Early Spring Crocus ...

“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”

     ~ John Muir

     ~1838-1914

What a joyful sight to see these early bloomers enthusiastically reach toward the rays of the evening sun on the second day of spring ~ March 21, 2021 ~ spring has finally sprung after a long winter! 

These lavender Early Spring Crocuses were showing off their simple beauty in the early evening along the Ironton Rail Trail, which loops more than nine miles through Whitehall Township, the Borough of Coplay and North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

Because of their very early bloom time, these blooming crocuses are often considered the first sign of spring, a cheery welcome to warmer weather!

Growing from bulb-like structures called corms, crocuses are low-growing perennial plants from the Iris family. They can often be seen peeking up through the snow well before any other flowers appear on the landscape. Bloom colors on the tube-shaped flowers include mauve, lavender, and yellow.

The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in Lehigh County. Originally built in 1861 to haul iron ore and limestone to blast furnaces along the Lehigh River, traffic later shifted to carrying Portland Cement when local iron mining declined in the early 20^th century. Much of the railroad had already been abandoned when it became part of Conrail in 1976, and the last of its trackage was removed in 1984.

 

In 1996, Whitehall Township purchased 9.2 miles of the right-of-way from Conrail, transforming it into the Ironton Rail Trail.

 

Wintertide At Wehr's Dam ...

      “Melancholy were the sounds on a winter’s night.”

      ~ Virginia Woolf

      ~ 1882-1941

Its icy beauty in infrared as winter infuses Wehr’s Dam with a frozen splendor as sunset dances cheek to cheek with twilight at the finish of a late February day. The waters of the Jordan Creek spill over the dam to then flow beneath Wehr’s Covered Bridge.

The dam, built in 1904, is next to Wehr’s Covered Bridge, which dates back to 1841, at Covered Bridge Park, Orefield, Pennsylvania.

 

These Boots Were Made For Bluebells ...

“Sacred watcher, wave thy bells!

Fair hill flower and woodland child!

Dear to me in deep green dells ~

Dearest on the mountain wild.”

  ~ Emily Bronte

   ~1818-1848

  ~ “To The Bluebell”

This little girl may well be thinking, “These boots were made for bluebells!” as she merrily rambles through 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 candid capture. She traipsed happily but carefully as to not crush the bluebells, also called grape hyacinth.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells 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.