Stages

Dear Diary,

This vine, which grows at the entrance of my potting shed, is slowly ending its summer growth.  I liked how all the various stages of its demise are in this one photo.  Now that I have reached my "threescore years and ten" I understand the concept of stages in a human life as well.  It is a phrase you don't hear much any more and I would wager if you asked a "20 something" what that meant they wouldn't have a clue.  It appears in Psalm 90 as the full length of a human life and you can read it in Shakespeare's Macbeth too, Threescore and ten I can remember well: Within the volume of which time I have seen Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night Hath trifled former knowings.  I'm sure glad that isn't the lifespan of humans today!