An odd week all around. I was sick for a bit of it. There were some family issue we are dealing with. One of my favorite places in the world burned.
I have written dozens of posts about Paris on my blog. It is my favorite city. And my favorite place there is the heart of the city, Notre Dame. When I visit, I go to Notre Dame at least once a day. I posted a few photos last Tuesday.
With all of the bad with the fire, there was actually some good. Most of the structure was saved. A lot of the stained glass was saved. There are still a lot of detailed plans from the 19th century renovation.
Perhaps most important were the lives – nobody was killed and I only heard (not in the news) of one injury. That is great. More than that, the bees lived.
With the world’s bee population in decline, mostly because of man made chemicals, people have tried to reintroduce bees to Paris. There were hives up in the roof. And the lived, 200,000 pollinators and honey makers lived. amazing. Read about it here.
That is my smile this week, that the bees lived.
What made you smile?
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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.
And remember, the Smile can be anything, large or small. Nothing, nothing at all is too small for a Smile! Sometimes taking time to notice those small, every day smiles is more important than those once in a lifetime huge ones :)
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). 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).
Try to use the hashtag #WeeklySmile when you use Twitter or other social media that uses hashtags. I searched Twitter and found that #weeklysmile had been used only a handful of times back in 2012 and 2013. It hasn’t been used since. So it’s ours! I also registered it on Twubs.
You can use the graphic at the top. It is the official graphic for the event.
Now go out there and find something to smile about! :)
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“There are days I go in search of the kind, compassionate, loving and beautiful. Despite what we sometimes see on the news, FB and elsewhere, there is much more beauty in the world than ugliness, much more kindness than hate or cruelty. Perhaps we should all have a goal to make at least one person smile every day.”
With bad news about bees in general, this is doubly good.
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Agreed
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just had to comment on your smile this week.
I have never been to Paris, which means, of course, I have not been to Notre Dame. But when it burned I cried. I watched, and watched…and then I marveled at what seemed to me, miracles. And then I read about the bees, and wow, did I smile. And marvel.
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It is such an iconic structure that it effected everyone when it burned. It is so amazing how much was saved (a few things I still don’t know about – fingers crossed), but I think the bees are amazing, particularly since they were in the roof and almost the entire roof burned. I don’t know much about miracles, but it does make you wonder…
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That’s an excellent smile in the midst of so much sadness.
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Always have to look for those silver linings :)
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Hi Trent. I’ve been highly distracted lately by stuff I have minimal control over, but one day, a memory and inspiration broke through and I recorded a fun little event that anyone who has ever been in a church with a balcony might enjoy. I’ve laughed about it for almost 40 now. It’s very short, well for me, it is. Here’s the link to my Story from on High. https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/a-song-from-on-high/
I hope everyone enjoys a quick smile with these two rowdies.
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Thanks, Gray, I’ll stop by and take a look in a minute.
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the blue candy in
her tiny mouth melting fast
our shy smiles explode
little girl at the bus stop made me smile :)
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Little girls,or little kids in general, seem to have a natural talent for making people smile :)
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had no idea there were bees in there – and this is joyful news
:)
thanks for sharing it
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Yep, it is great the bees survived :)
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:)
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https://tessacandoit.com/2019/04/22/the-weekly-smile-04-15-2019-weeklysmile-memoirs-continue/
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Thanks, Tessa.
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The news that the bees survived made me smile too. Great looking for the positives in such a terrible event, especially no loss of life or widespread injuries.
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Always trying to find the silver lining. In this case, it ended much better than anyone thought while watching those flames…
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Whatever evil is around, the good always wins – that it my comfort – amazing of what you wrote about the bees – it definitely gave me a smile. Here’s mine
https://thejeshstudio.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/tower-in-the-netherlands/
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I think good always wins in the end. Maybe it is naive of us, but I just have to look at those silver linings :) I’ll come check out your smile in a few minutes.
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Trent, this is profound—to really see the good in a situation that seems so awful. I am touched and so inspired.
Thank you for sharing, and for doing these weekly prompts!!
Blessings,
Debbie
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Thanks, Debbie. Always after those silver linings :)
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Yes!!!
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The amount of items and the bees that were saved is incredible, Trent. I am so glad. I love Easter so that made me smile.
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It is amazing how much was saved. The fire was mostly confined to the roof and spire, though debris fell into the cathedral. Thinking Easter, we were there for holy week one year, though flew out on Saturday. We did not stand in line to see the relics….
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Sadly, I haven’t seen Notre Dame because I haven’t been to Paris.
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You need to put Paris on your bucket list ;)
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I would love to go. Problem being my wife spent a week there pre-me – so it is lower on her priority – but I imagine she’ll be willing to return after a few “elsewhere” visits.
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Yeah, go check out those “elsewheres”, and perhaps Notre Dame will be restored when you finally make it to Paris. :)
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I can’t imagine how long that restoration will take.
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Macron says five years, but a lot of experts say closer to ten. Outside, 15…
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