On Sept. 18th we set up at the Fair. Cacti were asked for, so I took nothing but.  It helped balance the exhibit.  Once again I was shocked at some of the show entrees.  An agave was entered (and won!) as a “large cactus collection!” The Beaucarnea which got the club prize was entered correctly, but a smaller Beaucarnea was entered under “palms and cycads”!

Polly’s birthday was the 29th and there were parrots as well as flamingos on the lawn.  We had breakfast at Denny’s as usual.

On the 4th of Oct. we heard Tom Glavich (with Vice-Pres Rosina Rojas) at Fresno on Euphorbias.  It is a very broad subject and he concentrated mainly on South Africa and Madagascar.  The brag table was staggering under the many euphorbias (and a few other plants) which members brought.

Back in Bakersfield on Friday we finally saw “Loving Vincent” at the Fox.  It was amazing how many people came even after the initial failure.  We had a bonus look at how animators actually produced scenes based on Van Gogh’s paintings.  I have always loved animation.  My childhood dream was to be another Walt Disney, but my ultimate achievement was a cartoon short made with a friend whose father had a stop action movie camera when I was in the eighth grade.

Just after midnight of the 6th James, Emily and the grand-kids arrived from Reno.  The evening of the 7th James and Emily went to James’ high school reunion and Polly, John and I took the grand-kids to Taco Bell.  Next day we had a late birthday celebration for Polly at Hooters.

J, E and kids then went to Taft and Cambria on the 8th .  Polly and I heard Maynard’s talk on Madagascar on the 9th .  I especially liked his animation of continental splitting. James et al. returned on the 11th .

On the 12th we were at the set up for the show and many volunteers including Polly worked hard at counting money on the morning of the 13th . The hit of the show was Peter Walkowiak’s very tall Adenium covered in blooms.  That evening we went to the wedding of our grandniece Cassandra.  All the relatives came from North and South and it was a real mob scene.  Anne’s son Daniel officiated. I just wished my brother Robert had lived to see his granddaughter get married. Next day, the 14th , our side of the families had breakfast at Hodel’s – another mob scene.

I was glad we then had a break with no more relatives or plant shows for a brief while.