Bonni Brodnick Blog

Put down your cell phone and keep driving. Now, make pretend you're turning on the radio as you CLICK HERE for my new  Huffington Post, "Mother/Daughter Car Trip Turns Into a Highway Twilight Zone."

In this wonderful film starring the formidable Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins, the audience is delighted by the audaciousness of this character. Florence sings. We cringe. Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944), was a socialite and amateur operatic soprano who was passionate about music. She  sang way beyond her technical ability and voice range.   Her voice cracked. It billowed unliltingly. She sang flat, had no rhythm and feverishly fluttered a fan. She designed and wore over-the-top costumes that were  à la Liberace before his time. Wings, tinsel, feathers and stars garnished her zaftig frame.  Her performances bordered on ridiculous ... but  this babe had a passion that wouldn't quit. She never, ever, ever gave up.  We love Florence because she believed in herself.  She had a "Go to hell" attitude that was enviable. She may well have been the inspiration of Maya Angelou's wonderful saying: Let nothing dim the light That shine...

Video with Depth On a dog-day afternoon in August, water refreshes the soul.  You can stare at it, jump in it, sail through it, ski over it, drink it. Water patterns mesmerize the imagination. In the calm of a swimming pool,  the sun-filtered water against the tile  creates soothing  aquatic undulations.

                                                                                                           Photo: Bonni Brodnick                                         I took this photo at the Summer Sunset Jazz gathering at Lyndhurst Castle in Tarrytown, N.Y. The Thursday evening concerts from July through August, are sponsored by Jazz Forum Arts . Founder Mark Morganelli has created this wonderful gathering place for jazz aficionados who like to be outdoors, have a picnic, enjoy a Merlomoment, and groove. The photo was taken at approximately 6:15 p.m. Isn't the light extraordinary? I was completely flatter...

In followup to the earlier post about my friends sailing in the Pacific Cup 2016 ...  yeee-ikes . It was 12 days of pounding and confused waves from every direction:  coming over the stern, the bow, the gunwhales. ( Click here to get the drift.) "We sailed under the San Francisco Bay and it was beautiful," my friend says as they started their journey to Oahu near Kaneohe Bay. "Whales were swimming nearby and we could see their tales going underwater. It felt like a great harbinger to a great sail ahead." NOT. Immediately thereafter came waves. BIG waves of 20-30 feet. Winds blowing 25 knots and more. The entire crossing. "It never let up," she continues. "There was no calm to relax, play games ... it was rough the whole way. Even at night, we were thrown around in our bunks." Add to that the rotation of shifts at the helm. How would you like to be steering a 40-foot sailboat in huge seas in the middle of the Pacific on the 2-6:00 a.m...