That Place Where You Still Remember Dreaming ...

“You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.”

        ~ Peter Pan

As a winter sunset meets the horizon like dreaming meets waking, a stunning late December sundown sweeps across the sky over the rolling hills of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

I shot this from the observation area of Trexler Environmental Center, located in the Central Range of the preserve. This spot is at one of the preserve’s highest elevations and one of the areas that offer spectacular views at the 1,100 acre preserve.

Solar panels provide a significant portion of the energy needs of the building.

When the late General Harry Clay Trexler (1854-1933) established the preserve in the early 1900s, he did it to save the American bison, elk and white-tailed deer from extinction and assure the species’ survival.

A conservationist along the lines of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, General Trexler understood the importance of nature and preserving wildlife in its natural habitat.

A successful businessman who amassed a fortune in the timber and cement industries and founded the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, General Trexler began purchasing small farms in the low hills of Lehigh County in 1906. By 1913, he had transported eight bison and 20 Virginia white-tailed deer to the preserve. The elk followed soon after.

When General Trexler died in 1933, he bequeathed the property to the residents of Lehigh County. Today, the Trexler Nature Preserve is open to the public for passive recreation and nature watching.

 

The Icing Of December ...

“Music comes from an icicle as it melts, to live again as spring water.”

          ~ Henry Williamson

             ~ 1895-1977

      ~ English army officer, naturalist, farmer & ruralist writer

Cascading waters are frozen in harmony with early winter beauty on a late December afternoon when I captured this rich tone monochrome shot as temperatures rose to near 50 degrees along the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

 

I captured this shot this after setting out from the Cementon Trailhead of the D&L Trail in Cementon, Pennsylvania, 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.

 

A Corner Of History ...

 “I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.”

    ~ Walt Disney

     ~ 1901 ~ 1966

 

The historic Hotel Belvidere, built in 1831, in the scenic town of Belvidere, New Jersey on a beautiful mid-October afternoon. I presented the image in sepia to enhance the nostalgic mood.

 

This frame establishment on the corner of Front and Hardwick Streets was originally built as a store and dwelling in 1831 by Chapman Warner, uncle of S. T. Scranton. It was known as “Belvidere House” and the corner room, which became a bar room, was the store portion. Mr. Warner also kept a lumberyard in connection with its store, now “Hotel Belvidere,” which has been recently refurbished with hardwood floors, tumbled marble bathrooms with traditional furnishings and modern amenities. It is family-owned & operated.

 

A Delaware River Town, Belvidere, one of my very favorite places, was established April 7, 1845 and is a charming Victorian town located on the banks of the Pequest and Delaware Rivers. The town’s name means “beautiful to see” in Italian.

 

George Washington traveled through Belvidere at 10 a.m. July 26, 1782 on his way to camp at Morristown.

 

For more information on Hotel Belvidere visit https://hotelbelviderenj.com/.

Winter Rushes Through The Ford ...

“Roll forth, my song, like the rushing river.”

        ~ James Clarence Mangan

           ~ Irish poet

            ~ 1803 ~ 1849

Winter’s song will soon give way to spring’s refrain as the cold, rushing waters swiftly flow on a March day at the ford of the Jordan Creek, one of my very favorite places to be and to photograph, at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

 

Catch Of The Day ...

 “The water is a dark flower and a fisherman is a bee in the heart of her.”

                 ~ Annie Proulx

                 ~ born 1935

          ~ American novelist, short story writer & journalist

  ~ from “The Shipping News,” for which Proulx won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

                     ~ published 1993

I captured this shot of The Bluffton Oyster Company, located on the banks of the May River in the Lowcountry of Bluffton, South Carolina, on a beautiful late October morning. I presented the image in sepia to add an air of nostalgia, as the company has been part of the coastal landscape since the late 19^th century.

According to the company’s website https://blufftonoyster.com/: A Family Run Operation Since 1899 The Bluffton Oyster Company actually sits on reclaimed land, built up by more than a hundred years of discarded shells from previous shucking operations. The oyster business thrived in early Bluffton and throughout the 1920’s, with five different oyster operations in the area. Now the Bluffton Oyster Company remains the last hand-shucking house in the state of South Carolina.

Owned by Larry and Tina Toomer, The Bluffton Oyster Company specializes in in fresh local seafood and is known for its fresh local oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, fish filets, soft shell crabs and live blue crabs.

I’ve personally sampled their seafood, and it’s delicious!

Bluffton is situated on the north bluff of the May River, giving the Beaufort County town its name. The river winds through the Old Town area of Bluffton, which locals call “the last true coastal village of the South.”

Love Locks Over The Monocacy ...

“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”

 ~ George Sand

 ~ pseudonym of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, French novelist & memoirist

 ~ 1804 ~1876

The love locks left by visitors as a symbol of their love line the bridge spanning the rushing autumn waters of the Monocacy Creek on a mid-November afternoon at Monocacy Park, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

 

The Pont des Arts is the most famous for being the Lock Bridge in Paris, France. Visitors to the bridge attach personalized padlocks to its railing and throw the keys away in the Seine River.

 

A love lock or love padlock is a padlock that sweethearts lock to a bridge, fence, gate, monument or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. Typically the sweethearts’ names or initials, and perhaps the date, are inscribed on the padlock, and its key is thrown away (often into a nearby river) to symbolize unbreakable love.

 

Since the 2000s, love locks have proliferated at an increasing number of locations worldwide. They are treated by some municipal authorities as litter or vandalism, and there is some cost to their removal. However, there are other authorities who embrace them, and who use them as fundraising projects or tourist attractions.