Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. Wishing peace this evening to all of the people, dogs, & horses who don’t like loud noises.

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Question: How long does it take for a truck and trailer to go from spiffy to can’t be seen in public?

Answer: Chez nous, a year and a half.

Cleaned January 2022. [Clean & Shiny]

Cleaned again last weekend.

The tree shed around here is horrendous. This year was particularly bad, as the tree schmutz was a dark, reddish color. It looked like one section of the roof had rusted and was sending long streaks of rust down the sides. The trailer is aluminum, so it wasn’t, but you couldn’t tell by looking.

As last year, every square inch had to be scrubbed. Dowsing oneself in water isn’t a bad way to spend a heat wave.

It is relentless. After less than 24 hours, I had to wipe down the hood to get the photo above.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside horse world. Spillers: Track systems: the latest grazing fashion or valuable weight management tool?, Fricker, 2019. Read about on My Shetland: My latest Plan, with illustration. Article is not presented as definitive. It’s what came up on search, no obvious agenda despite being from a commercial site.

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Stepping Stone Farm day
Tractor chugs away. Where go?
Milton wants to know.

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. Works by JRRT. Tolkien, The official site of the Tolkien Estate: Painting, covers illustrations, maps, & calligraphy. Included because I am doing a formal reread of The Hobbit & LOTR. By happy coincidence makes a good mythic and history-infused counter-balance to the modernness of fractal art.

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Fractal A

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It started with a triangle. [Fractal Triangle, Graphic Art]

Then there was a square. [Fractal Square, Graphic Art]

Now what?

How about a group of 26 shapes?

Introducing my new project, The Fractal Alphabet

While the designs have a fractal aesthetic, I don’t think they count as truly fractal, in that they are not mathematically generated. They are self-replicating. However, the title Self-Replicating Alphabet lacks zing.

My usage of the term meets the second half of the dictionary definition, “a complicated pattern in mathematics built from simple repeated shapes that are reduced in size every time they are repeated:.” Cambridge Dictionary: fractal, emphasis mine.

“Or simply drawing on fractal geometry for inspiration.” IBM100: Fractal Geometry, Cultural Impacts

IBM100: Fractal Geometry. A bit heavy on the corporate wonderfulness, but an interesting recap. Have not watched videos due to my Internet feeling miserly. “What I did was to open up roughness for investigation.” Mandelbrot. [ibid, page 1]

Thank you to Gement showing me that fractals and fractal-adjacent designs are something I can create.

Fractal A, alternate

Onwards!
Katherine

Part I A Day To Celebrate Small Victories [Muse & The Summer Movie]

Part II

Muse: I see a problem.

Writer: I thought a muse was supposed to be the bearer of good news.

Muse: A muse is the bringer of ideas. The *idea* I have is that you have several cute stories about perseverance and success. What you don’t have is a holiday.

Writer: … phooey …

Muse: I thought the mandate was a summer holiday movie.

Writer: I already said phooey.

Muse: Start again or fix what you have?

Writer: Oh definitely fix. Took way too long to get this far. Plus, I like the idea of celebrating the small things. So, two issues, how to make a holiday out of that and then how to make a movie out of the holiday.

Muse: Frame?

Writer: Hmmm. That could work. It would be a way to tie it all together, not to mention lengthening the run time. But a frame of what?

Muse: You said, ‘how to make a holiday out of that.’ The movie could be how it came to be a holiday.

Writer: !

Muse: You got something?

Writer: Establishing shot. Grandma, how did this holiday start? Cue interrelated tales of people having a good day at work, or achieving a difficult skill, etc, etc. Then, this is the new bit, finish with how one good day grew into a repeating holiday. The main characters from the vignettes are having dinner, or something, exactly a year later ….

Muse: I love the sound of ideas rushing out.

Writer: … huh, what? …

Writer: Nothing. Keep going.

… a year later. One of them says, ‘Hey, this is the day that XYZ happened.’ The rest agree, that was a good day, which gets them talking about the little things that happened since. They vow to get together the next year. Quick pan following each of them through the year, having them make notes of their triumphs. They meet and discuss. It becomes a tradition to meet once a year, hence A Day To Celebrate Small Victories.

Muse: And the advertisers?

Writer: Handled. As the idea spreads among their friends and family, people incorporate giving small gifts. Some overdo it. Diamonds are small in size, after all. But most people stick to little things. Oooh, mathoms.

Muse: And a mathom is what when you take it out of the box?

Writer: You know perfectly well. It’s from The Hobbit. “Mathom was the hobbit term for anything they had no use for but were unwilling to discard … This way, mathoms travelled from hand to hand often around the whole Shire, sometimes finding their way back to the original owner.” [The One WIki To Rule Them All: Mathom]

Muse: Just checking.

Writer: Let’s say one year person A gives a cheap pin with a cute saying to person B. The next year person B gives it to Person C, explaining that it came from person A. Regifting is seen as as good thing, both environmental and sentimental. Not buying is counter-intuitive, but we call tell advertisers that they can sell the holiday as not just another commercefest, while knowing people will still buy stuff. They can even use regifting as a selling point. Buy this to give away next year. Anyway, marketing will have plenty to work with. Movie ends with Grandmother & kid exchanging Small Victory gifts.

Muse: And another holiday is born.

Writer: Thanks, Muse,

Muse: It’s what I do.

~~~ curtain ~~~

Awareness of the outside world. A conservative court is the direct result of the 2016 election. Voting matters. Remember this in 2024.

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Milton in the Morning

Technical Details. Phone camera. Taken from the ground. Phone choices: f/1.7, 1/1008 sec., 3.9 mm, ISO 40.

The best camera is the one you have with you.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. NIFA.USDA: Veterinary Services Shortage Situations Map. Blanket thank you to Amy for being my go-to dog person. [Archive]

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For direct address, we use the dog’s name. Usually.

For referencing in conversation, we have all kinds of names.

Jasmine

Name Change. The name we used is technically a nickname. Her registered name is CH L’Ile De Feu’s Lady In Red. Her call name was Jezebel. We changed that early on. [Meet The New Dogs, scroll down]

Duchess. For her ability to manage her minions and for her stately head and square jawline. [AiW Wiki: The Duchess]

Floppsie, Wobbles. We really shouldn’t. Sometimes they just pop out.

Rose

Weird Little Dog. Basset Hounds are not small dogs, they are simply short. However, Rose plays the small card when something is happening that she doesn’t like. For example, when it’s time to go bask on the patio and she rather stay inside on her chair. No one here but a tiny ball of adorable dog fluff. Easy to overlook. Nothing to see here. Hence Little. When there is something she really doesn’t like she stares at you in horror and skootles around the house. Nope, sorry dog. I was there when you were picked up at the breeder. I know the house you lived in for ten years. You are not a feral beast who survived by her wits on the mean streets. Hence Weird. [Spotted in Boston]

The Sausage. Another one we shouldn’t. Not only is she long, round, and overstuffed, but she is remarkably straight-sided and she trots with a gait that resembles a sausage on wheels.

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Jasmine & Rose Fan Club [list of posts]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Vox: The Supreme Court decides not to destroy democracy in the United States, Millhiser Jun 27, 2023.

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Onwards!
Katherine