Beguiling Bluebells ...

“The bluebell is the sweetest flower

That waves in summer air

Its blossoms have the mightiest power

To soothe my spirits care.”

                   ~ “The Bluebell”

                         ~ Emily Bronte

                                ~ 1818-1848

                               ~ published 1846

The focus is on 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 shot I captured on a beautiful spring afternoon.

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.

 

Hula Hoop Memories ...

“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 and give her hula hoop a whirl in this candid capture on a chilly April day at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I presented the image in sepia to enhance a nostalgic mood.

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.

 

Wheeling Through Winter ...

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

                ~ Charles Dickens

                    ~ 1812-1870

The temperature soared to 73 degrees and snow still sugared the ground on a beautiful mid-March afternoon when I spotted this man wheeling his way along the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) on an ATV bike at Lehigh Gap.

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 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.