Everybody Loves Sunflowers / Encroachment

I had a few things I wanted to accomplish on campus before the start of fall semester, and I was stewing around over exactly WHEN to try to get it all done. Penn State summer semester graduation was on Saturday. Fall semester begins August 22, with students starting to arrive as early as the 15th.

I'd been thinking about going in on this coming Tuesday, but I was afraid that might be too late already. If you have ever experienced the crush of student arrival at a big university in a small town, you know what I mean. Once the semester begins, there's lots of activity and confusion in town, and if you're smart, you don't go there if you don't have to.

In the end, we talked about it and agreed to go on Sunday instead. My husband would drop me off in town, handle a bunch of grocery shopping, returns, and errands. He would drop me off at the Arboretum. I'd walk to the Nittany Lion shrine, the Palmer Museum, and the Berkey Creamery, where he would pick me up a few hours later. (The Creamery had to be last, as I was planning on buying ice cream.) Before bed, we actually wrote out an itinerary!

The day was supposed to be cooler and less humid but it wasn't, yet. I had my Tiger in my sack with me and we were off on a grand adventure! First was the Arboretum, where we found the lily pond looking fine indeed. In the new pollinator gardens, the huge sunflowers are a hit. They are beloved by all of the birds and other critters as well.

I was standing there with my camera fully zoomed out, shooting pictures of the birds, when I noticed a rustle amid the sunflowers. Out popped a stripey body that belonged to a chipmunk. The chipmunk climbed out onto the blooms and ate the seeds, as I giggled out loud!

A man and woman walked past me, talking about the birds in the sunflowers. I told them - Oh, it's more than birds! And I told them about the chipmunk, climbing the blooms. Then I turned my head and there it was! Hanging onto a bloom with its bottom toward us. "He got the booty-booty," I said, laughing; "he ain't no size 2!" Apparently, this chipmunk has already HAD quite a FEW of those seeds! (You may also see a bird below and to the right of the chipmunk.)

From there, I hot-footed it over to the Nittany Lion shrine on a personal errand; the sun left the Arboretum as I did, with clouds moving in. Summer graduation had just occurred the day before, and graduates streamed from cars, everyone trying to get just a couple of photos with the lion.

I thought I'd hit the restrooms in Kern, but discovered upon trying the door that the whole building was locked. So was Pattee Library! Thank goodness, my next stop was the Palmer Museum, where I knew the doors were open, as I'd called ahead the day before.

The lady who greeted me at the door of the Palmer Museum gave me the usual schpiel, and she asked if I had any questions. Just one, I said. Did they permit Tigers? And I held up my stripey orange friend. "I'll make an exception, just in his case," she said with a grin. "He loves art," I told her.

Then T. Tiger and I found ourselves among the actual art! There is an exhibit at the top of the stairs in the big, main hall, called Home/Studio 2022. It features the work of 25 current Penn State faculty members, with statements by the artists included with their works, expanding further on what they were thinking/intending/experiencing/communicating with their art.

I found a favorite work which I've included in the extras. It's called Encroachment, and it's a large-scale woodcut by Robin Gibson, Associate Professor of Art. It reminds me of so many photos I've taken in the Scotia Barrens. Flat water, with spare, craggy trees and their reflections, and circles on the surface. A dance of line and darkness and shape and repetition.

You would not BELIEVE the level of detail in this work unless you saw it up close. Someone doing what I do with my camera, but in a different medium. I recognized a kindred spirit, of sorts, trying to find or make a place of peace.

I looked at so many amazing things, and I read a bunch more. I found some quotes I wanted to share, words from the artists whose works I saw. John Bowman, professor of art, shared two landscape paintings featuring blocky, colorful buildings.

Beside his works, here were some of his words, which resonate strongly with me. "Landscape is the creation of an imaginary space, an alternative location, a paradise, an inferno. These paintings are an amalgam of design, decay, and disaster. These images are of a world already and always in ruins, and always becoming new." WOW!!! I must think upon that some more.

As I left the museum, the same lady who greeted me bid me farewell at the door. "The Tiger says thank you for allowing him in the museum," I heard myself saying. "He says TWO THUMBS UP on all of the art!" And then we headed to our last stop, the Berkey Creamery.

Well, any of you who have been following this microblog for a while know the tale of this girl and her August pie. For two years, I was on a mission to get August pie at the Creamery. It is a favorite flavor now but they only sell it in August. It's vanilla ice cream, with peaches, nectarines, and red raspberry sauce. NOM! I marched right in and bought it! I am now the proud owner of a half-gallon of August pie. (Oh, rest assured that I'd called ahead the day before to verify its availability; I'm nobody's fool.) Mission accomplished!

I'd only had one sort of major setback in my adventure. The instant I stepped out of the car door to go to the Arboretum, the heel cup separated itself from the shoe of my left foot. Yeah, my old Reebok hi-tops are wearing out. I'm walking my soles off; I can't help it.

I experienced only a moment of deep chagrin. But then I put my foot down, hard, and the heel cup stayed put - mostly - for my walk across campus and back. Thank goodness! Or there'd be no sunflowers with a zaftig chipmunk eating its fill. No Nittany Lion shrine with grads a-plenty. No wonderful art and possibly even more amazing words. And no August pie!

I have two pictures for this amazing day, and so let's have two songs. First, for the chipmunk who's got the booty-booty, here is the song I was thinking of when I said that: Meghan Trainor, with All About That Bass. My husband said this past week that he thinks my photography has been vastly informed by all of the art that I've looked at in my life (which has been plenty!). It's definitely inspired me, and here's a song for that: Chicago, with You're the Inspiration.