Scenic Travel, Guest Photo

Awareness of the outside world. Smithsonian: The Massive and Controversial Attempt to Preserve One of the World’s Most Iconic Islands, Stille, 2014.

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Photo by Allan Tuttle
Mont Saint Michel
circa early 1970s(?)

In honor of my father, who would have turned 84 this week. Photography was one of his hobbies. This print and mat hung on the wall of his various accommodations over the years. [My Short Happy Modeling Career]

Onwards!
Katherine

Scenic Dogs

Awareness of the outside world. JSTOR: New Evidence of the Earliest Domestic Dogs in the Americas, Perri et al., American Antiquity Vol. 84, No. 1 (January 2019), pp. 68-87 (20 pages), Cambridge University Press.

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Jasmine, The Observer Effect

Me: Let me get a photo of you basking in the morning sun.
Jasmine: Breakfast! Breakfast!

Mouth is mid-woof, tail is mid-wag.

Rose, The Waiting Game

While the responsible member of the household was grocery shopping, Rose and I went on sniff patrol.

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Jasmine & Rose Fan Club [list of posts]

Onwards!
Katherine

Scenic Tevis, Enjoying the 80s, Virtual Tevis 2023

Awareness of the outside world. US Forest Service: Pando

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Virtual Tevis Cup 2023
100 Miles in 100 Days
19 April to 30 July

Rodney – 10 miles this week, 89 miles total
Milton – 13 miles this week, 83 miles total
Tues 30 May to Mon 5 June

Mileage from handwalk, ride, longline, drive.

Looking Around

The scenery is not new. We’ve lived on this property a while now.

The scenery is not dramatic. We are walking in a pasture instead of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The scenery sure is pretty. Blue skies. Green trees.

Virtual Tevis Posts [Dressing The Part, Solidly in the 70s, Virtual Tevis 2023] & [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Fractal Square, Graphic Art

Art of the outside world. Smithsonian: Fractal Patterns in Nature and Art Are Aesthetically Pleasing and Stress-Reducing, Taylor, 2017.

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Fun with fractals #2, Fractal Square. [Fractal Triangle #1]

Process notes. Inkscape. Six iterations. Started with inner square, moved out.

Is it fractal if the design does not repeat cleanly and eventually runs into itself?

First iteration (yellow, big) – open on four sides
Second & third iterations (green & blue) – open on three sides.
Fourth iteration (pink) – some touch the yellow square and therefore are only open on two sides
Fifth iteration (red) – many open on two sides, the rest on three sides
Sixth iteration (purple, tiny) – anywhere from zero to three sides

Hat tip again to Gement for introducing me to this rabbit hole.

Onwards!
Katherine

A Day For Mnemonic Devices, Words

Awareness of the outside world. The six official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, & Spanish. “A delegate may speak in any official UN language. The speech is interpreted simultaneously into the other official languages of the UN. At times, a delegate may choose to make a statement using a non-official language. In such cases, the delegation must provide either an interpretation or a written text of the statement in one of the official languages. Most UN documents are issued in all six official languages, requiring translation from the original document.” UN: Official Languages

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Skipping State of The Blog this month. Nothing of note to say on the subject. [Archives]

Writing about other writing instead.

In Language Writer: Let me mnow your mnemonics!, Gaston Dorren talks about the “mnemonic device known as ‘bridge for donkeys’ in German and Dutch: an artificial and often tenuous, but helpful connexion between the hard word and something familiar.” LW: mnemonics

I don’t know another language well enough – despite years of study – that I need such a device. The essay caused me to recall other ways I get around the short circuits in my own brain.

Merriam-Webster defines mnemonic as “assisting or intended to assist memory.” MW: mnemonic

When I was a kid – maybe 2nd grade? – I had trouble with lower case b and lower case d. On their own in space, they were indistinguishable to me. Fortunately, I had a friend name Robin. (Waves hi, wherever you are.) Let’s say I was going for a B. If I put it in her name and it came out Rodin, I knew it was wrong. No other letters, just those two, for long enough that I can still recall doing the mental exercise.

That was then. This is now.

On the blog, I wrote Coach Courtney as Couch Courtney so often that one reader (waves hi) thought it was an inside joke. Nope. Just me not having a clue. Couch? Coach? Shrug. All I know is that when I refer to the lady who teaches me saddle seat, the vowels should not match. C*OA*ch C*OU*rtney.

I mistype were & where. I have no idea why. I don’t even see it. This one I have to rely on my beta reader (waves hi) catching once the post is published. Oops.

Do you use any mnemonics?

Non-fiction 4U

Donkey dude’s website, Gaston Dorren, Language Writer. Article by, Aeon: Talking gibberish, The study of languages has long been prone to nonsense. Why is linguistics such a magnet for dilettantes and crackpots? Book mentioned previously. [Danish Horses Say Vrinsk]

Gretchen McCulloch, Internet Linguist. “I’m the Resident Linguist at WIRED, where I write a column about internet language.” & “Assorted other bylines” GM: Writing

Onwards!
Katherine