Virtual Brush Box

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Alabama News Center: Alabama pool player Ed Gill is 96 years young and still going strong, McKinney, April 1, 2022.

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Had a second lesson on Saturday at Stepping Stone Farm.

Would I like to ride in the walk/trot lesson with Milton & Greg? [Hooves, Lesson]

Hmm. Hadn’t even occurred to me.

Yes. This is the obvious and efficient answer. I’m there anyway. Doing is better than not doing, right?

No. Watching/helping them is kinda the point of the exercise. Plus it’s too hard to ride two horses at the same time.

Yes but no. This is where I ended up. A lesson but not until Milton was done and standing at the trailer tucking into his hay.

Optimus was, of course, a star.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. The Canadian Horse Heritage & Preservation Society: 2022 CHHAPS Challenge: 100 Hours in 100 Days, June 1- September 11, 2022. Open to all breeds. Grooming time counts. I know nothing beyond what it says here. Anyone know about the breed? The organization? The challenge?

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I have most definitely chosen the path of maximum positive reinforcement for my lessons at Stepping Stone Farm. [Lessons, Theory Vs. Reality, Further Considerations]

I ride a nice, well-trained beginner’s horse.

Trot please. Okay.

Canter please. Okay.

Could I ride “more” horse? Sure.

Talent? Good looks & charm? Attitude? Drama? Got enough of that at home, thank you very much.

Ride a nice, pleasant horse on a nice, pleasant day.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Health Imaging: Be prepared: IV contrast media shortage could last up to 8 weeks, Murphy, May 06, 2022.

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Total. 33.8 miles, 18 rides, 14 hours 57 minutes, 26:32 pace, 2.12 mph.

This week. 6.3 miles, 4 rides, 2 hours 35 minutes. Pace & rate, as above.

Pace recorded from results, mph calculated. That’s why they don’t match. According to an online running calculator, a 26.32 pace equals 2.2 mph, while 2.12 mph converts to a 28.18 pace. Meh. Close enough. You get the idea. Turtle power!

Notes

First pre-breakfast ride of the year. Horses are fine with it. Me, not so much. Doesn’t matter what time I get to bed. I will never be a morning bunny.

Despite our leisurely speed, we are in the middle of the pack, 177 & 178 out of 370 (48%). Only 20 have finished. From this I assume that the real endurance riders are off doing IRL endurance rides. The VT has settled down to folks who knock off a few miles at a time.

Posts
[First Quarter Complete, Week 4, Virtual Tevis 2022]
[VT archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. NYT: Museum of Natural History’s Renewed Hall Holds Treasures and Pain, Lubow, May 5, 2022. Subtitle: Its oldest gallery, Northwest Coast Hall, reopens May 13 with rare cultural objects and a fresh emphasis on the lives of Indigenous people who made them. Announcement of project, AMNH: A Major Project in the Northwest Coast Hall, 2017, in case you can’t access the NYT. Hat tip to L.

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Went a few towns south for the most recent load of hay. Limit 15 bales. Never seen that before. I end up here about once a year. They seem to have hay when we don’t. Better contacts? Different contacts? Different buying patterns among their customers? No idea. Just glad they had hay.

Nice, heavy bales. The previous few batches from another places have been packed so loosely that one “flake” squashes down to nothing. It concerns me when I can easily lift the bale.

May this been the start of a beautiful hay season.

Previous
[The Search Iterates, Hay Quest 2022]

Onwards!
Katherine

Images

Awareness of the outside world. History.com: Mother’s Day 2022.
~~~

From left,
Mary Elizabeth Parsons, the future Mrs. William Farnum Bunting, my grandmother
daughter of
Mrs. Charles Bergen Parsons, née Marie Louise Swan
daughter of
Mrs. Emil Francis Swan, née Mary Wescott Goff
daughter of
“Dear” Goff

Three of the four generations above with the addition of my mother. (Waves Hi!)

My mother and me.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Onwards!
Katherine

Blogging About Blogging

Awareness of the outside world. It’s weird to see dates of late 2019/early 2020. I can’t help but think, ‘We had no idea …‘
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What is out there?

I. The Image

It started with a photo on Twitter.

#SomethingBeautiful Silver Renaissance horse armor, given as a gift by Emperor Maximilian to Henry VIII pic.twitter.com/jnOXSBWjy3

— Ada Palmer "PERHAPS THE STARS" IS OUT! (@Ada_Palmer) April 14, 2022

Oh pretty. Hmmm, I can use that on the blog. How? (Tweet text, #SomethingBeautiful Silver Renaissance horse armor, given as a gift by Emperor Maximilian to Henry VIII. @Ada_Palmer April_14, 2022.) May need to click over for image.

Step one. Find out where it is from.

The Maximilian exhibit at the Met 2 years ago.

— Ada Palmer "PERHAPS THE STARS" IS OUT! (@Ada_Palmer) April 15, 2022

Thank you. (Tweet text. The Maximilian exhibit at the Met 2 years ago. @Ada_Palmer April_15, 2022)

On to the Met.

The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I 

There it is.

II. The Search

Hmm. I wonder how much is out there. The Met is huge. NYC is a high-visibility place. I bet a lot of people saw this. I bet a lot of them wrote about it. All links around the time of the exhibit, 2019/2020.

Official website. The Met: The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I. Has an audio guide, a gallery of 180 art works, videos, and lots and lots of text. What you would expect from a museum of the Met’s caliber. Flip-thru of exhibition book by Yale Press, YouTube: The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I by Peter Terjanian.

Non-museum finds

Most Immersive. YouTube: Adam Savage Tours the MET’s Last Knight Exhibit!. “At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Curator-in-Charge of the MET Department of Arms and Armor Pierre Terjanian takes an absolutely OUT OF HIS MIND Adam Savage through the museum’s historic and fascinating new exhibit: The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I.” Photo gallery from video. Tested: Photo Gallery: The Last Knight Exhibit at The MET.

Most Unexpected. Invitation, USK NYC: SATURDAY: Sketch the Last Knight – NYC Urban Sketchers. Participant artwork. Mary Lynch’s Art: Silver Armor

Viewpoints

Hypotheses: Review of the exhibition The Last Knight (October 7, 2019 – January 5, 2020, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) “Martial Culture in Medieval Town, This academic blog aims to explore the relation between the town and the martial culture in the middle ages, based on a research project at the university of Berne”

Walk About New York: About “The Last Knight”

Medievalists.net: Combining Chivalry and Technology: The Last Knight and Making Marvels at the Metropolitan Museum, Mondschein

Worlds of art & literature

Gerald Stiebel, Missives from the Art World: The Last Knight

ArtDependence: The Met Opens The Last Knight Exhibition: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I

YRB (MoMA): The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I Exhibition October 7, 2019 – January 5, 2020 @metmuseum #MetLastKnight

BLARB: The Empty Suits: On The Last Knight at the Met, Trela

Reviews from media outlets. No NYT because paywall.

Forbes: The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I, The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, Press

WSJ: ‘The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I’ Review: Finding Perfection in Protection, Scherer

~~~

In an different section of the rabbit hole, my blog post for the crossword tournament was put up on the site.

ACPT: 2022 tournament page
[Pondering The Rules Of Play, The 44th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament]

Onwards!
Katherine

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. UTNews: Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste, Apr 27, 2022.
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The majority of my pasture walking this month was part of our Virtual Tevis rides, rather than my usual virtual strolls. [VT archives, Walking Virtually Kyiv]

Physically the same; mentally different.

Format for warm-up walking. Tack up horse. Put halter over bridle. Tack up self. Drop stirrups. Tighten girth. Horse all ready to go except for rider. Walk lap(s). Get on. Finish ride.

This allows Rodney to loosen up without having to deal with a rider. This allows me to not have to deal with a tight horse.

Both are laps around the pasture. Walking is walking, right?

Ehhhhh, not really.

When we are warming-up, I am definitely in a riding headspace. When I am strolling on my own, I’m not in any particular headspace. Sometime I think about work or blog posts. Sometimes I wander along and look at the pretty trees.

I finally did a solo stroll at the end of the month. Realized how much I missed it. In the future, the plan is keep up with solo walks even if I have done/will do warm-up walking the same day.

Of note. Listening to a lecture for the entire walk falls in the first, pre-ride category. Walking with horse on leadline is in the second, strolling category. From this I conclude that the difference has to do with the level of concentration required.

It’s not just me. Rodney approaches walks differently if he is tacked up versus loafing along on a lead rope. Which is why I tack up and tighten the girth for warm-up walks. From this I conclude that he is also affected by the level of concentration required.

I will still need to listen to an audio book or easy lecture for the middle lap as a marker. [Keeping Track]

Places

Pasture.

Local Park. Muddy day.

The Shops at Grand River. Daily mile. In area to pick up bib for …

Indy 5K at Barber Motorsports Park. [post pending] Plus 1 mile toward Virtual Kyiv walking to start & from finish. [Indy 5K Walk]

Lakeshore. [Another Impromptu 5k, Shades Creek Greenway]

Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Credit Union Cherry Blossom 5K Run-Walk. [waiting on medal]

Update [In The Pink, Walk Report, Cherry Blossom Virtual 5K]

Data Dump

Walk. 22 out of 30 days. Non-walking days were the usual mix of riding lessons, rain/mud, and days when I couldn’t even.

TC. 10 out of 21 weekdays. Over-moused my shoulder playing games on my computer. Waving my arms around held little interest for several days.

Bike. 1 day.

Onwards!
Katherine