12 of 60 - The Purple Room in Palm Springs CA

Leda - Gena - John

In Palm Springs, there is a fabulous club named The Purple Room. Back in the 1960s, this is where Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, and their friends would perform and just hang out as part of the Club Trinidad Resort. My brother is friends with the owner who restored and runs the Supper Club nowadays. 

    The club is closed during the summer (because it's crazy hot all summer long), and reopens for the season on Labor Day weekend. And this year the Opening Show was "An Intimate Evening with Lucille Arnaz" -- so I begged my brother John to pull strings to get tickets to take our younger sister Leda and I to this sold-out show. Which, of course, he did. 

Lucy & Lucy
Mother & Daughter

   Lucille Arnaz is the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz -- and she does shows at this club every season. (She still lives just a few miles away in Palm Springs.) Her theme was Love -- and she walked us through her life and loves, including meeting and marrying her husband of 46 years, Laurence Luckinbill. She ended the evening by singing the beautiful love song "That's All" -- ironically a favorite of hers before she realized it was from the final episode of the I Love Lucy show. And this song is especially poignant for her because that was also the last night that her father lived with them, as Lucy & Desi filed for divorce the very next day after the series ended.

    Coincidentally, the next afternoon I was in Downtown Palm Springs doing some shopping. I popped into "The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs" (a slightly exaggerated name), a fun little Rock Shop (named The Rock Shop), and stumbled upon the statue of Lucille Ball (Lucille Arnaz's mother) -- and captured a photo there also.  

    

60 Books in my 60th Year

Growing up I was an avid reader. I remember that when I was 5-years-old my mom would pay me a nickel per book for every book that I read -- and I remember feeling that I was really really rich. I definitely read at least a few books (sometimes up to a dozen) every day. And I was very blessed that my parents would buy me any book and any sheet music that I ever wanted -- and to this day I am still a reader, and I still play the piano.

For a chunk of my life I was with someone who was not a reader -- and he somehow got jealous every time I sat down to read. So for many years I could only find time to read at work -- but fortunately, for much of that time I worked at Franklin Covey, and they encouraged us to read all of the Covey books (which I still love to this day). After that I spent quite a few years reading mostly textbooks -- studying first for my bachelors (which I got on my 54th birthday), and then my masters (my pandemic project). 

The first half of my life I was a reader, and for the second half I had missed reading just for pleasure. For much of the past year I've been doing quite a bit more reading -- but it hasn't been very focused. So I've decided that I've neglected that part of my life for long enough -- and at age 60 I'm going to re-focus on reading. Before my birthday, I did not read a book a week -- but I think that I would be happier if I did, so I'm going to try.

My intention is to read 60 Books in this my 60th Year. A bit ambitious maybe, but however many books I read I am pretty sure that I will be happier that I did.

Below is my list of books. And I would love to hear any recommendations you have for me.

BOLD = finished        Italic = in process        plain = plan to read

1. Sweet is the Work by Mary Ellen Smoot
2. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
4. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
5. One Drop at a Time by M Russell Ballard
6. What Every Church Member Should Know about Poverty by Ehlig & Payne
7. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
8. Men are from Mars, Women from Venus by John Gray PhD
9. The Power by Rhonda Byrne
10. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
11. The Divine Within by Albert Huxley
12. No One Can Take Your Place by Sheri Dew
13. Finding Your Authentic Self by Susan Reynolds
14. Reprogram Your Subconscious by Gale Glassner Twersky
15. Frogs into Princes by Bandler and Grinder
16. The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
17. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
18. Peace by Hinckley, Romney, Holland, et al.
19. Getting Past Your Past by Francine Shapiro, PhD
20. How to Write a Book This Weekend by Vic Johnson
21. Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan
22. Trust Yourself by M R Ryan
23. The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukov
24. Change Your Life in 30 Days by Rhonda Byrne
25. Bridges Out of Poverty by Payne, DeVol, Smith
26. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
27. NLP the New Technology of Achievement by Charles Faulkner
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Updated 5 September 2025

11 of 60 – Loretta Lynn’s Ranch and Kitchen – Best Catfish Ever

Somewhere between Memphis and Nashville is the hometown of Loretta Lynn. She has a 3500 acre ranch there, which is amazing. I drove and drove and drove up into the hills and past pasture after pasture. There are cabins and RV spots for rent – and it looks like a fabulous place for a family reunion. Unfortunately, by the time I got there the Museum and Gift Shops were closed – so I headed back into town to grab a bite. Fortunately for me, the Loretta Lynn’s Kitchen was open, so I got to a table and asked the waitress what the best thing on the menu was. She said everyone raves about the catfish – and although I usually think catfish is too catfishy, I decided when in Rome…. The restaurant is very much a hometown cafe, and the walls are adorned with photos/clippings/paintings of Loretta Lynn’s life. I was seated next to an oil painting of Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle. 

 

A few minutes later a HUGE plate of catfish arrived – and the catfish was PERFECT! I was starving and I still couldn’t finish it all. Definitely not too catfishy. (The beans were pretty fabulous too!) I wandered around a bit, reading clippings and remembering Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle from the 1970s – and then hopped back into my truck and listened to their music for the rest of the afternoon. If you are ever in Tennessee, stop in Hurricane Mills – and have the best catfish of your life. And listen to some good ole’ country by a couple of sisters that put a lot of heart into their music.

10 of 60 - Woody Guthrie Park in Okemah, Oklahoma

 

Driving through Oklahoma can get pretty boring pretty quickly, so I decided I needed another detour. This time I found a park in the hometown of Woody Guthrie. 

 

Most of you probably don’t know who Woody Guthrie is, but when I was in elementary school we had a music teacher that LOVED folk tunes – especially since she taught us music by playing a guitar. And his song, “This Land Is Your Land” still makes me feel like I’m a 2^nd grader in Mrs. Garrison’s class.

 

I got out and spent a few minutes in this lovely little shady park, nestled right on the Main Street – before getting back on the road. And spent the rest of the afternoon listening to Woody Guthrie songs – many of which I had never heard before. They all tell a story, and a few are a bit surprising – but I love all types of music, so spending an afternoon listening to a different playlist was great. (I personally believe that Woody Guthrie was the inspiration for Johnny Cash’s House of the Rising Sun – and you can hear Woody’s version here: https://youtu.be/uX_bEDqxHFw?si=yd0nmC8rDEf2J9Ds

9 of 60 – Giant Coke Bottle, Arcadia, Oklahoma

Although I spent most of my time on I-40, there are a few detours I took to travel along Old Route 66. I live about 5 minutes from Route 66 near Kingman, Arizona -- so I love this old road, and even did a Route 66 Roadtrip (Santa Monica to Chicago) a number of years ago (which was a blast!) 

This time I detoured to Arcadia, Oklahoma, to stop at Pops -- a soda shop on Route 66. In front of Pops is a 66-foot-tall soda bottle (66-foot on Route 66, get it?), which is a popular stop for selfies -- and a great place to get out and stretch your legs. Pops has an incredible variety of Pop (aka "soda") and soda memorabilia. So I grabbed a Pop at Pops -- and a quick selfie -- and I headed back out on the road. (And on a cross-country roadtrip, a little extra caffeine is a very good thing.)

8 of 60 - The Lost Art of Hitchhiking

 

As I was driving along the highway, I suddenly saw this sign. It kindof caught me off-guard. Fortunately, since I usually travel alone I don't typically pick up hitchhikers anyway -- bit it is a bit disconcerting that there are frequent enough jailbreaks that they have had to put up signs. I mean, how often do people around here break out of prison???

My dad told me that back in the 1930s that he used to hitchhike quite a bit. He lived in Preston, Idaho, and attended Utah State University in Logan, Utah -- about 30 miles away. Back in the 1930s, it was the Great Depression, so few families had cars -- and even fewer college kids. But amazingly hitchhiking was a frequent method of transportation for my dad -- especially to get home to see his family. At 6'2’½" and a tall skinny red-head, I doubt that Dad ever looked very menacing.

Seeing this sign reminded me of the hitchhiking story my dad told me -- and that made me smile. If I had seen a tall skinny red-head, I might have stopped -- so it's probably better that no one was thumbing it on this stretch of highway that day.

7 of 60 - Blarney Stone, Shamrock, Texas

 

In the teeny tiny town of Shamrock, Texas, is a piece of the Blarney Stone. Yes, the real Blarney Stone from the Blarney Castle in Ireland. Since my family is Irish, I’ve heard Irish Folklore most of my life – including about the “Luck of the Irish” and “Kissing the Blarney Stone”. 

When in Rome ... or at least in Shamrock, Texas. I figured -- what the heck, right?!?!? Besides, it's been quite a while since any kissing of any type has happened in my life -- so I decided I should probably stay in practice. Just in case.

I can’t say that my luck has changed, but maybe the Blarney-Stone-specific promised “gift of eloquent speech” might find its way to me. I’d even settle for the gift of eloquent blogging.