Friends & Kapok!

Happiness...is seeing my friends...

It happens often.  I'll think of someone and they'll call... or if I'm lucky, I'm going to see them .  That was the case with Mark.  About a week ago, I was thinking about Mark Mills and thought I'd write something on Facebook, "Missing you, Mark...How are you?"  It turned out Mark was planning a trip to the Valley to visit his mom and participate in a Golf Tournament of past high school golf players.  Coinkidink!

The golf tournament, founded by Pat Thompson Jr., began about four years ago.  Pat wrote me an e-mail and I responded with a list of classmates, under and over, who I knew had played golf.  Well, apparently it is now an annual thing.  They raise money for different causes.

John Leidner commented to Mark's post and said he'd be down, too.  His visit - a family reunion.

Wow!  Mark and I saw each other about 10 years ago.  Mark, Nancy Gibson Hyslin and I met for lunch...it was great.  The last time I saw John, was at our 35th class reunion.  We managed to find a window of opportunity to meet and we did.  It wasn't easy...but we agreed on breakfast at IHOP at 8:00 a.m. (Yes, it was early for us "retired" folks.)    Mark invited Nancy and I invited Janie de Leon Barratachea.  I also invited Mike Warshak but Mikey had a conflict and was unable to get out of it.

L to R:  Nancy Gibson Hyslin, Mark Mills, John Leidner, Diana Corpus Garza, Janie De Leon Barratachea

It was wonderful!  We compared aches and pains...moms and dads...spouses and grandchildren and reminisced about good ole Mission.  There's an awful lot of history in this small group.  A great time was had by all.  We said goodbye...and promised, we wouldn't wait ten years to do it again.

What we did decide was...next time we'll meet in Las Vegas....hehehe!!!



(Or if Nancy White Carmack brings us together...maybe Dallas...)

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Kapok or Silk-cotton tree

While driving my mom home one day, this tree caught my eye.  Before I turned into mom's street I made a detour to the right and mom flipped...well, I had to go back.   The bark was gray and green with huge thorns.  It looked like someone had place cotton balls all over the tree.  In actuality that cotton ball is the blossom.  As destiny would have it, there were many reasons I got to see Nancy Gibson.  I have been holding on to this photo because I couldn't find the name of the tree.  I've seen it at UTPA (that's University of Texas- Pan American for all you non-valleyites out there.) but I've never known what it's called.

Nancy knew.  It's called Kapok, Silky-cotton tree or sometimes referred to as Silky Floss. The tree is originally from South America but now it can be seen in West Africa and Southeastern Asian rainforests. 

Since this tree is drought deciduous (that means it looses all its leaves during the tropical dry season), the five-pedal blossom appears before the leaves show up again and is white or pale pink.  I didn't get close but the odor of the blossom is supposed to be unpleasant because it's meant to attract BATS that pollinate it.  The leaves are at the top-most of the tree and it shades like an umbrella so I can see why we can't smell it...which might be a good thing.

The seeds, found in pods, are brown and round like peas.  These pods will burst open while still on the trees after the leaves have fallen.  The whitish (sometimes pale pink) cotton fiber surrounds the brown seeds.

Some use the trunk of the kapok tree to make dugout canoes.  The white, fluffy seed covering is used in pillows and mattresses.  The tree is buoyant and water resistant and is often used in flotation devices and padding.  The seeds, leaves, bark and resin have been used to treat dysentery, fever, asthma and kidney disease.  And my favorite thing about it that I didn't know is that in Mayan myths the kapok tree was sacred.  They believed that the souls of the dead would climb up into the branches which reached into heaven.

Since this siting, I've seen two more on Pamela street.  Although those are babies compared to this one, there is another one at UTPA in the inside garden just outside the Field House...that one is MAJESTIC!


Peace!