Focused at Fifty

"Miss Moxie" I'm a cat guy and I love my cats, twins Max and Moxie. But I have to admit, I have taken their good health for granted. They are indoor cats, never go outside, and I keep their world regulated to my home. As I wrote in the previous blog post, several friends have lost their pets. This has brought me to the conclusion that I need to be more diligent in their health care. Again I've been very lucky with no health issues (knock on wood) but as they approach their 10th birthday in April, I think it's time, I actively monitor their well being. "MAX" Maximus (Max) can be a beast of a cat, a typical tough guy Tom Cat that rules the roost. But when he wants attention and love, he becomes a warm cuddly sweet heart that won't leave you alone until you put out the affection. Once he's had enough, he gives a short meow of a bark and can't get away quick enough. It's sort of like, "GIMME ME LOVE NOW!" then "OV...

Smokey the Cool Cat circa 1992 This blog is dedicated to MY best cat in the world: Smokey the Cool Cat For those people who choose to take care of pets, whether it be dogs, cats, birds, etc., these animal friends become part of the our family. This is especially true when you do not have children. I am sure no pet owner would disagree that your pet becomes your surrogate "child" or family member. I remember back to when my cat Smokey passed away in May of 2007 and of just how painful it was. I had rescued Smokey as a kitten in 1992 from the wheel-well of my car after he crawled up in there. I heard this tiny little meow, went looking, and saw these beautiful eyes staring back at me. It was meant to be. Through out the years, my little buddy became that constant presence that followed me where ever I went in my home. He was there, ready to give me unconditional love no matter what was happening in my life. I loved him back. It was something that got me through ...

When I was a young boy taking annual summer trips across the country with my family, much to my parent's chagrin travel brochures became my souvenir of choice. (Yes, I was an odd little boy.) I would collect them by the hundreds. They were so colorful, filled with exciting pictures of places to go, things to see! The meteor crater in Arizona; Jamestown Virginia; Cars buried front end down in the earth for miles to see in Texas; the Grand Canyon; Mount Rushmore; Wall Drug, South Dakota; the most crooked street on earth in San Francisco; Reptile Land; Mount Vernon; Pedro's South of the Border; and The Empire State Building. I could go on and on and on. But why this fascination which borderlines obsession? I think it goes back to our summer trips where we would drive thousands of miles across our great country, stopping at various touristy sites, staying at motels along with way, sometimes carefully planned out, other times the luck of the draw. Our trips during the late 70...

While driving home the other evening, I passed by a church sign with the quote below. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not the head over heels religious type but I do strongly believe in God as well as consider myself devout to my faith. I just thought it was a great quote. It gave me pause for thought and reflection about my own spirituality and inner peace.  No God No Peace Know God Know Peace

I was recently scrolling through pics of an new online friend seeing what he was up to. He seems like an OK normal guy and we have a bunch of mutual friends in Philly. I have never formally met him face to face. Our friendship is one of those which exists purely on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tom, as I will call him, is a business man in the Philly area. He has a pretty successful professional career and seems to enjoy life. I figured I'd check out his profile as I do with alot of people who request my friendship on social media. As a blogger, I sometimes get a couple odd birds that come out of the woodwork. I've learned not to accept everyone but if people want to read my blog, usually I'll give them the benefit of the doubt if they seem pretty normal. I accepted Tom's request and looked at the pics he has posted. All of his pics were edited to be public. The first pic of him was the professional head shot from his firm which he used as his profile pic....

I meant to bake more in December and January but that didn't happen. Oh well. I think I focused more on taste-testing various craft beers, bourbons, and Scotch whiskies. 😊  So this recipe is a very easy peanut butter cookie recipe. It was one of the cookies that Mom made for the holidays. No flour, no baking powder, just THREE ingredients: an egg, peanut butter, and good ole sugar! I don't know why I hadn't tried this before. I took me all of 10 minutes to prep, 15 minutes at most in the oven, 5 minutes to cool down, and 10 seconds INTO MA BELLY! I used honey roasted creamy peanut butter and they came out SO GOOD. Ready for the Oven! 1-2-3 PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES by Abby Deeds Set oven to BAKE at 350'F 1. In bowl, stir together 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1 cup of white granulated sugar, and 1 egg. 2. Roll mixture into balls (about 1 Tbsp per cookie) 3. Roll balls in sugar if desired (YES PLEASE!) 4. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 5. Bake at...

Definition: Doppelgänger (from Wikipedia) Dante Gabriel Rossetti ,  How They Met Themselves , watercolor, 1864 From Wikipedia: "In fiction and folklore, a doppelganger (German origins) is a look-alike or double of a living person, sometimes portrayed as a paranormal phenomenon, and is usually seen as a harbinger of bad luck. In other traditions and stores, they recognize one's 'double-goer' as an evil twin. Doppelgaenger is a German word which also means double walker." They say we all have twins in this world. Some consider them doppelgangers, your evil twin creating havoc somewhere across the globe. That couldn't be true ... but could it?  Or maybe it's just a genetic coincidence. Could there be someone, who looks exactly like you, with similar mannerism, features, likes and dislikes? Could the world be just a world of various duplicates of 8 billion people? Either way, there are websites devoted to them. Usually the easiest ones to find ...