Casa Blanca: Fall 2017

For the second year in a row, Lincoln, Nebraska won the National Bicycle Challenge for most miles ridden in the past six months. I'm very proud to have been a part of this effort! I'm currently at 3,243 miles for 2017. I'd like to make 3500, but days are getting shorter and colder. We partied with friends at a huge celebration at ZipLine Brewery with about 400 riders in attendance, and lots of prizes.

Local TV interview at ZipLine Brewery

This is a younger, faster group that I try to keep up with. (Average speed, always over 17 m.p.h.)

Peter Bouffard is one of Rusty's former students and long-time colleague. Both he and wife, Debby, are full-time teachers with lots of extra gigs. We were happy to be able to squeeze a dinner with these lovely people into their busy schedules.

Debby is a cat person, but she enjoyed playing with Gretchen.

Peter brought his guitar along for an impromptu jam.

A couple days later we hosted dinner for the Striechs and Eagans, two couples that we've come to know better in recent years. It's not uncommon in the winter for me to see Kerry and Clayton at a 5:30 a.m. spin class.

Rusty, Kerry, Deb, Susan, Clayton

Happy Halloween!

Celeste in her Princess from The Legend of Zelda costume.

We've started another home improvement project, this time an extended patio.

Tim frames the patio extension.

cement is being poured

Step one of a four-step process is now completed. The rest might have to wait until spring.

PHILADELPHIA

This original street from our nation's first capitol runs alongside the Caviezel home.

It's always an adventure to fly to Philadelphia.

Sam and Felicia generously arrange for us to have tickets to a Philadelphia Orchestra performance.

Seventh row, directly behind the Maestro!

The Philadelphia Orchestra first performed a violin concerto in D major written by Winton Marsalis and featured soloist Nicola Benedetti. She absolutely blew the doors off this piece and when Winton Marsalis took the stage afterwards, he too seemed quite pleased. The second half was Holst's The Planets. It was beautiful and amazing in every way! May favorites are Venus, Bringer of Peace, and Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity.

The lobby of the Kimmel Center often features the work of a famous artist. This is work from Julian Opie, a London artist. He known for his flat and graphic portrait style. His figures are so simply rendered that they appear as generic images.

When I loaded this picture onto my computer, face recognition kicked in to identify the faces as real people.

Family time is always the best!

I taught Ruby to play solitaire.

Rusty did a dramatic reading.

We had lox and bagels. Ruby liked her tie-dye bagel.

Before bedtime Ruby and I did a little yoga.

Cat-Cow pose

Our grandchildren are often in a quandary as to whether Rusty is telling the truth or making a joke. On this particular trip, Ruby "got" Rusty with her Cheetah joke. A FIRST for Ruby!

Ruby is trying to decide if she will believe Rusty or not.

waiting for the bus to pick up Ruby for school

Felicia and I took a great hike along the Wissahickon River.

GiGi and Rusty at the Caviezel home

The neighborhood brewery, Hawthornes, was having a beer festival.

A local church invited passersby to add ribbons to its fence to support diversity.

Rusty pontificates about the hedge apples found in a 200+-year-old cemetery.

The Osage Orange trees were planted from seedlings brought back by Lewis and Clark.

Philadelphia recently opened a new museum about the American Revolution, which proved to be very entertaining and educational for all of us. Check it out on the web: www.amrevmuseum.org.

During these revolutionary days, our "country" did not have an official flag and many variations appeared during the time. Here Felicia and Ruby have designed their own flags.