Where The Bluebells Bloom ...

"Sacred watcher, wave thy bells!
Fair hill flower and woodland child!
Dear to me in deep green dells -
Dearest on the mountains wild."
                        ~ Emily Bronte
                                 ~ 1818-1848
                              ~ "To The Bluebell"

This little girl twirls among the beguiling bluebells blooming in early April near the banks of the Swabia Creek at Lock Ridge Park and Furnace Museum, Alburtis, Pennsylvania in this candid capture.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells – also called grape hyacinth – is a clarion call of spring in the Lehigh Valley, drawing many people to photograph and glimpse their beauty in the span of the few weeks they bloom.

Lock Ridge Park is a park built around an historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works, which dates back to 1868.  The 59-acre park was opened in August 1976.

  

Waiting For You ...

"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. 

Shilly-Shally ...

"If you never did you should.
These things are fun. And fun is good."
                   ~ Dr. Seuss
                         (Theodore Seuss Geisel)
                                      ~ 1904-1991 

This sweet little girl could heed these words of Dr. Seuss  as she seems to shilly-shally and dilly-dally over whether to give her hula hoop a whirl in this candid capture on a chilly April day at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania.   


The hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. The modern hula hoop
was invented in 1958 by Arthur K. "Spud" Melin and Richard Knerr, but children and adults around the world have played with hoops, twirling, rolling and throwing them throughout history.   

Dance Of The Dogwood ...

                               "Legend Of The Dogwood"
                                                ~

At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus' cross. 
                                                 
To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said, “Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross – two long and two short petals.

"In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember." 


Blossoms of a beautiful pink dogwood tree
dance in the May breeze on a sunny spring
afternoon in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

                         


 

Sittin' Among The Buttercups ...

"... I need you more than anyone darlin'
You know that I have from the start
So build me up buttercup don't break my heart..."
             ~ "Build Me Up Buttercup"
                          ~ The Foundations
                                     ~ 1968  

Framed by buttercups, this groundhog emerges from its burrow by the creek to survey a picture perfect May morning at Trexler Memorial Park, 
Allentown, Pennsylvania.  

 

Honey Bunny ...

"No act of kindness, 
no matter how small,
is ever wasted."
                  ~ Aesop
                        ~ born 620 B.C., died 564 B.C.

This sweet and adorable cottontail rabbit
is a real honey bunny as it nibbles on some
green grass as a June twilight approaches
at Trexler Memorial Park, 
Allentown, Pennsylvania. 



 

Hope Springs Eternal ...

"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.     
                                    

Dancing In The Mirror ...

"There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle or the mirror 
that reflects it."
                    ~ Edith Wharton
                                   ~ 1862-1937 

The light of a waning winter sunset
dances as it is mirrored in the waters
spilling over a crest of the 
Little Lehigh Creek in Lehigh Parkway,
Allentown, Pennsylvania.