Focused at Fifty

"You Can Dance" I hit the gym last night and brought up this album on my mp3 player, Madonna's You Can Dance . We are talking Old School Madonna! I love the album; had the cassette and still have the CD. (As you can gather, I'm Old School, LOL.) The album was released in November 1987, the Fall of my senior year of high school. I was seventeen at the time of its release. WOW, the album is 30 years old! The difference between listening to the album in 1987 vs 2017 ... besides 30 years? Again, WOW. The difference is that in 1987, I would listen to it and dance around for an hour, not losing my breath. If I were at an under-age club, I'd be probably dancing for another 3-4 hours. Ahhh, the endurance of youth! Now in the Fall of 2017, I would listen to it for an hour on the elliptical machine or treadmill. Oh how the times have changed. After an hour on the elliptical, I can tell you I am probably breathing pretty hard, sweating bullets, and checking how man...

TIME SPENT WITH CATS IS NEVER WASTED. Sigmund Freud

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.  - Mark Twain.

"Tiny Tales"  I've entered a writing contest called "Marvellous Tiny Tales" where you submit tiny expressive stories in three total sentences. The prize? Bragging rights and a small animated movie being made to go along with your story. Criteria? Be odd, bold, and unusual. That sounds like me. LOL. My tiny stories "Dream Traveler" and "Feed Us!" are what I will be entering. Putting out my writing can be nerve wracking but why would one write if not to be read? (Private journals not included.) Anyway, here are the tiny tales and others I wrote during this project. "Dream Traveler" One steamy late summer evening in Philadelphia, Baxter fell into a deep slumber and found himself wandering down a long hallway filled with a thousand doors. Choosing one, he entered a noisy boisterous bar filled with energy and excitement as far as the eye could see.  He was feeling suddenly thirsty when a bartender sporting the curliest mustac...

Hurricane Harvey (Nasa.gov) A video interview occurred last week with a reporter sticking her microphone in a poor woman's face at one of the Houston evacuee shelters in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It was an extremely uncomfortable moment which showed the raw emotions and pain of a woman and her family pushed to the edge by the tumultuous events surrounding the hurricane. Link to the interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Cw-J0s_-c The reporter initially did not get the obvious hint that we the viewers picked up on, other than just saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The woman kept stating, "And you are STILL putting that mic in my face." The reporter finally embarrassingly withdrew it, shaken up herself. I'm sure she regretted continuing the questioning. I also feel that it wasn't her intent to set the woman off, but it happened and hopefully she will learn from it when interviewing in the future. And by the way, ...

Pic by Scott Olson (Getty Images) This picture really got to me. This poor swimming cat, with a look of desperation on his face, just trying to make it to higher ground. I was crushed when I saw this. People are not the only ones who have been suffering during Hurricane Harvey. People's pets and other animals are also fighting to survive. The photos of these animals all have the same look of fright, anxiety, and apprehension you see on the faces of their human companions. Cowboys saving their cattle (from Houston Chronicle) From the cowboy trying to get his horse to higher ground. To the farmer searching for his herd of cattle of 90, only to be able to find 30. The others presumed dead, including many calves. To the countless dogs and cats being passed from arm to arm or from carrier to boat, all to safety. To the farmer leading a stray long horn steer who is not fighting him because he wants to get to higher ground and safety. To still another ...

My social media contacts on Facebook have grown tremendously in the past several years, partly because of me wanting to promote the blog. But I don't think it has 'helped' the blog as I've thought or hoped it would.  I'm torn somewhat but I've decided to scale back for my own sanity. I think I'm done with the acquaintance friend. I have more acquaintance friends on here from my local community which have caused me more stress than someone from Indiana who wants to be my friend  just to read my blog! And guess who will ultimately remain, the housewife from Indiana who supports my writing. I'm done feeling like I have to have an online phone book called Facebook. I will go through and see who supports the blog. That will be a big decision. Keeping family, Philly friends, high school/college friends and fraternity bros are at the top of my list too.  Time to evaluate again where this path called life is leading me! And remember, noth...