Flares On The Water ...

“It’s almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream.”

                 ~ Sir Bernard Williams

                     ~1929-2003

Early April shows off its flare for sunset over Grouse Hall Pond on a beautiful evening along the Ironton Rail Trail, which loops more than nine miles through Whitehall Township, the Borough of Coplay and North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

The pond, the property of the Grouse Hall Fish and Game Association, Coplay, can be glimpsed from the trail.

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.

 

Beguiling Bluebells ...

“The bluebell is the sweetest flower

That waves in summer air

Its blossoms have the mightiest power

To soothe my spirits care.”

                   ~ “The Bluebell”

                         ~ Emily Bronte

                                ~ 1818-1848

                               ~ published 1846

The focus is on 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 shot I captured on a beautiful spring afternoon.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells – also called grape hyacinth – 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.

 

Hula Hoop Memories ...

“If you never did you should.
These things are fun. And fun is good.”

   ~ Dr. Seuss
    (Theodore Seuss Geisel)

     ~1904-1991
This sweet little girl could heed these words of Dr. Seuss and give her hula hoop a whirl in this candid capture on a chilly April day at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I presented the image in sepia to enhance a nostalgic mood.

The hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. The modern hula hoop was invented in 1958 by Arthur K. “Spud” Melin and Richard Knerr, but children and adults around the world have played with hoops, twirling, rolling and throwing them throughout history.