STL DPB ON THE ROAD - BEHIND THE PAWS

My sister and brother-in-law have spent their careers at Penn State. They are a bit puzzled why the university feels the need to replace a sizeable and architecturally interesting art museum with another about twice as big. They thought it might have something to do with rich alumni donating more art than there were walls to hang it on, so they would build more wall space so rich alumni would donate more stuff. Or something. 

Gotta get some new local material but it's supposed to rain most of today. We'll see.            

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - PAWS

Penn State has a remarkably large art museum with an interesting collection. So, because they have rich alumni, they are building a new one almost twice as big. The entrance to the current one has these sculptures of Nittany Lion paws (see yesterday's post). My brother-in-law, the witty psych professor, says that they are sometimes referred to as faux pas.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD: NITTANY LION

American colleges and universities all have some sort of mascot or character. I think it's a federal law. My school, St. Louis University, is in the running for the most absurd with the Billiken, https://www.slu.edu/about/key-facts/what-is-a-billiken.php. Penn State has the Nittany Lion, named for wildcats that may once have prowled Mt. Nittany down the road. (It's in the middle of the Alleghenies.) There is a statue in the center of the campus where every single graduate must get a photograph. The eyes seem awfully blank to me.  

Home tonight.         

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - BZZZZZ

Hello from Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, the somewhat sardonic name used by locals for the area around the town of State College and Penn State University. My sister is retired from many years in administration and her husband  is a senior member of the psych department. We visited the university arboretum and gardens yesterday. One of their projects is to encourage pollinators of local plant species. This hive is in sort of a glass and wood case, which I gather is opened periodically. It lets bee-phobic people like me get a close up view.            

The Fourth of July in Ridgewood, New Jersey

According to my esteemed brother-in-law, Melvin Mark, Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, the caption for this picture should be:

When you're serving Corona to friends, don't be shellfish.

He suggested that I offer the photo to Corona for one million dollars, plus another million for the slogan. Seems reasonable to me. I get a commission on his part 'cause I put it on the Web.

My (other) sister and brother-in-law have a family tradition of extravagant Independence Day parties. The photo is but a sample.

TOMORROW: What happened to Ming the Merciless and Strangetastes when they took on NYC with cameras for weapons?

All images and text © Saintlouismodailyphoto and Melvin Mark, Ph.D. All use or reproduction prohibited without the express permission of the aforesaid. And I mean it. I'm a lawyer.