Girl With a Purple Umbrella

I awoke to pouring-down rain, and with a meeting on campus on this morning, I knew that I would need to be out and about in it. So I took along my umbrella and put on my best rainy-day smile to go with it.

I love the way the world looks in the rain, all slick and shiny. The rain turns every sidewalk into a reflecting pool. There is another thing it does in autumn: the rain makes the foliage colors shine.

The sun would come out in about an hour or two, and the afternoon's treats would include a fancy, bright-colored double rainbow. But I didn't know that yet. For now, it was just me and my umbrella and my camera, in the rain.

I was taking pictures from under my umbrella, of course, and not doing such a great job at keeping things dry. The wind was whipping the umbrella around and I ended up getting raindrops on my camera lens and needing somewhere dry to stop to wipe them off.

So I stopped in a place I have never stopped, in all my days at Penn State: under the front portico of the Electrical Engineering East building. (No, I did not study engineering in either of my Penn State degrees, which may explain why I have never stopped exactly there before!)

And so it was that I found a new "sweet spot," which is to say I found a great view of Old Main and the mall! Normally, I'm not so thrilled to have people in my photos, but a girl with a purple umbrella very kindly entered my shot and improved it. (Purple is my favorite color, as you may or may not know.)

Everyone in this scene except one person was carrying an umbrella, as was I. The person entering the scene from the left did not, however, and she (I am pretty sure it was a she, clad in military garb) must have been running between the raindrops to keep from getting wet!

The tune to accompany this rainy-day scene is one of my all-time favorite Benatar tunes. I love it, and I am singing it out loud even as I type this! Here is Pat Benatar, with Run Between the Raindrops.

P.S. Interestingly enough, I have posted one prior Blip with a similar title, except that the umbrella was pink. Coincidentally, that photo was also taken on the mall by Old Main, not far from where this one was!