~ John Muir
~ 1838 ~ 1914
A precious white-tailed deer fawn – a honey of a sight in spring and summer – glances back at me as if to say, “Come along with me,” before crossing the path on a beautiful June evening on the brink of summer at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Just try a little tenderness …”
~ “Try a Little Tenderness”
~ 1932
~ song by the Ray Noble Orchestra
~ Renditions include those by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra & Otis Redding
I spotted a honey of a summer sight ~ two beautiful white-tailed deer fawns, twice the joy of seeing just one! ~ sharing a tender moment as they enjoy their first summer on an early July 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 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 20th 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.
“… I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief …
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
~ “The Peace of Wild Things”
~ Wendell Berry
~ born 1934
~ American novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic & farmer
I came into the peace of wild things when I spotted two whitetail deer button bucks, at right, crossing the Saucon Creek, tinged with the gold of a looming late October sunset, as other deer soak in the beauty of autumn along the Saucon Rail Trail, Hellertown, Pennsylvania.
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
~ William Shakespeare
My favorite yearling ~ Buttons, as I call him ~ shows off his velvet as the eight point buck and his mama doe search for an apple I tossed them on beautiful summer evening in late July at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
I began photographing Buttons as a precious white-spotted fawn, then a sweet button buck and then a beautiful yearling, until he migrated away in January 2020. Along the way I tossed him many apples, which he loved eating. It’s a true joy and blessing to me personally and as a photographer to have watched this white-tailed deer grow.
“All good things are wild & free.”
~Henry David Thoreau
~ 1817 ~1862
I spotted this honey of a summer sight ~ a sweet, beautiful white-tailed deer fawn ~ enjoying a beautiful August evening with its mama doe in Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
