Virtual Brush Box

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. One death is a tragedy. One thousand deaths is a news story. Am having trouble coming to gripes with several recent catastrophic headlines. My brain keeps sliding away from the facts.

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Went to check out another local jumper show that started lower than last time. This show had two classes each of crossrail jumper and 18″, optimum time rather than fastest round. [Stopping By A Horse Show]

Would be an excellent place for us to start. Be at a show. Go in. Look around. Walk over jumps if needed. The jumps are ridiculously small, particularly given the experience levels of horse & rider (Separately, that is. Together, not so much. But I digress) Height has never been the problem.

Would I feel stupid going in at this height with my big, fancy horse? Yes. Is it what my horse needs? Also yes.

The epitome of flat cups. The poles were resting on the legs of the standards. On one hand, made for super low crossrails. OTOH, fell down if you gave them a stern look.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Phys.org: Why do cats lick and chew catnip? Researchers find an answer. Press, June 14, 2022.

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Situation. You are in the ring with other riders. Everyone is doing their own thing. You & your horse are chilling at the walk.

I was always taught that you yield the rail to those who are working. You stay OFF the rail to stay out of the way.

In a saddle seat ring, you never pass between another rider and the rail. Therefore you stay ON the rail to stay out of the way, so that folks can pass you on the inside.

You can see how this would lead to a certain amount of confusion for those of us switching between disciplines.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Reuters: Ancient DNA solves mystery over origin of medieval Black Death, Dunham, June 15, 2022. Explainer, Cleveland Clinic: Bubonic Plague. I remember being greatly disturbed when I found out it still exists. Seven or so cases in the US each year; treatable with antibiotics.

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This week. 4 miles, 3 rides, 1 hour 56 minutes, pace – walk.

Total. 65.5 miles, 38 rides, 28 hours 59 minutes, pace 26:35 min/mile.

To go. 34.5 miles in 26 days.

Ring Work

Milton
Ring work this week – 9 miles, 7 rides
Ring work total – 14.5 miles, 9 rides
Ride Total if we include ring mileage – 80 miles

Rodney
Ring work this week & total – 1 mile, 1 ride
Ride Total if we include ring mileage – 66.5 miles

Ring work miles being kept in reserve.

Notes

A few days off. Princess (Rodney) took longer than usual to adjust to his new pea (shoes), probably because they stand around under the fans all day rather than grazing and walking. I think he actually manage to register a 0.25 lameness, which is a new mildness record for him. [My Horse Needs Tougher Tires]

One double-session day over the weekend for the additional mileage.

[More Progress Than I Thought We’d Make, Week 10, Virtual Tevis 2022]
[VT archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Mentally Fit To Ride

Good Enough is Good Enough
“Dr Winnicott’s crucial insight was that perfectionism can be cruel and counterproductive.” NIH: Br J Gen Pract. 2017 Jul; 67(660): 311.

Appointment with sports psych doc this week.

Preliminary data suggests that their approach is scientific without being medical. I can get behind that.

As always, specifics once I find out their comfort level with being blog fodder.

Onwards!
Katherine

Images

Art from the outside world. Black Southern Belle: 5 Pieces of Juneteenth Art We Adore!

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Motif, the thing that gets repeated.

Block repeat

Half-drop

Mirrored

Rotational

Radiating

Gradation

Source of terms. BBC: Bitesize, Pattern. With gorgeous examples.

More terms. So many terms. Artlandia: Pattern Design Terms Defined and Illustrated. Pattern design software.

Turns out there are only so many ways to repeat a motif. “A wallpaper pattern (also known as a plane crystallographic group) is a pattern with translation symmetry in two directions … In 1891 E. S. Fedorov proved that there are exactly 17 possible wallpaper patterns.” Mathematical Association of America, maa.org: wallpaper pattern.

How to omit words from a search, so one is not reading about dress patterns. ClickMinded: Tutorial: How to Exclude Words From Google Search. Yi, 2022.

Onwards!
Katherine

Words

Not reviews. Imagine we are in a bookstore. I wander up to you, hand you one of these books, say ‘Have you read this one?’, then wander off. Whereupon you look at the cover, turn it over, look at the back cover, read the blurb, flip through the book, and decide for yourself if you are interested. It’s like that. Enjoy. [HYRT]

Instagram: underthecaminosky
Instagram: unabashedly
A mother and daughter currently walking the Camino de Santiago. Screenshot from utcs account.

Worldwalk by Steven M. Newman (Morrow 1989). Publishers Weekly: Worldwalk. Author’s Facebook page. Book image from PW website.

A Walk In The Woods, by Bill Bryson (Broadway 1998, Black Swan 2015). Penguin : WITW. Cover image from publisher’s website.

Step by Step: A Pedestrian Memoir, by Lawrence Block (Morrow 2009), includes the Camino de Santiago. Cover image from author’s website.

Walking memoirs are a huge field. Any recommendations?

Posts

[Have You Read This? Happy Lunar New Year!]

[Have You Read This? Inspiration]

[Have You Read This? Travel]

[Have You Read This? Graphic Novel Edition]

Onwards!
Katherine

Images, Blogging About Blogging

Awareness of the outside world. Jim C. Hines: Thoughts on Blood Donation and Bodily Autonomy. May 2022.

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On Friday posts, I usually talk about my fitness efforts, such as they are. It’s difficult to generate content – particularly fitness content – with one’s foot in the air. [Bored]

So I restarted my Instagram account, virtual_brush_box.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by k (@virtual_brush_box)

First photo.

Caption: Art in the ER

Second Caption: Reopening account while I am on stall rest.

Unembedded copy of photo, in case Instagram decides to take their toys and go home.

Props

Got the idea when the main character in a book posted to Instagram, “Anything that matched the brand she was trying to build for herself.” Since my ‘brand’ is random shit, dunno why this spoke to me, but it did. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, by Ashley Herring Blake (Berkley 2022, Kindle)

Yes, I am a straight person who reads gay romance novels, either M/M or F/F. I find them restful. It is a similar situation to saddle seat versus hunter/jumper. I have few opinions on the conduct of gay relationships. I have many opinions on M/F relations. Have you ever noticed an incident written as cute in a novel that would qualify as sexual harassment in real life? But I digress.

Past

This was my Instagram page from November 2018 to now. Actually, it was more complicated than that. Instagram shut this account down. I started another one. And so on. [Contact]

Anyway.

This was the one I reopened.

Future

One photo so far. I’ll see what else turns up. At the other end of the scale, I’ll see if I can keep Instagram limited to an occasional, interesting side project.

Onwards!
Katherine