Tag: adventures outdoors

July Flowers and Gardens

July Flowers and Gardens

July Flowers and Gardens – July is known for being the hottest part of summer in some areas. Flowers are blooming, birds are nesting. Colors are bright and vibrant.

Here is to a wonderful month of July in your area, a time to enjoy the wonderful outdoors, along with quite a few mosquitos in our area. But the good news is, I have not found one wood tick yet this year on me or my dogs. That is so unusual, but I don’t mind that at all.

July Flowers and Gardens
July Flowers and Gardens
July Flowers and Gardens
July Flowers and Gardens

July Flowers and Gardens

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Inside the Home

Inside the Home

Inside the Home of Tennessee Williams. I love looking at antiques,  the sad thing is, most of the stuff I grew up with, are antiques now as well.  When did that happen. ☺️

Inside the Home

He had a simple house with simple furnishings. I love the large windows in some of these older homes.

Inside the Home

This was the entertainment room.

After leaving his house and having lunch on the lawn there. We listened to a gentleman named Blind Mississippi Morris, one of the country’s greatest blues harmonicist. He was exceptional, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to some live music.

Next we went over to Catfish Alley for more live music, which I will show you next week. Have a great weekend. 😉

Inside the Home

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Next Tennessee Williams

Next Tennessee Williams

Next Tennessee Williams Home – Who I thought was a singer, but I have him mixed up with someone else. This gentleman was one of the greatest American playwrights. I don’t know him that well, I have heard of some of his plays, like Street Car Named Desire. But I don’t know if I have ever seen it.

Next Tennessee Williams

He had a regular old home, nothing like the antebellum homes. But unique by itself. The most interesting thing about going into this museum, which is free, was the woman we met that was volunteering there on that day.

She was the nicest lady who has lived in Columbus for many years and knew a lot of its history. She told us stories and historical facts for quite awhile. I sure appreciated her taking the time to share all of that with us.

Next Tennessee Williams

Also the day we were there they were celebrating the start of Cat Fish Alley Music Festival. They had a pork roast on the lawn which we sat down and enjoyed with a lot of other folks. Listened to some wonderful blues music which I will show more of next week.

Next Tennessee Williams

Such a fun little town, with lots of history and good people.

Next Tennessee Williams

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Antebellum Homes

Antebellum Homes

Antebellum Homes – meaning before a particular war, especially the American Civil War.

Columbus, Mississippi, boasts a rich heritage deeply rooted in the antebellum period, evidenced by its stunning architectural landscape. The city’s antebellum architecture provides a fascinating window into the past, reflecting the grandeur and cultural history of the American South before the Civil War. 

Antebellum Homes

Many of these historic homes have been meticulously restored and are open to the public, offering a glimpse into the past. The annual Columbus Spring Pilgrimage is a notable event where several antebellum homes open their doors to visitors, providing guided tours and insights into the historical and architectural significance of each property.

We happened to be camping near Columbus during the Spring Pilgrimage. We went down town to learn more about that while we were there.

We did not take the tour to go inside any of these homes this time. I will next time we visit. Everyone of these homes on the tour, people live in. But they open there homes up just during this pilgrimage to the public.

I can’t even imaging living in a home this large. The upkeep must be costly for sure. I live in a 400 sq ft cabin and that suits me just fine. But I still love seeing old homes like this. It is fun to imagine the life back then at places like this. Something right out of the history books before us. So fun.

Antebellum Homes
Antebellum Homes

Antebellum Homes

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Out For a Walk

Out For a Walk

Out For a Walk – We headed downtown Columbus to see what we could find next. Like most towns, they have the newer, shopping type areas. Which we try to avoid, it is the old part of town we like to see and Columbus has a beautiful area of old town.

The homes in this area are quite beautiful, with lots of flowers blooming everywhere.

Out For a Walk

With lots of historical homes, some of which you can go into on certain days that they are doing tours.

Of course a beautiful river walk that we came apon, with this old bridge that does not get used anymore according to the signs saying it may collapse.

Out For a Walk
Out For a Walk

Out For a Walk

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Columbus Mississippi

Columbus Mississippi

Columbus Mississippi – One of the first things I do when I get to a new town that we are camping near, is to look up what there is to see in each town. Columbus has a lot of history and very unique homes, or should I say mansions.

I always check out google maps for historic areas of a town. The first thing that showed up was this old diesel locomotive. The actual first diesel locomotive, it ran for 38 years and retired in 1984. I do love trains and learning about them. They changed

Columbus Mississippi

From their start in England in 1830, railroads spread like kudzu across the globe. They unified countries, created great fortunes, enabled the growth of new industries, and thoroughly revolutionized life in every place they ran.

It is nice when they put signs up explaining what we are looking at. I will have more of my favorite trains on tomorrows post.

Columbus Mississippi

Columbus Mississippi

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Rose Tinted Glasses

Rose Tinted Glasses

Rose Tinted Glasses – The idiom “rose-tinted glasses” signifies a perspective that is overly optimistic, highlighting the positive while often ignoring the negative aspects of a situation.

This phrase popped into my head when I look at this Rose Breasted Grosbeak bird and the flower below. I am a very positive person, for me it is because I trust in our Lord.

I hope this splash of color brightens your day and have a wonderful weekend. 🙂

Rose Tinted Glasses
Rose Tinted Glasses

Rose Tinted Glasses

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Trying Something New

Trying Something New

Trying Something New with pet portraits. I love photographing animals, especially pets, horses, dogs, cats, pretty much anything someone needs done.

I always like trying new things with photo editing. I see samples in my feed on social media platforms showing some pretty cool ideas on editing techniques. So I have to try it when I see a new one, just to see if I can do it on the computer.

Trying Something New

Below is the first thing I saw on a feed demonstration. This is a ruff draft, I had to make a table and try and make a photo frame. So nothing really matches or looks real of course. This type of art is called pop out.

Making the subject look like they are popping out of the picture, or picture frame.

This one she is popping out of another picture. I will have a couple more tomorrow of dog pop out photos.

Always fun to try new stuff.

Trying Something New

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

A New Boat to Me

A New Boat to Me

A New Boat to Me – Not the first photo, I just thought that one was such a bright pretty red color.

A New Boat to Me

I have not heard of these boats below, apparently called Mud Boats. I do know they are fast and loud. Good for going in swamp type areas. Interesting, I learned something new on this day.

Have a great weekend.

A New Boat to Me

A New Boat to Me

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

River Locks

River Locks

River Locks and Dams – This is the small lock on the Tombigbee river, you will find locks on many rivers especially if there are Corp of Engineer parks in the area.

River Locks

I have never seen a tug boat quite like this one, it was coming out of the locks here when I was taking photos of the dam.

River Locks

Lock and Dam No. 15 below, is one of my favorite places to stop and watch pelicans on the Mississippi River.

It is located on the Upper Mississippi River. It spans the river between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Lock and Dam 15 is the largest roller dam in the world,

Its dam is 1,203 feet (366.7 m) long and consists of nine 109 feet (33.2 m) non-submersible, non-overflow roller gates and two 109 feet (33.2 m) non-submersible overflow roller gates. It is unusual among the upper Mississippi River dams in that it has only roller gates

lock and dam 15

I took this photo below of the white pelican landing on the river when we stopped by there this spring.

Below is lock and dam 14 on the Mississippi river, another great place to watch birds and tug boats.

River Locks
Lock and Dam 14 on the Mississippi River
View of the Lock and Dam 14.

River Locks

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

The Back Waters

The Back Waters

The Back Waters of the Tombigbee river is where you can find some very peaceful landscapes. This campground called the Dewayne Hayes Campground has a very nice trail that leads to a viewing dock in the calm backwaters from the river.

The reflections are just gorgeous early in the morning and lots of wildlife.

The Back Waters

This is a great campground, but it is also right next to the Columbus Air Force Base where they train pilots every day in these air craft below. So you do hear them going all day, but I didn’t not mind it. They were fun to see as well.

These training planes I see a lot down on the gulf coast, the only difference is, the ones down there go extremely fast compared to these here in Columbus. So the newbies must start in Columbus and then they graduate to flying over the ocean as fast as they can.

The Back Waters

The Back Waters

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

World of Maritime Enthusiasts

World of Maritime Enthusiasts

World of Maritime Enthusiasts – There’s something magical about watching a ship glide gracefully across the water, leaving a trail of gentle waves in its wake. For some people, this fascination goes beyond casual admiration and becomes a passionate hobby: shipspotting.

I don’t actually record ships like those hobbyist that are into shipspotting. I just like watching them and photographing them. Below are 3 different rivers with different tugboats.

Have a great weekend.

Tombigbee River

World of Maritime Enthusiasts

Mississippi River

Ohio River

World of Maritime Enthusiasts
brookport bridge

Large Tug Boat on the old Mississippi River

World of Maritime Enthusiasts

Video below or click this link here; Tombigbee River

Watch this video on YouTube.
Sandra J's Photography

World of Maritime Enthusiasts

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Not Your Normal Barges

Not Your Normal Barges

Not Your Normal Barges on the river, most of the ones I see carry coal, or farm goods like corn. A couple on this river have barges of a different kind. Lots of gadgets and signs that say warning.

The two below are named Deborah and Corey. As I was doing some research on tug boats, I found out that shipspotting is a hobby for many people. I get that, because I do love being by the water and seeing ships and boats go by and finding out more about them and what they are hauling.

There are websites that track every ship on all the waters. Very interesting stuff.

Not Your Normal Barges
Not Your Normal Barges

Not Your Normal Barges

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

The Tombigbee River

The Tombigbee River

The Tombigbee River- The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is a 234-mile system of canals, locks, and dams that connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers. It links commercial navigation from the nation’s midsection to the Gulf of Mexico and is administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

This river is commonly known as the Tenn-Tom, it was controversial from its inception, and optimistic predictions of its economic benefits by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers never materialized. Originally estimated to cost $323 million in 1970, the total cost at completion in 1984 was almost $2 billion.

The Tombigbee River

They were not sure if creating a waterway consisting of 65 dams and lift locks was feasible. But, eventually the funding was approved.

The waterway was completed two years ahead of schedule on December 12, 1984, and on January 10, 1985, the towboat Eddie Wexler was the first commercial boat to sail upon it. 

I did not know this history of the river when we were camping right next to it. But one morning I woke up to the sound of a loud motor coming towards us. I went outside and here coming down the river was a tug boat.

Well, I lived near the Mississippi river for years, and I loved watching the tug boats and barges cruising up and down the river. But the Mississippi river is so large, one can’t really get a close up look at the barges because they are so far away.

Not these. We pulled up our chairs and watched the boat traffic go by on and off everyday. Love this campground.

The Tombigbee River

And beautiful sunrises as well.

The Tombigbee River

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds – As we left the south a few weeks ago, we decided to start exploring some new areas again on our travels. Sometimes one gets comfortable staying in a routine, the familiarity of it makes things simple and faster.

Especially when it comes to traveling. Finding new campgrounds can be a challenge, but if I plan far enough ahead, it usually results in finding new beautiful places that we have driven by so many times but never stopped because of the routine.

So Columbus Mississippi is our first stop off the beaten path. When you turn 62, you can get the Federal recreation pass that gives discounts on campgrounds, getting in free and discounts on overnight camping.

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds

The Corp of Engineer campground are included with this pass. They have great recreational parks, with lots of room, similar to state parks.

While we often hear about the COE campgrounds, the Corps of Engineers has a much broader mission other than just providing beautiful camping spaces. The Corp’s true mission is “to deliver vital public and military engineering services; partnering in peace and war to strengthen our nation’s security, energize the economy and reduce risks from disasters.”

So, how did the Corps get into the business of building campgrounds? The Corps manages land along a number of lakes and rivers, as part of the mission to operate dams. This land is protected from private development. Luckily, the Corps opted to make it possible for our nation to use these prime landscapes for recreation.

Columbus MS is a very historic area, we love to explore places like this. The history of the people who have gone before us, living during times that are so different than today. These small towns have some wonderful folks who love to share this history, many museums with volunteers who take the time to teach anyone who wants to hear about the past.

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds

Corp of Engineer Campgrounds

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Lighting and Pet Portraits

Lighting and Pet Portraits

Lighting and Pet Portraits – both of these photos are of the same mule. Lighting can make such a difference for your subject. Soft warm colors, or shinny bright colors.

Photography has a world of opportunities to create different looks. That is what I love about it. Everyday is a new challenge and new opportunities to create art with just one click.

Have a great weekend.

Lighting and Pet Portraits

Lighting and Pet Portraits

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Bokeh Lights Photography

Bokeh Lights Photography

Bokeh Lights Photography – Bokeh, also known as “Boke” is one of the most popular subjects in photography. The reason why it is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. 

Bokeh Lights Photography

Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography that separates a subject from the background is the result of shallow “depth of field” and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh. Confused yet? Take a look at the following image:

This flower stem covered with dew is in focus, (which means that it is inside the depth of field), while the background is out of focus (which means that the background is outside the depth of field). The small or “shallow” depth of field is the result of standing relatively close to the subject, while using a large aperture.

What is Aperture?

Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is an easy concept to understand if you just think about how your eyes work. As you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eyes either expands or shrinks, controlling the size of your pupil.

In photography, the “pupil” of your lens is called aperture. You can shrink or enlarge the size of the aperture to allow more or less light to reach your camera sensor. The image below shows an aperture in a lens:

Just remember to put your subject between you and the light source and shoot away to get bright bokeh lights in the background.

Bokeh Lights Photography

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

Spring Art Wildflowers

Spring Art Wildflowers

Spring Art Wildflowers – in the spring you can find wild flowers growing in the strangest places. The earth is waking up and the plants rise to meet the sunshine.

This small flower below is growing right through a fire pit grate at a campground. It made for an interesting photo.

Spring Art Wildflowers

Dandelions are quite amazing when you look at them really close. Designed to fly in the wind, the seeds are like tiny fireworks busting with silk feathers.

Spring Art Wildflowers

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

What’s Up

What’s Up

What’s Up – with a little head tilt up as this heron fly’s by looking at me. I can just picture it doing the heads up nod that people do to say hay.

That is what I did to him. 🙂

You know what the head nod is? We do it a lot when driving out on country roads. When a car approaches and the person waves at you, you either raise your first finger up as a wave back or the head nod. The shorter version of a wave.

What's Up

What’s Up

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J