Flocking To The Snowy Pond...

 “Listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world.”

   ~ Jack Kerouac

    ~ 1922 ~ 1969

 

With a fresh snowfall clinging to the trees, Canadian Geese flock to the pond as sunset looms on a mid-January day at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania, painting a serene showcase of winter’s quiet beauty.

Moonglow Meets The Delaware ...

“It must have been moonglow, way up in the blue,

It must have been moonglow that led me straight to you …”

                        ~  “Moonglow”

            ~ 1933 popular song & jazz standard

           ~ Will Hudson & Irving Mills, composers

               ~ Eddie DeLange, lyricist

   ~ “Moonglow & Theme from Picnic” is a 1956-releaased medley of both “Moonglow” & “Theme from Picnic” (1955) by Morris Stoloff – one of my favorite movies!

Moonglow meets the Delaware River over the historic Free Bridge during a soft purple twilight in autumn in the beautiful surreal.

Reflections from lights on the historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, trip the light fantastic as they dance in harmony on the Delaware River from my vantage point by the banks of the Delaware in Phillipsburg, New Jersey at dusk in late November.

Programmable LED lights illuminate the iconic bridge which spans the Delaware River to link Phillipsburg with Easton.

The lights were installed as part of a bridge rehabilitation/improvement project that spanned from late 2021 until spring 2023. The bridge is colloquially referred as the “Free Bridge” to distinguish it from the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge (previously the Bushkill Street Bridge), a short distance upstream.

The bridge that spans the two states was completed in 1896 and survived massive flooding from Hurricane Diane in 1955. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1990 and is one of my very favorite places to photograph.

Historic Phillipsburg was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area. The historic town of Easton was founded in 1752 and is located at the confluence of the Delaware River and Lehigh River, known as the Forks-Of-The-Delaware. Both are Delaware River Towns.

The Free Bridge can also be seen from across the Delaware River at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

I created this image by blending my November 22, 2025 shot of the bridge with my capture of the Supermoon of December 3, 2017 shining brightly over Cedar Creek Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

A Supermoon happens when the full moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth in its orbit. Supermoons make the moon appear a little brighter and closer than normal.

The term Supermoon has only been used in the past 40 years.

 

Yellow Days ...

“I do remember when the sunlight had a special kind of brightness

And laughter held a lover’s kind of lightness, yellow days, yellow days …”

     ~ song by Frank Sinatra & Duke Ellington

                           ~ 1968

 

A colorful canopy of yellow and orange hues of sugar maples at the peak of their autumn color beckon for a sunlit walk on an early November afternoon near the River Drive Trailhead of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail), in Laurys Station, North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

 

This portion of the trail is part of the Asher F. Boyer Eagle Trail section of the D&L.

 

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

                           

 

 

 

 

Lighting The Way ...

  “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”

         ~ Og Mandino

              ~ American writer

                    ~ 1923 ~ 1996

 Reflections from lights on the historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, trip the light fantastic as they dance in harmony on the Delaware River as a soft autumn twilight in late November wraps around historic Phillipsburg, New Jersey from my vantage point across the river in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Programmable LED lights illuminate the iconic bridge which spans the Delaware River to link Phillipsburg with Easton.

The lights were installed as part of a bridge rehabilitation/improvement project that spanned from late 2021 until spring 2023. The bridge is colloquially referred as the “Free Bridge” to distinguish it from the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge (previously the Bushkill Street Bridge), a short distance upstream.

The bridge that spans the two states was completed in 1896 and survived massive flooding from Hurricane Diane in 1955. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1990 and is one of my very favorite places to photograph.

Historic Phillipsburg was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area. The historic town of Easton was founded in 1752 and is located at the confluence of the Delaware River and Lehigh River, known as the Forks-Of-The-Delaware. Both are Delaware River Towns.

The Free Bridge can also be seen from across the Delaware River at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

Starry, Starry Sweet Gum ...

 “How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.”

                ~ John Burroughs

                    ~ 1837 ~ 1921

The leaves of a sweet gum tree are the star of show, tinting the landscape with hues of autumn on a late October afternoon at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The most distinctive feature of the leaves is the star shape, typically with five pointed lobes. In summer they are a glossy dark green, and in the fall they turn striking shades of red, orange, yellow and purple, often with multiple colors appearing on the same branch or tree.

The Sweet Gum is highly prized for its beautiful autumn foliage. It is one of the most common hardwoods in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States.

Silhouetted ...

 “Never waste a shadow in creating art.”

         ~ attributed to John Constable

                 ~ English painter

                   ~ 1776 ~ 1837

 General Harry C. Trexler looks majestic and stately on horseback, silhouetted on a late October day when the autumn sun and clouds gave play to light and shadows around this beautiful bronze statue of his image at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

 

The statue depicts General Trexler on his horse, Jack ‘O Diamonds.

 

A silhouetted bird, likely a Canada Goose or gull, flies at bottom right in a V formation, visualizing a sense of freedom. 

 

General Trexler (1854-1933) is the father of Allentown’s park system. He was an industrialist, agriculturist, philanthropist, conservationist and soldier. The park is his namesake.

 

During his lifetime, General Trexler contributed a great deal to the growth and quality of life in the City of Allentown and the surrounding County of Lehigh. 

 

This bronze statue of General Trexler was presented to the City of Allentown by his trustees Nolan P. Benner, William B. Butz, Joseph S. Young, Carl J.W. Hessinger and Richard E. White. It was commissioned January 16, 1979 and dedicated May 8, 1982.

 

General Trexler was a great man, and I’m personally very thankful to him, as Trexler Memorial Park and Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania are two of my very favorite places to be and to photograph.

An Autumn ...

 “As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.”

           ~Vincent van Gogh

                ~ 1853 ~ 1890

A late October evening comes softly as sunset rays pepper the peaceful beauty of autumn at the ford of the Jordan Creek, one of my very favorite places to be and to photograph, at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

Main Street Americana ...

 “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

             ~ Elliot Erwitt

           ~ French-born American photographer

                    ~ 1928 ~ 2023

A slice of Americana …

American flag bunting festoons storefronts on Main Street at Union Square in the historic town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey as a Chevy truck is stopped at the traffic light on a beautiful mid-September afternoon in the waning summer.

Signs advertise the Phillipsburg Farmers Market and 2025 Railroad Festival at the spot at the end of the historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, which spans the Delaware River and links Phillipsburg with Easton, Pennsylvania.

Phillipsburg, a Delaware River Town, was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area.

Try A Little Tenderness ...

 “… But it’s all so easy …

Just try a little tenderness …”

      ~ “Try a Little Tenderness”

            ~ 1932

       ~ song by the Ray Noble Orchestra

        ~ Renditions include those by Bing Crosby,  Frank Sinatra & Otis Redding 

  I spotted a honey of a summer sight ~ two beautiful white-tailed deer fawns, twice the joy of seeing just one! ~ sharing a tender moment as they enjoy their first summer on an early July evening along the Ironton Rail Trail, which loops more than nine miles through Whitehall Township, the Borough of Coplay and North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

 The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in Lehigh County. Originally built in 1861 to haul iron ore and limestone to blast furnaces along the Lehigh River, traffic later shifted to carrying Portland Cement when local iron mining declined in the early 20^th century. Much of the railroad had already been abandoned when it became part of Conrail in 1976, and the last of its trackage was removed in 1984.

In 1996, Whitehall Township purchased 9.2 miles of the right-of-way from Conrail, transforming it into the Ironton Rail Trail.

Come Fly With Me ...

“Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away …

We’ll just glide, starry-eyed …

Weather-wise it’s such a coo-coo day …”

      “Come Fly With Me”

           ~ 1958 popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, written for the great Frank Sinatra. It was the title track of Sinatra’s 1958 album of the same name.

A sweet Cabbage White Butterfly flutters toward a buddleia bush – also called summer lilac – on a perfect August afternoon along the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail), Slatington, Pennsylvania, near The Lehigh Gap.

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, The Lehigh Gap is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails ~ the Appalachian Trail and the D&L Trail. 

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.