Live Oak International

Live Oak International is the largest international-level combined driving and show jumping tournament in the country. The event showcases leading drivers, riders, trainers, coaches and owners from Europe and North America. 

A combined driving event has three different events within it. The first is dressage. Like the dressage you may have heard of for mounted riders, horses and carriages perform specific moves at specified points in an arena. They are judged on their gaits, athleticism, transitions between gaits and their performance and adherence to the required pattern, called a test. The test might look something like this, and explains what is being assessed:

In a large event, such as the Live Oak International, the dressage is held one day. The next day is the cross country. Horses navigate from one obstacle to another. Within each obstacle there is a required pattern of 'gates' to negotiate in specific directions. The teams are timed for each obstacle. They have a specified minimum and maximum time to travel a route between the obstacles. The third event is the cones event. Cones, similar to orange traffic cones, are set in an arena and carriages must follow a prescribed course through the cones. A ball is placed on the top of each cone. There are time penalties if a ball is knocked off. The cones are set 8" wider than the axle of each carriage! The cones event takes place on the third day of a large event. 

Image from the Internet

I went to see the cross country portion of the event. Despite a rainy start to the day, it was fun to see the horses and carriages make their way through the obstacles. Each obstacle is a warren of possible pathways winding through a maze constructed of immovable objects. In this event they were predominantly defined by sturdy wood fencing. The course designers decide what path contestants must make. They throw in plenty of tight turns to the left and right, and sometimes totally around something within the obstacle. The path is defined by gates what are marked with red and white numbers showing in what direction the carriage must navigate the gate (red numbers must be kept to the right of the carriage, white to the left),  and in which order. This is a schematic of the various obstacles. 

Still pictures don't really tell the tale. It's difficult to see the horses when they are within the obstacles. 

This is a video of a four-in-hand pony team negotiating the water obstacle. It gives you a feeling for just how challenging an obstacle can be.

Here's another video that shows how athletic the team of horses, driver and navigator must be. Most of the audio in the background is describing the performance of a carriage at another obstacle. Toward the end it mentions the driver you are watching. You can see the navigator leaning to the outside of the carriage on turns, and working to jump the carriage away from the obstacle. 

As I was walking from one obstacle to another I heard the announcer comment that one of the four-in-hand teams was 'in trouble' in an obstacle. The announcer asked if the driver was OK, made a few more remarks about some sort of difficulty, then finally commented that the driver was on his way. I'm thinking that the navigator may not have been able to jump the carriage far enough away from a post, and the wheel of the carriage may have gone on the wrong side. As this was a team of four horses, working to extract the carriage may have been quite the challenge itself!

All in all, it was a fun day. Earlier in my life I had aspirations of driving in events such as this. Now...I can't imagine doing anything like this! 

TickTock Clock

On Thursday I taught the "Clock Class" for the CCCQ guild. I had 11 ladies come, eager to make a clock using pieced fabric. Here was one of the examples I had previously made. 

The clock is essentially made from two pieces. The base of the clock is a 12" x 12" painting canvas, covered with a pieced 'quilt'. The center square is a piece of foam core covered with another pieced fabric. They are glued together and a clock mechanism is inserted and assembled. 

The women could bring an orphan block of the right size (a quilt block made for another project that was never used) or they could follow one of two patterns I provided. Many of the women asked me to help them make their pieced sections last week in another sewing class. 

The ladies seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed helping them, and the teacher in me was tickled by their approaches toward the tasks required.

This is Deb. She laughs all of the time. Nothing phases her.

She's wrapping her canvas in her large pieced fabric.

Her finished top piece can just be seen in the lower front of the picture.

Here's Carole. With an E!

Carole is the Program Coordinator for the guild. 

She had to do the hard work for the class:

keeping track of who signed up, who paid for the class, who paid for the kit

and for getting some of that money to me.

I found it very interesting that although she is very particular in her role as the program queen,

and demands that I's are dotted, and T's are crossed,

when it came to covering the clock she folded and folded the fabric again, 

pulled it up and taped it...with a 'whatever' attitude.

(The instructions, my demonstration, and the model clock, showed how to fold over 1/2" of fabric and glue it to form a 'hem', then pull that up tautly and adhere it with glue to the frame of the canvas. 

Like this: 

Liz and Sue came together. They had prepared some of the work ahead of time, 

and chose to do the more challenging pattern. 

However, they hadn't complete all of the work and struggled with completing the quilt block for their clock base. I was sad that I couldn't help them sew faster, and get it all finished in class.

Grace brought two orphan blocks with her. 

She zoomed through the class,

as did the others, whose pictures I failed to take!

Carole did finish her clock using orphan blocks.

It looks great.

 (but is still just taped on the back...Carole felt that was just fine!)

Deb's finished clock.

She looks really proud of her work, as she should!

I am so lucky to have found this group of women, and to have this great facility available for guild meetings and other community events. 

Is It Memorex?

I was browsing Facebook a few days ago and this ad popped up. The shop looked very sweet, and its location (judging by the glimpse of the street out the door) just the same.

Then I noticed that the shop is in Asheville, NC . 

I'm going to be in Asheville at the end of the month. I love shopping in areas that look like this; a pretty street with small, independent, local shops. I've been to Asheville a few times and I have not found what looks like this nice shopping area. 

I searched Google maps to find out where the shop is located. 

Other shops and restaurants popped up that have "sisters" in their names,

but no Smith Shop. 

I really wanted to find this shop. 

I wanted to see this boutique that claims it is built on family values and is family owned. 

I do like to support local shop owners, and perhaps "help two sisters hold on" as suggested 

in the advertisement. 

I found an email address and wrote the shop, asking where they were located,

as I would love to stop in.

And, promptly I received a friendly response.

Here's the first few paragraphs:

Hi Cyndi,

Thank you for reaching out! Since store name operates exclusively online, we do not have a physical location for trying on items. However....

....We are a a legitimate stored dedicated to providing high-quality products and excellent customer service....

....If you have any other questions, fell free to ask. We're here to assist you!

Warm regards,

Mich 

Customer Support Team

 

Did you catch the oddity in the first paragraph?

In the second sentence?

"Since store name operates exclusively...."

Poof! There went my vision of stopping by this area in Asheville to check out the cute shops.

Tthe cute little shop with the two sisters running it isn't exactly real.

The sweet street doesn't seem to exist, well, maybe someplace.

And, maybe Mich, who closed the email 'with warm regards' isn't a real person.

Remember the old ad, "Is it real, or is it Memorex?"

I guess we now have to ask,

Is it real, or is it AI?!

Or, perhaps the nostalgic ad is a smokescreen for a colossal foreign retailer 

having multiple "store fronts" to hawk their goods. 

I don't know - do you?!

I think I'd like to harken back to a simpler, slower, more concrete time.

Follow-up: I emailed Rich and asked if the company/warehouse was at least located in Asheville. I did get a response in the affirmative. But, I am still not convinced that it isn’t just one fish in a large pond. 

 

Equine Acupuncture

I belong to an equine association in our community that has monthly meetings. Speakers of interest to horse owners are invited. The group also has an ice cream social in the summer and a Christmas party with an auction in December.  They also host fun horse shows. This week we had two veterinarians and a technician present information about acupuncture. 

While folks were socializing one of the vets put sticky dots at acupuncture points on Hilo. 

He is beautiful.

But, he apparently became bored with all of the blah-blah-blah!

Don't you love his ears pointing East/West?!

Here you can see the dots. 

The veterinarians talked about the different meridians, or paths, where needles are inserted.

They explained that those pathways impact different functions in our bodies,

and balance energies. 

Most interesting, to me, is the red dot/point on Hilo's neck (if you zoom in you can see it)

That is the "permission point"

The vet will begin there to see if the horse will allow her/him to use more needles elsewhere.

If they get an adverse reaction, a "no way!" from the horse, 

then they don't proceed. Some horses will not tolerate needles!

They performed the actual acupuncture on Charlie.

He looked somewhat like a porcupine!

The vets talked about a condition they see in Florida called anhidrosis. Horses with this problem don't sweat. Sweating is critical for horses as that is their body cooling mechanism. They don't pant as dogs do. I came home and did some reading about it. In the southeaster states where it is so warm and humid, it is important for animals to be able to cool themselves.  If the horse can't cool down it causes the internal temperature to rise, which would impact organ function and the animal can die. Oddly, a horse with anhidrosis won't drink water, so dehydration is a concurrent problem. 

There is no known cure.

However, several articles I read said that acupuncture seems to work to stop anhidrosis, at least for up to a month, when hopefully another session would continue the positive effect. How interesting, especially for folks like me who tend to be skeptical of alternative medicines. 

MLVI

In February 2020 I attended a quilt show in Venice, FL. I recall stopping by a vendor booth where the shop owner was working on "hexies". Hexies are made using a hexagonal piece of card stock paper and a scrap of cloth. I picked up a package of hexie papers and a recommended fabric glue pen before leaving the show, and before COVID shut the world down. 

Here are a few of my hexies. The sides of my hexies are 1" in length, to give you some perspective. The fabric is either basted around the paper, or the edges are glued on the back of the paper. I tried both methods, finding the glue to be a bit faster. Then, the edges are sewn together, by hand, connecting hexies in whatever pattern desired. 

When I began, I was just playing around. I had no plan. I used my scraps to make "scrappy flowers". I created a number of them. Slowly, my ideas gelled and I decided to make a small quilt with a field of flowers. 

I saw a picture of a quilt in a magazine that had interesting swirls,  using heavier thread. The designs stuck in my head. (If you zoom in you can see what I am talking about)

In 2022 the hexie flowers had multiplied. I put them up on my quilt wall to see how they might look as a "field" of flowers. This would do!

Also in 2022, when we were traveling again after Covid released its ugly, threatening hold over us, I visited a quilt shop.... in Rock Springs, WY! The shop had two darling prints with bees on them. Suddenly I thought I could incorporate the bees in my hexie quilt. The bees plus the swirly quilting design for their 'contrails' could make a fun quilt and a unique design.

Here are some hexies, front and back view, and a close-up view of the bees.

 I began interspersing bees among the flowers, and the quilt began to take shape.  

The 'field' is an ivory white in color. Some of the hexies look like they are gray. That's because they were made using card stock from mailers I received from companies advertising their service or products. I have a die that I can use to cut the papers and fabric to make the hexies. 

Now flash forward (a 6-year 'flash') and the quilt is finally constructed!

Earlier this week I removed the papers that had not already fallen out. Whenever I worked on the quilt, some papers would end up on the floor, along with threads! 

Will you look at that pile of papers?! Wow! There were a lot. 

Just how many? The quilt, which is roughly 50" x 55", 

used 1056 hexies!

That would be MLVI in Roman numerals!

So...now it's time to do some machine quilting to stabilize the quilt,  and then hand quilting the swirlies. 

But wait.... that's not all! 

In 2023 we stopped in Frankenmuth, MI. There was a huge bead shop that we wandered through. I saw some beads and thought to myself, "self, wouldn't those beads look pretty sewn into the center of the flowers on that quilt I will eventually finish?" Sew.... I picked some up and who knows?! maybe they will embellish the quilt - some day!

Resurrection

 Have you heard of Resurrection Ferns? We had them in SC and we have plenty here as well. They are epiphytic plants that grown on trees and rocks. In periods of drought the ferns whither and dry, looking as if they are on their last legs. 

These are some resurrection ferns growing on an oak on our front yard. 

Three days later, after two rainstorms, this is the same tree

with the ferns looking totally resurrected!

I have seen a few signs of some of our other garden plants coming back from the roots. I'm sure I'll see more as spring advances. 

Lantana

I can't remember what this plant was! 

Chinese Hat plant

A Rose by Any Other Name

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet states, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Thanks to the Mister, we have roses! He picked up a few here....and there....then took me to the nursery where we picked up a few more, and now they are in my front garden, waiting to be planted!

You can see a few roses that I plunked down in their pots, 

testing whether this is where they need to be planted, 

or not.

I now have a few more.

(And doesn't the front porch look more inviting without it being hidden by shrubs?)

We had a lovely, sunny, warm day. So many folks came out to the nursery. I heard a lot of conversations about replacing plants that suffered from our 2 weeks of arctic weather. I am still waiting to see if some of my plants will come back from the roots. 

Here are a few shots from Anson Nursery....everything looks beautiful!

This group of plants were adopted by us, and came home to our yard.

We tried to avoid tropical plants that might struggle if we get freezing temperatures next winter. But, now the big problem is getting everything planted...and then, making sure that everything gets watered.

There is much to be done. Both to deal with plants that might have survived the freeze, and in planting and caring for our new plants. We will be busy!

I managed to plant the roses and a few bedding plants. 

The pots on the right contain flowers that made it through the winter,

but would probably prefer a new home with more appropriate light conditions.