Dancing In The Mirror ...

"There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle or the mirror 
that reflects it."
                    ~ Edith Wharton
                                   ~ 1862-1937 

The light of a waning winter sunset
dances as it is mirrored in the waters
spilling over a crest of the 
Little Lehigh Creek in Lehigh Parkway,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.   

The Vanishing Winter ...

"Roll forth, my song,
like the rushing river."
                      ~ James Clarence Mangan
                                        ~ 1803-1849

Spring rushes its joyful song on the
Delaware River in Belvidere, New Jersey as
a seagull flies in the distance on a rare and warm February breeze.

Chunks of ice are the only trace of the 
vanishing winter in my abstract view of the
beautiful scene I shot standing on the Jersey side beneath the Riverton-Belvidere Toll Supported Bridge. 

The bridge, which opened in 1904, links
Belvidere, New Jersey and Riverton, Pennsylvania.

Belvidere, one of my very favorite places, is
a charming Victorian town located on the banks
of the Pequest and Delaware Rivers.     

 

Fire Frost ...

"It is the life of the crystal,
the architect of the flake,
the fire of the frost,
the soul of the sunbeam,
This crisp winter air is full of it."
                       ~ John Burroughs
                                    ~1837-1921
                             ~ "Winter Sunshine"
                                           ~ 1875

The fire of the frost and the soul of the sunbeam
kiss at sunset, painting a fiery frozen beauty
at one of the highest elevations at
Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville,
Pennsylvania.

This is my abstract view of a snowy scene I shot
soon after the historic January Blizzard of 2016.
In a winter shorn of snow until the blizzard,
the storm plonked 31 inches of snow on nearby
Allentown in a 24 hour period.  

In The Key Of Cool ...

"Hot can be cool, and cool can be hot, and each can be both.

But hot or cool, man, jazz is jazz."

                                       ~ Louis Armstrong

                                                   ~ 1901-1971 

 

Silhouetted hands bring a hot jazz number

to a crescendo in the key of cool in this image,

a portion of a jazzy mural in Easton, Pennsylvania

that I shot on a chilly November day. This is my

artistic interpretation of the mural image. 

 

I captured this cool mural of jazz silhouettes of musicians on the façade of the Hotel Lafayette as they literally paint the town. The mural features the shadows of musicians on keyboard, saxophone, trumpet and other jazz instruments against bright colors.

The mural is an Easton Main Street Initiative public art project created in 2012. It is a gift of the Easton Rotary Service Foundation in memory of Ted Pierce, who was the station manager of WEST radio, an outstanding and devoted citizen. He was a generous benefactor of the Easton community and Easton Rotary Service Foundation, as well as an exemplary journalist and key reporter on the Nuremburg War Crimes Trial for the Armed Forces Network. Pierce left a large amount of money for the Rotary Club to use on Easton-based projects.

           

The mural was designed and painted on the Fourth Street side of the building by the Freehand Mural Group of Easton.

 

                                                             

Christmas Peace ...

"It's better to light just one little candle

Than to stumble in the dark

Better far that you light just one little candle

All you need's a tiny spark.

 

If we'd all say a prayer that the world would be free

The wonderful dawn on the new day we'll see

And if everyone lit just one little candle

What a bright world this would be ..."

                                    ~ "One Little Candle"

                                                ~ recorded by Perry Como, 1952

                                                   & the theme song of  "The Christophers,"

                                                   whose motto is, "It's better to light 

                                                  one candle than to curse the darkness." 

An artistic view of the Easton Peace Candle as

sunset touches twilight over the Pennsylvania city's Centre Square, and Old Glory proudly waves in the November wind.

The Easton Peace Candle is a tower-like structure erected every Christmas season in Easton, Pennsylvania. The approximately 106-foot tall structure, which resembles a giant candle, is assembled every year over the Soldier’s & Sailor’s Monument, a Civil War memorial in Centre Square. It is typically assembled in mid-November and lighted over Thanksgiving weekend and disassembled in early February each year.

The Peace Candle was first erected in 1951, and has been erected almost every year since then, having been replaced a few times due to damage or disrepair. It is dedicated to the Easton area men and women who have served or are serving in the United States armed forces.

It has been said to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the country. Although conceived with the hopes of restoring Easton’s pre-20^th century reputation for elaborate Christmas decorations, city officials also believed a candle would serve as a symbol of peace for all religions and denominations.

 

                                                                    

Follow That Dream ...

"I've got to follow that dream wherever that dream may lead
I've got to follow that dream to find the love I need ...

But when a dream is calling you,
There's just one thing that you can do 

Well, you gotta follow that dream wherever that dream may lead
You gotta follow that dream to find the love you need

Keep a-movin, move along, keep a moving ..."
                         ~ "Follow That Dream"
    ~    from the 1962 musical film
                     "Follow That Dream"
               ~recorded by the great Elvis Presley
                  
This Slinky follows it's dream to spring toward the rolling hills of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania
on a beautiful summer day, a great reminder to always follow that dream!

Slinky is a toy, a precompressed helical spring invented and developed by naval engineer Richard T. James in 1943.