Meg Evans

This week I’ve been busier than usual and haven’t had much time or mental energy for blogging. Still, I sat down at the computer just now to write a Nurturing Thursday post. I’ve found that regularly taking the time to put together uplifting blog entries not only encourages others who may read them, but also replenishes my own energy. Even when the words don’t flow as easily as usual and the post is short, it’s a kindness to myself, setting aside space to create a little bright spot in my day.

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 recently learned that more work was needed on something I did years ago. Although it wasn’t wrong at the time, the circumstances turned out to be different from what I had expected.

It wasn’t really much of a problem; there was a simple standard-form fix. Still, I felt like I had made an ignorant blunder when I was told about it, even though the person who told me was not at all critical and, in fact, helpfully offered to send me the form.

When it arrived in my email, I wasn’t sure that it was the right form; it looked as if it might be referring to something different. The sender had been rushing to catch up on a large backlog of work after having computer problems. I thought, oh well, it’s no big deal—if it should have been something else, it was a mistake that anyone in a hurry could easily have made.

Then I started to wonder—why had I been judging myself as anything less than capable?

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.

Early this morning, my husband went down to the boathouse for some friendly competition with another rower who also enjoys traveling to the regattas. After sprinting down the river a few times, he came home and still wanted to do something more outdoors.

We got our bicycles and went out for a long ride, about two hours, in the midday sun. That was enough of a workout for me! After getting lunch and cooling off for a while in the air conditioning, I decided this cartoon would be just right for today’s Nurturing Thursday post. Enjoy!

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.

Since my husband started wearing a Fitbit regularly this year, he has been more interested in going out for walks in the evening. We usually walk all through the neighborhood, and often we take the same path along the sidewalks, but it doesn’t really matter which way we go. It’s just nice to get outdoors and enjoy a little fresh air and exercise.

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.

With this year’s unusually wet spring in most of the United States, there hasn’t been much sun in what seems like ages. Looking out the window at yet another chilly, dark afternoon with a steady drizzle, I decided that a sunny word-art would be just the thing to brighten up my blog. Enjoy!

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.

It’s actually Friday rather than Thursday, but oh well, stuff happens. This week, the stuff included computer problems both at work and at home, along with other assorted disruptions to my usual schedule.

I’m not going to complain, though. After seeing all the damage caused by recent tornadoes in this area, my little annoyances look totally trivial. And of course, just about everything has useful learning experiences in it somewhere, even if they are not obvious right away.

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.

This morning I mentioned to my husband that it was about time to sign up for a rowing sprint race in Indianapolis, which we attend every summer. The course is always windy, and we’re not the best at rowing in windy and choppy conditions; but every time we try it, we do better than before. Last year we got third place in our mixed double race.

We regularly finish ahead of another couple who are less experienced, but also improving each year. Their goal, for now, is to catch up to us. It’s kind of nice being someone’s inspiration!

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.

On Monday night there were multiple tornadoes here in the Dayton, Ohio area. One of them came very close to my house. My next-door neighbors lost their flagpole. My house and yard had no damage, which was very lucky. We didn’t even lose power.

It took my husband (who usually has a short commute) about two hours to get to work Tuesday morning because there were fallen trees and other damage all over the area. Meanwhile, I was sitting at my desk working from home. There was no water because Dayton’s pumps had lost power. I had a plastic water bottle on my desk, next to a bowl of first-of-the-season cherries, and I was counting my blessings.

Water was restored to my area Wednesday afternoon but was still under a boil advisory today. My husband mowed the lawn this afternoon when he got home from work, and he told me that he had to pick up several pieces of debris from other people’s wrecked houses that had blown into our yard. Some residents of ruined apartments were standing outside in the rain with all their belongings, which they couldn’t even move because there was such a long wait for rental trucks. Meanwhile, some of our not-so-thankful neighbors were complaining about how long it took before they got back their water.

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.

Earlier today I spent a few minutes looking at my rosebushes. They are not in bloom yet, so I wasn’t literally taking time to smell the roses; but they do have healthy-looking buds and appear to be flourishing in the damp and cool spring weather, which was good to see.

I had to replace some rosebushes three years ago, as I mentioned here. The replacements are still rather small, probably because the past few summers have been hot and dry. They’re making good efforts, though, so I gave them an impromptu pep talk.

“You’re doing just fine, roses, keep on going,” I said.

Maybe that was silly—but then again, maybe we can all benefit from getting more words of encouragement. So I decided to share some this week:

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.

The rowing club had a board meeting yesterday. My husband (who has been one of the trustees for the past two years) told me that the meeting might run long because there were several things to talk about, but that he’d like to meet me at the boathouse after the meeting and go rowing in our double anyway.

I wasn’t sure how realistic that was, considering the fact it would get dark before we could do much rowing. I was picturing a chilly, windy night on the river, with mosquitoes, skunks, and other undesirable nocturnal wildlife. But then I decided to change my mindset and imagine having a pleasant evening instead.

The meeting did indeed run long; but as it turned out, we had a good row. There was very little wind, it was still comfortably warm even after sunset, the water was calm, and there was plenty of moonlight. We had the river all to ourselves (though we made sure to put blinking lights on the boat anyway, just to be safe). A mosquito did get my husband once, but they left me alone, and we did not see any skunks.

It all goes to show that, even though negativity may seem like reality, there generally are many other ways to frame our experiences.

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.