Virtual Brush Box

Images

36 Days of Type
[Project Intro]
[36 Days of Type, A to G]
[36 Days of Type, H to N]

Words

Photo source, Muppet Wiki: Fork in the Road

During college, I spent a semester in the south of France. For my spring break, I went up to Vienna to see the Spanish Riding School. This meant two days on trains going over and two days going back. Who wouldn’t want to spend most of a vacation week on trains?

Totally worth it.

Needless to say, none of my classmates were of like mind. I went alone.

On the way back, on a train platform somewhere between Austria and France, I met a charming young man. We hit it off immediately. Chatted for five or ten minutes as if we had been friends for years. Plus, he was cute. When his train arrived, he invited me to come with him. I declined. I had to get back to class.

Doh!

I smack myself. Not that I didn’t go. I smack myself that it never occurred to me to go. That I never even considered an alternate path. My college program was expecting me in class on Monday. Class is what one did. Back I would go. What’s the opposite of teen rebellion? That would have been me.

So, of course, I wonder.

Hopping on a train with a random stranger was not as flaky as it sounds. Early 80s Europe was awash in students with Eurail Passes clutched in their grubby paws. In Vienna, I shared a hotel room with two women from Kalamazoo College who I had met on the train on the way. We met. We got along. We shared a destination. We shared a room. Made sense. Changing the gender changed the dynamic, but the underlying idea remained.

I’m interested in the incident as much from a narrative point of view as anything else. Given the same starting characteristics, how would the story have ended differently?

Forks In The Road

It might have changed everything.

He might have been a horrible person and I would have ended up as a statistic.

He might have been a wonderful person and our meetcute in a train station is the story we tell our grandchildren.

He might have been a mix of both and the experience prompted me to change my major, take up the cello, insert abrupt life/career offshoot.

The fork in the road is story-telling staple. A small change launches the protagonist down a different life path. For example, “Spell My Name with an S” by Isaac Asimov, wherein a major global realignment results from shifting a Z to an S.

The fork in the road idea is often combined with time travel, wherein the protagonist makes a small change that has enormous repercussions. For example, “Sound of Thunder” by Raymond Bradbury, which gives new meaning to the term Butterfly Effect.

Or the protagonist goes back in time with the specific intention of making the small change to affect the grand design. I recall a story that hinged on going into the past to a specific hospital closet in order to move a box of drugs from one shelf to the next. (Memory does not record what happened or which story this was. Too vague for surfing success. Ring any bells?)

Bumps In The Road

It might have changed nothing

I run off. Have grand – or not so grand – adventures. Eventually return to class. Get yelled at for my absence. Resume studies. Life returns to status quo ante, with the addition of a few fond – or not so fond – memories.

Convergent fate appears less often in fiction. Less interesting. Less plot potential. If it shows up, it is usually as a reason that time travel cannot make changes to the past. One of Jodi Taylor’s St. Mary’s books has a moment where a character almost intervenes only to have a heavy statue almost land on them. The message is Don’t Mess With History. (Or so my memory tells me. It would have been one of the early books. Any Taylor fans out there want to confirm?)

Here’s speculative example from another area of my life. Let’s say I had taken a different part-time job in high school. My friend would not have been on hand to wear me down about filling out a college application with seven (7!) essays. Since I met my husband in college, and since we live were we do because of his job, a different college would have meant a different life for me. Maybe not. Maybe I would have taken a different job than the one I did, met my future husband on a work trip, and ultimately ended up right where I am now.

Forky Bumps In The Road

It might have changed everything and nothing.

As part of an undergraduate history class at the University of Chicago, Professor Ada Palmer does a participatory reenactment of the papal election of 1490. While the characters are all historically accurate, she jiggers the plot just enough that there is no “right” answer. UC: A Papal Election Here on Campus

As a result of the election, nothing changes. A bad Pope is elected. War comes. Historical forces will not be denied.

As a result of the elections, everything changes. Which man? What families rise as a result? Which families fall? Where does the war break out? Which towns burn?

In my case, I might have ended up as a freelance writer (no change) living in the Deep South (no change, sigh), with a completely different husband (big change).

Questions For The Audience

For everyone. What think you? History/fate/life is an exploding array of diverging choices? History etc is inevitable? A mix of both?

For three people. Did you attended Kalamazoo college and visit Vienna in early 1982? Did you chat up a stranger at a train station, probably somewhere in France, also in early 1982? If you did either of these, drop a me line. Let me know how your life turned out.

Onwards!
Katherine

Fit To Ride

Awareness of the outside world. “Our aim help spread awareness of sports for everyone, regardless of physical shape, age and personal goals. In addition to organizing sports- and cultural events, our purpose is to contribute and provide financial support to sporting and humanitarian matters, as well as promoting Tromsø and our region as an attractive destination.” MSM.no: The purpose of our events.
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The pasture by moonlight.

Virtual PolarNight Marathon
Sats Mørketidstrim (5k)
Official Location- Tromoso, Norway
IRL Location – pasture
January 19, 2021
Time – 1:25:02
Placing overall – 31, last
Placing gender – 22, also last. Would have to be.
Placing age – 1, solo. They prematurely bumped me up to 60-64 category. Would have been 10 out of 11 in Kvinner 55-59 år.
Results

The Walk

As with last year, I wanted to do a walk in the spirit of an arctic night.

Yup. I did a 5K by moonlight.

No GPS because light. No flashlight. Although, my eyes never got completely dark adapted because I kept taking pictures. SA: Why does it take so long for our vision to adjust to a darkened theater after we come in from bright sunlight?, 2007.

Time includes a trip back to the house. There are some things ya just don’t want to do in a stall.

Horses. What is the crazy lady doing now? Oh well. Later. Nap time. Both lying down at the same time. So much for setting guard.

[Pottering Around the Pasture In The Dimness, Polar Night Virtual 5K] 2021

The Walk That Almost Wasn’t

Too cold. Too dark. Waaaaay past my bedtime. No. Woke up in the middle of the night. Still no. Gonna stay in bed, thank you very much. Unfortunately/fortunately digestive system did not agree. Had get up to visit the smallest room. Hmm. Moon still up. Doesn’t look that bad. I’ll start and see how far it get. Glad I did.

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. Taking the NYT to task again. NYT: The Grimmest Dilemma, The Biden administration is facing an old Cold War dilemma: Be weak or risk a world war, Leonhardt, March 21, 2022. We are not five-year olds on a playground. There is a middle ground between cravenly wetting oneself and maniacal chest thumping. It’s called diplomacy. People make careers out of it. While the article was more nuanced than the headline implies, I worry about the cumulative damage done by alarmist headlines. [Previous NYT Milton Manages Most of A Lesson]

Two days later. An article with a pearl clutching headline about a !Crime Wave! goes on to say, ” … still far below the levels of the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s … ” NYT: Good Morning: A violent weekend highlights America’s continuing crime wave, Leonhardt, March 23. Emphasis mine.
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Rodney at Falcon Hill Farm. Note shorter mane. [Time]

He’s getting to be an old hand at ears photos.

Between weather & feet haven’t done much since last FHF. [Tires, Ears]

Jumping Diary

Walked tiny, tiny crossrail and vertical.

Trotted double ground poles.

As we approached the double groundpoles for the first time, Rodney spent half a stride thinking about jumping the whole mess. Decided not to. Hopped the first. Trotted out. Less hop the next time through. Third time, trotted like a 17-hand metronome. Good boy.

I kept eyeing the tiny, tiny vertical. It would be such a simple little jump to trot over. One tiny little hop. However, if he was still considering leaping into the air over groundpoles, best not ask for actual elevation. [Rodney’s Recent Jumps, Free Jumping]

There was enthusiasm being around that many jump standards, which is great. Still too much bravado. Confidence needs a sound base. [The Many Faces of Rodney Over Fences]

Onwards!
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. AL.com: Meet the Alabamians who made a difference in 2021.
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It’s that time of the year again. Time to trim manes and tails. We trim manes to tone down the scruffy. We trim tails to keep them off the ground.

It’s that time of the year again. Time to taunt the Saddlebred barn. I make sure to send a picture of our hair clippings. Coach Courtney always takes it in the spirit it is intended. 🙂

[Mane Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow] 2021
[The Unbridgeable Abyss That Shall Eternally Divide Them] 2020

Onwards!
Katherine

Riding

Awareness of the outside world. I favor a strict interpretation of the First Amendment, wherein the government shall not get after you. Even if you try to argue that you should be protected in general from the slings and arrows prompted by your outrageous comment, that reprehensible response is just as much protected free speech as your comment. Either way, the Gray Lady needs to pull her socks up.
~~~

Milton went back to Stepping Stone Farm last weekend. [Hooves]

Lesson

Milton & husband Greg.

Did the entire walk-trot group lesson from start to finish.

Sat out the canter segment peacefully. Yeah, we were surprised. Thought it was trot-only. No matter. Milton was perfectly happy to stand in the middle. Did not stress that he might be next.

Thought the third trot was uncalled for, but chugged through, and trotted into line-up with the rest of the class. Actually, they got caught on the wrong part of the ring and had to trot alllll the way around to get into position.

Good Boy! Good Boys!

Après Lesson

One of the SSF families bought a Bemer blanket and has set up a side hustle for sessions. As before, Milton loved his. Moved marvelously the next day. [Beaming with Bemer Blanket]

Onwards!
Katherine

Horsekeeping

Awareness of the outside world. NASA: NASA’s Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone, Optics Working Successfully, March 16, 2022. JWST: Webb Orbit, Animation of Webb’s Orbit.

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Liked this idea so much, I gave it its own post.

The excellent swag at the Montgomery 5K included a towel. [Circling The Capitol, Walk Report]

I love this. I wish more races would do it. Universally useful. Lots of room for sponsor logos. I don’t know about your house, but we go through way more towels than shirts.

This one has been designated the sacrificial pine tar towel. The plan is to use this one and keep the rest of the barn towels in better shape. [Pine Tar Update and New Barn Rule]

It’s brightly colored. It’s easy to find. It’s not a color we have elsewhere in barn. As you can see, the right side of the towel already has an inaugural smudge from simply lying on top of the hoof care tote.

More towels please!

Onwards!
Katherine