Savoring In Springtime ...

              “Carpe Diem !”

                  ~ Carpe diem is a Latin aphorism, usually translated “seize the day,” taken from book one of the Roman poet Horace’s work “Odes” (23 BC)

It’s carpe diem for this squirrel as it seizes the day and savors a springtime evening in early June at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Elk On The Spring Range ...

“The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.”

                   ~ Theodore Roosevelt

                              ~ 1858-1919
         ~Naturalist & Conservationist

                 ~26^th President of 

                  The United States of America

                                  ~ 1901-1909

A herd of elk soak in the beauty of a warm May afternoon on a hillside dotted with wild yellow mustard at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, where elk live as a herd on the hillsides of the 1,100-acre preserve’s Central Range.

When the late General Harry C. Trexler 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.

As Long As I'm Singing ...

“As long as I’m singin’

Then the world’s all right

And everything’s swingin’

Long as I’m singin’ my song

Ummmm…makin’ music

Is more to me than a pleasure

'cause me and music

We go together like notes in a measure

Long as I’m singin’

Then the world’s all right

And everything’s swingin’

Long as I’m singin’ my…

Long as I’m singin’ my …

Long as I’m singin’ my song.”

                 ~ “As Long As I’m Singing”

        ~written & recorded by 

                the wonderful Bobby Darin

                                    ~ 1964

A red-winged black bird sings its song on an early June evening at the Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania in the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain.

The Lehigh Gap is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the Delaware and Lehigh Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.