When the four sisters Bebe, Heather, Laurie, and Mimi agreed to have a representative image of them taken every year, they probably never imagined that forty years down the line the results would be  simply astounding. They began their journey in 1975 because of a random request for a picture. Nicholas Nixon, who was a photographer, asked the sisters to pose for a family photo, from there, it became an annual cherished tradition within this family. Don't take my word for it, take a look at the images yourself,  https://www.worldation.com/stories/40-years-four-sisters-photographed/ 1975

NOTE : I wrote this back in 2015, but this year, the 100th memorial year,  I think is a good time to give it another airing. A Legacy from the Great War. (WW1) I was watching a television trailer, regarding a forthcoming documentary, examining the life of those who lived and fought from the trenches. I was struck by the number of film clips taken on the front line. That so many have survived for the past one hundred years is quite amazing, considering the ease of degradation of the materials used. I had not previously considered such an archive of moving images existed, considering movie making was still in its infancy at the time. Seeing these short monochrome ( mostly, although a few colour films were produced ), films of men going about their daily lives on the front line, brought the characters of those captured on cellulose to life in a way I did not think possible. In conjunction with this footage was often clear and exceptional commentary. ...

I had to share this post in full. Read it and you will know why, Paul.                                                                                            Fi rst posted on               https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/07/what-shunryu-suzuki-taught-me-about-time Via  Jim Owens on Jul 16, 2017     533 Shares get elephant's newsletter Shunryū Suzuki , was a master of many things, not the least of which were meditation and calligraphy. His teaching—sometimes simple, sometimes confusing, but always profound—has influenced me greatly. I have also admired the work of other remarkable men and women: the Nobel Peace Prize winning,  Thich Nhất   Hanh , the Trappist monk, T...

A great post from Bob, highlighting how social concepts change over generations with the advent of better living standards and innovation. “The Bed-Time Book, written by Helen Hay and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. Photo by Plum Leaves,  CC BY 2.0  via  Flickr  (unedited) Do you like to read in bed? I do. Most of the time, I only read a few pages before nodding off. Usually my wife comes to bed after I do and turns out the light, and I usually wake up just enough to mark my place and put the book aside. Pretty harmless, huh? It wouldn’t have been thought so at one time. I recently came across a blog on the  evils of reading in bed , by Kristen Wardowski, who posts some great stuff about books, reading and writing. She, in turn points to an   article  in  The Atlantic  by Nika Mavrody. The gist of both posts is that there were two dangers, one very real and one feared. The very real danger had to do with how people were...