Coastal Beauty

On impulse I decided to work on my picture-taking-from-the-car skills.  ;)  The last time I really tried that was several years ago when we were in the Amish country with our son on a cub scout trip.  We were blazing through driving through the Amish countryside in a charter bus, and I tried to take some pictures of the farms and barns and clothes hanging outside on the line.  They were not my best pictures ever.

I think I had better luck this time.  It helps when you're not going as fast and you don't have a bus full of noisy boys.  ;)

A view of the marshes at low tide as we crossed over the bridge connecting the island to the mainland.

I love the different shades of the grasses here -- varying shades of green and brown.

I think this was my best effort, by far.  Actually, I was pretty excited with the way it turned out.  Cameras have certainly improved over the years (and maybe I have too).  Do you see the two egrets in the water in the lower right foreground?  I love that sparkling blue water.

Part of a house peeking through the trees on the golf course...

 Yikes -- how did that get in here?  ;)  Behold, the North Carolina state flower.  Oh I know all the books list our state flower as the dogwood, and that is our official state flower.  However, the orange and white barrel and/or cone is our unofficial state flower.  They're planted artfully along the roads from the mountains to the coast.  Admit it -- you're envious, you know you are.  :)  This is one of the downsides of a state that's growing very quickly; according to statistics, our larger cities are the third fastest-growing in the nation.  A good thing and a not-so-good thing.  No matter, I still love North Carolina.  My roots are here; except for a six-month period when I was in high school, I've lived here all my life.

How is your week so far?  I hope you're enjoying this last week of May and that life is treating you well, my friends!  Thank you for visiting!

Hugs,

Denise