Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens
Location: 1-4) The Heritage Garden; The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA;5)Dairy Barn Entrance; Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
God Bless. The Flowers welcome Spring’s arrival and the Bees 🐝 are hovering around. Enjoy the flowers, but be careful not to get stung. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Helleborus orientalisHellebore Lenten RoseHelleborus orientalis, the Lenten rose, is a perennial flowering plant and species of hellebore in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter.
Location: The Farm; The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA.
God Bless. Stop and Smell the Flowers. Enjoy the beauty of nature all around you. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura CPL filter.
Location: Avon Creek Trail; Avon and Catawba Creeks Greenway; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Enjoy your week. Smell the flowers. Spring is almost here. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens.
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time for yourself, take a walk, smell the flowers and enjoy your week. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
These close-ups were all captured during mine & Coleman’s latest visit to (I was so worried you lay down. You don’t just – Apple iPhone’s Siri trying to type what was said to my grandson, oops) our local museum’s nature trail.
We started this visit with a walk through the Dinosaurs Exhibitions …
Stegosaurus Plates
Then we moved on the Nature Trail and a walk around the Pond …
Turtles & their Reflections
And ended our visit with a stroll through the Garden in The Farm …
Great Mullein Verbascum thapsus
New life is slowly starting to arrive and in the next few weeks new growth will begin to emerge in abundance.
Good day everyone. Today it is supposed to rain again. It seems like it has been raining every other day lately. However, it is a pleasure to get out and about in the beautiful outdoors whenever the weather is warm and sunny.
Hope y’all had a pleasant Leap Day. I know Coleman and I did. First day in a while with no rain, so it was a good day to venture outside and visit the Schiele Museum, one of Coleman’s favourite places.
Conveniently, it gave me an opportunity for capturing some interesting moments on this Leap/Last Day. Therefore, here are my last on the card shot for February.
Location: The Schiele Museum of Natural History; Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time for yourself, take a walk, smell the flowers and enjoy your week. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
Looking back in time to Sunday, February 23, 2020; I remember walking off the Enchantment of the Sea Caribbean cruise ship onto the docks of the Costa Maya Port and seeing an amazingly entertaining sight.
When I first saw the ritualistic performance, I didn’t realize exactly what I was watching, however, I later learned that I was observing four men dancing in the sky.
Would you SIT on top of an 80 foot pole?
These four dancers are tied by their feet with long ropes; they descend to the ground as the ropes unwind and fly around the pole. There is a fifth dancer who remains at the top of the pole, playing the flute and drum. This ceremony is not just for mere entertainment to display bravery and courage, but it actually has a much deeper, more valuable meaning.
The Papantla Flyers are also known as the Voladores de Papantla or Birds from Earth. The Dance of the Voladores or Papantla Flyers is a pre-Hispanic ritual that originated in Papantla, Veracruz, Mexico. The Papantla Flyers is the most famous of the Totonac dances. This ancient Mesoamerican ritual is used to ask the gods to end a drought and bring rain for crops during extended dry seasons. It is said that the brave men falling symbolizes the fall of raindrops from the sky in the search of earth’s fertility. The flute represents the singing of a bird, and the drum resembles the voice of the gods; similar (almost) to the sound of a thunderstorm. In the past, the ritual began by choosing and cutting the tree from which they would take the flying post.
As a tourist this traditional ritual of the Papantla Flyers was stunning yet seemed dangerous. To the locals, it is a normal common and ancient tradition. It was amazing to watch even though I doubt that I would ever climb that high on any pole. Rest assured that these men who perform the important ceremony have been trained since childhood to perform this ritual. The tourists, like me, in actuality only see the final part of the ceremony.
With all our cold and rainy days of late, I am reflecting on a warmer Sunny Sunday when I relished the beauty of God’s handiwork in nature. I have fond memories recalling the beautiful reflections and the enjoyment I had observing the lovely Canada Geese.
Lake at Andrew Jackson State Park
Black Geese AKA Branta canadensis, the Canada Goose
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 