“The birds sing each morning as they know they have another day to live. Life and mornings are a gift. Learn to enjoy them as the birds do.”
~ Unknown
A male Belted Kingfisher ~ the first I’ve ever photographed ~ keeps an eye on the pond on a beautiful late November morning at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“O, gather me the rose, the rose,
While yet in flower we find it,
For summer smiles, but summer goes,
And winter waits behind it …”
~ from “O, Gather Me the Rose”
~ William Ernest Henley
~ English poet
~ 1849 ~1903
Roses are still beauties in bloom on a gorgeous mid-October afternoon at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, Pennsylvania.
I captured these beauties near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).
The trail is positioned between the Delaware River and Delaware Canal, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America.
Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.
“You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.”
~ Peter Pan
As a winter sunset meets the horizon like dreaming meets waking, a stunning late December sundown sweeps across the sky over the rolling hills of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
I shot this from the observation area of Trexler Environmental Center, located in the Central Range of the preserve. This spot is at one of the preserve’s highest elevations and one of the areas that offer spectacular views at the 1,100 acre preserve.
Solar panels provide a significant portion of the energy needs of the building.
When the late General Harry Clay Trexler (1854-1933) established the preserve in the early 1900s, he did it to save the American bison, elk and white-tailed deer from extinction and assure the species’ survival.
A conservationist along the lines of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, General Trexler understood the importance of nature and preserving wildlife in its natural habitat.
A successful businessman who amassed a fortune in the timber and cement industries and founded the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, General Trexler began purchasing small farms in the low hills of Lehigh County in 1906. By 1913, he had transported eight bison and 20 Virginia white-tailed deer to the preserve. The elk followed soon after.
When General Trexler died in 1933, he bequeathed the property to the residents of Lehigh County. Today, the Trexler Nature Preserve is open to the public for passive recreation and nature watching.
“Music comes from an icicle as it melts, to live again as spring water.”
~ Henry Williamson
~ 1895-1977
~ English army officer, naturalist, farmer & ruralist writer
Cascading waters are frozen in harmony with early winter beauty on a late December afternoon when I captured this rich tone monochrome shot as temperatures rose to near 50 degrees 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.
