Thursday afternoon. Snowing all day, but nothing is accumulating...just warm enough and the white stuff is falling slowly enough to essentially stay neutral. Not supposed to be much different through the night. I'm not optimistic about NOAA getting that right. Weather permitting we'll head for Cheyenne and Laramie tomorrow (hence the non-optimism). Got to pick up my Mom's tax stuff, see our son, Nick. We also need to get out of the mountains for a while, but we may be clearing some snow before we can leave.
I have just finished reading Will and Ariel Durant's Vol 9, The Age of Voltaire in their eleven volume Story of Civilization. I am mostly reading these volumes in order (I've temporarily set aside Vol 3, Caesar and Christ) but I reserve the perfectly natural right to move about at whim, and Voltaire and the European eighteenth century have my attention for reasons I won't go into today. I cannot read any of these works for speed. They must be encountered with attention and no small degree of respect. Also, there is so much packed into each page that sometimes I despair of ever getting even part of their richness into my thickening skull. I have concluded deep recall should not be my goal. The only thing possible for me to expect is to acquire a general framework of the overall story the Durants have conveyed so thoroughly and well. I can, after all, always return to the respective volumes to recall or review.
It occurs to me that in case of a fire, the first books I would try to save would be this multi-volume set and any other Durant works on the shelf. The Story of Civilization series is out of print and not easy to recover intact on the used book market. I don't ever want to be without my own set.
And just why am I working through these volumes? Because they are the heritage of mankind...our real and best story. I do not want to end my days without at least having tried to get the major parts of that story into my head.
Besides. Up here at Elk Crossing, I have the added advantage of time and no need to be in a hurry. Luxuries indeed.
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