Virtual Brush Box

Customer: Is this the magic store?

Clerk: No sir. This is the paper store.

Customer: Yeah, but you sell magic paper that corrects what you write.

Clerk: No, sir. That would be your laptop screen. May I show you our selection of handmade papers? Not magic, but quite nice.

Customer: Oh, I get it. This is a test. To see if I’m worthy.

Clerk: No, sir. No tests required. Only cash, credit card, or a phone app. We take do a check, if you want to go old school. Stationery is at the front of the store. Custom printing at the rear.

Customer (wanders around, returns to counter): Come on. I know it came from here. It was a green notebook with blue bits stuck into the cover. I saw a buddy of mine using it. The words changed after he wrote them.

Clerk: Sounds like pretty good slight of hand, sir. Our notebooks and journals are down this aisle. Pens down that aisle. We have a nice selection of green notebooks and pens with green ink.

Customer (picks out items, winks at clerk): I get it. This will look like a perfectly normal notebook, but will help me out just when I need it.

Clerk: Yes sir. As long as what you need is a way to take notes.

Customer brings items to counter.

Clerk: (rings up purchase, bags & hands over): Have a nice day, sir.

Customer leaves.

Clerk watches customer through the window until he is out of sight.

Clerk (yells toward rear of store): Who bought a Worrall codex with green cover and blue inlay?

Inaudible voice from back of store.

Clerk: Well, they are cut off for a year. They’ve been careless.

Afterword

The Hitchhiker’s Wiki: Perfectly Normal Beasts

I would have preferred to make the customer gender neutral. I could not come up with a substitute that had the same combination of distance & formality, particularly in a retail setting.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. John Downer Productions: Spy creatures go undercover into the animal world! Wildlife spy cams, with videos. Hat tip to M.

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The effect of border color on image. Colors sampled from photo.

Green from the eye. [Eyes on the Cat Pause]

Black from around the eye.

Brown from fur above the eye.

Side-by-side comparison.

Update. Surprised at the effect of screen size on this post. The difference between the photos is more noticeable on my desktop. They kinda blend together on my phone. Note on how the sausage is made. Draft on desktop. Proof on desktop. Don’t see the post on a phone screen until after it goes up. There is a way to proof a phone screen. My posts are not usually so visually dependent that I need to incorporate this extra step. But I digress. Check the post out on a large screen, if you have not.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. AL.com: Winnie the (mini) Therapy Horse brings comfort, joy to Alabama care facilities, Sutton, Jan. 21, 2026.

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From left: Husband, Diego, Coach Courtney
Stepping Stone Farm
July 2026

The World’s Greatest Ground Crew takes a turn on center stage.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. When I talk about other people or other people’s horses, I like to keep the intro positive. I was searching for perky Alabama news and found this. The search results page of the Good News Network says, “If you’re not happy with the results, please do another search.” What an inviting sentiment. That’s how to walk the walk.

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Last week, I was offered two lesson slots. One was solo. One was part of a group. It was a situation where there was no right answer – or both answers were equally correct- but I still fussed over trying to decide which was optimal.

Close enough in time that weather was about the same.

Solo Lesson, 7 am

More fun.

More expensive.

Undivided attention. Individually tailored instruction.

Feed plan. Get up. Serve first hay. Leave. Lesson. Scamper home. Resume with breakfast & second hay. Not that much later than when we get a late start on the morning walk.

The meal spread is so that Milton does not inhale everything at once. For Rodney, we would simply served everything and go.

Group Lesson, 8 am

Less expensive.

Divided attention. Not a problem. Coach Deana is an accomplished instructor who can juggle differing agendas in the same class.

Divided attention. Ditto. At this level, I am self-starting enough that I do fine with the instructor checking as I waft by. At least, on the flat. Jumps are done individually in either case.

Rest breaks while others jump.

Other riders. My ground crew thinks a group lesson takes some of the pressure off.

Other riders. In this case, four littles. I rode with two littles in an earlier lesson. That was fine. Here, I was concerned about staying out of the way of four riders. Clearly, I was gonna be the one with steering capability.

Ground crew thinks I show off for the kids. Not consciously, but it’s possible. I’ve always done better with admiration than confrontation. [Milton’s Missing Lesson, tough love]

I think Goldy (slightly) prefers other horses in the ring.

Feed plan. Get up. Serve first hay. Wait. Breakfast & second hay. Leave. Turnout when we get back.

Questions

Which would you choose?

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Which did I choose?

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I went with the later lesson. Figured it was better for the home team.

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And then …

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I ended up with a solo at 9 am. Hey! If we are feeding before the lesson, why not see if Coach Deana is free after the munchkin patrol?

Verdict. Even 9 am was starting to get hot. From now on, as earlier as possible, at least for the rest of the summer.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. When did candy bars start costing over $3? While I am a fan of fine chocolate, sometimes ya just want a Hershey bar. Yesterday, a standard 1.55 oz bar cost $3.48 with tax, I even went back to confirm. Either the convenience store massively overcharged or I’m old. Or both.

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Last week, I wrote about Milton saying no to lungeing. [Milton Opts Out of Lunging]

At the time, I thought he was saying no to work. Yet, if we had put on a halter and leadrope in the barn and led him to the ring, he would have lunged just fine.

Last Tuesday – the day it was posted – I got to pondering the situation during our walk. It’s possible that he was saying, ‘No. That’s not how we do things. In the morning, we walk.’ He is enough a horse of habit that this would been a plausible response from him.

Update. Since more than one person has asked. No, we did not go back to lunge Milton. We saw everything we needed to see with the running about. I am 99% sure that he would lunge just fine. He really is that committed to the morning walk that disturbing it would be a valid reason for him to object. But he could surprise us, because horses.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. First rides! Share the joy! Raincoast Rider: A Very Good Day.

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Milton is a tick attractor. Two ticks in your mane?! Twice?! Time for the buzz cut. Well, technically, the scissor cut. Clippers and Milton would not be a good mix.

Also tails. Keep the ends from dragging along the ground.

Rodney retains his long, luxurious mane. Granted, it’s a bit hot. But I think it suits him and he has never minded being warm.

Yes, I did send pictures to my favorite Saddlebred people.

Last year’s post, with link chain to previous years. [Let The Barbering Begin]

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. National Gallery of Art: Flowers.

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#3 in the series Don’t Quit Your Day Job. I call this – Processing Error.

Class #3
Acrylic Painting with Anthony Best
Shelby County Arts Council
23 July 2026

This time, it looks better IRL. The pinks are richer and the flower looks more textured. I don’t hate it.

Model photo supplied by instructor. Posted with permission. Resized and watermarked for storage space and traceability. Bordered for consistency. [Watermarks Theory]

Of course, my flower bears only a tangential relationship to the model. Pink flower, five petals, leaves, got it. Otherwise, I was flinging paint at the canvas. Instructor kept giving what I’m sure was excellent advice on how to paint what was in front of me. All I could think was, ‘Dude, not happening.’ My brain simply doesn’t process that way. I could see the shading he was pointing to. I could understand what he was saying about it. Taking the next step? Blank space.

Continuing to have fun.

Start, mainly to admire the pretty wooden easel. Once I began painting, I didn’t notice a difference with the metal ones from previous classes, except that I was more concerned about smearing this one with paint. Kid’s art blurred out in background. An overabundance of caution? Shrug. In a parallel universe, I became the lawyer my father wanted me to be.

Tables at start.

Tables at finish.

Previous Posts
[Landscape, Acrylic Painting Class #1, Art]
[Seascape, Acrylic Painting Class #2, Art]

Onwards!
Katherine