Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. “Whenever I’ve had a little TV spot here in the States, the reporter has never read SF, though the cameraman always has.” Sidelines: Talks and Essays by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum 2013), in Travel Memoirs, Croatia, April 2002. Note date. I wonder if this has changed.

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How to keep up with a horse blog when your content is not cooperating?

The original plan was to ponder this question at length. However, that would involve whining about not riding. I think we can take that as read.

So, short version. The blog will continue.

As for content, I will continue to take up as much space as I can with what I have.

“OTOH, not unhappy that I can stretch the photo retrospective over a second post.” [Optimus is an Insta Fav]

“Yes, I am spreading this show report jam over as much post toast as I can manage.” [Getting Ready For Not Showing]

Sure, lots of things are technically happening with the horses. They keep us busy. But it’s all feed and water and poop. Not a lot one can say about poop. Although I have tried. [Scenic Poop 2023, “I’ve just spent an entire post considering horse poop and pee.” The Poop-O-Meter 2018]

Putting out into the universe that 2025 will bring to all of us interesting and joyful and uplifting content.

State of the Blog [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “The glass-bottomed, 1,312-foot long (400-meter) walkway, perched 1,000 feet (304 meters) above the floor of the Sunwapta Valley.” Columbia Icefield Glacier Skywalk in Jasper National Park, Alberta Canada. Would you? Hard pass over here.

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Altadena Valley Park
Vestavia Hills
Birmingham, AL USA
December 2024

This is the third former golf course in three months. [5K, Oct & Nov]

Is golf booming or going bust? Depends who you ask. Here’s what I found with a small amount of searching & asking around. Results not definitive in any way.

Age of Majority: The (Slow) Death of Golf as We Know It, Weiss. Golf reinventing itself as an activity with less time commitment. On the other hand, the article is not dated and may be as far back as 2017.

Golf course & real estate National Parks & Recreation: Implications of the Rise and Decline of Golf, Crompton, 2020. Pre-pandemic but interesting for the relationship between golfing & real estate.

National Golf Foundation: Big Shift for Course Closures in 2021, 2022. Closures are a correction from overbuilding.

National Golf Foundation: Golf Supply Update More Openings, Fewer Closings, February 29, 2024. ‘Closing less fast’ sounds like spin to me. OTOH, does make a good point about golf course closings being more obvious that restaurant closings.

Sports Business Journal: Interest and participation in golf, driven to new heights during the pandemic, continues to rise, Carpenter, 3.11.2024. Their definition of golf success includes “off-course participation.”

A family member who is serious about the game (waves hi!), says that golf is doing great & tee times are hard to come by.

My opinion. Golf, like riding, benefited from the interest in social distance. Perhaps there are adjustments now that folks are resuming indoor activities. Perhaps golf is rising in one place while declining in another.

As always, I was not alone in the park. Civic spaces get used. Planned improvements, Vestavia Hills Parks & Recreation: Altadena Valley Park. Having walked the park, I can tell you that the middle and lower red paths already exist. The dog walkers & I needed a way to get from point A to point B. The upper red path and the one to the far left do not exist and will be a nice way to make a full loop of the perimeter.

Any golfers care to weigh in on the current state of the sport?

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. “Their bond was so strong that the former presidents asked each other to speak at their funerals. Carter fulfilled that promise in Grand Rapids in 2007.” Fox17: Jimmy Carter & Gerald Ford’s connection lasting through life and death, Witkos, Dec 29, 2024. The Sun: Ford, Mondale’s Sons Will Read Eulogies Their Fathers Wrote for Carter Before Their Own Deaths, Rice, Dec. 30, 2024, Updated: Dec. 31, 2024. For The Sun, you have to enter an email to read the rest of the article, which I dd not do. Enough info to get the idea from the headline & before the jump.

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As of 31 Dec 2024, generated by Top Nine for my blog’s Instagram account, @virtual_brush_box. Image is a screenshot. #topnine

Photo Subjects

Four Horses
Optimus – five photos
Rodney – one photo, shoulder in shadow photo
Andre & Bubba – one photo

Shows & Showing
Ribbons – five photos
Shows – four photos

Locations
banquet, show, show
home, show, Stepping Stone Farm
SSF show, SSF, banquet

Misc
Cart – four photos. Note in the cart lesson photo (bottom middle) I am wearing my fancy riding shirt. [OOTD, Selfie Photography]

Significantly, seven of the photos are not mine because eight of the photos are of me, or part of me. Foot in the center photo, shadow in the center left photo. Why did these photos rate higher than the rest of the photos I posted? Shows are special occasions? Friends waving hello? Instagram prefers humans? No idea.

Stats

155 photos for the year.

Posts

I use the Instagram account to put up notices of new blog posts. Therefore all of these photos appeared both over on Instagram and on a post here.

Top Row, L to R
[Celebrating The Series, AWTA 2023-2024 Banquet] March
[A Last Look Back at 2023, Driving] January
[Soloing In A Crowd, Show Report, ASHAA Summer Fun Show #4] September

Middle Row
[Saddles!] February
[Finishing The Series, Show Report AWTA 2023-2024 #3] February
[A & B & Me, Show Report, Alabama State Games] June

Bottom Row
[Hey Kids, Let’s Put On A Show, ASHAA Fun Show] May
[Other Barns] April
[Achievement Unlocked, ASHAA Banquet for the 2023 Show Year] January

Coda

I could have put this with the photography recap last week, had I remembered that Top Nine exists. OTOH, not unhappy that I can stretch the photo retrospective over a second post. More about this on Saturday. [Photos of 2024]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Times Square Arts: Midnight Moment.

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Will spend the year as a suncatcher in my kitchen window.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. CNN: Follow the New Year around the world, Sottile and Trammel 2023.

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Hand walk with both horses each morning.

Been doing since March 2023. That year, the Virtual Tevis started just when Milton had come off stall rest. Daily mileage was the only way we where going to make it. We got our hundred miles in 100 days. Then we kept going.

Gets the humans out of the house and into the fresh air, enjoying the company and the countryside.

Gets the humans and the horses moving. Both species evolved to walk more than we do.

A time for the team to be together.

Walks for the win.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Who uses gender neutral bathrooms? “Let me be very clear—inclusive policy benefits all of us. Fathers with daughters, mothers with sons, folks with disabilities, those traveling with elderly loved ones, and LGBTQ+ folks—single stall, all gender bathrooms create a space that meets folks where they’re at.” X: @JusticeHorn_ April 4, 2024. I used a single-stall, family bathroom when traveling with a puppy. [Spotted in Boston]

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Recapped other horses. [Other Barns of 2024]

Recapped walks. [Final Fitness Friday for 2024]

Recapped photography [Photos of 2024]

That leaves the home team to recap.

Let’s not shall we?

For those who have not been keeping score. I haven’t ridden Rodney since September. I haven’t ridden Milton since 2019. Milton has yet to use his new cart. [Home Team Update, In Which Inertia Figures Far Too Strongly Rodney riding & Milton driving, Milton Is Getting A Break Milton riding with me, maybe a hack here or there but essential nada]

So where are they right now?

They are sound, healthy, happy, and have forever homes.

They are beautiful to look at and entertaining.

Keeping up with their needs keeps us engaged.

Their situation also frustrates me to the point of despair.

So, I’m gonna look forward, not back.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. ARTnews: The Art World’s Year in Review. Short summary & multiple articles on the art industry.

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Process Notes

Inspired by Pantone(R) Color of the Year Mocha Mousse, which I have not reproduced. First, they don’t give a hex number, Second, hex numbers from other sites & color sampling couldn’t get it to look right. Three, they may have some level of corporate possessiveness over that exact shade.

However, I learned a bit about brown in general.

“it is mainly a darker shade of orange.” Wiki: Brown.

“In the RGB color model used to project colors onto television screens and computer monitors, brown combines red and green.” Wiki: Brown.

Wishing you a colorful year,

Onwards!
Katherine