What ZephyrBird thinks

2007-06-21T09:13:00.000-05:00

Remember to go to my new blog for the open mic updates and pictures!

2007-06-20T19:09:00.001-05:00

Let's try this again. Since I can't get the comments to work here I started a new blog so I can get comments on my posts again. The link is http://ladyzbird.blogspot.com/ So bookmark that or whatever you do to insure you get to see all my wonderful updates. If I ever get the comments here again I'll let you know. In the meantime, see you at my new address.

2007-06-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

Since I can't get the comments working here I simply started a new blog and lo and behold! the comments section works. So here's the new address to bookmark or whatever it is you do to make sure you get all my exciting updates. http://ladyzbird.blogspot.com/ See you there!

2007-06-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

That's Swell! Lately my husband and myself have been watching a lot of old old movies. Ones from the 1930's and are getting the biggest kick out of the language of the time. Our favorite overused word back then is SWELL! Everything was just swell! And not just swell but SWELL. Now when we watch a movie, like today we watched the 1939 version of A Star Is Born, we count the times the word swell is used! Well, back to the movies and hope you all have a really swell day!

2007-06-09T14:56:00.001-05:00

Cat stories: The other morning my husband informed me we had Catholic Cats. Seems every morning Bug and Marmalade aka OJ LaOrange sit on the bible, on the bookcase beside his bed. He says they must be Catholic because it's a catholic bible. I just looked at him and said, "dumbass! they think it says Cat Holic!" sigh....

Last night we were watching a movie and a huge bear jumped out growling very loudly. Hidey immediately ran across the room and jumped into my lap. Now Keith and I are disagreeing on the reason for her panic and jump. He says the bear scared her and she ran to me for protection. I say she ran to protect me from the bear. Yeah...right!

2007-06-03T17:53:00.000-05:00

Don't Dress For Dinner: Went to the Sumter Little Theater, with a friend last night, to see Don't Dress for Dinner. What a hoot! I laughed and laughed! The acting was great, the play was great, and we just had the best time. One of the teachers from Morris, Kathleen Roy, was in it which is why I went, but I am so glad I did. Here's a synopsis from the SLT homepage.

Bernard is planning a weekend with his chic Parisian mistress in a French farmhouse. He has arranged for a cordon bleu cook to prepare gourmet delights, is packing his wife Jacqueline off to her mother's, and has even invited his best friend to provide the alibi. It's foolproof--what could go wrong? Suppose Robert turns up not knowing why he has been invited? Suppose Robert and Jacqueline are secret lovers? An evening of hilarious confusion ensues as Bernard and Robert improvise at breakneck speed.

2007-05-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

Blah, blah, blah! Well, as my husband pointed out it's been awhile since I've posted here. The truth is I've just been so discouraged over the computer issues that doing anything on the internet just doesn't interest me much these days. It's like one thing gets fixed and another thing goes wrong. My code is there for comments yet there are no comments showing. Things like that make me want to throw in the towel.

On top of that I got real sick for about 3 to 4 weeks and that didn't help my attitude any. Started with a cough that wouldn't quit and just got worse and worse. Ended up with bronchial pneumonia. Finally got that licked but it took a lot out of me and am still rebuilding my energy level.

Then our landlady dropped a bomb on us! When we first rented here she said cats were fine as long as we cleaned good when we left. She had no problems! The people before us had dogs and believe me you knew it when you walked in. There is carpeting in only one room (this one) and every time it got humid outside the carpet stunk of dog until I scrubbed it enough to get rid of that smell. But...she was talking with a man from her church who is now renting out a house of his and HE told her to raise the rent (she did by $50 a month) and that she shouldn't let pets because you can't rent a place out again once you rent to someone with pets. So, now she wants us to get rid of our cats. We placed one with a very nice family, but have had no luck finding suitable families for any others. I don't want to put them in the SPCA because they are a rip off. They charge you to place the pets and then charge the people who adopt them. What gets me is even if you take in a cat that has been spayed or neutered they still charge the adopting people for the spaying or neutering! Something is wrong with that system.

So, as you can see I am not in the best of humor these days. So for now my posts will be erratic and I admit to defeat to the challenge of posting at least once a week during the year. I am way behind on that one!

Oobla di oobla da life goes on.

2007-05-16T19:32:00.000-05:00

Open Mic Night! What an amazing night! We had a low turnout but the combination of poets and spectators made for an inspiring night! Colette Jones was able to join us for part of the night, much to the delight of the rest of the group. She has always been an open mic favorite and we've truly missed her the past couple of months. Always remarkable and fun, Aaron Johnson, brought a mix of humor and thought provoking poetry to share. The surprise of the night was a young man from Bates Highschool. As the night wore on I kept forgetting this young man was only 17! Jamar White is one of those people you can give a word, a line, a topic, and he can adlib and impromtu poem on the spot. And each challenge was met brilliance! His ability to do this is impressive to say the least, and to come up with a great poem each time is amazing! Jamar, get that tape recorder and start recording these poems so they are not lost! One thing he did last night was after I read my poem, Final Breath, with my last sentence he picked up the poems and continued it into a poem of his own final breath. As I said this young man is amazing.

Last night was what I had envisioned when I started these open mics a year ago, this coming June. It was not only poets sharing their poems, but an exchange of thoughts about the poems, discussions of how people felt about the poems. One thing I have always believe in is each poet has a right to his or her feelings and the right to express those feelings (as long as they aren't hateful and hurtful), so whether I agree or disagree with the content is not an issue with me. I listen for the quality of the writing and expression of delivery. And last night did not disappoint in any way!

Now onto the sad news! You all know I've been having all sorts of issues with my computer! Well, now the A drive won't read my floppies so I can't even post the pictures. This computer is driving me nuts with all the problems it's been having lately! I've been too sick to even think about carting it back to the computer repair shop, but I think next Monday I will be on their doorstep again. Right now I have more of a hate relationship with computers than a love one! Hopefully I will have things fixed by next week and I can add some pics. Grrrrr!!!!

2007-05-03T17:42:00.000-05:00

Computer issues and illness make for a miserable time! Still can't figure out why my comments aren't showing but am going to post anyway. Have been having so many computer issues I won't even get into it and on top of all that I've caught a nasty cold! So please forgive my absense and when I am feeling well enough I will come back to post again. I will be back!

2007-04-24T10:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm finally back online and apologize for the delay in posting. Last open mic was so much fun it was disappointing to not be able to post immediately! I will list names and put up more pictures later, but wanted to at least get the group picture up. I had everyone gather around two of the three tables so everyone would be in one shot. We had some new faces and welcome everyone! I want to thank you all for making the night such a good time! I've had a lot of feedback on the new setup and so far very positive. Everyone seems to enjoy the more intimate setting, the closeness to each other and the ability to talk to other poets about their work. Right now my hands are cramping, so again, will post more later, but wanted to get up at least one post and a big thank you! I've been offline for a week now with computer issues, but all seems to have been resolved! So, keep watching for more updates and more pictures!

2007-04-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

Too cute for words:

2007-04-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Fair weather cat: Well, we have to give credit to the little female stray cat that hangs around here. Last night when it got cold we heard a scratching at the front window. When I looked there she was with her little face pressed up against the window scratching to get our attention. After making sure all the indoor cats were safely shut upstairs, I opened the door and she zoomed in. After making sure there was food, water and litter box she snuggled in for the night. That is one smart cat, who has well trained!

2007-04-06T11:15:00.000-05:00

Time moves to fast! I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or if things really are moving faster. Seems to me Easter is a bit early this year. I am not prepared! It was just Christmas a few weeks ago and here it is Easter already. The signs of spring are here, even though it will be dropping to the freezing point for us this weekend, and the calendar says it's April...so where did the time go?

"Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time has gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say" (Pink Floyd - Time).

So, how many songs can we name with the word TIME in them? Any takers?

2007-04-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

Spring has sprung!

2007-03-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-03-22T12:28:00.001-05:00

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?

2007-03-21T12:45:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-03-18T12:13:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-03-11T18:53:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-03-06T16:55:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-03-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-02-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

Winter in Erie, PA - my home town:

And these are from a friend in Bristol, VT where I lived for 10 years!

2007-02-24T08:51:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I let my insanity reign supreme so it's time for an insantity break!

Sunday, February 18
Monday Music Mambo

Hello all! I'm back with another Mambo for your enjoyment. Today is Temporary Insanity Day.

1. What song drives you mad when you hear it?

There are a lot but two that really make me want to scream stop!! are The Girl From Impanema and These Boots are Made for Walking.

2. Who do you think is the craziest musician out there?

Right now probably Brittany Spears - she's been in and out of rehab how many times in just one week? Okay, that's if you can call her a musician. I guess she's more of a vocalist - I won't even label her a singer - but she does make vocal sounds.

3. What is your favorite song with the word "crazy" in the title?

Still Crazy by Paul Simon (sort of the story of me - still crazy after all these years!)

4. If you went temporarily insane, what song or album would be your soundtrack?

They're coming to take me away, Hahaa!!!

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've Mamboed. Be sure your Mambo is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can dance too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination and dance like crazy!

2007-02-24T08:35:00.000-05:00

People: Even at the ripe old age of 59 I find people can still disappoint me. Oh, if it's someone I wasn't real close to that's one thing. I can let it go and get past it because it doesn't really matter. But, when it's someone I trusted. Someone I thought of very highly. Someone I respected. When someone like that does something totally unexplainable but totally wrong it takes me back and makes me rethink my belief in this person. I can handle just about anything except when a person lies and when that lie is blatant and obvious then I have to wonder why. Revelation time for me I guess.

2007-02-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

Archives temporary fix: No matter what I did I couldn't get the archives to work in the previous fashion. Clicking on archives to access the old blog missives. So, I had to go into the template and rewrite the code to set up the side bar archives. I know it's a bit bulky but I wanted them to be accessible and until I can figure out how to get the old archive method to work this will have to do.

2007-02-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

Swan Lake Quilt Guild Show: Okay, I'm not a quilter. Sewing and I are not friends. Sewing on a button is a waste of time to me when a pin will do just fine. But, I have a friend who quilts so I went. I was amazed at the intricacy of the work! It was amazing! I was so impressed I came home, got my camera and went back for pictures! Even considering joining the guild to see if even I could learn how to make some of these. Beth does some really involved work that are wonderful! Some made you stand back open jawed in amazement, some made you ooh and ahh and some even made you laugh. All in all it was worth the time to go see. So, I am sharing some pics I took here. Enjoy!

2007-02-16T13:33:00.000-05:00

Archives: Okay...Before I could post about the open mic I had to switch to the new blogger. Which worked pretty well until I tried to access my archive pages! The are there for the poetry blog but not for the main blog. I am trying to get some assitance from blogger regarding this issue and can only hope. In the meantime, enjoy the posts below and I'll let you know if and when this archive issue gets resolved.

2007-02-16T08:14:00.001-05:00

Open Mic for February 15, 2007: Can you say fun? Can you say energized? Can you say exciting? I’m not going to go into individual performances this time because everyone was dynamic! I will post pictures, of course. The first half of the night was open mic and for awhile I thought we were going to be short on poets, but they trickled in and in the end we had a great turnout. Develon Douglas returned to regale and entertain us with his exciting and enlightening poetry. I’m not one for PDA but when I turned around and saw him my first reaction was to give him a big hug! LOL! When I get him and Colette Jones there on the same night I know it’s going to be dynamic! And yes, Colette was there.

It’s also great to find out we are inspiring others to try their hand at original poetry. Linda Rowe, who will generally share a song or poem she found on the internet, shared an original work she had written about King Arthur and Guinnevere. She said she was just sitting at the computer one night and the poem just sort of wrote itself. I think we have a new poet in the horizon. Her husband, Tom, unfortunately had to work, so we didn’t get to hear part three of his epic poem. And I think this brings the poem to it’s conclusion.

Beth Langley brought her guitar and sang the song she spoke last month. Also, joining us was Hyacinth Kinley and Marie (Lyric) Grady. I’m happy to say we also had two new poets join us – LaKeyshuh Carolina and Aaron Johnson. Aaron is one of my husbands students, at Morris College. He brought his adorable two year old son with him and for a few minutes we all forgot about the poetry while oohing and aahing over this precious child.

And then on to the Slam! I was excited! Happy! Amazed! Seven people were brave enough to enter the slam. Okay, so it was unofficial, but still they were being judged and there were some prizes involved.

Dr. Michelle Reese came to watch and since my Slam participants were a bit nervous she volunteered to go up and do one, not as a participant, but to get the first one out of the way so the judges could practice scoring and the other particpants could have someone to follow and not have to be the first. What a big heart and it really did help.

Our Slam Participants were:
Michelle, LaKeyshuh, Develon, Marie, Beth, Aaron, Montresia Loyd, and Colette.
Our finalists for first, second, and third place were. Drum roll!

Develon Douglas – First Place
Montresia Loyd – Second Place
Colette Jones – Third place

There was only one point difference between each place winner and in the end we actually had a three way tie for third place – Colette, Aaron and Marie. Even adding back in the high and low it was still a tie so I let the audience decide with their applause.

To say it was fun is an understatement. I may try a slam again for another special occasion, but for next month things will be back to normal. Thanks to all of you wonderful poets who make this night so exciting and such a success.

And I leave you with one final picture. A shocker! Get ready.....

Yes, I am actually wearing a skirt!

2007-02-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

New Blogger: Well, wish me luck. When I logged on to post today I received a notice to upgrade to the new blogger account. It promises nothing will change, but from the horror stories I have heard from friends who have made the change that aint necessarily so. I had one chance and only one more chance to post the old blogger way, so this is it. My warning that the next post may screw me up royally, since I will have to make the leap and have faith in the new blogger system and change. Change can be good. I keep telling myself this as I cringe inwardly at the thought of losing my entire old blog or any part of it. And then the google account! what the heck is a google account? Guess I'll find out. So, again...wish me luck with the blogging for books and in a week or so when I come on to post again hopefully I will make it through the transformation and become not just a blogger...but a new blogger! And seeing that notice totally knocked out of my head what I had come here to post! Arrgghh!!!

2007-02-05T16:40:00.000-05:00

Blogging for Books for Feb. 07 is 'live! This months topic is dreams. I have written a few things on dreams I have had but this is about one of my most haunting and powerful dreams.

The Power of Love by Bonnie Johnson

He told me, if he died first, he would come back for me. I would laugh and tell him I’d believe it when it happened. I have learned now to never doubt the power of love.

On March 24th one of my cats passed away and on March 27th I had a dream that my cat was crying and I had to find him. When I found the cage where the cat was crying the cat turned into my best friend, Rick, and he was lying there crying. He said he was sorry and then I woke up. That morning I received a call from his wife that he had passed away in the night.

He told me he would come back for me and I laughed. Never doubt the power of love. That night Rick came to me in my dreams and told me he was taking me with him. After a forty-two year relationship where we would vacillate between lovers and friends, he couldn’t go on into the after life with out me. He put me on a bike and had me riding down a mountain pass. He watched on as a truck plowed down the mountain, out of control, and headed right towards me. At the last second I was able to jump off the bike and out of the path of the truck.

But he wouldn’t give up. He wasn’t ready to let me out of his life even if it was the after-life. I found myself back on the mountain pass, but this time with a group of people protesting. I was never quite sure what we were protesting, but there he sat, in his wheelchair watching and waiting. A fire broke out in the trees around us and quickly worked its way to the mountain pass. I ran and ran! My legs moved faster than I ever thought they could. I literally ran for my life.

Then I was off the mountain and in a building. He told me to follow him and we could be together forever. Taking me to a window I looked out and realized we were very high above a city. I could barely make out the traffic below. “Follow me,” he said. “It’s safe. You can do it.” Then he rolled over to the window and was gone. I backed away quickly and woke up drenched in sweat.

But it was over for the night. I felt he had been given three tries to get me to go and then he had to leave without me. He was sad I hadn’t chosen to go with him, but I told him I would join him when my time came. Until then he could visit in my dreams whenever he chose, but only if he agreed to never try to take me before my time again. He has chosen to visit and mostly we play guitars and sing old songs. We remember the happier times of our youth.

He told me if he died first he would come back for me. I have learned to never doubt the power of love.

2007-02-05T13:48:00.000-05:00

Super SuperBowl! Wow! I can't believe it! The Colts actually won! And in a torrential downpour which is amazing for a team used to playing inside a dome where the weather has no affect on the game. I really thought the Bears would take it, but kept cheering for the Colts anyway. Now, I don't agree with Grungy Dungy that the team won because of god and the team playing god's way. I can't imagine any god or goddess first, having any interest in who won a football game (unless they had a bet on it (grin)) and two, ever actually playing so how would you play god's way? There were some personal fouls called against both teams so neither played a really "clean" game and there was a bit of a fracas at one point where a Colts player and a Bears player were going after each other but were pulled apart very quickly. But, I guess when you reach that point in the game emotions are running high. Still, in spite of an auspicious start by the Bears, the Colts were not intimidated and just kept fighting and made a great comeback! Way to go Colts!

2007-02-02T16:59:00.000-05:00

Da Colts! One of my friends, with whom I play online scrabble, and I are betting on the superbowl. I'm backing my Colts, even if Grungy Dungy made some inane remarks about god winning the game for them...and she is backing the Bears. Now, I'm not saying she's overly confident, but she already sent me her address to send her the $1 we bet on the game. Oh yeah, we're big betters!

2007-02-02T16:30:00.000-05:00

Rainy days and.... Thursday we had icy rain and for the first part of the morning everything stopped. Businesses and schools delayed opening until later in the morning when it would warm up a bit and the roads wouldn't be so icy. But what struck me was that every day care closed for the day! Now, that meant that at least one parent had to call in and take a day off to stay home with the kids, if they didn't have a friend or relative willing to give up a day to take the kids. It was as if each of them took advantage of the rain to take a day off, not considering the impact it had on the parents who pay them and depend on them. Not a big issue unless you are one of those working parents. When I lived in VT I often ended up with friends kids when the daycares closed for a day, but they still had to go into work. I'm just wondering what is so different about day care workers that they can't get to work when other people can? I could understand the two hour delay, but after that it was doable!

On a cute note...the stray female cat we feed decided she would also spend the day inside and when I opened the door in the morning had a few words for me. She immediately moved in and made herself comfortable for the day. Every once in awhile she would venture out and then turn around and come back in. Prior to her pregnancy and us bringing her in, when she brought us the babies at 2 weeks old and keeping her while she healed from the spaying, she spent every day and night outside! Weather be damned! But now she has gotten a bit spoiled and pampered.

The male cat, Scarface, toughed it out and when I saw him today he had yet another gash on one of his ears! He needs to stop getting into scraps with other cats. I want to catch him and get him neutered, but so far that has been out of the question.

Well, anyway, the rain has gone away and I will now end with a little song one of my relatives used to sing... it's a Spanish song about a lazy person...

The window she is broken
And the rain she's coming in,
If someone doesn't fix it soon,
I'll be soaked to my skin.
But maybe in a day or two,
The rain she'll go away,
And who will need a window,
On such a sunny day?
Manana, manana, manana
She is good enough for me!

2007-01-26T15:58:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-01-23T13:09:00.000-05:00

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:

2007-01-18T22:11:00.001-05:00

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!

2007-01-17T18:36:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-01-14T15:18:00.000-05:00

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!!

2007-01-11T07:51:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-01-06T20:13:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-01-06T10:03:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-01-03T12:37:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-01-01T15:03:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-31T10:59:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-30T13:57:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-12-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-12-25T19:51:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-12-22T21:45:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-12-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-12-17T18:07:00.000-05:00

Don't Hit Santa!

2006-12-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-12-07T19:14:00.000-05:00

What a difference nine months can make!

2006-12-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-12-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-11-28T15:47:00.000-05:00

Smarty cats! We couldn't figure out why the phone battery was dying so quickly. Or why sometimes the phone was on when no one called. Or why people would say they called but the phone was messed up. Or why the answering machine would be on the floor when we got home from somewhere....

Until the other day when the secret was revealed! I was back in my room when the phone rang. When I got out to the living room BJ was trying to answer the phone! He had knocked it on the floor and was trying to get the right button! Then the answering machine came on and as the person spoke he ran over there and tried to find the person in the box, and in the process, knocked it to the floor.

Okay, now if we get a phone bill with a call to CAThay then I'll know who placed it!

2006-11-24T22:41:00.000-05:00

Drew's Blues Cafe Blues Jam! I keep talking about this Friday night Blues Jam, so tonight I took my camera along and got some pics. Thought I'd share a few here with you all. Anyone in Sumter who hasn't come by really should come and enjoy the sounds and the fun! Tonight Allan did a song called "I'm So Glad" and had the audience sing along..he would point to one section and that group had to sing. Well, he decided to pick on Keith tonight and at one point said, "okay, now just the Ph.D.'s". LOL!!! Anyway, here are a few pics. I sure wish I could post the music on here too! These guys are a trip and a half! Allan reminds me so much of my friend, Rick, (the one passed away last March) that it's just too uncanny. He plays guitar like him, he sings like him, he even smiles like him! Dang! Okay, a few pics for your viewing pleasure.
********

He also did a song called Hip Shake or something like that. Now last week he told the audience they had to get up and dance. Last week and this week only one person, from our table was brave enough to get up and do it.... Here's Tom!!!!!

Even DaMayor got in on the fun tonight! This is the guy who let's me host open mic poetry nights once a month, so gotta give him some space here!

A fun night! As always...great food! great music! great time!

2006-11-24T13:53:00.000-05:00

All the leaves are gone.... As I look out my window now the tree across the street is bare of leaves. The ground is now covered with a blanket of colors that will soon be raked up into bags and hauled away to a landfill, preserved forever in plastic bags. This is a tradition of fall I have never understood and I know my neighbors think I am totally bonkers for not following the same line. I have this theory that nature knows what it is doing and we interfere too much in the natural process. The leaves cover the ground in the winter to protect the grass and flowers (that will bloom again in spring) from the cold of winter and up north from the snow that covers the ground. I leave my leaves to blanket the earth. In the spring those that haven't composted do get raked, but again I don't follow the tradition of putting them in plastic bags to be hauled away. They still have another service to provide. Those that remain are raked around the trees to mulch and add nutrients to the earth around the trees, bushes, etc, that grow in the yard. I trust that nature will nurture the earth with the composting leaves and add much needed nutrients back into the soil. IMHO.

2006-11-19T12:43:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart's $4 generic drug plan: Before you go thinking this is such a great deal do what I did. Sit down and compare the prices for the generic drugs you already get to the $4 Wal-mart charge.

Of the seven drugs my husband takes regularly three are generic. This is the comparison:

Drug............Wal-mart..........Walgreen's.....Savings
Pindolol 5mg....30 for $4.........60 for $8.99-----.99
Warfarin 5mg....30 for $4.........60 for 10.00----2.00
Furosemide 80mg.30 for $4.........60 for $5.99----2.11 loss
----------
Total savings:--------------------------------------.88

Now Walgreens is about 4 blocks away (I can walk on a good day) and WalMart is a couple miles at least. Taking into consideration just the gas that would be used to save that 88 cents for us it would not be cost effective. So, unless you have absolutely no insurance at all do some comparison shopping and take into consideration the gas, the time, and the aggravation involved. You know the old saying that if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is? Keep that in mind.

2006-11-16T22:28:00.000-05:00

Open Mic Night! Every month I think it can't get any better than this and the next month I am proven wrong.

Our guest poet, Michele Reese, PhD was wonderful. She shared poems from her book, Following Phia, and also did some newer poems. I have her book and as I told her each poem is better than the previous one. We really enjoyed her and appreciated her sharing her time and her poems with us.

Last Saturday I heard Linda Rowe sing this hauntingly beautiful song called The Old Man and it's about the streets of London. It's a very personal song and story for her and her family so I asked her to come and tell the story and share the song for us. She graciously agreed and everyone enjoyed the performance.

Tonight was a special night for her husband, Tom, as it was his birthday. I read a special birthday poem I ahd written for him. He shared three of his poems with us tonight. His poems are very deep and thought provoking. Haunting in their openess and honesty.

Shawna Bauer joined us tonight as part of her English class at USC Columbia. She lives in Sumter and part of her class assignment was each had to go to an open mic poetry night and read at least one of their poems. She shared three with us and we certainly enjoyed having her with us! So if Shawna's teacher is reading this, yes, she was there and yes she did perform.

And Develon Douglas was back! Just after Keith asked if Develon would be coming this month he walked in the door! Yea!! This guy is phenomenal! Also, his CD is out so check out his web page for more information on that. His lyrics make you sit back and listen and take notice. His style and delivery are impeccable. I can't say enough about him. Just check him out!

And my buddy Colette Jones! She keeps us in stitches! We love her! Everyone talks about her and asks about her and wants to hear more of her! Her poem Grab Bag is requested every month and I'm sure she's tired of performing it for us. But it is hysterical! This is the one I spoke of before that she was challenged to write. While standing in line at the lunch counter at Shaw AFB she was challenged to write a poem about candy. Whew! Who ever knew candy could be that sexy!! Someday I will have to get a copy of that and with her permission post it here for you all to enjoy!

Marie Grady, aka Lyric, has become one of the regulars we look for each month. Her poetry is always heartfelt and compelling. She takes you with her through each line and makes you feel the words. I always look forward to hearing from her and hope she continues to grace Open Mic Night.

Joyce Williams was back again with her fun poems. She was having more trouble than usual with her eyes tonight. She was able to perform one from memory but then had Cynthia Harris, PhD perform the last one. This was a hysterical one about a friend, who years ago, gave her so much flour she didn't know what to do with it. She put some in a cedar chest to keep it from the mice and when she baked with it...well, yep, everything tasted of cedar!

And Dr. Cynthia Harris to the rescue!

Yarbough (Yarbie) Miller was a first timer tonight. Yarbie is a student at Morris College. We are getting more and more students and I am so thrilled to see them there. We certainly enjoyed her poems and hope she will become a permanent member of our Open Mic Family!

And Kiki was back! You will all remember her as our featured poet last month.

And this time she brought her boyfriend, Theo, (I hope I spelled that right) who also shared one of his poems. Hopefully these two will continue to attend and share their poetry.

And here are some group shots of the cafe crowd.

2006-11-15T14:57:00.000-05:00

OPEN LETTER TO THE CATS IN OUR HOME

1. The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
2. The stairway is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.
3. I cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep.
It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
4. For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - feline attendance is not mandatory.
5. The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other cat's butt. I cannot stress that enough!
6. Regardless of what Keith has told you I WILL NOT... I repeat...WILL NOT go down the drain while showering, so you do not need to line up outside the shower waiting for me.
7. Also, in regard to the shower you do not need to dry me off with your tongues. You would die of exhaustion before the task would be completed and I have found a large towel is much more efficient, but thanks for trying.

8. To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:
RULES FOR NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MY PETS;
A. They live here. You don't
B. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture (That's why they call it "fur"niture)
C. I like my pets a lot better than most people.
D. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly. Cats are sometimes better than kids...they eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't hang out with drug-using friends, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, and don't need a gazillion dollars for college---and if they get pregnant, you can sell the children.....

2006-11-11T22:39:00.000-05:00

Good food! Good Friends! Good Times! It's been a rough few weeks and even though my husband didn't feel up to going to our local cafe, Drew's Blues, for the jam session I wanted to go. Friends were meeting me there and it would be a night out to unwind.

Well, the jam session didn't happen. As it is with musicians at times, they are fickle, and bowed out one by one. When some of my friends arrived we discovered one could play guitar and sing. Since they only lived 10 minutes away her husband graciously left to get the guitar and her music. What a wonderful surprise. You know how sometimes people say they can play and sing and you have to politely smile through the pain once they start? Well, Linda could really play! and really sing! So well, I requested she do one that has some family history, at the next open mic. And she has agreed, so we are in for a real treat.

Also, a couple new friends joined us. Eric and his fiance, Christen, had never been to Drew's Blues Cafe and I have been trying to get them there. Finally tonight they were able to make it and as I knew would happen, they fell in love with the place, and are looking forward to going back. We all talked, laughed, giggled, and just had fun! It was hard to leave, but you do have to let them close the restaurant and do their clean up so they can go home. But it feels so much like you are home sometimes you forget the time. That's what I like about DBC. You don't go in and feel like you are just another customer...you feel like this is your extended family and you are sitting down to a family meal. It doesn't matter what is served, although the food is always out of this world, mouth watering, good! The atmosphere is so inviting and comfortable sometimes you forget you are in a restaurant and not your family's dining room.

Like tonight, Drew, the six year old son of the owner, wanted to race me... so we'd say ready, start, go and he would run off as fast as he could. I'd take a step forward and turn around and wipe the sweat off my brow and ask him what took him so long. He would swear up and down I never moved but everyone else told him yes, she did! she was just so fast you didn't see her!

Anyway...it was a fun night! Good food! Good Friends! Good times! What more could we ask for?

2006-11-10T10:31:00.000-05:00

Untitled: Since this is going to be a hodgepodge update I just left it untitled.

Wager: At the beginning of the year my sister, Victoria, myself and our friend, Bernie agreed we would all update our blogs once a week. Up to this point I was proud to have been the only one who managed to do that, but here is it is November 10 and the last time I posted was 10/31...so in the end none of us managed to fulfill the promise.

Husband updates: The past few weeks have been the weeks from hell...

One week my husband had a doctor appt every day! and on top of it his car was in the garage so not only was I driving him to and from doctor appts, and sitting and waiting with him, but driving him to and from work. Somewhere in there I cleaned house, did laundry, fed cats, cleaned litter boxes, did grocery shopping..etc etc etc.....

Then the docs decided he needed and upper GI and a TEE... both were scheduled to be done back to back so he would only have to go under the VERSED once. When we got to the hospital they only had him scheduled for an upper GI which was the least of the tests he needed. I told them I sat in the office while the woman who sets these appts. up coordinated the proceedings and they told me they didn't have that so would only do the one. I said we may as well go home then as it was set up to do both back to back. They argued with me, I told them to check and finally had to get rude...they finally checked and lo and behold! yep, both doctors were there and both were scheduled for the procedures. Dang, I hate having to get ugly to get things done, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

And tuesday he was scheduled for a root canal. Now we'd already paid $200 for a filling before they decided he needed a root canal. When we got there the dentist (orthodontist) discovered the tooth was cracked and couldn't do a root canal, but the tooth needed pulled. Of course, he is so specialized, root canals only that we had to schedule an appt. with the other dentist to get the tooth pulled. Complicating matters is Keith is on coumadin as he gets pulmonary embolisms... he had to go off the coumadin and they scheduled it for thursday morning. Of course, after it wouldn't stop bleeding and we had to go back and the dentist put an astringent in the root canals to slow the bleeding, which it eventually did.

The bad cats! Just one cat story...the other day I was washing dishes and when I turned around ready to sweep the kitchen floor I found that BJ had not only emptied one of the bowls of crunchy cat food on the floor, he had dumped the water bowl over it! Okay...deep breath... I take some paper towels and cover the water and food to absorb the water while I come clean down here. When I go back up BJ and Tiny Friend (who isn't so tiny anymore) had cleaned up the paper towels for me. Deep breath... I picked up the mess, wiped up the water, swept and mopped the floor and wondered why I bother. Oobal di oobla da....

Now it's Friday...and hopefully...fingers and toes crossed...next week will be a better one! Have a good weekend everyone!!!

2006-10-31T14:27:00.000-05:00

Bug has been vindicated! Yes, all along Mr. Bug has been denying the paternity of one BJ (Bug, Jr) cat. Stating he had been neutered and could not possibly be the father, but the resemblence was too much so we kept calling BJ his son. Even after getting notice from his lawyer, Mr. Percival T. Fuzzalot, we persisted in our teasing and taunting and trying to get him to 'fess up. Well, this morning when I went out to feed Little Friend and Scarface, Scarface was in a dominating stance and making threatening sounds towards the backyard. I went out and lo and behold! An adult male cat who looked EXACTLY like BJ! Right down to the black lips! I called him to come over and got the nastiest most disgusted look that Scarface could give me. At that point Daddy BJ took off and Scarface huffed into the house for his breakfast. He kept giving me those sideways disgusted looks, but managed to eat his breakfast anyway before heading out for the days adventures.

So, to Mr. Bug... I'm sorry! You were right! We were wrong! Please don't sue us!

2006-10-27T08:27:00.000-05:00

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

It's raining today...hard! And poor little BJ was busily trying to catch every raindrop that hit the side door today! It was too funny to watch so I had to get these pictures to share.

2006-10-20T13:34:00.001-05:00

Open Mic Night rocked last night!!! Totally! It was probably the most awesome night we have had since the conception of our open night poetry nights here in Sumter. When we (yes my husband actually went last night) got to Drew's Blues and time was moving on I got worried no one was going to show. But one young man had signed up and I had my guest poet, so the show would go on...next thing I know people are arriving in droves and some are even signing to read.

A funny and fun note is one of the teachers from Morris came to watch and when she and her husband walked in I said, "I know him!" I couldn't remember from where but I knew I knew him. Finally it came out he worked at Carolina Tech and I said...Mr. M&M's! I reminded him (Tom Rowe) I worked at the canteen there for awhile, and I remembered every day he would come in for a bag of M&M's. Then one day he said his wife told him he was getting too fat so he had to cut back on the M&M's and could only have them once a week. The thing is I didn't realize, at the time, that I KNEW his wife from Morris College! It turned out he is a poet, also, and he was inspired while there and wrote two poems, sitting at the table! that he shared during the open mic rotations.

Our guest poet, KiKi (Sheklia) Baccus was awesome! I knew she would be good, but the confidence and pose and general attitude she showed brought a life to her poems that got everyones attention. Her first poem was one about herself to give the audience an idea of who she is as a person. Of her other poems was a very touching tribute to a friend, who's friend killed himself on his birthday. She ended with a poem of why she writes. Everyone enjoyed her and I received a lot of comments on how well she did.

Now, what I wrote yesterday about being blown away so completely I forgot to do somethings. The first poet after KiKi was a young man, I had never seen before, named Develon Douglas. You had to hear him and listen to his words and his presentation to understand why it took me time to recover each time after he got up to perform. We used to say he blew me away! He knocked my socks off! Well, he did it all! So, I apologize, but by the time I recovered from his words I had forgotten to take pictures of most of the poets last night. Thank goodness I have archives!

Michele Reese, PhD had the honor of following this young man, and as my husband said, she had such a sense of self and confidence she didn't let him overshadow her and her performance and poems were strong and meaningful. So much so, he is considering going back next month when she will be the guest poet. (archive photo)

We were all getting worried Colette wouldn't make it last night! She had a rough week with some personal family issues. But, she got there! And the applause when I said Colette's here! was great! She was as entertaining as ever and took us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. She did one called WHOEVER HE MAY BE that took us from rolling on the floor laughing to serious and thoughtful. Colette has an energy that fills the room and we always look forward to hearing what she has to offer each open mic night. (archive photo)

And I was getting worried Sunida York wouldn't show up last night. I have been wanting to ask her to be a guest poet but she disappears before I can get to her, after each open mic. So when she came up last night and asked how one became a guest poet I had to laugh! I told her I had been wanting to talk to her about just that very thing, so we got together BEFORE the open mic this time and she will be guest poet for December. To learn more about Sunida check out her website.

My other poets for last night were:

Marie Grady, who has such a presence about her I feel as if I'm in the presence of royalty when she stands up to read. You know what I mean! You've seen people who carry themselves so well you know there's something different and special about them. Her poems are always inspired and she is such a joy to listen to.

So, I thank everyone who came last night! I feel so lucky to have such a loyal group who never disappoint me with their poems and presentations. I applaud each who got up and read or performed their poetry and hope you will forgive me. I do hope Mr. Douglas comes back, and now that I have heard him hope I will be able to keep a presence of mind and remember my duties as host and get those pictures taken!

Oh, and if you want to read the X-rated math poem I performed last night, that had people cracking up and yelling out "yeah"! go to the link for my poems.

2006-10-19T22:01:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had someone blow you away so completely you forgot about other things you should have been doing? I'll leave you with that for now and expound on it tomorrow. Isn't that cruel of me?

2006-10-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

What's Important or Life's Priorities:

Recently, while speaking with a friend in her 80's I was reminded of a Boston Public episode. She was talking about how she empties her cupboards once a week and cleans them and all the other things she does keeping her house sparkling clean. She even mentioned that she was glad her grandson had finally moved to a place of his own because the house was never clean enough while she had him around and now she can keep it clean to her standards. My first thought was, but you're in your 80's! Isn't there anything more important - like spending time with your grandson than on worrying about whether or not he left a plate in the living room?

The Boston Public episode was about a high school boy dying of cancer. He knew he was dying, but he had a teacher who wouldn't accept that this brilliant young man wasn't going to see graduation. The last weeks of the boys life were spent in a hospital bed and all he wanted to do was finish a book he was reading. But, the teacher, determined the boy would be back at school kept pushing him to study and keep up so he could take the SAT's or whatever... all the while the boy saying, all I want to do is finish this book before I die. Of course, one day the teacher went to the hospital and they were cleaning up the room. The boy had died and sitting beside the bed was the book - half read - lying open on the bedstand. The boy had his priorities straight, but this teacher who couldn't accept the boy would soon die denied him his one last wish.

When I was in my 20's, 30's, and even my 40's it was very! important to me that my house, apartment, wherever I lived be totally clean to the point of washing baseboards, cupboards, rolling up the carpet and polishing the floor underneath! Yes, my friends, I was a neat freak. Now, I make the beds, clean the litter boxes, sweep and vacuum and mop the floors. But I don't waste time moving out furniture and washing baseboards no one will see. I can do that when we move someday. I don't clean all day Saturday but spend time online playing scrabble, chatting with my sister on the phone, sitting and watching football with my husband and talking with him. There are more important things I than cleaning. As a friend who's a hospice worker said, when her patients realize they're dying they never say they wish they had spent more time cleaning their houses...but that they had spent more time loving their family.

I know this is disjointed but it does all fit and make sense. Yes, if you come to visit me you may have to move some newspapers off the couch, or move a box the cats had been using for play, but you will find a happier person than the one who worried about every dust bunny...oh, and yes, you will find those around now. I think I may start naming them. But if you ask my husband if he would rather have me cleaning the house or enjoying a game with him, while petting or brushing one of our cats, I think I can tell you what he would answer.

So, that's my missive for the day and that's what ZephyrBird thinks.

2006-10-03T11:46:00.000-05:00

The healing powers of Aldi's! When I was 35 and diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis I was told I'd be in a wheelchair by the time I was 50, since it affects my spine, hips, knees, etc...but today I realized why this never happened! Why at 58, even though there are days every once in awhile I think this might be it, today I realized why it never happened and why it never will. Because I shop at Aldi's! You think I'm nuts? Well, I'm not and you can witness this phenomenon yourself on any given day. See, I realized today as I pulled in and parked that once again EVERY handicapped space was taken, yet when I entered the store not a single person in there was handicapped! Not a single one in a wheelchair, on crutches, even wearing leg braces, or heck! not even a slight limp...well, except for me but my socks had gotten bunched up on my toes and ..well, never mind! But the point is they must have been handicapped when they parked there and hung up those handicapped signs on their rearview mirror, but lo and behold! halleluhiah! praise the gods and goddesses!! Blessed be!!! They were all healed upon entering Aldi's! And I witnessed it! I know this young woman, of maybe 35, had to be handicapped when she parked there - she had the handicapped sign to prove it! But blessed be I saw her with my own two eyes walk out of that store on two very good legs and put all her groceries in the trunk of her car, get into the car better than even I can!! It's amazing folks!! but true!!! So, I have decided that for the rest of my life I am going to make sure I get to Aldi's at least once a week. It was when I missed my arthritis gave me more trouble, so there it is - if you have a handicap that afflicts your ability to walk you just go to Aldi's and witness the healing yourself! Blessed be!

2006-09-27T09:51:00.000-05:00

The older I get - This is just going to be a rambling post, so if you choose to read it bear with me. For some strange reason, maybe the earthquakes we had over the weekend, my arthritis has kicked up another notch or two and the arthritis pain medications don't help as much. I have had a few sleepless nights due to this, so if anyone feels I have been ignoring them - I'm not. I'm just tired and getting through my normal daily chores exhausts me. Even now the pain in my hands and shoulders will limit this missive.

But as I sweep and clean I think there are so many better ways I can be spending my time. The sweeping and mopping will need done again in another couple days anyway. The beds will need remade tomorrow..the litter boxes will - well, never mind they need done :-)...but the point is the older I get and the more friends I lose the more I realize it isn't the endless summer of youth but that time is passing faster and faster and there are still things I have yet to accomplish.

I am working on my second book of poetry, my sisters and I are going to start on a book about growing up in Erie, PA and our experiences as young girls growing in the 60's and 70's. We all had exciting and interesting lives and there are a lot of stories between us. I think it will be a compilation of short stories and poems and hopefully some pictures from that time period.

So, my time could be better spent writing... but alas, the beds do need made, the dishes need washed and that darn kitchen floor needs mopped! So I guess I will get that done and then turn my time to more creative things.

In the meantime, hopefully, we can get my arthritis back in control so I can enjoy a good nights sleep again!

2006-09-22T09:53:00.001-05:00

Open Mic Night at Drew's Blues Cafe! I am trying to find the words to describe the event last night! I knew when I asked Colette Jones to be our guest poet it was going to be something different, something special, and something very exciting... and Colette didn't let us down! Her poems are powerful, moving, enriching and after the kids went home..well, let's just say the erotic side heated things up a bit. Oh yeah, she was spectacular!

We were honored and pleased to have contingency from Morris College and Bates School! The Morris College students came more to observe, but some have promised to bring poems next month. This time only one young woman, Shekelia Baccus, shared some of her poems.

Lindsey Castle, Madeline Lawson and Patrick Nelson, part of the creative writing club from Bates school, joined us and read some of their poems. I am more and more impressed with the young people and the courage they have to get up and read their poems to a room full of mostly adult strangers, and at the depth of their poetry. Hopefully, they will continue to grace us with their presence. I hope they see this because no sooner did I walk in the door last night than my phone rang. On the other end of the line was someone who had been there and just wanted to let me know how impressed they were with these young kids and to comment on the courage it took for them to do what they did.

Michele Reese, and English professor and author joined us last night. She didn't read but came up to chat with me after the event. She was very gracious and commented on how impressed she was with what we were doing and has promised to join us again. Although she said next time she would get there early enough to get a better seat! She ended up by the door which isn't the best viewing spot.

In the end, we had a total of 12 poets, which included me, and a packed house! We laughed, we hooted, we applauded like crazy, we oohed and aahhed and felt the pain of some, the quixotic of others, and just enjoyed the night and each other. Yeah, it was quite a night!

Colette Jones Elizabeth Platts Shekelia Baccus Eric aka "Jerzey" Maria Crady

>
Joyce Williams Ms. S. York Morris Students

Ms L. Castle Ms M. Lawson Mr. P. Nelson

2006-09-20T11:45:00.000-05:00

Walgreen's update: In all fairness to Walgreen's, since I wrote when they did things all wrong, I am following up with their follow up.

Monday I got a call from the top store manager and the head supervisor of the pharmacy dept. Both apologized profusely and were very upset we had this experience. The first said my letter was so detailed and so well written it made him realize he needed to do more training of new employees on how to treat customers.

The pharmacy supervisor personally called in the two prescriptions that had not yet been filled, needing doctor call backs and personally called to let us know they were ready. Normally you get that automated call back.

When I went in to get them today two clerks, stocking in different aisles said good morning, how are you? with a smile! And at the pharmacy the young woman told me they had talked the doctors into giving Keith 5 refills on both meds instead of the usual two to avoid delays waiting for doctor call backs. Wow! what a difference!

I guess that letter did open some eyes and hopefully things will continue on the more positive note now.

2006-09-17T08:13:00.000-05:00

IQ test: Just for fun every once in awhile I take one of these online IQ tests to make sure my brain is still functioning properly. I have to admit my score was a bit lower this time (generally score in the 130's) but still up there so I guess when I claim brain dead it isn't really true. Although, I can claim some brain cells are on vacation!

The Classic IQ Test
What's Your IQ?

Congratulations, Bonnie!
Your IQ score is 127

Descriptive Classifications of Intelligence Quotients

IQ Description % of Population

130+ Very superior 2.2%
120-129 Superior 6.7%
110-119 High average 16.1%
90-109 Average 50%
80-89 Low average 16.1%
70-79 Borderline 6.7%
Below 70 Extremely low 2.2%

Want to try it? Click here.

2006-09-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

One of my Connecticut Yankee friends sent me these fall photos she took and gave me permission to post some here. She says...I took these pictures several years ago and thought you might enjoy them. They were taken at a local State Park called Devil's Hopyard. There are many caves in the park and according to Indian legend, one of them leads to Hell. I've never gone cave hunting but I doubt any of them lead to Hell. Enjoy! Bernie

2006-09-15T20:11:00.000-05:00

And how many stupid pills did you take this morning? Instead of rewriting my Walgreen pharmacy experience, I am just going to paste part of the letter I emailed off to corporate.

.....In April his doctor put him on a new drug called Lunesta. To make sure he could tolerate it, along with a prescription for 30 tablets and 2 refills, he gave him a coupon for a free trial of 4 tablets to try first.

We got the trial pack and then had the prescription filled. The pharmacy explained because the prescription was for 30 tablets and we had already received the four free ones, we would receive 26 to complete the first fill. That was fine. No problem with that reasoning.

Today, I went in for the first refill and the pharmacist gave us 4 tablets. This was not discovered until my husband came home, from work, and checked the prescriptions. I then called the pharmacy and this is where the problem begins…
(note: I picked up 6 prescriptions and then he checks to make sure they are right)
The person I spoke with was very short and nasty telling me we got the free ones because we didn’t have insurance and we could only get 4 in the refill. I tried to explain we had received a complete fill of 30 last time (the 4 trial + 26 to complete the fill) and that yes we did have insurance and the insurance covered the completion of the fill. She started yelling at me that I wasn’t listening to her and I should just be quiet and let her explain. I told her she WASN’T listening and finally got her to check and see there were 30 tablets on the original prescription. I asked to speak to a supervisor because by that point she had me very upset and my husband ready to switch pharmacies. She snapped there were no managers in the store. I then said I would be in tonight to pick them up and she said fine and slammed the phone on me.

I called back right away and got another department, asked to speak to a manager and Ms. McDaniel, the store manager, came on the line. I explained the situation and she apologized and said she would take care of it. Shortly after, Amanda, from the pharmacy dept. called back to apologize, so I presume she is the one who was so rude to me during the first call. As we were speaking she said this would be the last refill and there were no more. I told her there were two refills on the original prescription and since we just did one refill there should be another left.

When I got to the store she told me we already had two refills. She said we refilled it once for the four pills and now were getting the second refill for the 26. I asked her if she didn’t realize that made absolutely no sense. That the first fill was for 30 pills, So, because they made an error and only gave us four to match the trial and now had to complete the first refill with 26 more pills, that did not make two refills. She stared at me blankly and then said, well, the original refill was for 60 pills and you already got 60 with the first order and today’s. I sighed and explained the first fill was not a refill but filling the prescription and the 60 pills was for the two refills after the first fill. The one refill we got today and then we should have one remaining. It took awhile, but the light finally clicked and she had to go back in and fix it and put a prescription of Lunesta on hold for my husband. So, now when I call next month I can’t use the automated system but must speak to a pharmacist and tell them to check the records because there is a prescription on hold.

(The funny part is the bottle we got today said 1 refill remaining but she argued that was wrong since we were now getting the second refill - okay, can everyone say... DUH!)

2006-09-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

One of the big things I miss about the north is the dramatic change in seasons. Right about now the leaves are turning gold, red, orange, yellow and shades in between. It's an amazing and spectacular sight! So amazing people from places, like here, drive up just to witness the phenomal beauty of it. We northerners call them leaf peepers. We don't get a lot of dramatic change here, but yesterday I noticed the tree across the street had turned! The leaves, though not the bright array of colors we get up north due to the extremely cold nights, had turned. I feel at home now as I sit and look out the front window and have at least this tree to keep me company.

2006-09-14T13:18:00.000-05:00

Tiny Friend is 6 months old now, and while he didn't outgrow the deformities to his face, he is certainly an interesting kitten. He learned how to purr the other day and thought it was so fascinating and exciting he had to share it with me right away. Never mind that it was around 4 a.m.! He had learned to purr! He put his face on mine the way he had seen Marmalade do to purr me awake and purred his best and loudest. When I first woke up to the purring cat I thought it was Marmalade, then opened my eyes to see that funny smashed in face looking so pleased I had to laugh. Sometimes be awoken at 4 a.m. is worth it!

2006-09-11T08:59:00.000-05:00

The friggin! #$$@#%^^%#$^^ cat did it again! You all remember Percival, the one who pooped on my shoe as I sat at my computer, awhile back! Well, yesterday, I was sitting here working away, my shoes off airing out my feet, when I smelled this horrendous odor! OMG! I better check that out and find out where it's coming from so I slip my BARE foot into my shoe and into a pile of warm, gooey....shall I go on? Thank goodness we keep those WetOnes around because I first had to remove my shoe, wash my foot, find a plastic bag to throw away my shoes, the wipes, then spray the carpet, scrub the carpet and kill the cat. Okay, I didn't kill the cat, but anyone want a sweet, pretty, fuzzy Persian cat with a tendancy to poop on peoples shoes?

2006-09-06T09:18:00.000-05:00

Sometimes cats are too smart! During the week I get up at 6 a.m. M/W/F and 5 a.m. on T/Th. So, on Monday, when Keith had the day off and I got to sleep in Marmalade thought something was wrong when it was 6 a.m. and I wasn't up to feed them! Heaven forbid they should wait an hour! So, he stuck his face in mine and purred until I woke up. He then walked across the bed and stared at my radio/alarm clock indicating it was time for me to get up and feed them. Okay, I was awake, so why not.

So, tuesday morning I am again awakened by Marmalade purring in my face and once again he does the clock thing to indicate it was time to get up and feed them. I looked at the clock, groaned, and said, "Marmalade, learn the difference between 3 and 5 okay?" He's getting there but I guess and 3 and 5 may look a bit alike to cat.

2006-09-03T16:45:00.000-05:00

Farewell to a champion! When I watched the Jimmy Connors/John McEnroe 1980 U. S. Open slug fest I thought I had seen the greatest tennis playing I would ever see in my life time. And until this week no other match even came close. But when I watched the match between Agassi and Baghdadis this past week my mind and heart were changed forever! Those two wounded soldiers - Agassi in pain from a back injury from being rearended in a traffic accident in July and Baghdadis suffering from leg cramps so bad he could barely walk stayed on the battlefield... I mean the court to the final ball! And in the end - the final game of the fifth match Agassi took the set.

And then today... Agassi in obvious pain but not wanting to disappoint his fans stood across the court from Becker (no, not Boris of the old days) and battled his heart out! He lost but not without taking it to four sets. The crowd gave him an 8 minute standing ovation and he was so emotional over having to say goodbye. This was the last time he would be playing. When he walked back to the locker room everyone there gave him a standing ovation and at the end of his interview he asked the news media if they would really miss him or if they were just saying that and THEY gave him a standing ovation.

This young man entered the tennis field 21 years ago as a brash "image is everything" bratty young kid who defied Wimbledon by wearing denim shorts and a colored shirt! Oh my!! And he had long hair held back with head band. He was everything tennis was not. Over the years we watched him grow and mature into a spectacular player who excited us each time he stepped onto the court. He impressed us with his spirit, his sportsmanship, and his love for not only the sport but the people -the fans - who loved and supported him.

So, we say good bye to one of the greatest tennis players to ever grace the courts, and know in our hearts how much we will miss seeing him play. We wish him a happy life and hopefully a recovery from the back injury and maybe...maybe? we will see him and his wonderful wife, Stefi Graf in a mixed doubles someday. We can dream! He wanted to go out playing the U.S. Open and he did so. He didn't want to limp off the courts. He didn't. After a tearful and heartfelt farewell speech to his fans and pain filling his face he walked off with the dignity of a true champion. Off the court he gave in to the pain and we got a glimpse of how much pain he was in during that match. Which only made the match even more spectacular. So goodbye Andre Agassi and thank you for 21 years of chivalry and poise on the courts.

2006-09-01T16:45:00.000-05:00

Blogging for Books starts Monday, for anyone interested.

2006-08-31T12:38:00.000-05:00

Oh Brother!!! Okay, so I was taking a break and lay down on the love seat to watch tennis for awhile. As will happen when one lays down I fell asleep. Suddenly my cell phone, in my pants pocket, rang and startled me awake causing me to roll off the love seat and onto the floor! So there I was trying to wake up, find my cell phone and figure out where I was! It was Keith locked outside, having just got home from work, with the two stray cats all wanting inside. Sigh! and I was enjoying the tennis match so much! Ah...who's playing?

2006-08-29T11:11:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like blogger can't do anything about the hacker who used a back door to get into and take over my sister Victoria's blog and use the address for their own. So I have deleted the link and hopefully Vic will have a new site up soon. It means recovering a lot of pictures and such. Don't you just love these people who think it's cool to do something like that?

2006-08-28T12:16:00.000-05:00

Recently two people made very strange comments to me about my using coupons. I don’t work, so the coupons are my way of contributing to the family budget. Even while working I continue to use them because they do add up to some good savings. I’ll give you some examples in a moment, but first I want to address the comments.

First a man I worked with for awhile with said it was a waste of time to use coupons because you still had to pay tax on the price before the coupons. First, there are no taxes on food items and here’s an example of the tax paid. Total prior to coupons - 40.41 (tax was 1.50) – total coupon savings 19.98 = 20.43. So, what he was essentially saying is that it is not worth saving $19.98 because he had to pay $1.50 tax. I don’t look at it as saving $1.00 on one product, $.75 on another, but as a total savings off my final grocery bill. I mean if you found $20 would you throw it away? Neither would I!

The other was a woman, who said, with her nose in the air and looking at me as if I were nothing, that she didn’t use coupons because they were only on unhealthy processed foods and she didn’t put that into her body. Hmmmm….let’s see… here are my savings from Walgreen’s today – which is the money example I used above.

Paper plates normally $1.79 for 100 were .99 per 100 plates with in store coupon
Video tapes normally $1.99 each were .99 with in store coupon
Scott Toilet paper was 2/$5 with in store coupon and using my 2 - $1.00 off each pkg. coupons the total was 2/$3 or $1.50 for four rolls. Not bad!

But my best savings was Crest toothpaste. Walgreens had a Buy 1 Toothpaste Get 1 get the Mouthwash free ($3.99 savings)…BUT! I also had a coupon for the toothpaste B1G1F (another $3.99 savings) so in the end I got 2 tubes of toothpaste and one bottle of mouthwash for $3.99. In case you didn't know it Walgreen's allows you to combine manufacturers coupons with their in store coupons.

I also purchased a couple other items that were in store sales not needing coupons. But, the point is not one item on there is a food product, so not ALL coupons are for processed foods.

We have a lot of cats that need fed so I have a stack of $1.50 off 15 cans of Friskies. I buy them in stacks of 15 at .99 for 3 cans. That would total $4.95 for every 15 cans. But minus the $1.50 a coupon that brings it down to $3.45 for 15 cans…but the savings don’t stop there! For every 15 cans I buy, at Food Lion, Friskies pops out a $.50 savings on your next grocery trip coupon. So, -$.50 on every 15 cans that brings it down to $2.95 for 15 cans. That's less than $.20 a can from the original $.33 a can. That really adds up when you buy as much as we do. Today it was a total of $10.00 saved on 75 cans. $1.50 x 5 (stacks of 15) = $7.50 add in the 5-.50 coupons that Friskies gives you from the store that's another $2.50 savings for $10.00 off the cat food.

Food Lion also has the new Cheerios Fruit cereal on sale at B1G1F a savings of $3.49 which made it less than $1.75 a box. BUT! You knew there would be a but. I had a coupon for $1.00 off each box! So that made it $1.49 for two boxes or about $.75 per box.

Jenny-O hot turkey dogs (okay they are processed but I think a lot of people eat hot dogs) are $1.19 a pack. Get ready for this! I have $1.00 off coupons on Jennie-O products so in the end pay $.19 per pack!

We eat a lot of soy products including Morning Star Farms. I had the good fortune a month ago to have a handful of $1.00 coupons when they had a sale marking down from $3.99 a pack to $2.99 a pack making my final price $1.99 per pack! I stocked up on the burgers, sausage, chicken strips! Also, a Soymilk coupon of $1.00 off each item makes it more affordable.

The kool-aid packs where you pour it into a bottle or glass of water are marked down from $3.99 a box to $2.99 a box - using my $1.00 coupons that makes it $1.99 a box and a reasonable price to pay.

So, my point is coupons are not a waste of time and they are not only for processed foods. Yes, there are a lot for frozen dinners… I leave many around the stores for items I don’t purchase and for items I do buy but will not be able to use all the coupons by the expiration date. Don’t have the time to clip and file coupons? Do you watch TV? Or home movies? That’s when I clip and file mine. I don’t use an elaborate system. I have a little plastic child size tool box with alphabetical index cards. I file the coupons in alphabetical order under their letter. It’s so easy to pick up that little box when I go shopping and if I see a sale for something not on my list I can easily find a coupon to match. I’ve considered hiring myself out as a professional grocery shopper to help people save money. Anyone want to hire me?

Anyway…I won’t tell you that you must use coupons, I won’t look down my nose at you if you don’t because some people just don’t like to bother with them. But when you see someone else using them think about this missive and instead of looking down on them consider how enterprising they are. Happy Shopping!!

Anyone want me to do their shopping for them? Or get together and either trade coupons or learn how to use coupons to their greatest advantage? You know how to get in touch with me!

2006-08-23T10:13:00.000-05:00

My sister, Victoria, is aware there is a connection problem with the link to her blog and is working with the powers that be to get it fixed. I will keep you updated. thanks!

2006-08-18T11:03:00.000-05:00

Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut the witch up with cookies.
(Unknown)

2006-08-17T20:15:00.000-05:00

Open Mic Night!: We had a low turnout of poets tonight, because it was the first week back at school here. A lot of our poets are teachers and students and were all a bit overwhelmed by school and not ready for tonight. I have promises that they will be into a routine by next month and will be there. But, in spite of having a low turnout we had a blast! Lori Streett didn't bring any of her own poems to read, but while waiting I had given her chap books by Colin Haskins and my sister, Victoria Rivas to read and she fell in love with their poetry so read a poem from each book. From Colin's she read Promises Promises and from Victoria's she read The Minutes From Today's Meeting. One she said was too familiar to her and she thought would be to others.

Our featured poet, Larry Stoy, shared a variety of poems from the whimsical to the dark side. A well rounded poet his poetry captures all sides of life. Everyone enjoyed his readings and we were pleased to have him there.

We had one new poet tonight and sadly she only brought one poem to share. I hope Ms. Jackson will come back again and bring more of her poems. The one she did share was wonderful and insightful. I am constantly amazed by the talented people here!

Ms. Colette Jones graced us with her presence and her phenomenal poetry and rocked our socks off! This is one phenomenal woman! She shared some stories about herself that inspired her poems and as the night wore on I learned to admire her more and more. And yes, she has agreed to be the featured poet next month! When you can't get enough of someones poetry you feature them!

Here are the pictures from tonight. There are two of Lori because she read from two books and I had to get both on the page.

Larry Stoy Elizabeth Jackson

Lori Streett

Ms. Colette Jones

2006-08-15T13:17:00.000-05:00

"In The News" by Kris Kristofferson - I hope everyone will click on this link and listen to this powerful song and watch the video.

2006-08-15T12:50:00.000-05:00

CATS! They never cease to amaze me! I've been concerned about the kittens coming in contact with the male stray who hangs around. When just the mother comes in to eat, I let the kittens come down and eat and play with her. But when the male comes in I tend to keep them upstairs. Well, today the male, Scarface, showed up alone and I let him come in to eat and when I opened the door to go upstairs the kittens charged down! He immediately went to them and started licking and washing them and they did the same with him. He had never seen them but recognized them as his sons. It was so cute! So, guess I don't have to worry he'll beat up on them. Just wanted to share that with you.

2006-08-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

Talk about spoiled! Okay, I have been accused of spoiling my cats and my husband is no better than me. But, this takes the cake! We have two strays I feed every morning and evening. They came with the house and the neighborhood. The one, of course, is Little Friend, who gave us our two little kittens BJ and Tiny Friend, and the other is our Scarface, who was the first to show up for food when we moved here. Later he brought another little cat and the first thing I said is...oh, are you going to introduce me to your Little Friend? and the name stuck... okay, to move along...

I overslept this morning which is surprising because our cats don't normally let me get past 7:30 before they want their breakfast. Although I do vaguely remember one clawing at my foot at some point.... anyway....

By the time I got to Scarface and Little Friend they were outside the door meowing their little hearts out and trying to open the door themselves. It's raining and they wanted in out of the rain! We do have a room that is separated from the rest of the house by a door and so they can come in here to eat. But it was so funny watching them and as soon as I opened the door they charged inside. Now keep in mind these were cats who stayed outside no matter what the weather before we got here! Scarface has only recently started coming inside to eat, but he got used to the comfort of it very quickly.

So that is how my day started...how about yours?

2006-08-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

Selling my past! Yes, and on Ebay! A realtor in Erie, PA has a neighborhood up for sale in my old stomping grounds! Oh, to have a lot of money! It's sad to see the city dying day by day, building by building, as jobs are outsourced and more and more businesses close. So the people move and leave entire neighborhoods empty! To read all about it go to go Erie.com

To see the ebay listing go here

2006-08-07T12:20:00.000-05:00

For all you writers out there here's something to get your creative juices flowing. I try to enter every month. Not feeling real creative today, but hopefully inspiration will hit me this week. So, check it out and have some fun. The latest blogging for books is up!

2006-08-01T14:03:00.000-05:00

He looks so familiar - duh! Last Sunday Keith and I were watching a Diagnosis Murder tv movie titled Fatal Impact. There was one young actor we kept saying, dang, he looks familiar, where have we seen him before. So, today Keith checked the Internet Movie Database (IMD) and looked up Fatal Impact and found the name of the actor is Harry J. Lennix and gee, no wonder he looked so familiar. We only watched him EVERY week on Commander in Chief! He was only one of the key characters, but hey, I guess we're getting senile or maybe just a little forgetful. So, DUH to us!

2006-07-29T08:51:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I did it! To update - Every Friday Keith and I go to Drew's Blues Cafe and meet up with a friend, Cynthia, to listen to Robert Gibbs play guitar while we play chess and have dinner. Last week Cynthia asked him to play some blues and then decided we should write... no I should write lyrics for a blues song for Drew's Blues and Robert would play a blues riff and she would sing it.

Now, the manager of the cafe has the business in the name of his 6 year old son, who by the way is adorable! Keith and I always sit at the same table and he prides himself on having it ready for us when we get there. Anyway... I decided to have some fun and write the blues song around little Drew.

When I got there I gave a copy to Robert and one to Drew since it was really for him. Well, a bit into the evening Robert asks if I'M ready to sing my song and I said, that wasn't the deal. I wrote it, you play it, and Cynthia sings it. Well, turns out she can't sing without every note written out - so she says if I start her off while he plays she can do it... so I start her off and then drop out - but she says I had to keep singing because she couldn't keep the rhythm... so yes, we both sang while Robert played...thank goodness at least part of it was good because I'm sure our singing left a lot to be desired! But it was fun! No one complained, but I'm sure a few were laughing along with us.

So, at the end Robert asks if I want to close the evening with my song and I declined. Fun is one thing, but torture is definitely another. For anyone wanting to read the lyrics or hey, even sing them yourself...here they are:

Drew’s Blues Blues

It’s hard to run a business when you are only six,
It’s hard to run a business when you are only six,
My parents think that they are the boss, try and tell me what to do.
Sit down and eat, don’t run and scream,
Sit down and eat, don’t run and scream,
I’ll be grown up soon, so they better treat me nice.

Gotta keep an eye on the help, keep them working hard,
Gotta keep an eye on the help, keep them working hard,
I don’t like no slackers, don’t like them being late, no that won’t do.
They think it’s cute I’m only six,
They think it’s cute I’m only six,
I’ll be grown up soon, so they better treat me nice.

I want to run and play around, make noise when I will,
I want to run and play around, make noise when I will,
But my mama tells me to sit down, tells me I must behave,
Dad’s in the kitchen watching me,
Dad’s in the kitchen watching me,
I’ll be grown up soon, so they better treat me nice.

It’s hard to run a business, when you are only six,
It’s hard to run a business, when you are only six,
Well, my mama and daddy are the ones in charge I guess,
I’ll just be a little boy for now,
I’ll just be a little boy for now,
But I’ll be grown up soon, so they better treat me nice.

2006-07-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

While cleaning up around my computer area, and sorting through things to toss or keep I found an old- very old poem I had written during Erie, PA's bicentennial or some big doings. Don't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure it was the bicentennial. The mayor had asked people to submit poems about Erie for publication. I submitted this one, tongue in cheek, knowing it would not get published, but hey, someone had to be honest!

Erie, PA – The Mistake on the Lake

There’s glass on the sidewalk,
And rocks on it, too
Bottles and beer cans
Are scattered askew.

News papers float in
The dawns early breeze,
Pollutions so heavy
It makes me sneeze.

You can’t smell the roses,
Through Hammermill’s smoke
The odors in the air
Make everyone choke.

Lake Erie’s polluted,
The experts all say,
The fish are all packing
And moving away.

The folks on eleventh
By dear Keystone Brass
Say that it gives them a pain
In their ….. grass

That won’t grow
Through the foundry’s dust
They say it fair
They say it aint just.

So people of Erie
Mistake on the lake
Please clean up your act
For our city’s sake.

Let’s clean up our sidewalks
While there’s still some to spair
Put fish in the water
And birds in the air.

Let’s wake up each morning,
And take a deep breath,
Without fear that one day,
We’ll all choke to death!

2006-07-20T23:35:00.001-05:00

Open mic night continued: I wrote a little about our open mic last night, but have now set up an album with the pictures. Way too many to post on the blog page. I will, of course, post a few here, also.

What was really impressive about last night was the support for the poetry community here in Sumter. Including myself and an impromptu challenge poem we had 17 performers. But the cafe was packed with people who had just come to listen!

Our poets ranged from 14 to 80! We had a very diversified group and even had two male poets who were brave enough to get up and perform. In fact, Larry Stoy, has agreed to be our featured poet next month.

The poetry was wonderful and I wish I could remember enough of each individual persons poetry, but all I can say is it was a fun night. The poems made us laugh, cry, and listen in awe. One particularly funny one was by Collette Jones. I wish I could remember it, but the poem was one she wrote as a challenge and included every candy you find at the check out counter!

I know no one was bored because not one person left early! Even though their meals were finished, drinks were empty, they stayed and listened and applauded each poet. It was an exciting night!

So, here are a few pictures and a link to the photo album of all the poets who performed. Sorry, none of me again.

One of the funniest moments of the night was when Johnny Brunson offered a challenge. Those of you who read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, will understand just how funny this was. He read about the Vogon's and explained the Vogon poetry is the third worst poetry in the universe. He brought a Vogon poem and challenged anyone to come up and try to read it. We had two brave souls who dared. Our featured poet, Martina, and Cynthia Harris who was there only because she drove our 80 year old blind poet, Joyce Williams. What a hoot watching them try to perform it!

Of course, our featured poet Martina Borg - Martina is being deployed for the next two months and we will really miss her at open mic!

Larry Stoy - Featured poet for August - Larry performed some really fun poems, but I especially liked his one on the three little words that hold a marriage together. Yes, we wll know them don't we... say them with me now... You are right!

And I wanted to feature some of the younger poets who had the courage to stand up, and for some the first time, in public and perform their wonderful poems. They inspired us and awed us with their insights and sensitivity.

Be proud of yourselves!
Karleigh Brunson Heather Roberts Rose Culler

To view the rest of the photos go here!

2006-07-20T23:29:00.000-05:00

Open Mic Night: I will do a post tomorrow with pictures, but for tonight I am too tired to edit the pics and set them up. But, I wanted to write about something I posted on the Sumter thoughts group. What amazed me were the young people there tonight. We talk about how the youth of today are so unaware, uncaring, insensitive, only think of themselves - the me generation. But then I meet young poets like the ones who read tonight and I see just the opposite. I see intellect, emotion, caring about the world and others and such sensitivity you know there is hope for the future. As I said on the forum, courage is not being unafraid, but being afraid and doing it anyway. These young people were openly nervous and a bit overwhelmed by the turnout tonight, but they got up there and read their poems even though it took all the courage they had. I am so proud of them!

We had 16 poets, including myself, and I will do a write up with pics tomorrow. The place was packed! Standing room only! And that is not a joke! What a night! For now I am tired and am off to bed!!

2006-07-19T16:32:00.000-05:00

Since tomorrow marks the 33rd anniversary of the death of one of the greatest martial artists, if not THE greatest, in the world I am posting my tribute to him.

Little Dragon

Born in the year of the dragon,
At the hour of the dragon
His birth name translates
To Little Dragon.

Bruce Lee entered this world
With his destiny at hand,
Enter the Dragon – he would
Live and die The Way of the Dragon.

He used Fists of Fury to develop
His own style of Martial Arts
Jeet Kun Do – way of the
Intercepting fists.

Yes, he was the Big Boss,
Training other movie greats
Chuck Norris and Steve McQueen
Among his top students.

But he played The Game of Death,
And at age 33 the Tower of Death
Took him in a way that remains
Mysterious even today.

Was it a brain edema?
Or the work of 'Oni'
(Japanese Demons or evil spirits),
The curse of Bruce Lee.

The Little Dragon became an
Icon in the world of martial art movies
And would become bigger and greater
Than he could have imagined.

A man of serenity, poise,
Charisma and intellect
Even while literally kicking ass,
There was a calmness that surrounded him.

Still much in the minds of
Martial artists today,
Who revere him and honor him
And still miss this whimsical spirit.
(Rest in Peace Little Dragon)

2006-07-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

History repeats itself: When my older sister, Linda, and I were young girls growing up on 11th street in Erie, PA one of our friends and neighbors was a young boy named Lou Bizzarro.

Yesterday she was over at her oldest daughters home, and there was a young man there, Mike, who looked very familiar. When he spoke his voice was familiar. After they talked awhile the subject of Italian families came up - he said he was Italian, and she mentioned us having grown up with an Italian family, the Bizzarro's and us having been friends with Lou. Well! It turns out Lou is his uncle! I asked about the older brother Johnny and she said Mike told her he had died two years ago.

What an amazing co-incidence that our worlds and lives should repeat like this. From she and I and Louis in Erie, PA being friends, to her nieces and his nephew, in Waterford, PA being friends.

I guess it is a small world after all!

2006-07-13T22:39:00.000-05:00

This Should Explain It All...

A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have
an oil shortage here in our country.
~~~
Well, there's a very simple answer.
~~~
Nobody bothered to check the oil.
~~~
We just didn't know we were getting low.
~~~
The reason for that is purely geographical.
~~~
Our OIL is located in
~~~
ALASKA
~~~
California
~~~
Coastal Florida
~~~
Coastal Louisiana
~~~
Kansas
~~~
Oklahoma
~~~
Pennsylvania
and
Texas
~~~

Our DIPSTICKS are located in

Washington DC

Any Questions?

2006-07-09T16:36:00.000-05:00

The Last Five Books I’ve read: My husband accuses me of reading nothing but mindless murder mysteries. Okay, I am guilty! I do read them. Sometimes we all need and escape from reality and mine is either watching old Murder, She Wrote shows or Diagnosis Murder… or reading mindless murder mysteries…. But that is not all I read. So below is a list of the last five books I’ve read, including the one I am currently reading.

The Optimists Daughter by Eudora Welty – This is a quirky little book about Laurel. She is a widow who returns to Mississippi when her father becomes ill. She is a witness to his death after he becomes ill from a botched eye surgery. Her father, once the eternal optimist has lost his will to fight and his second spoiled and selfish wife cares for no one or anything but her own creature comforts. After his death Laurel seeks the answers to her past to help her make sense of her present and her future.

In the breeze of passing things – by Nicole Louise Reid – This is a wonderful book of a ten year old girl dealing with two very dysfunctional parents. A father who suffers from depression, but refuses to take medication that will help him. I won’t give away the reason for his depression or his wanderings to water where he once almost kills his entire family. Her mother is one of those women who should never have had children. She often forgets she does have them and is jealous of her ten year old daughter who is the only one the father really loves. The journey she takes us on is a page turner right to the final line. I won’t give away the ending, but advise readers to take the journey and allow the end to surprise them rather than read the ending first.

Onion John – by Joseph Krumgold - This is a great story of a young boy, Andy Rusch, and his relationship between his father and the town’s eccentric immigrant Onion John. The townspeople try to help Onion John by trying to make him more like them and get him to give up his superstitions and old wives tales. Andy likes Onion John just the way he is and Onion John, although they try, cannot become what the townspeople would find acceptable.

Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty – Delta Wedding is centered around Laura McRaven, who after her mother dies is sent to live with her relatives in Mississippi. She arrives while the family is preparing for the wedding of Dabney Fairchild, the oldest daughter. This book takes you into the deep old south. It’s a wonderful story of family life and all the joys, frustrations, and secrets that come with any family. The story of “The Yellow Dog” the train that runs through the town becomes a family tradition in telling – who will tell it and who will embellish. This is well worth reading.

Cuba Libre – by Elmore Leonard - this is the one I am currently reading. A friend gave it to me Friday and I started it this weekend. So far, it’s pretty good. The story is of Ben Tyler, who was in prison for robbing banks. But, he only robbed banks of people who owed him money and refused to pay and only took the money from their account. He and Charlie Burke team up to sell horses in Cuba while secretly selling guns. At this point they are in Cuba, the “horse trading” is a little more complicated than it should be, Ben has been challenged to a duel by an uppity officer who feels he was insulted and in the end Ben kills him in a shoot out….of course now Ben is being arrested for murdering the Cuban officer… in the meantime of course there is a beautiful young woman who is the mistress of a Cuban kingpin who has taken an “interest” in Ben. I will let you know more about this one when I finish it.

So there, my love, I do read books other than ‘mindless murder mysteries.’