When Atlas Fell in Love With Rosy-Fingered Dawn

According to Greek mythology, when Atlas fell in love with Eos, the rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn, he placed the celestial spheres that he carried on his shoulders on the back of a turtle for safe-keeping.

Thursday, I decided to ride the bus, and it picked me up in rainy darkness and dropped me off on campus just as the clouds began to clear. I walked through campus to a meeting downtown at first light. The sun broke through the trees just as I got to Old Main. The light loved everything it touched. It turned everything golden.

I spent a few minutes just enjoying the glorious light and photographing everything I could think of. Light like that can make a girl crazy. You fall in love with the way everything looks. You want to hold it all in your hands. Capture the now and save it forever. So I did the only thing I could think of to stop time: I took pictures.

I took quite a few shots of the armillary sphere on the steps of Old Main, trying to get one that was just right. Here is a bit of background information about the sphere, from a Penn State Web site:

"Class Gift of 1966 - Armillary Sphere. Often mistaken for the Class of 1915’s sundial, which is actually located on the lawn, the armillary sphere on the terrace of Old Main is a gift from the Class of 1966. The sphere is mounted on the back of a turtle as a depiction of the Greek myth about Atlas, the god that held the earth, who would place the world on the back of a turtle when he grew tired. Armillary spheres were invented before the Common Era and were used as an instrument to measure the position of celestial objects in relation to Earth."

And so, while I saw the celestial spheres, and I saw the fetching rosy fingers of dawn - but no Atlas - I just knew that Atlas must be off wooing his new love. (Okay, so the mythology books don't really mention Atlas's thing for Eos, the goddess of the dawn . . . I suspect this may be a new storybook love story, one for modern times.)

The turtle, well, he was doing his thing, holding up the world. And I was doing my thing, taking pictures. And true love reigned. And the world kept on spinning. And everything was beautiful.

The song to accompany this photo? Well, friends, it absolutely must be a love song. And I can't believe I have never included this one before. It is a favorite love song from what may be my absolute favorite movie of all time, The Princess Bride, which was the first movie my husband and I saw together shortly after we first met.

The film is a story of fencing, fighting, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles, and I highly recommend it. The song: Willy DeVille and Mark Knopfler, with Storybook Love, from The Princess Bride. Enjoy!