Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. “Cranksgiving is a food drive on two wheels.” Cranksgiving. Over 100 rides thoughout the US, taking place September to November. We are going to try. Means I need to get back on a bicycle.

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I’m terrible with names.

I worked with a guy named Don.

I called him Dan for six months.

Tell me your pet’s name? I’ll remember that for years.

So, at a barn I can call you by your horse’s name.

This works great.

Until I run into a girl with a horse named Tubs.

True story.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Will Tell Stories For Food: How to Research a Local Political Race. 2022. WTSF is the blog of author Naomi Kritzer.

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I’m starting to share in Rodney’s delusions.

He thinks he is a fancy, retired, champion show horse. He likes to rest on the laurels of his past greatness. “As far as Rodney is concerned, he could’ve had a glorious show career. Therefore, he did have a glorious show career.” [Imagining Rodney]

In reality, not so much. [Rodney Lives With His Life Choices]

However.

Our most recent ride was months ago. Time passes. Memories fade. He’s a good-looking horse. He moves beautifully. I imagine how much he could have done. How much we could have done together.

Maybe somewhere, in some alternate universe, we did.

Like I said, delusions.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “Health issues in wives significantly increase divorce, particularly in older couples.” Psychology Today: What’s Behind a Shocking New Divorce Pattern. Sills, May 16, 2025. An unpleasant topic. I’ve forwarded the article twice recently, which means it’s probably worth sharing here. We’re fine. The people I talked to are fine. It was more something that arose in conversation.

~~~

Our morning walks are back and forth along the long side of the pasture.

The walk out is easy. The Cookie Meister sits in the corner and doles out treats. The horses are happy to head that way. [Version 2.0, Morning Walk Stories]

The walk back is easy. Heading to barn.

The tricky spot is the turnaround to start a new lap. If left to his own devices, Rodney is likely to say, ‘Later, Dudes’ and head back to the barn. If he goes back, he stays there.

Milton prefers to stay with the herd. He can be counted on to make the turn (as an unhitched caboose (edited for clarity)). If all goes awry and he ends up at the barn, he will come back out to see what everyone is up to.

So.

We all walk out together. Stop for morning pee.

Walk to corner. No lead ropes. On the first pass, sometimes they want me to take point. Sometimes, they march ahead.

At corner. Dispense cookies. Put leadrope on Rodney.

Walk back. Milton trundles along.

Turn around. Release Rodney. Off they go. [Milton’s Position in The Parade]

Repeat.

Last week we got back to the walks after missing a few days due to mud and rain. On the way back, Milton would get ahead of me and Rodney.

We had erred by missing a few days and he was now going to model the proper walk paradigm.

Would he make the turn on his own?

Yes, he would.

Because that’s how it’s done.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “Importantly, modern identity labels (gay, trans) didn’t exist in the 1400s so we don’t know what labels these people would’ve chosen … but … as long as I keep getting undergrads in my classroom whose educations-so-far left them with the impression homosexuality didn’t exist between Socrates and Oscar Wilde (sigh) we need to do better to show all these identities have histories.” Ex Urbe: LGBTQIA+ Renaissance. Ex Urbe is the blog of Ada Palmer.

~~~

The ongoing, undraining mud had soaked and softened the horse’s hooves. Milton was fine. Rodney’s feet got chewed up.

Hmm. He’s kinda missing a hunk of foot over there.

Is the blacksmith gonna find anything to nail to?

If shoes will be difficult, maybe think about doing without?

However.

Fly season is upon us, with the attendant hoof stomping.

.Although the ground is soft now, in a few weeks it will – probably – be dry and hard.

This is the wrong time of year to introduce barefoot. Particularly for an oversized horse with thin, Thoroughbred feet.

We will revisit the idea later in the year.

In the event, blacksmith had no trouble putting shoes on. Damage was all below the nails, so lots of good foot above. More alarming looking than actually alarming.

Onwards!
Katherine

Art plan did not eventuate. Have a cat.

Pamplemousse (Moose)
April 2025

Onwards!
Katherine

Table of Contents for class posts plus tidbits that did not fit in elsewhere. Online class, UC Graham: From Istanbul to Cairo: The City in the Historical Novels of the Middle East.

Cairo Tidbits

The Taste of Egypt had a shirt that says, Welcome Thursday in Arabic. Took me a minute. Answer below.

BBC: The Private Lives of the Pyramid-builders, Tyldesley 2011.

The Brooke started in Cairo. TB: About, Our History. It is an animal rescue, so not all sunshine & rainbows.

Popular Science: Scientists recreate lost recipes for a 5,000-year-old Egyptian blue dye, The oldest synthetic pigment in human history comes in a variety of hues. Paul, Jun 2, 2025.

LEGO: Great Pyramid of Giza, The Brothers Brick: LEGO Architecture 21058 Great Pyramid of Giza: draw back the sands of time [Review]. Did I use this class as excuse to buy a LEGO set? It’s possible.

Cairo Posts

Fridays, Photography

[Bean Can, Food Photography] 11 April.

[Pyramids in Birmingham, The Concord Center, Architectural Photography] 18 April

[Messing With The Menus, Post-Processing Photography] 25 April, bean can photo used as base

Saturdays, Fiction & Non-Fiction

[The City In Five, Poetry Adjacent] 5 April, hieroglyph for city

[Cairo Travel, Lots of Links, Non-Fiction] 19 April

Sundays, Art, etc

[Your Name In Hieroglyphics, Art Links] 6 April

[Cairo Tiling, Math Art] 13 April

[Festival Cookies, Food] 20 April

Cairo Intro Links

YouTube: Downtown Cairo Egypt – 4K immersive morning walk. 12 April

Arch Daily: Cairo Architecture City Guide 18 April

Cairo Previous Posts

P. Djèlí Clark, A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, & A Master of Djinn. [Quantum Truck II, Fiction] 21 Nov 2020 & [Trash Cans, Offered For Your Amusement] 11 June 2022

“The Cairo virtual tour looks interesting but that is 46 Miles / 75 KM.” [Walking Virtual Angkor Wat]

City Posts

Generalized city posts at start of class. Then class took a three-week break, so I switched back to generalized city posts. For the middle of the break, I switched to anniversary-related posts. More or less. #howthesausageismade.

Friday, Photography

[Pushing Buttons, Photography] 28 March, used city photo as base

[Transportation, Growing Up City, Non-Fiction Short] 10 May

[Scenes from a City Park, Photography] 30 May

Saturday, Fiction & Non Fiction

[Why Cities Have Tall Buildings, A Story] 29 March

[Knowing the Rules, Growing Up City, Non-Fiction Short] 26 April

[The Other Side of the Fishbowl, Non-Fiction Short] 24 May

Sunday, Art

[City Lettering, Graphic Art] 30 March

[The City Vertical, Graphic Art] 27 April

[Graffiti Logo, Graphic Art] 11 May

City Intro Links

The Guardian: The unexpected beauty of manhole covers around the world – in pictures 13 April

The Skyscraper Museum: Supertall! 27 April

Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia 10 May

Trust for Public Land: 2025 City Park Facts 30 May

City Previous Posts

So many for specific cities. Here’s a general city post.

“Gradually hero becomes becomes enchanted with big city values. Intellectual curiosity. Global viewpoints. Relentless energy. Meringue shops that are open late.” [Country Boy in The City, Plot for a Reverse Holiday Movie, Fiction] 24 December 2022

Istanbul Tidbits

Cathedral > Mosque > Museum > Mosque. “Turkey’s most famous author, Orhan Pamuk said the decision would take away the “pride” some Turks had in being a secular Muslim nation … There are millions of secular Turks like me who are crying against this but their voices are not heard,” he told the BBC.” BBC: Hagia Sophia: Turkey turns iconic Istanbul museum into mosque, Guerin 2020. Pamuk was the author of one of the books we read for class.

“”Blue is a popular color in Turkey. It impressed early French visitors enough for them to call it ‘the color of the Turks’…or turquoise.” Rick Steves: Istanbul, script.

LEGO Ideas: Istanbul, LI: Istanbul Landscape Architecture, TBB: Beautiful LEGO recreation of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. None commercially available.

~~~

Istanbul Posts

Friday, Photography

[Grub Gets a Glamour Shot, Photography] 6 June. Could equally be Egypt. The rest of the relevant Fridays were husband photography. Not sure what else I would have done for Istanbul photos.

Saturday, Fiction & Non Fiction

[Istanbul, Guest Photos] 17 May. Another not-going option, as with Alaska fiction [My Alaska-Flavored Adventure, Class Wrap-Up]

[Istanbul Travel, Lots of Links, Non-Fiction] 31 May

[City Class Final, List of Posts] 8 June, today

Sunday, Art

[Nazar Boncuğu, Glass Art] 18 May

[Making My Virtual Class More Touchable, Fabric Art] 25 May

[Making Miniatures, Graphic Art] 1 June

Istanbul Intro Links

Istanbul Modern 11 May

The Brothers Brick: Istanbul’s BlLI: Istanbul Landscape Architectureue Mosque looks magnificent in LEGO microscale 25 May

Big Think: It Works for the Turks: A Colour for Each Direction 1 June

Istanbul Previous Posts

None. Not under any of the city’s names. Weird.

Answer

Why “Welcome Thursday”? Geography Lists: Countries with days off from work besides Saturday and Sunday. Dated 2006, so specifics may have changed. General idea still relevant.

Onwards!
Katherine

Photography of the outside world. Are you old enough to remember when Glamour Shots was big? An undated website lists a store in Texas and one in New Jersey. Glamour Shots: Locations. “Glamour Shots® was considered the first in the industry showing customers their proofs on a monitor right after their session and allowing them to order their pictures instantaneously.” GS: About Us.

~~~

Beef Shawarma Roll Up
Takeout
Mr. Shawarma
Birmingham AL
March 2025

“Mr. Shawarma brings you the authentic taste of Egyptian and Middle Eastern cuisine.” Mr. Shawarma.

Researching food history is either fun or frustrating, depending on my mood at the moment. Items and ideas wander about, adapt to local ingredients, and don’t get written up in formal records.

Theories abound. Shawarma is from Turkey. Shawarma originated in the Ottoman Empire. Shawarma is a food of the Levant. Or, perhaps, all of the theories are true.

In a Rick Steves video, they are talking about different food items, but it demonstrates similar international intermixing.
“Rick: Mmm-hmm! So fried eggplant and tahini, you find this in many countries in the Mediterranean.
Tarek: Absolutely, and each country would claim it’s ‘ours.'”
Rick Steves: Egypt’s Nile, Alexandria, and Luxor > Script

One source traces the roots of the shawarma to Basra, 158 km (approx. 100 miles) from Istanbul. “This döner kebab, or “rolled kebab,” was adopted in neighbouring countries: in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan it came to be known in Arabic as shawārmā, a loanword from the Turkish çevirme, or “turn,” and in Greece as gyro, with the same meaning.” Britannica: shawarma

“There are numerous regional and local variations; one kind of shawarma that is especially popular in Istanbul, Turkey, is made of mutton with grilled tomatoes.” ibid

Technical Details

Phone camera because dinner time. Fiddled with portrait mode, flash, and accidental zoom. None of which I normally use. I think this one is portrait & zoom. The flash looked great on the aluminum foil but made the food look weird.

I took this photo a while ago. The camera inadvertently switched to portrait, as it had done in the past, much to my annoyance. However, this time it worked out. Success here was what got me to try it for posts that appeared earlier. [Dandelion, Can]

Current online class, UC Graham: From Istanbul to Cairo: The City in the Historical Novels of the Middle East.

Onwards!
Katherine