Having spent Thanksgiving with my daughters and in-laws in San Diego, I wanted to spend Christmas with my sister’s family in Omaha, particularly since her daughter had a baby girl I hadn’t seen yet. While I was in Omaha, my high school friend and I took in Joslyn Museum, which I hadn’t been to since grade school.
Leaving my motorhome in a San Diego RV park, I flew to Omaha on Dec 21st and rented a car there. I had two good reasons to fly rather than drive the RV. First, when I had visited during Thanksgiving of 2014, the weather had been bitterly cold and I didn’t want to repeat all my concerns about having the plumbing freeze. Second, I was signed up for a RV caravan leaving San Diego on January 9th and I didn’t want to rush back through potentially bad weather to make that. The wisdom of my decision was confirmed when the morning after arriving I watched as snow accumulated outside my sister’s house:
Inside, though, we were cozy and warm. My sister, Liz, made one of our favorite treats: monkey bread. I’ve long wanted her recipe, so I snapped a photo of it:
Another document she brought out for me to record is the flyer for my grandparents’ farm sale over 30 years ago:
Unlike so many sales, this was not a bankruptcy, they had simply worked the farm until they were both near 80 years old and it was time to retire. Many of my best childhood memories happened there.
City streets had cleared substantially by the 25th, so it was no problem getting the family together for a traditional Christmas dinner and present exchange. The center of attention for this family Christmas was Aylee, my new grand-niece who had been born on Sept. 2nd:
Here’s Grandpa Kelly, my brother-in-law, holding her:
and my sister Liz bringing Aylee in for her close-up:
Here’s some other family members to set the context:
On the right is Aylee’s dad, Brandon, then her Uncle Aaron, Aaron’s friend Sarah, and Uncle Burke. Somehow I missed getting a shot of Aylee’s mom, my niece Keelin, so I’ve borrowed one from her Facebook page:
The tree and presents were ready to go:
Burke accepted the duty of playing Santa to hand out presents, but only on the condition that he get to wear a hat:
Here’s a picture of just some of the haul:
I don’t want to omit Jason, Aaron’s son, who joined us later and is shown here setting up his new marble maze with Kelly’s assistance:
The day after Christmas, my friend from high school, David, and I had made plans to tour Joslyn Museum in downtown Omaha. Though I’d driven by many times, I’d forgotten how beautiful its stonework is:
Though it was too cold to spend much time with outdoor sculpture, we did pass by a couple interesting pieces:
The piece above is by John David Brcin. In the background of the photo above is Central High School, which some of my relatives are proud to have attended. Here’s a more whimsical piece by Tom Otterness:
Inside the atrium of the museum is a large piece by Dale Chihuly:
At the far end of the atrium, where the snack bar is located, is another Chihuly:
A special exhibit was on at the museum featuring renown artists of the Old West including several pieces by Remington and Bierstadt, but no photography was allowed there. However, there are plenty of outstanding works in the permanent collection where photography is permitted.
This piece titled “The Hailstorm” by Thomas Hart Benton epitomizes some vivid memories from my childhood in Nebraska:
The collection ranges from ancient Greek artifacts:
to a Jackson Pollock:
There is a Rembrandt:
I think I remember this painting by Mary Casatt from a Childcraft book I had treasured:
I’m a fan of impressionism, and enjoyed this piece by Camille Pissarro:
I immediately recognized this sculpture by Edgar Degas as famous, but I couldn’t say where I knew it from:
Obviously, what I’ve shown is just a small part of the entire collection, but I did feel some sense of pride that my hometown museum had some truly significant pieces.
I held my breath over the weekend because I was scheduled to fly back to San Diego on Tuesday morning but a storm was predicted for Monday night. When I woke Tuesday, there was some new snow but nowhere near what the previous storm had dumped, so I packed up and got ready to go the airport. Just a few minutes before I left, a message came through on my phone that the flight had been delayed. Several hours of suspense followed until I was finally informed that the first flight they could get me on was Friday, January 1st. I was incredulous, but they wouldn’t budge. Luckily, I hadn’t made any big New Years Eve plans back in San Diego. So I got to stay a few more days with Liz and Kelly, which is always pleasant. I always have several good ebooks with me to read, so that’s how I spent most of my time.
Finally back in San Diego, I concentrated on final preparations for the RV caravan that started on January 9th. I’ll leave that as a bit of a mystery until a future post.
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