The Weekly Smile for 4/13/2020 #weeklysmile

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weeklysmile2a

As with most of you, it has been an odd last few weeks!  For this, I decided to do another, “It’s the Small Things” post.

I made another large crock-pot of chili this week.  It came out really good!  I made a few mistakes (no corn), but who cares?  I froze a little over two thirds of it.  I’ll pull some out a little at a time, but will make sure there is some in case i can’t leave the house at all for extended periods…

It has been a wet April.  Of course, this is the area that came up with the phrase “April Showers” ;)  But we are seeing some flowers.  And green grass.  And buds on the trees.  I’ve been hearing the “spring peepers” (frogs) for a few weeks now.  We have had a few nice days. And the snow on my back patio is finally completely gone! So I have been experiencing (early) spring in all of it’s glory :)

As to the back patio, it collected leaves over the winter and so I raked it out.  i got more than I did in the fall!  But it now looks great and is usable – I have sat outside, even though it is cool…

back-yard-early-spring

I started doing a Teaching Company course on Physics.  Yeah, it is algebra based, instead of calculus based (and obviously no differential equations!), so super simple, but still, a 60 lecture course to help my mind remember some of it.

I just ordered the last Star Wars movie.  So I am not watching it cold, I have begun to go through the entire series, starting with Episode 1.  In context, “The Phantom Menace” is not quite as bad as it seemed at the time ;)  It is a huge commitment in time, but I am enjoying it.

Of course there are the every day things – the cat in my lap, the dogs playing, long walks, running, online chats, etc.  Even work, which I am thankful i have, creates some smiles.

It is the small every day things, the material that makes up our lives, that we occasionally need to focus on.  Can we be truly happy if only the big or grand make us smile?  Life, and all that it brings, needs to be remembered and celebrated.  The small things.

That is my smile for the week, all of the small things that make up my life.

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! :)

41 thoughts on “The Weekly Smile for 4/13/2020 #weeklysmile”

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  4. dprastka

    Haha, one a night sounds better actually! I’m EXCITED to see them again. (Like you, back in the day I saw them in the theater over and over again!) Yes, Star Wars will be so FUN to revisit! Escape to other worlds! YES!! 😉😍

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  6. dprastka

    I LOVE this weeks smile, the small things are wonderful! Your kitties, love their names, your pups too. You are an animal lover much like we are! House full of animals (for me, 2 at the barn!) AND STAR WARS!! Ya, some movies better than others but I am (our whole family) HUGE Star Wars Fans. I have boxes full of collectibles from the original 3 from the late 70’s, 80’s and on…. Ships, action figures, etc. I want to sit and watch them all again! Maybe I will take some days off and binge watch them all in order! I also make crochet Star Wars figures. I have shared photos. Anyways, you have me rambling on and on! LOL

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Yes, this is very much an animal lovers’ house, not to be confused with Animal House, but it feels like too on occasion ;) I was like 13 when I saw the first Star Wars movie – the target audience for that film! Over the next two or three years I saw over half a dozen times. In the theaters. I’m not -quite- binge watching. We did 1 in one night, but have been cutting the others in half between two nights. And we are up to new Hope! Though I may stick Rogue One in first, just because ;) And the last one, The Rise of Skywalker, arrived in the mail today…

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I do try to keep busy, even during a lock down :) Luckily, since I live in a small village, I can get out and walk and such – I might go crazy living in a big city today! I’ll be by to see your smile in just a minute :)

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      1. Forestwood

        Thanks! Although I loved the hip inner city lifestyle when I was there, I am much happier away from the noise and hubbub in a smaller community setting by the beach. We might not have cafes on every corner, but we have clean air, a lake and water to walk by and a friendly community. That is wealth beyond measure!

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I agree. I do love all of the cultural things that you can find in a city, (we are close to Boston, which has a pretty rich arts heritage), but I would rather -live- away from the city.

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      1. Forestwood

        In truth, I have four! (I feel quite ashamed about that), but this is how I keep them separate. I was conscious of the fact that my blog was cluttered with too diverse subject matter and this was a way to keep it organized. My main and first blog is Something to Ponder About, and then when I moved to semi-retirement and the beach, I started a new blog, A Home by the Sea. My other blogs are just for personal purposes – Family history and Art. Maybe they will develop one day. Stpa is almost at capacity storage wise, as I have had it going for over 8 years and I need to purchase more storage as I want to keep blogging there for some time to come.

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I’ll have to see which I am following… I set up another blog for testing. I was going to put all of my political posts there, but have only written two or three, so… I haven’t posted there in ages. I have a hard enough time with one, so doubt I could do 4!

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          1. Forestwood

            Only 2 of my blogs are active really. You may find as some bloggers find, that it is hard to gain readers on the second blog. Notifications seem to go via the main blog. Some bloggers just use the secondary blog for a specific purpose such as cooking or posting recipes and that seems to work if you’re not so much concerned about a wider blogger community and comment discussions. It really depends on what purpose you have in mind.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I was one of the original huge Star Wars fans as a kid – I saw the first movie (episode IV ;) ) more times in a theater at least 6 times, more than any movie other than Rocky Horror Picture Show… I’m not as big of a fan any more, but I still enjoy them. It has been many years since I saw the prequels or the original series, at least a decade, so it is fun.

      I don’t remember the last time I saw any of the Pink Panther movies. I should say “original”, but, truthfully, I could never watch anybody else than Peter Sellers play that role. Really odd, a friend just brought up the Pink Panther movies yesterday. I don’t think I even thought of them in many years….

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  13. robertawrites235681907

    A terrific week, Trent. Our lockdown has been extended for another 2 weeks, not that I have any intention of going into the office or out anywhere until this virus is gone or there is a vaccine, but it is really tough for people who can’t work from home. I had a good Easter and have been really busy making fondant flowers and an Easter cake and keeping myself busy. I also finished my new book.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Very cool that you finished your new book. In the next couple of weeks I will start the 4th draft of my WIP. I see that you have been doing the occasional video as well.

      It is awful for people who can’t work, particularly for those who are living on the edge anyway. My state does not have a total lockdown, but it is suggested to stay inside as much as possible and all no-essential businesses are supposed to be closed. I did go to the grocery store (wearing mask and gloves) last week, but that was it. Will stay pretty much like that for a while… But it was a pretty good week besides that :) I hope your week goes well :)

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  15. dawnkinster

    A ‘cat in the lap’ sounds really nice. We had a cat when we got married 30 years ago (actually we had 3 between us), but none of them were lap cats. I used to house sit a cat in northern Michigan who LOVED a good lap and once I sat down I was never alone. She went to kitty heaven this past fall, and I miss her even from far away. I hope her mom gets a new cat some day so I can house sit again. Meanwhile…the small things here…well…they must be so small I haven’t noticed them. Will have to work on that.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      We currently have three cats, all rescued. Grace Kelly loves to get on my keyboard begging for attention, but will not sit in a lap. Albert occasionally needs some lap time, but Josie… She often demands to be cuddled all night. And then she needs to be on my lap all day. She is a tiny thing, so not too much of a problem, but she can be a pain in her royal demands ;) Sometimes you have to look for those small things, but they should be there, from puppy eyes to spring snows ;)

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          Cats are royalty, so they all have royal names. We once had Claudius, named after an emperor ;) I woke up to a covering of snow, but it was gone early. And there were flakes in the air as I was just now walking!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Yeah, Qui-Gon was a great character (and Liam Neeson did a great job with it) and Darth Maul made for a very evil Sith.

      I think it was my least favorite Star Wars when I first saw it, but it did age well, better than a lot of movies I liked better at first viewing. A few scenes still look far too CG (the droid army vs the Gungans is some of the worst CG rendering ever put on film). and I still cringe when a bigger monster saves them from a monster for the second time – it was a funny once, but almost destroyed the entire movie to have it happen twice in a row. And Jar-Jar… But they got some things exactly right and it fits right in with the other movies, so…

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I will see when I get back to them using the newer blu ray disks… The last I watched them (DVDs), I liked some changes, but others were, uhm, no, I want to go back to the original version….

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