"...I've a cozy little flat in
What is known as old Manhattan,
We'll settle down
Right here in town.
... We'll have Manhattan,
the Bronx and Staten Island too ...
The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy -
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy."
~ "Manhattan"
~Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, 1925
~ A popular song and part of the
Great American Songbook, often known as
"We'll Have Manhattan"
An artistic view of beautiful tulips in full
bloom in Lower Manhattan on a gorgeous April day in New York City, settled down in town to turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.
"There's nothing half so sweet in life
As love's young dream."
~ Thomas Moore,
Irish poet
~ 1779-1852
A spring sunset beckons as a bud brushes a
beautiful blossom while it waits for the bud to bloom on my favorite magnolia tree at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"Hope springs eternal ..."
~ Alexander Pope
~ 1688-1744
Hope springs eternal, just as surely as
the daffodils bloom in the early spring.
I always fill with happiness like a child
when I see spring's first blooms.
This is the first daffodil bud I've seen this season,
captured in mid-March a little more than
a week before the official beginning of
spring, a time of hope, beauty and fresh possibilities.
Daffodil, Jonquil, Narcissus ... whatever
name you choose, this bud says spring
is awakening at Trexler Memorial Park,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Hope, like spring, is ever near.
"Butterflies are self-propelled flowers."
~ Robert Heinlein
~ 1907-1988
Beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly alights on the thistle as a bee is already enjoying the nectar on a sweet summer day at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
"Teaching a child not to step
on a caterpillar is as valuable
to the child as it is to the caterpillar."
~ Bradley Millar
The first Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar I've ever seen dallies on on August afternoon along the Plainfield Township Recreation Trail near the Stockertown (Belfast Junction), Pennsylvania portion of this rail trail.
"Ballet in the air ...
twin butterflies
until, twice white
they meet, they
mate."
~ Matsuo Basho
~ 1644-1694
~ Japanese Haiku
Mating white butterflies seem to do a delicate dance
alighted on a leaf along the Ironton Rail Trail,
Whitehall, Pennsylvania on a June evening.
"May this tenderness cling
When the fire of spring
Is a memory
May you still be my own
When a hundred years have flown ...
Love me tonight."
~ "Love Me Tonight"
~words & music by Don Robertson
from the film "Fun In Acapulco"
~ recorded by the great
Elvis Presley, 1963
A beautiful blossom and breaking bud are in tandem in the fire of spring as the April sun sets on my favorite magnolia tree at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"April love ...
Every star's a wishing star that shines for you,
April love is all the seven wonders,
One little kiss can tell you this is true."
~ "April Love"
~Theme song from the 1957 film "April Love"
~ Music by Sammy Fain,
lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
~ Recorded by Pat Boone
Sunset light kisses this beautiful breaking bud
on my favorite magnolia tree on a beautiful
April evening at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"If the hands of time were
hands that I could hold ...
Hand in hand we'd choose
the moments that should last ...
Until the hands of time would choose
to wave goodbye."
"The Hands of Time"
("Brian' s Song)
~ Music by Michael Legrand
Lyrics by Marilyn & Alan Bergman
1971
Autumn leaves touch momentarily in the
crest of the Little Lehigh Creek on an October morning
at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania in this
long exposure capture.
"We live in the world when we love it."
~ Rabindranath Tagore
~ 1861-1941
Beautiful monarch butterfly savors summer's sweet nectar on a recent morning at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
"Life is like a butterfly, you can chase it,
or you can let it come to you."
~ Ruth Brown
Though he has an intent gaze and orange and black coloring, this is not a tiger, but an Eastern Comma Butterfly.
This beautiful papillon pauses at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania on a summer evening before once again taking flight.
"Yes, she has them all on the run,
but her heart belongs to just one
Her heart belongs to Tangerine ..."
~ "Tangerine"
~ Victor Schertzinger & Johnny Mercer
1941
With beautiful tangerine colored wings, an Eastern Comma Butterfly
rests on a summer day on a bench in Garett D. Wall Park,
Belvidere, New Jersey, a charming and historic town on the
banks of the Pequest and Delaware Rivers.
"If everyone lit just one little candle,
What a bright world it would be!"
~ "One Little Candle"
~ George Mysels & Joseph Maloy Roach
~ 1952
A white butterfly illuminates in the evening summer
sun at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"Let the morning time drop all it's petals on me,
Life I love you, all is groovy ..."
"The 59th Street Bridge Song" (Feelin' Groovy)
~Simon and Garfunkel, 1966
This coneflower takes on a groovy mood in June
at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"I will love the light for it shows me the way,
yet I will endure the darkness for it
shows me the stars."
~ Og Mandino
1923-1996
The summer sun filters through a beautiful
tiger lily, ablaze like a fiery jewel on a June
evening at Trexler Memorial Park,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"The magnificent butterfly finds a little heap of dirt
and sits on it; but man will never on his heap of
mud keep still."
~ Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
This white butterfly finds a shady spot in the mud
to sip some moisture yesterday at
Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"What is art? It is the response of man's
creative soul to the call of the real."
~ Rabindranath Tagore
1861-1941
Roses may very well be the champagne of flowers.
This beautiful Rainbow Sorbet Rose is captured
in monochrome in June at the Malcolm W. Gross
Memorial Rose Gardens, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"What makes you think love will end
When you know that my whole life
depends on you ...
Never my love ..."
"Never My Love,"
~ The Association, 1967
The life of the rosebud is intertwined
with that of the rose in full bloom, which colors it with life
on a June day at
the Malcolm W. Gross Memorial Rose Gardens,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
"I will remember you
will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories."
~ Sarah McLaughlin, 1995
This dandelion puff on a May evening
at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania
brought to mind that wonderful song.
"Do Be Do Be Do ..."
~ Frank Sinatra
This bee was so covered in pollen it was probably ready
to sing on an April day at Trexler Memorial Park,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
