Awareness of the outside world. Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2022, Day One: Traditionally Published Books. While these posts are framed as gift guides, they can be used to find books to read, music to listed to, art to buy, & causes to support without bringing the red and green monster into it.
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I am on record as not feeling the festive season this year. [A Brief Check-In, intro]
Even I can’t avoid Christmas entirely.
Stepping Stone Farm annual barn Christmas party. People in Christmas sweaters. Potluck food. (My chef brought homemade pretzel bites. So good. Battled with self to leave some for others.) Christmas tree. Decorated stalls. Watching the kids play Dirty Santa. Announcements. Horses with bows.
Back in the 80s, I rode in the side-saddle class at Washington. Through a fluke of organizing, the class was able to claim the title of World Champion. The story I heard was that they looked around, saw no one was using the title, grabbed it, and ran. The selection criteria was brutal. Your check had to clear. This was back when we sent checks to horse shows.
Thank you to the National Sporting Library and Museum for digital scans of the pages and covers. My copies went missing after a leak in my office.
Back to the horse show.
George & I entered for giggles. Our turnout was flawless. We looked awesome standing still. As soon as George took a step. Bzzzzzzt! Thank you for playing. We went back to defend our also-ran status the next year.
Down The Rabbit Hole Institution memory is short. “We are excited to incorporate this new discipline into our program.” WIHS: Ladies’ Side Saddle Hunter returns to WIHS lineup. Not so new. At least the title writer got it right.
“The evening session features the $25,000 International Open Jumpers and the World Champion Ladies Sidesaddle Hunter (undersaddle) class.” Washington Post: SIDESADDLE IS FEATURED THIS WEEK, by Sarah L. Greenhalgh, 1998. Emphasis mine.
Awareness of the outside world. UChicago, Graham School: FFAC10104The History of Science Fiction. Online class starts 7 Jan. Registration closes 29 Dec. FREE intro lecture, UCGS: The History of Science Fiction, A Conversation with Ada Palmer and Jo Walton, Tue., Dec 20, 2022 | 12:00 – 12:45 pm CST. NB this is tomorrow. Course is being co-taught by Professor Ada Palmer, who I have mentioned once or twice. (Blog search says five times.) I have registered for the class. Join me! We can study together. Obviously the free lectures are teasers for the classes, but they tend to be interesting also.
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Rodney, while being blanketing of an evening: What is this ‘layering’ I hear about? How does that work?
Yes, Rodney now wears layers.
Another variable for blanket math.
What is the temperature?
Sunny or cloudy? Raw, cold days bring out the blanket in me.
Day or night? Short of hot, humid summer nights, if it’s dark, Rodney can at least wear his sweatshirt.
Wet or dry? Our current waterproof blankets are all on the cold end of the spectrum. Warm and rainy, he’s out of luck.
What am I wearing? I joke, but Rodney’s response to weather is fairly close to mine. [I’m Cold, You Need A Blanket]
Reminder, we are talking about an unclipped, healthy, older horse, living in the American South. What can I say, he likes to be toasty.
Apparently, a quilt journal is a book in which one records the details of the quilt one is making. I heard the words completely differently. Since an illuminated journal is a journal that is illuminated, a quilt journal is a journal that is quilted, right? I though it was a cool idea. I would so do this if I were a quilter.
It was a great trip … sightseeing, so much sightseeing … saw all the historic buildings .. visited museums … ate street food … saw a movie being made … rode in a cable car up to a castle … listened to music in scenic squares … time spent at the beach and in parks … time spent time looking at the stars … went to a play … had nice meal … shopping, so much shopping … it’s good to be home.
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Process notes. Images from Emojipedia, Samsung versions.
Rabbit Hole. My search did not turn up any online examples, although I’m sure folks have done this. The closest I found was a crochet temperature blanket by @lapplecrochets on instagram.
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Update. Story quilts! That was the search term I needed to use. Thank you Jane. (See comment.)
When you disagree with the people around you on every possible social, cultural, and political issue, the thing that brings you together has to be exceptionally strong. It is for horses. It wasn’t for firefighting.
There were other reasons that I stopped volunteering as a firefighter.
I got busy with horses. Yay.
I was bad at it. Boo.
This is not me fishing for compliments. There are things I am good at – horses, handcrafts. There are things I am bad at – dancing, firefighting. I took the extensive volunteer training course. I took a special short course on pumpers. I still cannot get water in one end of a pump and out the other.
I remember standing in front of our old pumper while the Chief explained the operation of the front-mounted pump. I could feel – literally feel – the information draining back out of my head as he spoke.
Where are the lead shanks for the show? Over there in that one of three identical tack boxes. Piece of equipment X is behind which roll-up door on the engine? Huh …
I could not safely provide the level of competence that other people legit should have been able to expect of me given how long I had been there.
But I have wandered into the weeds.
So, safety was the biggest factor. Alienation wasn’t the biggest factor, but it was one of them.
At the one year anniversary of 9/11, we represented at a local church service. The speaker did not quite go as far as the Sodom & Gomorrah argument that we deserved it, but they flirted with it. Then, they went on to discuss a variety of social issues, on all of which I held the opposing point of view.
If I hadn’t been in uniform, I would have gotten up and walked out.
I liked firefighting. I sometimes think about going back. It’s been long enough that the expectations would be lower and therefore ones that I could meet competently and safely. Is my interest strong enough to overcome the social distance?
On the other hand, horses.
In the first place, points of opposition simply don’t come up. Horse people can go away for a horse show and talk about nothing but horses all weekend.
And then, I cut the situation more slack.
As an example, makeup.
In general, I am not a fan of makeup. In specific, it has no place in sport.
I have no inherent objections to the concept of facial modification. Wanna dye your hair purple and paint roses on your face? Rock on. What I object to in the cosmetics industry is the message that you are not beautiful, that you are not enough as you are. Dye your hair. Have surgery on your face. Make your eyes bigger, your skin smoother, your face flushed. You must change. Look younger. Look sexier.
No.
One could make the argument that horse show makeup is along the lines of theatrical makeup. Helping you to be seen by your audience, i.e. the judge. I’ve made this argument.
“Conversely, I am much happier with this look. It leaves behind thorny issues on the hyper-sexualization of women and enters the realm of theater. This I can live with. … Or maybe I just don’t do subtle.” [Shopping: Make-up]
But really, it would be a better justification if all performers wore makeup, as they do on stage. When only one subset of the group is doing so, you are back to the narrative that something is different for subset. They must look, do, behave differently to be allowed on the playing field.
Again, no.
Plus, how my horse goes should have nothing to do with how supposedly pretty my eyes are. Watch the horse, dude.
But I digress.
The point is, despite all the words I am willing to spill on the subject, I was also willing to sit down and have my face painted if that was what it took to ride.
Photo by Mom
“She said this proves that I will do almost anything to get on a horse.” [Things My Momma Told Me]
When you disagree with the people around you on every possible social, cultural, and political issue, the thing that brings you together has to be exceptionally strong.
Improving my photographic skills? Hauling out the big camera? If I may quote a current meme, That sounds like a 2023 problem. Instead, please enjoy phone snaps of Spotted at Lake Ontario from my recent trip to New York State. [Erie Canal & Environs]
Looking at videos of a horse for sale. On paper, horse seems nice. On paper, they all seem nice.
So many variables.
One thing I can say for certain. My psychological paralysis on the subject has not magically disappeared. “The more I do this, the more I wonder how anyone buys a horse ever.” [Status Of The Horse Hunt, Needle Pegged at Overwhelm]
Virtual Brush Box 