In Memory

by Terri

Happy Memorial Day! Technically, summer doesn't start until June 20, but many people consider Memorial Day to be the unofficial start of the season. Many families will watch a parade, heat up the grill, head to the beach or take in a big blockbuster movie. But Memorial Day has the word "memorial" in it for a reason.

Memorial Day is an American holiday observed on the last Monday of May and honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.  It originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.  Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who have died in service to our country. And there have been many. 

Photo from Google Images.

Memorial Day also reminds me of how thankful I am that I never had to send my husband or my sons off to fight for our country but I am so grateful to those who have given so much for our freedom.  And on this day and every other day, I remember my dad who fought in World War II on a Navy battleship. His ship was sunk twice and yet he was able to come home for good three days before I was born. 

I am remembering today all those men and women who lost their lives serving in the military. I also am giving thanks for all of the current and past military members who so bravely fought and who still fight for the freedoms we enjoy. I hope you will take a moment out of your day today to remember and give thanks to them too.  

 

2014 - A Very Good Year

by Dotti

Hi, there! I'm your new Girl Friday. Yup! That's right. I've moved from Mondays to Fridays so you'll be seeing me here at FOL every other Friday. And I'm excited about that!

Now that we have that bit of business out of the way, let's grab a cuppa and chat a bit.

So far this week, Terri has reminded us that even as we look forward to a new year we should remember always to 'be present now'. On Tuesday, Kelly shared how she likes to reflect on the year past before moving into the new year. On Wednesday, our lovely guest blogger, Kelly Kardos, told us about her word for 2015 and how she came to choose it. Yesterday, Judy reminded us that we have a new year and a new beginning.

How exciting is that! We have a new calendar/planner with 364 days {we've already spent one day!} just waiting chockful of opportunities. What will we do with those days, all those opportunities?

However, before I was ready to move ahead to 2015, I had one last piece of business to attend to. You see, in 2014, I resolved to print more of the photos that made up the special times in my year. And, oh, my! This fun little exercise forced me to troll through my Lightroom catalogue and recall so many good memories from the past year. I have to tell you, friends, 2014 was a good year.

We've had a good year here at FOL as well. As always, your comments on our posts encourage us.We consider all of you to be part of our FOL family and you continue to inspire and delight with the photos you put in our Flickr gallery. The Instagram gallery continues to amaze. For those of us selecting photos to feature from either of these galleries the job just keeps getting more challenging each week. The work you do and share with us is nothing short of spectacular. Truly. You are all artists and we feel privileged that you share your work with us and take time to visit with us each day.

As we look forward to another year here at Focusing on Life, we invite you to continue the journey with us, for that's what it is: a journey that we celebrate together with photos and stories.

Is there a better way to celebrate than with one another? I think not. So let the new year of 2015 begin!

Misty Water-Colored Memories

by Carol A.

Ever feel like this?

                    

Set your phone stopwatch to one minute. Quick - how many animals can you name in 60 seconds? That's a question that Margaret Guroff asks in AARP magazine (October/November issue - answers below. And yes, I am a proud reader of AARP.) As I delivered a hearing aid to an elderly patient last week, her brilliant daughter photographed every step of my instructions with her iPhone, so she could make a visual aid for her mother. Yet another creative use of technology. I was so impressed! So - how did you do?

I hesitate to write a post on memory because this blog is not only for people my age. But I'm thinking that this is not really about age - it's about recall. Our youngest FOL sisters have young children - and I swear - my memory started fading right about at that stage. I think that once you have the monumental responsibility of sustaining and nurturing a human life; or for those of you who made the choice to take your own life and career to the next level without children in the mix, the amount of information we need to hold on to as we age, as well as the number of options you have to consider in every day, grow in so many different directions that it's really hard to hold on!

Add to that the sheer amount of information available to us these days. Teaching in America has changed since I was in school. We used to place the emphasis on facts - memorizing them mostly. The world of knowledge has so outgrown us that we had to abandon that sort of teaching. Children are now taught how to find facts, and how to be evaluative and flexible in their thinking. That's because it's no longer possible to memorize everything as the fund of knowledge grows daily. And with the pace of society, our children will experience more change than stability in their lives.

Sometimes it's all a blur...

We have written a lot here about trying to capture the moments we love with photography - about sustaining and creating memories for ourselves and our families. But have you considered that photography may also help us develop and sustain memory function? First of all, I think we are all benefitting from continued learning. It's that "use it or lose it" thing. No one can say we will ever run out of things to learn about photography. And you could spend a lifetime on Photoshop skills alone! How fortunate! We are testing our brain cells every day, and I believe that is healthy.

Then there's the idea that we are keeping up with at least part of the tech revolution. I know your 10 year old can bail you out of a computer issue - but we're not shirking! We are embracing a technology that is constantly changing!  We are at least partially joining the generation who forms friendships on-line, who studies through the use of you-tube tutorials, and who apply for jobs through a faceless interface. I'm old-fashioned enough that I'm not sure all of that is good for young people, but I think it is good for older people.

And photography helps us to participate in the multi-tasking approach that is deeply ingrained in younger generations. I can play with Lightroom on my laptop while watching TV! (I can't listen to music and talk to friends and do homework at the same time though. And "picture in picture" TV and rolling captions drive me crazy!) But I am truly multi-tasking as I stand out there in my field thinking about composition and framing, shutter speed and aperture, ISO and focal point. And this is after looking up the time of the sunset, the direction of the light, and gathering my spare battery (which I remembered to charge last night), spare memory cards (oh the irony!) and appropriate gear. I'm not even mentioning the digital darkroom skills I will use later on, interspersed with computer research to obtain a certain look in the finished project, computer storage choices and the inevitable trouble shooting.

So I think we have chosen to learn a skill that promotes peace and beauty in the world while adding to our own health and wellness. Let's pat ourselves on the back for having the courage (or gall) to stay in the game!

Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind

Smiles we gave to one another

of the way we were.

                                       The Way We Were lyrics

                                       by Marilyn and Alan Bergman

answer: the average person in their 30s can name 21.5 animals
The overage person in their 70s can name 17.6