Noting the 6H pencil, I looked for details in the sketch that would have benefitted from such hard lead? The dog’s eyebrows? The jigity jig jig details of the hair on Henny’s crown? And the squishy looking ball atop the #6 - smudge medicine? Even our relationships with crafts and arts can change us.
Your reading today touched me in several ways (at least). Training our canine companions relies in part on the dog’s instinct to please it’s master. Relationships. Reciprocal. Your point on gratitude encourages my developing and practicing an attitude of gratitude. Perhaps to the point of that becoming our “default setting” in our dealings with others?
Your mention of oyster crackers cued another Apalachicola, FL, memory from recent years. Once oysters from the town’s surrounding bay waters were raked, sorted, iced unshelled, and shipped over a vast multi state area owing to their singular flavor. Now non-existent. On a long weekend that included Izzie, our Fido, we walked some streets in the town, discovering a shop featuring items for all-things-dog. One item they made themselves was a dog treat called “Oyster Bones.” It in fact contained finely ground oyster shell mixed with other tastier ingredients. Oyster bones to strengthen dog bones. Pay it forward?
Izzie, 3/4 poodle + 1/4 chocolate lab, has acquired quite a good supply of words she recognizes. I talk regularly to Iz as I’ve done with past dogs. I try to use the same commands and phrasing. Once my brother-in-law asked why I talked to a dog? I replied, “I don’t know how to bark.” Just like Calliope said!
You know about 6H pencils? Sweet! It was definitely heavier than I needed/wanted. I randomly grabbed a tool from the caddy and had at it!
I was perhaps speeding along to get the drawing done, so that I could write the love letter, record the reading, and then hit publish.
Some days I miss the balance point between quality and “out the door”? 😂
The squishy ball is an eraser! No schnibly bits left behind. It’s a great tool!
In my listening circle, one among us shared an affirmation she heard at a workshop over the weekend. The repeated phrases were about setting aside worry/anger “in this moment” so that one could be “present” with gratitude. We talked about how practicing presence “in this moment” can lead to even more presence and setting aside worry/anger. More gratitude!
You might say I halfway know about 6H. I got my H’s and B’s jumbled up. In my first year of college I had two courses in Engineering Graphics. The “Bs” are the really hard leads - faint lines and not entirely erasable. HB was close to a school #2 Ticonderoga darkness. The first instructor was stern, demanding. Going over any part of a letter, upper or lower case, prompted huffing and snorting! We drew horizontal lines on our paper (using our T-Square) starting with a baseline, then one higher for lower case letters and a third for the tops of capital letters. We fudged between middle and top lines for “t’s” and “d’s” and such.
As my Peterson script-style writing today has become curiously wiggly, my fallback has been the lettering style from engineering graphics days of yore. Sometimes I go over a stroke... and no ranting results from that, other than my occasional inner critic. 🤷🏽
If one considers letters of whatever kind or source as merely communicating, then the “perfection” really is silly! And one important note: whatever form your drawing, and typing, and recording took this morning, it was just right!
You had to draw your own lines? In kindergarten we used “penmanship paper” that was pre-printed with rows of two solid lines and a dashed one between them.
I didn’t have a kindergarten option; none existed! The paper seems familiar. Did you use what we called “horse’s leg pencils?” Round, about 7/16” in diameter. Our small hands wielded same with almost a clenched fist. When the switch to cursive writing came (3rd grade🤷🏽) we switched to Ticonderoga #2 pencils. Much of the wood for those pencils came from Cedar Key, Florida. I know a few women my age that still write (cursive) using beautiful penmanship for addressing Christmas cards and such. Now, when signing checks or medical forms in cursive, I suggest I’m training to become a doctor!🤷🏽
We used regular pencils... amazing how five-year-olds will fight over which pencil they get from the shared table caddy -- already sizing up length, sharpness, and how much eraser is on the tip. Imagine the kerfuffle when a pencil in a color other than yellow is added to the standard fare... everybody wants THAT ONE. I learned so much in kindergarten!
Yes, I kid you not. In what we call font size today, when creating a “mechanical drawing” different font sizes were required for different purposes. So drawing our own very faint lines to align tops and bottoms of our letters & numbers was the solution.
For computations, only slide rules were permitted! Texas Instruments had produced their first compact, engineering calculator but students were not permitted to bring one to a class or exam. Quite a different era.
Noting the 6H pencil, I looked for details in the sketch that would have benefitted from such hard lead? The dog’s eyebrows? The jigity jig jig details of the hair on Henny’s crown? And the squishy looking ball atop the #6 - smudge medicine? Even our relationships with crafts and arts can change us.
Your reading today touched me in several ways (at least). Training our canine companions relies in part on the dog’s instinct to please it’s master. Relationships. Reciprocal. Your point on gratitude encourages my developing and practicing an attitude of gratitude. Perhaps to the point of that becoming our “default setting” in our dealings with others?
Your mention of oyster crackers cued another Apalachicola, FL, memory from recent years. Once oysters from the town’s surrounding bay waters were raked, sorted, iced unshelled, and shipped over a vast multi state area owing to their singular flavor. Now non-existent. On a long weekend that included Izzie, our Fido, we walked some streets in the town, discovering a shop featuring items for all-things-dog. One item they made themselves was a dog treat called “Oyster Bones.” It in fact contained finely ground oyster shell mixed with other tastier ingredients. Oyster bones to strengthen dog bones. Pay it forward?
Izzie, 3/4 poodle + 1/4 chocolate lab, has acquired quite a good supply of words she recognizes. I talk regularly to Iz as I’ve done with past dogs. I try to use the same commands and phrasing. Once my brother-in-law asked why I talked to a dog? I replied, “I don’t know how to bark.” Just like Calliope said!
You know about 6H pencils? Sweet! It was definitely heavier than I needed/wanted. I randomly grabbed a tool from the caddy and had at it!
I was perhaps speeding along to get the drawing done, so that I could write the love letter, record the reading, and then hit publish.
Some days I miss the balance point between quality and “out the door”? 😂
The squishy ball is an eraser! No schnibly bits left behind. It’s a great tool!
In my listening circle, one among us shared an affirmation she heard at a workshop over the weekend. The repeated phrases were about setting aside worry/anger “in this moment” so that one could be “present” with gratitude. We talked about how practicing presence “in this moment” can lead to even more presence and setting aside worry/anger. More gratitude!
You might say I halfway know about 6H. I got my H’s and B’s jumbled up. In my first year of college I had two courses in Engineering Graphics. The “Bs” are the really hard leads - faint lines and not entirely erasable. HB was close to a school #2 Ticonderoga darkness. The first instructor was stern, demanding. Going over any part of a letter, upper or lower case, prompted huffing and snorting! We drew horizontal lines on our paper (using our T-Square) starting with a baseline, then one higher for lower case letters and a third for the tops of capital letters. We fudged between middle and top lines for “t’s” and “d’s” and such.
As my Peterson script-style writing today has become curiously wiggly, my fallback has been the lettering style from engineering graphics days of yore. Sometimes I go over a stroke... and no ranting results from that, other than my occasional inner critic. 🤷🏽
If one considers letters of whatever kind or source as merely communicating, then the “perfection” really is silly! And one important note: whatever form your drawing, and typing, and recording took this morning, it was just right!
You had to draw your own lines? In kindergarten we used “penmanship paper” that was pre-printed with rows of two solid lines and a dashed one between them.
I didn’t have a kindergarten option; none existed! The paper seems familiar. Did you use what we called “horse’s leg pencils?” Round, about 7/16” in diameter. Our small hands wielded same with almost a clenched fist. When the switch to cursive writing came (3rd grade🤷🏽) we switched to Ticonderoga #2 pencils. Much of the wood for those pencils came from Cedar Key, Florida. I know a few women my age that still write (cursive) using beautiful penmanship for addressing Christmas cards and such. Now, when signing checks or medical forms in cursive, I suggest I’m training to become a doctor!🤷🏽
We used regular pencils... amazing how five-year-olds will fight over which pencil they get from the shared table caddy -- already sizing up length, sharpness, and how much eraser is on the tip. Imagine the kerfuffle when a pencil in a color other than yellow is added to the standard fare... everybody wants THAT ONE. I learned so much in kindergarten!
I'm a doctor in training, too! :)
Yes, I kid you not. In what we call font size today, when creating a “mechanical drawing” different font sizes were required for different purposes. So drawing our own very faint lines to align tops and bottoms of our letters & numbers was the solution.
For computations, only slide rules were permitted! Texas Instruments had produced their first compact, engineering calculator but students were not permitted to bring one to a class or exam. Quite a different era.
We’re always evolving? 👍🏻
Sign: “I put my grandma on speed-dial. I call that InstaGram.” 😁
Didn't see the 6H pencil, just the H9. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Perception and presentation can make a world of difference!