Posted 3:58 PM by Bonnie

Like mother, like daughter! While I was chatting with my 84 year old mother, on the phone, this weekend we were talking about some 'not so bright things' we'd done. I told her about skating around Lake Worth when I lived in TX. One day my friend and I decided to try skating up the steep hill. Forgetting, of course, that what goes up, must come down. At mid point we reached and equally steep hill going down. My friend did it first, being the more experienced skater, and had no problems. I was doing fine, until I reached the bottom and realized, just a second too late, there were railroad tracks that must be jumped. I landed on my knees and looked like a little kid skating around with my knees all skinned up.

My mom laughed because a similar thing had happened to her, but she was 14, not 34 as I had been. Her mom had just bought her a brand new pair of shorts and she wanted to show them off and went roller skating with her friends. I don't remember where the hill was (I'll ask her again this weekend) but she and her friends decided to try it and she ended up sliding down on her butt! She said not only did her shorts get ripped but her underwear as well! If not for a friend who had a sweater with her she would have had to walk home with her fanny hanging out! Now I know not only where I get my off beat sense of humor, but also my lack of grace and coordination!

Posted 1:09 PM by Bonnie

Shopping Carts! Okay, I can understand maybe being in a hurry and not having a half a minute to return a shopping cart to the little "return carts here" place. I can even understand being too lazy to take the cart a few extra steps to one of the "return carts here" places. But, what I can't understand is what someone gets by sitting a cart in the middle of a handicapped parking spot! This to me is the epitomy of meanness. If you don't want to return it to the store or one of the conveniently placed "return cart here" spots, then at least put it out of the way! It's aggravating enough to try to enter a regular spot and find a cart in the way, but it's just really low to block off the handicapped spaces.

Okay, okay, so yes, I agree that most of the people who use those handicapped spaces aren't really handicapped, and are just taking advantage of having the card to hang on their rearview mirror. But, there really are people out there who need those spaces, so just because you parked next to one and don't want to have to walk a few more spaces to store the cart courteously, at least move it out of the handicapped space!

Thank you for listening. End of tirade! Oh, and for those who don't know what a handicapped parking spot looks like, it's anything with a wheelchair either painted on the spot, or it has a pole with a picture of a wheelchair on the pole. See examples:

Posted 10:11 PM by Bonnie

Open Mic Night at Drew's Blues Cafe: Wow!! That describes our open mic night! What quality poets we had grace us tonight. I wish the night could have gone on forever! There were familiar faces, new faces, and some faces we haven't seen in awhile!

Our featured poet, Hyacinth Kinley, was exceptional. I love her presentation and her poetry always tells a story. I knew I was going to get an entertainer, in Hyacinth! This woman not only writes great poetry but knows how to deliver it! And we ate it up!

Tom Rowe continued his epic poem, started last month. I am hoping when he completes the epic he will seriously consider getting it published. This is a magical journey through his imagination - or is it? Is it fantasy or reality? Is it our fantasy and his reality or the other way around? I love the journey he takes us on. As I said before it feels like we've followed Alice through the rabbit hole and you are on a continuing spiral down and up and down again until you're not sure which is up and which is down. You have to be there!

Tom's lovely wife, Linda, shared an translated poem she found on the internet. I forget from what language, but as usual it was beautiful and inspiring. Linda has a way of finding these gems and I am so glad she brings them to share with us.

I was so happy to see Karleigh Brunson return! I have missed this young woman and her insightful and honest poetry. Hopefully more of our younger poets will return now. Karleigh also helped me with a project that turned out really fun. Sometimes I pass around a paper and have the people write a poem with each person adding a line. Tonight we did it differently and it involved some work. I had everyone write a single line of poetry on a strip of paper, and in the end, someone had to put them together to form a poem. Thank goodness Karleigh wasn't afraid to try. I will put the poem we came up with at the end of this missive. Hopefully next month her dad will also perform. Either way it was great to see you two again!!

And dear sweet Marie (Lyric) Grady. This woman writes some of the most sensitive poetry I have ever heard. She can break your heart with her poems. Her delivery is so quiet and her words so strong. At times you feel she could break so easily and then you feel her strength in her words and know this woman has it together. It's always a treat when she shares her poetry with us.


And Colette Jones. Now you all know I adore this woman, and sometimes I guess I do go on and on about her a bit much. But you have to know her to understand the admiration I have for her. This woman not only serves our country, but is a single mother ( a long story there - as she said her ex is only alive today because of her poetry)... she is strong, she is out spoken, she is real! she is a friend who will care enough to be honest with you and her poetry reflects all these things - her strength, her hurt, at times her anger, her honesty, and her love.

Tonight we had a new face and a very welcome one. I met Beth Langley on the Sumter Thoughts Group and invited her to join us. Beth is a song writer, but as she said what is a song but a poem set to music. She shared two of her songs with us tonight, but the one that had the most impact on me was titled Trapped By Love. As she said while she reads it (or sings it) you form your own images and your own opinions based on your experiences. But she tells the story that inspired the song at the end, and it is about a young woman she knows who is raising an autistic child with little support from a work-a-holic husband. It was very moving and really held my attention. I do hope Beth will join us again and share more of her songs. Perhaps even bring her guitar and sing some (hint hint).

And, Victoria, you keep asking where the pictures are of me performing. So tonight Johnny Brunson, aka Karleigh's dad, took a pic for you. If anyone is interested in seeing my poems there is a link on this blog to my poetry page and the poems I did tonight will be added.




And here is the fun poem Karleigh put together from individual lines.

Late one night I was walking down a long dark alley,
When I came upon a girl named Sally.
I feel the deafening roar of her whisper,
I am what I am but so much more I am to be!
Why art thou so easily loved?
Because her eyes tell a tale of heartbreaks,
Let it snow, let it snow, in you I'll stay warm
Baby, this I know.
Done so little, lived so long,
Here reflecting my souls grandeur in local flesh,
Place pieces of my soul on display,
Breath your first breath, breath you last breath,
From life to death don't stop just let
Lyrics greedily absorb my psyche,
I must be damned.

I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did tonight! Next month is a special night because it's my birthday month. I'm looking forward to an interesting night!

Posted 6:36 PM by Bonnie

Vitamins: Okay, so One-A-Day has been advertising this vitamin with extra B and other things to give you more energy. I've been tired a lot lately and thinking I needed more B vitamins, so decided to try these. Yes, Walgreens had a sale and yes, I had a $3.00 off coupon, which got me the vitamins at half price otherwise I probably wouldn't have even tried them...but! they work!! I mean they really work! Yesterday I managed to clean the entire house and even do extra stuff! Today I did laundry and shopping at three...no make that four stores...forgot about finally getting myself a new pair of shoes. Now, if they could just invent something that would keep cats from getting under your feet when you're working I bet I could get a whole lot more done! Viva la vitamins!

Posted 3:18 PM by Bonnie

And you wonder where I get it from? Every Sunday I call my mom, and as she answers the phone she says, "It's only Bonnie" to let my dad know who's calling. I keep telling her my name isn't Only! Anyway, last week she asked then how should she answer the phone and I said try 'hello' or anything besides 'it's only Bonnie.' So today when I called she answered, "Good afternoon. Rivas residence. How may I direct your call?" Now you all know why I'm such a smart ass!!

Posted 7:51 AM by Bonnie

Are we all equal? The "new" school system is set up for failure in spite of the fact it was set up so no one failed. And that in itself is the reason it has failed. Let's face it. In spite of people wanting to live in a fantasy world where we are all equally brilliant and equally able to learn exactly the same subject matter at exactly the same rate, it just isn't real! When I was in school we didn't put the ones (like me) who learned at a slower rate into classes with those who could learn at an excellerated rate (my sister, Victoria). This was done for two reasons. One, I didn't have to feel really really stupid because I couldn't catch on as quickly and two, the subject matter wasn't dumbed down, for lack of a better term, so students who learned faster weren't held back in the process. Each class learned at it's own speed and the thing is we did learn! I came out of highschool with a knowledge of basic math - I can actually make change without the need of a cash register calculator doing it for me! My grasp of the english language is so that I have actually had a book of poetry published and am host of an open mic poetry night here in, Sumter, SC. When I did enter the workforce, as rating clerk in insurance, I continued to take classes and move myself up until I was in an underwriting assistanct position. My last job with insurance was secretary to a VP. I had learned to study and learned that if I kept learning new things I could better my position in life.

My point is we all have talents, we all have areas where we excel, but they are not all the SAME! We are different!

To say we are all equal mentally is to say we are all equal physically. The physical differences are easy to see, so we accept them. To say everyone can be a great mathematician, or scientist, or chess player, etc, is to say everyone could be a great football player and that every football player should also be a great ballerina and that every ballerina should also be a great racer. Is this getting clearer? We are not all equal mentally and to keep "dumbing down" the American education system so those of us who are slower learners are made to feel we can compete mentally with the brighter and faster students is doing no one any justice. We have college students who don't know basic math because they were given a passing grade so their self esteem wasn't hurt and they could feel good about themselves. How good are they going to feel about themselves in the "real" world when they lose job after job because they can't learn basic skills.

We need the labor force to keep America running and I think we do more to harm self-esteem by making people feel these jobs are for the "dummies" and therefor not acceptable even though they are earning an honest living and contributing to society. Instead we push them through school and they come out knowing nothing, end up on welfare because they haven't been trained for any type of work, but doggone it their self-esteem is intact. Yeah, right.

So, what ZephyrBird thinks is we need to get back to basics. We need to get the educational system back to where students learned at their own rate, where students respected their teachers or at least treated them with respect, and where students were there to learn not to harass and cause trouble. And learn we did! When we graduated highschool we knew the meaning of the word responsibility. We knew when we took a job, regardless of whether it was engineering or garbage collecting, we had an obligation to our employer to show up on time, do the best we could, and always give 100% while on the job. We did not expect them to make compensation for us because we were too tired from partying all night to come in to work, or to do our job once there. Unfortunately, from what I hear from employers around here and other areas, that is exactly what the younger workforce today expects. They have become so used to being catered to, in the school system, they never learned even the basics about how to act in the work force.

It's a sorry state we have gotten ourselves into and I wonder if we can reverse it and dig ourselves out. Perhaps with the next generation of students we can go back, progress isn't always a good thing, maybe we can learn from this mistake that there is more to worry about than hurting a students feelings by giving the failing grade they earned. Maybe if they start getting what they actually earned they might start working harder, as we did, to improve that grade instead of breezing through and not caring because they know the teacher can't fail them no matter what they do.

Just my ever so humble opinion.

Posted 8:13 PM by Bonnie

To make a long story longer....or there's only one Automatica in football!: Wasn't feeling all that great today. Woke up with my asthma wheezing and coughing. Generally a cup of coffee and puff of albuteral does the trick, but today my body was saying sit down, take it easy... so I did. So, since I wheezed and coughed every time I moved around or tried to talk for too long I decided to watch my Colts and Tony Dungy in the play-offs.

When Tony Dungy was coaching the Tampa Bay Bucs I was a Bucs fan. But since the new coach, Jon Gruden, tore my old team apart I've been having to watch them in bits and pieces as they are scattered around. Tony Dungy now coaches the Indianaopolis Colts, which brings us to the title of this blog. When Martine Grammatica was the kicker for the Bucs he was so accurate and so good they named him Autmatica Grammatica. He is now the kicker for Dallas and even with a year of not playing he is still Automatica! The one and only Automatica! So, today you can imagine my shock and chagrin when Adam Vinatieri, the kicker for the colts was called... omg!! Yes, they had the audacity! the nerve! they called him Automatica!!!!! Was it a slip because Tony Dungy coached Grammatica to his Automatica stage? Or are they trying to compete with the real Automatica? This is an outrage! Will the real Automatica step up the ball!

Posted 10:03 AM by Bonnie

My Vice: We don't smoke. We don't go out drink. Keith has an occassional beer on the weekend. We don't buy fast food - okay maybe once every six months. I'm not a clothes horse so don't spend a lot of money on clothes. But, yes, I must admit to one weakness. I am hooked on Drew's Blues Cafe! So, while our budget isn't big, even if we don't both go, I will not miss my Friday Blues Jam and whatever wonderful dish DaMayor has concocted for the night. Last night it was Fettucini DaMayor... fettucini alfredo with steamed vegetables and garlic bread. It was wonderful! Keith wasn't up to going but as usual I couldn't finish my meal. I had promised myself I would save it for my lunch today, but when I got home I realized I couldn't deprive Keith of this taste sensation so handed him the container. He had to agree it was great. Yeah, this is one vice I am not willing to give up and I hope the never form a Drew's Blues Anonymous group because I doubt anyone else as hooked on the atmosphere, music, and great food there would join anyway.

Posted 12:37 PM by Bonnie

Don't ya just love it when someone who knows absolutely nothing about computers calls and asks you to do a favor for them using your computer. You say sure, no problem and then they show up and try to tell you you're doing it all wrong because they saw someone else do something different on theirs... and you tell them I know how my programs work so let me do this...and they start grabbing your mouse and tell you they're going to show you and you have to grab it back before they delete all your work...and!! they keep yapping and you finally have to tell them to shut up! and then they tell you YOU'RE being mean to them!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!! Yeah, ya gotta love 'em!

Posted 3:03 PM by Bonnie

Poor JoPa! For those who don't know who JoPa is he is Joe Paterno, the head coach of the Nittany Lions! Go Lions! Penn State University is where my husband attended and received his doctorate and my sister, Victoria, attended and received her BS. Husband number two and I also lived in Penn State for a year. Even then JoPa was a legend, so today I don't say poor JoPa because the Lions lost the Outback Bowl because THEY WON, but because at half time they interviewed the coach of the Tennessee Volunteers as he walked off the field. But these days JoPa isn't walking too far at all. In fact he isn't even on the field. A few months back he was sidelined on the sideline by one of his own players and the end result was a broken leg for our coach. At 80 you would think that would be the end, but the leg has healed and he is undergoing therapy. But, as a precaution he now spends game time up in the glassed in booth with the reporters.

(TAMPA, Fla. Joe Paterno isn't used to this view. Penn State's 80-year-old coach is watching today's Outback Bowl matchup against 17th-ranked Tennessee from the press box. It's the first time in his 41-year career he hasn't been on the sidelines for a Nittany Lions' postseason outing. That encompasses 33 bowl games. He's the coaching leader with 21 victories.

Paterno is recovering from a broken shinbone and two torn knee ligaments in his left leg. He was injured during Penn State's November fourth game at Wisconsin when two players barreled into him.)

What makes me say poor JoPa was after they interviewed the Tennessee coach, Philip Fulmer, the camera panned up to JoPa now sitting alone in the booth looking down at the empty field. There's a poem in there somewhere. Maybe I'll try to find it.

End result: Nittany Lions: 20 Tennessee Volunteers: 10