As Summer Walks Away ...

“… the best of summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”

           ~ Sylvia Plath

            ~ 1932 ~ 1963

        ~ “The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath”

               ~ published 1982

Scattered leaves sprinkle a trace of the autumn to come as a man strolls down a path at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania, about to walk under the Interstate 78 Bridge that drapes above the peaceful parkway in this painterly, HDR image I shot on a late August evening as the light of the looming sunset tinges the Little Lehigh Creek, seen at right, with a golden hue.

The busy interstate that drives above the bucolic setting is an interesting juxtaposition, but the bridge does nothing to detract from the serene paths, natural scenery and the Little Lehigh Creek that flows through the length of the parkway.

Interstate 78 is an east-west highway running 144 miles from northeast of Harrisburg through Allentown in Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in New York City.

Orange Is My Color ...

“Orange is the happiest color.”

        ~ Frank Sinatra

         ~ 1915 ~ 1998

“Orange is my color ~ and it’s the happiest color!” thinks this gorgeous monarch butterfly ~ still beautiful even with a torn wing ~  as it alights on a lovely mid-August afternoon near an orange reflector on the grounds of Kreidersville Covered Bridge, Allen Township, on the outskirts of Northampton, Pennsylvania.

Monarch butterflies are one of the most recognizable species of butterflies in North America. They are widely known for their incredible migratory pattern. They travel between 1,200 and 2,800 miles or more to their overwintering spots in Mexico and Southern California from the northern United States and Canada.

Known for its bright orange colors and its incredible annual migration, the migratory monarch butterfly is now classified as “Endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Hopefully they will be saved from extinction! The world would indeed be bluer without these beautiful butterflies.

Kreidersville Covered Bridge was built in 1839 and is loved for its great history and tranquil setting by the Hokendauqua Creek. It is the only covered bridge left in Northampton County.

The pedestrian-only bridge that crosses the Hokendauqua Creek is the oldest covered bridge in the Lehigh Valley and one of the oldest in the state. The historic wooden Burr Truss Bridge has a 116-foot-long span and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

 

A Whisper Of Autumn In August ...

“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.”

           ~ Oscar Wilde

             ~ 1854 ~ 1900

Though summer, my most favorite of seasons, is still in full bloom on the sun dappled trail, the scattered leaves whisper of the autumn to come on a beautiful mid-August afternoon along the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) in Laurys Station, North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

 

I captured this shot after setting out from The Cove Road Trailhead, which is near a Lehigh River Water Trail access point at Treichler’s Bridge. The trail is part of the Asher F. Boyer Eagle Trail section of the D&L.

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.