Things make up a post

[mme_hardy]

1. Happy birthday, oursin !
2. I realized last month, after only forty (gasp) years of reading Georgette Heyer, what a "light seat" means in riding. Check me: a rider with a "light seat" is supporting their weight on their legs and/or leaping-horn, transmitting their weight down to the stirrups and allowing their legs to act as shock-absorbers, rather than resting their weight on the saddle and bumping up and down on the horse's back. Right?
3. I called my husband "darling" in the supermarket Sunday. Am I right in thinking that outside the U.S. (and, for that matter, the Midwestern/Southern parts of the Midwest, for all I know) this would be weird or indecorous?
4. Oh God, oh Montreal. My medical marijuana provider is no longer veiling its features with the scanty voile of medicine.
   What better way to start your weekend than a cannabis-themed brunch?
   This week we're putting our favorite brunch items on sale - infused coffee and tea mixes, honey, granola, almond butter, jam. Order by Thursday to take advantage of the sale price and have yours in time for next weekend!

I shudder to think of the guests at a marijuana brunch driving home.  The nasty thing about edibles is that (A) you can't predict when they'll hit and (B) you can't be confident of the dose and (C) you tend to eat too much because it hasn't hit yet.  Lather, rinse, repeat.   Pot in honey, almond butter, and jam, sounds especially prone to "Oh, just one more croissant" and then disaster.

Comments

[perennialanna]

3. Would be unusual round here (one of most deprived areas in the country), would be absolutely standard where I grew up (veh veh posh bit of Surrey, ie commuter belt for the City of London). Of course it's a class marker, everything's a class marker.

[caulkhead]

I'd read someone calling their partner 'darling' in public as 'Probably a bit annoyed with them'. It has a definite edge when deployed in the supermarket, for example, which it wouldn't have in private.

[perennialanna]

Depends on tone of voice (I'm thinking of the Richards - though how always calling each other Darling rather than Richard is less confusing I cannot work out).

[legionseagle]

Definitely.

[marymac]

It was certainly being deployed with strong undertones of "stop mucking with the trolley before I smack you one" this evening...

[recessional]

Not really? I mean it would be a bit unusual here but not remotely wrong or whatever. In re the darling part. Mostly because it's just not that common of an endearment here. It would definitely make people ASSUME you were married, tho: it's uncommon in general, but when it's used it's only used for kids and sig others.

Welp hello a lot of DUIs! I mean we refer to it as drunk-driving because that's what it's been up until now but it's equally illegal to be under the influence of any OTHER recreational drugs (or medical ones if you KNOW their effects) while operating a vehicle sooo . . .

[mme_hardy]

One of the problems California is trying to figure out is how to determine DUI. You can find pot in the bloodstream hours after the person is actually intoxicated, urine for days. IIRC Colorado and Oregon are going with "I know it when I see it", which is in no way prone to police abuse.

California has started running ads saying BLAZED DRIVING IS DRUNK DRIVING, and I'm sure that will solve the problem.

Also also wik

[mme_hardy]

It's a standard feature of toddlerhood to demand consistency in endearments. "No, DADDY is 'dearest', I'm 'honeyboo'." (This wasn't just my kids; it happens a lot.) Sweet inanities tumble from my lips. Off the top of my head: dearest, honey, truelove, pumpkin, darling, [anything]-boo. We use each other's names rarely. Tonstant Auditor Fwowed Up.

Re: Also also wik

[ankaret]

I was reading a book on how to train cats recently (it's called 'Train Your Cat To Promote Your Book', how could I resist?) and it said that the way to get a cat to recognise its name was to call it that exclusively and say 'Good, $kitty, good' when petting. I couldn't do it. I've addressed Mycroft as 'Mikey Boo', 'my little ginger ninja' and 'Mr Stripey Legs' just in the last ten minutes.

Re: Also also wik

[mme_hardy]

[cooing] Who is a very stupid cat, then? You! That's right, it's you!

Re: Also also wik

[ankaret]

Aha, so you've met Mycroft!

Re: Also also wik

[recessional]

We're pretty sure my sister's cat thinks "fluff" is his name. Or "keeee-ten".

[muccamukk]

In BC, calling someone darling in public wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

That is my understanding of light seat.

[caulkhead]

Marijuana in honey sounds actively unpleasant.

[mme_hardy]

Marijuana tastes awful. There's a reason it's pot brownies, not pot Rice Krispie treats. The best tincture I've found uses strawberry and basil to mask, but even then I have to go have a slice of buttered bread (pot is fat-soluble not water-soluble) afterward.

[legionseagle]

It does, doesn't it?

[ankaret]

I would not be weirded out by people calling one another darling in a supermarket. I have accidentally called '*idiosyncratic endearment*, do we need any carrots?' across from the veg aisle before now.

Then again, I automatically default to saying 'veg' and am mildly confused by Americans saying 'veggies' when not baby talking, so maybe we are divided by a common language after all.

[oursin]

Thank you!

[clanwilliam]

A light seat is a bit more than that. It's whole-body control, and a lot of it is your torso and especially your stomach muscles. It's how you put your bum in the saddle and transferring weight to your legs would just change the strain point on the saddle. Stirrups are semi-irrelevant, since your thighs are more important than your lower legs. As are your buttocks - you can tell a horse a lot with a buttock twitch astride.

Biggest riding compliment I ever got was "I reckon you ride two stone lighter than you weigh." And since it was from people at a racing stable, I was really flattered.

ETA: definitely not the leaping horn on a sidesaddle. That's security for jumping - you only ram your leg up there properly when you need a more secure seat.

[mme_hardy]

Thank you. So a lady on a sidesaddle can't grip with her thighs -- how is she holding on and communicating?

That's a lovely compliment indeed.

[clanwilliam]

Also, no leaping head in the period Heyer rides about.

Sidesaddles are very flat, and you hook your leg around the fixed head. You also need longer reins as you're much higher up. It's actually a very secure seat - so secure that pre-quick release stirrups, your biggest danger was not being able to abandon ship. Most riders carry a cane to give aids on the offside, with your leg on the near side providing them there.

However, most impulsion comes from your right leg, which is stretched along the saddle and also along the horse's spine. Again, as with astride, your upper body is far more important than your legs.

There was a big surge in side-saddle sales post WWI, with saddles being made with the horns on the offside, as it meant amputees could ride and hunt again. In that case, the whole leg hooked over the fixed horn, as that's the leg that gives control.

Grip can only keep you on a horse so long - balance is far more
Important. However, it's easier to keep on a bucking horse sidesaddle (use the leaping head) than it is astride.

[malkingrey]

it's easier to keep on a bucking horse sidesaddle (use the leaping head) than it is astride

I had a memorable moment of linguistic confusion there, as my Texan brain tried to read "bucking horse" not as "a horse that is bucking" but as "a horse meant to be ridden in the bronc-riding event at a rodeo." (Such as the famed, never-ridden Midnight.)

[mme_hardy]

Thank you for that wonderful link.

[clanwilliam]

That is a wonderful link and I do wonder if Midnight could have been tamed in a sidesaddle. Horsebreakers used to use sidesaddles specifically to tame buckers in England.

But I'm glad Midnight always won.

[malkingrey]

I'm told that one of my Texan great-grandmothers used to tame horses for ladies to ride -- presumably, this meant training them to be accustomed to a sidesaddle.