A LIFE-CHANGING ENCOUNTER

The other night I ran into a boy who was trying to get warm inside Rite-Aid. He was sitting in the waiting room inside the pharmacy near the blood pressure machine, eating a bag of chips. I was standing there reading a label on the back of a jar of cream. My back was to him, but he spoke to me: "It's pretty cold tonight," he said. I turned slightly to look at him. He told me he would be sleeping outside tonight. "I'm homeless," he told me. He seemed embarrassed. Then I realized I was wearing a USMC Marine Corps hat that a Marine (Shon Olson) had given me from the "Big Red Challenge." No wonder I was getting so much respect that night! So this kid almost saluted me. Anyway, this boy didn't "look" homeless; he looked like a bright-eyed teenager wearing a football jacket, eating potato chips. He was part Hispanic and spoke English. I told him to get to the shelter. He said the shelter closed at 3 PM and they had no beds left.

Apparently there is only one shelter in the entire Antelope Valley and it only has 37 beds. It gets down to 20 degrees here now, and there is snow on the mountains. I looked at him, looked in his eyes and saw that he didn't appear to be on drugs, didn't have "meth-face," and looked pretty clear-eyed. He must have been starving; he sure was devouring those chips. He told me he was looking for a job, and got "jumped" and tried to go to ER so he could sleep in the waiting room, but they kicked him out. He kept pointing to splatters of blood on his sleeve, but it looked like coffee. He seemed desperate for someone to let hm just sleep inside. I had an intuition that I must help him -- at least give him enough to get a motel room, maybe Motel 6. I had cash on me -- my son had given me money for Christmas to get my data recovered from the crashed hard drive. So I went to the pharmacist cashier and broke a $100 dollar bill. The cashier, Linda, an African American woman told me that she felt so sorry for the kid. She had bought him that bag of chips. When I told her I was going to give him enough to eat and find a room, she got tears in her eyes and said "God Bless you." I went over to him and handed him enough to cover his expenses and hopefully get a room for the night. (Not sure you can get a room without a credit card deposit though.) I ended up giving him almost the entire amount so he could really eat a decent meal too. He was so grateful he hugged me and then told me he was going to join the Marines. (I am hoping to encourage anyone who reads this, to please help anyone you can when the spirit moves you. I don't always give to the homeless on the street but there are times you do what you can.) Last night i went back to that pharmacy to pick up Mom's prescription and spoke to Linda again. I asked if she had seen the boy again. She said "No, but did you see the woman crying outside the store, face down on the pavement? The hospital had dropped her off here and she was sobbing, didn't know how to get home to Mojave." I had not seen the woman; maybe she got a ride to Mojave. I just hope she wasn't picked up by someone who would take advantage of her. Linda told me her heart breaks for people and that her dream is to open a homeless shelter. I got chills, because I always wanted to open one too - a "Loving Home" for people who are in dire straits. Women on the street are especially vulnerable to being raped and abused. We are going to have lunch and discuss it. Linda had once been homeless too, and someone gave her a chance. Maybe we'll call our shelter 'TLC House of Hope" or as Rob Deutchman said "Hope House." 

Please donate to a shelter like this:https://www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-kids

HEAVEN IS CROWDED ~ CELEBS WE LOST 2016 ~ REST IN PEACE 2016

Personally, I lost friends and two family members, as well as several celebrity friends in 2016: Patty Duke, Carrie Fisher, Garry Marshall, Garry Shandling, Alan Thicke,  Glen Frey (whom I met several times with Don Henley); Robert Vaughn (we were not close but I attended several celebrity trips with him to Chicago and we had dinner a few times.)

LISTEN TO MY BEATS 'N EATS REUNION HERE: WILD DAYS ~ Lydia Cornell Memories of Carrie Fisher, Alan Thicke, Garry Shandling, Trump Monte Carlo  

My stepsister Marianne and her husband both died within one week of each other in September. Earlier we lost my sweet friends Euan Purves, Ron Bard, Bill Zucker, Iva Franks-Singer, and Mark Swope.

2016 has been a tough year in losing those we loved. Some we grew up with, some we were just getting to know, on the big screen, the little screen, in music, on the ice.  ~ Lori Grondin, my friend on Facebook. Thank you Lori for compiling this list. 

Patty Duke, actor
Carrie Fisher ,actor
Debbie Reynolds,actor
David Bowie,musician
George Michael , musician
Zsa Zsa Gabor ,socialite, actor
China Machado ,,model
Craig Sager, sports announcer
Bernard Fox, actor
Alan Thicke, actor
E.R.Braithwaite, author
John Glenn, astronaut
Fidel Castro, dictator
Ron Glass, actor
Florence Henderson, actor
Colonel Abrams, musician
Sharon Jones, musician
Mose Allison,musician
Gwen Ifill, journalist
Leon Russel, musician
Robert Vaughn, actor
Leonard Cohen, musician, poet
Janet Reno, former US Attorney General
Rod Temperton, musician
Oscar Brand, musician
Gloria Naylor, author
Arnold Palmer, golfer
Kashif, musician
Bill Nunn, actor
Buckwheat Zydeco, musician
Edward Albee, playwright
Gene Wilder, actor
Juan Gabriel, musician
Bobby Hutcherson, musician
Kenny Baker, actor (played R2D2)
John Saunders, sportscaster
David Huddleston, actor
Gerry Marshall, director
Noel Neill, actor
Elie Weisel, writer, political activist, professor
Michael Cimino, director , screenwriter
Pat Summit, basketball coach
Bill Cunningham, photographer
Ralph Stanley, musician
Muhammed Ali, boxer
Burt Kwouk, actor
Morley Safer, journalist
Guy Clark, musician
Billy Paul, musician
Prince, musician
Gato Barbierie, musician
Doris Roberts, actor
Merle Haggard, musician
Bill Henderson, musician
Keith Emerson, musician
Ernestine Anderson, musician
George Martin, music producer
Nancy Regan, former First Lady
Pat Conroy, author
Harper Lee, author
Denise Matthews, musician, actor, model
Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Justice
Maurice White, musician
Paul Kantner , musician
Abe Vigoda, actor
Glenn Frey, musician
Monte Irivin, athlete
Alan Rickman, actor
Natalie Cole, musician
Paul Bley, musician
Gordie Howe, hockey player
Anton Yelchin, actor

2016, you can stop taking people now. You have enough for this year. 

May you all rest in peace. May your families, find peace in 2017, and smile when they think of you. Your fans will always remember you, and they will always smile when they think of you...............

WILD DAYS ~ Lydia Cornell Memories of Carrie Fisher, Alan Thicke, Garry Shandling, Trump

LIVE from the Virtual Lounge ~ Lydia Cornell shares memories of her friends and costars Carrie Fisher Alan Thicke, Garry Shandling, Garry Marshall, and George Michael and the WILD DAYS on Beats and Eats (iTunes) 

💗

LISTEN TO MY BEATS 'N EATS REUNION HERE: WILD DAYS ~ Lydia Cornell Memories of Carrie Fisher, Alan Thicke, Garry Shandling, Trump Monte Carlo  

My storage hard drive crashed but I'm trying to find al my photos with Alan Thicke, Carrie, Garry Shandling, and all the other celebs I used to hang with who have now passed away, as morbid as it sounds. In searching for pics, I came across others below, of Aaron Spelling, Ted Knight (died way too soon), Sony Bono (I mentioned his tennis tournament in Maui in this podcast where I played with Alan Thicke), and the group photo on Election Night with the comedians -- Before the Apocalypse :) 

Ed Marinaro (Hill St. Blues), Lydia Cornell, Alan Thicke

Just found this old pic of Alan Thicke, Ed Marinaro and me in Maui at Sonny Bono's tennis tournament. That's Ed Marinaro from "Hill Street Blues" on the left. Still can't believe Alan Thicke is gone. I have footage from my appearance on his first talk show "Thicke of the Night," as well as more recent photos of us. Haven't had time to find them yet since my hard drive crashed.

With Garry Marshall in L.A.

With Sonny Bono in Maui

Election Night with the comedians -- Before the Apocalypse :) 

My TV Family: Audrey Meadows, Ted Knight, Nancy Dussault, Lydia Cornell 

Aaron Spelling 

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.blubrry.com/beatsandeats/traffic.libsyn.com/beatsandeats/12-28-16_BNE.output.mp3

THE VOICE IN THE TREES ~ AN ENCOUNTER THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Today I was walking the dog behind Trader Joe’s and I passed a shady alcove bordering the alley, in the center of which was a large tree. I peeked into the bushes, and saw a grocery bag. This seemed like a private place for a homeless person to rest, but just as I was thinking this, I glimpsed a pair of shoes attached to legs in camouflage pants, standing behind the tree, hiding inside the tree — as if they were hoping not to be seen, trying to blend in with the shrubs. I could hear the owner of this pair of legs trying desperately not to breathe. Was it a homeless person, or just someone who was trying to go to the bathroom in the bushes?

As I passed by, I said to the bush: “God Bless you.” I kept walking. Then I realized that I was holding in my hand two sticks of Mozarella string cheese, so I circled back to the bush and offered it to the person hiding in the trees. “Would you like a piece of cheese? It’s wrapped in plastic, it has its own wrapper," I said. A woman’s voice, shaking, rang out, “No, no thank you.” Then, the voice said: “You're very sweet.” I could see a pair of glasses and dark hair through the leaves.

I walked away and said, “You are sweet too.”

Then I started crying; I couldn't stop. The same way I cried on Sunday when they talked to us about the homeless and how it can happen to anyone, and how there are over 23, 000 homeless women and children in Los Angeles County alone.  Can you imagine what it’s like to have no place to rest, no privacy in going to the bathroom or shower ... no clean, safe, or soft place to lay one’s head. No place without bugs or flies, mosquitos or rats… no place to get dressed, to bathe, or to bring friends home for ice cream. No place to do homework. No place to have dinner or play Monopoly or take piano lessons. No dinner. God bless these poor lost little souls.

You can help by donating here: downtownwomenscenter.org or  myfriendsplace.org.

In light of Christmas it is a good idea to understand what the Prince of Peace stood for. He commanded us "to love your neighbor as yourself, to take care of the poor, to give your cloak to someone if he asks you — in Christ's words to take care of "the least among us" - the poor, the weak, frail, helpless, handicapped and those who seem different, the "outcasts."  I don't always succeed but I try to bless my enemies and love those who persecute me.

If we would all follow the law of love, the Golden Rule we'd have very few problems in the world.

Maybe some Christians don't realize that Christ is the root of the word Christianity because the vowel sounds are different. 

I believe in the actual healing power of the Truth, and have had many tangible healing 'miracles'. But according to quantum physics, miracles are just natural laws. 

Please donate to one of your favorite charities that benefit the poor.  Not only are there over 15,000 homeless children in Los Angeles, but many senior citizens across our rich nation don't have enough to pay their electric bills and have no heat. 

My favorite charities are Feed the Children, Imagine L.A., Union Rescue Mission and Candy Christmas' "Under the Bridge Mission" in Nashville, which you can read about in recent threads.

GENEROUS, BOUNTEOUS, BROAD-MINDED, TOLERANT

The word liberal as defined by the dictionary means: “marked by generosity and open-handedness, bounteous, broad-minded, unbigoted, tolerant.” Those qualities sound like the kind of qualities most of us would like to see in our children. Now, I wonder which of these qualities Ann Coulter objects to? Does she dislike “generosity” or open-handedness — or is it the broad-minded part that bothers her? Of is it the “tolerance” concept to which she objects?

The Conscience of a Liberal is a book written by economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. It was 24th on the New York Times Best Seller list in November 2007.^[2] 

Going by the dictionary definitions of these words, I would like for my family to be known as liberals, and surely not the opposite. The dictionary definition of conservative is basically “disposed to maintaining existing views” which is why conservatives of long ago were opposed to freeing the slaves, the right of women to vote or to become lawyers and professionals — as well as the rights of African Americans to vote and the Civil Rights Act. 

I’ve always been taught that Christ was generous, tolerant and broad-minded, which fits the definition of liberal. He washed the feet of the lepers, hung out with the moral outcasts and sinners — who were so transformed by his loving acceptance, they desired to "sin no more." In summing up, based on those qualities of character, it seems to me undeniably that Jesus was a bleeding heart liberal.  

My conservative friends may disagree with the label, but not the spirit. We must never allow words to get in the way of communication. 

Again, I would like to believe that good conservatives are really liberals at heart. To paraphrase Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, “Hath not a conservative eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Are they not fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer that a liberal is? If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh? If you poison them, do they not die? If you wrong them, shall they not revenge? If we are like you and the rest, we will resemble you in that.”

We are not children of a lesser God; we are all children of the same God.  


*********

The Conscience of a Liberal is a book written by economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. It was 24th on the New York Times Best Seller list in November 2007.^[2] The title was used originally in Senator Paul Wellstone's book of the same name in 2001. Wellstone's title was a response to Barry Goldwater's 1960 book The Conscience of a Conservative. In the book, Krugman studies the past 80 years of American history in the context of economic inequality. A central theme is the reemergence of both economic and political inequality since the 1970s. Krugman analyzes the causes behind these events and proposes a "new New Deal" for America.^[1]

NEVER FIGHT ENEMIES, DISARM THEM WITH A SECRET TOOL

FIGHTING YOUR ENEMIES ONLY MAKES THEM STRONGER

Even in the midst of tragedy, there is a spiritual law of surrender: when you let go and accept whatever is happening in this very moment — when you stop worrying, stop stressing, start appreciating and start giving more than you receive — magic begins to happen in your life. No matter what is going on, there is always something to be grateful for. Sometimes you have to lose your life to save it. Sometimes you have to lose everything to gain what's really valuable.

It's a spiritual law: the more you give, the more you receive. Wayne Dyer, in his bestselling book You’ll See it When You Believe It, says that the magic of giving actually is a law in the universe and works like clockwork. Every single time he sent out 10% to charity of any income that came in, his income doubled, tripled and rose exponentially.

All sorts of wonderful things opened up when I started giving, tithing, caring about others and giving things away. In the debauched 80's, I even offered to drive a friend to the airport — an unheard of gesture in L.A. during that time. No one drove anyone to the airport; it was considered a huge imposition. But everytime I would give time or money, both time and money would expand. Soon, an abundance of riches flowed into my life.

This is how we can change the world. It will happen on a community level. The other day I heard a woman on the radio say that she was at Trader Joe's, and just as she was checking out, she realized she had forgotten her wallet. Instead of sending her away, the cashier offered to pay for her groceries — and when she gushed apologies, he refused to let her pay him back. It wasn't that much, she had only purchased a few items, but still — this kind of generosity in "paying it foward" could change the world. This is how we'll win over corporate greed.

What has always, always seemed wrong to me is excess consumerism. It has never seemed natural to have so many stores, so much pavement, so many products. The other day I was driving back from Palm Springs where I did a wonderful TV show and I wandered into an outlet mall. People were shopping mindlessly, staring at "things" and never looking at each other. It's so bizarre, this shopping mentality — as if "stuff" can really fill you up. We have been programmed to be shoppers, always searching for something material to fill us. But it never does.

We are snowballing toward chaos and excess for one purpose -- to force us to look within.

Finally.

GREAT GIFTS ~ The FOOTMATE system ~ FROM EMMY GIFTING SUITES

I LOVE my FootMate system, which was one of the gifs I got from the Emmy gifting suite.

https://www.footmate.com

https://www.facebook.com/The-FootMate-System-132923953140/?fref=ts