If Only Summer Could Stay ...

 

“It was a lovely afternoon ~ such an afternoon as only September can produce when summer has stolen back for one more day of dream and glamour.”

    ~ L.M. Montgomery

     ~ 1874 ~ 1942

Blue Aster flowers bask in the warm, waning summer sunshine of a beautiful mid-September afternoon at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center at Lehigh Gap, Slatington, Pennsylvania.

 

Blue Aster flowers have large flowerheads that bloom in different shades of blue throughout the summer and early autumn. Their beautiful blue blooms range from light blue to deeper, vibrant dark-purple like blooms. Blue Aster is a popular choice for wildflower, native plant and butterfly gardens.

 

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 Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (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.

It Was November ...

“It was November – the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.”

                     ~ L.M. Montgomery

                          ~ 1874-1942 

The late afternoon of a waning November day paints the scenery around a man and his dog strolling down a path at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania, as they are about to walk under the Interstate 78 bridge that drapes above the peaceful parkway in this painterly, HDR image I shot as sunset loomed.

The busy interstate that drives above the bucolic setting is an interesting juxtaposition, but the bridge does nothing to detract from the serene paths, natural scenery and the Little Lehigh Creek, seen at right, that flows through the length of the parkway.

Interstate 78 is an east-west highway running 144 miles from northeast of Harrisburg through Allentown in Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in New York City.

 

October Along The Delaware ...

“I’m so glad I live in world where there are Octobers.”

                  ~ L.M. Montgomery

                   ~ 1874-1942

October’s beauty brilliantly dots the banks of the Delaware River in Raubsville, Pennsylvania on a beautiful autumn afternoon along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

I captured this shot after setting off from the Wy-Hit-Tuk Park Trailhead, Easton, Pennsylvania.

The trail is positioned between the Delaware River and Delaware Canal, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America.

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

 

Wy-Hit-Tuk means “river”" in the Native American language of the Lenape, the American Indians who lived throughout the Delaware River Basin at the time of European contact.