Death & Gumbo

A Funeral in New Orleans

by “Funky Fingers”

Photo by Bill Æric , writer

Succulent Time

Photo by Bill Æric , writer

Succulent (adjective) suc·cu·lent [ˈsəkyələnt]

1. (of food) tender, juicy, and tasty.
2. BOTANY (of a plant, especially a xerophyte): having thick, fleshy leaves or stems adapted to life in a dry or physiologically dry habitat.

Xerophyte: any plant adapted to life in a dry or physiologically dry habitat (salt marsh, saline soil, or acid bog) by means of mechanisms to prevent water loss or to store available water.

Photo from Public Online. Source Unknown

Never dry, Dr. Maurice Martinez was, and lives on in his work as, an artist and teacher. Amid the clinical, if sometimes stuffy, collegiate atmosphere, he brought passion, personality, and heart. This makes the doctor a xerophyte. And when I went to visit him for the last time, it was food for the soul.