Magnolia's Evening Song ...

“For the winter is passed. The rain is over and gone. The flowers are springing up. And the time of the singing of the birds has come.”

                 ~ Song of Solomon 2: 11-12

The first breaking bud of the season on my favorite pink magnolia tree shows off its beauty on an early April evening at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

A Touch of Bluebells ...

“A fine and subtle spirit dwells

In every little flower,

Each one its own sweet feeling breathes

With more or less of power.

There is a silent eloquence

In every wild bluebell

That fills my softened heart with bliss

That words could never tell …

But when I looked upon the bank

My wandering glances fell

Upon a little trembling flower,

A single sweet bluebell …

O, that lone flower recalled to me

My happy childhood’s hours

When bluebells seemed like fairy gifts

A prize among the flowers,

Those sunny days of merriment

When heart and soul were free,

And when I dwelt with kindred hearts

That loved and cared for me …”

        ~ “The Bluebell”

             ~Anne Bronte

               ~ 1820-1849

This little girl touches the beguiling bluebells blooming in early April near the banks of the Swabia Creek at Lock Ridge Park and Furnace Museum, Alburtis, Pennsylvania in this candid capture.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells – also called grape hyacinth – is a clarion call of spring in the Lehigh Valley, drawing many people to photograph and glimpse their beauty in the span of the few weeks they bloom.

Lock Ridge Park is a park built around an historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works, which dates back to 1868. The 59-acre park was opened in August 1976.

I Will Remember Too ...

“I’ll remember you

Long after this endless summer has gone

I’ll be lonely oh so lonely

Living only to remember you …

To your arms someday I’ll return to stay

Till then I will remember too

Every bright star we made wishes upon

Love me always, promise always

Oooh, you’ll remember too

I’ll remember you.”

             ~  “I’ll Remember You”

                   ~ written by Kui Lee, 1964

        ~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley, 1966

 A beautiful tree swallow poses with a seemingly wistful expression, as if to say, “I will remember too” on a beautiful late May afternoon along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) at Lehigh Gap.

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, the Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the 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.