Bonni Brodnick Blog

 Viviers, a village in southern France that's perched above the Rhône River, is known for its narrow cobblestone streets and well-preserved medieval and Renaissance architecture. Can you imagine living in a house built in 1500 or earlier?  You know when you move into a place, and there are all these holes in the walls from previous tenants hanging stuff up? Imagine all the holes in these walls.

When I was an art student at the Leo Marchutz School in Aix-en-Provence, France, an old Army bus would pick us up in front of the Palais du Justice & drop us off in the fields to paint Mont Sainte- Victoire.  In spring and summer, breezes carry the scent of lavender.  Cezanne was born in Aix, so it's sort of Cezanne this, Cezanne that. At the restau above, I had the delicious meal below. (And I hate it when people take photos of food before they eat it, but I wanted to capture it before the burrata ran into the heirloom tomatoes.) Here I am standing in front of  La Rotunde , a fountain at the bottom of Cours Mirabeau, the main thoroughfare in Aix. Built in the 1860, it represents justice, agriculture, and the fine arts. Come along with me on this trip to southern France, filled with cherished memories and friendships that have endured for decades.   * All photos by the author, except for the last, of course.  

Seeing the world through my eyes would make most people either dizzy or feel like they were going to throw up.  Like they just stepped off a roller coaster at an amusement park or were living in a perennial state of hangover. I see everything in double. And there are times when I also see a ghost image hovering over the primary image. I've tried patches and prisms to try to correct it. In fact, the goal of every ophthalmologist or optician I see is to merge these two images, or at least line them up on the same visual plane. Nothing works. It's hard for me to imagine what it would be like to see straight. Would I be me if I didn't have the character-building "pirate" episode in the popsicle line at Maplewood pool when I was five years old? (See part one in a series of three: "Seeing With Crossed Eyes: My World in Double Vision" ) Or, to strengthen my eye muscles when I was seven, I forwent after-school sports for something even more challenging: after-sc...

June has always been one of my favorite months. I especially get swoony when I get a whiff of wisteria or lilacs. These fragrant clusters of purple blooms scream "It's  JUNE !" and transport me to Jefferson Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where I grew up.  At the end of every school year, there was an assembly in the auditorium. Row upon row of hard-wooden mahogany folding seats that made creaky sounds when you opened them to sit down, then snapped closed when you stood up.  Once each of the grades -- from kindergarten through sixth -- was in their places, Miss Lorenz, the music teacher ,  walked to the front of the auditorium. She'd raise her arms like a conductor preparing an orchestra, then ssssh-hhh the restless students.  It was the sacred moment to sing the song we'd waited for all year, a snappy tune that marked the end of another school year an d the be g inning  of summer. I can't find a recording of it anywhere, but here it is, in a...

Photo by the Author On Sunday, we went to the Bronx Zoo with son, daughter-in-law, and the grands. While taking a shot of the pensive monkey (above), I overheard a mother reprimanding her son, about 4-years-old.  His tongue was just about to take a swipe.           "Honey, do not lick  that ," she said. Photo by the Author "But, why ? " he asked. Would YOU ever be tempted to lick something as foul and funky as a moldy, wooden fence directly under the monkey habitat at the Bronx Zoo? Uh, I don't think so.

Credit: Alison Saeng for Unsplash For an upcoming interview, I was reviewing My Stroke in the Fast Lane: A Journey to Recovery. It made me remember not being able to walk, talk, or swallow. Lying there in a hospital bed with no idea when I would be better, and better how ? When my husband comes home from the office, we usually pour two glasses of wine and head to the living room to chat for a bit and catch up on our day. As I sat there listening to him talk tonight, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Hearing his deep voice, and knowing his body would be lying next to me in bed in a few hours. Sitting in the beautiful living room, which we just had painted, the sliding door to the back garden open, a zephyr of early spring was in the air. The robin in the birdbath gently flapped his wings in the water.  I am THANKFULL for so many things: my marriage, my children, my grandchildren, and pockets of best friends. Because of my stroke, I am fully aware of my body, and that I was able to ...