Focused at Fifty

"Late Fall in Maine" What a year it has been. I don't want this to be a recap per se but more of just a commentary on this and that. Great things have happened, bad things have happened. I will touch on both. I am truly blessed for what I have. Yes I have complaints but most of them are rather comical and stupid like me freaking out to my doctor about an overblow minor medical issue (I arrive with a list) or me complaining the Maine house is soo big (really Marc? STFU fool). So as usual in no particular order, here's some of the real and ridiculous stuff I have dealt with:  I am neurotic and embrace it. I am a nerd and embrace it. I will always stand by my mantra that my glass is half full. In February, I got Covid the week before I was to get my vaccine which resulted in three weeks of an odd pandemic virus whose symptoms were unlike anything I've ever experienced before.  My brain fog from the Lyme disease is now exacerbated by the Covid. Yay me. Some days reall...

There was this little tree. It grew from a concrete barricade in the middle of the road and I would pass it every morning coming off of the 78 highway in A-town. It was a desolate lonely little tree. One who glances at it may think of it more as a bush. But I know differently. I saw it from the very beginning and it was a little evergreen tree. And rising out of that cold concrete barricade, it stood as proudly as any tree ever could.  I smiled every time I saw it. It grew in a place where no little tree should grow. It grew against impossible odds, against harsh weather, harsh traffic and no soil. Starting as a small little sprout, it grew into a stubble, the then into the most perfect little which could ever grow from a stark concrete barricade. It oddly comforted me during my pandemic commute.  And then, true life happened and intervened. I drove past one morning and it had died. Was it the weather elements? The constant exhaust? The lack of water or soil? Possibly all thre...

Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument During this last trip to Maine in October, I learned a lot. I have every trip to Maine but this time, I  decided to share it with you rather than keep this incredible wealth of knowledge trapped up in my mind. I mean FASCINATING! OK, just grab yourself a beer, hopefully an IPA and pull up a chair. There are lots of weird different bugs in Maine. I can't identify them. I see them and am like, OK that's new! Something purple with fangs.... now SHOOO!!!!  There are lots of spiders. Different colors and shapes and sizes. Luckily nothing which screams "Kingdom of the Spiders". Maine potatoes are just as good if not better than Idaho potatoes. And the fields of white potato flower are just beautiful!  Goats, chickens, sheep, horses and donkeys make great field buddies together. Add cows into the mix and it's a different story. (Awwwwwkwaaarrrd) Apparently cows have attitude?  Lobster is better in pairs and definitely steamed...

I apologize for the delay on this piece. It was tough watching the videos and reliving the memories.  This 9/11 was the 20th Anniversary of the most horrific terrorist attack ever wagered against our great country. Let that sink in. It is still that horrific. Nothing before or ever after has equaled it. And with God's blessing, may nothing ever ever again.  Four close friends experienced that harrowing day first hand. All are still traumatized in their own way. I won't go into too much detail to preserve their anonymity. One is a business man who was in one of the World Trade Center buildings (not the Towers) that fateful morning and luckily was able to get out. One is a doctor who immediately helped out at the scene. One is a first responder who immediately raced to the complex to help out regardless of the danger he was putting himself in. My final friend is a former NYC business man who ran from his Wall Street office and was enveloped by the cloud of concrete dus...

"Dad Enjoying himself Reading" As streaks of rain beat across my office window, I watched the storm clouds roll by this morning. Then I noticed something interesting, the clouds were moving East to West, in the opposite direction. That's odd, I thought. They were moving rather quickly as well. Then I remembered the remnants of Hurricane Ida were moving through the area. This must be one of the bands of rains and winds passing through Allentown. I thought about my father and wished I could turn back time just as quickly as those clouds were moving East to West. How wonderful would that be, to have him younger and spry, once again ready to fight off the never ending gophers in his yard, to producing art in his studio as he once did, to be attending art events to his heart's content.   Now my Dad sits contently in his living room, listening to opera, sipping wine, stealing sips of my beer, reading articles and short stories or looking at art books. When we wen...

As a child, I remember my mother was cooking in the kitchen on the stove, slowly stirring a small saucepan of Prego tomato sauce. I stood there right next to her, watching her intently. She moved the sauce onto a green avocado hot plate and turned off the electric burner, specifically warning me not to touch it as it was still hot. Being ever so precocious, I touched it immediately and howled in pain. For a good two weeks, I had first and second degree burns on my palm in the shape of the electric stove coils. You live and learn, right? Maybe not.  A waiter delivers my food in a restaurant and warns me that the plate is very hot as she puts it down in front of me. As soon as she leaves the table, I have this overwhelming urge to test her warning and touch it! I usually do and with my calloused fingers tips from decades of waiting tables, I laugh and scoff at her warning!  The other week I was baking these incredible triple chocolate brownies. For a split second, I forgot that ...

A bit ago, I was discussing a mutual acquaintance with someone and we talked about the very real issue of addiction among people we know. This acquaintance starts a job and then cannot follow through without whatever pain killer he takes. It eventually affects his ability to work and he just quits, unable to handle it. It was a sobering conversation. It was frank and uncomfortable.  The following blog is just my thoughts on the subject of addiction. At this juncture in my life, I am not looking for advice. Comments are always welcome.  I have complicated issues with alcohol. I've recently been pretty open about them. I don't look for sympathy from people. It is my own cross to bear. I will always have to watch what I drink. Something switches in me and I eventually become angry. I don't drink in the morning. I don't drink every day or night. I don't pass out from it at night. My issues stem from binge drinking so I have stopped doing the "shot" thing. No m...