A Time For Gathering With Friends

In early November Rusty and I attended "Don Pasquale" the opera presented at UNL.  This one was hilarious!  UNL does two operas each year.  They do an excellent job of making the opera accessible to all; digitized transcripts are projected above the stage to provide language translation, although the acting is good enough that the plot is understandable even without the translation.  Tickets are very inexpensive.  Go if you have the chance!

Operation Christmas Child is a program that asks volunteers to fill shoeboxes with goodies for children in third world countries.  My neighbor hosted an event where we filled 15 boxes with personal hygiene items, school supplies, underwear, t-shirts and toys.  Southeast Nebraska filled 14, 705 boxes!

Kids assembled the boxes.

filling the boxes

Amber, the organizer, second from left.

I'm still riding...

Cheers from the Roca bar.

In an afternoon ride to Eagle, we welcomed our newest "retiree rider," Annette.

I attended the annual meeting for Great Plains Bicycle Club.  We host 3 big rides each year and keep an active website with weekly rides all year round.

Randy gives the annual report on club activities.

Pat sports this year's biking hat.

Rusty's daughters usually have holiday dinners with their mom, so we hosted an early Thanksgiving gathering.

Jeff, Rusty, Anna, Celeste, Lindsay

Celeste and Gretchen are having a conversation.

I had a minor eye surgery the day before Thanksgiving.  I had to ice my eyes every couple of hours.

Rusty said I look like a giant fly.

Olivia and Reece joined us for a couple days after Thanksgiving.

We had lunch at The Mill on Innovation Campus.

Great quote by MLK on Innovation Campus

Olivia adds her encouraging words to the kiosk.

Then we spent a little time at the State Capitol.

Reece and GiGi

Reece touches the top!

Gretchen and I tried out the new dog run at Roper Park near our home.

We had a lovely dinner at the new home of our friends Karen and David.  Karen's sister, Aimee, was also with us.  Both Karen and Aimee are former students of mine.  

David cleaned up dishes while we soaked in the hot tub.

Our Christmas party for the Just Sayin' Bike Group was held at a new craft beer bar called The Happy Raven.  It has wonderful selections!  Their website tells you when each keg was opened and how much is left.

Marni chats up Rusty and me.

Clayton, Kristi, Steve, Topher and Ray

Our riding friends.

After the bike party Rusty and I attended the Big Band Jazz Concert at UNL.  It is amazing how good those students can play!

The Christmas party and the jazz concert were both downtown and only separated by a few blocks.  Rusty suggested we park on the top (8th) floor of the parking garage.  As we parked, we observed a gorgeous sunset and a big rising moon.
After the evening's events, we walked up al 144 stairs.  It was a very fun evening!

We made it!