The Spring Seeker ...

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

                          ~ Mark Twain

                                      (Samuel Clemens)

                                       ~ 1835-1910  

The rays of a waning winter sunset

brush this sweet robin perched atop

the highest branch of a tree at

Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania

as it dreams of the nearby spring

just around the corner.  

                                                                                                                                                                         

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.  

Snow Mates...

"Faith is the bird that feels the light
when the dawn is still dark."
                                 ~ Rabindranath Tagore
                                        ~ 1861-1941

Beautiful North American Male Cardinal
is joined by a cute female house finch
as sunlight filters through the branches
surrounding their perch after a fresh
March snowfall at Trexler Memorial Park,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.    

A River Runs Through It ...

"But memory is an autumn leaf that
murmurs a while in the wind
and then is heard no more."
                   ~ Khalil Gibran
                                 ~ 1883-1931

Leaves frame the autumn colors cascading across the Pequest River as it flows through the middle of town in Belvidere, New Jersey on a perfect Indian Summer day in November.

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

Song Of The Early Spring ...

"...Who made the flowers to bloom in the spring
Who made the song for the robins to sing
And who hung the moon in the starry sky
Somebody bigger than you and I ..."
               ~ "Somebody Bigger Than You and I"
     written by Johnny Lange, Hy Heath & Sonny Burke
                    ~recorded by the great Elvis Presley
                                                    ~ 1967 

A robin sings its beautiful song in the early spring at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

This painterly capture of a sweet robin in March
epitomizes the line in my most favorite Gospel hymn, the beautiful "Somebody Bigger Than You And I," recorded by the great Elvis Presley in 1967. 

       

Bluesy Morning ...

" ... I look out my window and what do I see

I see a bird way up in a tree

I want to be free free

free - ee -ee -ee

I want to be free like the bird in the tree ..." 

                ~ "I Want To Be Free" ~

                    ~from the 1957 musical drama 
                          "Jailhouse Rock"                                           ~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley

  

Beautiful bluejay perched way up in a tree

soaks in a gorgeous sun splashed April morning

at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

                                  

Christmas Caboose ...

"The bell still rings for me,

as it does for all who truly believe."

                             ~ Chris Van Allsburg

                                                    ~ born 1949

                                 ~"The Polar Express"

                                            ~ published 1985

A red caboose festooned in its Christmas finery

greets train goers on their way to boarding 

The Christmas Train on the Hawk Mountain Line

in early December at WK&S (Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern, Inc.)

Railroad, Kempton, Pennsylvania.

The Hawk Mountain Line is a scenic ride of six-and-a-half

miles on track of the old Reading Railroad, running along

the Ontelaunee Creek, through the farms and woods of

Berks and Lehigh Counties.

Painting The Snow Goose ...

"The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white.

Neither need you do anything but be yourself."

                                    ~ Lao Tzu

                                                    ~ died 531 B.C., China

 

A painterly portrait of beautiful snow goose braving the whipping March winds as the sun sets on a late winter day at

Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

A World With Octobers ...

" I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

                                                                      ~ L.M. Montgomery

                                                                                  ~ 1874-1942

          This man's thoughts could well be echoing the words of L.M. Montgomery as he soaks in the October beauty at the picturesque Hopewell Furnace, Elverson, Pennsylvania.

           Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in southeastern Berks County near Elverson, Pennsylvania is an example of an American 19th century rural “iron plantation.” The buildings include a blast furnace, the ironmaster’s house and auxiliary structures including a blacksmith’s shop, a company store and several worker’s houses. 

            Hopewell Furnace was founded in 1771 by ironmaster Mark Bird for whom Birdsboro was named. The site’s most prosperous time was during the 1820–1840 period with a brief boom in production during the American Civil War. In the mid-19th century changes in iron making, including a shift from charcoal to anthracite rendered smaller furnaces like Hopewell obsolete. The site discontinued operations in 1883.

            Today, Hopewell Furnace consists of 14 restored structures in the core historic area, 52 features on the List of Classified Structures, and a total of 848 mostly wooded acres. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is located in the Hopewell Big Woods and surrounded by French Creek State Park on three sides and the State Game Lands to the south which preserves the lands the furnace utilized for its natural resources.