ClimbingSky

Just Another Traveller in Little Things

QUOTATIONS

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Tolstoy on Battles Worth Fighting

    “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. It is easier to wage a battle against distant abstractions than to fight the quiet war inside one’s own soul. Yet this is the only war that ever mattered.” — Leo Tolstoy Read more

  • THROWBACK THURSDAY: “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

    Throwback Thursdays at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on December 19th, 2010 (so almost 16 years ago) Hopkins was a convert to Roman Catholicism. His Roman Catholic faith infuses his poetry in a way that is as unique to English poetry as his famous sprung rhythm is. Combined… Read more

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Twain On Reflection

    Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~ Mark Twain.  Read more

  • THROWBACK THURSDAY: “The Clod and the Pebble” by William Blake

    Throwback Thursdays at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on November 28th, 2010 (so almost 16 years ago) “The Clod and the Pebble” is one of Blake’s more familiar poems. It also happens to be one of my daughter Dylan’s favorites. And one of mine. She first read… Read more

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Sontag On Creating Your Own Space

    “You have to create your own space which has a lot of silence in it and a lot of books.”       — Susan Sontag Read more

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Vonnegut on Saints

    You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society.      – Kurt Vonnegut.  Read more

  • THROWBACK THURSDAY – “Names of Horses” by Donald Hall

    Throwback Thursdays at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on November 22, 2010 (so almost 16 years ago). Donald Hall is, unfortunately, an under-appreciated poet. While his prose works like LifeWork and Ancient Glittering Eyes represent his greatest strengths as a writer, he remains a marvelous poet. “Names of Horses” is… Read more

  • MY JAZZ PROJECT: “MIDNIGHT BLUE” BY KENNY BURRELL

    Album Midnight Blue Artist Kenny Burrell Year 1963 Personnel Kenny Burrell (guitar), Stanley Turrentine (tenor sax), Major Holley (bass), Bill English (drums), Ray Barretto (congas) Era / Style Soul Jazz / Blues Jazz / Guitar Jazz Favorite Tracks “Chitlins Con Carne,” “Midnight Blue,” “Soul Lament” First Listen Reaction LIVE RECORDINGImmediately welcoming; bluesy, relaxed, and deeply… Read more

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Tolstoy on Respect

    “Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.” — Leo Tolstoy Read more

  • A Confession

    I am on Substack enough to know that there is a serious movement to discourage and ban any AI from creative work. But I need to confess this: I do use AI (in my case, Gemini) to proofread what I post here. The prompt I use is this: “Please edit the following for typos:” and… Read more