Yellow Butter ...

“This sky where we live is no place to lose your wings so love, love, love.”

                           ~ Hafiz

                            ~ 1315-1390 
A beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly alights in the soft sweetness of a June evening along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) 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 Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (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.

Let It Breathe ...

“Awake, my dear. Be kind to your sleeping heart. Take it out into the vast, fields of Light, And let it breathe.”

                              ~ Hafiz

                                   ~1315-1390

Bright wild yellow mustard brushes a sweep of color on a sunny and peaceful May afternoon on a hillside of the Central Range of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, awakening the landscape from the gray winter to the happiness of spring.

The color yellow is often associated with peace and happiness.

Tears On The Dogwood ...

Legend Of The Dogwood Tree

At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus’ cross.

To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said, “Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross – two long and two short petals.

“In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember.”

Raindrops cascade like teardrops on blossoms of a beautiful pink dogwood tree on a May evening in Allentown, Pennsylvania.