Virtual Brush Box

Words from the outside world. Ars Technica: How “Wordle editor” became a real job at The New York Times, Orland, 11/12/2022.

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I had a plan for Thursdays, “Moving forward, any saddle seat lessons will be stirred in with any hunter/jumper/eventing lessons, dogs, etc., for an Other category on Thursdays.” [Other Horses, Whither Saddle Seat Wednesdays, Or How Wednesday Became Thursday]

Lately, Thursdays have been more dog hair, less horse hair.

Why More Dogs

People who knew Jasmine & Rose in Boston (Waves hi!) like to hear about them. Cute dog stories? On it.

Why No Other Horses I

All of the jumping barns have full dance cards. My guess is that outdoor activities got a boost when ventilation became a concern. Or maybe they are simply busy. If I were a high-ticket client, they would find a way to fit me in. I’m not, so they don’t.

In a way I can’t blame them. They don’t know me. They don’t know my history. All they see is a gray-haired, old lady freaking out over crossrails. It would be natural to think this client is neither interesting nor remunerative. They are wrong. The only way I can prove this is to get a horse, get my act together, get myself to the shows, and demonstrate what I can do. There is so much bullshittery in the horse world that you believe what people do, not what people say.

Net, net. No jump lessons for me.

Why No Other Horses II

The lack of saddle seat lessons is more a case of getting in my own way.

Schedule. The times that are good to take lessons are also the times that are good to work the home team.

inertia. In the abstract, I approve of lessons for their own sake. In reality, it appears that I require an upcoming show to get my ass in gear. Plus, I currently have a level of inertia that would utterly fail to move mountains. [Making Time For The Other Horses]

Nerves. Have not magically evaporated.

Other Other Horses

There are two horse-shaped Thursday posts on the horizon. One is a guest post (Thank you!) the other is happenings elsewhere in the horse world.

This looks to be where Thursdays are for the moment. Amusing horse tidbits mixed with dogs.

Onwards!
Katherine

Sports of the outside world. “The game commonly known as ice hockey is hereby recognized and declared to be the national winter sport of Canada and the game commonly known as lacrosse is hereby recognized and declared to be the national summer sport of Canada.” Government of Canada, Justice Laws Website: National Sports of Canada Act, 1994

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Last month, I went to Montreal for a family visit. To be clear, family does not live in Canada. We gathered in Montreal.

Les Promenades Quotidiennes/The Daily Walks

Jeudi/Thursday

Gare Centrale de Montréal. Around the block while waiting to meet an arriving train.

Vendredi/Friday

(map currently stuck in email limbo)

Saint Lawrence River. Staying on an island. Must go look at river. Check. The Canadian Encyclopedia: St. Lawrence River.

Samedi/Saturday

Holiday Inn Montreal Centreville Downtown. Around the block while waiting for folks to assemble for dinner.

Dimanche, 5K Pour Le Mois/Sunday, Monthly 5K

Run For Women
Parc Maisonneuve
Montreal
June 11, 2023
Time – 59:40
Update. 59 min gun time = 52 min GPS time + 7 min from official start untiI I crossed start line.

Canadian red border colour from Canada.ca: Colour: Design Standard for the Federal Identity Program

Last month [One Place, Lots of Pasture, State of the Fitness]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. CNN: South Koreans become younger overnight after country scraps ‘Korean age’, Yeung & Seo, June 27, 2023.

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Updated Now page.

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July 2023

🐴🐴

‘Tis the season to be out of the sun. Work in the morning. Chill inside under the fans during the day. Occasional grazing forays. We have not reached daily afternoon baths, but are getting close.

🐶🐶

Dogs also inside during the day. Their choice. Well, Jasmine’s choice. Rose would stay inside, on her chair, 24/7 with brief outings for the restroom & occasional walkies. Anyway. Once it got hot, Jasmine stopped asking for a mid-morning transfer to the patio. How does she know the weather from inside an air-conditioned house?

🐱

Cats continue to patrol from house to barn, looking for rodents &/or comfortable places to sleep. They seem to care more about coming in from the rain than avoiding the heat.

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Last Month [Yet More Walking]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. A good description of how people can inadvertently commit errors. “And then no-one saw a problem with that, which I attribute to the fact that the people making these decisions were overwhelmingly white … which means that racism isn’t constantly shoved in their faces the way it is for non-white people, which means they have the luxury of not thinking about race, which means that they can perpetuate racist stereotypes without even noticing.” LotR re-read: Fellowship movie re-watch, Nepveu, 2009. Emphasis mine.

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New set up. Bought PIVO pod. Uses cell phone. Had tripod. [Beeswax Creek Park]

For those who haven’t heard about these widgets, a PIVO, or similar device, automatically tracks and records a moving horse.

Maybe a virtual driven dressage test. Maybe virtual lessons. Maybe nothing in the near future. It will get used. Virtual ain’t going away.

Onwards!
Katherine

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