🎭How The West Was Lost—Or, Pure As The Driven Smog (Part 3–Finale!)
And here we are for the grand finale wrap of my short tenure as a teen actress in LA. (Yes, the San Fernando Valley is still considered LA. Lol 😂)
Recap
- I started as a New York newspaper boy with my long hair tucked up into a beret and a bulky scarf to hide part of my feminine face.
- Costume change two put me in raggedy orphan clothes just after we’d been rescued by a kind-hearted benefactor.
- Costume change three was like the scene above where the Irish nanny was getting the three orphans ready for bed. She had gotten us into clean night clothes and allowed us to dance around singing about living the “Life of Riley” in the song When My Ship Comes In. (Full chorus on yesterday’s post.) And within this scene, she also sang the light-hearted song “I’m Only a Shoplifter’s Daughter” which went something like…
Shoplifter’s Daughter Turned Nanny
I'm only a shoplifter's daughter,
My mother was one of the best.
Sometimes the cops almost caught her,
But somehow she always seemed blest.
One day she lifted a sable,
And wore it right out of the store.
Since that day she has been able...
To not have to work anymore.
Hers was a fine occupation,
She wanted to teach me the trade.
But to my sweet ma's consternation (guessing on this line),
I never could quite make the grade.
I’m pretty happy with remembering (after 45+ years) all but one line in a song I didn’t even sing in the play. And I’m thankful the poet in me was able to create a line with similar syllables and a close rhyme. 😁
The Torch Song (Tears on My Pillow)
Now you may be wondering about the guy peeking through the door. He was the one the nanny had a crush on. Butler? Assistant? Barrister? I’m not sure. But he was totally not interested in her, so she sat down in the corner to sing a song of lament and cry a bit. Of course, we orphans had no clue about what it meant to crush on a guy, and we definitely didn’t know what a manipulative, guilt-inducing torch song was. But you’ll get it by the end of the lyrics.
Tears, tears on my pillow.
Each tear I shed for you.
With a heart that is burning...
With yearning desire.
But with tears like a rainstorm,
To put out the fire.
Some day when it's over,
I hope you'll know it's true.
When they tell you I died,
Please remember I cried...
All those tears on my pillow—
For you!
And on that last “you,” she noticed him in the door getting ready to burst in and repeated it until it came out a little bit angrier.
Mr Crush (I cannot remember his name or his character’s name) shouted that she had to get the kids dressed and packed because they thought they found our father or uncle or some family member we had to go see.
More Costume Changes
- Costume change four was back to the newspaper boy that opened the play in my first post. Only this time, I don’t recall what the headlines were. I think something about orphans finding a long-lost relative.
- Costume change five had me back in day clothes to go with my orphan sisters to find our lost relative.
- Costume change six was likely back to the newspaper boy again, but I’m not absolutely sure how many times I did the little herald. I’m sure it was mostly for the moments the actors needed to get new props and people onto the stage.
- Costume change seven was the final and most complete change. There was no going back to any other costumes because it required me to paint my hair black (my first time using colored hair spray) and slather any visible skin with reddish-brown pancake makeup. This transformed me into an old Indian woman. (I don’t ever recall the word indigenous back in those days.)
And this brought me to my final line in the play…
“Ugh, come, we go. Old man sick. Not long he go Happy Hunting Ground.”
I don’t remember who the old man was other than him being someone who knew who the orphans really belonged to. They may have been children of someone related to the rich and fancy Astorbilts, or maybe to deceased parents who weren’t part of any fancy family.
But I’m pretty sure that the whole play ended on a bunch of happy notes, like the children moving to the mansion because their ship did come in. Maybe Mabel got the guy the nanny liked, and the nanny figured out someone else was interested in her.
Cue Exit Lighting
My age and lack of experience, or maybe being so busy with my own parts in the play, meant I didn’t actually get to watch the play, so the ending I remember best was coming out on stage with the whole cast and doing a group bow to the audience.
We repeated that whole experience multiple times. Maybe once a week or maybe more, and I think for 8-12 weeks. It was definitely more fun at the beginning than at the end when the newness wore off and the crowds got too small. I vaguely recall hearing that Jim and Teddy were trying to sell the entire showcase, actors and all, to an investor, but that was way, way above my head then.
It never got picked up, and soon all the actors found new stages and movies. Me, I enrolled in a trade school to become an administrative assistant (because the school told me I could be “more than a secretary”), and I stayed there until I got a chance to travel with a company selling an all-purpose cleaner called Show Off. That’s a whole adventure for another day, though.
No More Acting
The experience taught me that acting is hard work far beyond memorizing lines in a script. And it taught me that actors behind the scenes like to self-medicate—or at least the young ones in this production. I tried very hard to stay away from the temptations, and they tried everything to get me to give in, including trapping me between two people in a sealed up car while they smoked and tried to give me a “contact high.”
I didn’t let myself get in that type of precarious position again, and it wasn’t right to try so hard to assuage their own guilt by not letting my no be no. But we were all young, and that’s just part of the experience of learning boundaries. I’ve prayed for all of them even without remembering most of their names. And I’m thankful that the glitz and glamour I thought was acting was not everything I imagined, so I was free to go the directions God picked out for me in this life.
If you aren’t sure where your steps should go, please consider allowing The Lord to guide your steps according to His good plans for you. I can tell you from experience, God’s way IS the High Way!
Proverbs 16:9 BSB
[9] A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.16.9.BSB
Psalm 37:23 BSB
[23] The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord who takes delight in his journey.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.37.23.BSB
Jeremiah 10:23 BSB
[23] I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jer.10.23.BSB
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🎭How The West Was Lost—Or, Pure As The Driven Smog (Part 2)
Behind the Curtains
Okay, so maybe the Aquarius Rising Theater didn’t have curtains, but we definitely had a backstage area where all the stress went to play before the play. It’s in that area where one realizes exactly how much work goes into play acting.
I promised you yesterday that I’d introduce you to the powerhouse woman who made all the difference in my stage presence. This castmate was both an actress and a stunt woman, and she had a commanding influence as a trainer behind the scenes. The actress was Spice Williams-Crosby, whom you may have seen play a saloon girl in The Cherokee Kid with Sinbad or the Klingon Vixis in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. If you want to learn more about Spice and her super health conscious endeavors that make me think she is still just as powerful now as then, check her official website.
Since I was only 16 or 17, I don’t recall if Spice was actually an official director or not, but she definitely directed me and others to pull off a truly great performance. She took our little production as seriously as if it were a high-paying, top Hollywood release. By the end of her training, I knew how to speak and act like a New York newspaper boy, a little orphan girl, and an old Indian woman.
Seven Costume Changes and One Tired Teenager
That newspaper boy had more than one headline to sell, and in between those sales, three little orphan girls had to show up in tattered clothing and then change to more appropriate sleepwear. The fun Irish nanny taught us to have hope for tomorrow with a little song that went something like:
Some fine day when my ship comes in,
I won't care about, never think about,
What my life has been.
I'll have chicken every Sunday,
Never go to work on Monday,
When my ship comes in.
That was the chorus, and I know the verse had the line, “I’ll live the life of Riley, hip hooray” in it, but I can’t recall the rest.
Wild, Wild Mabel
For some reason, though, I can recall all the words and the tune for a song I didn’t sing myself, and that’s the song Wild, Wild Mabel that was sung by Spice.
(Chorus)
Wild, wild Mabel,
Wild, wild Mabel.
There's never been a man who was able
To tame her.
Meaner than a lion, she could scratch and claw.
With a red hot trigger and fast on the draw,
Yes Wild, Wild Mabel was her name.
(Verse--partly spoken)
(Speak)
On a cold dark night,
Back in 74,
Mabel went out
To settle a score
(Sing)
With a tall dark stranger who was known as Dangerous Dan.
(Speak)
A shot was fired,
And the silence was broken,
The door swung open,
With the gun still smokin'.
(Sing)
Yes, Wild, Wild Mabel got her man.
(Repeat chorus)
Wild, wild Mabel,
Wild, wild Mabel.
There's never been a man who was able
To tame her.
Meaner than a lion, she could scratch and claw.
With a red hot trigger and fast on the draw,
Yes Wild, Wild Mabel was her name.
When I shared these lyrics with Gemini to see if they exist anywhere online, I got a little history lesson about an embedded joke in the lyrics. Gemini says, “That is a direct, hilarious nod to ‘The Shooting of Dan McGrew,’ the famous 1907 Robert W. Service poem that practically defined the entire ‘Wild West saloon melodrama’ genre!”
It’s a very long poem, but it has some interesting history and alternate texts, so I recommend looking at its Wikipedia page for all the info, like the fact that Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney did their own alternating recital of it.
Stay Tuned for Our Final Act: Part 3
While the orphans were getting ready for bed, the Irish nanny had some comedic surprises of her own as she sang to us about failing at being a “Shoplifters Daughter,” and then walked to the corner of the room to sing the ultimate guilt-trip torch song, “Tears on My Pillow.”
You won’t find these lyrics anywhere else on the internet (or if you do, please tell me where), so make sure to check back tomorrow for the grand finale of this fun journey down my memory lane.
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🎭How The West Was Lost—Or, Pure As The Driven Smog (Part 1)
Did you know I used to be an actress? And I played a newspaper boy!
It all started the other day while listening to Forties Junction on Sirius XM in the car. I heard a song I thought was by Judy Garland (I didn’t look at the screen until it was over), and I asked Gemini which movie she sang it in. Well, it wasn’t her, and it wasn’t in any movie. It was from a small theater production and only on the radio.
As we chatted about plays that never make it to the silver screen, my own memories of performing in a repertory theater in my late teens came rushing back. It was a simple showcase that lasted for about eight weeks, and it was one of the most amazing events in my lifetime. (I’ve spent a couple of days collaborating with Gemini to search for real examples of this period, and it’s been a huge help even if we couldn’t find everything. If anyone reading this happens to remember Aquarius Rising in Reseda, California, and has any snapshots, I’d love to hear from you.)
The Reseda Time Capsule
Just a few blocks from the busy intersection of Reseda and Sherman Way Boulevards, a small theater was born from a dying discotheque just off the main drag. Because it was alcohol-free, I frequented it while it was still a disco. I don’t recall how I first found it, but I’m thinking it was because of attending my first concert at Wolf and Rissmiller’s Country Club (later called Chuck Landis Country Club) to see Tanya Tucker and Glen Campbell when someone offered me a free ticket. (His girlfriend stood him up, and he knew I was too young for him to date, but it was okay with my mom to go see one of my favorite singers.)
At first, I danced until it felt like my feet would fall off, but later, my dancing moments came at the beginning and end of the night, with the middle finding me planted firmly on a barstool at the entrance having wonderful conversations with the owner’s wife in the ticket booth. Her name was Teddy Love, and she was one of the sweetest, most interesting people I’d ever met.
As the disco craze began to wane, fewer people at the ticket booth meant more time visiting with Teddy. So when her husband Jim (who worked for Burbank Studios) decided to convert the Aquarius Rising disco to the Aquarius Rising Theater, I was still very interested. I don’t recall if the magic shows were before or after the play, but I still remember their amazing feats of illusion, and the funny show that included the story of Petey the Snake. (Yes, I remember my promise to record it for you one day.)
My Big Break
Besides small plays in school—including a funny mime of being the target in a knife-throwing act and not surviving—I hadn’t done any acting. But it was definitely something I dreamed of, especially being so close to Hollywood. So when Teddy asked if I wanted to be in a play they were getting ready to showcase, I was totally on board—even though it meant I’d have to play a New York newspaper boy. And mine was the opening act for the play, “How the West Was Lost—Or, Pure as the Driven Smog.”
I studied and memorized the lines, but I had no idea how to fake an accent I’d only heard on TV and in movies. Thankfully, a true Hollywood powerhouse was about to join the cast, and she would teach me how to knock out not only the newspaper boy’s voice, but those of the other two characters I ended up playing as well. Because of her excellent guidance, and some great makeup help, audience members didn’t know I played all three roles unless they saw it in the theater program.
Stay Tuned for Part 2
Tomorrow, I’ll take you backstage to join me in my rapid-fire pace of seven costume changes in just under two hours, and I’ll introduce you to the whip-cracking castmate who gave me a no-nonsense masterclass in stage presence and voice control (even if she intimidated me at first). And you’ll love the lyrics to the song she performed in the play: Wild, Wild Mabel.
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🎵 Route 66—Part 2; My Personal Memoir of The Mother Road
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
This time, instead of pictures, I’ll tell you a little story about my first introduction to The Mother Road. (Warning: I think this post shows my ADHD mind a little, but it’s got some fun stuff in it. 😁)
I was 15 and was still living with my grandparents who decided to move from the island in California to the desert in Arizona. The trip included a stop at a restaurant called Pea Soup Andersen’s where I had some of the most amazing split pea soup I can ever recall tasting. I know the two truck stops we gassed up at were in Buttonwillow and Barstow, CA. Looking back at the map, Santa Nella (where the restaurant is located) is about two hours north of Buttonwillow and over four hours from Barstow, so it must have been quite the driving stretch to make that stop.
Hey, I was a teen who didn’t drive (and didn’t want to back then), and I was mostly paying attention to my kitty who was not very happy with traveling for the first time. But I remember the soup like it was yesterday, especially how they put croutons on top.
Anyway, we got to Kingman, Arizona late at night, and it was so dark! It was actually eerie, so I guess it wasn’t one of those nights where the moon lights up the desert like it’s midday.
But it was in adulthood that I learned about the road that served as the main drive through that town. My Uncle Bob (rip) was enamored with the history of it—and the song. (If you click the history link, it’s got a short but interesting post about Route 66 and its decertification followed by some comments that add even more history.) Anyway, it turns out that when Uncle Bob was a firefighter in California, he went to the jazz nightclub where Bobby Troup performed. He even had Bobby write a song for his wife at the time.
So Uncle Bob became one of the biggest fans of my singing and, because of that connection, sent a tape to Bobby Troup who listened and said it was good, but added that nothing compared to his Julie. (Bobby was married to Julie London who played Nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency! where he played Dr. Joe Early.) He sent signed pictures for my sister and me showing him and Julie. Sadly, over the years, those pictures seem to have disappeared—along with a picture of us as little girls with Kevin Tighe. (Kevin played firefighter-paramedic Roy DeSoto on Emergency! We actually stumbled across an episode being filmed once in Sun Valley, so we stopped to watch. He was super friendly with all the fans; and when my stepdad asked if he could take a picture of us with him, he asked a kid near him to hold his coffee and said, “Sure!” with a big smile on his face.)
But I digress. Here is the Bobby Troup version of Get Your Kicks on Route 66 (which was also the theme song of the show by the same name.) If you listen closely, you’ll hear him sing the name of Kingman right after Flagstaff and Winona, and just before Barstow.
If you live along Route 66 in Arizona, you’ll eventually come across the Route 66 Fun Run. It brings out some of the most amazing classic cars to show off as they traverse the scenic stretch from Seligman (yesterday’s post) to Topock, Arizona. Between witnessing that firsthand and sharing in Uncle Bob’s excitement, it was natural to become a bit of a fan myself.
There’s way more I could share—from my numerous stops at Lou Mitchell’s in Chicago to the giant McDonald’s that arches right over the highway on The Will Rogers Turnpike, to the Route 66 museum in Oklahoma City. I’ve included plenty of links, so bookmark this post to come back when you’ve got time for some virtual touring. I’ll try to follow this up on November 11th when Route 66 celebrates its centennial anniversary, though I think that party has already begun in some places!
I have to say, the resilience of the travelers and fans that keep the history alive with memories and celebrations is amazing. It brings to mind the Scripture about remembering the old paths.
Jeremiah 6:16ab BSB
[16] This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jer.6.16.BSB
I will close with the factoid that the song above has been officially recorded well over 500 times. The original was in 1946 by the Nat King Cole Trio. The most recent was by John Mayer in 2006 for the movie Cars, and somewhere in-between, there was even a dark synth-pop electronic version by Depeche Mode. My Aunt Shirley (Uncle Bob’s wife) really liked that version.
Here are those three videos for your comparative listening pleasure.
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Get Your Kicks on Route 66
By Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
These photos are old (mostly 2010) and desperately needed editing, and my Photo Studio Pro just wouldn’t cooperate on the tablet, so it took me a lot longer on the small phone screen. That means, I’m going to quickly share a little photo tour with you, but I don’t have time for a lot of text tonight. This subject was planned because on June 27th, 1985, Route 66 was officially declassified as an American highway.
I wanted to talk about the resilience of The Mother Road and the song that has set records as to the variety of bands and singers who’ve recorded it, but I’ll do that on another post when I’ve had a chance to edit more pictures. In the meantime, enjoy this little photo album of pictures from Seligman and Oatman Arizona.
Next to the cafe, the “town” enhances the parking lot…
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
And the cars have been parking there for a really long time…
You’ll need to take your own car to visit the donkeys in Oatman. They are wild and will not always move because they know they own the town…
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Prompt Response; Peppermint
What’s the first book you ever finished and still remember to this day?
This prompt got me thinking about all the books I’d started but never did finish, like Watership Down, The Martian Chronicles, and A Wrinkle in Time. Well, I did finish the last one as an adult, but I never could get most books finished before time to return them to the library.
Of course, I had all my little books for small hands, and then the books with matching records that played a little sound when it was time to turn the page. I’m sure some were by Disney, and some were probably by Dr. Seuss. I’m certain I had “Put Me in the Zoo” because I remember how the main character could put his colored spots on other things, but it doesn’t have a stickiness in my brain like the one that goes with the picture above.
The first small book I finished that stuck with me, and is still with me to this day, is probably Peppermint by Dorothy Grider. My mind captured the images so well that, when I needed Gemini to find the book for me, it got it right on the first try. Though there are none available at the sale page on Thriftbooks, there are 45 people signed up to be notified if it ever shows up there, so apparently, I’m not the only one who remembers it as a wonderful story.
See, there was a candy store, and the owner had a cat named “Candy” who stayed at the store with him. Candy had 4 kittens, so the owner gave them sweet candy names like Lollipop and posted them for sale. But the runt of the litter, a tiny white kitten he called Peppermint, was too shy and too small, so she stayed at Mr. Dobby’s candy store. Until one day, a little girl named Barbara was upset and crying because she didn’t have a kitten for the upcoming cat show at school.
When Mr. Dobby said Barbara could take Peppermint home, she didn’t care how dirty she was from all the dust in the storeroom. But Barbara’s mom cared and insisted the kitten must have a bath. Peppermint didn’t like it and jumped out of the soapy water and right into a bucket of water filled with bluing. (In case you’ve never heard of bluing, it’s a laundry additive that removes yellow discolorations to make whites brighter. You can read about it on Amazon at https://amzn.to/4eegCjR {my affiliate link for tracking} if you want to know more.) The clean little kitten was now a beautiful blue, and when Barbara took it to school with the pink ribbon her mother tied around it, the other kids decided that Peppermint was a prize-worthy kitty.
I think I remember it because of my own dreams of being—or sharing— something that could win a prize. I could identify with both Peppermint and Barbara on the rejection front, and I always hoped to have a special moment like she did when she pulled the kitten out of the basket. (Part of me still hopes for something like that when I finally release one of my songs. 😁) It’s just such a happy ending for everyone in this book.
And, guess what? I even found a few places on YouTube where people read the book aloud and show the pictures on the pages. Some were a little long, so I’m embedding the shortest one that is also easy to hear and understand. It’s only 5 minutes and 37 seconds to find out the names of the other kittens and see the artist’s drawings of the little blue kitten.
Deuteronomy 4:9 BSB
[9] Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/deu.4.9.BSB
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🎵Girl’s Day Memories
First, I really like this knitted filter. 😁 And I’ve also found that it will often create more pictures for me while the other filters keep giving me “restricted content” warnings because my prompt has words like child or daughter or kid in it. It’s sad that people in our world use those words to create content that wouldn’t be deemed as “safe for work” so it causes a warning if anything gets even close to that.
But I’m not writing about sad stuff except maybe the bittersweetness of memories because they cannot be had anymore. So on to the content I planned for today.
My day’s plans were put on hold due to a sciatic flair, so I spent the day on a phone visit with a friend. (The amazing friend who’s been helping me with Operation Cleanout and getting organized.) She understood my lack of ability to move, lift, and twist today, so we enjoyed a time of visiting via voice instead of in person. During that visit, a thing I shared with her hit me as a good topic for my blog readers.
Growing up for a time in government housing meant things like looking for inexpensive ways to find meaning in a day and finding out how to do that at home because we didn’t have a car. Eventually, we established a pattern. When the monthly check would arrive, my mother would treat me and my sister to a girl’s day. Our first stop was usually to take the bus to the nearest “Licorice Pizza” record store and buy ourselves at least one new record to listen to. I can still see the blue label on the Wildfire 45 rpm we loved to sing with. “She ran calling ‘Wildfire,’ she ran calling…” And once in a while, we got a whole new album, like a greatest hits collection by Anne Murray because we all sang with that one.
I don’t recall which stores we shopped at for nail polish, but we always got at least one new color to try, usually one with sparkles in it. We’d get out all the old ones from previous months, and sometimes we painted a different color on each nail just for fun. I think they actually do that in professional manicures now, but we just loved to experiment back then.
On the way home, we got off the bus a couple blocks past our apartment complex, so we could get our favorite dinner treat: Chinese food to go. In those days, the more people you ordered for, the more extra food types you could add to your order. It’s why that one old Doris Day/Brian Keith movie is called “With Six You Get Eggroll.” Of course, we had to have an egg roll and fried rice with every order. 😋 And they always added these paper sleeves with wooden chopsticks, so we always tried to figure out how to use them—at least for the first few bites. 🤣
As a side note, as an adult, I always wondered why fried rice just didn’t taste the same as I’d remembered from my youth. One day, just for my own curiosity, I added a little bit of the oil that floats on top of my natural peanut butter, and there it was….that unmistakable flavor that made me always want more Chinese food. I guess most Chinese restaurants used woks and peanut oil back then, and the taste was totally different. And, I think, so much better!
Anyway, with our bags full of little white boxes covered in red designs and symbols, we headed home for a few hours of unstressed mom and daughters fun. We’d sit on the living room floor and try the foods while the record player dropped a stack of 45s, including the latest purchases. We would sometimes play the music through headphones to more fully hear the nuances of left and right sounds. And then we’d make the house smell like a salon while we played with color.
I wish every day had those good memories, and I wish they were never undone by Mom going on a late night drinking binge, but even with the myriad of imperfect and stressful days, I’m so thankful for those times, those pleasant moments, that brought balance to my life. Now, they bring balance to my memories as well.
Philippians 4:8 BSB
[8] Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think on these things.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/php.4.8.BSB
I know the words are a bit sad, but here’s a video of Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphey with a slideshow of beautiful horses…
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🎵 What to Do in the Rain
What do you do when it rains? Do you hide inside to stay dry, darting quickly between house and car if you need to run out and remember the umbrella is still in the car? I think most of us prefer to stay dry as we get older, but the deluge in the past week has gotten me to think about rainy days in my childhood.
Oh summer rain! Years and years ago in Southern California, it was just a simple pleasure like running through the sprinklers. Neighborhood kids would put on their swimsuits and dance around in the warm rain or slide on the wet grass. Sometimes, we’d get a little mud or grass stuck to us, but the rain would wash it right back off. We never worried about what could be in the rain, like toxins or acid, back then. We didn’t think about getting struck by lightning even when there was thunder and lightning going on. It was all just simple fun. And yes, we did drag out a kiddie pool to let it fill up naturally a few times. 🤩
So, has rain changed? Or is it just the abundance of cautions & warnings out there these days that make it seem so much more dangerous? Maybe it’s just a bit different in the Midwest where I live now. But I still have such pleasant memories of rain—and puddles. (Not in our nice shoes, though. Lol 😂)
I remember one time, while I was working at the answering service, I had to relay an emergency call to one of our customers. It took me a while to reach him, and when he finally called back, he apologized for the delay because he was… “in my front yard in a garbage bag.” I’m sure he could hear the confusion in my voice, so he went on to explain a little ritual he always did when it rained. He covered himself with a large, heavy plastic bag and just sat in his yard enjoying the sound that reminded him of rain on a tent. He said it relieved stress and brought him peace. It makes sense to me, but I’ve never actually tried it myself. Maybe I’ll put it on my to-do list since I’ve got a few of those industrial bags that should cover me well enough. Anyone else want to try it?
The rain in my area brings a bit of humidity, but I like how the clouds also cool off the house by not allowing the afternoon sunshine to pour through the living room window. And when it’s coming down hard enough, and it’s quiet all around, hubby and I will just listen and enjoy the rhythmic taps and clicks of the downpour.
Some Bible verses about rain…
Deuteronomy 32:2 BSB
[2] Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/deu.32.2.BSB
Psalm 72:6 BSB
[6] May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.72.6.BSB
Job 5:10 BSB
[10] He gives rain to the earth and sends water upon the fields.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/job.5.10.BSB
Isaiah 45:8 BSB
[8] Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the Lord, have created it.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/isa.45.8.BSB
And a nice hymn about rain showers…
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Jelly Bean Sisters
I think this knitted filter in Wombo is one of the coolest—or at least the most fun—filter I’ve used. With a few trials of different filters, one image was the winner until I looked more closely and noticed the wacky steering wheel in the car. I tried covering it up with the frame, and maybe you wouldn’t even notice unless it’s pointed out, but it was an excuse to put up the adorable knitted girls. But here, you can see for yourselves…
But, hey, why am I using this picture at all? You’ve got to be wondering at least a little, right? Simple: April 22nd is National Jelly Bean Day. While everyone else is busy talking about the earth, I was enjoying a memory of a day with my little sister; a fun day before stress manipulation words like “global warming” were even in our vocabulary. We were grown-up women, but we still knew how to be silly and make each other laugh.
I don’t even remember why we were in the car in the grocery store parking lot that day. Were we waiting for someone? Waiting for an appointment? Or just sampling some of the gourmet jelly beans we had just purchased? (Yes, those gourmet jelly beans! Yay for Jelly Belly®.) Whatever the reason for our being there, we were using our time to read the recipe card that comes with the jelly beans. Some of the tastes are wonderful, but some… Yikes! Let’s just say that if one of us made a face or a spitting sound from something we didn’t like, the other one started laughing about it.
And that’s where it starts. Something makes one of us laugh. 😂 Then, the sound of that laugh makes the other one of us laugh. 😂 And that sound affects the other one until we’re both totally doubled over with laughter until we’re crying. It’s an out-of-control moment that relieves stress and cements sisterly bonds. 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Living miles apart means we don’t get those days as often anymore, but I’ve smiled through almost every word of this blog post because it’s such a wonderful memory for me. And, no, buttered popcorn jelly beans are not bad, but it is a weird sensation to taste butter and salt but be chewing something gooey at the same time. If you can eat sugar, go get yourself a mixed set with a recipe card and go crazy with experimenting. I wish I could still do that, but since I can’t, at least I have an excuse not to try those new game flavors like vomit and dirty socks. 🤢
Just a couple reminders from God’s Holy Word…
Psalm 126:2 BSB
[2] Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.126.2.BSB
Genesis 21:6 BSB
[6] Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/gen.21.6.BSB
Ecclesiastes 9:7 BSB
[7] Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine* with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
https://bible.com/bible/3034/ecc.9.7.BSB
*Note: Jelly Belly® even made some wine/champagne flavors, but I'm not sure what is available now. Here is a list of (possibly) all their flavors, including retired ones, at the Fandom website: https://jellybelly.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Flavors
And now that you know joy and laughter are found in Scripture, here’s two more about pleasant taste…
Psalm 34:8 BSB
[8] Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.34.8.BSB
Psalm 119:103 BSB
[103] How sweet are Your words to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth!
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.119.103.BSB
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With This Wing, I Thee Wed
Nope, that’s not a typo. It’s what either me or hubby said on our wedding day 35 years ago. I know I tried to put his ring on the wrong hand, though. Lol 😂 But despite starting with a few mistakes, today makes 35 years of being dedicated to each other in marriage.
Our first celebrations were a little bigger, like his showing up at my job in a suit and carrying flowers on our first anniversary. Health and age can slow ya down a bit, but we are still happy together, and a simple meal out while wearing more comfy clothes is just fine with both of us.
Hubby doesn’t know yet (until he reads this post), but I made a list of 35 special thoughts about our 35 years together. These are the things that stand the test of time in my brain, and they are the thoughts that keep me wanting to stay together (for another 35 years) as long as possible…
35 Thoughts on 35 Years
1. “My Valentine's Day was 2 days ago.” (See my post When God Plans a Meet Cute for the story);
2. Talking to my Aunt Shirley on the phone. (She knew I'd be moving to Kentucky after a few conversations with him.)
3. He started praying while driving through a scary snow storm
4. He made me a house key with "I ❤️ U" etched into it.
5. Taking me to meet his brother at his job when he first met me in person.
6. My wedding day with Esther (his family friend who knew him all his life) performing our ceremony and almost crying as she saw his happiness.
7. Taking me downtown in my wedding dress to see his sister at the hospital where she worked as a nurse.
8. Taking me to my family in Arizona for our honeymoon.
9. When my Grandpa met him and then introduced him to a neighbor as his grandson. (Like he knew right away that he was right for me forever.)
10. Our first trip to Cave Hill Cemetery to feed the ducks (and see Colonel Sanders grave).
11. Our first Thunder Over Louisville.
12. My birthday gift of Oreos in a flower tube with a carnation on top.
13. My 30th birthday when he dressed up as “grim reaper” and took me to lunch at the downtown galleria.
14. Taking me to see the hospital where I was born. (And announcing on the video he was recording that the most wonderful girl in the world was born there.)
15. Big bunches of balloons for many special days.
16. A sign that says, ”I know what love is because of you.” (See it on Flickr.)
17. Lungs suctioned out joke: He had me believing his every word, so when he told me that people who move from dry climates to humid ones sometimes need their lungs suctioned out, it didn't seem impossible. They did it to my grandma due to cancer, and I was coughing up all kinds of yuck when he told me. But what made it funny was months later, on the phone with my uncle asking how I liked Kentucky, and I said, “Well, I haven't had to have my lungs stuffed suctioned out yet.” I'll never forget his laugh as he asked, ”What? You believed that?!”
18. Taking our nephews and me to see where I went to middle school and to meet some of my family.
19. Many scavenger hunts including one where the final clue was taped to a brick then wrapped as a gift. I still have the glider rocker it led to 20+ years later.
20. My 50th birthday party with friends and a scavenger hunt of clues to get my next clue by figuring out which guest was being suggested.
21. Being a cat man (and bringing 14+ new kitties into my life).
22. Letting me go to Arizona for my aunt and for my mom when they needed me.
23. Providing me a home (and painting the kitchen yellow as a surprise).
24. My door of Valentine's conversation hearts. (Flickr pic with kitties and the door in the background.)
25. Wonderful travels to places like Gatlinburg, the Ark Encounter/Creation Museum, Branson Christmas, World's Largest Rocking Chair, and more.
26. Supporting my writing (including a few conferences).
27. Supporting my singing (even if the album never got released).
28. Getting my DNA that let me find a brother I never knew I had.
29. Making the welcome sign for my brother and sister-in-law when they came from Canada for us to meet for the first time.
30. My butterflies on the ceiling and many other butterflies, including wind up ones that jump out and flap that he kept hiding in my laptop. (Flickr pic.)
31. My garnet birthstone ring specially made by our friend, Mark. (He's the one battling thru chemo & radiation now, so please pray for him and his wife Debbie.)
32. Singing hymns and gospel music with me. I especially love our travel games when we try to name (and sing) a song for each letter of the alphabet.
33. Flying to Vegas when my mom passed, and also taking me to Missouri for my dad's funeral. Oh, and weeks off for a trip to Arizona when my Grandpa passed.
34. Matching Proverbs 18 T-shirts and many Blessed Girl shirts.
35. Fighting to get stronger to stay with me longer... Forever and 3 Days!
HAPPY 35TH ANNIVERSARY to my husband and the love of my life! 💕✨💕
And there are so many more moments and memories in my heart and mind. Thank you readers for sharing my quick trip down a 35-year memory road (too long for a lane). Maybe you can make your own list of memories about someone that matters to you.
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Journeys of the Heart
I had a long talk with my sister today. I love all our visits, but some are better than others, especially when we can stir up memories for each other. And memories are usually great because we know where they led us to eventually even if they were a little scary at the time.
One of the ones we talked about today was a broken down car in a precarious situation.
In Arizona, on old Highway 93, somewhere between Wickenberg and Wikieup, our old ’66 Toyota Crown Deluxe decided to die. It was the middle of the night, and it was very dark on that stretch of road. Since we had been going up hill, we knew we had to get the car turned around and coast to a place to pull over. The guys knew how to drive, and my sister and I did not, but the guys needed to do the pushing. So, I was behind the wheel trying to steer and got us part way, sideways, blocking one lane completely when…
Here comes a semi truck headed down the hill and straight for the lane the car was in. I panicked so hard that I had trouble finding the door handle to get out of there. The others were already crouched at the side of the road when I got to them and just started praying. Of the 4 of us, I was a new Christian, and the other 3 were not big believers at the time. We were all fully aware that if the truck hit the car, we’d likely be blown down the steep ravine behind us. Worse, the truck could not move over to the other lane because a station wagon was now ascending the hill in the lane we’d just pulled our car out of. Even prayer didn’t seem like enough of a solution for the certain tragedy just moments away.
Since I’m writing this now, you know something changed, and that’s what my sister and I were talking about. At that moment, and even up to now, what happened is both a blur and a mystery. One minute, a semi was barreling toward our car as a station wagon blocked the only way it could have gotten around us. In the next moment, the semi was heading down the hill on the other side of the Toyota, and the station wagon was continuing up the hill untouched, unfazed, and just fine. We scrambled back to the car to finish pulling it around and getting it coasted into an emergency lane down the hill before we had time to talk to each other about what we saw. Did our car disappear for a moment, we wondered? Did the truck and the station wagon pass through each other? Did time just fast forward? Not one of us can tell you what actually happened in that moment, but we can tell you that God certainly did something miraculous, saved multiple vehicles, and spared multiple lives. I still wonder what the truck driver saw.
Now, remember, this is well before the days of cellphones or even car phones. I don’t think I even had a CB radio in that car. So we tried to sleep and planned to flag someone down for help the next day. My sister’s husband started out walking in the summer heat hoping a different location along the road might find a more willing helper. The rest of us just stayed by the car worrying. But you know what? In less than probably half an hour, here comes my brother-in-law riding in the passenger seat of a tow truck. As soon as it stopped and he got out, we asked, “Where did you find a tow truck?” “In, Nothing,” he answered.
Huh? Nothing? What could he have meant by that? He meant exactly what he said. Our car had apparently died about a half a mile from the little tourist stop called Nothing, Arizona. They had a gas pump, a tow truck, a little store, and a population of 4. And, amazingly, they were there and available that day. And now, it’s a population of zero and a total ghost town, but you can read the history of it on Wikipedia. And here’s a picture of my hubby and nephew in front of the little store years later but before it became abandoned…
That’s only one of many heart journeys that brought me to, and through, amazing circumstances. But I think that’s one of my favorites simply because it leaves no room to do anything other than trust The Lord. Normally, I want all the answers, and I want to be able to fix things, but in this story, I am content to trust that God did something big and beyond explanation. I want to think it was for me or for others with me, but it could’ve been for the truck or car driver who had other assignments they hadn’t finished on this earth. Whatever God’s reasoning, even the picture above wouldn’t have been possible if we’d all been injured or killed that night. And in this, I will continue my journey while remembering the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 46:10a, “Be still and know that I am God.”
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Happy Birthday, Grandma!
One of the blessings of being the first born is also getting to be the first grandchild. One of my favorite stories from childhood is when my mom, who was living in Ohio, called up my grandmother (her mother) to wish her a happy birthday. It was also the day of my birth, but Grandma did not know it yet, so Mom said, “Happy Birthday, Grandma!”
Of course, Grandma began her usual thanks for the wishes when the new term hit her. “Wait… Grandma?”
And thus began the plans to transport me back to Southern California and all the family members who had new titles like grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, etc. When life became more difficult not many years later, I believe the special position as the “first” everything, and all the spoiling that came with it in my formative years, gave me a balance that made the hard times easier to survive. And they made me a better big sister who could take control and take care as needed. Not perfect, mind you, as I was still a child, but I think I was a little more attentive to my baby sister.
I still have fond memories of shared birthday gatherings when there would be a cake with both names, or a big and little cake when we each got our own. I loved sharing my birthday with my grandmother, and it never felt the same after she left this world. But I will always have that sweet story of the phone call “reveal” to my newly ordained Grandma. 😁
Here’s one of those memories from a Polaroid I shared to my Flickr feed, though I’m sorry I cannot seem to control the sizes from Flickr pages to this blog…
Thank you for joining me on this trip down memory lane. And if you have a grandmother who needs a pretty card for her birthday, feel free to download and use the card above. You can add a name in multiple photo editing apps, but I recommend Photo Studio Pro the most.
And one last thing; I learned today that there is a scientific group doing studies on mother’s milk that shows how different needs of a baby create different chemical components within the milk. It’s a different composition for boys than girls, it changes for sick babies, and first-time mothers have more cortisol in their milk which causes first-born babies to be more alert, attentive, and anxious. It’s almost like some Intelligent Being designed things to work in certain ways that benefit the human race, huh? 🤩 Read a summary of more highlights from this amazing study by Katie Hinder, an evolutionary anthropologist, on X (you’ll need to log in) at https://x.com/i/status/2016990657450299837 and prepare to be amazed. (If you don’t have an X/Twitter account, maybe look up the scientist by name. It’s a lot of fascinating study.)
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Wombo Dream Butterfly Memories
When I first started using the Wombo Dream AI app, it was creative but lacking in crisp and defined images. The colors were pretty, but many of the images weren’t worth saving. That was around Christmas of 2022, and they were improving daily. I left a 4-star review and explained that horses having 3 legs and 2 tails wasn’t exactly 5 stars, but to keep improving. They replied with happy words for my review.
The images above were made on January 14th, 2024, so this is their 2-year anniversary. They came up in my memories in Amazon photos, and I decided they’d be the perfect share. There were a whole lot more, but I grabbed some of my favorites and let the AI in the Photo Studio Pro app for Android arrange them in a collage. I love that it did all the fitting, and all I had to do was change the background to create a frame I liked and hit save. I could stare at colors like this all day.
I saved a lot of my prompts before they started having problems near the end of 2024 when all the old prompts were erased. I think this may be a collection of some of the prompts I used: ”detailed butterfly with stained glass wings, in a garden of pastel flowers, colorful rays of light in the background, red, blue, purple, green, glittery, gold, silver, sparkles, colorful, sparkling, jeweled, jewel tones, bright, hot pink, glowing, garden, glitter, beautifully lit.” The next image is what I get now with these prompts and using the Dreamland V3 filter. You can see the details are better, so if they ever get everything fixed again, it will certainly be a wonderful app for playing with color and making butterfly memories.
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Crystal Writes A Blog 
All That God Commands
The title for this post comes from the last verse of this reading from Genesis 6:9 through Genesis 6:22, “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” (This verse from the Amplified Bible.)
I just spent an evening and a full day at a training seminar to learn about prayer and healing and ministering to others. I have about 25 pages of notes, and I saw some amazing things in the Power of God. Since I have walked as a follower of God, I can testify to multiple miracles, including one that is medically verified. And yet, I look at these chronicles of Noah, and I wonder, if it were me in his place, would I do ALL that God commanded me to do?
If we all told the truth, I’m sure we would all admit that it would be a struggle to exceed the boundaries of the natural things God wants us to do and take a jaunt into the supernatural. If we can’t see it or feel it, can it really be true? Then again, we can’t see love, but we somehow trust it is true. We can’t see salvation, but we know it is true, and often trust someone who says they’ve become saved just on their word. And salvation, the regeneration of the human soul, is the greatest miracle of all. Of course salvation wasn’t even part of the culture back then–except for Noah. The world had never yet seen a drop of rain, so just believing that God was going to destroy the earth with water was a stretch, but he did it. But then, to build a boat on dry land, build it the size required and believe it would float, and then trust that the animals from all over the earth would just find their way there and walk right in? Wow! Most of the world would have called, and probably did call, Noah a crazy man. But he obeyed in spite of their accusations.
Growing up, we had a record, and yes I mean a vinyl LP album, called “Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow…Right!” I can’t tell you how many times we listened to it, but it was funny pretty much every time. The part we listened to most was the three skits where God calls on Noah to build an ark. Noah asks questions like, “Am I on Candid Camera?” and “Who is this really?” And while the story is written as a comedy, so much of it rings of truth when thinking about how humans react to that which is supernatural in God. To hear it for yourself, listen to this recording at God Tube… http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WL7YYLNX and let me know if it’s your first time hearing it, or if it brings back some great memories for you.
And after you listen to Bill Cosby, and/or read today’s Scriptures, ask yourself whether you would act like Bill’s Noah, or the Noah in the Bible who, rather than doing things his own way, did ALL that God commanded of him. No wonder he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
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October 5, 2013 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | album, ark, believing God, Bible, Bible study, Bill Cosby, Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow...Right!, comedy, command, Complete Jewish Bible, Cosby Noah, Creator, crystalwriter, funny, Genesis 6, God, humor, Lord, LP, memories, miracle, Noah, nostalgia, obedience, right, salvation, Scripture, sketch, supernatural, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, truth, vinyl, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, Yahveh, Yahweh | Leave a comment