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1966

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NOW

Saturday - May 24, 2003

Mickey & Judy

I spent time today finishing  the "Open Air Art & Garden Show" program that will be given away next Saturday at the Town Hall.  As usual, it was one of those last minute events that Jerry Barber, the ambitious Town Hall president, put together.

The Town Hall will be given over to the East County Art Association as a way for their artists to display their work. They also decided to call it a garden show in an attempt to draw in more people.  The guys from the local nursery got sucked into taking care of that though this afternoon they told me they don't have a clue as to what they're supposed to do.  Apparently I'm not the only one who Jerry talks into doing things.

The people in this town remind me of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland sitting  on the front porch when someone says, "Hey gang, lets put on a play!"  They spend the rest of the movie building a stage in their parents garage.

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Our valley is beautiful at this time of year.  Everything is still green and the wildflowers are particularly lush.  On the other hand, the temperatures hit the 90's this week and the gnats and mosquitoes are taking over.  Catharine's been outside working but she's considering getting one of those mosquito nets that you hang over your face.

THEN

April 5, 1967 - Wednesday

Quite an unusual thing happened today.  John O'Brien, an old friend of the family we haven't seen for 15 years suddenly came to visit.  There are however quite a few unusual circumstances connected with him.

The last time we saw him was in Washington D.C.  He was mentally disturbed and spending time in a V.A. hospital.  When he was released we never heard from him again until today.

Well, he came to the door today and greeted father like he just saw him yesterday.  The only thing he would talk about was that he had to find a friend who he believed was in the park in San Diego.  He said he had been searching for two months and wasn't able to find a trace of her!  He was carrying a bull whip that he had bought in Tijuana and he then started talking about underworld criminals that were trying to kill him.  He was obviously confused.

I don't know the details but apparently John used to date my mother before she met father.  When I was little he used to visit the house in Maryland and he would bring Barry, Sheila and I candy.  He seemed fine at the time and we called him Uncle John.

While he was at the front door talking to father, mother came home from shopping.  She was a bit shook up when she saw him and she started making excuses and told him that we had an important dinner engagement.  He seemed to take the hint and he headed back for San Diego.

Obviously the man is mentally ill and I must say I'm a bit disappointed at how my parents handled him.  Although now they're trying to find out more about him, I think he came to us for help and he shouldn't have been turned away.

These are just the rough facts and I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of him.  If he does come back I hope we can help him more.