Huckleberry Summer ...

  “I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing.”

       ~ “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

      ~ first published in the United Kingdom,   
                     December 1884 
                & in the United States,

                          February 1885

             ~ by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

                     ~ 1835-1910

“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” or in more recent editions, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” is commonly named among the Great American Novels. The work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels, “Tom Sawyer Abroad” and “Tom Sawyer, Detective” and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”

The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River, set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist over 20 years before the work was published.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer. He was lauded as the “greatest humorist this country has produced,” and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature.”

This young boy is reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn as he sets sail to fish in the Jordan Creek as a summer sundown nears in this candid shot I captured on a gorgeous mid-July evening at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

Get With The Program ...

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

     ~ Fred Rogers

      ~ 1928-2003

I captured this shot of the home of WLVT-TV PBS Channel 39, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from the walkway on the Hoover-Mason Trestle in the early afternoon of a late September day, just after summer segued into autumn but summer was still in the air.

The studios are housed in the PPL Public Media Center.

WLVT first signed on the air September 7, 1965, before I was even born, as a member of National Educational Television (NET) and eventually joined the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) at its inception in 1970. It is commonly known as PBS39.

Oh, the childhood memories I have of watching WLVT’s’s offerings such as Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood – my favorite was always when the trolley whisked us from the neighborhood to “The Land of Make Believe!” To a lesser extent, I liked The Electric Company, Hodgepodge Lodge, The New Zoo Revue and ZOOM.

The Hoover-Mason Trestle at SteelStacks – part of Artsquest – in SouthSide Bethlehem was an elevated rail line built to transport raw materials to the blast furnace of the iconic Bethlehem Steel. It was named after the engineering firm that designed and built it. The trestle was in use from 1907-1995.

Bethlehem Steel was an American steel and shipbuilding company that began operations in 1904 and was America’s second-largest steel producer and largest shipbuilder. The company’s roots trace to 1857 with the establishment of the Bethlehem Iron Company. Bethlehem Steel ceased operations in 2003.

SteelStacks is a 10-acre campus with indoor and outdoor venues, hosting festivals, concerts and community events.

ArtsQuest is a nonprofit organization providing access to art, culture and educational programs.

A Gardenia Grows In Dixie ...

“Can words describe the fragrance of the very breathe of spring?”

              ~ Neltje Blanchan

                     ~ 1865-1918

     ~ Neltje Blanchan De Graff Doubleday was a United States scientific historian and nature writer who published several books on wildflowers and birds under the pen name Neltje Blanchan. Her work is known for its synthesis of scientific interest with poetic phrasing.

The sunlight of a southern morning in spring wraps itself around a fragrant gardenia bloom, illuminating its beauty on a late May morning in the Lowcountry of Beaufort County, South Carolina.