Art Without Borders ...

"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."
                       ~ Andre Gide
                              ~ 1869-1951

The sky's the limit for creativity at the 30th annual Mayfair Festival of the Arts, held each Memorial Day weekend in Allentown, Pennsylvania since 1986.

This is my creative spin on one of the Mayfair signs at the art and music festival site this year at The Allentown Fairgrounds. 

Fording A Spring Morn ...

"Joy comes in the morning."
                            ~ Psalm 30:5

God's creation renders a soft spring morning
at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania as an adorable dog splashes at the ford of the Jordan Creek.

This serene image paints why this is one of my
very favorite places to be and to photograph,
and radiates the words of Psalm 30:5, "Joy comes in the morning."

 

Plein Air Printemps ...

"Art is the stored honey
of the human soul."
                     ~ Theodore Dreiser
                                     ~ 1871-1945

Plein Air painter catches the nature of a sweet
spring - printemps - evening on canvas
at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania in a candid image I captured
this May.   

April On The Delaware ...

"Roaring dreams take place in a 
perfectly silent mind.
Now that we know this,
throw the raft away."
                     ~ Jack Kerouac
                           ~ 1922-1969  

Whether your mind is harkening back to bygone Aprils or racing with hopes for the future, April on the Delaware River is a beautiful place to dream.

Whether you’re cruising in a speedboat or fishing – with your dog as first mate – on a small craft shaded by a green umbrella, sailing the river that straddles New Jersey and Pennsylvania offers a glorious vista.

It’s also a spectacular view from the Riverton-Belvidere Toll Supported Bridge, my vantage point when capturing this shot on a day teeming with the best of spring’s sun and warmth.

The bridge, which opened in 1904, links Belvidere, New Jersey and Riverton, Pennsylvania.

Belvidere, one of my very favorite places, is a charming Victorian town located on the banks of the Pequest and Delaware Rivers.

 

Sunset Snuggle ...

"Study nature, love nature,
stay close to nature.
It will never fail you."
                    ~ Frank Lloyd Wright
                                 ~ 1867-1959

The light of an April sunset wraps softly
around these precious goslings as the
baby Canadian Geese snuggle at 
Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.   
 

On The Sidewalks Of New York ...

"East Side, West Side, all around the town ...
We tripped the light fantastic on
the sidewalks of New York."
               ~ "The Sidewalks of New York"
                ~ James W. Blake, lyricist,
                  Charles B. Lawlor, composer
                                 ~ 1894
~ This wonderful Tin Pan Alley tune
was a popular song about New York City
in the 1890s.

This painterly pigeon steps spritely
in spring on an April day on the 
sidewalks of New York City.     

  

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever ...

"On a clear day
Rise and look around you
And you see who you are
On a clear day
How it will astound you
That the glow of your being
Outshines every star
You'll feel part of
Every mountain, sea and shore
You can hear from far and near
A world you've never, never heard before
And on a clear day
On that clear day
You can see forever, and ever, and ever
And ever more." 
      ~ "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" 
~ from the 1965 musical
            "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever"  
~Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,
Music by Burton Lane 

Basking in the April sun, this seagull perched in New York Harbor seems as if it could see forever while gazing over the Hudson River on a beautiful and clear spring day in Manhattan. 

Peering Into The Looking Glass ...

"Alice had begun to think that very few things
indeed were really impossible."
                  ~ Lewis Carroll
                              ~1832-1898
        ~"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" 
                               ~ 1865 

New York City streetscapes reflect in an
advertisement for the Disney film
"Alice Through the Looking Glass"
on an April day in Lower Manhattan.    

Sundae In New York ...

"New York on Sunday
Big city taking a nap
Slow down, it's Sunday
Life's a ball, let it fall in your lap.

If you've got troubles
Just take them out for a walk
They'll burst like bubbles
In the fun of a Sunday in New York."
                  ~ "Sunday In New York"  
      ~Composed by Peter Nero
 for the 1963 film  "Sunday In New York"
                              & 
    Recorded by the wonderful Bobby Darin 

It's not Sunday but instead Sundae fun-time
in New York as people line up at a cheery
ice cream truck for shakes, sundaes and cones
on a sunny April day in Lower Manhattan.  
                          

  

We'll Have Manhattan ...

"...I've a cozy little flat in 
What is known as old Manhattan,
We'll settle down
Right here in town.


... We'll have Manhattan,
the Bronx and Staten Island too ...

The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy -
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy."
                          ~ "Manhattan"
               ~Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, 1925
~ A popular song and part of the 
Great American Songbook, often known as
"We'll Have Manhattan" 

An artistic view of beautiful tulips in full
bloom in Lower Manhattan on a gorgeous April day in New York City, settled down in town to turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.   
               

       

Shades of Alleluia ...

"A Christian should be 
an Alleluia from head to foot."
                   ~ St. Augustine
                               ~ 354-430 A.D.

It's a touchstone of faith in the city as banners
joyfully wave a colorful chorus of Alleluias outside Trinity Church at the corner of Broadway
and Wall Street in New York City in April.

The Episcopal parish in Lower Manhattan
was a refuge for relief workers after the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001. A sculpture
in front of the church was made out of a giant
sycamore tree destroyed on 9/11.     

Reflection and Remembrance ...

"No day shall erase you 

from the memory of time." 

                ~ Virgil

                          ~ 70 B.C. - 19 B.C.

A portion of the new Oculus sculpture that tops the World Trade Center Transportation Hub joins with other nearby buildings in Lower Manhattan in reflecting on an outside wall of the National September 11 Memorial Museum on a picturesque April day in New York City.

The sculpture is the creation of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

The Virgil quote has been fashioned out of salvaged remnants of damaged World Trade Center steel and is located in Memorial Hall inside the museum, where it will stand in perpetuity at the site of the attacks as a promise that we will never forget those taken from us on that terrible day.