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
Photo Credit: ©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Greenway Stables Entrance; Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. Smell the Flowers. Enjoy the Outdoors. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Catalpa bignonioides
Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2024 Week 30
Photo Credit: ©️1978 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: San Diego Wild Animal Park (Currently called San Diego Zoo Safari Park); Escondido, San Diego County, California, USA
God Bless. Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post your choice of 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.
Visiting the
Sequoia National Forest
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” “You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”HERE THERE
ANYWHERE EVERYWHERE
The places You’ll GO!
~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go
Dr. Seuss’s’ book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” is most often thought of as a children’s book, but it is sometimes given as a gift to a graduate. Inferring to the amazing places and things a graduate can do. Did you ever wonder what places your parents went to without you or without your knowledge? Have you ever wondered about the kinds of things they did either as they were growing up or after you became an adult?
It’s interesting to see some of the things my parents did with and without me in years past. I honestly don’t recall every outing or trip we took together as a family. What is more surprising though is I do not remember them going off for weekend outings or week long trips and leaving me home. Mind you now, most of these trips/outings, took place after I was out of high school and supposedly a grown adult.
Yes, I was an adult, but I was only working part time and going to school. As I look over my dad’s slides, I wonder where I was. What was I doing when they were off to the mountains or wherever they were off gallivanting around with their friends?
With all that in mind, these photos were taken when they went up to the Sequoias with their friends from church (just adults not children, well then we were all adults now).
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 30
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Locations: Sequoia National Park; Tulare County; and 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.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #3
Continuing our adventures from long ago at California’s Great America; we come to segment #3 of the series with another roller coaster ride, won’t you Pull Up a Seat and ride with us.
Did you spot me on the ride? Let me know if you did. These were good times with family. Memories are a wonderful reminder of past experiences and remind us to be grateful for everything in our lives.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 30
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
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.
Photo Credit:©️1978 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Julian, California, USA
God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
This week’s Monochrome Madness theme was selected & hosted by Sarah from Travel with Me; she has selected Trees as the theme for this week.
Trees are almost everywhere we go regardless of whether we are in the city, the country, near the beach, or in the mountains. I love spending time in the forests and especially when the forest is in the mountains.
Looking back over my dad’s old slides as I have been doing these past few weeks, I have been enjoying the memories, or seeing what my parents enjoyed doing back in years past. The trees here are from their time in the Sequoia National Forest.
Monochrome Madness hosted by Sara
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Sequoia National Park, California, USA
God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Julian Mountain Flowers
Photo Credit:©️1978 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Converter : Wolverine Digital Converter
Location: Julian, California, USA
God Bless. Thank for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Flowers & Wings
in the Bright Sunshine
Wings on Bright Flowers
Terri’s Sunday Stills-Wings
The Cosmic Photo Challenge-What’s flowering where you are?
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #308-Perfect Pairs
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: ©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Greenway Stables Entrance; Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. Thankful for a slight break from all the rain. Wish we could have a break from this extreme heat. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
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.
God Bless. Have a funtastic rest of your week. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Ursus arctos
Brown Bear
Photo Credit:©️2024 John Palone (my cousin) … All Rights Reserved.
Location: Alaska, USA
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Hume Lake is a reservoir in the Sierra Nevada, located within the Sequoia National Forest 65 miles east of Fresno, California. It is in the unincorporated community of Hume, California adjacent to Hume Lake.
The 87-acre lake lies behind the world’s first concrete reinforced multiple arch dam, designed by John S. Eastwood and constructed in 1908 by the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company.
Hume Lake is a popular destination for a variety of recreational activities including camping, boating, fishing, hiking, and swimming.
Hume Lake Christian Camps is a non-denominational, nonprofit parachurch organization and is one of the largest operators of Christian camps and conference centers in the world. Hume has camps and conferences for every age group ( for children and adults alike).
My parents,along with other couples from our church, spent a weekend at Hume during the summer of 1979. I’m not sure if they were attending one of the marriage retreats offered at the campground or they were all volunteers for the weekend. It seems they had plenty of leisure time to explore and photograph the Sequoia National Forest and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
I attended weekend at Hume in my late teens with others from my church one winter. Somewhere, not sure where, I have pictures from when I was there. I remember seeing and walking by the lake.
Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2024 Week 29
Jez’s Water Water Evverywhere #229
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Hume Lake Christian Campgrounds; Hume, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Hume Lake with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Standing
at the Foot
of the Cross
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Hume Lake Christian Campgrounds; Hume,California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Campground Cross with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
California Marriott’s
Great America Addition #2
This week we are continuing our adventures from August 1979 allowing y’all to imagine the experience and excitement of Pulling Up a Seat with us … Let’s Ride!
… California’s Great America’s Willard Whizzer Roller Coaster in Santa Clara, California. A transition roller coaster was introduced later on in 1986 called Grizzly Roller Coaster, which helped kids adapt from the kiddie roller coaster versions of Lucy’s Crabbie Cabbies and Woodstock Express to more grown-up thrills.
Willard’s Whizzer’s hills and ground-hugging curves gave riders a heightened impression of speed. Lacking inversions, the coaster has been a favorite of families. In the beginning, the ride didn’t have lap bars or seat belts. Small children rode side by side with a parent helping them to feel comfortable and protected. The forces of the ride were designed to keep well-behaved riders in their seats according to the laws of physics. For many children, at the time, this was their very first “big” roller coaster ride.
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 29
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35 mm
Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
A walk back in time to visit a place my mom and dad visited with friends, remembering the love they shared. I believe this was a day trip they took with friends from their Sunday school class.
On this day trip from San Diego, California, in 1979, they ventured to The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens located in San Marino, California. The Botanical Gardens section of Huntington has approximately 120 acres of specialized botanical landscaped gardens, including the “Japanese Garden”, the “Desert Garden”, and the “Chinese Garden”.
The Huntington’s Botanical Gardens showcase plants from around the world. Huntington worked diligently to make them thrive in the generous climate conditions of California. The gardens are divided into more than a dozen themes including the ones mentioned earlier.
The Japanese Garden creation began in 1911 with a donation from art dealer George Turner Marsh and was completed in 1912. However, it did not open to the public until 1928. In the Japanese Garden you can find three distinct gardens: the original stroll garden with koi-filled ponds and a drum or moon bridge, the raked-gravel dry garden which was added in 1968, and the traditionally landscaped tea garden.
An interesting side note: the gardens are frequently used as a filming location. Shits can be seen in the Carpenter’s music video, “Only Yesterday” (1975), in Star Trek the Next Generation’s episode Justice (1987), in CSI Miami’s episode of You May Now Kill the Bride (2008) and in many other productions.
The Huntington Botanical Gardens were honored on May 13, 2020 with a postal stamp as part of the American Gardens stamps. The Desert Garden was featured on the postal stamp.
Jez’s Water Water Evverywhere #228
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, San Marino California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting the Gardens with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Young Alpacas
These three Alpacas can be visited at the Crandall Bowles Children’s Farm at the Horse Road Entrance to the Anne Springs Close Greenway. The Crandall Bowles Children’s Farm offers a unique blend of education and exploration for visitors of all ages.
Integrating the former petting zoo and adding a pastoral habitat, observation areas for various animals, a half-mile loop trail, gathering lawn, educational garden, and open-air learning center, the Children’s Farm aims to provide daily interpretation and demonstrations on a variety of topics in an immersive learning environment.
Tours of the Children’s Farm are self-guided. On Saturdays and Sundays Animal Care Volunteers may possibly be on site during specified times. If interested, please check the Greenway’s website prior to visiting for further details.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Pathways and/or Passages
According the Oxford Dictionary, a Pathway is a path which you can walk along or a route you can take and a Passage is a way of exit or entrance; the act or process of moving through, under, over, or past something on the way from one place to another.
This week I am combining Cee’s Which Way with Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge doing it My Way. I have chosen to post pathways and/or passages at Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, California.
Aerial Views of
Pathways at
Marriott’s Great America
Pathways Around the Shops
and Places to
Pull Up a Seat
at Marriott’s Great America
Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2024-Week 28
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Marriott’s Great America, Santa Clara, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
1933 Duesenberg
Torpedo Sedan
Photo Credit:©️1980 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
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.
For Judy’s “The Numbers Game #30”Today’s number is 151. 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 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.
California Adventures
Since I have been working on digitizing my dad’s old slides more than photographing outdoors in our extreme heat, I decided to share some of my dad’s slides and my memories from our California adventures with all y’all.
Photo Credit:©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved; #6 of my dad taken by Fred Giese ( family friend) with my dad’s camera.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Locations: 1-5) San Francisco, California; 6-9) Sequoia National Forest Campground; Three Rivers, Tulare County, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. Sharing memories are precious and a delight to behold. I appreciate y’all very much.
Catalina Island
Jez’s Water Water Everywhere #227
Photo Credit: ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters (my dad) … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Minolta XG-7 35mm
Location: Santa Catalina Island; View from Los Angeles, California, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
For this week Debbie with Travel with Intent is asking us to show our Yellow for One Word Sunday.
Here are my Yellow for this OWS Challenge …
Debbie’s One Word Sunday-Yellow
Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge
Photo Credit: 1) ©️1979 Nornal H. Waters 2) ©️2024 Larry Underwood … All Rights Reserved.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Clare from Clare’s Cosmos is asking all of us once again to share our desktops. All you need to do is share the photo (not your actual desktop) you have set as your wallpaper. Provide whatever information you desire about the photo. Use a pingback, or post a link to her blog here so she knows you’ve joined in on the fun. Then, enjoy sharing the fun around.
Here are my July Desktops:
From my Laptop:
Wallpaper:
Screensaver:
From my Smartphone
(iPhone 14 Pro Max)
Hiking Focus:
Television Focus:
Personal Focus:
Reading Focus:
Come on along and join the fun. Share one or more, it doesn’t matter whether the photos are from your desktop, laptop, tablet, or your smartphone wallpaper(s).
Clare’s Share Your Desktop-July 2024
Photo Credit: 1 & 3)©️1963 Nornal H. Waters (my dad); 2 & 4-6) ©️2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. Looking forward to seeing y’all’s desktop photos. Have a wonderful week. I appreciate y’all very much.
Sunflower
Helianthus annuus |
Common Sunflower ‘Titan’
The ‘Titan’ sunflower, as the name suggests, is a giant annual sunflower variety with an extra thick stem, supporting huge, alternating leaves, and a massive flower head that can reach 16-22 inches across! Plus Titan sunflowers can grow to heights of 12-14 feet! Blooms from July to September. Sunflowers attract a myriad of pollinators including bees, birds, butterflies and many others as well.
Leigha’s Sunny Sunday Challenge
Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2024 Week 28
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 