Sunset Of A Winter Solstice ...

“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.”

    ~ Claude Monet

     ~ 1840 ~ 1926

Golden hues sweep and swirl across the winter sky as flocks of Canadian Geese glide toward the point of sunset on the Winter Solstice of December 21, 2022 in this abstract image I captured from the Jordan Creek Greenway at Covered Bridge Park, Orefield, Pennsylvania.

The Winter Solstice ~ the first day of winter ~ astronomically marks the beginning of lengthening days and shortening nights.

 The word solstice comes from the Latin words for “sun” and “to stand still.” In the Northern Hemisphere, it always occurs around December 21 or 22.

 

Full Stop Winter ...

 “Over the winter glaciers, I see the summer glow. And through the wind-piled snowdrift, the warm rosebuds below.”

          ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

                ~ 1803 ~ 1882

The stoplight at the intersection of Cedar Crest Boulevard & Broadway reflects in the creek at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania after a fresh mid-March snowfall has blanketed the landscape in this painterly, HDR image I captured in the waning days of winter.

                 

Winter Gold At The Bridge ...

“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”

             ~ Pablo Picasso

               ~ 1881 ~ 1973

The golden hour of a beautiful late February day illuminates patches of snow and the Little Lehigh Creek to the right of a path at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania, that leads to the Interstate 78 bridge that drapes above the peaceful parkway in this painterly, HDR image I shot as sunset loomed.

The busy interstate that drives above the bucolic setting is an interesting juxtaposition, but the bridge does nothing to detract from the serene paths, natural scenery and the Little Lehigh Creek, seen at right, that flows through the length of the parkway.

Interstate 78 is an east-west highway running 144 miles from northeast of Harrisburg through Allentown in Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in New York City.

 

The Fire & The Frost ...

“It is the life of the crystal,

the architect of the flake,

the fire of the frost,

the soul of the sunbeam,

This crisp winter air is full of it.”

   ~ John Burroughs

   ~ 1837-1921

   ~ “Winter Sunshine”

    ~ 1875

The fire of the frost and the soul of the sunbeam kiss at sunset, painting a fiery frozen beauty at one of the highest elevations at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

This is my abstract view of a snowy scene I shot soon after the historic January Blizzard of 2016.
In a winter shorn of snow until the blizzard, the storm plonked 31 inches of snow on nearby
Allentown in a 24 hour period.