Farewell to the Big Bear - A Letter From Bruce

The Cactus Patch

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

January 2021

2020
A Letter From Bruce
by Bruce Hargreaves

Twentytwenty: It Was What It Was

We wait, knowing that when this is over

A lot of us-not all perhaps- but most,

Will be slightly different people,

And our world, though diminished,

Will be much bigger, its beauty revealed afresh.

Alexander McCall Smith, “A Poem for Troubled Times”

The year started normally. We celebrated New Year’s at Leo’s with family on the 1st and then had dinner at The Packing House in Anaheim. (Not exciting and overcrowded, but with interesting Tilandsias hanging on cables in the atrium.) We hurried home that evening and on the 2nd went to Fresno to hear our friend Gary Duke talk on Bolivia. On the 11th we went to Car Max with John and bought a newer Prius- a plug in hybrid this time! On the 14th we heard Marcia Tatroe on Cold and Hardy Plants at the BCSS. Despite news of a new virus out of China, the family went to Chinatown in LA for Chinese New Year on the 1st of Feb. It was crowded and very few people wore masks. We did not go to the FCSS meeting on the 6th. On the 11th we heard Russel Ray on Nature’s Geometry at the BCSS meeting. On the 15th we went wild flower hunting with John and had lunch at Keene. It was a bit early for the flowers. On March 5th we heard J.D. Wikert on Haworthias at the FCSS. On the 6th we watched “Shadow”, the last of the Flix series at the Fox before the pandemic closed it down. On the 7th we went with John to the Famoso Dragstrip which was crowded despite the pandemic. On the 8th We had family lunch at Ching Yen’s to support the Chinese restaurants who were beginning to feel the effect of the covid 19. On the 10th Woody spoke on Protecting the Beauty of Our World at the BCSS. On the 12th we went to the last Goldenaires rehearsal for “Phantom of the Opera”. I guess we’ll never perform it! The next Sunday we went to Logan’s Road House Grill which was almost empty -word of covid 19 was sinking in. This was our last Sunday restaurant meal. On the 18th we heard Trump talk of using chloroquine to treat covid 19. Thankfully Dr. Fauci quickly countered him. This began a long feud with Fauci showing great courage in refusing to back down. Toward the end of Trump’s rule, of course, the threat was made (but never followed thu) to fire Fauci. I also admire Fauci for wearing colorful socks -something I was criticized for by the head of the Dept. of Preventive Medicine at New Yok Univ. (I was told there are standards- even as far as Vermont!) As an expert on malaria, I had to join in with a letter to the Californian which appeared on the 20th. On the 28th we went with John to Sand Canyon and collected green rocks. We drove as far as the Mountain Spirit Buddhist monastery but didn’t socialize with anyone. April began the long pandemic lockdown. On the 7th we celebrated the first of many Taco Tuesdays at Taco Bell (takeaway only) as they offered free tacos. On the 19th we had the first of many family lunches at Lora’s. I did little else except for Dr. visits for the rest of the year with very few interludes. Our silver sneakers exercise at the gym was suspended and the High School 60th reunion was cancelled. There was a lot in the news we could relate to, but very little we could react to. John Lewis and Ruth Baden Ginsburg died. (Polly did react to this by buying a T shirt that says “I descent!”) The nursing home where my mother had been a couple of times (and we were not happy with) was in the news for the covid cases there. The hospital in Elmhurst, New York where we had been treated while we were there was being overwhelmed with cases. Floyd George and others were killed by police and set off the kind of protests we used to join, but we stayed helpless at home. I wrote a letter to the paper on Flags and other symbols which was printed on the 29th of June, just before Trump spoke at Mount Vernon (which I mentioned). I later wrote a letter when Trump went to Kenosha, Wisconsin accusing him of obfuscating the difference between protest and violence and mentioning I was trained in non-violence in Wisconsin, but it was not printed. I did have an article in Bradleya, the yearbook of the British Cactus and Succulent Society. I was one of several authors on a paper on Aloes in Malawi. Our first break was when James et al. arrived from Reno on the 10th of July. Sadly, the occasion was the death of Emily’s mother, Margaret Villanueva. We all went out to Taft for the funeral on the 13th. It was a solemn affair with masks and distancing. The next break in our isolation was a series of Webinars by the national CSSA. This continued for months on alternate Saturdays. We were glad to see our friends the Hemenways (now in South Africa) and Atilla Kapitani in Australia. On the 10th of October we had a slight break when Bollles Nursery had a sale on succulents. I bought a variegated Furcraea and a non-succulent Leonotis. I dug holes in the yard to plant them and managed to dislocate my right shoulder. (My left has been dislocated 5 times, but this was a first for the right.) This, of course, led to more doctor visits. Another break came on 27th Oct. when Aubrey Barger met us for an outdoor lunch at Panera to bemoan the state of things We did take minor trips to buy things Polly found on line: a rattlesnake and hippo for the yard, shelves and a coffee table for the house, etc. Finally, there was a break on the 18th of Dec. when James et al. came again. On the 20th we celebrated Michael’s birthday and then drove out to see the lights at CALM. (No walking this year.) I also had a letter in the paper that day pleading for the future of Monarch butterflies. Other exciting things have included wildfires: suburbs of Santa Rosa where I went to kindergarten; Yankee Hill at Oroville where I used to collect serpentine; and the Devil’s Punchbowl where we went with John in 2019 -the visitors center is no more! There have been so many hurricanes the names had to be in Greek! There was a Derecho in the Midwest and locusts in Africa. And there are still climate change deniers. The other deniers are Trumpists who still won’t accept the election! And with the pandemic (which Trump still downplays) the problems persist into 2021. I hope not for long!!

Lunch at Leo's