Rainbow Over The Ridge ...

“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high

There’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true.

Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops

That’s where you’ll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly

Birds fly over the rainbow

Why then, oh, why can’t I ?

If happy little bluebirds fly

Beyond the rainbow

Why, oh, why can’t I?”

            ~ “Over The Rainbow”

               ~ “The Wizard of Oz”

                     ~ 1939

“Over the Rainbow” is a ballad composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” and was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland’s signature song.

About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and the farm hands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch. Aunt Em tells her to “find yourself a place where you won’t get into any trouble.” This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, “Some place where there isn’t any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It’s not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It’s far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain...” at which point she begins singing.

A rainbow paints the sky over the Kittatinny Ridge in the late afternoon of a beautiful early November day along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) at Lehigh Gap.

With the rainbow juxtaposed by the house at the top of the mountain, it reminded me of a scene straight out of a fairytale!

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, the Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the Delaware and the D&L Trail.

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

                     

Sweet Tea And God's Graces ...

“You can get by on sweet tea and God’s graces ….”

     “Sweet Tea and God’s Graces”

              ~ Taylor Swift

                  ~ 2004-2005 demo cd

The Church of the Cross is bathed in morning glory on a beautiful late October day on the bluff at the end of Calhoun Street in Old Town Bluffton in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

The historic church pre-dates the Civil War, or the War Between the States.

Formal worship in the Bluffton area traces its roots to the establishment in 1767 of St. Luke’s Parish, where a church was built near Pritchardville in 1787. Services on “The Bluff” of the May River first took place in the early 1830s. The young town of Bluffton was a summer resort for area and inland planters and a stop on the ferry route between Savannah and Beaufort. By 1842, a chapel was built near the current location of The Church of the Cross.

In July of 1854, construction of the present building began. Architect E. B. White designed a structure described then as a “handsome cruciform Gothic building,” which indeed it remains today. Fanned arches with a look of palmettos top its mullioned windows that are framed by latticed shutters. The builders sent to England for the rose-colored glass in the windows. Inside, soft-pink scored plaster enhances the warm light. Exposed pine timbers evoke power and stability.

In 1863, Federal troops marched into Bluffton during the Civil War, burning most of the town. Although the church was spared, its congregation fled. Services on The Bluff resumed in 1870, when the Rev. E. E. Bellinger arrived and oversaw repairs.

The National Register of Historic Places has listed The Church of the Cross since 1975. The church celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2004.

The Church of the Cross has seen much during the century and a half plus it has graced the May River bluff. It is part of the Diocese of South Carolina and the Anglican Church in North America.

Calhoun Street is named for John Calhoun, (1782-1850), an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina and the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825-1832. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the South’s secession from the Union in 1860-1861.

A Southern Soar ...

“I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me.”

                     ~ Pat Conroy

                           ~ 1945-2016

A seagull soars over the Atlantic Ocean at Folly Field Beach Park, Hilton Head Island in the Lowcountry of South Carolina on a beautiful late October morning.