Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. Life in Norway: Pepperkakebyen: The Stunning Gingerbread Town Of Bergen, Norway, by Nikel, November 22, 2022, with video. Appears in ““The Case of The Disappearing Gingerbread City” by R.W. Wallace”, which disappears in A Weird Holiday Season: A Holiday Anthology Edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Website, WMG Holiday Spectacular.

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Alabama Winter Tournament Association, #1
Stepping Stone Farm
Chelsea, AL USA
Saturday 9 December 2023

All with Optimus.

2. Advanced Horsemanship WTC Adult – 5th 4th of 6
3. Advanced Equitation WTC Adult (Pattern) – 3rd of 4
8. Pleasure Horse/Pony WTC Adult – 4th of 5 5th of 6
14. Masters Pleasure 50+ – 1st of 2
26. Academy Driving – 1st of 1

(results updated)

Thank you to the Gray Family for the Outstanding Optimus.

What’s in a name? My theory is Optimus for the schooling shows. Transformer for the big shows.

General

Five classes! Last time I rode in five classes was probably the last time I rode hunters. One often does two divisions of three classes each at a local hunter show. That was … looks blank … a while ago.

Schedule. It sounds like a lot of classes, particularly since Optimus had beginner duty later in the day. The classes were short. Once around at a trot. Once around at a canter. Reverse. Repeat. Line up. The judge did a nice job of keeping the show moving while giving me the feeling that she was giving everyone a good look in each class. It’s a tough balance.

Advanced! Since it has a pattern class, I have been doing the advanced level since my second year at winter tournament. Me and the suit riders. I’m pretty sure I was the only academy rider in the division this year, possible the only academy rider until deep into the morning.

First Class

Since the dude was due for a long day, I did no warm-up before the show. I would use our first class for that. So, I knew it was going to be slow. It was. Plus, we broke at the canter in the first direction. At the end of a pass, he asked, Are we there yet? I wasn’t quick enough about keeping him going. Bright side. I got to practice extra an canter transition. Which we nailed.

Second Class

Flat section. More energy. While cantering in the second direction, I got momentarily distracted when a horse came storming up behind us. How would Optimus feel about this? He felt like it was time to trot. This is why you ride a school horse. [Getting Our Hunter On, Rodney not handling the same situation.]

Pattern – Rider. Pretty darn good for an academy rider. I wrestled the canter/start of the circle a bit but remembered to sit up and look elegant for the rest of it. Mostly. The two who placed in front of me both show in suit equitation.

Pattern – Horse. Equitation patterns have a lot happening a short space. This is not something a non-eq saddle seat horse is used to. Optimus wanted to know where he had signed up be to a fancy horse. Regular classes line up on the long axis of the ring. Eq classes line up across the short side, in order to leave room for the pattern. While we were waiting for the results, Optimus turned himself 90o, back to the normal orientation. ‘I don’t know what you are thinking up there, but this is how we line up.’

What a star for stepping up.

Third Class

We were warmed up. We’d had a break. We were ready to go. I rode fierce. Did better. So did everyone else. Still, pleased with my effort.

Fourth Class

The other masters entry had beaten me in the first an earlier class, but now my blood was up. Rode as hard as I had in days past. I didn’t leave much on the table.

Fifth Class

Driving is fun!

General, Again

Horsecare. Signed Opt up for the next chiro visit. If he has to haul me around five classes, he deserves TLC. [Attending To The School Horse]

Choice of horse. Yes, I was sharing my horse with people who were in the practice cantering class and beginner riders. I’m fine with that. What goes on between Opt & me has little to do with riding skill. [Lesson Horse, School Horse, Emotional Support Horse]

Patterns. I told several folks at the show that my last saddle seat pattern was with Dottie at Nationals in 2017. [Show Report] Turns out I was wrong. Blog searching says Sam & rode did two shows with patterns in 2018-2019. Huh. Looks like I did more WT than I thought. [Archives] What I remember is the photos from last year. Looking at the chilly people and being glad I wasn’t doing that anymore. Between the previous pattern and now, there were a few dressage tests. These are not as variable as saddle seat patterns. I think I could do the intro level circles/diagonal/circles in my sleep. Anyway, the point is, I went into the class thinking it had been a while.

Photos, or lack thereof. During my classes, my in-house photographer was entertaining my mount. For example, when the rest of the SSF Advanced horses went back the barn and he had to hang out and wait for the masters class. I try, but he likes how Greg talks to him. After my classes, dude’s dance card was taken by other riders, so I couldn’t stage a reenactment. After the show was not available as we left to go feed lunch.

How did I end up at the show? It’s a bit of story. Tomorrow, the horse who didn’t show.

Update. Results are unclear. The barn notes were incomplete & do not match my memories. The two blues, yes. And the third in pattern. The other two? Shrug.

[Show Prep Part One, The Horse Who Didn’t Show, AWTA 2013-2024 #1]
[Show Prep Part Two, The Rider Who Did Show, AWTA 2013-2024 #1]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Annual reminder for people with breasts to get a mammogram. Annual chortle when the mammogram tech tells me to ‘relax my shoulder.’ Lady, people have been trying to get me to do that for years.

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The horses get lunchtime hay. [Lunch Is Served. Again.]

The dogs get put out at midday.

I’m happy to do so. Everyone is doing well on this regimen. It’s nice to feel useful.

However.

I’m still working out the logistics.

I have to be around to serve lunch. Then I have to wait for Rodney to finish and turn him out. It’s a chunk right in the middle of the day.

If I need to run a local errand, no problem. There are many segments in the schedule when I am waiting to serve or waiting for them to finish,

Longer errands take more planning. I can’t decide to roll out of the house in the late morning. If I am out, I can’t footle my way home. I need to stop what I’m doing at X time in order to to get home for lunch.

The mammogram appointment, above, was set up last year. Back then, the middle of the day was convenient. Now, not so much.

I have plans to meet a friend – gasp – for an adventure. They were very obliging about working around my new schedule. I can’t leave the house until breakfast is over and have to bail to get home for lunch. Although, upon reflection, if someone does not comprehend this as a lifestyle choice, we are unlikely to be simpatico.

Right now, it feels like I can only do things in the morning. By the time lunch period is over, the sun is seriously close to the yardarm. Intellectually, I know that day is not over when the sun sets at 4:30 pm. My inner cave troll disagrees.

Of course, there will be some days when it’s just not possible. Since it’s a hay snack rather than grain, I’m not *as* worried about missing one or being a touch late. But, as often as possible, lunch is served.

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. Paintings by Mary Lingen. Though sheer coincidence, the art has a cubic, quilty vibe. Or least, it does to me. “People see all sorts of things in my paintings, some of which isn’t intentional on my part. It reminds some of stained glass, mosaic, quilts, maps of city streets, or digital technology. By putting my work out in the public, I let go of some control. People bring their own experiences and intelligence into viewing art.” ML: About. Thank you to Marissa Lingen for the art recommendation.

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Process Notes

I recently ventured back on Instagram. The algorithm showed me lots of quilt blocks, probably from when I was looking at block-of-the-month images. [Books to Blocks, An Exercise In Image Making]

Verdict. I like the overlapping star concept. The rest never came together as more than a sum of the parts. Probably too busy. I used to have that problem with in-house ads. I’d do a mock up. Hand it to the art department dude. He’d take out half the words and most of the fonts. The result would be lovely. [Reconsidering The Public Hug “Dan”]

But I digress.

An interesting design assignment. For next year, I’m thinking about doing the National Quilt Museum Block of the Month Club. No sewing. Strictly as a design project.

Onwards!
Katherine

First Sunday, lighting of the Hope candle

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Pets in Santa hats [pony]

Christmas Cornucopia by Mark Forsyth [Christmas Gift]

You know Christmas is not the only holiday in December, right?

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Lebkuchen-Schmidt gingerbread cookies

Second Sunday, lighting of the Peace candle

Adeste Fideles, sung by Luciano Pavarotti

Anything box-shaped done up as an ersatz gift

A Very Scalzi Christmas

Retelling of A Christmas Carol starring (insert name here)

Homemade pretzel bites for the pot luck

The happiness of surprise horses at the barn Christmas party [Party Horses]

Third Sunday, lighting of the Joy candle

My Grown Up Christmas Wish, Amy Grant

Mulled Cider

Happy Birthday to all the Christmas babies

A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis

Anything and everything available as an ornament

How The Grinch Stole Christmas, voice by Boris Karloff

Fourth Sunday, lighting of the Love candle

Afterword

Contents: four Sundays, three books, three songs, three decorating trends, three foods, three TV shows, & three thoughts.

Yes, Advent is 22 days this year. From Sunday 3 December to Sunday 24 December. “The four-week period begins on the Sunday closest to the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle (Nov. 30) and lasts for the next three Sundays.” NPR: Advent calendars, explained: Where they came from and why they’re everywhere now, Treisman, November 6, 2023.

“Its length varies from 22 to 28 days, starting on the Sunday nearest St Andrew’s Day and encompassing the next three Sundays, ending on Christmas Day.” timanddate: First Sunday of Advent 2023 in the United States.

Am I being deliberately difficult? Also yes.

Previous Advent calendar post [Counting Down The Days Shetland Style]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Photo subject presented with apologies to my friends who are part of the two-thirds of the world who are not Christian, and for whom December might be an overwhelming dose of red & green. Holiday decor makes such an easy photo op. Pew: Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population, 2011. Dated article, but a useful baseline. Scroll down to the For example section, “About 90% of Christians live in countries where Christians are in the majority; only about 10% of Christians worldwide live as minorities.” among other interesting factoids. But I digress.

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Hay Roll Pig
Central Alabama Community College
Childersburg, AL USA
November 2023

Technical Details

Pig. f/13, 1/125 sec., 27.0 mm, ISO 400. Manual mode & auto-focus.

Post production. Cropped, resized, border, & watermark.

Snout construction

Leg construction

For my reference. Close-ups taken with big camera. Presented for content rather than as part of photo project. Colors from ACCC.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “The donors are people who need pacemaker upgrades but whose previous implants still work.” AARP: Donate Your Pacemaker…to a Dog, University program helps canines lead longer, healthier lives. Fiedler, 2020. A tidbit about donating pacemakers has been making the rounds on Facebook. The links I found are all dated 2019/2020 and the individuals discussed seemed to have moved on to other jobs. Do they still do it? Pacemakers in dogs, yes. CanPacers, Companion Animal Pacemaker Repository. Donations? At least one in 2023, People: Dedicated Dog Owner Gets 12-Year-Old Canine Friend a Pacemaker to Save Pup from ‘Scary’ Disease, Bender, July 28, 2023. Hat tip to M, to A, and to my lovely research assistant.

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Year ago last Friday, we came up driveway with Jasmine & Rose in the back seat. [Jasmine and Rose Have A Big Basset Adventure]

It’s been both hard & easy.

Hard. Old age is not for sissies of any species.

Easy. Everyone is happy. Everyone eats well. [Asking The Questions That Need To Be Asked, Dog Version, (don’t worry, the answers are good)]

After some adjustment, everyone has good bathroom habits. Rose will stand at the door, crossing her doggie legs while I put my shoes on/get my coat/open the door/do whatever mysterious things people insist on doing. Jas does well most of the time and tries really, really hard. We’ll leave it at that.

For everything else, they are easy keepers. Maybe too easy. They would like more kibble. We would prefer they didn’t look like overstuffed sausages. Rose will go for short walks to the barn. Both dogs will hang out in the sun on pleasant days. Rose will promptly trot out and back in when informed it is time for her to do so. Compared to the constant supervision of a puppy, they are pieces of cake.

This is clearly a doggy house. With big dogs. With big, old dogs. A fastidious, non-dog person would be appalled.

Honestly, that was true before ladies arrived.

Happy one year anniversary in Alabama, Jasmine & Rose.

Dog posts [Archive]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. I am fond of the spoon theory as metaphor. I use it often, in private. I do not use it in public, for example on this blog. I have been told by someone with more social conscience that the term is inappropriate for me to use. I’ve wondered why. So I searched it. Here’s what came up.

No. The Sydney Morning Herald: Stop appropriating the language that explains my condition, Chainey, 2016.

Rock on. A Humble Peddler of Weres: Spoon Theory & “Appropriation” Also good discussion in the comments, for a change.

Always return to the source material. ButYouDontLookSick.com: The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino.

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Another hat for winter morning walks with the horses.

From Dale of Norway. The clothing was described to me as not cheap and very, very warm. As in, don’t buy if you run hot. I can wear sweaters in the summer. Warm is good. They were right about the not cheap.

It took a while. Seller got it in the mail right away. Then DHL lost the plot. Not home. Not home. I changed the delivery instructions to Leave it, No Signature Required. Got my favorite message, Could not deliver, Facility Closed. What? Went back online, No, Really, Just Leave It. No hat. Changed to Pick Up Downtown. Way too far for me to go for a hat. Could someone else pick it up? Sure, as long as they have ID, and the sales slip. and a letter with your permission, and your ID, and … I don’t remember the exact requirements, but they struck me as onerous. Swapped back to home delivery. At which point I exceeded the number of times I was allowed to fiddle with my account via the online form. Off to customer service. Sent message, discussion, and screenshot of GPS. I have to admit, the folks were polite and responsive. My inbox has over two dozen messages. I kept hearing that so-and-so was on the case. That my package would be there TODAY. No hat. Finally, hat.

This is a package that has been on a journey.

Ah well, I got a second blog post out of it. [Cold Weather Clothing] Part 1

Environmental note. Socks were attached to their cardboard backing with reusable elastic bands rather than bits of plastic.

Onwards!
Katherine