Virtual Brush Box

Do You Hobby When You Travel? New York City 2018

Travel

8th Avenue & 56th Street, Manhattan, USA

While I was researching my recent trip to NYC, I came across a website that offered horseback rides in Central Park. Having grown up in Manhattan [NY Cliché, Guest Post], riding a horse through my former playground would be a kid’s dream come true. I knew that Claremont had closed, so I wasn’t sure where this barn was or if the company was still in business. I kept running across websites for awesome restaurants that had closed four years previously. Nothing dies on the Internet. Maybe this was more of the same.

Not every horse can be a pampered pasture ornament owned by an indulgent amateur. Some gots to work for their feed: pulling carriages for tourists, making endless circles with beginner riders, walking down the Grand Canyon trails. I would hope they live and work under good management. So, I had no theoretical objection to trail horses in Central Park.

What I didn’t have was time. There was always something else I would rather be doing during my six-day stay. At home, I horse. At home, I can’t eat at interesting restaurants, wander the streets admiring urban life, or take a weaving class [Gotta Start Somewhere]. So, no trail rides for me. I never even discovered if the offer was viable. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go, but I wanted to do other things more.

Which got me wondering about what we chose to do on vacation. There are hobby trips, e.g. attending Rolex-as-was, going to knitting conventions, displaying LEGO models. Name the hobby. Somewhere people gather to do it together.

But what about trips that are not hobby specific? I don’t horse when I travel. Sure, I look out for horses on signs and in the flesh, and not just for blog posts [Time To Go]. But I don’t make time for horse-related activities. I want to do things I can’t do at home.

Or am I missing something? Would I increase my horsemanship by touring a barn on Staten Island? Perhaps see how an urban barn solves its weather, footing, acreage issues. Would I go farther with my riding if I were to remain on task rather than futzing about discovering Japanese candy shops?

Am I curious or am I unfocused?

On the fence around the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.

Note: the photos are bordered with the colors from the official NYC flag, which hearkens back to the Dutch founders of the city. “The colors of the flag derive from the early flag of the Netherlands, the country that first settled the area in 1625 and named it New Amsterdam in 1626.” CRW Flags, NYC

[NYC Previous Years]

Thank you for Reading,
Katherine Walcott

Gotta Start Somewhere, New York City 2018

Travel

The initial stages of learning a skill are the same, regardless of the skill.

While I was in New York City, I took an introductory weaving lesson at Loop of the Loom. You walk in. You take your shoes off. You sit down at a loom. The nice lady shows you how to move the pedals up and down and how to send the shuttle back and forth. For two hours, you weave. Change yarns. Learn a new pattern. See what happens when you try to leave space. There are no mistakes.

It reminded me of riding a school horse in a lesson program.

You are a beginner. You know little about weaving (horses) other that it (they) seems pretty. You show up at the weaving studio (the barn). The loom is strung for you (the horse is tacked up). You sit down (get on). You weave (ride). You don’t need to understand the set-up (horse care). You don’t have to spend the inordinate length of time with all the non-weaving tasks such as stringing the loom (looking after the horse).

There are all the yarns (tack) you need, extra bobbins (ring furniture), and random fluffy bits (peppermints). An instructor hovers nearby to help you when you get snarled (ditto). When the session is over, you get help tying off (dismounting). You waft out of the weaving studio (barn), leaving the clean up to someone else.

All of the weaving (riding). None of the responsibility.

You don’t make anything useful (you spend a lot of time trotting around in harmless circles) but you have a lot of time to concentrate on your weaving technique (your riding position). If you want to produce anything useful: a shawl, a dress, a set of placemats (move up), you need your own loom (horse) and you need to learn how to maintain it (start shoveling).

Do you find parallels in your disparate activities, or am I reaching here?

[NYC Previous Years]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Banquet with a Bonus, ASHAA Awards for 2018

Adventures in Saddle Seat

We take a break from New York City adventures for a short trip to Lake Guntersville, Alabama.

This year, we arrived too late for the outdoor scenery. [Spotted at the Banquet]

I had to settled for the indoor scenery.

American Saddlebred Horse Association of Alabama
2019 banquet for the 2018 competition year
Lake Guntersville Stare Park Lodge
Saturday, January 5, 2019

Champion Academy Driving
Champion Academy Open Hunter Pleasure Walk/Trot
Champion Academy Open Hunter Equitation Walk/Trot
Third WTC Showmanship Adult
Third WTC Equitation Adult
High Point Academy Rider Adult

Or to look at it another way:
Driving Championship – Snippy & Whiskey
Two Hunt Seat Championships – Milton
Two yellows – Tigger, Sam, Joanie, & Whiskey
Thank you to the wonderful horses for their work and to their generous owners for sharing.

The Loot

Displaying our winning jackets. Left to right, High Point Youth Academy Winner Madelyn Shockey, who rides at SSF, Coach Courtney, me.
Photo by Melissa Shockey.

My haul was five ribbons, three bags, and one jacket. I won the adult high point despite losing the adult division due to points from the other three divisions.

For a dash of perspective, my year-end placings reflected the nature of my classes over the year: small classes, solo performances, & last places, the latter of which I shall think of as participation awards. Driving was a division of two. Hunt Seat Academy was a solo. In Adult Academy, I was last of three. I’m not complaining. If you’ve read any of my show posts, you know I love me some ribbon. Gotta keep it real.

The Barn
Stepping Stone Farm
High Point Academy Rider Juvenile
High Point Academy Adult
High Point Performance Rider Adult

High Point Barn Academy
High Point Barn Performance
High Point Barn Overall

We won everything but High Point Performance Rider Juvenile. In the divisions themselves, we won over 25% of the Performance High Points (9/35) and half of the Academy High Points (11/22). Go, Team Awesome!

The Last Echo of National Academy

At the banquet, my missing trophy came home, wagging its tail behind it.

The Napkin Check

After Christmas dinner one year, my uncle suddenly intoned, out of the clear blue sky, the words “Napkin check!” He had us all hold up our dinner napkins. It was fascinating to see the condition in which each of us had left our linen: folded, not folded, stained, not stained. It has become a family tradition.

In that spirit, I give you our banquet table after dinner. Which one do you think was me? I promise, I did not stage my napkin for effect. The idea came to me when I saw the table while I was packing up.

The Coda
[List of banquet posts]
First banquet was 2014. Six years of High Point. If I were to move up to suit, I’d have to kiss it all good-bye: the ribbons, the trophies, the titles. Be a long time before I could duplicate my Academy record in the far bigger pond of Performance.

Thank you for reading.
Katherine Walcott

Armchair Travel Opportunity, #literarydatesbookclub

Travel

Like my annual trips to New York? Want more? Boy, do I have a deal for you.

Lauren at Literary Dates reads books set in New York, reviews them, and then goes on tours around the city to places mentioned in the book. All the fun of New York, without having to take three trains to haul in from Newark Airport.

Last December, Lauren was kind enough to allow stragglers to tag along on one of her tours. Before the trip, we read A New York Christmas by Anne Perry. Places in the book ranged from Fifth Avenue to Hell’s Kitchen to Little Italy. The book was set in 1904. I wondered how Lauren would arrange a tour 114 years later. Lauren and New York did not disappoint.

As with her virtual tours, I learned things about New York. For example, when I hear the word tenements, I think of the Lower East Side & the Tenement Museum. I did not realize that west side of Midtown was “Once a bastion of poor and working class Irish Americans.” Wiki: Hell’s Kitchen

I also saw parts of New York that I had never seen before, for example the Lotte Palace Hotel. I must have been with in a block of the place hundreds of times, yet never knew of its existence. Since the historic mansion couldn’t be changed, the glass and metal skyscraper (backdrop) was plonked on top. At least, according to a passing stranger who saw us admiring the building.

In NYC, you can always find a place to eat.

Established in 1868, the Landmark Tavern was already 36 years old when the book took place. Surely the Irish characters would have eaten there when they were off the page. Top photo taken from across the street and then cropped. Not a good idea to stop in the middle of 11th avenue for a photo op.

Click here for the rest of our tour, Literary Dates: Inspired by Anne Perry’s book, A New York Christmas, Here’s My “New York Christmas” Tour.

Fortunately for Lauren, New York City has a solid place in the literary imagination. It will be a while before she runs out of books. She has already done nine tours.

New York Christmas by Anne Perry
You by Caroline Kepnes
New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan
A Little Murder by Cindy Davis (Non-NYC)
The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen by Katherine Howe
Modern Lovers by Emma Stroud
I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson. “This book explores all the people involved in the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Literary Dates: Tiffany’s.

Go check it out.
Literary Dates
From Page to Place
Don’t worry, the reviews and tours are spoiler free.

[NYC Previous Years]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

This Year with Actual Horsehair, Horses of New York City 2018

Travel

Last December, lower Manhattan, on an IRT subway and at the West 4th street station. I was dying to ask where they rode. In Alabama, I would have walked up to total strangers; in New York City, not so much. Plus, I was on a tour. More about this tomorrow.

Columbus Circle. I was on a bus in the circle. The carriage was merging into the circle. I tried to imagine any horse of my acquaintance playing chicken with a bus.

[NYC Previous Years]
Horses Of … usually has to make do with signs & statues.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

R is for Ribbon

Rodney’s annual I Am Not A Deer tail ribbon. We hope that standing next to the large white blob that is Milton will also help.

The pixelation is more from surfeit of mist in the air than from a lack of resolution in the camera. As you can see from the footing, it’s been wet here lately. And that was after I served the hay halfway up the hill to keep them out of worse.

Did you know that the different colors of flagging tape mean different things? Pink is for temporary survey markings, according to Are You Flagging Tape Fluent? on the Tape University website. Tape University is an online resource for the tape industry. The TU site references the American Public Works Association Uniform Color Code. It’s a PDF, or I’d link to it. Tape University? Tape Industry? APWA? The world is vast and weird and fascinating.

In case you are wondering, I fell down that particular rabbit hole when I went looking for an example of the tape color for the border. I usually use a color from the photo, but the whole point here is to be as loud as possible.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

What’s Been Happening, Kittens

On Instagram, but worth repeating. [November]

This is why I have so many sleeping/resting kitten pictures.

Chat dans une boîte. French
Macska egy dobozban. Hungarian
Ngeru i roto i te pouaka. Maori
Kot w pudełku. Polish
Gato en una caja. Spanish
Cath mewn blwch. Welsh
Fun with Google Translate.