Focused at Fifty

This past Saturday morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee and began staring out the kitchen window, thinking about my fun evening last night with friends, and what the day held before me. My mind wandered as I contemplated life. I sipped my coffee. Thoughts turned to a tomato and cucumber salad I wanted to make later. Chores to do, errands to run. Fitting in the gym somewhere along the line. I began to watch the birds and butterflies zip between the oak tree, the pussy-willow tree, the bird bath and the butterfly bush. I spend 15 minutes just relaxing and watching the birds. I gazed out finding myself smiling. About 5-6 cat birds hopped from branch to branch in the pussy-willow tree, each taking a turn in the bird bath. Feathers ruffling, water splashing,. They seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves as much as I was enjoying watching them. They'd hop out, and preen themselves on one of the branches, shaking off excess water. Butterflies were all over the butterfly bush...

Image borrowed from www/homedepot.com John and I were at The Home Depot the other day buying some paint, some rope, and a bunch of other stuff you normally buy there. We had a cart weighted down with two 5 gallon drums of paint and we were slowly pushing it around the store when I realized I needed some top soil and possibly more plants for the deck. We slowly pushed the heavy cart out to the garden section and I told John to wait with the cart by the entrance while I got a 25 pound bag of top soil on the other side; it seemed like a mile away. I carried the bag all the way back to the cart and was just about to place it in the cart when it split open, dumping out top soil everywhere. I started laughing and John rolled his eyes at me, sighing. I carried the opened toil soil all the waay back to the soil/compost shelves. dropped it, and got another one. Then I walked all the waay back to the cart. Luckily this one stayed intact. "Marc, why didn't you just bring ...