seen any dogwood trees lately. I have, however, recently visited the Garden inside The Farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural History with a lovely variety of plants and flowers. I am focusing on the beautiful Echinacea purpurea, more commonly known as Purple Coneflower or Eastern Purple Coneflower.
Coneflowers are a popular native floral in a number of gardens (both private and commercial) in our part of the Eastern United States. They are a drought-tolerant perennial with daisy-like flowers. (It is a good thing these plants are drought tolerant since we are currently under water restrictions due to insufficient rainfall (even though it has rained here all week).
The coneflowers thrive in full sunlight and well-drained soil. All the plants and flowers in this garden are well cultivated and cared for. They have a long lasting blooming season from Summer throughout Autumn. Even though it is still Spring in our area, we have had summer-like weather and the coneflowers and other plants are thriving.
This year the garden’s Purple Coneflowers are in abundance and are a delightful attraction for pollinators (like butterflies & the bees in residence at the Farm) and provide seeds for birds. Coneflowers classic colour is purple, however, they also come in a variety of shades of pink, yellow, white, and orange.
An interesting fact about the coneflowers is that every part of the plant is edible. Now I have not tried eating them as of yet, but the vibrant petals are said to have a mild, sweet , floral flavour. They make a colourful garnish for salads, desserts, or charcuterie boards. The young. tender leaves can be eaten raw in salads or cooked similarly to spinach. While the coneflowers are considered safe and nontoxic for humans and pets, you would want to avoid high doses due to the fact it is possible for them to cause upset stomachs. For further information about its culinary and medicinal uses check out Eat the Planet.
Click on each image to enlarge.
Dawn’s Spring Festival 2026 – Finale
XingfuMama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2026 Week 21
Also posting in remembrance of …
Bren’s Floral Friday
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden; In The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Admire the Flowers and the beauty found in nature. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Common Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), is a biennial root vegetable which can be grown alongside parsnips and carrots. The plant produces grass-like leaves and thin, carrot-shaped taproots that are typically 8-9 inches long. True Salsify features purple flowers that white roots.
Its white taproot yields a delicate savory flavour that is often compared to cooked oysters, asparagus, or artichokes. While we’re talking about flavour, when it’s cooked it has an earthy nutty taste which makes it highly prized by chefs for use in soups, stews, and purées. You may cook them in a variety of ways from boiling, steaming, roasting, or mashing them. Besides cooking them, the young, tender roots can be sliced or grated for salads. The young shoots, leaves, and even the flower buds can also be eaten raw. If you choose to eat them raw, do not overeat them since they may lead to gas or bloating.
Click on image to enlarge.
Terri’s The #Flower Hour #32-2026.05.26
Dawn’s Spring Festival 2026-Week #11
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden; in The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Admire the Flowers and the beauty found in nature. Have a fantastic week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Teasel pictured here are grown in a garden at The Farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural History. The Garden also has purple coneflowers, Oakleaf hydrangeas, Roses, Wild Bergamot, Lettuce, Cabbage, and many more varieties some of which will be featured in later posts.
Click on image to enlarge.
Terri’s The Flower Hour-2026.05.25
Dawn’s Spring Festival 2026 – Week 10
Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.
Location: The Garden in the Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a terrific week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Click on image to enlarge.
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens
Locations: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
A adult female pig who has given birth is referred to as a Sow. Not sure if either of these pigs are female or have given birth, but maybe you’ll enjoy the pigs anyway.
Ragtag Daily Prompt: Thursday-Sow
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T7 (2000D) with Canon EF-S55-250 mm lens
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Happy Blessed Passover! Happy Easter! Have a wonderful day and week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
While at Martha Rivers Park, my daughter (Coleman’s mom), decided she wanted to see if she could still climb a tree and hang upside down. Here is the progression …
Debbie’s Six Word Saturday-2026.05.23
Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Location: Martha Rivers Park; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. May you have a lovely week filled with love, joy, and laughter. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
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