Posted 2:10 PM by Bonnie

Weekly Post: I realized today marked a week since my last post, and to keep my new years promise to post once a week I must post today. This was not a great week as it was the week we noted two deaths last year. On the 24th we lost our beloved cat, Mr. Fuzz and on the 27th my best friend of 43 years passed away. So, it was one of those let's just get through the week without any tragedies and then get to the end of the month. It's strange how much I still miss Rick. Even, Keith, who never met him but spent hours on the phone with him, misses talking with him. Every so often I find myself wanting to tell him something only to realize I can't just pick up the phone and call anymore. So, wherever you are, Rick, we miss you! Hidey, Mr. Fuzz's concubine starting coming out of her shell again about 6 months after his death, but she went through a bad depression time for quite awhile. And people think cats don't have feelings! But, life goes on and things have gotten back to normal - well, as normal as anything ever will be for me.

And now for my annual I can't stand the heat notation. It's only the end of March and already hitting the 80's here! It was in the 70's at 9 a.m.! I'm a northerner who loves the cold weather and even though it can get hot up north it's not for 8 months out of the year! August is pretty hot in PA but you can take anything for a month. Sigh! I know if you can't stand the heat get out of the south. But, since I don't want to leave my husband I'll just stay and complain about the heat.

The picture is one I took of the tree out front a few weeks ago. Now it is covered with blossoms! Spring has sprung, the grass iz riz, i wonder where da boidies iz! Happy Spring!

Posted 12:28 PM by Bonnie

When we had the eclipse of the moon, a few weeks ago, Keith and I went outside to try and see it. Of course, it was too cloudy and we didn't see anything, but I did get a couple pics of Mr. Scarface T. Snagglebutt, the other stray who comes around here begging, well, demanding to be fed.



Now wasn't that exciting?

Posted 12:45 PM by Bonnie

The new open mic: Well, things didn't start off with a bang, but that is my fault. Having been so sick last week I wasn't even sure I would do the open mic this month. Then I felt better on Monday and started sending out emails that yes, I would be doing the open mic Tuesday. Some got the emails tuesday and of course, there are people out there, hard to believe, who unlike me do not check their emails every day so probably won't even know until sometime in the distant future, that hey! yes, there was an open mic. Sorry folks! I'll do better for April.

Even though there were only three of us there, which is not unusual for open mics, but for me it is since I do have my regulars. Unfortunately two were out of town, one had to take care of her child, another got stuck at work on a conference call (called me in the middle to let me know) etc etc etc. But! what a very interesting night and out of the night came some new ideas.

Aaron Johnson, whom I tease that he is mine and Keith's adopted son, and Dr. Harris joined me for the night. So, we did a very relaxed reading. What we found was that Aaron and I write a lot a like and about the same subjects! We were amazed to find out how many of our poems were about the exact same idea and written so similarly! What we did differently was instead of just reading the poems we talked about them. Why did you write that one? What were you feeling? Thinking? What inspired it? And this made me think what a great idea to use with the regular open mic. Instead of just having people get up there and read three poems and sit down, let the other people ask questions about the poems and in this way we learn more about each other.

Also, we were discussing various ways of presenting poems and Aaron has agreed to attempt a poem for two or three or more poets. One where each person would feed off the others lines or an arugmentative poem where it would be a debate or whatever he decides, but we thought what fun that would be to try to work out and present as an vignette at one open mic.

Dr. Harris even did a dance from CATS (her art form is dance) and while we were discussing other poets she went through some of the books I carry around and found one by a CT poet, Chad Richards she liked and she read it for us.

Now considering the events of last week, with Keith and I both having that stomach virus Aaron read a poem, he had written, feeling it fit the occassion. I present it for you now....

Diarrhea by Aaron Johnson

I hate having the runs
Sometimes it reminds me of a rainbow:
The yellow, green, red and lime,
Yuck! I just hate it!
The smell of it and especially the sound,
Does it make your butt burn?
Don't you hate when it's time to wipe?
You end up getting crap all over your hand,
And what do you do?
Well, let's just say the smell of it wasn't that great.
Oh, yeah, you got some on your nose!
You go sit down and watch t.v.
And what do you know? It's that time again,
You go running to the toilet, but a little too late,
Did you not wipe good the first time?
Or did you sit in some chocolate pudding?

Well, that's all folks...pics to follow. Hope more of you can make it next month and join in the fun.

Posted 12:13 PM by Bonnie

A crappious vomitous week at the Johnsons: Without getting into a lot of gory details let's just say it has not been a pleasant week here. There's been a nasty stomach virus going around and Keith came down with it first. Monday night he had diahrea and it continued through Tuesday and he started getting better on Wednesday. He was really sick between 2 a.m. and about 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. After reading up on it we found it had a 24 to 48 hour incubation period which meant if I was going to get it I would have it within the next couple days. I really thought I was not going to get it! After all, he generally picks up every virus that comes around I, for some reason, don't get sick. But this was not to be this time. I felt great Wednesday night. Even joked that Thursday would be my D-Day if I was to get it and perhaps should get laundry done then. We laughed knowing I WOULD NEVER GET IT! Viruses didn't dare attack me. Well, this one was a bit meaner than the others and Thursday morning...yep 2 a.m.! I woke up and said oh! sh*t! I spent the next four hours becoming intimately acquainted with my bathroom. After that it was just an hourly trip...but the nausea! I have never experienced such an awful feeling. I called the doctors office at 8 a.m. because when I called about Keith and the nurse spoke with him she offered to call in some anti-nausea med's for him. He didn't need them. He didn't get as sick as I did. But, for some reason she wasn't as willing to do that for me. Told me I would have to wait until the doctor got in. A couple hours later Keith called and she still hadn't talked with the doctor so he asked her to see if he would prescibe something for me. Then he called a couple hours later and talked with another nurse who had no trouble calling in the script for me. Finally! I can't even describe the agony I was in. My temperature had reached 101 by then. Keith even left work after his last class so he could get the meds earlier for me and they hadn't called them in yet! But by 3 PM I finally had what I needed and started to feel somewhat better. I still don't want food but eat a little once in awhile. Still have slight nausea and queasiness, but everything else has stopped. I can tell you that I lost 10 pounds in two days, but this is not the way I wanted to do it! I hope no one else gets this and has to go through that. Yes, at one point I was saying just let me die and put me out of my misery! My hopes are that no one else gets this! It is mean! It is nasty! It is relentless!

Posted 6:53 PM by Bonnie

Southernese: I've been here in Sumter, SC since 2001 and you would have thought by now I would have acclimated to the language barrier. Yes, we do speak a different language in PA than is spoken here, but the other day the language barrier popped up again. I had stopped at the dollar general, by Food Lion, to pick up some price stickers and poster board for my yard sale. At the register there were some individual lemon and apple pies. Since we hadn't had any treats for quite awhile I thought why not and picked up one of each. As I was checking out the cashier rang up my order and asked, "dontcha need a coleslaw to go with those pies?" I said, "excuse me?" and she repeated, "dontcha need a coleslaw to go with those pies?" Knowing that couldn't be what she was really saying, but not wanting to ask her say it again, I smiled and said "not today." So, I leave the store and am halfway across the parking lot to my car when I crack up laughing, making the others in the parking lot think I was totally nuts, because it was then I realized she hadn't asked if I wanted coleslaw to go with the pies, but had been asking did I want a cold soda to go with the pies!

Posted 4:55 PM by Bonnie

Belated Valentine Post: I wasn't going to post this because I was afraid people might take it the wrong way. For one, I don't believe in Valentines Day. You either love someone or you don't and if you do you show it every day in a lot of little ways. To set aside one day to show you love someone seems a bit of a copout to me. Also, let's face it. It's pure commercialism to get people to buy expensive gifts and there are actually those who put a value of love on the cost of the gift. Anyway, if Valentine's Day is your thing remember this is my blog and my humble opinion. With people getting jewels, and candies, and flowers I know they think I'm strange as I shake my head, smile, and say how nice. Because it is nice, just not my thing. So, I thought I'd share a poem I wrote for my husband about what not to get me for Valentine's day!

Don’t give me diamonds or rubies,
Jewelry is not my thing,
To show me how much you love me,
I don’t need the bling.

Don’t give me chocolates I beg!
For if they should cross my lips,
The moment of sensual pleasure,
Will live forever on my hips.

Don’t give me flowers or roses,
In a vase of crystal or glass,
I love the ones growing wild,
That decorate our yards grass.

The songs about your Zephyr,
That in the shower you sing,
Show me more how much you love me,
Than flowers or candy or bling.

Posted 9:46 PM by Bonnie

News from the cattery: When we got Sir Percival T. Fuzzycat a few years back, we didn't know his background, but knew he had to have been abused. He is a beautiful Persian mix, but whoever had him before us had the poor thing declawed. He walked around with his head down and tail dragging. At first he was very much afraid of being touched, so we figured someone had done some bad things to him. Finally we were able to pet him and he would purr and purr and eventually his head and tail came up. But, I was never able to groom him. As soon as he saw the brush and comb he would become very skittish again. Anyone who has a Persian knows they need a lot of grooming. His hair would mat and I would have to finally hold him down and cut the mats off. But! last night he came to me to be petted and while petting him I picked up the brush and took a couple strokes over his fur. He left immediately, sat in the hallway thinking about it, turned around and came back and let me groom him for a good twenty minutes! I don't know what made him finally trust me but I am so glad he did!