EXOTIC BOTANICS AND GOODBYE TO JACK

EXOTICS

       Our recent jaunt to Palm Springs gave us the chance to visit the Moorten Family Garden Center that Lana saw profiled on television. It features cactus and succulents which I have always thought looked as though they could have come from another planet. The family has maintained the unique garden since the 1930's.  It is a good find with  plenty of  photo opportunities.  Enjoy.

AND THEN THERE IS THE FOOT PRINT

       The display near this rock indicates the stone was found in Texas and is supposed to be the footprint of a dinosaur.  Well, it at least stops visitors for a double take.

SAYING GOOD BYE TO BROTHER JACK

       Lana is in Indiana today for the funeral and burial of her brother Jack.

As you can see, there was a big age difference, but she always held an admiration for her big brother.  It seems there was nothing Jack could not figure out, fix or restore.  

       After High School he and a few buddies drove a Model A across country, and traveled what then was the coast highway the length of California. There were plenty of fix it moments and some 37 flat tires along the way.  Later Jack was a pilot, husband, father, grandfather, builder, craftsman and one of the most mellow men I've met. His boys are great young men and his widow Joyce is a sweetheart.  Today, they and his sisters say good bye.

       Lana has many memories of Jack; eating cereal from a mixing bowl, building things, remodeling a kitchen, digging and building a fort, a playhouse and more.  She still delights in telling how she and her big brother had their moment of fame.

       When I called a friend who is an attorney near Jack's home town, he said everybody knew Jack and thought the same thing, "he was a great guy and everyone liked him. No one ever had anything but good things to say about him ."  And so it seemed to me. Goodbye to a great guy who could fix or build just about anything and who always wore a smile.