Hi all, sorry I’m a day late. It has been insane busy lately and yesterday was nonstop from the time I got up. Anyway, here I am, a day late and possibly a dollar short, but I guess better late than never ;)
We had a stretch of really warm weather last week. It’s seasonably cool now, but we have some more warm weather coming up. Unfortunately I was very busy last week and didn’t get out as much as I would have wished, but I did some, particularly over the weekend, and it was great!
Besides the typical runs, walks and dog walks, including a very long one through the woods with Fiyero, I want to bring a few things forward.
This has been a pretty good week. I went down to Cape Cod this weekend, but what is new? I did some of the usual, like a super long walk on the sand-flats of Chapin beach, where I I enjoyed some of the sand patterns (see photo below) and a very long paddle on my kayak. But there was something that stood out against those smile worthy things.
Hello and Welcome! Come on over and I’ll get you a super strong dark roast, a cuppa tea or other beverage. It is a little cool, but sunny and comfortable, so being outside is very much called for. Today won’t be as warm as yesterday, but still slightly on the warm side of average, and a gorgeous October day! Oh, where are we? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being on Cape Cod.
I drove down here on Thursday night with the little kitten, Tiberius. Alexander was supposed to come as well, but disappeared just before I needed him. I looked and called, but no Alexander. I hear that about 4 hours later (yes after 10 PM…) the dogs started going crazy and Alexander showed up. He was someplace in the house napping, but it is so funny that the dogs knew we were trying to find him!
I know I am a little late for coffee, but I just got back from a very long paddle on the kayak. It was great! Yesterday I took a half day from work and took a long walk on the beach and a short swim. Yes, swim in October. I also mowed and did some yard work.
This last week has been an odd week. I had a hair cut after letting it grow out for 6 months. I’ve had that as a smile before, but since I didn’t do before and after photos… We had a face-to-face Lions Club meeting, which was great but… I have really gotten back into my music, which is great, but there is little to show for it (yet). I just did a “it’s the small things” post. How about a nice, long walk in the woods without the dogs?
Typically around this time of year I would be doing major hikes, but I haven’t had a good day for it in a long time – there has to be a combination of the right weather and a big blank on my agenda. But I did get out for a long walk, which I stretched out into the local woods. It wasn’t too special and the colors are not here yet, but it was nice, and perhaps the longest walk I’ve had in New Hampshire since early spring, so it was nice. The weather wasn’t great (it had started to drizzle), but I still enjoyed it.
Note – this will be the last time I do a Weekly Smile Recap post.
Hi all! Hope you had a good week with plenty of smiles. Anyway, we did have plenty of smiles over here at The Weekly Smile! Just check out some of the posts below:
Hello and Welcome! Come on over and I’ll get you a large mug of very strong dark roast, a cuppa tea, some hot cocoa or other steaming beverage. Steaming? It is a bit chilly this morning! It will get pretty warm later. OK, warm is a relative term. I’m talking maybe 68 or 69F (20 C). We had a few days this week which were even cooler. In fact, those days felt like early October! lol. September was warm. Oh, where are we? Some of you may recognize the photo as being from New Hampshire.
It was an odd week. Work was very busy, but not insane.
This week I had a Lions Club meeting, which was, I think, our second face-to0face meeting in a year and a half. I also got a hair cut – I needed it! I didn’t do before and after photos, but there is a huge difference (it was May when I last had it cut).
Last week I had a pretty exciting smile – seeing a bear and its cubs as I ran. Not something that happens all of the time! But this week there isn’t anything like that. I mean, it was a pretty good week and all, but nothing really stands out.
Of course the big event of the week was going to Cape Cod. Yes, I do it quite often, but I had planned on going down there earlier but had to change plans because of dental work. So it had been a couple of weeks since I had visited.
Of course it was a wet few days. I wasn’t able to go to the beach or kayak. I didn’t mow (it needs it!) or other work. Yeah, sticking out into the ocean means that it rains a lot more there than on the mainland…
But it was nice.
This was the first visit in a while with no animals. In some ways not great, but in other ways – not having a fuzzy body on top of me meant that I could sleep! And that is pretty much what the visit was about – relaxing. I was able to get out a for few walks, despite the almost constant rain, including a long one at Bells Neck, one of my favorite “hiking” areas down there.
That is my smile for the week, going down to Cape Cod for a relaxing weekend.
What made you smile?
(Note – in the near future I will stop doing the Smile Recap posts).
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Come on, I’m sure you smiled at least once last week. Why don’t you share it? I hope you can join in!
Here is list of “rules” and guiding ideas. If you don’t have time to read it right now, just remember that this is an exercise to spread positivity. Don’t smile about the misfortune of others. Don’t smile in a way to excludes others. Make sure a 12 year old can read it.
To join in, write a post to share your smile and then leave a comment on this post with a link to your smile. Or, if you prefer, do a pingback to this post (pingback = have a link from your post to this one) (Note – pingbacks have been very inconsistent – please leave a comment :) ). You can post any time until next Sunday evening (to be simple, I will say midnight GMT, which is 7 PM Sunday for me). Next week I will compile all of the Smiles and do a separate post of them on Monday morning just before the smile. (I will shoot for around 7 AM EST).
I will put up this week’s smile in about an hour. What made you smile.
Note – As I’ve stated elsewhere, my blogging is going through a major slowdown as I change priorities. I will keep the Weekly Smile going, but I think I will only do the recap for another week or two.
Hello and Welcome! Come on over and I’ll get you a nice large mug of super strong dark roast, a cuppa tea or other beverage. It is sort of odd out – warmish and humid. It rained a lot over night and the forecast calls for passing showers, but hopefully it will be a nice day overall. Where are we? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being from Cape Cod.
So I drove down here Wednesday evening, after massage. I came alone – I almost took the cat Alexander, but at the last minute decided not to. My sleep has been pretty ragged of late, and much of it has to do with animals sleeping on top of me. Between weather and being busy, I really haven’t done much since I’ve been here, but I guess that is OK – I don’t have to be hiking or kayaking every waking minute, do I? I have done a little work around the house, which is good, but not a lot, which is bad – if it dries up at all, I will mow later today.
Work seemed to be busier than usual. There are always ups and downs. Not all is bad, and a little is self-induced as I pushed myself to do specific things.
I’ve been keeping up my exercise routine, but my running routine is way off.
While in New Hampshire I did a lot of dog walking and playing, cat/kitten playing and walking and other such. I’ve read, but that’s like saying “I breathed”.
I did a little editing of my next book of short stories – it is almost ready, but my “editors” have been too busy to help.
I have been getting back into music and a huge chunk of my spare time was spent playing. I think I am going to shift almost completely away from writing to music for a while. Although I love to write, music is my first love. I have always played, but I am not even close to the level I once was, so… We’ll see how it goes – often when I do these shifts of priorities it lasts for a few weeks, maybe months, and rarely a year or more.
That being said, I have been mostly in a writing phase for quite a few years (7? 8?) and was in a music phase for quite a few years before that (4? 5? 6?) and then it was 100% visual arts for about three years before that, so possibly I will switch again…
Looking at the above two paragraphs, that also means my blogging is goign to go down to a post or two a week. In fact, it already has. We’ll see. Besides not posting, I have not been able to find time to read blog posts at all. In the past, about 85% of blog time is reading, 10% answering comments and 5% writing. This week it was 10% reading, 87% answering comments and 3% writing…
Anyway, it is not raining and outside is calling! I need to get up and get back out there (I was out for a walk and doing yard work for about an hour and half already this morning).
Thanks for stopping by! If you have a coffee share I will try to stop by, but, as always, I can’t promise.
I think I have mentioned the route I take for my main run, haven’t I? It starts with a large uphill. It then continues with an uphill. And then there is some climbing. And that is followed by even more uphill…. Yes, my run tops off at the highest point in miles.
Wednesday I went for a run. It was warm and very humid, so I almost didn’t go, and my first thought was to do an easier run. But I did my mountain run. And I am glad I did…
After I hit the high point and started to go into a little dip, I saw movement in front of me. I recognized it almost immediately – a black bear was crossing the road at the bottom of the dip. I was still pretty far away, so not worried.
