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lauraanne_gilmanExcitement today: installing the new a/c unit. Woo.
But yay, there was also riding. Carrying forward from last week, this lesson was all about sinking me deeper into the saddle, and thereby having a better seat. So... started with longer stirrups, and ended with no stirrups, forcing me to work more on my lower-body balance. On the plus side, when left alone my hands and shoulders seem to be doing the right things. Still working on trot-canter-trot-walk transitions, over and over until muscles aren't relying on the brain to tell them what to do. Owww. But we're seeing progress, so it's aches in a good way.
The trick is, as always, keeping the hands steady, the body centered and back, and the legs on, while also keeping the horse engaged and thinking forward. Neat trick, that. Soon as I get it right I'll let you know.
Meanwhile, am taking a break between novella and going back to the novel to work on a short story that's been thumbing its nose at me for far too long. I will beat it into submission. Maybe.
"I was thinking it’s maybe time we had a change of scenery." It was an idle comment, just the kind one might flick off between washing one ear and digging between his fore and third claws for a bit of sand somehow lodged there. But nothing he ever did was without reason, however distant or obscured.
The sailor paused in coiling the rope, feeling the oiled fiber slide under his callouses. "Captain’s not going to like that kind of thinking."
"So don’t tell her."
"Hah. Very funny."
It was, actually. Nobody never told the Captain anything, if they could help it. Herself, on the other hand…
The man stood and braced the small of his back with one hand, stretching the aching muscles while he watched the pray of white foam over the waves, then went back to work and looked over his shoulder. Wide-set green eyes met his gaze with equanimity.
"Captain and Herself won’t like that," he said.
Oliver yawned, those green eyes slitting closed with the effort. "Look at me, I’m so scared." Captain wouldn’t be amused. But Herself might be. And Herself could always cool Captain down. Almost always, anyway.
The sailor shrugged his shoulders, and went back to coiling the cope in a neat pile on the deck. "Your funeral. You got eight more after, I suppose."
"Six, actually. There was the incident with the Portugese traders last year. And remember the wildcat in port over the summer?"
"There were many wildcats in port over the summer," the sailor said, his own grin reminiscing. "I didn’t bother keeping track of your’n."
"Trust me, this one was worth noticing. Had a coat like silk, and claws… well, it was all consensual, but I need to keep better track of my lives, in a year or three."
"They should have cut you when you were whelped, Oliver."
"And ladies in ports on all five continents would mourn. And not all of them the four-legged sort, either."
The sailor crunched his weather-beaten face in disgust at the thought. "You kiss your mother with those whiskers?"
"Never my mother," Oliver said. "Yours, on occasion, though."
And when that is done, 100% back into HARD MAGIC and downward toward deadline...
But yay, there was also riding. Carrying forward from last week, this lesson was all about sinking me deeper into the saddle, and thereby having a better seat. So... started with longer stirrups, and ended with no stirrups, forcing me to work more on my lower-body balance. On the plus side, when left alone my hands and shoulders seem to be doing the right things. Still working on trot-canter-trot-walk transitions, over and over until muscles aren't relying on the brain to tell them what to do. Owww. But we're seeing progress, so it's aches in a good way.
The trick is, as always, keeping the hands steady, the body centered and back, and the legs on, while also keeping the horse engaged and thinking forward. Neat trick, that. Soon as I get it right I'll let you know.
Meanwhile, am taking a break between novella and going back to the novel to work on a short story that's been thumbing its nose at me for far too long. I will beat it into submission. Maybe.
"I was thinking it’s maybe time we had a change of scenery." It was an idle comment, just the kind one might flick off between washing one ear and digging between his fore and third claws for a bit of sand somehow lodged there. But nothing he ever did was without reason, however distant or obscured.
The sailor paused in coiling the rope, feeling the oiled fiber slide under his callouses. "Captain’s not going to like that kind of thinking."
"So don’t tell her."
"Hah. Very funny."
It was, actually. Nobody never told the Captain anything, if they could help it. Herself, on the other hand…
The man stood and braced the small of his back with one hand, stretching the aching muscles while he watched the pray of white foam over the waves, then went back to work and looked over his shoulder. Wide-set green eyes met his gaze with equanimity.
"Captain and Herself won’t like that," he said.
Oliver yawned, those green eyes slitting closed with the effort. "Look at me, I’m so scared." Captain wouldn’t be amused. But Herself might be. And Herself could always cool Captain down. Almost always, anyway.
The sailor shrugged his shoulders, and went back to coiling the cope in a neat pile on the deck. "Your funeral. You got eight more after, I suppose."
"Six, actually. There was the incident with the Portugese traders last year. And remember the wildcat in port over the summer?"
"There were many wildcats in port over the summer," the sailor said, his own grin reminiscing. "I didn’t bother keeping track of your’n."
"Trust me, this one was worth noticing. Had a coat like silk, and claws… well, it was all consensual, but I need to keep better track of my lives, in a year or three."
"They should have cut you when you were whelped, Oliver."
"And ladies in ports on all five continents would mourn. And not all of them the four-legged sort, either."
The sailor crunched his weather-beaten face in disgust at the thought. "You kiss your mother with those whiskers?"
"Never my mother," Oliver said. "Yours, on occasion, though."
And when that is done, 100% back into HARD MAGIC and downward toward deadline...
