I’m currently reading Buried Deep by Naomi Novik, a collection of short stories. Fairies, witches, dragons, monsters, oh my. Lots of fun. She is one of my favorite authors.
I hope you’re having a good week, too!
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
There is a new neighbor on my street, who owns a landscaping company. Soon after he moved in, my next-door neighbor hired him to clear away the overgrown, mismatched hedge (shown in this 2014 post) along our property line. The work is still in progress, but it’s already looking much better. Other than a redbud at the front (which I like) and a few other trees left standing, it has mostly been cut down. I took a photo of it this afternoon, and the open space felt pleasant and inviting.
I don’t yet know what will be planted there, but I am sure it will be an improvement, whatever it is. My husband told our new neighbor that we’d like to have some landscaping work done, too. After all the time I spent last summer cutting back some neglected bushes, which had to be gotten out of the way before having new windows installed, I definitely like the idea of contracting out this season’s yard work.
Deciding what to tag this post gave me some indecision. I had in mind that leaving space for improvement invites good things to show up, but I couldn’t think of a word that seemed quite right to express that idea. Looking in my list of previously used tags, I chose “Attraction” and “Positivity,” which came close. I tried putting the question into an AI prompt and got “Manifestation” in response, but I opted against that one because I hadn’t visualized anything in particular for the landscaping.
After pondering over it a little longer, I added “Places,” which is a tag I use for how my surroundings make me feel. At that point, I decided three tags would be enough—no need to be a perfectionist about it.
When I woke up this morning and went into the home office to start my workday, I heard cold winds howling. It was so dark outside that I hadn’t wanted to open the blinds in the kitchen when I got my coffee.
The sun never did come out, but everything felt brighter when my husband came into the room and sat down at his computer. No need for sunny days to feel cheerful when we have each other’s company.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
The phrase “uncanny valley,” which comes from robotics, means the disturbing gap between something we expect to see and something that almost—but not quite—fits those expectations. When we can see immediately that a robot is a machine and not a person, it doesn’t look creepy. If it has a few humanoid features but is still an obvious robot, then it feels reasonably familiar, and we’re okay with it. As it gets closer to looking human and might be mistaken for a real person, that’s when it falls into the uncanny valley. Even when we know it’s harmless, we feel subconsciously threatened anyway—as if we’re looking at a foggy, scary mental landscape of dizzying heights and jagged peaks.
(Creative Commons image via flickr)
Last month, my husband and I went on a road trip to Florida. During one of our stops to get gas and use the facilities, a woman came out of the ladies’ room looking quite agitated.
“There’s a man in there!” she hissed, in a tone that someone might have used to warn about a rabid beast.
I stopped in the doorway for a moment, taken aback, as she hurried away. Not hearing anything out of the ordinary, I went inside. There was only one other person in the restroom, inside a stall with a closed door, who stayed in there until after I left; so, I can’t say what prompted the warning.
Because I regularly row, which is a sport that has many tall and muscular women, I don’t pay much attention when I see a woman of such proportions. I tend to assume she is probably an athlete, rather than speculating on whether she might be transgender.
As far as I know, I’ve never been a target of such speculation myself. I look more athletic than most middle-aged women, but I am short and have narrow shoulders and small hands, so it seems very unlikely that anyone would perceive me as masculine.
Still, it’s always disconcerting to be reminded of how easily one might find oneself in a less-welcomed group, just because society’s prevailing winds have shifted. That said, I don’t mean to criticize or blame people for reacting in fear when something sets off their uncanny-valley threat detectors. Fear of the Other is, and always has been, part of human nature, going back to the ancient world’s tribal warfare. Whether that will ever change—who knows.
When I went back to the car, my husband had just finished pumping the gas, and we got on the road again. For us, it was just a rest stop.
My husband has been busy this week and hasn’t gotten quite enough rest, but he has been cheerfully taking a few minutes here and there to watch goofy reels and other online amusement. A good laugh goes a long way toward a healthy life—although, of course, it doesn’t make up for not sleeping long enough. I’ll make sure to let him rest well over the weekend.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
Just as the time changed to daylight savings this week, the weather turned much warmer around here. My daughter sent me a text message with a photo attached, telling me that she and her dog had been enjoying a nap in the sunshine in her backyard.
I haven’t yet put the lounge chairs and other outdoor furniture in their usual arrangement on the deck; but, after seeing that message, I’m looking forward to a little time quietly resting in the sun, too. Nothing wrong with having the comfortable life of a lazy dog, every once in a while.
Today started out dark, with howling winds, after much of the same yesterday. Because I’d been out to get my eyes checked, I hadn’t gotten in a full workday, so I made up for it by putting in 10 hours today, with a long break in the middle for my rowing workout. By evening, I didn’t feel motivated to do any blogging and had to push myself to sit down and write this post.
Even so, there’s something good in it. I am grateful to have a remote job and a comfortable house, where I don’t have to care how much the winds howl.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
Traveling to Sarasota was fun, and my husband and I took second place rowing our mixed double this year. The return trip was somewhat tiring, however. On Sunday, my husband drove for several hours to our hotel in Tifton, Georgia, after a long day of rowing, while he took a midnight call in the car because his company was doing a code deployment overnight. The Monday drive home included a detour to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to drop off two boats for other rowers.
Since he bought the mini trailer last year, he has often carried boats for others. He likes to be helpful, generally; and you never know, especially with older rowers, how many future opportunities they might have to compete in a regatta.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
Instead of taking the entire week off from work during a spring break trip as I did last February, I decided to bring my laptop and work part of the day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
My husband regularly travels with his laptop, in part because he has fewer vacation days than I do, but mostly because he is a senior software developer and could be called upon at any time if there is an unexpected problem with the company’s website. That’s fine with him because working remotely is so much better than the way things used to be.
Whether or not we have work to do, we feel fortunate when we wake up each morning.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
I felt somewhat unfocused today—not because of anything in particular, but just a lot of errands the past few days and getting ready for our spring break road trip to Sarasota. This year it’s easier for us because the Greater Columbus rowing club will take all the boats from Ohio on their trailer, instead of my husband taking them on Greater Dayton’s trailer as he did last year. He doesn’t mind, but it’s good that he is not always the trailer driver and can have a more relaxed trip to the (hopefully) sunny South.
After finishing my work for today and setting out my clothes for packing, I feel more comfortable just sitting here composing this post, without much else going on now. It’s all good.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
