... Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! ...

Some more of Shelly's sonnet:

... Two vast and trunkless legs of stone,
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read ...

I recall visiting Jericho, which archaeologists believe is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. There was not much going on there when I visited, but perhaps since they lost the walls, it isn't much to speak of anymore. There was a snowy North wind when I visited Stonehenge, so most of my fellow tourists didn't even get out of the tour bus. The road through central Rome where Caesar paraded his war trophies would make some hiking trails I've been on look well cared for. And all this came to mind as I walked this morning through what was, when I moved into the neighborhood about 21 years ago, the vineyard and orchard of an ambitious older gentleman who still cared for them. The house and yard have been gone for four or five years now and the entire area has been razed awaiting some real estate developer's magic touch. That's the lesson of Ecclesiastes 1.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. That's the Lord in Matthew 24:35
As I look toward another new year, the 60th in my mortal experience, I find both Ecclesiastes 1 and Matthew 24:35 comforting. This too will pass.

 I may have posted this previously, but this is my companion in Bologna Italy, Keith Ogden, and me roughly 40 years ago. Those who were in the Italy North Mission under President Dan Jorgensen are getting together on the 30th of July down in Salina, UT at President Jorgensen's ranch. It will be interesting to see some of those folks again.

I talked to Keith just last evening. He is getting remarried after losing his first wife to an untimely death. He and I were companions for nearly 6 months. I don't think they do that anymore, but we enjoyed spending 1/4 of our mission together. He still plays the guitar and is a goof.

He's Baaaack

I couldn't stay away it seems. All traces of the pre-existing pensione pensieri blog seem to have been obliterated and I was allowed to create a new blog with the same name. That's nice since I like the name.
I have always liked the way Garrison Keillor begins his monlogue on The Prarie Home Companion, "It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone, my home town. Out on the edge of the prarie."
It has been a mostly quiet ten months in my home town, since I last took up keyboard to blog. In the Western shadow of the Wasatch Front.
My final approach to the six decade milestone has been relatively smooth, without external turbulence and only occasional bursts of frenetic fantasies in my head. Starting at my last birthday, I began a handwritten journal again. There is a peaceful feeling as thoughts flow down your arm, through pen, and onto paper. Tactile sensations are critical to my personal well-being. Making is important to me.
Since that most recent milestone I have done more work with leather, an excellent medium for unique smells and variety of textures. I recently purchased a beginner's basketry kit. I don't really like kits. Adn only one of the baskets I will make from the kit seems to be an interesting output. Most people (based on what is sold, market forces do not lie) do not want to make what I want to make. But I need to begin somewhere. And I firmly believe that a good foundation is the key to success. Shortcuts are the longest way to a decent destination.
On the reading front, I have just finished the entire Earthsea series by Ursla K. LeGuin. Written over a period of 30 years, you can see her improvement as a writer. The first book of the series wasn't bad, but the final one was mature and well developed in a way that was very satisfying. Sort of the opposite of much of what you get today in books and film, a phenomenal start -- Ender's Game, Pirates of the Carribean -- descending into trite rehashing of the initial premises. I may or may not read other LeGuin "classics" as I also see that she developed her work into a somewhat veiled social moralizing tool, although not so blatant in this series as to make it unpalatable. But the Earthsea series is supposed to be young adult fiction, and so I fear that her offerings for adults may be too heavily editorializing.