Remembering Felicia

Today while cooking black beans and rice I thought about an old friend of mine from Florida. We were both CSR's for UPS and had lunch at the same time. The group of people, with whom I shared a house, had a fondness for black beans and yellow rice, so most days I took leftovers with me for lunch. Felicia also loved black beans and yellow rice and got in the habit of getting a plastic fork at the lunch counter before sitting down and she and I would share my plate of rice and beans. One day I didn't have the beans and rice and Felicia sat there, fork in hand, with the saddest look on her face and she told me she had come to look forward to our communal lunch of beans and rice. I never missed a day again :-). Couldn't take that sad look!

Felicia, I and a tiny blonde named Doreen all became friends. One day Felicia and I were talking and she called me Doreen. I looked at her and asked, "Felicia' do I look like a 4'9", 80 lb. blonde woman?" To which she responded, "Bonnie, don't you know all you white people look alike to us?" She could always crack me up.

At that time I smoked a pipe and Felicia smoked cigars. We were an odd couple for sure so after lunch would go out on the patio and have our smoke. We got some odd looks but we didn't care. We were who we were and made no apoligies. Of all my friends in Florida, next to my friend Rick who passed away a couple years ago, I still miss Felicia. I hope she has as many fond memories of me as I do of her.

Open Mic/Poetry session

last night was open mic, but it also conflicted with awards night at the college. Since the majority of my poets are students and teachers from the college, that left myself, Cyndy and Joyce. So we had a lot of time to discuss our lives, what events lead up to the writing of different poems and sometimes just sharing parts of our lives. Joyce told some wonderful stories that had us laughing. We had so much fun we decided to continue our session this morning and met at the Brick Street Coffee Break at 11 a.m. Cyndy wanted to do a challenge where someone gave a topic and we all wrote poems about it. Now, that's nothing new to me since my sisters and I did a lot of that growing up. We all wrote down a word or line and dropped them in a bag, and one by one we pulled them out, and wrote poems. We didn't get to all of them, but in the two hours there, between more talking and laughing, we each wrote four more poems. A creative, fun session to start the day. Couldn't ask for anythimg more. Wish I had more time for such ventures.

Scream Dream

Last night I dreamt a mass murderer was trying to stab me. As the man leaned over me I thought 'you've read enough murder mysteries to know what to do. you should scream." so I screamed. The perpetrator ran off. I then thought 'I should stop screaming before I wake up Keith.' I then woke up and noted the two cats were still by me on the bed and there was no movement from my husbands room so I figured I must have not actually screamed. I looked at the clock and it was 2:35 a.m. At 2:39 a.m. my cell phone rings and it's Keith wanting to know what the heck was that sound. I laughed my ass off telling him and then commented how reassuring it was to know that if something had actually happened he and the cats would have been so concerned. He said he was afraid I was still sleeping and remembered how angry I get when awakened from a good sleep, but then he figured he'd better see if something had happened to one of the cats so I could check on them. He said the scream was so high pitched it didn't even sound like me. What cracked me up the most though was in the dream as I was screaming to scare away the murderer I was more concerned with waking Keith up than with getting killed and he was more concerned with waking me up than finding out what had happened. Do you get the idea neither of us wakes up very nicely? Ah to dream perchance to scream!

Lightning Strikes

This morning started off like any typical Saturday morning. I slept in, got up and fed the cats, brought in the paper, got into the shower when suddenly I hear the most horrendous booming sound! I turn off the shower and realize it is the loudest thunder I have ever heard! no joke! then a boom so loud all the cats run down the hall to my bedroom. I think some went under the bed! In the living room a lamp was on the floor...I think the cats knocked it over in their hasty retreat. My husband had turned on his scanner and heard a fire call for the house across the street. I looked out and didn't see a fire, so got dressed to investigate and see if my neighbor needed help. She and the woman next door are related so when I saw the other woman over their I stayed out of the way of the fire trucks and fire men. There was no fire but lightning had hit her house and she has a nice hole in the side and part of the front of her house. When she came out she was in her night clothes so she must have also been sleeping in and the lightning woke her. I'll talk with my neighbor tomorrow and see what happened. That had to be a scary way to wake up.

After it all calmed down and the rain let up I went to the college to see a play, by they students in the drama class, taught by my friend and one of my poets, Kathleen Roy. This one was The Amen Corner. I thought the students did a good job on it. I'd like better enunciation and some still need to speak a bit louder - even with mics there were some I never heard, so missed some vital parts of the play. But over all I'd give them a good grade. The lead was superb and she carried the play and made it worth watching.

Just weird

I dreamt I was playing scrabble but that I had fallen asleep while playing. Yes, I dreamt I was sleeping! Guess I don't get enough real sleep so have to catch up in my dreams!

No Tears for Johnny

In honor of the 4,000 lives Mr. Bush has sacrificed for his oil rich friends.

NO TEARS FOR JOHNNY
(Tom Springfield)

No tears for Johnny
People, don't you cry
No tears for Johnny
Just because he's gonna die
He's gonna be a hero
From now till the end of time
So shed no tears for Johnny boy
Marching in the thin red line

When the drums begin to roll
Trumpets start to blow
Johnny must not reason why
He knows he's gotta go
Fight for power and glory
Johnny, go to war
And if a hundred boys should die
We can send in a hundred more

No tears for Johnny
People, don't you cry
No tears for Johnny
Just because he's gonna die
A lesson for the world to learn
Is one that we all ignore
So Johnny keep on marching till
We forget what you're marching for