In The Key Of Cool ...

"Hot can be cool, and cool can be hot, and each can be both.

But hot or cool, man, jazz is jazz."

                                       ~ Louis Armstrong

                                                   ~ 1901-1971 

 

Silhouetted hands bring a hot jazz number

to a crescendo in the key of cool in this image,

a portion of a jazzy mural in Easton, Pennsylvania

that I shot on a chilly November day. This is my

artistic interpretation of the mural image. 

 

I captured this cool mural of jazz silhouettes of musicians on the façade of the Hotel Lafayette as they literally paint the town. The mural features the shadows of musicians on keyboard, saxophone, trumpet and other jazz instruments against bright colors.

The mural is an Easton Main Street Initiative public art project created in 2012. It is a gift of the Easton Rotary Service Foundation in memory of Ted Pierce, who was the station manager of WEST radio, an outstanding and devoted citizen. He was a generous benefactor of the Easton community and Easton Rotary Service Foundation, as well as an exemplary journalist and key reporter on the Nuremburg War Crimes Trial for the Armed Forces Network. Pierce left a large amount of money for the Rotary Club to use on Easton-based projects.

           

The mural was designed and painted on the Fourth Street side of the building by the Freehand Mural Group of Easton.

 

                                                             

Street Sax ...

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."

                                                           ~ Duke Ellington

                                                                     ~ 1899-1974

Can you hear the cool jazz floating from this saxaphone, swingin' through the hot air of a sweet summer night? That's the image that popped  into my mind when I shot this portion of a jazzy  mural in Easton, Pennsylvania on a chilly November day. This is my artistic interpretation of the mural image.

I captured this cool mural of jazz silhouettes of musicians on the façade of the Hotel Lafayette as they literally paint the town. The mural features the shadows of musicians on keyboard, saxophone, trumpet and other jazz instruments against bright colors.

The mural is an Easton Main Street Initiative public art project created in 2012. It is a gift of the Easton Rotary Service Foundation in memory of Ted Pierce, who was the station manager of WEST radio, an outstanding and devoted citizen. He was a generous benefactor of the Easton community and Easton Rotary Service Foundation, as well as an exemplary journalist and key reporter on the Nuremburg War Crimes Trial for the Armed Forces Network. Pierce left a large amount of money for the Rotary Club to use on Easton-based projects.

The mural was designed and painted on the Fourth Street side of the building by the Freehand Mural Group of Easton.

           

Christmas Luminance ...

"I will honor Christmas in my heart,

and try to keep it all the year."

                            ~ Charles Dickens

                                            ~ 1812-1870

                                                   "A Christmas Carol"

                                                ~ published December 19, 1843

 

Bedecked in Christmas lights, the historic Wehr's Covered Bridge,

Orefield, Pennsylvania glows with the warmth of Christmas

on a December evening.

Wehr’s Covered Bridge is an historic wooden covered bridge located in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. It is a three span, 117-foot-long, Burr Truss bridge, constructed in 1841. It has horizontal siding and a gable roof. It crosses the Jordan Creek and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The nearby Wehr’s Dam was built in 1904.

 

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.

The Christmas Wish ...

"For it is good to be children sometimes,

and never better than at Christmas,

when its mighty Founder was a child Himself."

                                            ~ Charles Dickens

                                                                 ~ 1812-1870

                                                                     ~"A Christmas Carol"

                                                          ~published December 19, 1843

Remember thinking about your Christmas wish list for Santa Claus?

This little girl's expression in this candid shot suggests she's doing just that as she rides

the Christmas Train - not to the North Pole, but through the rolling

Pennsylvania countryside.

Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves also

boarded the festive train in early December on the 

WK&S (Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern, Inc.) Railroad, Kempton, Pennsylvania.

The Hawk Mountain Line takes 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.