Focused at Fifty

This will be a pretty quick blog. I had written a blog post today about "bucket lists" over my lunch time. It was rather lengthy and detailed.  Now I am very diligent about saving my posts as I write them. Long story short, I was spell-checking the post and did some random crazy sequence of keystrokes which thereby deleted and closed the post. IT WAS GONE. In shock and fear I reopened the blog post and two letters remained of the more than 500 I had just written. The letters 've'. I was dumbfounded looking at a blank screen after an hour of writing. I got through it. The blog post wasn't meant to be at this time. Such is life. I am still here. I wasn't going to immediately try and write it but stepped away from the computer and took a deep breath. Thanks to my friends who talked me "off the ledge." Instead, I searched for a quote which I wanted to pass on to my readers and I think I found one that I really like today. It's from one of...

Bugs and Rudolph, the Hairy Monster  After a week of sad news happening across the globe, I needed something to take me back to happier times as a kid. My brother Adam posted the intro for the 70s kids TV show for the "Electric Company" on Face Book and I started thinking of what cartoons we used to watch. We would excitedly get up early on the weekends and begin our ritual of watching our favorites each Saturday morning for hours. I don't think Mom minded that much as it kept us out of her hair. We repeated this pattern on Sundays with the Three Stooges shorts, Hercules, Tarzan or monster movies. Each day after school, we fit in Gillian's Island, the Brady Bunch, the Monkees or McHale's Navy. Adam and I never fought about which cartoons or TV shows we would watch and luckily liked the same ones. We fought over other important stuff like who was stronger (he was) or faster (he was), who could build the bigger plane model or who would win in a fight, Luk...

This blog is dedicated to UNDERDOGS everywhere. This past Sunday at Super Bowl LII, the Eagles became the world champions versus the New England Patriots 41-33!!! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GAME! I have so many emotions still swirling around my head. I helped bartend at the Lake Wynonah Lodge that day to an awesome group of loyal fans and loyal friends. Just an incredible, incredible day. I was the Master of the give-aways and jokingly put myself on "Crock-Pot" duty taking care of the food.  When those final seconds counted down and we won, I think we were all in shock! We did it! Back slaps, high-fives, bear hugs, and celebratory shots all around! It became the Philadelphia Eagles, in fact, ALL OF PHILLY's first Super Bowl win! We are WORLD CHAMPIONS! I still get chills from that moment. I went home and stayed up late, still on an emotional high, and watched Philly going crazy, watching the recaps, and all the emotional speeches from the players. UNDERDO...

(NOT MY PIC) With trepidation, I have been reading about my sick friends on Facebook. Some have even done selfies in the hospital wearing masks! Now THAT's selfie dedication. LOL. But seriously, at work, some sicky thing has been going through one of the units. I have been spraying down my computer and door knobs with Lysol, using plenty of hand sanitizer, washing my hands frequently, and relegating my clients to "separate" pens for signing documents. I seriously do! Working in social services exposes you to tons of people with who knows possibly what. I can't afford to be sick! I read that the Lehigh Valley Hospital has set up flu tents. It is becoming a cause for concern. The CDC states that the flu epidemic has not yet peaked. You hear of of dozens of children across the country extremely ill from the flu or have died! According to ABCNews.com: "The CDC's latest incluenza report shows that at least 53 children have died from the flu this season, ...

WATCHES! I started this year off with a resolve to declutter myself a bit more. Not completely, for you see that would be impossible. I like bric-a-brac and tchotchkes which I think bemoans the very essence of clutter. I often joke that I schedule a social event once a season in my household just so I can attempt to get it all dusted 4 times a year. As I get older, a social event for me entails my sister coming for a visit. And when it all comes down to it, as long as I have the kitchen, bathroom and her guest room cleaned I feel I have done my job. I often hear my mother's voice in my head chastising me, "Now make sure the bathroom is cleaned for your sister!" I decided to tackle my watches this past week and go through them trying to decide which ones to keep and which ones to toss. I have several watch "faces" without bands. Two are silver toned Kenneth Cole. There are two others, no name watches which I picked ...

"The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin Coming off the holidays can always be a bit melancholy but this year it hit me kinda hard. My personal demons that I sometimes wrestle with reared their ugly heads. It's been a tough last couple weeks. It takes a lot to recognize that I need to work on these demons and that's what I will do. I've not been very happy with myself lately and I would not look up to that person that I've been. The specifics are not necessary but I will tell you that I received a jump start in the last couple days which has allowed me to take a good hard look at what I am doing and where I am going. Believe me, it was an extremely difficult hard thing to do. But ultimately, it's a good thing. I just don't want to "be" ... to exist. I want to grow emotional, physically, and mentally. I want to be someone that I would look up to. I feel like I sometimes let myself down. So how to get back to that place? I need to re-evaluate m...

Glen Lyon, Scotland BLOGGERS note: I wrote this blog with the permission and knowledge of my friend Morag Donlevy. In addition, the pic above is not my photo but from the website  https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glenlyon/glenlyon/index.html . I wanted a photo to represent the beauty of this country. MY dear friend Morag hails from Scotland. She's lived in the US for many many years but will always have strong ties to her homeland, as well as a delightfully beautiful accent. Her husband Matthew's accent is much stronger. I often tease that I use Morag to translate Matthew's strong "Scottish brogue" for me. Morag recently had to travel back to her ancestral home to sadly say farewell to her Mother whom she lovingly called her "Wee Mammy".  At age 95, she was the youngest of 13, and the last one to pass. I followed Morag's Facebook posts from Scotland feeling as if I were there next to her on her journey home. The only regret I ha...