Has anybody heard of Oxnard, California?? I have family there that I have not seen in over 50 years. MY OH MY what a change Oxnard has gone through. Of course , as a child I could not relate to anything but my family, playing out in the yard and churning ice cream. To my knowledge, my family WAS Oxnard. It now has over 200,000 thousand residents with a Walmart, Costco, 2 – 18 hole golf courses AND, they still have a lot of active farmland. They just had their strawberry festival. I don’t know what festival is next. Amazing city layout. There is a local airport (private planes) and farm land right in the middle of town.
Oxnard is to Venture like Berkeley is to Oakland. The weather is much like Berkeley/Oakland, too. They said it was 85 degrees but there was always a crisp wind blowing that made it feel more like 72 degrees. Interesting to see a whole newly built town (20 yrs old, maybe).
I went to Oxnard to visit a dear cousin, Bedford Pinkard. I have always loved this cousin. He is special to me, for no particular reason. As a child I remember him having a real mellow, nice guy attitude and he was funny. Not to mention he was very tall and handsome. Bedford is now 85 years old. Still tall, handsome and mellow. He had a stroke in March and I just HAD to go spend some time with him. It was a nice 3 day visit. He is doing much better than I imagined. He still has work to do but he is walking and can manage many things for himself, like eating, operating the TV remote, go to the bathroom, etc. My cousin Irene, Bedford’s wife, is so patient and loving. Both of them have been movers and shakers in their community. The city named the Bedford Pinkard Skate Park after my cousin. They both have been city council members. Irene has been a mayoral candidate. She is doing something I would love to do. She has started the Pinkard Educational Institute. I believe she told me there were 7 high school children in this group. They had their first summer training this past Thursday evening. They are working on budgets. Financial literacy – YIPPEE! We need that so bad.
Irene is so talented in many ways. Cooking “ain’t” one of them, tho. I don’t blame her. Who wants to be stuck in the kitchen. We all did it when we had kids at home. Now with empty nest, she nor I want spend our retirement in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, they are not starving. I just expected more interest in whole food, which takes time. Many movers and shakers don’t choose to spend time cooking. Most of them hire a cook. Boy, I wish I could! Anyway, Irene is a good sport. I teased her about the cooking thing. Heck, she’s been married to my cousin for umpteen years so lack of cooking knowledge did not stop no show!! I’m truly grateful to Irene for her loving ways with my cousin Bedford. I have been there , done that and it “ain’t ” easy.
I look forward to anther visit with my cousins. I expect him to be in better health. Hopefully, he will seek acupuncture and benefit from it. Much love to Bedford and Irene.
Next – the plane ride to and from Oxnard. HAHAHAAHAHAHA – Lawd!
