Old Main on a Winter's Morning

Thursday's weather was some of the worst I've seen this winter, outside of an actual blizzard. What a change it was from the warm meltdown days we had earlier this week that gave us day-long ground fogs, led to local small-stream flooding, and took away all of our snow.

Tremendous winds began just before 3 am on Thursday morning, waking our household and easily robbing us of an hour or two of precious sleep. With snow squalls and biting winds to continue, roads covered by the prior days' melt-off, and temperatures dropping, my husband insisted I leave my car at home and take the bus. And so I did.

This meant I had to put it into high gear to catch the early bus (it goes by about a half-hour earlier than I usually leave for work when I'm driving). The winds nearly blew me away as I stood at the bus stop just after 7 a.m., but I had an added bonus: the moon smiled down at me between clouds and kept me good company.

As the bus arrived on campus, the light was just starting to break. The clouds were pink. The clouds were blue. The clouds were black. The sun was hidden, then visible, then hidden again. I checked the transit center list of bus arrival times, and found I had just about 12 minutes before my next bus. Some call me the maestro of the 10-minute photo shoot, and for good reason. I knew I could just make it down and back in time, so I sped down the mall with my camera to catch the sun and clouds behind Old Main.

And in my haste, I almost wiped out on the icy sidewalks! Nothing harmed, though, but pride, as I danced a little winter jig and sang out the song of my peoples - all apologies to the people nearby.

As I got there, the sun and clouds were playing games in the sky. I shot a bunch of shots, some mono, some vivid, from behind Old Main. A few had people in, a few didn't. In the end, I liked this one best, with one of our famous elm trees prominently featured on the right.

Late in the afternoon, I was on campus again, and conditions had grown pretty wild. The wind was whipping snow everywhere, visibility was zero, and it was so cold my fingers numbed in mere minutes. The light disappeared, the snow flew, the winter wind, oh, how it howled! I admit I took refuge in the Library. Eventually the mini blizzard stopped; the afternoon light shone through the window in such a lovely way and all was peace.

In honor of that peaceful interlude, the companion song for today's photo is George Winston's song Peace, from his wonderful CD, December. Enjoy!


P.S. I've posted photos of Old Main here before. It is Penn State's main administrative building, and the shot you usually see is a blue-sky shot from the front - our school colors being blue and white, and all.

Here are links to the couple of photos I've posted before of this building and its surrounding area, to give you an idea of what the building looks like from different sides, and also inside.

Interior view (yes, this was my VERY FIRST blip!):
Thursday 15 December 2011: I'll Have A Blue and White Christmas

The blue-sky view from the front:
Tuesday 28 February 2012: Penn State's Old Main

The story of the loss of one of our beloved elms:
Tuesday 6 March 2012: We Will Remember You, Part 1
Wednesday 7 March 2012: We Will Remember You, Part 2
Friday 9 March 2012: Taking Down the Elm