An Inviting Place to Sit

One of the things that has been pretty cool about staying at the same University for as long as I have, is that I have had the privilege of watching campus change and grow over all of those years. Quite a few new buildings have gone up across campus, and old ones have been significantly renovated. I make no excuses; I wander into unfamiliar buildings when I have a few minutes, just to check things out.

During my time on campus on this afternoon, I wandered into the Biobehavioral Health Building, which is relatively new, and also the renovated Health and Human Development Building. In the latter, there is a sitting area with lots of windows that I had viewed from College Ave., but never gone inside. On this day, in I went.

This is a pretty little sitting area I discovered there. There were windows which I imagine let in some lovely sunshine on days when the sun does shine. (It didn't much on this day, and things were rather gray, as we awaited our next winter storm.) And in front of the windows sat some lovely tables with perky looking red chairs.

I was surprised that no people were in this scene, but I was glad to grab the opportunity to take a few shots of this inviting place to sit. I also fantasized about going back and placing a bud vase with a single red rose on each table, and try the shot again, but I suspect I'll never get around to that.

The University is a busy place, with lots of things to see and do. On this day, I also attended a Penn State Forum talk by Julissa Arce, "The American Dreamer: From Undocumented to Wall Street to Immigration Advocate." And I stopped for 15 minutes to see a new exhibit at the Palmer Museum.

I've included a photo in the extras from the plastics exhibit, which is called Plastic Entanglements. The Palmer's website description follows: "Both miraculous and malignant, ephemeral yet relentlessly present, plastic infiltrates our global networks, our planet, and even our bodies."

The three main colorful mixed-plastic sculptures in the extra photo are by Aurora Robson. The display describes her motivation thus: "Robson invites us to consider the 'displaced abundance' inherent in discarded plastic goods, whether recovered from personal stockpiles or industrial waste streams."  We need to be thoughtful in finding solutions to the excess plastic debris clogging up our oceans, for the sake of the environment and on behalf of all the critters trying to live there.

I saw and did a lot on this day, as you can tell! Lots to think about. :-) The song to accompany my main photo, of an inviting place to sit, is Stephen Stills, with Sit Yourself Down.