Weekly Smile 77 Follow On #weeklysmile

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

Reading Tena Carr’s Smile post this week reminded me of a great feel good story.  OK, it starts with a great tragedy.

I’m sure you have heard about that terrible fire in London.  I’m also sure you’ve heard some of the complaints that it might have been avoidable.  On the plus side, you may have seen that some of London’s more famous residents came out to support the victims.  Even the Queen did a better job of showing her sympathies than some of the politicians.

Adele publicly spoke about how hard it hit her.  But less publicly she stopped by the local firehouse to thank the heroes who put their lives at risk to help those trapped in the building.  The firefighters, though, did publicly show their appreciation for the visit.

You can read about it here, on the BBC.

Weekly Smile 77 #weeklysmile

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

Looking through at all of the nice smiles I’ve posted in the past.  Since I typically do two posts a week, there have been quite a few, big and small.  Some have been very specific while others very generic.  I’ve had friends, family, strangers, animals, places and things to smile about.  There have also been ideas and activities, both mental and physical.  Things I’ve seen and done and people I’ve met.

Today I am lazy I have a meeting in about ten minutes (honestly) I am going to do something different.  I am going to smile about the smiles, mine and yours.  In 2016 I collect all of my smiles and made a page.  I’ve started it for 2017 but haven’t posted.  there were a lot of smile!  And then going to the link ups and look at your smiles once again has been great.  I haven’t gone back to more than a handful, but i still enjoy the visits when I have, and I’ve liked just seeing them.

I Want Your Smile! #weeklysmile 76 Reminder!

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

I bet you can guess what my smile is about today.

Yep, my father.  I haven’t talked to him yet today.  I will.  But I did talk to him for almost an hour on Friday, so it isn’t like we’re out of touch.  And I went “eagle hunting” with him a couple of weeks back.  Here is a photo from a previous eagle hunt, since I haven’t had time to look at this year’s photos yet.

The Weekly Smile Week 76 #weeklysmile

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

I think this week it is fitting to write about the return of summer.

This has been a very odd year, weather wise.  Winter was milder than usual, but there were still some cold snaps and snow.  Spring didn’t want to arrive and was stretched out.  We had yo-yo weather, going from warmer than usual to colder than usual with no temperatures that were at all usual!  And it’s been wet.  Very wet.

After a very cold and wet start to June, temperatures warmed up.  The extreme (for June) cold of Monday and Tuesday gave way to a few gorgeous early summer days.  And then we had a heat wave (officially, a heat wave is three consecutive days above 90 F).  Although I complained a little, I wasn’t as uncomfortable as I often am in a heatwave.  The humidity was lower and the house started off at a much lower temperature because of the cold last week.  The heat broke last night and we are look forward to several beautiful June days.  The next week will see “normal” temperatures and a lot of sun shine.  I see some rain in there and a few cooler than average and a few warmer than average days, but all within a very normal range.  No more yo-yo weather.

I Want Your Smile! #weeklysmile Reminder

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

I love kayaking.  have you noticed?  Anyway, I had a great paddle yesterday.  One thing, there were a lot of people out and I usually like to be alone, but, oh well, it was still a great paddle.

A group of people where taking their kayaks out of the water when i got back to the landing.  Remember, I pull up, jump out, pull the kayak to dry ground and then wheel it off.  From the time I hit the landing to the time that I am back at the cottage is less than two minutes.  Seriously.  So I sometimes forget that it can take a large group 10 or 20 minutes to get their kayaks out of the water and onto their cars.  This group did one at a time.

Weekly Smile 75 #weeklysmile

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

75!  Wow, that’s quite a few!

This week is difficult.  It’s not because I can’t think of anything to smile about, it’s that there are too many smiles.

Last week I flew into Cleveland to visit family in Ohio.  So there is family as a smile.  And then I could go through the different individual family members and add smiles.  Like a nephew you just graduated college and has a great job lined up.  Or a niece who just completed a great Freshman year at college.  On and on, I can add many such smiles, digging down deeper and deeper.  Hundreds, no, thousands of smiles.  A “niece” from China also graduated from college and her parents were visiting from China (she will stay here to work and go back to graduate school).  More and more.  A niece with a new house.  etc.

Weekly Smile 74 #weeklysmile

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

There really is a lot to smile about, isn’t there?  Some of the smiles are very, very sad smiles – such as reading about the heroes in Portland that risked, and two who lost, everything to protect teenage girls.  So sad, but that at least three people stood up to the challenge helps restore faith in humanity that the terrorist had tried to take away.

My real smile this week, though, isn’t sad and isn’t deep.  It starts with a frown, but turns into a silver lining.

I was down on Cape Cod this weekend.  Unfortunately the weather was cooperating.  It was wet and cold.  To add insult to injury, or perhaps this was the injury and the weather the insult.  Whatever.  We did not have an Internet connection all weekend.  I used the hotspot on my phone to telework.  I put up a few blog posts and read a little, but it was painful.

I Want Your Smiles 73 #weeklysmile Reminder

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

In the last few weeks I’ve posted quite a few photos from my new camera on Facebook.  Yesterday I took a quick shot of the sun setting across Swan Pond, the small body of brackish water that is about 100 yrds/meters from my house.  Yes, there is a landing there were I launch my kayak.

Anyway, so I took a quick phone photo and posted it to Instagram and Facebook.  It’s OK, but the real thing had so many colors that my hone didn’t capture, shades of purple, etc.  I have rarely received as much attention for a photo.  One person said it was the best photo I’ve taken in a while – a person who saw all of the waterfall and Cape Cod photos I’ve posted recently.  And it’s a phone photo…

Weekly Smile 73 #weeklysmile

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

After the first push of The Weekly Smile, the enthusiasm kind of wore out.  There have been ups and downs.  It was recently put up in the Daily Post (over a half a year after I sent the link) and so a few new people have dropped by.  Last week, Smile 72, was one of the best weeks in months.  Lets keep the upward trend going – I want your smile :)

This week was ultra-busy (as usual) and I lost track.  I was taken by surprise this morning when I realized I needed to write a smile post.  So many good things happened, but what should I pick?  As I say in the little introduction, a smile can big or small, so it could be something little like playing with the cats or seeing a woodpecker.  But I decided something that was a reoccurring theme: talking to people.

I Want Your Smiles! #weeklysmile 72 Reminder

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

I so often have as my smile or smile reminder “spent the weekend on Cape Cod”.  You know, sometimes I get just as big of a smile for “I spent the weekend in New Hampshire”.  Yesterday was a case in point.

It was pleasantly cool after the extreme heat earlier in the week.  I went running, I mowed most of the yard, I took the dogs for several walks, I did some arranging and “puttering” around the house, and other such “normal” things.  But it’s great!  Sometimes I forget how nice it is just to do things around the house.  It feels good.  And then when it is spring, cool but not cold, sunny, etc.  Ah, life is good!