“Kindness is like snow ~ it beautifies everything it covers.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
~ 1883 ~ 1931
The cold winter waters of the Monocacy Creek spill over Monocacy Falls in a cascading dance before the waters ramble past the snowy banks through Monocacy Park, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on a beautiful February afternoon, three days after the region was blanketed with 27.3 inches of snow.
“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”
~ George Sand
~ pseudonym of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, French novelist & memoirist
~ 1804 ~1876
The love locks left by visitors as a symbol of their love line the bridge spanning the rushing autumn waters of the Monocacy Creek on a mid-November afternoon at Monocacy Park, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The Pont des Arts is the most famous for being the Lock Bridge in Paris, France. Visitors to the bridge attach personalized padlocks to its railing and throw the keys away in the Seine River.
A love lock or love padlock is a padlock that sweethearts lock to a bridge, fence, gate, monument or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. Typically the sweethearts’ names or initials, and perhaps the date, are inscribed on the padlock, and its key is thrown away (often into a nearby river) to symbolize unbreakable love.
Since the 2000s, love locks have proliferated at an increasing number of locations worldwide. They are treated by some municipal authorities as litter or vandalism, and there is some cost to their removal. However, there are other authorities who embrace them, and who use them as fundraising projects or tourist attractions.
“Rock-a-bye baby, thy cradle is green;
Father’s a nobleman, Mother’s a queen …”
~ “Mother Goose”
~ The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales & later of English nursey rhymes
~ In 1697, Charles Perrault published a collection of folktales with the subtitle “Contes de ma mère l'oye” (Tales from my Mother Goose), which became beloved throughout France and was translated into English in 1729
Talk about the wonder of nature in action! A Canada Goose looms over her eggs just before sitting on them as the gander stands guard in the spring waters of the Monocacy Creek on a late April afternoon at Monocacy Park, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Soon precious goslings will hatch from these eggs.
Once nesting has begun, the male and female will both defend the nest. The female lays eggs about every 1.5 days. Once all the eggs are laid, incubation begins.
Between one and ten, but normally five to six eggs are laid in the nest in March, April or May. Eggs are incubated by the goose (female) while the gander (male) stands guard nearby. The female leaves the nest only briefly each day to feed. Eggs hatch after 25 to 30 days.
“April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go.”
~ Christopher Marley
~ artist & designer
~ born 1969
The waters of the Monocacy Creek spill over Monocacy Falls in a cascading dance celebrating spring as a fisherman takes in the beauty of a late April afternoon, complete with a flowering cherry tree to complete a picturesque springtime scene I captured in this painterly, HDR image at Monocacy Park, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
