History is such a fragile, mutable, conditional thing: History is ineffable. It’s all very well to say, no, it is what happened, it’s indelible, it is actual… So it is, an event, an action, plays out its options and leads to its conclusion. But that isn’t history. History is the story of what happened, and …
Author Archives: Ciel
Tolkien Tribute: “Speak, Friend and Enter”
Several years ago, I spent a lot of time on a Tolkien-based website that ran writing competitions. This was a dialogue Challenge with these parameters: Characters: A dwarf and an elf Setting: The West-gate of Moria. Theme: Speak, Friend, and Enter I set myself the added challenge to write the entire piece as dialogue, showing the …
Continue reading “Tolkien Tribute: “Speak, Friend and Enter””
“Is a Puzzlement!”
…To quote the King of Siam. The Universe is, to me, a great, multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with no outside edges. Each of us has bags of pieces collected over our lifetimes from our own experience, and from others whose experience we trust. What I pour out here is my bag of pieces: If …
When We Abandoned Eden…
I have written about the ‘abandonment of Eden’ as the time in which our developing, evolving human intellect outpaced and replaced animal instinct as our primary means of interacting with the world around us, particularly the physical world. I have suggested that choosing intellect and self-reliance was something to be celebrated, not to be ashamed …
“What is a ‘weekend’?”
My son said yesterday evening that he’d thought it was Monday all day. I told him to wait a bit, and it would be. But as it’s a federal holiday, in fact this week ‘Monday’ will not really be happening until Tuesday. So many things we take for granted, we forget they are not, in …
Wait…
Wait a minute…Wait your turnWait WaitJust you wait… What are you waiting for? Patience!learn it, own it–for being put asidepushed to the backout of the way… Wait to be askedinvitedwelcomed… Waitto be included. Wait for the start.Wait for the end. Wait for the end of waiting. CL Redding December 2022
Travelblogue: The American West: Carlsbad Caverns
The experience of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico begins with a leisurely stroll down a paved path that descends over a mile from daylight into the perpetual night of one of most spectacular publicly accessible caverns in the world. I’ve been there three times now, the first as a child of 10, the second when …
Continue reading “Travelblogue: The American West: Carlsbad Caverns”
Travelblogue: The American West: Pike’s Peak Region
I have lived in Colorado for some years now with a view of Pike’s Peak outside my window. Many of these photos are of the mountain itself from various places in Colorado Springs: Sunrises and sunsets, clouds and storms, moon sets… The Mountain is always there, and always different! I’ve driven up into and around …
Continue reading “Travelblogue: The American West: Pike’s Peak Region”
Travelblogue: The American West: Bryce Canyon National Park
The first time I visited this spectacular park in southern Utah, I had some wonkiness going on with my knees, and no matter how they tempted and beckoned, I could only stand and take photos from the rim. The second time, a few years later, I was finally able to follow the call of the …
Continue reading “Travelblogue: The American West: Bryce Canyon National Park”
Travelblogue: American West: Yellowstone National Park
American’s, and in fact, the world’s first National Park is in the northwestern corner of the state of Wyoming, with some overlap into Montana and Idaho. It is one of the most popular and dramatic of the National Parks, featuring abundant western wildlife, geologic and thermal regions, and some spectacular scenery. You won’t see Old …
Continue reading “Travelblogue: American West: Yellowstone National Park”
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 