Memories Are Made of This II

At the end of the work day Friday, I will have driven approximately 85,100 miles to work and back. I have watched the space between my town and the university town grow incredibly. I used to see this young lady riding her bike to a vet clinic every morning - now I can barely find the little building among all of the houses, business, and apartment buildings. Thankfully there is still some empty space between the two towns, which has been mandated by the voters of our county - so we can still see the mountains on that drive.

There is a tremendous crew of young people who buzz around the campus in spring and summer, planting and caring for flowers and bushes. The peak time will be a bit later in the summer, when many visitors will be on campus for conferences and conventions. In my last stroll around, I thought I'd share some of the beauty.

This lovely rose garden is on the patio of the student center - I loved to read where this young man is sitting on this beautiful summer day.

One of the most special spots on campus is The Oval. There are dozens of hundred-year-old trees around this beautiful spot where many weddings are held, and many races are run. Every year there is a canned food drive on campus, and the cans are stacked around the entire oval, several layers deep.

There are some very old and architecturally interesting buildings - such as the Statistics Building, which was refurbished to its original stateliness in recent years - they uncovered beautiful stained-glass windows in the upper levels, which had been painted over sometime in history.

The very first building on campus, which had served as the administration building at some time, called Old Main, was burned down during the turbulent 60's. This is the current Administration Building.

There was a whole little colony of squirrels having a wonderful time playing in the grass, running up and down the trees, chattering, making an incredible ruckus - really fun.

This project, built by some engineering students, is a favorite spot of the girls - they love walking around campus. This is a favorite spot for pranksters - just a bit of soap and the bubbly mess is amazing. And quite a chore for the facilities folks to clean up.

My first two mornings with Peter have gone pretty well. He is incredibly young, but very bright and a pleasant, polite young man. He will be younger than most of the students he works with. I have 3 more half days with him - it won't be nearly enough. But we'll do the best we can. I did get the memo today that there will be a bit of a get-together Friday morning for anyone who can make it to say good-bye. But many are gone for the summer.

MORE TO COME - THE PEOPLE.