The Blog of Bonnie J.

Today we did a lot of driving. We're parked at a Walmart across from a Super 8. Our next concert is in Raleigh, NC.

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I discovered I have a seemingly invisible splinter in my pinky finger. It's right where the guitar strings touch it. I put tape on it in an attempt to "sticky it out" but it's definitely still in there. I poked around with a pair of machined tweezers but I didn't get it. It isn't terribly painful but it sure is annoying! I'm hoping if I wrap it in duct tape maybe it'll be out tomorrow morning.

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The other day Carol and I went for a walk at a rest stop. We had been stopped for a while, Dad was resting, everyone was just hanging out in the front of the bus. When we came back and walked up to the bus Vincent was carrying a toolbox towards the back of the trailer. Fixing something? Yeah I'm fixing something, he says, with one of those funny half smiles on his face. We followed him back to where he's walking and we realize that our trailer tire is incredibly shredded to pieces, our light on the back is broken, and the little fender that goes over the wheel looks like it's been spray painted silver. Well, it turned out we'd gotten a flat (double axle, thank God!) without knowing it and all of the metal in the tire had been whipped off and had sanded all the paint of the metal fender (making it look dull silver). We were kind of hoping to fix it before Dad woke up and tell him later, but we had to look for some parts and in the process he became alert and figured out what was going on. Carol might have some pictures of this interesting event before long.

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I was sitting at a concert the other day when I caught Vincent's eyes across the audience (we happened to sit on opposite sides) and kinda made faces. They were very restrained, mind you, and no one would have figured out what was going on. But anyhow, I was just struck by how I enjoy my family. We meet so many people in so many situations, some of them quite sad. I am sooo blessed! I'm blessed to have so many friends who I really enjoy spending time with. Sure, there are struggles sometimes, but it's worth every bit of the "stuff" that goes on.

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Here's a chance for reader partipation!! What's the most ab stressing exercise you know of? I'm trying sincerely to get my abdominals as sore as I can. I'm not doing it very well. I think I need more will power. The problem is, I can actually make myself feel sick, and I hate the thought of doing another crunch because it'll make me feel sicker, but the next day I don't seem to be as sore as I ought to. I'm absolutely sure I'm not pushing myself hard enough, but I'm not sure what to do about it. A pullup bar is definitely on my list of "things to make and install when I get home." I'm not sure how I could make one of those things where you can "stand" in it with your arms supporting you and lift your legs up to work your abs. I suppose with a brother who welds nicely and some scrap steel anything is possible. Who knows, I might even take welding lessons ;)

Labels: exercise, tour

Whew, 14 comments on one post is quite a few. I haven't gotten that many in a while, I think. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, or done anything drastic.

We've driven about 900 miles these past three days so most of my time has been spent sleeping, picking, or eating. Or just sitting there feeling like going to bed. For some reason I've been really tired. I'm getting up earlier than usual (don't know why either, it's not like I have to get up for any reason) and listening to talk radio by night. Well, sometimes it's music. But anyhow, it's harder to play guitar when you're tired. Sometimes it feels like all the strength has gone out of my arms and I just sit there. I'm positive this is mostly mental, but anyhow, I'm kind of tired! And that reminds me, I'm supposed to do an upper body workout at some point today before we play tonight... Someone come over and holler at me to do it, will you?
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We're working on some new tunes for our CD and brushing up on ones that we already play. When we get home, Lord willing, we'll be able to hit it hard in the recording studio. There might be a guitar solo on the album! If I can finish up the tune I'm working on playing now, I might be able to put it on. Oh yeah, and I found out that a break I've been working on for hours and hours (literally, I'm guessing I spent 4 hours on it the past few days) DOESN'T WORK! In the second half of it the chords totally do not match up. So maybe that's why I'm feeling so bummed, and I had just forgotten about it. It's no fun to work on something and think you've got it and practice and practice and then find out it doesn't work. Tal vez, I'll be able to patch it up. Whoops, slipped into the future language of North America. Wait, North America, what's that? Isn't that like way out of vogue? It's globalism now people...globalism. Trample the constitution and leave freedom behind.
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I guess that's it for now. We'll be in Florida a little while longer, then we'll head up the coast and be home soon.

Labels: tour

Yesterday I had something on my mind to blog but the blogger page wouldn't load! Today I can't remember what it was that was so pressing :( Never fear, for the brain of the one writing can churn out a lot of useless writing even on an empty stomach!

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We are with the Bailey Family in Victoria, Texas. They're great musicians and such nice people. I'm so glad to have good friends. This morning Carol and I got up a little early and made eggs benedict. Mmmmm...I was so happy the hollandaise sauce turned out good! I broke a thermometer on the first batch and had to throw out the butter. But then I did it by eye instead of the thermometer and it turned out fine.

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The weather has been incredible! The thermometer has been reading around 80 during the day. At night it's pretty cool, and today it feels a little cooler than yesterday, but it's very nice weather.

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Last night we did a gig in Victoria and a couple came from 75 miles away! Not only that, but the reason they came is because they saw our bus at a Walmart while we were on our way here and they checked out our website. They mentioned they saw me riding on a cart in the Walmart parking lot. Oops! I always figured I can do stuff like that on the road because no one knows me :D

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I've been thinking about the aspect of being thankful. We ought to really be content with what we have. Yet if I lost my leg, instead of being thankful for all of the time that I had with a leg, I'd get upset because I'd have to live without one. Sometimes it takes an extreme circumstance to get us to wake up and be thankful, but we ought to just try to be as thankful as we can for everything God has given us. Instead of raging because we can't do what we wish we could, we should be humbled and grateful that we have what we do. It's all too easy to say "If only I could do/have x, y, or z, I'd be so happy." But it doesn't work that way. Be thankful for your ears, your eyes, your arms and legs, and your very life. For the fact that while you've been reading this that you've had oxygen going into your body. It doesn't matter how skilled or talented other people are, it just matters what you do with your talent. Use it for God and be thankful for it!


I guess you can tell by now my little writings on here are often lessons I need to learn :p That's what they are mostly anyhow. There's very little that I talk about that I don't need a huge amount of improvement on. It helps to get it all written down though.
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My stomach feels kind of funny and my back aches because of it. The people we're staying with have a cool little training thing, I'm not sure what it's called but it has a bar for pull ups and dips and other stuff. They also have a nice bar with plenty of weights. I think I know what I'm looking for now ;)

Crunches and pushups are pretty simple and pretty good though. The pull up bar is really nice, even though I can't do more than one full pullup from the down position, I can do plenty of reps where I jump up and lower myself slowly (negatives). That gets me plenty sore and I feel like I've done something the next day. It's kind of fun to make the objectives of your workouts to be as sore as reasonably possible the next day. Otherwise it feels like you just wasted the workout.

ETA: Well whadayano, I just remember what I was going to blog about. Yesterday I was doing squats with quite a bit more weight that I usually do. I heard a popping noise but I wasn't too alarmed because my knees usually pop a time or two while I'm doing them. Then I heard a whole series of pops! It sounded really nasty, like there was a lot of fluid popping multiple times and I thought it sounded like it was coming from my hip. So I think oh great, I've worn out my hips and I haven't been able to hear it because I've done my last few workouts in an environment that wasn't quiet enough for me to hear the pops. I figured maybe it didn't hurt because it hadn't worn away everything yet. I figure don't panic, just try to figure out where it's coming from. Definitely my hip. Or hips. Squat again. Same disgusting popping noises. It actually sounded sick. So I went out to the bus bathroom and try it again. Same thing. I was wondering what I was going to do about it when I reached my hand back and felt two LIFE SAVER WRAPPERS IN MY POCKET! They weren't the roll kind, they were the flimsy plastic ones that come in a bag. I was so relieved! Praise God, and serves me right to be eating candy :D

Labels: exercise, tour

We're in Alabama!

My dad is not feeling very well. Please pray for him as he has been experiencing flu like symtoms possibly related to his ankelosing spondolitus (I don't know how to spell it, but it's kind of like an autoimmune disorder if I remember right).

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As I look around me and see all of this stuff that's happening, the Real ID (I'd link to it but my 'linker' is broken and I don't know the HTML), the moving of many people and organizations to build a one world government, etc., it's so easy to become disturbed. Let me rephrase that. It's easy to worry. Thankfully, God has been impressing upon me that we can't worry about these things! Rejoice when you are persecuted. Fear not he who can destroy only the body. It's amazing how detached what we feel can be from reality. If we face death for the sake of Christ someday, is it not to our advantage to become as close to God now as we can? When painful things occur we will be tested. I've been reading a lot of the "brother will be turned against brother" verses and I just keep praying that God would keep me close to Him no matter what would happen. I'm not reading them on purpose, they just seem to be popping out a lot. And in those verses I see a great sadness, because of the terribleness of what sin can do. If we don't wake up now, we'll be swept away later. Fear God! Persecution may come and I don't think it's wise to sit idly by and just think "Well it's not happening here, so I don't have to worry about it." Pray that you may be close to God in spite of the lack of persecution in this country. And remember those being persecuted and pray for them, that they would be strong.
Here's something that I have found helpful sometimes. Anytime you face pain, turn it into a passionate prayer for those suffering pain for the sake of Christ. I remember having to walk my bike because it was broken, I was out about a mile from where I needed to be (huge trial there, eh?!). I thought I can either complain because I have to walk, or this time while I have to walk I can pray that someone in a third country could be supplied with a bike so they don't have to walk 50 miles and in that "bad" situation I can be strengthened and encourage. Don't let yourself stray with discouraging thoughts because of your circumstances. For in Christ, our circumstance is that we have been forgiven a huge debt, and that's just about it! If we would only focus on Christ, we'd be humbled, and then we'd see life in perspective.
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I'm getting COLD! I'm outside with a fleece, sweatpants and sandals on. It's quite a nice change from New England, but it still does feel cold sometimes. Carol thinks we might be getting wimpy and losing our "northerner" toughness! I think before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, the climate must have been very nice and not extremely hot or cold. Imagine a place where it never feels uncomfortable to either degree! I think Heaven must be void of unlivable cold or scorching heat, indeed it will be greater by far than any of our expectations.

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I made my own granola bars today. I got some whey powder to mix in because it has more protein in it. However, I'm wondering how good whey really is for you. I added up all of the ingredients and I have a little list of how many calories are in them and things like that. As far as I can tell (and if I divided them up evenly) they have 142 calories, 9.2 grams protein, 4.5 grams fat, and 12 grams carbs. Most of the fat is from the flax oil I put it, but there's some peanut butter in them too. It's pretty cool to make those little readout thingies like they have on the stuff from the store with the nutritional info on them. I have been eating what seems like LOADS of veggies, most of them raw, but I seem to crave carbs every day in the late afternoon and usually I crumble and have either a poptart or a granola bar, or a cookie, or all three. I also found out you can make a pretty good dip with mushed up cottage cheese, salt, and garlic powder. You can eat a whole cup of it nearly and still be eating pretty lean, and that means you can use dip generously on a whole plate of veggies.

Just so you know, I'm not going off carbs completely, I'm just trying to cut down on the carbs that I get from simple sources, such as sugar and white flour. I'm trying to get them from brown rice, oatmeal, veggies and fruits. Some people go nutty and cut them out completely but I don't think that's wise. Moderation, moderation...

Labels: food, recipes, tour

We're coming to our last days in Florida for this part of our trip. We'll return, Lord willing, after our weeks in Houston. We have had many concerts this week and at least two of them were standing room only. I was amazed!

We did a concert yesterday morning and then someone took us out to Golden Corral. Woweee! It was a lot of fun and I don't think I've ever eaten as healthy at any other buffet. I started out with a plate full of salad - lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds (no dressing). It was literally a plate FULL. After that I ate less of the "danger" foods because I was feeling full sooner. I didn't leave feeling guilty of being a glutton. I could walk out without waddling. And the night before that I skipped dessert!

So anyhow, after we got out of the restaurant it was raining. We headed to the beach anyhow and by the time we got there it had stopped raining and it was just overcast :) Since it was too cold to go in the water I went for a run. There were barriers every 50 feet of beach or so (to help prevent erosion, I assume) so I couldn't run down near the water. It was really hard to run against the wind AND run in the soft sand. On the way up against the wind I stopped a few times, on the way back I was able to run without stopping. My ankle pretty much is tight every morning until I get out of bed and start walking around. The running makes it just a little worse, but not a lot. I'm wondering if there's something wrong with it that I'm missing. Could I have broken it and not noticed? It's not a constant achilles pain, it's more when I twist it just the right way. So yeah, my hypochondriac is flaring up agaim :P
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I'm also worried (ha) that I'm getting obsessed with the eating right. I read in Luke last night "Do not worry about what you will wear, or what you will eat." Does that mean just eat whatever's before you, without question or thought as to what you are going to eat? I considered it and decided it was in the context of worrying. Choosing to eat the salad instead of the bag of potato chips isn't considered worrying, right?

That said, I'm noticing how you don't have to just "wait and see" how eating certain foods will effect you. Look around and open your eyes. There are people of all ages eating all kinds of foods. See how it effects them.
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Priorities, priorities. Food doesn't kill you. Sin does. All of us are going to die no matter what we eat (or don't eat), so make sure you're right with God before you start to think about what you eat. In reality, it doesn't really matter. It's just one of those things we do (eat). Are YOU a good person?

Labels: tour

Short on time so here are some pictures.





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Back for edit. I was supposed to post more but my laptop battery was dying on me.

Here's me working in the sand (it was too cold to swim!)


And here's what I made:

Labels: tour, tour pictures

NEWS FLASH! We're in North Carolina! Oh wait, I already told you that :)

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We stopped at Sam Ash, a big music store in Charlotte, NC. We talked with the repair guy there about the tuners we had bought for my Blueridge br140 but didn't fit, and he suggested some others and they did fit so we bought them. Very cool :D I've only changed one so far, but tomorrow I'll probably take all the strings off and do all of them. They're gold, and I'm not sure how well they're going to match the inlay on the headstock, which is primarily silver toned. I hadn't thought of that when we bought them :| They'll keep the strings in tune though, so they're good.

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I've been trying to eat healthier. I've heard about it all, white sugar is poisonous, cholesterol will make you fall dead in your tracks, soy is the big bad no-no, etc etc.. While I think most people go overboard on some things, that's ok. Everyone goes overboard at one point or another, I'd guess. The only reasons I'm trying to eat healthier are A. I have extra fat hanging on me, and B. my face is still breaking out from time to time (read: it always is, just in varying degrees). It's obvious I'm doing something wrong. If white sugar is the culprit, then fine, maybe it has to go. But there are hundreds of other people with other opinions :)

This afternoon all good eating efforts dissolved. After a lunch of cottage cheese, a carrot and a cup full of purple cabbage, I ate all kinds of junk :) Someone gave us granola bars, poptarts, etc (among other things) and they were on the counter. One small piece lead to a bigger piece, a bigger piece lead to another big piece. Of course, granola bars can't be that bad....can they??!

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Carol took this kind of cool picture.


I have my face in my jacket because I was eating and I thought my mouth might have food on it!!

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The wonders of Corel Draw. This picture was really yellow to begin with because someone took it in low light without any flash, so I put a filter on it to correct in and then put some kind of filter on it to make it "funky," or whatever they call it.



Well, I guess it doesn't look that cool, but compared to the original it looked kind of neat :)

Labels: tour, tour pictures

Hoooowdy from North Carolina, our current location. We'll be here a few more days then it's off to Florida.

First off, since I found out there's homefolk reading this, Hi the LeBlancs, Marshalls, Theriaults, and especially Mrs. Dickenson :D And howdy whoever else I missed.

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Life on the road has been good. The hardest thing is to keep my big huge bag from lying on my legs when I go to sleep. I think I need to rig up something on the ceiling of my bunk to keep my bags UP away from me. I should have brought less, but it's so hard to know what you'll need for 9 weeks. Sometimes I find I have too much of one thing and I absolutely run out of something else. It's been fun, going down the road picking in the front next to dad (nice little niche in the stairwell of the bus to pick a guitar). Everyone else seems to have caught on to jamming in the bus and usually there are a few people practicing at once.

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I botched all of my solos today. I feel like a "B" musician. I haven't prepared well enough. I think I'm going to have to stop improvising solos for now. It's too unpredictable and usually I end up with a boring sounding, blotchy, sputtering solo. Don't I paint wonderful pictures :)

Labels: music, tour

I just worked my next-to-last work day before we leave for the south! I haven't packed at all yet. I haven't even got my bunk made up. I'll tell you another time if I'm a procrastinator or not...

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We will be in NC, FL, and TX mostly I believe. Here is our schedule for people who would like to see if there's one near them, or who are just curious as to where we'll be.
As internet access pops up on the road, I will hopefully be able to update with what we're up to along with some pictures.
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Tonight we are going to discover how well we know our new bluegrass tunes. We've been working on some new ones and have been (surprise surprise) PRACTICING! I was thinking it'd be awfully fun to just record them in my room with the multitracking software, then we could critique it all before we go to the studio with them. With just a few days left, though, I dunno if I'll get around to it.

Labels: music, tour

My blogger thingy says I've made 538 posts. Wheee. It's only been, what, a very long time since my last post?

We're now in New Jersey and on the last leg of our trip :) Only a little more over a week to go. Last night I discovered I had a CD player and a whole case of CDs (my favorites - that I could find before we left). I just didn't have any batteries. So I borrowed my sister's camera batteries (with permission) and listened to music last night. Today I spent most of the afternoon and some of the morning picking.

Mom and Carol and whoever decided we should practice some brass things while we were just parked and had a place to practice. Oh MY!!! I have lost my chops as far as trumpet goes. I practiced some on my own after our group practice session. I really need to do that on a regular basis if I expect to play any in band this year.

Did I mention one week to go? At that point I should be back to regular internet access (and regular blogging.)

Labels: tour, trumpet

One more night in Kentucky, Lord willing. Tomorrow we head to Cullman, AL, then Sunday we have two concerts in Jasper, AL. Monday we have a concert in Phenix City, AL. We have two weeks left tomorrow.

Soo...I'm not sure exactly what to say. Again, I've got stuff on my mind, but I just don't feel like I can blog them, or even write them. I've been trying to write out a few sentences in Spanish every morning - I can just say random sentences and still feel like I'm doing something productive. I really feel like I need to push hard on the Spanish front. I've never met so many Spanish speaking people on a trip. Not only Spanish speaking people, but people who ONLY speak Spanish and very little English. Other than that, I've been slacking on guitar practice and all of the other practices I'm supposed to be doing.

I went for a run yesterday with a few of the Van Horns (the family we're with) and I only made it the first mile, and miserably at that! About a quarter into the return trip home I started feeling nauseated, and then my chest started aching and my breath was catching (or maybe that was just my lack of discipline and I was imagining it, I'm not sure). I haven't run for about a month, so I guess I'm reaping what I've been (or not) sowing. I could feel at the beginning of the run that I was going a little fast, but it was only fast for the amount of running I've been doing lately; it was slower than my normal pace. How discouraging :p

Today the Van Horn girls took us out on their horses. It was so much fun! The horse I was on reared up while I was trying to get her to go someplace (following the rest) that she didn't want to go. I was glad I didn't fall off, the son said later that a horse once reared up and he fell off and it fell on top of him :( Anyhow, they were great teachers and I made it home alive and in one piece :) (or, the millions of tiny pieces that make up a human body).

Labels: Running, tour

Last night we sang at the birthday party. It turned out great and we were able to sing for a very eclectic mix of people, both saved and not saved. Earlier in the day it had been raining, and rain had been forecasted for night so we weren't sure if it was going to be outdoors or not. When we got there it was a nice, not too cool night. While we were setting up the sky turned bright pink, and when it got dark you could see the moon go in and out from behind clouds. God's handiwork is amazing :)

While we were setting up, partly under a deck, I saw a small, dark object fall on the ground. It was a small black screw. I thought it was strange because we weren't under the deck where we were standing. I didn't know where it had come from, but for some very odd reason, I tucked it in my skirt and then forgot about it. This morning, I was in the bathroom on the bus and I saw a short black screw. I immediately thought "Oh no! I stole it. What if someone at the house really needed that?" And then my second thought was "Thank GOD!" I recognized it as the screw to my tuner that stays clipped to the head of my guitar :) It'll stay together for a short time without a screw, but eventually it'll fall apart. I started wondering where the nut might be, but when I got to my case I found the nut hadn't fallen out. Little things like that are so amazing. The last time the screw fell out (and since this is reoccurring, I know I need to fix it permanently.) it was at a truck stop and it was the same type of thing, I didn't see it fall but I picked it up because my dad always says metal things should never be thrown out, they should go in the metal scrap pile. So out of habit (sort of) I picked it up, and later realized my tuner was missing one.

While I've been at the Myers I've made three quilts with the help of Hannah, Carol blogged some pictures (one of which I'm going to take, I hope she doesn't mind!). Ths one in the picture is the first one (and the one Carol is holding is her first too), then I made two others, a blue and a pink one. I know they aren't full sized, but they are baby quilts, after all ;)




Have a great, blessed Sunday everyone!

Labels: quilting, tour