" I Will Give You Something You Cant Refuse!"

    Hello My name is Bonnie and I'm an addict.
    At no time can I refuse The Godfather Movies.
    Even the first notes of the iconic music stops my heart, and I take over the many TV's in our house.

    Just this past weekend, there has been a marathon! A big binge of The Family! My Family, my Sicilian brothers from another mother. Yesterday, I missed GFIII, and watched II and I, until lights out.  I taped III, to watch on this Sunday. Then much to my delight, the marathon was on again, and I have seen all three today. I think? but they are sort of running together. You see I do have things to do, outside of my devotion to Michael Corleone. It helps to have seven TVs in our abode, and momma is in charge of the clicker! My family scatters when they here the music, " Oh No!" is heard around each corner, because they know, Mom can not be reached for anything, unless it is squirting blood!

   Even as I type, the marathon has begun again, and I continue to watch. I know every word spoken, each gunshot before it is fired, probably could hum the entire saga. If you were to ask my hubs, before I went to sleep last night, I could be heard, lightly humming the music. I did not want to let it go, I never do. I may have a problem.

 I LOVE IT, the young Al Pacino, is heaven, pure heaven to look at. Even when he is old by the III, I still grab my chest. When he is confessing to the priest at the end, I tell him, through the tube, " You do not have to do that, Fredo and the others had to die!"

My movie family, I kiss the ring on your finger, and may the others sleep with the fishes!

No Green Bananas! Buy The Paint!

    I have many goals in life, I like to keep a list.
    One is that I continue to improve as an artist.
     Another is that I constantly take classes from History, to French to Gardening.
     So when it came time to dust off my brushes, I signed up for a course.
     Watercolors has been my medium to go to. After my first class, well, let me explain.

       Gathering up my art supplies, after years of painting, I thought I was well equipped. The teacher had another opinion, we needed new stuff. That has never been a problem to me, I like to shop in all categories,
so off I went. Sable brushes, new tubes of paints, pencils, erasers, more paper, my artist palette was overflowing.
      When I arrived at my class, I noticed art for sale, as you enter. A big plus, to shop and take a course, and my new supplies, ready!
       My teacher is nice, and there are about six people in the class, me being the youngest. So I watched and listened. Teacher looked at my fifty brushes, new and old and pulled two out to use. (clearly she does not know me, YET!) Then she did not like my paper, or my new paints?? so she shared hers with me.( That was nice, right?) She put a pea size drop of four colors to be used. One, I like a big glob of paint, and four colors, yikes. She said, " I want to see how many colors you can make from these four, and how many shades." I had a tube of every color in the rainbow, why do I have to make a color. Daddy taught me to not buy green bananas, in case you are not around the next day!! I want the pink paint, now! We are all older in this class, we are not trying to find ourselves or our inner Picasso. Well maybe some Monet, but a hundred shades from four colors, whatever you say teacher girl, I will try. Of course I did all of my colors and shades, and she came around as I was painting a cow pink, and she exclaimed, " You got this color of pink? That is great." I pulled her close to my mouth, and whispered, " You know they make tubes of all these colors, and I may not be here tomorrow, so I need to use them all up!"
She smiled, and let me go, free to stay outside the lines, and paint.
I showed her several photographs that I want to paint, and she told me that one of them, used pen and ink, with watercolor. I asked if that was bad, because I really like it. She semi smiled.
I told her later in the class, that is two hours long, (a tad lengthy for my attention span) that I think I need some texture, or torn pieces of paper. I think I may need more than watercolors, she nodded. I think when I return to class, I may be in the corner, which I never thought was a bad place to be!!
I can spread out, and hum if I need to, and squeeze my paint tubes, until they are dried up and used!!
      I love new classes, new goals, and the ability to use all the paints!

And The Winner Is..

  They just announced the nominees for the Academy Awards, and there was no mention of the "F" word!
I ran it back, to watch again, surely they had not seen the same movies that I watched this year. You see the F-bomb was the star. The winner is over use of the word, F*c*!!!! (OK, Iam having a hard time not writing it, so fuck!)
  I will be the first in line, to use special curse words, including that one. BUT...profanity has its place.
  If I drop a large can of tomatoes on my big toe, I will scream a slur of S**t, Fu*k, Dam*!!! but to use the big F 500 times in the movie, Wolf On Wall Street?? It looses its meaning, its crass, its no-good. After an hour or two, I looked at the hubs, and said, " Not too sure this is a Christmas movie!"
   I loved the movie, very great acting, but who curses that much? Seriously, I know people who curse, and they don't hold a candle to this movie. It was just too much, damn them!
   Then I went to see Osage County with my Emma, and here we go again, at the dinner table, do people throw around the F word so freely. No home I have ever been to. Now some of my girls night out dinners, get a little rough, but that is in the privacy of our table, and its in the correct context! ( OK, when Fifty Shades came out, we may have been a little raw!!)
  I did not mind Julie Roberts character, along with the women who played her sisters, sitting around, laughing at words that the vagina can be called. That was what we sisters do, and friends and relatives! It was a very funny part of the movie. Again the acting in the movie is some of the best, the entire play/movie is dysfunctional families at their best, I loved it, but saying the enormous F in between each bite of food, that is just too much. I looked at Miss Emma, and asked her, " Do you know people who talk like this?" She said, "Yes"  What!!!!! Bad words have become the norm, and that leaves me nothing to use when I so need them!!
   So I curse you Movie makers, and how can I do that, when you have used up all my words!!
  

Bye Bye Love

  I will not let another day go by without mentioning the death of Phil Everly.
  ( Do you think he parents really only used one L in Phil??)
 Music is indeed my favorite language, and The Everly Brothers started me on this journey.
 I was all of five, when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957. ( I thought I was grown even then!)
 (and I was boy crazy, at a very young age!) I loved Phil Everly. I learned all of the words to their songs, and would sing constantly, in the yard, in the house, in the car. Mom would stop the neighbors and have me sing for them, I was an Everly brother savant!
  Just think, Dream, Dream, Dream, Dream, Dream, Dream, Dream..... Dream......Dream....Dream!! These words I could remember, then I would belt out, I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine and the neighbors would smile, and grab their kids!!! Here he comes, that's Cathy's Clown....was my swing set song, I would be soaring so high, and just sing that one line.
   By the early sixties I had moved on, but I would never forget my Everly Brothers. Just this past weekend, I could be heard from Jacksonville and back to Atlanta, singing my heart out.
 Oh Phil, I hope you lived a good life. I do know one little girl, that you carried her heart with you.
 Bye Bye Love
 I think I'm gonna die

No Suffering For Me, Thanks Hollis

   I love to write on Saturday mornings, when everyone is home, and bothering me! Why does this day pick me, to have great material to get out!! I cannot question the heavens, just start typing.
  As always on Christmas Eve, I haul the family to church, nearly kicking and screaming. Usually someone says, "I went last year, its your turn!" I yell, " Oh Holy Night, get in the car!" So you see, how my going to mass, never begins with a certain peace. So this year, Bill, Hart, his girlfriend and I went(.I have to mention that the mink and fox coat ( which I like to call The Alice Brown) attended church on my shoulders. ( I never get a chance to wear it, but this year, I put her on)
   The church is two minutes from our house, we could have walked, but then we would have missed the parking hassle. I think you need to add that, before you enter the place of worship. Then there are the 150 steps to get into the church, so that by the time you do find a seat, you are huffing and puffing, and singing praise for making it into the pew. This year it seemed, hot to me, so I took Alice off, and put her behind my back, because the pews , Iam certain were used in torture chambers of long ago. I looked at my people, with the thankful eye, glad to have them with me. I noticed sweat running down their faces. My God it is sweltering, and eight more people are squeezed into our pew. The lady next to me is breathing loud, and the man in front of me, looks like a character in the Simpsons cartoon. Lord, I just want to see the baby in the manger, and panic is rising. I look at Bill and say, " We have to go." Of course, he says "WHAT!"
I repeat, " I have to go home, right now, I'm hot." Of course he says, " Are you kidding?" By then my mink is on my body, and Iam getting the kids up and out of there!!!  He is thinking someone from PETA is looking at me, with an evil eye. I tell him, " I know what you are thinking, this was a gift from my favorite aunt, I'm wearing it, Damn it!!!" ( we still were in the church!"
  We got to the car, and all of us are breathing easier, and I say, " That was horrible."
   Hart pipes in, " Mom, Jesus wants you to suffer!"
   " The hell he does, he is kind and wants me to work hard and prosper!" I so sweetly ? explained!
   " Who in the hell taught you about Jesus?" now I am on a rant.
   My creative profanity is flowing, " I just wanted to sing some Christmas Carols!"
Christmas Eve at The Barons continues to be a good story. When we arrived home, Emma said, " Wow that was quick, I should have gone!" "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" another holy mess. I love my family and Jesus!
   And how Pray tell do I morph into Hollis Gillespie, I don't know. Something she taught me about writing, that "You Will Offend People" So religious nuts, get over it, I love Jesus, and he understands my sarcasm.  Family members, you are always fair game!!!! It is my personal blog, how can I not mention you, the truth will set you free!! You all are my stories, friends I include you also. Sometimes I will use initials, but most of the time YOUR full name. Hollis taught me, not to tone it down, and at the same time, TRY not to rip out a persons heart.  Hollis Gillespie, is a local Atlanta author and teacher of writing. If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes, Shocking Real Life Writing Seminars, TAKE IT! even if you don't want to write, she is so much fun. She has a new young adult book out, "Unaccompanied Minor", which is a change for her. Her other books like "Confessions of a Recovering Slut" and "Trailer Trashed" hold a place on my bookshelves and in my heart. So I will read this one also, just because. ( Sometimes I think Iam a young adult!?)  Hollis, Thank you for encouraging me to write. I love you and Jesus.