Diane Garner

January 27, 1941 - November 3, 2013

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a spec of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

Gone where? Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side has said: "There, she is gone!" There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"

And that is dying.         ~ Henry Van Dyke

Cruising through the Panama Canal and Other Adventures

 

With the Lord Jesus by our side, Ron and I arrived in LA from Houston on May 3, our fifteenth anniversary. The next day we ferried over to Catalina Island.

 

 

 

Catalina Island

 

 Here's the Casino which means a gathering place, not a place to gamble. It was used for live shows and then silent movies. Now they show current movies and use the banquet hall for celebrations - wedding receptions and other private parties.

The Casino still has the original brass and glass art deco.

 

 

Original Art Decoin the Casino

Original organ in the Casino

 

Disney Symphony Hall in LA

 

Lobby on Crystal Cruise "Harmony"

 

Cabo San Lucas

 

Breakfast on the Crystal Harmony

 

Ron in Costa Rica ziplining for the first time

 

We did it! Now we're ziplining pros.

 

 

Doing the "Titanic" on the Crystal Harmony.

 

Going through the first lock in the Panama Canal

 

 

On a beach in Cartagena, Columbia with Crystal Harmony in the background

Emeralds galore in Cartagena

 

 

Cartagena native

 

Vegetable sculpture

 

 

 Chocolate sculpture



 

Visiting with the concert violinist who performed for us.

 

Meeting the flute soloist after his performance.

 

Craig Knudsen and Chris Anderson new friends who taught iMovies on the iPad.

Lalique Boutique with a Lalique door pull.

Getting all gussied up for a formal dinner

 

Some of our new friends, Amanda from Australia, Melanie from Shreveport, La.,

 Mary, Amanda's mother-in-law, and me



 

 

The rum punch was so good.

 

Sponge monster behind us in Key West

 

In the jaws of death

 

One of the officers invited us to dine at his table. I can attest to the fact that he's a great dancer!

 

Another breakfast on the aft deck.

 

Former slave trading building in Charleston

 

Former dance instructor were our hosts and were willing partners

for those taking dance lessons. 

                                                           Visiting our friend, Joan, on Long Island

 

World Trade Center in NYC

The Statue of Liberty

 

Our beautiful Conrad Hotel near the Stock Exchange

 

Grand staircase entry to the lobby

 



Volunteer Service at M. D. Anderson and Salvation Army

Volunteering at the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary


Sorting quality clothes into sizes, etc.



Bringing donations of couture designer fashions
into the Chic Boutique for the sale at
River Oaks Country Club on April 16, 2013
and the after-sale on Washington Avenue
at Westcott on April 17, 18, and 19 2013