Lighting Up The Nightstand ...

“…I fell in love with you

 and then you went away

But now you’re coming home to stay

Hot dog, soon everything will be all right

Hot dog, we’re gonna have a ball tonight

I’ve got a pocketful of dimes

It’s gonna be just like old times, hot dog …”

                          ~ “Hot Dog”

              ~written by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller

           ~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley

            on the 1957 album “Loving You”

  
Hot dog! It's a rare warm February evening when the iconic Jimmy's Doggie Stand lights up a winter night on the corner of Union Square in historic Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

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.