Why "Focus Notes"?

I skim over lots of written stuff during the day.  What am I looking for?  Often, nothing in particular.  I'm just catching up on headline news.  But usually I'm struggling to keep up on the U.S. election, on French and Italian politics, on rivers, on Arsenal Football Club, on tourism, and more.  A lot of the time, I think I need to focus better, because it seems that's the only way I absorb and remember.  So this blog comes from that, from a need to slow down and concentrate and make notes on things I want to hold on to.  Also, during any particular day, I'm doing things, going places, meeting people.  Like reading, a day of doing and seeing and talking can end up a blur.  So I'm trying to focus on those things, too, to step back and record some of them.

Immediately, Lynda and I are about to take another trip, this time to Paris for a few days and then to Italy.  So I'll be writing about that and probably about some of the current news from those two countries.

And "focus" also suggests photography.  There'll be a lot of pictures here, mostly my own, but occasionally (with proper credit) other people's when I think the image is striking or interesting.

Here are two to set the mood for the coming trip.

Paris, March 2012

Umbria, September 2008