“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.
~ 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 19th 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.”
“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.
“There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir: We must rise and follow her, When from every hill of flame She calls, and calls each vagabond by name.”
~ “A Vagabond Song”
~ William Bliss Carman
~ Canadian poet laureate
~ 1861 ~ 1929
Late October paints its colorful beauty on an autumn afternoon 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.
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
~ John 15:12
~ The Holy Bible
~ King James Version
“Love One Another” is proclaimed on a banner in front of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Belvidere, New Jersey, on a beautiful mid-October afternoon.
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.
