Wednesday, July 15, 2020

I stayed up late to watch the final episodes of “Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace”, streaming on Hulu. Holding on until its final episodes took dedication as it has a total of 81. I stayed awake long enough to be short its ending by only a couple of episodes. Now, I’m sensing that the likely ending to Ruyi’s story isn’t as I had hoped.

I’ve had to remember that Ruyi’s story takes place from about 1735 to 1755. It follows a young Emperor from the time of his ascension to power and his choice of a long-time, true love to be his Empress. Theirs is a marriage made complex by his having a harem, and the empire’s need for potential heirs. That was in a time that children (and adults) often died young. In the story and for many years, the Emperor and his Empress held onto their closeness and maintained mutual trust.

Of course, everybody understands that total power can corrupt totally. The series highlights this happening in the Emperor’s role and among his most-highly ranking women. Through it all, Ruyi manages to stand out as an intelligent, insightful, and tolerant partner to the Emperor. She successfully reigns for years but gradually ages and falls victim to young challengers among the harem. Conversely, the Emperor never loses his powerful position.

Watching the Emperor relate to those around him, how he decides national and personal issues, reminds me of today’s #metoo movement. Modern women recently have been able to speak about sexual transgressions against themselves. They’ve brought about the downfalls of wealthy, powerful men, like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and my once-favorite, Charlie Rose.

The Ruyi series, created by a different culture, at first seems almost deceptive. Starting off, its most compelling features (these don’t diminish throughout) are every scene’s visually balanced arrangements, their overall sheer beauty and array of colors. The acting is fine, particularly by Zhou Xun in the role of Ruyi. Throughout, is a fabulous soundtrack that I’d order in a heartbeat, but it doesn’t seem commercially available.

This evening, I’ll finish the series with a sense of loss, similar to my feelings at the endings of other great series, like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Deadwood. Those series, and the Ruyi, have it all–complex scripts, great cinematography, fine acting, and both good and bad people. They transported we watchers into other worlds for long periods of time. We watchers experienced, felt, and learned.

Dear Friends: Throughout history, everything Chinese has amazed and been impressive. Diana

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Yesterday, an unexpected, needed repair in the horse loafing shed made me stay home. I didn’t have everything necessary complete the job, but now, there’s an improved shed condition and nothing will harm an equine.

That day off from riding allowed for more time to consider the horseback loop I’ve been trying to identify in the Horse Butte National Wilderness. Yesterday, I spent hours focused on my GPS and thinking about mapping technology. I searched for and found my old hard map collection, and searched for detailed routes in the Horse Butte area. There were none, so if I want routes, it’ll be up to me to create the details.

That reality sent me back to some map print-outs that my friend Susie provided several days previously. She and I had ridden horseback in the Forest, and during that ride, she had marked electronically our key stops. Later, she printed a satellite view of Horse Butte on which she drew our route. Her map is missing a small piece, a bit of my loop we “sort of lost” during our ride. After reviewing all her coordinates, Susie figured out where we could find the missing bit of trail. I returned another day to locate it but couldn’t without doing some bushwacking.

I’ve somehow become obsessed with wanting completely to identify a circular horse-trail. My goal is to ride from the trailhead toward a butte, going over it to a trail that passes a particular shrub, leading to a hunters’ campground, and then toward “The Greenery”. My hope is to return to the trailhead via a different route, and thus, my ride will be a pretty loop, from and to the trailhead.

Yesterday, after staring at commercial maps and still unable to fill in trail blanks, I turned to Susie’s printouts and stared at her overlay that shows points on our route. There was my loop! It’s plain and clear, that I’d earlier been unable to see.

Who understands the obscure mind tricks that can pin a brain to what it “wants to see”?

Well, thank you again, Susie. I’ll be on horseback today and will clarify that obscure trail section.

Incidentally, on her map, Susie managed to identify a very old and faint trail that meanders through “The Greenery”, an area pretty and interesting. Perhaps, it’ll be possible in time to add that long unused trail to my loop.

Dear Friends: A good thing about my OCD, it’s keeping equines and dogs in fine condition. Diana

Monday, July 13, 2020

Judy and I have known each other for several years and in a very-nonathletic setting. Recently, after she’d not been on a horse in years, we linked-up and rode together at Bend’s Horse Butte National Forest. Judy was on Sunni, I on Rosie, followed by Pimmy Donkey and three happy trail dogs. We were about to test a several-miles horseback loop that for weeks I’d been trying to identify.

Sunni is easy to get along with and Judy quickly rediscovered her “saddle seat”.

We had partial success in locating the entire trail. Parts of the desired-loop are very dim after long periods of disuse. Several times, we found ourselves having to bushwack in searching for paths of the riding loop. The horses willingly took us into nooks and crannies among large rock outcroppings. Judy, bravely and uncomplaining, “was in” throughout.

This ride occurred after an earlier one in which Donkey Pimmy suddenly had disappeared. This donkey always follows her horses but tends to lag behind. In that “disappearing event”, which almost gave me a stroke, Pimmy was following far behind. While she was beyond my sight, a Forest Ranger caught and “rescued” Pimmy. Luckily and helped by friends, Julie and Dave, Pimmy quickly was returned.

During our ride, Judy and I were careful to make sure we never lost sight of the donkey.

As we rambled in searches for trail paths, Judy told me about her husband, Greg. She said he’s a whiz with a GPS, that he studies the layouts of potential hiking terrains, tracks the routes of his hiking journeys, and never becomes lost. Following our ride, Judy made certain that Greg and I had an opportunity to meet. He’s exactly as she described, capable with electronics, and besides that, very patient and kind. Greg explained how electronics can help me define and map my desired horseback loop.

Dear Friends: Ferreting the goodnesses of electronics takes study, discipline, and practice. Diana

Sunday, July 12, 2020

My friend, Buzz, and I met to catch up with each other’s recent doings. We wanted me to re-meet his puppy, Ziva. Many years ago, I had a red Dobie, loved and showed her competitively. I’ve an eye for the breed and Buzz’s Ziva is a knockout. He’s crazy about her.

We wandered through a nearby BLM with an irrigation canal running through and watched as Ziva tried estimating water-depths. She wanted to dive in but felt too timid. When next I meet Ziva, she’ll be responding wholeheartedly to water spots.

Coming home, I saw a text from my friend, Judy. She rode with me at Horse Butte and knew my struggles to define and perhaps map a scenic horse-trail route. Judy’s husband, Greg, a map and GPS whiz, was willing to teach me how to define my trail’s key points. Coincidentally, the evening before, Susie had prepped me on waypoints and mapping, and now, I had a keener ear for Greg’s explanations.

We decided to test Greg’s GPS by going to a nearby large canal. I’ve long wished for a way of crossing to its opposite side where a road looks as if it would accommodate my horse and cart for driving. We found a spot to view the canal, when Greg’s GPS revealed a bridge nearby. We followed the GPS to that area and to a road that appeared to be private property. But it allowed public access and led to a bridge crossing the canal. On its other side were private properties, and on our side a perfectly-nice canal road–a lovely avenue for walking, and next spring for driving a horse.

On the private property side stunning flowers punctuated the waterway. We found ourselves in a lovely spot with plantings and artifacts from days long gone by.

Those lovelies all created a joyous day with friends Buzz, Judy, and Greg. We love animals, we’re adventurers who explore, who share knowledge and skills. Moreover sites nearby and previously unknown are beautiful, interesting, and inviting more and closer-looks here on Bend’s east side.

Dear Friends: I see now how to define path and points, to map “Diana’s Route” at Horse Butte. Diana

Saturday, July 11, 2020

I rode in the Horse Butte National Forest with my friend, Judy, who was on Sunni. (Unfortunately, our ride photos are in my camera, still in the horse trailer. I’ve too little time to retrieve and download before publishing today’s notes. So, Judy, with apologies for this oversight, I’ll publish pictures today on FB.)

Our goal was to ride that entire loop I’ve been trying to create. It’s designed to start at the trailhead and take a horseback rider to four specific Forest locations, and then loop back to the starting point. I wanted my design to have horses traveling more on forest trails than on roadways.

Easily, Judy and I found The Greenery before traveling on toward the Campground. There we found ourselves lost among many surrounding rock outcroppings. From the Campground, there’s a foot- or horse-trail, with very faint beginnings, that my horses have found and walked over. Both horses kindly obeyed Judy and me, they moved us into nooks and crannies that we hoped wouldn’t dead-end. Nowhere did our explorations reveal the desired trail. Finally, after simply stumbling onto that pathway, we cheered. We then continued toward our next destinations, finding them without trouble.

I left Horse Butte confused by not understanding a direct route from Greenery to Campground Trail. Other than Judy, the person to best understand my dilemma was Susie, who’d ridden over my loop. I texted and Susie later responded by riding to my home on her bike, bringing several mapped versions of Horse Butte. One map of her own creation showed the loop we’d ridden.

In navigating, I rely on eyesight and memory. Neither are terrific which is why my loop confuses. Moreover, it takes courage and patience to teach me technologies that I’ve already had difficulty comprehending, but kudos to Susie. She was undeterred by my resistance to maps and compasses, and long story short, after her determined tutorial, we downloaded area maps to my iPhone. Now, I’ve a sense of how to use them along with the phone’s compass.

Soon, armed with technology, I’ll return to Horse Butte and finish designing my horseback loop.

Dear Friends: Often, as in this case, progressing may be reliant on community efforts. Diana

Friday, July 10, 2020

My neighbor and friend, Susie, and I rode horseback in Bend’s Horse Butte Wilderness. We were intending to map a trail I’ve been attempting to define. This route would be circular and have two purposes. First, to take a rider through lovely areas while avoiding roadways much as possible, and ideally, loop back around to the trailhead. Second, allow for traveling from three-to-five miles depending on a rider’s available time. Susie and I tested the horsey-looking trails that would take us to the target destinations and minimize needs for horsebacking on roads.

Finally, we spent too long in our saddles and on dismounting suffered the consequences. Susie hadn’t ridden in many years and nonetheless looked very balanced in her saddle. She and Sunni got along well and over a variety of terrains. Always, we were very careful to keep Pimmy in mind and have her within our views.

That ride was long, but fun and productive. Today, I’m going to ride with another friend, Judy, and together we’ll re-test the loop. This time, we’ll check the ease of traveling over it and determine the amount of time needed to complete our ride. Meanwhile, Susie is creating a visual map of the loop from coordinates she captured in real time.

Yesterday, I handled only a single horse and that made my ride relatively hands-free. This allowed such flexibility that Susie and I could go off-trail to explore some of the area’s more complicated-looking terrains. Throughout all that we asked of our horses, both of them were wonderful. And happily, Pimmy tracked with us the entire way.

Dear Friends: It’s wonderful, the Horse Butte National Forest isn’t far from my barn. Diana

Thursday, July 09, 2020

Yesterday, something unimaginable happened: I lost my beloved Pimmy Donkey in Bend’s Horse Butte National Wilderness.

This donkey is bonded highly to my horses. When I’m on horseback Pimmy follows loosely, has done so for years and hundreds of miles in many terrains and environments. Lately, we’ve begun traveling in the Horse Butte Wilderness. She follows as I ride one horse and lead another, hunting for horse trails, pleasant and interesting, for our routine outings.

Pimmy is confident, not in a hurry, and typically, lags behind maybe fifty- to one-hundred-yards. I pause the horses often to graze until our the donkey catches up. Yesterday, after a long ride, I turned the horses onto a narrow trail toward the trailhead but quickly became very preoccupied with them. Rosie wanted to trot and needed holding back, while Sunni kept lowering her head to grab at grass and needed pulling forward. Our struggling continued through the half-mile trail. At its end, I stopped to let the horses graze and wait for Pimmy.

She didn’t show up, a first-time ever! Finally worried, I pushed my trail-weary horses back on the path, but in the direction from which we’d come. Surely, that donkey would be marching toward us or grazing. Nope. On reaching the roadway, I searched for her little hoofprints, but ferreting through many prints in dust requires a more experienced tracker. My horses then continued along the road that looped around to the trailhead. Throughout, no signs of Pimmy.

Nor was she at the trailhead. So, I’d have to ride out again and search for her. After calling for help from my friends, Dave and Julie, I tried to saddle Sunni, but was too upset imagining Pimmy alone in the forest at night to tack-up correctly. I still was struggling with that saddle when Dave and Julie arrived. Dave suggested I call the Sheriff’s Office in case someone might see and report Pimmy. That call turned into solid gold, for someone had spotted her.

The next couple of hours consisted of my loaded rig creeping over bumpy Forest roads as I tried to link up with Ranger Maria who knew where to find Pimmy. I’ll skip most of the details, except to say that finally FR Maria began to guide Dave into the forest over roads too narrow for my rig. I drove around to the trailhead where Julie and I waited.

At last from the Forest, here came Dave leading our beautiful Pimmy: https://youtu.be/-DYDvWQibSo

Dear Friends: I’m thankful for forest watchers, kind friends, and now will keep Pimmy in sight. Diana

Wednesday, July 08, 2020

I’ve carried on about “Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace”, a Chinese series (subtitled) that consists of 81 episodes, streaming on Hulu (perhaps also on Amazon Prime). It’s an historical, lengthy, somewhat lightweight drama, made very special by absolutely stunning visuals, a lovely musical soundtrack, and compelling performances by Zhou Xun (the Harem Empress) and Wallace Huo (the Palace Emperor).

Fascinating to me has been that artists can turn a story, familiar, long and sometimes silly to a modern audience, into an event that can hold viewers through 81 episodes. My initial attractions were to its music and visuals accompanying each series’ opening and closing credits. I went looking for the soundtrack, finally finding only limited versions. While there’s no commercial soundtrack, enough is available to provide a flavor of the series’ style.

I searched for music and visuals, finding this YouTube video with one of the soundtrack’s key singers, Lei Jia (a coloratura soprano who sings with the Metropolitan Opera) performing the opening song. The video includes glimpses of the series, hinting at how throughout its 81 episodes, each scene is sheer visual art.

Here’s the link, enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4_wYfR408M&list=RDC4_wYfR408M&start_radio=1&t=0

Dear Friends: This complicated series give us a story with more to praise than to criticize. Diana

Tuesday, July 07, 2020

In the header photo, taken in Los Angeles during my cousin Mary’s engagement party, the lady with decolletage was her Aunt Fanny, who also was my mom. At that time, mom was approaching her mid-fifties, and as always, was a beautiful lady.

Those were the days when I might have been living in Albuquerque. That’s where I wound up after going to Gallup to rescue my high school friend, Stephanie, from what seemed a mismatched marriage. (I was mistaken, for the couple’s collaboration was long and successful.) At the time, as a midwestern, I rarely had contacts with West Coast relatives. Many years later, and in fact, in Los Angeles at another family event, Mary and I met in person, talked, and almost immediately became friends. Since then, she and her husband, Freddie, and I, have been close.

Since then and through many years, Mary and I have shared our experiences, including routine living activities, memories associated to family members, and also, many of the welcome and unwelcome elements of aging.

This photo arrived yesterday, a surprise blast from the past. If it were possible to slide back in time, I’d be at that party! Mary found the photo in an old collection and included a note explaining that it shows mom talking with her Northern California niece (whom I never met). Nearby, were our Uncle Sam, Aunt Edith, and Cousin Dusty. I knew most of them well, and over the years after that photo, many have passed away.

I still have Mary, still have Stephanie, and am full of gratitude for our shared memories.

Dear Friends: If only I could talk again with Mom, she’d answer so many questions! Diana

Monday, July 07, 2020

This is a quick “good morning” because I’m running late. I must hurry out and ready my rig to roll while morning is here and the weather still cool. A tire caught a nail and needs air, the water-carriers are empty, and the trailer floor is a mess. These chores take time and require effort. Yesterday, I decided to leave them alone.

That’s the kind of delaying decision that always winds up making me angry at myself. The problem with facing work needing completion is that it must be done, the sooner the better and easier. Otherwise, there are consequences to face for having made the bad choice of deciding to wait. Since those are jobs I don’t want to handle now, why didn’t I simply take care of things earlier?

Procrastination is an interesting element of human nature. We know what must be done and when, but oddly, sometimes (and hopefully not often) we allow work needs to slide, until suddenly they loom as demands. Experiences teaches that anticipating work usually is worse than actually fulfilling it. Hmm, this probably deserves more thought, but thankfully, not right now.

I’m on my way outside to take care of needed work.

Dear Friends: Forgive my having slacked, I’m trusting today to perform better. Diana