The Weekly Smile for October 14, 2019 #weeklysmile

59 Replies

If you wonder why I sometimes have strange Smiles, like homemade chili using fresh from the garden ingredients, well, it’s because so often I smile about the same few things, over and over :)  This is one of those weeks that could almost be copied and pasted from a few weeks back….

I drove down to Cape Cod late Saturday evening. I walked down to the closer of the two landings on Sunday morning. It is rare for it to be so calm. Yep, time for a paddle!

This was perhaps my longest paddle yet. There was almost nobody out. I saw a lot of wildlife, including osprey, which is odd, I have never seen any in October. I saw quite a few Great Blue Herons, though no other herons or egrets. A seal came up close to check me out. A lot of large fish jumped out of the water, attracting a lot of birds. Since the water was so calm, it was crystal clear, so in the shallows I could watch crabs and shellfish moving around. There were jelleyfish. The cormorants were splashing around.

I was going against the current on the way back (it’s tidal) but was still able to make good time. At the route 6 bridges I raced a motor boat to make it through the choke point far enough ahead that I didn’t make the people in the boat angry. I shouldn’t have worried – I stayed pretty far ahead for over a mile until we reached the open area without a speed limit (most of it is posted as no wake, 6 mph). They opened up and passed me and the boat I had caught up to just before the no speed restriction zone (that boat also re-passed me and zipped off). Funny thing is that these were the only two boats I saw the entire time I was out.

(For reference – I am talking the Bass River, starting at Rt 28, going up to Follin’s Pond and then exploring all of the nooks and crannies – I made it to North Dennis Rd., but didn’t feel like portaging across the road to the Mill Pond on the other side.)

Overall it was a great paddle. There was a very slight breeze on the way back, but no real wind. The current was strong on the way back, but doable. The water was smooth and in places clear. There was a lot of wildlife and few people. Perfect.

My Smile for the week was the longest kayak paddle of the year.

What made you smile?

****

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! :)

59 thoughts on “The Weekly Smile for October 14, 2019 #weeklysmile”

  1. Pingback: Weekly Smile Recap 10/14 – 10/20/2019 | Trent's World (the Blog)

  3. Pingback: Sunflower fade | Change Is Hard

  4. dawnkinster

    The long paddle sounds wonderful! I didn’t make it to the lake this year, so will have to double up on paddles next year. I think your experience with the two boats, the only ones you saw during your paddle is similar to my theory about running on country roads. If you’re running in a narrow part of the road, the only two cars you see the entire run will meet, going opposite directions, at exactly the spot you are running,

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I have the exact same experience running – I won’t see a single car and then I have two cars going the opposite direction passing each other right where I am. Darn that Murphy and his Law ;) Yeah, the long paddle was wonderful. I didn’t get out on the water quite as much this year as the last few, but I still go out every chance I get. It helps to have a house or cottage almost on the water ;)

      Like

      Reply ↓
            1. trentpmcd Post author

              It was good. It was a short work week – I worked Tuesday, had four hours off in the middle of the day Wednesday, was off today and work tomorrow, so 2 1/2 work days… I was on Cape Cod from Saturday night until this afternoon, now I’m back in New Hampshire. So just different…. More detail on my coffee share on Saturday ;)

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply ↓

  7. Pingback: Weekly Smile – Final Phase Of My Book Project – Sagittarius Viking

  9. Pingback: The Weekly Smile 10/14/2019 #weeklysmile – About to finish my second painting! | Tessa Can Do It! Positivity is Catching!

  11. Pingback: The Weekly Smile 10/14/2019 | Nut House Central

      1. dprastka

        I too get frustrated with WordPress sometimes, especially the part about not being able to edit once a response is posted…. I know now, most don’t care or like you said aren’t grammer Nazi’s, haha! I like that phrase!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓
        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I make enough typos and mistakes that no way could I think anything of it without being a total hypocrite :) Yeah, funny phrase. I’ve seen it several places and I guess it is a riff off of Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi”.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply ↓
  13. dprastka

    Holy smokes! That’s a long paddle but it must have been great almost alone with nature! I too think I’m just sharing the same smiles…. Still fun as I try and be creative!! I’ll be sharing in a day or too…. I have to get to sleep for my night shift tonight! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I sometimes hate wordpress – i had a long response, went back to correct a word and it went away! Oh well, the kayaking was doubly good because I didn’t have to worry about getting back, I could take as long as i wanted. yeah, I do like to try to get a little creative as well, but what makes you smile makes you smile, if it is kayaking, horses, dogs or whatever (I did lot of dog posts….)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  15. Pingback: Does writing excuse watching?

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      That’s funny, maybe they did see me paddle by. Actually, I didn’t see many people as I went by, but I was out early – between 9 and noon. On the way back I was on the far side by the houses instead of near the preserve – that is also where the two power boats passed me, so I didn’t notice much. On the way out I did slow down there since that was were I had one of my osprey sightings.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  17. Pingback: TWS: Family Time | Light Motifs II

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Yes, exercising outside in the wild is very healthy… as is being able to smile at the small things ;) Thanks, Y. We need to pay attention to those every day small things and try to smile when we can :)

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply ↓
      1. Prior...

        and all this reminds me of something I missed adding in my recent post about the Atomic Habits book by James Clear (but it was a quick kind of review post and so of course I could not get to everything) but he said that when he started writing online and reached 1,000 followers online – he celebrated with his family and was so excited – and then compared that with later when he could get 1,000 follows in a day (imagine that) but he talked about becoming desensitized a bit and he had to consciously be mindful – not totally the same thing as your example of the small (free) things that continue to bring lots of joy…
        but relates (and I do recall when you shared your 1,000 follower mark on your blog)

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply ↓
        1. trentpmcd Post author

          That is a problem with achievement – we forget some of those little victories. We get desensitized and complacent. Not that I can relate to getting 1000 followers in a day! I do remember hitting 1000. Maybe I’ll have a big blog party if/when I reach 5000 :)

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It was a great day on the water. When looking for places on Cape Cod I made sure I could get the kayak in the water without having to use a car.

      I’ll be by to check out your smile in a few minutes :)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
        1. trentpmcd Post author

          It is a great place. My plan is to retire down here (I’m on Cape Cod now), which is why I have this old fixer-upper house – it will be my retirement home. of course, it is no burden to visit it now ;)

          Liked by 2 people

          Reply ↓
                1. trentpmcd Post author

                  Yep, I did that. The day we closed I went around and took several photos of every room and a lot on the outside from every angle imaginable. I will most likely do more – from the outside this is a super photogenic house, and a few rooms are as well.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  Reply ↓

  20. Pingback: The Weekly Smile For October 14, 2019 – Beckie's Mental Mess

  21. robertawrites235681907

    It is lovely to read your happy and uplifting posts, Trent. I got feedback from my developmental editor on Friday and became really inspired and spent the weekend writing. I also had a cold last week which slowed my productively down. It is gone now so I am smiling about that.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I’m glad the cold is gone. Cool that the feedback inspired you and that you were so productive :) Glad you enjoy the Smile posts – knowing people get something out of them makes it worth while.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I love hiking, but there is just something about being on the water. I also tend to see more wildlife in a kayak than on foot. You should give it a try some day.

      I’ll be by to check out your smile in a few.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  23. Pingback: Indigenous Behavior – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Express Yourself

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s