Virtual Brush Box

Foto Friday: Weaving With Light

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Original

Taken while playing with long exposures in a tunnel at Sloss Furnaces during a photo lesson [Foto Friday].

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Methodology Progress
15 layers, a record for me.
Using “new from visible” instead of flattening by saving as jpeg, & reopening. So much easier.
Bonus lightbulb moment. Dreading placing individual squares, each on their own layer. Wait a minute. Make a block of 4, Copy 4. Copy 8, Copy 16, Copy 32. Done. Duh.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Thursday!

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Thanksgiving Posts
2012 A Horse’s Thanksgiving
2013 Life’s Mysteries
2014 Hay Bale Art: Thanksgiving 2014
2015 Show Tweets, Georgia Fall Classic 2015

Hay Roll Posts
Snowman
A Couple of Hay Rolls
Foto Friday: Hay Rolls
Hay Bale Art: Thanksgiving 2014
Alternative Uses For A Hayroll

Department of Historical Veracity
If you are celebrating thankfulness, that’s great. Rock on. If you are celebrating the “First Thanksgiving,” be aware that American history is problematic. At best. Cracked: 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America. Squanto is discussed in point #2. Spoiler alert: despite the source and the flippant title, this is not a happy article.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Back in the Saddle, November 2016

Saddleseat Wednesday

Yesterday was my first lesson since Nationals. I went by the barn last week to help load for the show & to dispense peppermints. Otherwise, my November has been ASB-free, for a convergence of reasons.

1) Time off. Last year, I jumped right back in, going to the final show of the year to pick up points [Show Report] and starting winter tournament because I knew Greg wouldn’t drive if I didn’t ride [Show Report]. It took the rest of the winter for my mojo to trickle back. This year, I wanted to see how I did with a longer break.

B) Take my own advice. A friend was pondering the two aspects of her business. Given my vast experience in the field – none – I opined that she need to pick one as most important. She could be X with a side order of Y, or Y with a side order of X. Either was a valid choice; both was not. Trying to be X and Y would mean muddling along without outstanding success in either.

Therefore, I am trying to make sure that my daily choices match my priorities. In other words, fitting other activities around progress for Rodney & Milton, rather than vice versa.

3 or c) Time out. I have a policy of not venting on deep matters [Speaking Out]. However, I still have opinions. My neighbors are good and generous people … with whom I disagree on almost any topic you care to name. It wears on me. I hid for a while.

So here I am. Rested and ready to bloom where I have been planted. Onwards!

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Hitching The Clydesdales

Driving Thursday Tuesday

(This is the post I meant to do last week [Paws]. I couldn’t face the amount of photo editing involved.)

More Clydesdales [Horses in the City].

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This time, we both went, specifically to watch them hitch. What follows is a long, photo-heavy post that will mainly interest harness geeks.

Attention to detail: a chain across the ramp to keep the public from wandering up. While the horses waited to unload, all the Budweiser folk gathering in the harness truck. Most of the public was up by the front trailers looking at the horses. I got the feeling that the harness bay was where one went to get away from the crowd for a few minutes.

Only the wheelers wear britching, which attached under the belly. The other six did not have as much leather under their barrels. The leaders sported extra bling.

I marveled aloud at the amount of manpower swirling around the horses. Greg pointed out that many men – it was all men – were unloading, cleaning, and putting on the gear, but only one man did the actual hitching. He made the final attachments on all 8 horses. He arranged all the reins. He turned out to be the driver.

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As soon as the music started, those horses were ready to move; although excited in a subdued and well-behaved manner. I wonder, if you work on the hitch, does the Budweiser jingle drive you crazy, or do you simply stop hearing it? I’ve had it running through my head the entire time I’ve been working on this post.

What surprised me the most? The enormous noise that 32 oversized horseshoes make on tarmac.

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If you aren’t the lead dog, the view never changes.

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The end.
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#followthehitch

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Other Writing: Sweet on Dressage

“Sweet on Dressage”
USDF Connection
October 2016
United States Dressage Federation

A profile of Harbor Sweets Owner Phyllis LeBlanc.

My first real article in a long, long time. In truth, it’s a “Behind The Scenes” [clips] writ large. But it’s five pages, running in the main part of the magazine, with photos (not mine) and everything, so I’m going with it.

I have not asked the editor about posting the entire article. On the first place, magazines usually require a set amount of time before an article appears elsewhere. In the second, if I want to go crazy with writing clips, I ought to get my a. in g. and work on writer’s website. These were coming in just as I was fading out.

Therefore, unless you are a USDF member &/or have access to Connection, this post is an empty announcement, i.e. a brag.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott