It was very special for Steve and I to get to travel together to his home town of Shafter (and Bakersfield), California where his newly published book was being featured at the local
Colours Arts Festival. The festival is organized and run by an old friend of Steve's, Larry Starrh, and an former student of Steve's and also Shafter native, David Franz. Of course, there are lots of others involved in its inspiration and organization. This year's was the Fourth Annual, I think.
It was to be a very quick trip, leaving early Friday morning and coming home on Sunday night. But it ended up to be very special and totally worth it--to see the continuity of relationships over years and the blessing of affirmation for Steve's work through those long-standing and solid relationships. We flew through Denver going and were delayed there a couple of hours due to wind. But flying west from there was beautiful, with the broad expanse of the Rockies below us, decked out in an abundance of winter snow.
The further west we got though the browner it got. California is in a drought that means the mountains are bare of snow and the farmers, including many of the friends we saw, are bemoaning the state of agriculture in the coming season. There is a constant battle over water from Northern California where the snows provide water for the summer ahead. Farmers in Shafter are being given a 0% allotment this year, and presumably whatever water is flowing past in the California aquaduct is heading to the urban areas and swimming pools of Southern California. It's more complex than that, but we could hear the frustration of friends and farmers as they feared for the crops this year. It was interesting to hear the talk going to that so much, including what wells folks had and whether they were deep enough to withstand the drought of 2014.
Since we could not have our lunch date with John and Sandy Penrose due to delay of plane, we instead went in the mid-afternoon to Dewar's, a favorite local ice cream parlor in Bakersfield. As soon as we were seated with our shared milk shake, an "older" couple walked in, and Steve thought he'd gone to high school with the fellow. After a tap on the shoulder and a cordial conversation, this was confirmed. Meryl was two years ahead of Steve in school and Susan, his wife, had known Steve's parents through church circles, exclaiming, "I loved your parents!" They also were just visiting from Florida where they now live!
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| Dewar's mint chocolate milkshake |
From there, Steve was meeting his brother Jim and someone else at 4:00, so I had arranged to go and see Lisa Walton and Sophie, Sam, and Max. Chris and Grant had gone earlier in the day to a youth group weekend at Hume Lake Conference Center, where Steve also used to go as a youth. I came bearing a bag of Dewar's taffy and enjoyed visiting with them for about an hour--a rare treat. They don't really know me, and I hardly know them, but given the chance, I think we could all enjoy one another. They have a beautiful home with lovely back yard and pool--very California style.
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| Sophie, Sam, Lisa, and Max |
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| Sophie, Sam, & Max |
From there I went over to Jim and Jill's place where we were staying and to meet Steve again. We were headed then to Shafter to see the evening's production, directed and performed in by Larry and his wife Shawna, as well as the whole extended Starrh family. I couldn't resist taking this picture below of Jim and Jill's dog Buster, who loves to hang out in their pool. It looked so funny!
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| Buster hangin' in the pool |
Life is pretty casual there, so we dropped our stuff and headed to Shafter without changing our clothes to attend "Always, Patsy Cline," the production. The Starrh family has bought the old Ford dealership in Shafter and is renovating it into a theater for plays and other productions as well as a venue for weddings and events. It isn't complete yet, but the theater space was amazing, even unfinished. The play is about Patsy Cline's relationship with a fan who became a dear friend. It is chocked full of Patsy singing, accompanied by local musicians and back up singers, including Larry on electric guitar. These people are SO TALENTED and really have taken to heart the mandate to create and use culture for the common good. The two main actresses were
Amy Adams of American Idol fame, as Patsy, and one of the local pastor's wives as Louise, her friend. The production was sold out and the performances were extremely good.
The almond trees were blossoming, the skies were blue, and the temperatures were mild--high 60s and low 70s. There was a lot of talk among the Californians that they'd had an atypical winter with no fog or moisture and too much warmth. But we loved feeling the warm sun on our faces and seeing the clear blue skies--well, sort of clear blue, until you look towards the mountains and don't see them but only a sort of brown haze. Then you realize that there is a lot of smog in the valley. That was also mentioned by residents there like Lisa, who is concerned about the bad air, and Tod and Nicki who hope to retire sometime to Northern California and clean air because of the asthma Nicki has developed due to the smoggy conditions in the Central Valley.
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| Almond trees with bee hives to insure fertilization of blossoms |
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| The beautiful Shafter High School! |
On Saturday, after breakfast and lunch with old friends, we headed to Steve's event featuring his book. We had no idea who might be there--after all, it was a nice Saturday afternoon featuring a long gone Shafter kid, now grown much more mature. The event was scheduled from 1:00-3:00 pm in the new theater, but due to fire marshall grumpiness, it was moved across the street to a church building. Larry stayed at "Ford's Theater" to redirect folks. This is what we went for, and we weren't disappointed. In fact, it was really a heart-warming event. About 60 folks ended up coming, most of them old friends of Steve's, one at least had come from as far away as 100 miles. There were several generations represented, including a retired Kern County superintendent who had been Steve's 10th grade history teacher and became a good friend, who was there with his wife and grandson. Very special also was having Steve's brother Doug and his wife Tracy there, as well as sister-in-law Jill, and many other friends. The continuity of relationships and their interest and affirmation of Steve and his work through the book was amazing to see and experience. He gave an excellent presentation of what the book is about and then took questions which lasted another half hour to 45 minutes. Afterwards, there was much book selling and signing and exclaiming over seeing friends who he hadn't seen in many years. This made the quick trip well worth the effort!
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| All members of the class of 1970 at Shafter High School. From left Tricia, Johnnie Stockton (whose Dad worked with Steve's at the cotton research station before his untimely death on a boy scout hike), Mary, a girl from a very poor and broken family who is now the top real estate agent in Bakersfield; Lucy, Dad's first date in 10th grade to a church banquet (in lieu of the spring dance at school); Tod Moquist, dear friend from first grade onward who surprisingly married a Cypriot girl who Aunt Kathy had taught at the American Academy in Larnica; and Randy Penner, also friend from first grade on who farms in Shafter area. |
We were delighted to learn that our niece, Elizabeth (Ellie), was starring in a play opening in a Bakersfield community theater that weekend. It worked out for us to go with Steve's brothers Doug and Jim with Tracy and Jill. It was really special to have such a rare chance for us to see her perform. She's been loving theater and acting for a long time. She and her husband are very involved in this theater, often he is the director of plays she is in.
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| Ellie's write-up in the program |
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| Ellie in Picnic |
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| Garber men and wives: Steve, Jim, Jill, Doug, and Tracy |
Our day and a half in Bakersfield and Shafter ended all too soon. Sunday morning we boarded an actual airplane (not a jet) to Los Angeles to get our flight home. Good-bye sunshine, warmth, and blue skies!
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| We think this was flying over the Grand Canyon. Lots of beautiful Western scenery until it got too dark. |
