Summer View from the Alumni Gardens

I have not wanted to tell you this, but I have some bad news to share about my Mazda. While driving the car last week, I hit a bad bump on a road I was only taking to avoid construction traffic on the road I usually take. I am generally a very careful driver, but a big construction truck was right in front of me, and I did not see the bump until I was right upon it. Too late.

There was a loud thunk and a rattle as I hit it. I pulled over at my earliest convenience and checked underneath the car, but did not see anything. When I got home, I told my husband. He had a look; likewise, did not discover anything obvious.

The next time we took my car to town was for my husband's birthday lunch and to run a few errands. Alarmingly, the rattle-thump got much worse. My husband drove us home that day at very low speeds with the four-ways on. He put the car up on a jack and we discovered a major problem. A rear left strut may be broken, and it punched through some rust on the body.

We are not sure that it is fixable, but we have an appointment with our favorite mechanic next week. Or rather, my husband does (assuming he can get the car there!), as the day the possible repair is scheduled is the day I'll be in Atlantic City on a bus trip with my sister. (A/C bus tickets already purchased; also accompanied by nonrefundable train tickets to get me back and forth to my sister's place in Harrisburg.)

My husband is taking the title along; if the car cannot be fixed, he'll try to sell it to the mechanic for parts. So that day I'll be participating in a much bigger gamble than I anticipated: I may come home to find either a) my car has been fixed (HOORAY!), or b) it's been pronounced dead, and sold, and I have no car at all! No car at all!!!!!!!!!

To say we are stressed is an understatement, as you all KNOW how I feel about my car! (And that it all happened on my husband's birthday weekend is beyond cruel.) I love having my own wheels, I cherish my independence, I adore how my Mazda handles and rides, and I have done some of the work on it myself. Plus Dexter loves my car; we sit quietly in the back seat together almost every evening after supper! See below for prior Mazda blips.*

Also, I had been hoping to make a trip on this day with my sisters to visit a favorite amusement park where I once worked as a pizza girl (see here and here for what I missed); of course, that trip was cancelled, as I have no wheels! For now, I'm a bus rider. Sometimes life places unexpected bumps in our path; doesn't it?

This was officially the final day of spring, but it felt like a perfect summer day. It was a gorgeous morning for riding the bus to campus, and the light was extraordinary. Everything on campus was beautiful. If you visited our lovely campus on a day like this, you'd never want to leave!

The sky was blue, the birds were singing, and there were tiny puffy-white clouds in the sky. Did I mention the light? It was unbelievably good; the kind of light that will make you want to do a happy-tappy dance, if you're a photographer!

I walked around campus taking pictures, using many different settings. The glorious light made for some spectacular monochrome shots, as the light and shadow play were unbelievable. The light also made all the colors sing out. Everything was beautiful; no, well beyond that; it was perfection, touched by that marvelous light.

This is a view from the alumni gardens, looking left toward the statue of the Olympic Wanna-Be's and the little white gazebo near the duck pond. I thought the colors looked joyful. Yes, you've seen this gazebo once or twice before.

Here's a prior shot over this same garden wall looking a bit to the right to include University House. My favorite view of University House, however, is the one that includes the duck pond. Now you can see how it all fits together!

I'm also including a monochrome shot in the extras. Selecting which one to share was tough because they were all special to me, and I took my time setting up the compositions. In the end, I picked a photo of the stairs and shadows along the side of Old Main, with hydrangea blooms in the foreground.

The song to accompany these two images has to be about this morning's glorious light: Light of Day. Springsteen wrote this song, and I've only used it once before. I'm including two performances of it: one by the Boss and Crew and another by Joan Jett, with a Springsteen assist. Enjoy!

*Prior Mazda blips:
My Wheels
Runaway American Dream
Self-Portrait of the Photographer as Grease Monkey
In Which I Do Body Work on My Mazda
Back Seat Boy (Dexter loves my Mazda too!)

P.S. Please send any spare good-will, healing beams toward my Mazda, that we may be back on the road again soon! Thanks!