Seating By Magnolia ...

“Gentle as the sweet magnolia, strong as steel, her faith and pride …”

  ~ “Eagle When She Flies”

   ~ 1991

~ Grammy award-winner for best country song by Dolly Parton, one of the stars of the 1989 film “Steel Magnolias”

 ~ “Steel Magnolias” is the film adaption of Robert Harling’s 1987 play of the same name. The play and film are about the bond a group of women share in a small-town Southern community, and how they cope with the death of one of their own.

The story is based on Harling’s real life experience of the death of his sister, Susan Harling Robinson, in 1985 due to complications from Type 1 diabetes. He changed his sister’s name in the story from Susan to Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, portrayed by Julia Roberts in the film.

The title suggests the main female characters can be both as delicate as the magnolia flower, and tough as steel.

A sweet and beautiful pink magnolia tree beckons you to come sit a spell on a gorgeous early May afternoon at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Cold Creek December ...

“The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.”

        ~ “The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions and when most folks in the mountains use this term, that is exactly what they mean.

The cold waters of the Little Lehigh Creek gently flow through Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania on an early December day, as autumn prepares to segue into winter.

Morning On The Colleton River ...

“Let us cross over the river, and rest in the shade of the trees.”

      ~ Stonewall Jackson

        1824-1863

  ~ The last words of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, who served as a Confederate general (1861-1863) during the Civil War, and became arguably the best-known Confederate commander after General Robert E. Lee. Jackson played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the Eastern Theater of the war until his death, and had an important part in winning many significant battles.

The still beauty of a spring morning in the Lowcountry flourishes along the Colleton River in Beautfort County, South Carolina on a late May day in Dixie.