Winter Garden

Overnight, a huge snowstorm hit the eastern seaboard, bringing a blanket of white to our region and disrupting travel. Penn State, which almost never cancels or delays, issued a two-hour delay. Classes and normal activities would begin at 10 am. You know what that meant for a girl like me: a little extra time to spend with my camera around campus, hooray!

I was riding the bus, of course. So I didn't have to worry about driving in the wintry conditions. And it was just as well: the roads, while mostly just sloppy in town, were icy and hazardous out where we live. The bus was 15 minutes late and I stomped around in the cold to stay warm. Vicious, biting winds sprang up and sent clouds of white snow billowing everywhere.

Once on campus, I walked around as far and as fast as I could, snapping pictures of the snow-covered Nittany Lion shrine (one of which Penn State picked up and used as their Facebook cover photo), as well as the path to the Nittany Lion Inn. From there, I walked through West Halls, and then down to central campus: around Old Main and the duck pond.

The picture above is a shot of the alumni gardens in winter. I've also included a photo of the snow-covered armillary sphere in front of Old Main, near one of my favorite campus trees, in the extras. Yes, you've seen that elm tree before, with its arms stretched wide in the snow. And is it my imagination or does that turtle holding up the armillary sphere look a little peeved about the weather? ;-)

The snow was lots of fun, but the day would include other treats as well. I had plans for a lobster bisque date at the Nittany Lion Inn with friends for lunch, where we enjoyed some of the best bisque I've ever had in my life. It was replete with tender clumps of crab, in fact, the most crab I may have ever had in bisque! And laugh - oh my, we laughed ourselves silly! It felt so good.

When I went over to my building (off the main campus) after lunchtime, yet another treat was in store. "Do you want to see some turkeys?" the bus driver hollered, and Yes, of course, we did! In front of the building across the street from ours, a pair of turkey hens had taken shelter from the storm. I snapped a few photos of them before they strolled - gobbling all the while - around the corner of the building. Turkey in the straw, turkey in the snow! (A photo of the turkey gals appears in the extras.)

And now a song for the day . . . Loreena McKennitt has an album named Winter Garden, and one of the songs from it seemed appropriate to represent this wintry day. Here is Loreena, with Snow.