Focused at Fifty

Maximus the Cat passed on to the Rainbow Bridge on March 29, 2021 at 1:30pm. He was born in the same litter as his twin sister Moxie on Dairy Lane in the Oley Valley of Pennsylvania on April 15th, 2007. Named after a Roman general, Max led a valiant fight against his cancer right to the very end. Max is survived by his sister Miss Moxie. Thank you so much to everybody who reached out to me and the Big Ragu during his last six weeks. He lasted far longer than anyone thought he would.  Thank you to Mountain Shadow Vet for all their support. They were so sympathetic and supportive through this process. Max went to sleep gazing into my eyes. I'm blessed that I was the last one he saw. RIP Max ❤️

"AP Cake" A couple of years back, I had a blog project named “Cooking Through Family”. You can check out the recipes I made on the labels tab of the same name on the front of my blog page. I made about 85% of my Mom’s, Dad’s family, and Mom’s family recipes learning about my family as I went through each recipe, remembering our fun time, etc. The only ones I did not make were the baking ones which included the cakes, cookies, bars and pies.  The Clutzy Baker I don't know why but I've always had an unnatural fear of baking but it  always seemed so scientific. Now I am not talking about the Betty Crocker box cakes, brownie mixes, or chocolate chip cookie dough "rolls". I am talking about baking from scratch. Almost anyone can spoon out cookie dough and shove it in the oven for 30 minutes.  In school, I’ve always been better with the arts, literary and history classes rather than sciences or mathematics. I always meant to get back to the baking recipes and I th...

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  Attributed to Mark Twain