Focused at Fifty

https://www.pexels.com/photo/yellow-banana-fruits-on-brown-surface-5966630/ The article below is reprinted from the January 2020 Savory magazine which I always find in the local supermarket. I forget which one. Anyway, it's a great magazine and they have an online presence at Savoryonline.com .  What are some quick and inexpensive options?   Breakfast helps fuel a busy morning, so try your best to make it a priority. However, as a mom of a toddler, I know how hectic mornings can be. Try prepping your breakfast the night before. Overnight oats or a PB and J on whole wheat bread paired with a piece of fruit are quick, easy, and affordable options. -Holly  Setting the stage for the day with a balanced breakfast doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Get the day started with toast or a waffle topped with peanut butter and a piece of fruit. Greek yogurt or even string cheese with a piece of fruit are also two great combinations for a nutritious start to your day. -Sarah...

"Cloud(ed) Memories" by Marc Haynes  I enjoy looking back at my 5 decades on this earth. I feel sometimes it’s been a whirlwind of memories and emotions. These days, those memories tend to get jumbled. I remember them pretty well but sometimes not without a discrepancy in detail or time. Did I go to Baltimore before San Francisco? What year was that? When was I last in Sedona? What was my one cat’s name back in childhood? Why did I not like that guy in college? What did he do to me to not like him so much? Does it even matter now? And you eventually realize, with a chuckle, that it does not. What matters are the good memories, and even the bad ones. And don’t forget those memories which you learned something from. That’s what shapes and molds us. Not the memory of that idiot roommate from freshman year in college.  We tend to get caught up in the details of it all. Does it matter when I went to Baltimore? I know that I went and had a blast. It was such a fun trip. John and I ...

7 Layer Cookie My father Robert Haynes's family owns a cattle ranch far into the deep southwest corner of South Dakota, just south of the town of Keldron. At the time, say the late 80s, Keldron had a population of 11. The next town due west was Thunderhawk with a population of 35. Further on through endless miles of prairie, was the sleepy town of Lemmon, SD, sitting right on the border with North Dakota, then with a population of 1900. Lemmon had the highschool, the hospital, etc and was the largest town for a hundred or so miles.  We visited the cousins on the Drieske/Haynes ranch for several summers during that time. What do I remember about those wonderful trips, these visits to the family ranch? Tons of cousins and family gathering for barbeques and horseshoes; long expanses of prairie; 1000s of locusts; horses and cattle; hunting for Sioux Indian arrowheads; seeing my first rattlesnake outside of a zoo; dry 105' summer heat; Lemmon South Dakota's Petrified Forest (loo...

Heartache. Heartbreak. We suffer loss. People pass away suddenly. People pass away over a long illness. Pandemics continue on. Pets pass away. Natural disasters strike. Man-made catastrophe strikes. Couples break up. Marriages end. Accidents happen. People lose their jobs. Mass shootings are now occurring again. Do I have your attention yet with this depressing intro? LOL  The year 2020 surely sucked with all of these. 2021 began not much better. I contracted Covid-19 in February. I survived but not without post Covid symptoms. Max the Cat passed away after a 4 1/2 month struggle with cancer. In these last two years, too many people passed away from Covid or other illnesses. Too many of our pets passed away as well.  I once mentioned before that my mother kept a paperback in her personal collection titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People  by Rabbi Harold Kushner. Anybody remember that one? She swore by it, well at least the title. I am still not convinced that she ac...

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