Painting Dixie ...

“Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton

Old times they are not forgotten

Look away, look away, look away Dixieland

Oh I wish I was in Dixie, away, away

In Dixieland I take my stand to live and die in Dixie

For Dixieland, that’s where I was born

Early Lord one frosty morn

Look away, look away, look away Dixieland

Glory, glory hallelujah

Glory, glory hallelujah

Glory, glory hallelujah

His truth is marching on …”

  

          ~ “An American Trilogy”

 ~ songwriters Don Reedman, Nick Patrick and Robin Smith

           ~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley, 

                                                ~1972

 

The light of a southern fall sunset softly sweeps through the Spanish Moss and reflects in the lagoon, painting a serene Dixieland evening in the Lowcountry of Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Peace On The Hillside ...

"There will be peace in the valley for me, some day
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray
There'll be no sadness, no sorrow
No trouble, trouble I see
There will be peace in the valley for me, for me."

                     ~ "Peace In The Valley"
                   ~ Written by Thomas A. Dorsey
                                        ~ 1937
              ~ Recorded by the great Elvis Presley
                                        ~ 1957 

Bright wild yellow mustard brushes a soft peace on a sun-filled May afternoon on a hillside of the Central Range of the Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, the only sounds the rustling of the spring breeze and the coo of a mourning dove. Perfect.

The color yellow is often associated with peace and happiness.

To me, this scene illustrates the still and serene beauty of God’s creation painted in that beautiful Gospel hymn “Peace in the Valley,” recorded by the great Elvis Presley in 1957.

 
                  

Sweetness In The Grass ...

"Listen easy, you can hear God calling
Walking barefoot by the stream ...
And the time will be our time
And the grass won't pay no mind ...
The moment we're living is now
Now now now now now now now ...
And the time will be our time
And the grass won't pay no mind
No the grass won't pay no mind."

       ~"And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind"
            ~ Words & Music by Neil Diamond
           ~ Recorded by the great Elvis Presley
                                         ~ 1969   

And the grass won't pay no mind
as these adorable Canadian Geese goslings
paint a picture of sweetness in the grass
in the light of a May sunset at
Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.   
 

                        
                        

Strummin' Into Spring ...

"... I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis ...
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man ...

So I slept in the hobo jungles, 
Roamed a thousand miles of track,
Till I found myself in Mobile Alabama
At a club they call Big Jack's,
A little four-piece band was jammin',
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Show 'em son ...

Guess who's leadin' that five-piece band,
Well, wouldn't ya know, it's that swingin' little guitar man."     
                                ~ "Guitar Man"
                                      ~ written by Jerry Reed
                           ~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley
                                                           ~ 1967   

This guitar, mounted on the outside wall of
Guitar Villa, Nazareth Pike, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
is strummin' into spring on a sunny day in early April,
reminding me of the great Elvis Presley singing
"Guitar Man," which he recorded in 1967.    

                                

Song Of The Early Spring ...

"...Who made the flowers to bloom in the spring
Who made the song for the robins to sing
And who hung the moon in the starry sky
Somebody bigger than you and I ..."
               ~ "Somebody Bigger Than You and I"
     written by Johnny Lange, Hy Heath & Sonny Burke
                    ~recorded by the great Elvis Presley
                                                    ~ 1967 

A robin sings its beautiful song in the early spring at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

This painterly capture of a sweet robin in March
epitomizes the line in my most favorite Gospel hymn, the beautiful "Somebody Bigger Than You And I," recorded by the great Elvis Presley in 1967.