The Weekly Smile for the 2nd of September, 2019

40 Replies

weeklysmile2a

September already.  Here in New England that means that summer is about over.  Thinking of summer, I took the entire week of of work last week.  Despite the fact that I took a lot of time off this summer, this was the only full week.  I spent it on Cape Cod.

There are so many smiles associated with my week vacation, but I will just mention Friday’s kayak paddle.

The paddle went up from the landing on Bass River that is closest to my house, going to Follins Pond.  I “circumnavigated” Follins Pond and headed back.  I did go off into a few coves and to another small pond, Dinahs Pond, near the highway.  I don’t have a good way to measure the distance, but it was between 6 and 9 miles (10 to 15 km).  The return portion was against the wind and current – remember that the Bass River is tidal, so the tide was coming in.  The wind had really picked up, so for the last little bit there were whitecaps in the river. 

Besides being the longest paddle of the year, perhaps my longest paddle in 5 years, it was a good paddle overall, perhaps my best of the year.  I saw a lot of osprey, including a couple that splashed into the water within 50 yards/meters of my kayak.  I saw a seal.  There were jellyfish.  Although there are many houses and buildings on the route, there are a few wilder spots were I could forget that I was so close to civilization.  It was also relatively quiet.  I saw three other kayaks, which I was able to pass and put out of sight behind me without an problem.  There was some boat traffic, but not much – less than a tenth of what I would see on Saturday at the same time.

That is my smile for the week, the longest, best paddle of the year to close out the summer.

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) (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).

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! :)

40 thoughts on “The Weekly Smile for the 2nd of September, 2019”

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I always enjoy a good paddle, but I do enjoy watching the osprey from the land as well. Thanks for joining in – I do the smile weekly (thus the title ;) ), but this is from a few weeks ago. I’ll go ahead and put your link in this week’s smile so i don’t miss it when I do the weekly recap.

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, it was a great paddle. Autumn is by far my favorite season, though I’m not sure if I am 100% ready to give up summer yet – I still need to splash around in the water a little more ;)

      Like

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  5. ForgivingConnects

    Wow, Trent, this sounds like an amazing paddle. So quiet and peaceful––and you saw some good wildlife! :) . I contributed for this week’s post, and it will actually be my last one for a while. I’m taking a new tact for my writing, expression, coaching, and allowing it to reveal itself to me. Thank you for everything, you have such a positive direction. All the best and blessings to you – Debbie

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It was a great paddle. I love being out on the kayak, and paddles like this one are special.

      I hope you do well with your new direction. Thanks for joining in one last time :)

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, it was a great paddle. It is always cool to see seals when out on the water. I am in their domain so they can chose if they want to see me or not.

      I just made it over to your post. Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and that one is priceless.

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  10. Sagittarius Viking

    The kayaking you did is definitely something to smile about. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading about the animals you encountered during your paddle,. I didn’t know there’s seals in the area. Opsreys are definitely high on my list of animals to observe. I hope your new week is great!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I love watching the osprey and can do it all day. There are a lot of seals out in the ocean, which is the reason you may read about there being great white sharks off of Cape Cod – they eat seal. I was on a tidal river which is closer to salt than to brackish, so I don’t think the seals have to worry about sharks. I hope not, any way ;) I hope you are enjoying your week as well!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      The paddle was great, but not necessarily the whitecaps… OK, they can be fun, but going against current and wind, having the water break over the bow and such, is a lot of work! But it is satisfying :)

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I wasn’t too bad, actually, but then I do a lot of exercise so… It is satisfying to meet the challenge. I kayak to relax, but then I paddle three times faster than the next person and go against the current and… ;) OK, maybe I need to figure out a new way to “relax”…

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is amazing that it is already September. Fall is in the air here and some trees are beginning to show color (not unusual). I love kayaking. It is a lot of work, but to me it is also relaxing. I know a lot of people who enjoy it without putting that much work into it, but they usually don’t do the long against the current paddles that I do ;)

      Thanks for your smile :)

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  22. Gary A Wilson

    Hi Trent, despite some dealing with illness and stress at work, I was able to produce a new essay late last month that was well received. As you know, my writing project is producing and collecting fun and short stories of various adventures of growing up. I’d like to share this one because it was such a different way of life than anything I would have allowed as a parent, but nothing about it at the time seemed out of line. It was just life in our family and community. it was a very different time and I smiled to see it so well received despite the possibility of protest, which never actually arrived.

    Here’s the link: https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/the-treetop-adventure/

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Hi Gary. Glad you were able to get some writing done despite a stressful week. I’ll stop by later to take a look. Yeah, times were different. As a four year old i would follow the older kids all over our neighborhood, a half a mile or more from home, with no adults seeming to care. It was different…

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