Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. I never got the hang of Twitter, despite repeated attempts. But I know many people enjoyed the platform for business and entertainment. RIP blue bird.

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The things you see while ground-driving, that is.

Fortifying during a workout. Excuse the snaps. Getting better clips is on my list.

Stopping off at the restroom before work.

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CW for blatant bodily functions.

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Note the crossed hind hooves. Milton has a wide stance

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. CNN: What you need to know ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Ramsay, July 19, 2023. Runs from July 20 to August 20.

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We bought cattle ear tags to use tick repellent. [Tag You’re It]

I braided one tag into Rodney’s mane and one into his tail. A few days later, the tail tag had fallen out. A few days after that, I found a tick in his tail. Still none in his mane.

Causation? Coincidence?

Coach Kate attaches hers to the fly masks. We don’t use them, so that option is out. [Tag, comment]

Since one of the goals is to keep ticks out of their ears, the ideal would be to have the tag attached to the forelock. I am concerned that this would upset the horse, causing head shaking, causing the tag to go clunk, causing more head shaking. Cue hysteria cycle.

A person in the driving world (waves hi!) has the tag braided into the forelock. I can only assume they have a more amenable equine than we do.

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. Lindsay Kelley, fringe foods, bioart, uncommon modes of food preparation & ingestion. Hat tip to A.

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Butterfly Garden
Painting knife & acrylic
Workshop with Lisa Opielinski
Alabama Art Supply
July 2023

Instagram post with exemplar painting, @opielinski: July 1.

Students were supplied with canvas, brushes, and all relevant unguents. The canvas came with raised butterfly. We supplied the texture streaks and the color.

Despite being as accomplished in art as I am in dance (read, not at all), I learned that I have a preference in brushes. Who knew? The idea was to use the wide brush, above. When the instructor did so, she got a gentle wash of variegated color. When I used the wide brush, I got a large blotch. If I was not careful, I got a large, mud-colored blotch. I discovered that I preferred using the narrow brush to place the streaks of color where I wanted them. Control issues? Moi?

I also learned that acrylics are more forgiving than pens. Purple? I must have purple! No. No. Not that much purple. Hastily paints over with white.

Instructor was quite tolerant of having a heathen stomping around her class.

New Project

To keep Sunday posts from from being all lettering all the time, I have decided to embark on art adventures. Once a month. I shall go forth and dabble in various modalities. If I can find a class, I will go places & do things. If virtual or a kit, I shall stay home & learn things. Going places and learning new things are both good for my sanity. Avant!

Onwards!
Katherine

The Books

Blank Map Book. Sleep with it under your pillow. In the morning, the book will show you a map to what you are seeking. Perhaps not to what think you are seeking.

Choose Your Own Adventure. Digital book. Choices at pivotal moments will be made based on your reader profile, your recent search history, your streaming choices, and so on. The cheap version has a few easily-guessed tropes. The more expensive the book, the more variety in the stories and the more targeted the personalization.

The Afterword

From Deep Water Prompts on Tumblr. “The otherwise blank map requires the book blood of the seeker to work. I don’t have any. ‘You need a human,’ says the seller with an evil grin, ‘one who wants what you want, and just as badly.’

“Edit: this has a typo and I’m at work so can I ask you all to just please replace the word book with BLOOD? Thank you” DWP: 3069. Hat tip to N for leading me to Deep Water.

I misread the unedited version as “blank map book” rather than “blank map requires the book.” A fortuitous mistake.

The trope of What You Really Want shows up in a Christmas short story by Connie Willis – possibly “The Pony” – and as an aside in Android’s Dream by Scalzi. “One of the great unwritten chapters of retail intelligence programming …” Goodreads: The Android’s Dream Quotes.

Free Fiction 4U. Red Wombat: Toad Words. Posted on June 26, 2014 by ursulav. Excerpt, “Love is a frog word, if spoken earnestly, and a toad word if spoken sarcastically. Frogs are not good at sarcasm.” Nota bene, other stories on this site are well-written, but are suitable for folks with higher tolerance than mine for weird & creepy. Proceed with caution. Nota nota bene, my tolerance for w&c is extremely low. You’ll probably be fine.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Various Covid bits.

Nature: Had COVID but no symptoms? You might have this genetic mutation. Max Kozlov. 19 July 2023. Hat tip to C.

Jabberwocky.com: Black parents preferred school closures during the pandemic. White parents didn’t. Kevin Drum. July 18, 2023.

“Since late January 2023, excess deaths have reached pre-pandemic levels.” Your Local Epidemiologist: COVID-19: Catch up quick. Katelyn Jetelina. Jul 18, 2023.

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Minus. Not the most challenging subject.

Plus. Went somewhere. Took a picture of something. Check.

Technical Details

Flower, f/13.0, 1/125 sec., 48.0 mm, ISO 100, manual

Building, f/11.0, 1/125 sec., 34.0 mm, ISO 100, manual

To clarify. The subject itself is festive and delightful. Taking the photo was the non-challenging part. Ah well, got the camera out of the bag.

Links

Bham Wiki: The Revolution of Joy

Portico: Trés Taylor: Alabama Folk Artist in a Revolution of Joy. Clark, 2021.

Trés Taylor website

Alabama Ballet, location of mural.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. NASA.gov: July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind

Discussion comment by Brian Scott Pauls, a classmate in my science fiction class. Reposted with permission. [Blanket Adjustment, announcement of class]

“Punch cards are not, and never were, suitable for sending people to Mars or any other celestial body. They are, in fact, so *un*suitable, MIT was forced to develop the contemporary microcomputer to send us to the Moon–complete with keyboard, display, and electronic read-only memory (all necessary for doing away with punch cards).

“And far from being a one-person job, programming the computer for the Apollo mission required a staff of 350, managed by Margaret Hamilton.”

Pauls recommends, Nicely Done Sites: The Computer That Got Us To The Moon, by Boyd.

Pauls posts at Substack: The Cosmic Codex. Previous BSP mention [Stall Rest Chronicles 27 Jan, In other News]

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Took the ladies out to the pasture for a sniff.

Jasmine & Rose Fan Club [list of posts]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. UAB MedCast: Hold Your Horses! Equestrian Helmet Facts, Fiction & Future Research, Kevin Schrum, PhD | Sara Gould, MD, June 12, 2023

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Milton threw a fit during hitching.

Seriously, Dude?

Again?

I thought we were past this.

Gotta admit, I am over watching you hop around various rings.

You are lucky we don’t live in Pennsylvania. I’d have your ass at a sale so fast.

I doubt I mean it.

But I thunk it.

Don’t you want to be a driving horse?

You certainly don’t want to be a riding horse.

If one is going to be difficult, it is wise to give the humans something in return.

Let’s take Vanir Kamira as an example. Has to have her meals hand-fed. Has to have her own personal groom. Wins the two biggest events in the world. “She is a bit of a pain in the bum, but she’s worth it because she performs when you need her to. I joked to Pig the other day that I’ve basically been employed for the past three weeks to just do Tilly.” Horse and Hound: Seven feeds a day and bawling like a baby: Piggy March’s groom Amy Phillips on looking after Vanir Kamira at Burghley, Roome 3 September, 2022.

This is a horse who has figured out her life plan.

You, not so much.

Onwards!
Katherine