Curious Cat Contemplates Carrots, Guest Photos

Awareness of the outside world. Kew Gardens: How climate change is affecting carrots, Dove 2021. Dated but a) interesting info on wild vs. domestic & b) these problems are not going away.

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Checking out a quintessential horse treat. Photos by Roaming Reader. [archives]

Curious Cat meets carrots in their natural habitat.

Curious Cat checks out a carrot.

Curious Cat would like to thank The Hands for photo assistance.

πŸ₯•Down The Rabbit HoleπŸ₯•

“Carrots are root vegetables that were first grown in Afghanistan around 900 AD.” WebMD: Carrots: Nutrition, Benefits, Risks, & Preparation, Begum & Nelson et al, January 25, 2024.

” ‘Carrot and stick’, of course, refers to the old method of getting a horse to pull a plow by dangling a carrot in front of his nose, which is attached to the end of a stick. The correct use of the metaphor would be to mean anytime when someone is motivated by promises of a nonexistent reward.” Carrot & Stick Misuse Watch

Captain Carrot. Discworld Wiki: Carrot Ironfoundersson.

Onwards!
Katherine

Leather Embroidery, Art

Awareness of the outside world. RedDotBlog: Why You Should Never Judge a Potential Art Buyer: Lessons from a Gallery Owner, Horejs, October 2, 2024. This applies to more than art galleries, speaking as someone who a) is often coming from the barn & b) is not from around here. [Cultural Commentary]

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Women’s Leather Embroidery Belt
Duluth Trading Co
Bought October 2024

I don’t know that I have ever seen patternwork on leather. Decorative stitching, sure. Straight up embroidery, no.

Onwards!
Katherine

North To Alaska, Fiction Fragment

❄️ 🏴󠁡󠁳󠁑󠁫󠁿 ❄️

Boss: We need a project manager for a temporary assignment in Anchorage. We’d like you to go.

Main Character: Anchorage as in Alaska!?

Boss: Do you know of others?

MC: Yes, there are eight other places named Anchorage. Seven in the US, one in the UK. Don’t roll your eyes. You know I was a Jeopardy Champion. Don’t ask if you don’t want an answer.

Boss: Yes. Anchorage, Alaska.

MC: That’s ridiculous. I get cold under 70o. My idea of being outdoorsey is a 20-minute walk on a paved trail.

Boss: Actually that’s why we want to send you. You’ll go up, bring the project in on time, and come home. You might even be compelled to wrap it up faster.

MC: You want to send me because I won’t like it?

Boss: You won’t get distracted. You won’t buy a quarter share in a salmon cannery. You won’t get your bush pilot license in order to start a business taking tourists on Northern Lights tours. You won’t decide to study volcanoes with the UAF Geophysical Institute.

MC: Those are very specific concerns.

Boss: We’ve had some trouble in the past. The Alaska office has been sort of a black hole for us. People go up and don’t come back.

MC: We’ll I’m coming back. I like my job and my life is not a made-for-tv romcom. Any bearded mountain man who falls in love with me better be prepared to shave and move south. I am not Alaska material.

Boss: We’re counting on it.

❄️ 🏴󠁡󠁳󠁑󠁫󠁿 ❄️

Afterword

Does she – or he – come back or stay in Alaska? I’m inclined to think the former. Subvert the trope!

Update, Part 2 [Taking The Long Way Home]

Inspiration. UChicago Graham School, Alaska: Indigenous, Russian, American. Taught by: Alina Shokareva. What it says on the tin. “This lecture course covers three phases of Alaska’s history – before European exploration, Russian, and American.” AK. Online, 8 sessions, starts 8 Jan 2025. I have signed up. Join me.

Previous UCG classes.

Monks to Voltaire: European Intellectual Transformations 1200-1750 [No post] 2022

Whales, Whaling, and American History [State Of The Blog, 36 Days Of Type, intro] 2022

The History of Science Fiction. [Winter Protocols, Blanket Adjustment, intro] 2023

The Medieval Book [Stall Rest Chronicles 17 Feb, scroll down] 2023

The Anatomy of Fantasy [What’s With All The Fantasy Posts?] 2024

Onwards!
Katherine