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 Capturing a rare moment in the rewarding  discovery of beauty in the real world, is a gift to be  cherished and shared. Sharing happy and enlightening pictures filled with life and love on the walls of children's rooms especially, opens special opportunities for rewarding parenting. One is the ever-fleeting chance to communicate with your kids.  Trust me that researching your selection of wildlife will open new doors for parents, but seeing the awe-struck look on your little one's face is immeasurable when you share those stories. It opens a mound of opportunities to bond, as you share stories and smiles back and forth. This little American Bluebird fledgling is hiding in a familiar River Birch tree near his nest, not quite ready to fly into the big unknown with his 2 other nest mates. Not only does his adorableness inspire us into peaceful slumber, but adding his  story is reassuring and uplifting to a child facing a seemingly insurmountable concern. After a b...

Great Egret Nest with Her Young Babies in Charleston, SC The more research that's done, the more scientists are proving we can inherit much more than hair and eye colors from our ancestors, including previously unexplainable behaviors.  It's been proven for example, certain DNA hidden in us can be activated by a mere smell that formerly caused a distant ancestor's same response or reaction.  Scientists exposed parent-to-be mice to a particular smell, then shocked them so the mice associated that smell to a traumatic event, the shock.  The mice were impregnated by non-shocked mice so the scientist could take the hypothesis even farther.  When their mice were born, she measured the amount of  the particular cells in their noses that detect the particular smell that traumatized their parent. Simply put, DNA instructs our cells. She  observed the nose cells that detect that same smell had dramatically increased in the offspring.   One scientist hypoth...

Article and photographs without Photoshop or AI by Penelope Penn   APRIL IN SOUTH CAROLINA OPENS DOORS TO EXPLORE "Radar," a Great Egret escaped a dire situation in Florid and chose to make his new safe home in South Carolina        A uniquely outfitted Great Egret quickly won the hearts of locals and tourists when he suddenly appeared in a popular Murrells Inlet park, Huntington Beach. I was finally able to unravel the mystery behind him. I learned he'd traveled to find a safe forever home, having been a victim of the tragic 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico-now the Gulf of America. That's over 1,000 miles away. Everyone was fascinated by him and he even had his own Facebook pages in the US and internationally. His fans came daily, enjoying him nonchalantly fishing in the park and ultimately nesting nearby, but none of us were sure why he was banded, and outfitted with a wire protruding from his back.      During my affilia...

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY 2025   Article and Photos without Photoshop or AI by Penelope Penn   As we wrap up our children’s school year, whether you’re filled with trepidation, anxiety, or sheer glee that your kids will be with you 24/7 soon, why not make plans to go a little wild.   May’s the perfect time to plan creative ways to entertain and bond and you’re never too young or too old to expand the scope of your explorations into wild South Carolina. While planning your summer adventures, don’t forget our diverse waterways, including the extensive seafood industry they provide.   We’re fortunate in SC that fresh seafood is ready to enjoy some place in the state year-round, whether it be in a restaurant, on a banana boat, or at the business end of a fishing rod. From coastal waters in the Low Country to our fresh water in the north, South Carolina’s been known for and celebrated its diversity of seafood, readily available for literally centuries. We know Beaufort’s...

Have you peeked into the Pearly Gates or Spent a Little Time on the Porch Dying on the vine is not how any of us want to leave this world and being remembered for something we've done or contributed is a good way to begin the last leg of your journey to the Pearly Gates.  That said, one thing I personally wanted to wrap up was what started as merely answering a couple questions for my kids, their kids and grandkids but quickly snowballed. I thought being able to tell them how and when our direct ancestors came to this country was my inroad into the questions about how our family came to America and when to pass along to my descendants. The more I got into the tedious research and challenges of the sites I visited, the more I was smitten and wished we'd been taught history this way vs merely remembering dates of wars. More importantly, confirming information I soon realized is a big challenge and can lead one down a path not even relevant to our own heritage and thus waste time ...