Remembering A Summer Evening ...

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.”

      ~ Charles Bowden

         ~ journalist

           ~ 1945-2014

A beautiful summer evening in early August is worth remembering in this serene sepia image I shot on a hillside of the Central Range of the Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, the only sound the rustling of the breeze and the chirping of birds. Perfect.

This image, nuanced with a nostalgic mood and captured in summer, my most favorite of seasons, I feel paints the meaning of journalist Charles Bowden’s words, “Summertime is always the best of what might be.”

Water Colors ...

“Life is art, paint your dreams.”

        ~ author unknown

The poetic beauty of an afternoon in summer, my most favorite of seasons, streams through a late June afternoon in Henry’s Woods at Jacobsburg State Park, which spans between Wind Gap and Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in this painterly image.

Jacobsburg offers environmental education programs from the preschool environmental awareness programs to high school level environmental problem solving programs, historical programs, teacher workshops and public interpretive programs. Once the site where the famous Henry Rifle was made, the Jacobsburg National Historic District lies almost entirely within the park. Henry’s Woods offers very scenic hikes and the rest of the center grounds have multi-use trails.

The park surrounds the Bushkill Creek.

The original land for the center was purchased by the Department of Forests and Waters from the City of Easton in 1959. In 1969, additional land was purchased using funds from Project 70. This brought the total land area of the center to its present size of 1,168 acres.

There Will Be No Forgetting ...

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and the ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.”

 ~ President George W. Bush

 ~ November 11, 2001

 ~ born 1946

 ~43^rd President of the United States of America

 ~ 2001-2009

An American flag, rosary, NYPD shirt adorned with messages of remembrance, a green teddy bear and a card bearing hugs are among the items on the Memorial Altar for 9/11 Remembrance in St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City.

Someone from 3,000 miles away in Seattle, Washington, penned the message, at left, “We are here always in heart and soul for all those who have been touched by 911. Embrace our unification and rise above taller than the Trade Centers.” What a beautiful and poignant message.

Most of the 2,977 who perished on that surreal and devastating day were civilians – as well as 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers who died in the World Trade Center and on the ground in New York City, and another law enforcement officer who died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Fifty-five military personnel died at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. A total of 2,606 died in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area. The attacks were the deadliest terrorist act in world history, and the most devastating attack on United States soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The Episcopal parish at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street was a refuge for relief workers after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A sculpture in front of the church was made out of a giant sycamore tree destroyed on 9/11.

I shot this on a beautiful spring day in mid-April in Lower Manhattan.