Posted 10:59 AM by Bonnie

Since this is New Years Eve I decided to borrow some memes from my sister, Victoria, and have some fun.

Fridays Feast:

Appetizer: How do you usually celebrate on New Years Eve?

For quite a few years now we have celebrated by staying at home and watching the countdown on tv. Having egg nog and going to bed after the ball drops. That is if I can stay up until midnight. There have been a few years I missed it entirely.

Soup: Name one thing unexpected that happened to you in 2006.

The event that rocked my world the most was the death of my friend, Rick. While not totally unexpected, as he had been ill for awhile, when it did happen I wasn't prepared.

Salad: Where was your favorite place you visited in 2006?

Haven't done much travelling this year, but would have to say Charleston, SC. There is so much civil war history there.

Main Course: What resolution is your top priority for 2007?

LOL!! I learned long ago to not make resolutions because I am not the type of person to keep one. I would love to get more organized here so I can keep the house less cluttered but my top priority is for us to be happy.

Dessert: Using just three words, describe 2006

Sad Happy Unusual

Posted 1:57 PM by Bonnie

DBC Friday night: Generally I enjoy my Friday nights out at Drew's Blues Cafe and the blues jam. But last night it was all very strange. So, as my mother always taught me, if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all. I will say I didn't like the new set up of half the players turning their backs to the patrons. That is what we would call a closed session. You see only the backs of some and they are blocking off other musicians. It's a message saying we are here to play for ourselves and if you want to listen go ahead, but you aren't invited to the party. Generally the music gets the patrons involved and it's fun. Last night was not fun. (The only way to get a picture of most of the group was to stand in the kitchen door).

Also, I will answer here one last time as to why I don't get up and perform with the band, since music is my background and I have performed in the past. Because I've been there, done that, and the magic will never be the same. Now I just want to sit and listen and enjoy watching others perform. I enjoy doing the open mic poetry nights, but for now that's as far as I want to go. I do enjoy seeing my friends up there having fun and experiencing what I had for so many years. Yes, it was good when I did it, but I'm ready to move on.

So my final thought, after all this is what ZephyrBird thinks - when there are a lot of musicians like last night do what was done previously. Spread them around the walls of the restaurant! Everyone gets to see and HEAR! Yes, you do miss a lot when the backs are turned. I never heard a bass line at all and others all we got was reverb that wasn't very pleasant. Part of the music experience, when you go to see a group or band perform, is hearing them but the other part is seeing them. From where the patrons, who came to enjoy the music sat, we didn't get it. Just my humble opinion.

Posted 2:22 PM by Bonnie

Who's Dream is it anyway? When I got up this morning Keith told me about a strange dream he had last night. He dreamt there was a little white mouse running around beside and under the bed. At one point the mouse threw up so he reached down deciding to rescue the mouse and help it.

Well, when he got to that part of the dream he was rudely awakened by our cat, Marmalade, who was literally batting him on the face with his paw! Keith woke up to the cat in his face as if the cat was telling him, "hey! that's my dream and my mouse! How dare you try to rescue it!" Hmmmmmm....was the cat having the same dream or did he somehow know what Keith was dreaming? Unless the cat starts talking I guess we'll never know....doo doo doo doo doo doo doo...

Posted 7:51 PM by Bonnie

Happy Holidays! Got back awhile ago from having a wonderful time sharing Christmas with our friends, Linda and Tom Rowe. We each made part of the dinner which was great. I made ham, sweet potato casserole, and deviled eggs. I did make a green bean casserole which for some strange reason got left behind in the refrigerator! I always forget something! Linda made duck and a sinfully smooth creamy pumpkin pie which we had with coffee and eggnog creamer later in the evening.


As you can see by the pictures no one enjoyed the food. Yeah, right! I was so proud of myself because I had gained some weight back and finally - today - I had lost enough I could finally get back into my favorite pair of black jeans. By the end of the meal I was wondering what I had been thinking to wear them instead of a pair of elastic waisted slacks! Oh and if you think you can't see me in the pictures you just aren't looking close enough. Come on! Look closer! Do you see me now? Yep, that's me behind the camera! Gotcha!!!


I was impressed to find someone who could cook a duck and do it right. The first and last time I made a duck it was so greasy I had to toss it. But this came out perfect!





After dinner we opened gifts. For those who don't know the story behind this gift I will give and abbreviated version. I met Tom when I worked at Carolina Tech in the cafteria and every day he would get M&M's until one day he said his wife wanted him to lose weight so no more M&M's, so this has become a joke between us.

The funniest thing is every year I get Keith a new snow globe, but for some reason I forgot this year. Things were just going to fast or something. So, imagine my surprise when we opened our gift bags from Linda and Tom and among other goodies, (including a bag of coal for me telling me I'd been naughty...heh heh heh! of course I had!), was a snow globe for each of us! So, the tradition has not been broken!

After gifts we got out my karaoke machine and had a blast! Keith, who can sing, but doesn't know any of the old songs had to endure...I mean got to listen to us as we sang our favorites. It's a good thing we can all do an acceptable job at singing or the neighbors might have started complaining. At one point we did hear the sirens, but they weren't for us! LOL!


So Happy Holidays and hope everyone has as much fun as we did today!

Posted 9:45 PM by Bonnie

Friday Night at the Drew's Blues Cafe! Okay, to say it was a riot is an understatement. I just wish I hadn't gotten so tired! You know when you hit that wall and crash? So, I had to get home before I hit burnout. Lot's of reasons why I was so tired. Got up around 6 a.m. after going to bed after midnight. Did laundry, house cleaning, among other sundry things today. But, I'm So Glad! I went. As with poetry night, due to the holidays, a lot of the band members were out of town, but Allan is enough entertainment himself. We did end up with more as the night wore on...

including Mr. M&M's and his bass!

And Mrs. M&M's and yes, that is me with my tambourine - Hey Mrs. Tambourine Woman play a song for me....







Even Marcus got up and performed and even sang for us tonight! I love these casual nights when everyone does their thing and has fun and just goes with the flow.









And my buddy Mr. Drew's Blues Cafe Himself! He's the shorter one in the picture. What a charmer that kid is!






So I leave you with a picture of the Drew's Blues Cafe family... including mom on tambourine - okay she was holding it for the picture! Thanks guys! You are the greatest! Sumter wasn't much fun until we found you!

Posted 9:46 PM by Bonnie

Open Mic Night: With it being so close to Christmas I wasn't expecting a large turnout for open mic. The surprise was we did have a fair amount of poets, even if the audience was thinner tonight than normal. We had some new faces both as poets and in those who came to listen. I was pleased the Dr.'s Ali were able to make it, finally! Maybe they'll come back again when we have a better turnout, but I have to admit I was pleased with the poets who took time from their busy holiday season to join in tonight. Also, for some reason I forgot to take pics of some so will have to go through the archives and hope I have pictures to use. I hate it when I do that!

Our featured poet tonight, Sunida York, did a fabulous job! She is the author of He's Not Your Boyfriend If... She's Not Your Girlfriend If... A book guaranteed to give you some giggles and grins. Thanks Sunida!



(archive photo) Susan Robinson, our poet waitress, joined us tonight long enough to do a couple poems. Unfortunately, she was also working so we only got her up once. Her poetry is so sensitive and sometimes heartbreaking. She did one tonight called I Wish I Didn't Know You that I am sure everyone could relate to at one time or another in their life.


Tom Rowe took us on what I termed and Alice In Wonderland Journey with his poetry tonight. Sadly I don't remember the title, but what I like about his poetry is he takes you on a whirlwind trip and you never know where it will go next. I do enjoy the adventure!




Everyone else was wonderful! And my latest newest friend, Hyacynth Kinley, Collette Jones and myself are going to get a writers group together. We hope we will involve others in the poetry community as well as other authors, and encourage more creativity in the Sumter area. Below are the poets who performed tonight and I want to extend a big thank you to all of you! The night was wonderful! The poetry rocked! and it was hard to end the night and go back into the real world. Thanks for taking the time to share your poems, your feelings, your thoughts, and sometimes your desires! You are all the greatest!


Lakeyshuh ............Marie Grady........Shannon and..... Benita Duncan who's picture I somehow missed taking! I am so sorry Benita!! I was sure I had one but alas there wasn't one on the disk!

I wish everyone a joyous and happy holiday season! Hope to see all of you again in January!

Posted 6:07 PM by Bonnie

Don't Hit Santa!

Posted 2:48 PM by Bonnie

Happy Days are here again!! Whew! I made it! I passed my drivers test and am now legally driving again. In spite of what Keith said in his remarks I was not turning cartwheels - that would not a be site anyone would want to witness. I was however singing the Halleluiah Chorus! I did learn from this - we all need to review our driving once in awhile and reread the manual. We tend to start slacking with some of the things we should be doing. I am going to rewrite the drivers manual to include parking lot driving rules and parking garage driving rules. Also, all cars must at all times have a cat hood ornament or be fined one bag of Purnina crunchies to be paid to our cats upon demand.

UPDATE! Well, I went in and took the test today. Aced the written, but dang it all, I kept forgetting to look over my shoulder and check my blind spot when pulling out of spaces. And I couldn't back up in a straight line. But, I did parallel park with no problem! So, now I have to go back tomorrow and retake the driven part. She said I won't have any problem because now I'll remember to check the blind spots. At least Keith will have the day off tomorrow so he can drive me down and wait...just in case... but if all goes accoring to plan I'll be back in business tomorrow!

I've been getting back into walking, so decided to walk back home and leave my car there since I no longer have a license! I could have taken a cab, but walking is what keeps me going and keeps my arthritis from taking over. I left there around 10 a.m. and got home around 11 a.m. Not bad considering it's 2.75 miles! I just looked it up on mapquest. I have always loved walking thought. My sister, Victoria, will remember when back in Erie, PA I would walk from 21st and Ash to 12th and Sassafras to work the 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. shift at McDonald's - have lunch there - then walk from 12th and Sass to 8th and Parade to work the 3:30 p.m. to midnight shift at Keystone Towel Supply (an industrial laundry) and THEN! walk home back to 21st and Ash. It was actually safe back in those days to walk around and not worry about the violence we have to face these days. I can't tell you how many miles that was but it was a lot! I was a very fast walker in those days...but hey, for a fat old lady 2.7 miles in just under and hour ain't all that bad!

I'll let you know tomorrow how the driving part went...check your blind spot!


I can't believe I did this!!! Yes, this is one of those what was I thinking...or in this case I was not thinking blogs! Over the weekend Keith got his renewal for his drivers license and as I was looking it over I wondered why I hadn't also received one, since our birthdays are one day apart. So, I took out my license to see when it expires only to find IT HAD EXPIRED! February of 2006. Now, had I made this discovery a month ago all would be well, but here in SC they give you 9 months past expiration date...mine is 10 months...so yes, dear friends, I must retake the written and driving test over!! Aaarrggghhh!!! I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. And everyone please do the same. If you see me out buying a bicycle in the next couple weeks you'll know what happened!

Posted 7:14 PM by Bonnie

What a difference nine months can make!

Posted 2:01 PM by Bonnie

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! I was really angry at the cats the other day, when I found they had emptied an entire box of styrofoam peanuts all over the computer room floor! That's where I was packing my Christmas gifts to mail off. Then I realized they were just trying to be nice to me. I keep talking of how much I miss the snow this time of year, so of course, they decided to make it snow for me! Those nice white styrofoam peanuts would surely be close enough to snow that I would appreciate their act of love and reward them. Instead of I yelled at them! I feel so guilty. Thanks for the thought guys, but now that I've clean it all up....DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

Posted 11:33 AM by Bonnie

Last night I had the strangest dream! I don't know if it was the extra pain medication or what last night, but I had the weirdest dreams! My arthritis had kicked into high gear and everything hurt from my fingers to my toes! So, I got up and took more meds!! The one dream I remember involved Keith and Bruce Willis! No, not what you're thinking! Sheesh! Get your mind out of the gutter!

I dreamt Keith and I were moving and we were at a condo. We were sitting in the parking lot, on the moving truck, discussing it. Keith got bored and he asked this guy if there were any bars in town. The guy turned out to be Bruce Willis and he told him, sure, and took him away. They left me sitting on the truck with an empty condo! Now I see them in a cabin somewhere drinking and talking and Bruce Willis gets a phone call. He tells Keith they have to get out of there fast and they run out and B.W. blows up the cabin! They jump into these single person speed boats and last I see they're speeding across this lake. I woke up.

When Keith got up I told him he wasn't allowed to hang around with Bruce Willis anymore. After I told him about the dream he asked...were we chasing hot babes or what? I told him there were no hot babes in the dream and he said, "well, that wasn't what I call a dream."

Oh well.... he still can't hang around with Bruce Willis anymore!