was bound to happen sooner or later. Ed and I grew up as teenagers in the 70s where the music of the times surrounded us. I was at a slumber party when I got my first glimpse of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. I remember riding a bus into town and buying my first record. It was a 45 rpm, Yellow Submarine with Eleanor Rigby on the flip side. I visited my grandparents and played it so much that my (usually mild mannered) grandpa announced that he had heard quite enough of ” yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine.”
Ed remembers loading his record player before going to bed and and being “rocked” to sleep each night.
Something new came out around the time we went to college and we both outfitted our dorm rooms with the latest 8-tracks. No more worries about scratched or warped records or broken needles. Just pop in a cassette and you’re good. To this day there are still places in Carole King’s Tapestry that I expcect to hear the “click” in the middle of the song.
Thankfully, the 8-track craze was short lived and vinyl endured. As a young married couple, we joined a record-of- the-month club and began to collect albums from our favorite artists. We had an impressive turntable with gigantic speakers.
My faves: Seals and Crofts, Cat Stevens, James Taylor,Crosby Stills Nash and Young..Led Zeppelin? (how did that get in there..must be Ed’s)
Time Goes By….
and more important things required our attention…got jobs, became parents, bought a house. Our new home was equiped with a built-in cassette tape deck and inter-house sound system. The turntable and huge speakers gathered dust in our basement for decades. When we retired and moved across the country, we sold them in a garage sale. We could’t part with our beloved records, perhaps we were hanging on to the past, so we boxed up the ones we wanted to keep and they moved with us. We stashed the box in a closet.
But Vinyl Lives ON!
I blame our current Vinyl Mania on my son who recently purchased a turntable and began collecting record albums. One night a week, he hosts an “album night” where the TV , phones, and computers are turned off. Each family member gets to pick a song, or a side of a favoite record to play. On a recent visit, we saw this in action and had so much fun!
Vinyl Revival
One thing led to another. Back home, we took our long-forgotten records out of storage and spent an entire evening looking at the cover art and list of songs, sharing memories of each one. The records looked to be in good condition, so we bought an inexpensive turntable to try them out. Boy, did we miss our our stero set and speakers, but we figured out how to hook things up to our television sound bar. The sound isn’t great, but it’s a start. Then we bought a record-cleaning kit, and a wall display system for Ed’s office, and a record storage box, and of couse I had to get a little stand to display the record that was currently playing.
Ed’s Office wall display, mostly Beatles, one Stairway to Heaven
Accessories: player, storage cube, cute stool, and who’s in that picture?
Ed and I and friends at Abby Road Studios, 2018
The Music Lives On
Did we go a little overboard? Maybe. But I’m in the kitchen chopping a salad to go with tonight’s dinner and Elton’s voice floats in and before I know it I’m singing:
My Gift is my song and this one’s for you.
Threads of Thought
Ok, now it’s your turn. I want to hear your stories about your favorite song or album. What memories does it invoke? Leave a comment below (remember that comments are moderated, so be patients and it will show up, I promise). Or if you’re connected through my fb page, leave your story there. I know you’ve got one!
The 2022 Tucson show brings opportunities for storytelling.
I think this 1957 Jaguar would look good on me…
I was looking for something Ed and I could do on a recent fall weekend and came across an ad for a car show in town. He was all about it…me, not so much, but the blogger, photographer, and writer in me was curious about this opportunity. Here are a few of the cars we saw, and the stories they inspire. Maybe I’m more of a car person than I thought.
A Trunk full of Skotch Koolers
Koolers, Ginger Ale, and Parnelli Jones
This old station wagon didn’t interest me, but the trunk filled with Skotch Koolers did! (yes, I checked the spelling) I have fond memories of going to the Indianapolis 500 time-trials with my grandpa and Dad. Grandpa would pack his Skotch Kooler with cans of Vernor’s ginger ale and Canadian bacon sandwiches. In 1967 we watched Parnelli Jones become the first driver in history to qualify in a turbine-engine racer. He dominated that year’s race until with only 4 laps to go, his transmission failed and he had to drop out.
The Family Wagon
The Beast
This 1964 Country Squire reminds me of our family car. With four kids, a station wagon was a necessity. Once, we drove from Indiana to Las Vegas to visit Aunt Betty and Uncle Doc in something like this. Mom and Dad took turns driving and to save money we only stopped for the night a few times. Before the age of seatbelts, we folded down the back seats and each kid had a corner to occupy with our toys and sleeping bags. We stopped at roadside parks and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along the way.
We still had a big, clunky wagon when I was learning to drive. During my driver’s test, I tried 4 times to parallel park the beast. Finally the instructor said “If you don’t tell anyone, I won’t.” and he passed me. I still can’t parallel park.
First Date
Karmann Ghia Karma
On my first date, my boyfriend picked me up in his Karmann Ghia, but my date’s version was a fixer-upper, not a shiny red convertable one like this. My parents said they could hear us coming from far away. No way to sneak home late.
Ed’s Cars
Love lost…
Ed spent lots of time looking over this 1957 Corvette. He remembers his older cousin Ron had a ’67 Vette. Ron let Ed pull it into the driveway once and he almost ran it into the garage door. That was the last time he got to drive it.
As a teenager, Ed worked all summer in the Indiana hay fields to buy his first car, a ’64 Fury for $600. Ed’s dad owned a car lot, and Ed was always looking to trade up. During his college years he owned a ’67 Cougar, then a ’68 Cougar. He raced around the campus of Ball State University delivering pizzas in those cars. Then we got married, had kids, and his “trade-ups” were sensible family cars. But I can tell he still misses his first loves.
Status Symbols
Of course the status cars were on full display. Lots of folks were drooling over these beauties.
Hippie Van
Tie-dye and love beads remembered
And who can resist this nod to the ’60s. Groovy!
the Greatful Dead live on
My Choice for “Best in Show”
love at first sight
I want one…
This 1967 Citroen was not the most valuable car in the show, but it wins my vote for being the best candidate for a good story. The original owner was an artist. She thought she had ordered a sunny-yellow model and when this dull, gray car arrived, she was very disappointed. Yet, she fell in love with the little car and put her own touch on it. I would love to write a story about it, but alas, the artist/owner beat me to it.
But wait! Maybe I can make my own story! What could I do with my vintage 2002 Saturn?
“Deb…drop the paintbrush and slowly move away from the car.” Ed says.
He’s no fun…
Threads of Thought
Going to the car show was such fun and I realized how our cars are woven into the stories of our lives.
What is your favorite car story?
Is there a vehicle that really stands out in your memory?
Tell us about it!
PS…For the record, Debra did not paint her 2002 Saturn, but she did write a story!
The first one appeared two weeks ago when Ed and I were hiking at Catalina State Park. “Never Give UP!” This small, black rock was perched on the top of a boulder encouraging us as we climbed the steep hill on the nature trail. We left it for other hikers who might need motivation.
on the sidewalk in front of our house
A few days later, this one appeared on the sidewalk in front of our house. “Hey, You matter.” The rocks were definitely talking to me. It seams like a story and for some expert help I called on my friend David to be my guest blogger this week. David R. Davis the author of two books, https://www.davidrdavisauthor.com and writes a blog.https://desert-writer.blog/ Here’s what he has to say about his rock painting hobby.
In David’s Words:
The logical first question is – Why? For me, it’s a simple three-part answer. It’s fun. It is another way of creating something tangible, and its great fun to leave them on trails or at parks hoping someone may find and enjoy them.
Let’s face it…who wants boring houseplants, when you can create these adorable personalities? For this project, I had help from my creative daughter-in-law and imaginative granddaughter.
Inspiration Strikes
Hmmmm …what could I do with these?
I began my Seams Like a Story blog eight months ago to explore my creative life and inspire others. I never know when inspiration will strike or where it will take me. Sometimes I write, sometimes I sew. This time my inspiration came from a trip to the local thrift shop where I found these colorful pots.
Browsing through Pinterest, my idea began to take shape. There are lots of ideas out there:
DIL Becca designed and cut the faces on her Cricut machine then printed them off on permanent vinyl. Granddaughter Lillian decided which face should go with each pot.
Becca and Lillian worked carefully to peel off the backing and attach the faces to the pots.
Do this step carefully because, like the name says, it’s permanent.
We used a plastic kitchen spatula to rub out the air bubbles.
Getting Our Hands Dirty
Next, we potted baby succulent plants into each pot. Since the pots didn’t have drainage holes, we purchased special potting soil that was formulated for succulents. We used four different varieties of plants. Lillian had fun deciding which “hair” went with each face.
Too Cute!
Our potted plants turned out so cute! Lillian thought the orange one with glasses and spikey hair looked like Grandma, and of course the perky pink one with the fancy hair fit her personality perfectly!
These would make great gifts, but I’m keeping them for now. Their smiles remind me of the fun we had together!
One month later…..
Whoa Lillian! Your “hair” is really growing!
Threads of Thought
If you don’t want to “face” your planter, here are some cute sayings I found:
You Grow Girl
I will survive
Let it Grow
Not Dead…yet
You had me at Aloe
(Pick one or make up your own! )
If you don’t have access to a Cricut machine, you could paint your designs and words on.
