After running the Turkey Trot road race with my family this morning, I thought about how many choices we have in today’s world and how many reasons we have to be thankful. Family and community activities came to mind first, and then blogs and other modern media that keep us connected and informed, as well as the wide variety of new technologies and career options that people have nowadays.

Even shopping can get pretty interesting. My husband was looking at microwave ovens online because our old microwave is wearing out. He told me that the new ones are connected to the Internet and have an app that lets a person scan a box of packaged food, so that the microwave can cook the food according to the manufacturer’s directions without any need to use a keypad to set the cooking time. I hadn’t been aware of that, and I thought it was a clever idea.

Wishing my readers a happy Thanksgiving with family fun and interesting discoveries, too!

Word-art that says "Happy Thanksgiving!" with owls dressed as Pilgrims.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

My daughter volunteered to cook Thanksgiving dinner for our family, including my husband’s parents and siblings. She enjoys cooking, which is fortunate because she also offered to help her mother-in-law, which she’ll do after running the early-morning Turkey Trot with us.

That’s a lot to do, and she creatively resolved the conflict by asking us if we’d be okay with having Thanksgiving dinner on Friday this year, so that she can cook and eat with both her husband’s family and ours. Usually we’re pretty flexible, and we told her that would be fine. Still, it’s an ambitious plan; but as a general rule, what is done out of love can be expected to turn out well.

Word-art with the "Love is patient..." verses from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

November 21, 2019 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

The rowing club ended the season with its annual Jingle Bell Row on Sunday afternoon. The sweep team decorated a boat like Santa’s sleigh, with eight rowers wearing reindeer antlers while the coxswain had on a Santa suit. To announce that they were ready, the rowers sounded off by reindeer name instead of doing it the usual way by seat number.

We had a total of eleven people who wanted to go out on the water, and I rowed a double with another woman. It was a lovely mild autumn day, sunny and calm.

Two crews on the river. A double is in the foreground and an 8+ is in the background.

The water was cold, but another club member volunteered to drive a safety launch while taking photos; and nobody got wet, so it was a good day all around. We had hot chocolate afterward, and a few people brought homemade baked items to share, which included a yummy pumpkin bread made with a pumpkin from a backyard garden. Everyone was left with good memories for the winter months ahead.

I recently decided to see an orthodontist about my lower front teeth, which used to be fairly straight, but have gotten a bit crooked over the years. Although they are not that bad, I feel as if I ought to get them taken care of, anyway—if only to persuade my anxious younger selves that I do, in fact, make a regular practice of taking good care of myself.

More generally, this year I’ve been feeling, intuitively, that I need tangible reminders that most things in life are fixable. When old worries pop up, as they do from time to time, I tell myself that there is no need for concern; but I haven’t always been able to make myself feel the truth of it. So, when I came across this useful bit of advice, it seemed like a good fit for a Nurturing Thursday post.

Word-art with a long Dalai Lama quote explaining why there is no benefit in worrying.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I haven’t spent much time visiting and commenting on blogs recently, although I plan to do more over the winter. I’ve been traveling to regattas on the weekends with my husband and the rowing club, which is fun but hasn’t left me with as much time or energy for online activities as usual.

Not surprisingly, I haven’t gotten as many comments as usual, either. That’s just the natural way of things—when we spend more time interacting with others, they’re more likely to think about doing the same with us. And more generally, whenever we put energy into the world, it’s likely to find its way back.

Word-art that says "Be a reflection of what you'd like to see in others. If you want love, give love. If you want honesty, give honesty. If you want respect, give respect. You get in return what you give."

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

November 6, 2019 · 2 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

I’m not sure it really counts as redecorating to decide, after many years, what to do with an area of the house that never was properly decorated in the first place. Whatever it might be called, however, I feel pretty good about finally taking care of it; so I’m writing an entry here to celebrate this small accomplishment.

My kitchen has a bay window, with wooden shelves on both sides. When I moved in, I wasn’t sure how to decorate the shelves, so I just put some pretty ceramic mugs on them. I expected that something else would come to mind after a while.

Of course, we all know what happens when we put things somewhere for “a while.” We get used to seeing them in that place, and subconsciously we feel it’s where they belong. So, after I put the mugs on the shelves, there they stayed. They weren’t being used and just sat there for years and years, gathering dust. Sometimes I noticed that the window area looked boring, but I never could think of what else to put there.

Then last week it occurred to me—this is a kitchen, for goodness’ sake. Kitchen shelves are for food, not for dusty old junk. So I took down the mugs, put them in a bag for the thrift store, dusted the shelves, and filled them with jars and boxes of tasty-looking food. On the top shelves, which I needed a ladder to reach, I put mini pumpkins as a symbol of the harvest season.

Kitchen window with shelves holding food in jars and boxes.

Even though this doesn’t really qualify as interior decorating, but is just ordinary food that will eventually get eaten and replaced with something else on the shelf, my kitchen looks so much brighter and happier now. I can feel the cheerful energy moving through it, replacing the feelings of stagnation that used to be there.

It’s a totally free improvement, too, assuming the food does all get eaten and none of it goes to waste. Now, when I step into the kitchen and see how much better it looks, I’m left wondering what else in my life could be improved just as easily!