Frost Fire ...

“If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.”

                  ~ Rabindranath Tagore

                                     ~ 1861-1941

The brilliance of a fiery February sunset glimmers across a frozen Leaser Lake in the shadow of the northern Blue Mountain Ridge, New Tripoli, Pennsylvania.

I captured this shot of shimmering winter beauty on a quiet, chilly evening at the lake.

Leaser Lake’s namesake is Frederick Leaser, who in September 1777 with his farm team hauled The Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown where it was concealed in Zion Reformed Church. His homestead is located one mile north of the lake.

Shadowing Serenity ...

"Plant faith, grow hope, harvest love."

The light of sunset serenely shadow dances in October, harvesting a beautiful autumn scene at Hopewell Furnace.

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.

Wild Red ...

"Never look back unless
you are planning to go that way."
                     ~ Henry David Thoreau
                                    ~ 1817-1862

The light of a late August sunset dances around
a wild and beautiful red fox as it peers ahead
in the high grass in the waning summer at
Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 
 

Midsummerset ...

“To see the summer sky is poetry,

though never in a book it lie –  

true poems flee – 

                          ~ Emily Dickinson

                                        ~ 1830-1886

The glow of a midsummer sunset is like poetry in motion – and all too fleeting – as it sweeps and swirls through the clouds on a beautiful July evening at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.