thoughts of a fondness for turtles

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

Cyn possessed many gifts and talents. Other posts have talked about her interest and skill in cooking, sports, braiding hair, flower arranging, and other forms of arts and crafts. Below are some pictures of a little turtle magnet that she made while in high school or college.

I believe it is made of some type of molding clay. In terms of actual size, it is about one-and-a-half inches long and a little less than one inch wide. I remember that this magnet, along with a couple of other "Cyn-made" turtles, used to reside on our kitchen refrigerator in our apartment in Culver City.

As far as I know, she didn't make it as part of a class, or for a special occasion, or to serve any specific purpose. Most likely she just made it because she wanted to, because she just felt like it, and she had probably thought to herself that she figured she could make one, and wanted to prove to herself that she could.

Turtles were undoubtedly Cyn's favorite animal. At one time, I believe toward the end of high school, she even had two pet turtles. They were named "Grubb" and "Ellis", after the name of a realty company for which she had been working. So turtles always make me think of Cyn. My sisters and I each have a turtle tatoo in Cyn's honor.

And as for the little magnet, it can usually be found on our refrigerator. But every so often it ends up being played with by our daughters Cynthia and Ava. It makes me think that Cyn is smiling down from heaven saying, "You see, that's really why I made it."

thoughts of a gift of summer

shared by VJ Rabuy, her sister

As the days get shorter and the nights grow colder, I think about the last few days of summer that remain. One of my best loved memories of summer and of Cyn involves a toe ring she gave me on the Santa Monica Pier so many summers ago.

When I visited Cyn, Marlo and Carla the summer before Cyn's sophomore year in college, she gave me a little bitty baggie which held a silver piece of jewelry much too small to fit my littlest finger. I asked her what it was and she said it was a toe ring. When I recently saw one of my hula sisters wearing a toe ring, it made me think of my own.

I can't quite remember if it was that same day or maybe a few days later at the 3rd Street Promenade, but she brought me to the kiosk where she found my toe ring. It was a thin silver band that didn't quite meet in the middle but that had a pair of swirls on both the top left and the bottom right sides. It was slightly flexible, so depending on how fat or skinny your toe was, it could be adjusted accordingly.

So, for that summer and at least the two that followed, I had that small silver adornment for my 2nd toe. I wonder... what ever happened to that toe ring?