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“Do the hard things” – Futurist Jim Carroll How many times do you say to yourself, “I’ll do the easy things first!” And then you just keep doing the easy things over and over again, always avoiding the hard stuff. And you never make any progress – because at some point or other, you have to do the hard things. What if you did the hard things first? What if …

Murder at the Monastery by Richard Coles Canon Daniel Clement, Vicar of Champton, is not having a good time in this fascinating novel. The Reverend Richard Coles continues his series of mysteries set in the English countryside in the late 1980s and early 1990s, where Daniel’s thoughtful approach means that justice can be done. This third novel, however, is set mainly in a monastery, and even with some specialist knowledge …

After visiting Little Bighorn Battlefield, we stopped by Custer Battlefield Trading Post & Cafe on the Crow Indian reservation. Swag: Cafe: Menu: We’re big fans of Indian fry bread, so had Indian tacos for dinner:

The last piece (for the minute) for Rhiw is a skip; one of those that sits by the lineside with a mix of gash inside and seemingly has no means of being retrieved.The root is one of a pair from the Peco Modelscene range which is stamped Leafdale Models 1988 underneath. A couple of coats of paint to dull the bright yellow plastic and then the full scrapbox treatment for …

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Strong Towns member Will Gardner’s Substack, StrongHaven. It is shared here with permission. All in-line images were provided by the author. This raised crosswalk and the separated path on the right are examples of infrastructure that keeps walkers and bikers safe. With the fall routine comes the launch of the bike bus here in my hometown of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Last …

Photo: Anna-Rose McChesney Drawing is the act of translating a thought to a mark on the page—where the hand is in conversation with the mind. This conversation is marked by an unbridgeable gap between the idea and the output—sometimes betraying and exposing the thought, and other times surprising you with an unintended vigour and clarity. Miles Davis once said that ‘what makes a wrong note right is the note you …

Kinn Hamilton McIntosh is a British mystery novelist, known as "Catherine Aird," who started her writing career in the sixties with The Religious Body (1966) and published her most recent novel, Constable Country (2023), when she was 93 – bringing the tally to twenty-nine published novels and short story collections. All except the non-series, standalone novel A Most Contagious Game (1967) featured her series-characters, Inspector C.D. Sloan and Detective Constable …

You know how “all the books say” not to cut Lavender back too hard, as it won't grow back.... well, a fortnight ago, I was doing the annual clip of a low Lavender hedge, and I spotted this: Uh-oh... is that a bare brown patch coming up?Hahaha! I'm teasing you, this was not a case of it having been cut back too hard, it's a case of two of the …

Just because I have been looking at lots of music from the Britpop era this year doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one of the bands that were an inspiration for good number of the musicians during that era. That band is The Beatles and today is also the 55th anniversary of ‘Abbey Road’. This post could easily have been title ‘The Beatles in 1969’. As it is, this this …

Above: Official poster by Yves Tinguely for the 12th New York Film Festival in 1974.The twelfth edition of the New York Film Festival, which took place 50 years ago this week, in September 1974, could have been convincingly called the New York European Film Festival. Out of the seventeen new feature films playing, all but two were European: seven French, three German, two Italian, two Swiss, and one British. Though …

Lugene Sanders in “The Life of Riley“ After re-emerging in the U.S. baby name data in 1953, the dual-gender name Lugene saw its highest usage (as a girl name) in the mid-1950s: 1958: 26 baby girls named Lugene 1957: 42 baby girls named Lugene 1956: 73 baby girls named Lugene [peak usage] 1955: 66 baby girls named Lugene 1954: 62 baby girls named Lugene 1953: 30 baby girls named Lugene …

Find all previous and future episodes listed here or in your podcast app under “Barbican Station”. Go on a tour of the real locations seen in SLOW HORSES. Go to https://www.squaremilesecrets.com/slow-horses and enter the coupon code SLOUGH for 20% off your tour. We are back to break down all the excitement of the season four episode four of SLOW HORSES. I’m joined this episode by returning recapper Gary Dexter. We …

I bought two of these in Norway last spring. One I shared with two friends on top of a local hill at sunset. This one I found in the gel and sports nutrition drawer that’s mostly sugar. I’m saving it for something. I just don’t know what.

The Wild Robot (2024) • View trailerFour stars (out of five). Rated PG, for action, peril and dramatic intensityAvailable via: Movie theatersBy Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 9.29.24This is most sumptuously gorgeous animated film I’ve seen in years. That’s surprising, given that it comes from the American Dreamworks Animation team; the verdant, sparkling look is much more typical of Tokyo’s Studio Ghibli. Indeed, in the production notes, …