Two and a Half Weeks of Right Brain Days

Jazz

Last Wednesday night I got to spend an enjoyable time at Brewsky's listening to Rusty and Peter play some jazz.  The sweet potato fries and Oktoberfest beer were good too.  I hope to repeat this experience in just a couple of weeks.

Broadway

This past Saturday, I went to "CHICAGO."

Rusty had to work for 3 days, but he was generous enough to buy me two tickets to "Chicago."  What fun music!  My lifelong friend, Linda Nelson, and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch before attending the performance.

History and Performing Arts

On Sunday, I attended a walking tour of Heroes at the Wyuka Cemetery.  This was a collaborative effort put on by the Hildegard Center for the Arts and students from Lincoln High School.  Students dressed in costume to represent specific people who are buried at Wyuka Cemetery.  We visitors walked from grave site to grave site and watched the student performers tell us about their character's life.

This young lady portrayed Willa Cather as she wrote about D.E. Thompson.

D. E. Thompson was a very wealthy man who was superintendent of the Burlington Railroad west of the Mississippi River.  He owned the gas and light company in Lincoln, many insurance companies, and founded The Lincoln Star, the forerunner to our city newspaper.

Landon Beard, 15, acts as James W. Bush, a 54th regiment sergeant in the Civil War.

James W. Bush was the character played by Morgan Freeman in the movie "Glory."  I had no idea he was buried in Lincoln!

Wyuka Cemetery is a very old place with tombstones dating back to the first days of Lincoln, NE.  Unlike modern cemeteries, it has many huge and unusual tombstones.

For those of you who remember "Oklahoma", Gordon MacRae is also buried in this cemetery. 

The opening notes from "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" are on his tombstone.

Gordon's daughter, Mandy, was a student of mine at Irving Junior High.

When I was 6 we lived one block from Wyuka Cemetery.  I remember the pond with the swans being part of the beauty of the cemetery.  It's been redone, but still there.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day.

Art Gallery--Fabrics

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting friends at the Lux Center for the Arts to view The Calendar Project.

Katie Frisch, LUX Artist-in-Residence, is exhibiting her felted wool creations.

Books and Friends

On Wednesday I will be sharing dinner and book discussion with friends from my teaching days at Irving.

The Language of Flowers is a heartbreaking and redemptive novel about the meaning of flowers, the meaning of family, and the meaning of love.

 

Chamber Music

Every day this week, Rusty is rehearsing with the NE Chamber Players.  He has written the first movement of a longer piece and it is being premeired this weekend.  I will return to Lincoln from KC early Sunday morning so that I can hear Rusty's piece.

Rusty, front and center.

 

Opera

And finally, I get to end the month by attending the UNL opera a week from Friday.  They are doing the Willa Cather piece, "O Pioneers!"

“Flaming like the wild roses,
Singing like the larks over plowed fields,
Flashing like a star out of the twilight;
Youth with its insupportable sweetness,
Its fierce necessity,
Its sharp desire,
Singing and singing,
Out of the lips of silence,
Out of the earthy dusk.”
— Willa Cather

Fall is in the air...

I meet weekly with my TeamMate, Maria.  She loves to do crafts, so I try to come up with a new idea each week.  This last week we decorated pumpkins.  (No knives or sharp objects allowed in school, so we had to be creative.

Maria with a blue-haired pumpkin.

My pumpkin now resides on our front porch.

I'm not a huge Halloween fan, but I tried to get into the spirit and make our front porch look inviting.

My pumpkin is front and center.

I was so proud of my newly-planted mums last year, but to my great surprise, they look much more impressive this year.

Newly-planted mums from 2011.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, my regular Friday morning breakfast with life-long friends was canceled for this morning.  So, I took Rusty to breakfast at Bread & Cup.

We had a lovely breakfast in Lincoln's increasingly popular Hay Market District.  Mom, again I'm wearing the lovely scarf you gave me for my birthday.

This picture was taken with my camera that I earlier reported as lost.  My new purse has NINE pockets and it turns out my camera was hiding in one of them.  So glad to have my little friend back!

After church on Sunday we walked at Branched Oak Lake.  It was very pretty!  We were scouting places where we might ski or snowshoe this winter.

Family Time in Idaho

My older brother, Larry, lives in Naples, Italy.  He has been very good about visiting his stateside family about every two years. 

Larry's favorite hobby is taking pictures.

This year Larry took our Mom on a tour of Yosemite National Park in California, and then spent the following week with her back in Idaho. 

Rusty and I took two days to drive to Idaho. We saw the NE sumac in full color as we drove along I-80.  It seemed as though every field between hear and Kearney was being harvested.  On the second day we saw even more amazing colors in the mountains just south of Provo, Utah.

We had a fabulous time with all of my family in Twin Falls, ID.  We went to a performance at the local jr. college, went on a nice bike ride, played some golf, attended an art-in-the-park show, and ate and ate and ate! 

One night, Dar made fried chicken, just the way Helen (Tom's Mom) used to make it.

Chicken is ready, now it's time to make the gravy.

I've lost my camera, so in the interim, I'm relying on a few pics taken with my iPad.

Mom, Larry and Darlene

It was especially great to see my Mom doing so well.  Doesn't she look fabulous?!  It is a blessing for all of us that she takes such good care of herself.

Rusty enjoys a pre-dinner cigar and drink.

Tom made drinks and grilled the NE steaks to perfection!

Dar, Larry, Tom, Rusty, Mom

It was a beautiful evening in the sunny, arid climate of Idaho desert.  It's precious time for me to be with my family.