Well, it’s the second day of the New Year and I am afraid that we are going to have to face the bad news – nothing much has changed! Hmm! Like I said, we need to remain hopeful as in

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast; 
Man never Is, but always To be blest. ”

― Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Man”

Back when the weather was better we had gone exploring at Plum Beach in Gloucester, MA. This is a small beach, a good place to teach children how to swim and to view the sunset over the water, a rarity on the East Coast. I was drawn to this old ram-shackle barn. There is a genre of photograph that is perfect for the Facebook Users Group “Life After Humans.”

Time is rarely kind to building, especially wood buildings, and to humans. It conjures up another poem, this one my Shelley.

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

— Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias”