Focused at Fifty

A week after our little East Coast earthquake, Hurricane Irene barreled up the coast. Luckily, Schuylkill County, where I live, did not get a direct hit. Just wind and lots of rain. I still prepped for the hurricane by taking down hanging plants, birdhouses, feeders, and windchimes; putting away chairs and lawn furniture; sheltering tons of mums that I had just bought; and tying down various items which might go flying. (Source) John and I were worried about trees coming down as the property abuts the woods behind us. Luckily, no trees were lost in our yard. Our neighbors two doors down, Lisa and Jacques, lost a huge old oak tree. It fell lengthwise across the yard but thankfully did not fall onto their house. The only damage, besides the tree, was that it fell across Linda’s long, long flower bed at the back of the yard. I wasn’t too upset at that as it took out a dozen or so concrete lawn ornaments and bric a brac which dot the bed. Gargoyles, fishing boys, ...

Hi friends and family! My sister Sheryl turned me on to this hysterical list and I had to pass it on to all of you! We did not write it but thank you to whomever did! I could not stop laughing at several of them. Enjoy! :) Marc ADULT TRUTHS 1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. 2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. 3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. 4. There is great need for a sarcasm font. 5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? 6. Was learning cursive really necessary? 7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. 8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. 9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. 10. Bad decisions make goo...

 SOURCE Yes, it's a pathetic attempt to humorously use Marie Antoinette's commonly attributed exclamation "Let them eat cake." These days historians say she didn't even say it. Whatever. I felt it fitting for my blog post on the the Great East Coast Earthquake of 2011!  As all major world events which happen during our life time, this will be included with that question: "Where were YOU when the quake struck?"  I was in my office when the entire building began shaking. I heard through my paper thin office walls my good friend Cathy exclaimed to our coworker, "Did you feel that!?"  I knew I wasn't dreaming. I ran out of the office yelling, "Oh my god! I felt it! I felt it!!!"  I think Cathy followed that up with something like, "I'm not sticking around!" and with that, I was eating her dust as she bolted down the hall. I soon followed, but like an idiot, went back for my messenger bag. Yes, people, I KNOW yo...

Today is my dear Mother’s birthday. She passed away on April 10, 2009. It is so hard to believe it is already over two years since she left us. Mom, not a day goes by where I don’t think of you, miss you, and love you. I know you are looking down on me and hope that you are enjoying your reunion with the other members of our family that have passed on. Mom would have loved the earthquake drama from the big East coast quake of August 23, 2011. She would have said it was fitting it happened around her birthday. Mom never let us forget that Hurricane Andrew struck southern Florida and the Keys on her 50th birthday! She would have been glued to the TV for all the latest updates on the quake and calling us every hour to see if Adam, Sheryl, and I were alright. Mom's birthdays were always special. No matter what you gave her:  a homemade gift or card, Jean Nate bath splash 10 years in a row, chocolate covered cherries, one of her favorite CD's, or Monet earrings year after yea...

On Friday, August 12, 2011, my sister made the extremely difficult decision of having to put her beloved dog Gypsy to sleep.  I wrote some time ago of my brother’s decision to put his dog Bingo to sleep and I felt I needed to acknowledge my sister’s pain with the same task. It is such a hard decision to make. Should we let our animal companion suffer or free them from the pain of disease, injuries, and or old age? I have lost three pets this way: our collie Puffy, to cancer, when I was in my early teens; our German Shepherd Gretchen after an accident; and my cat Smokey, who suffered from painful renal failure brought on from old age. Each time was just as painful as the time before it. If anything, the pain of making such a difficult decision reaffirms how much this animal companion truly meant to us. The pain we feel really just sucks though. It seems to terribly unfair to have to make such a decision.  Gypsy! Gypsy was a grand old dame in doggie years. She was a bl...

I stopped at a truck stop for fill up my tank on my way home today. Just a routine stop. While I was twisting open the gas cap, out of the corner of my eye did I spy a young guy walking with a plastic red gas can from person to person at the gas pumps asking for a couple dollars of gas. Just great, I know he's gonna make his way over to me! I thought. I prayed someone would give him gas to he wouldn't have to come over. One by one, people turned him down. "Who is this guy asking for gas? This is going to be annoying," I muttered. I just had a long day and just didn't want to be bothered. Well soon enough after he was turned down by 4 or 5 people, he shows up right next to me. Ugh. He was in his late 20's, normal looking. I turned to him and rather harshly said, "Yes, what do you want? I see you going from person to person and everyone is turning you away!" OK, so I wasn't the nicest. I immediately acted out against this stranger for coming up a...

 (source) One of my favorite wines is the Brouilly by Chateau de La Chaize . I really like this wine! A Brouilly wine is a red wine from a small appellation in the Beaujolais sub region of France. The Beaujolais sub region is actually part of the larger Burgundy region of eastern France. So now you know where it's from! The wine is made exclusively with the Gamay grape, a very old cultivated grape used as far back as the 15th century. The Gamay grape is the same one used for the Beaujolais wines as well. It produces a typically good quality wine with soft tannins. Soft tannins means there are little tannins and your mouth won’t pucker like from a Pinot Noir red wine. For comparison, a strong cup of tea has a ton of tannins. This Brouilly is decidedly light, grapey, and fruity. I taste lots of berry flavors in it. It goes well with all types of foods except real spicy ones. You can drink it at cellar temperature or slightly chilled. I also like the bottle, ...

The age of old school photography has pretty much ended. I am not talking about the professional photographer, but instead, the amateur photographer:  the person that goes on vacation and has to have a picture of your travel mate or family in front of every ridiculous monument you visit. I was and still am one of those people. With digital photography, mistakes can now be just deleted with the press of a single button. We are now in an immediate, instant world. There is something about holding that photograph in your hands that you waited an entire week for. That feeling of satisfaction gazing down at the photo that you yourself took. I would always love waiting for them to come in the mail from Clark photo labs or counting down the week until they were developed at the local supermarket or pharmacy. I would pray and hope that each one would come out perfect! But more than not, Uncle Charlie would have his eyes closed and Cousin Sarah would have the dreaded “red eye”. My...

A couple years ago when John and I were living in Oley, PA, John came home one summer day with a carload of stuff he bought at an auction. Among the old dusty books and antique bric-a-brac was a skateboard with big knobby wheels. It was an “off road” skateboard meant to go down grassy slopes and hillsides. I was intrigued but he wanted to try it out first. Remembering my golden teenage skateboarding years, I grabbed it out of his hands determined to be the first to glide down the lawn! “I used to do this when I was 16! Let me show YOU how it’s done!” … famous last words. I stepped on that skateboard and went less than 1 foot … LESS THAN 1 FOOT … and flipped up head over heels in the air and landed on my right wrist HARD. I screamed out in pain. John ran over to me, exclaiming, “Marc! Oh my god, are you alright!” The look on his face was a little panicky as my wrist began swelling immediately. Sprawled out on the driveway, I grabbed my wrist, now throbbing in severe pain....

Now I know what you are thinking dear reader, Marc's squirrels have eaten the rose bush?! No, not the case. The squirrels have been active but only with the bird feeders. No sooner do I fill up the feeders than a marauding band of 3-5 squirrels come charging across the yard to eat every last speck of bird seed! It is rather aggravating since the birds don't even get a chance at the seed.  I once saw a product at the local nursery that I can mix in with the seed to keep the squirrels away. It contains capscacin from hot peppers and isn't harmful to birds or squirrels. The birds are fine eating it. The squirrels apparently hate it. I think that I am going to try it. The remains of the rose bush after pruning off empty branches. There is still hope! The rose bush is another issue. It was growing so well during the spring. I was getting pink roses early! It was even surviving the beginnings of this hot dry summer we are in the midst of. Well I walked out one evening to ...

One of the first drinks that I ever had was sipping my Dad's Dewar's on the rocks. I think I remember hating it but I eventually started to develop a taste for it after college. These days, I really enjoy single malt Scotch. Specifically, my favorite is Laphroaig .  I love it's smokey peatiness. Always have. When I order Laphroaig, I usually order it neat. This means ordering it without ice or a splash of water. In this way, one is able to get the full effect and flavor of the dram. (A dram is a small glass of whiskey or Scotch.)  Very rarely, if I am in the mood, I have it with one cube or just a splash of water but usually, just neat. Remember to always drink responsibly friends!  Here are some great Scotch and whiskey quotes I have found over the years. "I love Scotch. Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly." - the character Ron Burgandy played by actor Will Ferrel in the movie Anchorman "I love the sing, and I love to drink scotc...