Meanwhile, Back at the Arboretum . . .

The sad truth of the matter is this: I do not make it to the Arboretum nearly as often as I would like to anymore. When I was a working gal, my office was five minutes from the Arboretum, and I tried to visit about once a week. In the summer months, when things were really perking along and the lily pond (which is still frozen at this point) was in full swing, I often made it several times a week.

Then came the pandemic last March, and they sent us home to work. Without my near-daily trips to town, I could no longer just "pop in" for 20 minutes for a fun photo shoot as I was driving past the Arboretum. In December, I retired from my job at Penn State. My visits to the Arboretum had to be more intentional; planned, when in the past, they were all spontaneous.

I hesitate to share the news that my last visit there was in mid-January. And in fact, when I did so, I visited the Arboretum and walked all over campus. Unfettered, I made SEVERAL stops that day, and none of my blip pics were even of the Arboretum! So the most recent picture of the Arboretum you will find here is in the extras from a late-December visit.

All of this is a long way about of saying . . . sheesh! I can't believe I don't get to the Arboretum anymore! But on this day, I finally did! T. Tiger came along and the sun was shining and the shadows were very nice indeed. And we visited all of our old favorite stomping grounds. Said hello to all of our favorite garden creatures. Played with the garden kaleidoscope. Of course.

I am happy to report that the construction on the new bird and pollinator garden has made good progress, and I am wondering how long it will be before they take the big fences down and give us access to the new places. You can be sure there will be lots of photos on THAT big day!

In other news, the Arboretum's founding director, Kim Steiner, is retiring this year. So there will be some transitions coming. Construction has not begun yet on the new art museum. That will be the end of my glorious photos of the golden poplar grove, which will be removed to make way for the museum.

I strolled down to the walkway over the little marshy prairie area and remembered fondly a pair of hawks I saw feeding there last spring. The snow is nearly melted in town. And with the light so bright overhead, I was enjoying the visual of the shadows under the bench. So here is a photo I took, with the Arboretum behind me, facing campus. That building in the distance is the Business Building, whose awesome reflections I enjoy photographing.

Things were pretty deserted at the Arboretum on this morning, which is just the way I like it! The Tiger and I had a great visit, and we returned home happy, with many photos on the photo card in the camera. It felt really, really good to be back.

My soundtrack song is this one: 38 Special, with Back Where You Belong.