Virtual Brush Box

Perpetual Posts, Blog Admin

Awareness of the outside world. The Old Farm’s Almanac: How to Have a Happy New Year Anywhere, Doudera, December 21, 2023.

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For your amusement & my reference.

Perpetual Posts

Post that I do each year.

The Graceful Envelope Contest, The Washington Calligraphers Guild, submission deadline in early spring, post after winners announced.

Edible Book, April 1. Only done once, so not technically annual, but something I am likely to repeat. [2023, info & links]

International Haiku Poetry Day, 17 April. Ditto.

Anniversary, 1 May 💖

AAT photo, June. [Scenic Travel, Guest Photo]

Rubber Ducky Day, 29 October. [Happy Rubber Ducky Day, origin story]

Flower to my Mom for my birthday, 20 December

Personal Maybes

Yearly events that I do, but may or may not post about. Likelihood of a post for these depends on the occasion, the mood of the moment, and the thinness/fullness of my blogging calendar when the date rolls around.

Family Birthdays

MLK Day 5K Drum Run, the one IRL 5K that I plan to keep doing, January.

The Western States Trail Ride, Virtual Tevis & IRL Tevis. Will certainly post VT if we do it, since that involves the home team and is actually on topic. Begins 100 days before the IRL Tevis, which is sometime in summer. Some years I post about virtually following the IRL Tevis in July/August.

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, April.

Rolex, virtually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What can I say, I’m an old dog. The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. April. So many posts: Rolex, Land Rover, Lexington, Kentucky Horse Park.

Lexington Junior League Charity Horse Show, virtually, cheer for SSF, July

World’s Championship Horse Show, aka Louisville, virtually, cheer for SSF, August

Gotcha Days, August

Nationals. I always think about it. On the first weekend of November, part of me is always in the aisle at Murfreesboro. [Where I Am Not]

Magic City 5K, November

Blogaversary, 22 December

General Maybes

Holidays & events that I have posted about in the past and may do so again.

World LEGO Day, 28 Jan (patent filed 1958)

Mardi Gras, February

Pi Day, 14 March

36 Days of Type, usually starts early in the year

Earth Day, 22 April

Arbor Day, last Friday in April

May the 4th be with you.

Tau Day, 28 June, i.e. 6/28 in the US

BreyerFest, with virtual 5K, July

World Emoji Day, 17 July

Moon Landing, 20 July

Pi Approximation Day, 22 July, i.e. 22/7 in day/month notation

World Postcard Day, 1 October

Moundville Native American Festival, early October

Christmas, unavoidable

Kennedy Center Honors, probably my favorite TV show all year & one of the few things I will stay up for. I have posted about this at least once. End of Dec. [Sunny Days]

Happy New Year, 31 Dec

Solstici & equinoxes, DST

Note

Started to add links to posts from various years. Too many. Looked cluttered. The point of this post is to remind me going forward, not to document what I have done in the past. I do that in enough other places.

Updated 6 April 2024

Onwards!
Katherine

Building A New Year, Graphic Art

Awareness of the outside world. Omniglot: Happy New Year in many languages.

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Previous posts

[Change the Year, Change the Color] 2018

[Letter Art: Changing the Year] 2019

Onwards!
Katherine

Top Ten Radio Taglines, Fiction

Fictitious radio stations.

WZRD – Infusing your radio dial with magic.

WOOL/WOLF – Dual station partnership. Office during the day. Party all night long.

WOKE – Surfing the blue wave.

KRAB – Talk radio. If it bothers you, it bothers us.

KOOK – Working to keep your radio weird.

KLEE – All art, all the time.

KERN – They said it couldn’t be done. Bringing typography to the airwaves.

Not Mine:

WHAT – We tell you WHAT is going on. Courtesy of Felix.

KOAN – Confusingly good radio. Courtesy of Lewis P.

Afterword

Inspired by an online discussion.

FYI. KXAN: What’s the origin behind the ‘Keep Austin Weird’ slogan? Thompson, May 2023.

Free Free Fiction 4U. Liminal Stories: IF IT WERE TRUE OWLS DREAM by Jan Priddy. From blog, Imperfect Patience: IF IT WERE TRUE… I asked for an outside consult from a regular reader. Jane’s verdict: Well done. Good read if into fantasy. Caveat, eating habits of owls are graphic.

Admin

As before, today’s post was planned to be holiday-themed fiction. As before, it wasn’t happening. [Kennings Contest by Artifact Puzzles]

In addition, I became suspicious. The format was to be a story told in New Year’s resolutions. Does this sound like “Resolutions for the New Year.” from A Very Scalzi Christmas (Subterranean 2019)? Why, yes it does, now that you mention it. AVSC is one of the books I reread during the holiday season. When I came across this story, again, I realized a) this is probably where I got the idea and b) now that the original was fresh in my brain, I was unlikely to be able to see past it.

So I ditched this idea along with last Saturday’s idea. Bring on January! I shall commit fiction!

Onwards!
Katherine

Time Is A River, Photography

Awareness of the outside world. Future Crunch: 66 Good News Stories You Didn’t Hear About in 2023, Hervey, Dec 20, 2023. Hat tip to A.

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Glover’s Point
Coosa River
Vincent AL US
December 2023

Although it appears on the map as Glover’s Point Park, it appears IRL as a boat launch & parking lot.

Enjoy pondering the river of time on this New Year’s Eve weekend. Wishing you a great weekend and a lovely 2024.

Technical Details

Boat launch, f/13.0, 1/100 sec., 24.0 mm, ISO 100. Manual mode & auto-focus.

Post production. Resized, border, & watermark.

Note to self. This is the second week in a row that the shot of choice was the casually-taken establishing shot rather than one of the many subsequent photos of the intended subject. [Homewood Star]

Onwards!
Katherine

Encountering The Shadow Self, Thoughts

Awareness of the outside world. “Unlike other mammals, reindeer can see light in the ultraviolet spectrum.” AP News: Reindeer are famous for pulling Santa’s sleigh, but there’s a characteristic that sets them apart, Ramer, December 22, 2023

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The liminal season is coming.

The light is coming.

The cold is coming.

(If your light is decreasing and your heat increasing, come back in six months.)

A time to lie fallow.

A time to retreat.

A time to peer into the corners and see what peers back.

Look as the reindeer look. It is hidden or do we simply not see?

Look to the others who share the dark.

Look into the shadows.

Onwards!
Katherine

The Season For Celebrations Of Connection, Thoughts

Awareness of the outside world. “Romjul is the period in the Norwegian calendar that starts on the third day of Christmas, Dec. 27, and ends on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31 … In Norway, romjul is a tranquil time of the year when families get together, undisturbed by the outside world.” The Norwegian American: Rumjul, Brady 2020.

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Celebrations of Connection
Festivals of Faith and Light During the Winter Season

UAB Hospital North Pavilion
Birmingham AL, USA
December 2023
Photos by G

Column one: Bodhi Day, Diwali, La Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Kwanzaa, Parkash Utsav Dasveh Patshah, Shogatsu

Column Two: Christmas, Dongzhi, Hanukkah, Midwinter and New Year Celebrations, Ramadan, Yule

Source of poster info, “Honoring Celebrations of Light and Connection”, a 26-page PDF from UCSF Spiritual Care Services: Winter Holy Day Resources.

Onwards!
Katherine

A Christkindlmarkt in Alabama, Vicarious Travel

Awareness of the outside world. BBC: Why is it called Boxing Day? 2022. Boxing Day was one of the initial four bank holidays in the UK “In his honour, these new holidays were sometimes referred to as ‘Saint Lubbock’s Days’.” The History Of Parliament: Thanks for our bank holidays, “Saint” John… KR 2013. More on Lubbock in “Strange Customs”, Chapter 2 of The Secret History of Christmas, written and read by Bill Bryson (Audible 2022).

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