The #Flower Hour #12 — Coastal Plant Life

Zostera Marina
aka Eelgrass,
a type of Seagrass
Seaside Oats

Uniola paniculata, aka sea oatsseaside oatsaraña, and arroz de costa, is a tall subtropical grass which is an important component of coastal sand dune and beach plant communities in the southeastern United States of America, eastern Mexico, and some Caribbean Islands. The Sea Oats help protect beaches and property from damage due to high winds, storm surges, and tides. Interestingly, it provides food and habitat for birds, small animals, and insects.

Sea Oats are a crucial component of the area’s hurricane defense strategy. They have helped to thwart damage from tropical storms. (Tropical storms and hurricanes typically hit the Myrtle Beach area before or more so than in our area of the Carolinas.)

Sea Oats are a protected grass in several states along the southeastern Atlantic coast. Think twice before picking or disturbing Sea Oats, that action is punishable by fine in Georgia, South Carolina, and Northern Carolina.

Terri’s The Flower Hour #12

Also posted in Remembrance of Bren & Cee.

Bren’s Floral Friday 

Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)

Photo Credit:©️2025 -2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved. 

Cameras: 1) Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max; 2-3) Canon EOS Rebel 2000D with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens & Altura UV Filter attachment.

Location: 1) Crazy Sister Marina; Murrells Inlet, South Carolina; 2-3) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Wishing y’all the best life filled with love, peace, and joy in 2026. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

Which Way Challenge (CWWC) 2026 — Any Which Way (Your Choice)

Happy 2026 Everyone! This week I’m allowing y’all to make your own choices for the Which Ways Challenge. I’d love to see your first Which Ways for 2026. I’ll be sharing our very first 2026 images this week.

First 2026 image taken at 12:05 am

The next images were taken while walking along the beach with their first steps into the Atlantic Ocean.

Click on each image to enlarge. 

Thank you to all who have supported and contributed to the Which Way Challenge this past week or at any time. Be sure to check out other Which Ways by clicking on the links below.

Brian’s CWWC: Any Which Way with People

Suzette’s For Deb’s CWWC Which Way With People

Marina at In Primo Piano’s People

Dawn’s Walking on the Walking Mall with People

Cath at Cath’s Camera’s Which Way… {Are You Going My Way?}

Geriatri’x’ Fotogallery’s People

Lisa at Daily Musings’s CWWC: Which Way With People

Deb’s Which Way Challenge 

Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved. 

Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max 

Location: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Take Care. Stay Safe. Enjoy the Outdoors. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2026 Thursday Trios: 08 January

A Gallery of

Ring-Billed Gulls

for Thursday Trios

& Bird of the Week CL

We spent the week before New Year’s down south at Myrtle Beach along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. We had so many activities going on each day that we didn’t spend all day every day on the beach, but the days Coleman and I spent on the beach were beautiful amazing memory making enjoyable times of the week. We saw an enormous amount of birds at the beach both in Murrells Inlet and by our resort in Myrtle Beach.

On the Friday before we left we saw a tremendous amount of Ring-Billed Gulls flying to and fro as well as walking on the sand by the seashore. Ring-Billed Gulls (aka Larus delawarensis) are medium-sized gulls native to Northern America. They breed in Canada and the northern Contiguous United States. They winter mainly in the United States of America and northern Mexico.

The Ring-Billed Gull’s breeding habitat is near lakes, rivers, or the coast across the majority of Canada and the northern United States. (We live in the Southeastern United States). These seagulls can also be seen in several North American parking lots.

The Ring-Billed Gulls are migratory with the majority of them moving southward towards the Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico), and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States and northern Mexico.

The Ring-Billed Gulls we saw were numerous and fascinating to watch. You could walk pretty close to them before they took flight. They tended to stay in groups, surprisingly (to us) in groups of three.

Even though they forage in flight or pick up objects while swimming, walking, or wading; they also steal food from other birds or even people’s unattended food. Some beachgoers consider the Ring-Billed Gulls pests due to their willingness to steal unguarded food on crowded beaches. (We didn’t notice them stealing any food while we were walking alongside the ocean waters or anyone annoyed with the beautiful gulls.) Most were merely enjoying the beautiful day, and time with family along the coastal beaches.

Carol’s Thursday Trios

Bird of the Week CL

Birds of the Carolinas

Jez’s Water Water Everywhere

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: Atlantic Ocean; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Take care of yourselves. Get Outdoors and enjoy nature. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

A Peaceful Afternoon (By the Ocean)

Leanne’s

Monochrome

Madness

Three Seagulls
by the Atlantic Ocean

Leanne’s Monochrome Madness-2026.01.08

Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Location: Atlantic Ocean; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

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

Wordless Wednesday: 07 January

Coleman at Myrtle Beach, SC

Click on image to enlarge. 

Wordless Wednesday-2026.01.07

Jez’s Water Water Everywhere

Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2026 Week 1

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: Atlantic Ocean; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

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

Gift of Adventure (at the Beach)

Ragtag Daily Prompts

We a well into the beginning of 2026. Coleman started back to school today, so now I have a few minutes to reflect on the past couple of weeks.

Hopefully y’all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s Day. Ours was truly an eventful Christmas holiday extravaganza. Of course it was exciting to watch Coleman receive his Gifts on Christmas Day, which he totally enjoyed. We kept telling him beforehand that he had to listen and behave or “Santa” wouldn’t bring any toys. You know what? “Santa” brought a few toys anyway. Coleman mostly received new clothes, which he was just as excited to get especially his new shoes.

Setting aside the Gifts, we decided to not let 2025 Dwindle away being bored at home. Instead, we chose to leave our little town and go on an amazing Adventure.

Where did we go on our big Adventure? Coleman’s mom was thinking about going to the mountains. Coleman wanted to go to the Beach. So, where do you think we went on our little Adventure? Yep, you’re right, we went to the Beach.

As 2025 was Dwindling away, we packed our bags, loaded up the car and headed out of town for our mini vacay Adventure. Sorry, we didn’t get any pictures of the car all loaded up, but we (I mean I) began snapping plenty of photos from the moment we arrived, all through our many Adventurous activities, and all throughout our entire mini vacation.

After checking in and bringing everything (and I mean everything) into our room for the week (actually six days), Coleman and I decided to head down to the Beach. We did not want to Dwindle our time away inside the room for one minute longer. Instead, we wanted to begin enjoying the Gift of Adventure immediately.

And thus our Gift of Adventures begins …

Ragtag Daily Prompt (RDP) Wednesday-Dwindle

Ragtag Daily Prompt (RDP) Thursday-Gift

Ragtag Daily Prompt (RDP): Tuesday! Adventure!

Photo Credit: ©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.

Cameras: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and Canon EOS Rebel 2000D.

Locations: 1st 4) Cramerton, North Carolina; Rest, 5-8) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. It’s been an Amazing Adventurous beginning to 2026. We didn’t let 2025 Dwindle away. We enjoyed the Gift of Time away together. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2026 OWS: 01.04 — Messy – Crowded, Cluttered Beach

Myrtle Beach
Cluttered with
Crowds of People
and Seagulls

Click on image to enlarge.

Debbie’s One Word Sunday-Messy

Photo Credit:©️2026 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel 2000D with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens and Altura UV Filter attachment.

Location: Atlantic Seashore; Myrtle Beach, 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.

The #Flower Hour — First Florals of 2026

Terri from Second Wind Leisure Perspective is the host for The #Flower Hour. I am posting my last 2025 Floral images (December 31,2025) as my first Flower Hour post for 2026.

Hydrangeas
Hydrangea +
The Peace Rose,
formally Rosa ‘Peace’
Bougainvillea
Pink Wisteria
Hydrangea serrata
White on White
Flowers at Broadway at the Beach

Terri’s The #Flower Hour 2026

Also posting to Remember …

Bren’s Floral Friday 

Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)

Photo Credit:©️2025 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Location: By Dinopark; Broadway at the Beach; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

God Bless. Wishing y’all the best life filled with love, peace, and joy in 2026. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

Bird of the Week LXXXIV — Carolina Gull

What is most commonly referred to as the Carolina Gull is the Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla). Laughing Gulls can be typically observed swirling over beaches like Springmaid and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. Laughing Gulls provide sights and sounds evocative of summer on the East Coast. Large numbers of these Gulls at beaches, docks, and parking lots, where they wait for handouts or fill the air with their raucous calls. 

In the Northeast, Laughing Gulls are summer visitors. However, in the Southeast and along the Gulf of Mexico they can be spotted year round along the coasts.

Some interesting cool facts about Laughing Gulls are:

  • The male and female Laughing Gull usually build their nest together.
  • The Laughing Gull is normally diurnal, or active during the day. During the breeding season it forages at night as well.
  • The adult Laughing Gull removes the eggshells from the nest after the eggs hatch.
  • The oldest known Laughing Gull was at least 22 years old when it was killed in Maine in 2009, the same state where it had been banded in 1987.

Bird of the Week LXXXIV

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