(Note – I will be out of town next week, so no smile.)

Hi All. Hmm, not sure where to begin on this snowy morning. The kitten sitting on the shelf above me, watching my every move? It isn’t Alexander who spent all weekend on my lap or sleeping on top of me at night. It isn’t the beauty, Grace, who likes to sit on my keyboard when needing attention. No, it is this one:

If you do not/cannot see the picture or don’t know, that is Tiberius in our Christmas tree. He is a funny little guy and has no problem telling you or showing you how he feels. in the past few weeks I have also posted photos of Grace and Alexander. Grace is the long haired beauty who thinks her name sake, Grace Kelly, had nothing on her. Alexander is more wild and independent, though he was all over me when it was just the two of us on Cape Cod (not the entire, Cape, mind, just our house ;) ).

Hi All! A couple of very quick smiles for this week.

First was dog walks with Fiyero over the weekend. Idina gets set in her ways and follows routine, though this weekend we did do some extended/different walks with Idina, going into new territory. However, I did four walks with Fiyero alone, and all four were much longer than usual, going off into the woods and into parts of the village we rarely see. It was nice to do these very long walks and see different places than normal. Dog and man were both happy :)

I also did a new recording that I really like. I wrote the song, but turned it into an instrumental. I think it is very catchy. I’ll place the video at the end of the page. Or read about it here.

I guess I can include playing with a lens I usually don’t touch as a smile as well.

Hi All! Happy new year! Anyway, last week was a very relaxing week. I spent most of it on Cape Cod (big surprise ;) ). I really didn’t do a lot, but…

I have written this already, but here are some of the things I did: despite the week beginning ultra-frigid, I ran three times, twice on the beach (running on the sand) and once in the hills of New Hampshire (a very hilly run – very different than Cape Cod!). I walked in the woods a few times on Cape Cod and in New Hampshire. I walked on the beach twice, not including the runs mentioned before. I exercised three times (dumbbell and body weight). I read. I played music (actually played – keyboards) and wrote a song. I listened to music including some new to me music. I played with and walked dogs and played with and cuddled cats. I talked to friends and family. I did not work! I did a lot of nothing.

What all of this adds up to was one of the most relaxing weeks I can remember. There were stresses, but I won’t even mention them here. To me, walking is very relaxing. Running is relaxing. Hmm, I guess even weight exercise is relaxing! As is reading and playing music.

Hi All! I am just going to stop by for a few seconds to post this – busy day :)

In the last week the big thing of course was Christmas. Quiet year, but talked to friends family, etc. Music, tree, decorations, etc. Quiet introspection, and, oh, that is normal every day for an ultra Introvert, isn’t it? lol. baby, it was cold outside, but it was pretty, a winter wonderland.

A sad smile – I once (back in 2002? – I bought them as futures before they were even bottled) picked up six cases (12 bottles to a case) of 2000 vintage Bordeaux. I opened the very last bottle, a bottle of Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux, which was, of course, my favorite. Ah, after 22 years the last bottle is now gone.

Hi All! It has been a pretty good week here. I am going to bring up two quick things for my smile this week :)

First, if you regularly follow my blog, you know that last Tuesday I posted a new Christmas song that I wrote (see post about it here). So far it is getting more YouTube hits than anything else I have posted in the last couple of yours when looked at from posting time until now (just under a week.). More hits in that first week of posting. There was a couple of hours when another song passed it, but it took the lead soon after. OK, during this time period ( over the last week) my all synth version of the first movement of Vivaldi’s Winter had even more hits (video here) and my total hits per day is about a fifth of what they were a year ago (my synth version of The House of the Rising Sun received between 50 and 150 hits a day from October 2021 until August 2022 and has had almost no hits since…). Anyway, still, this has been my best new video performance in a few years, so I am happy :)

The second thing is Christmas visiting. I haven’t been doing as much as I have some years in the past, but we did spend yesterday at a friends house followed by our Lion’s Club Holiday Party last night. I am an ultra-Introvert, so too much socializing wears me out, but it was fun and I really enjoyed spending the day out and about with friends.

So those are my smiles for the week, my new Christmas video doing pretty good and spending a day socializing (Lion’s Club Holiday Party).

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.

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).  Note – I am no longer compiling the smiles into a weekly post as I used to – Sorry, I do not have time.

Hi All! Hope you are doing well. It is another week of not having time to write this – why I chose to post the smile shortly after getting to work on a Monday! Anyway, I have a cat on my lap and am ready for…

OK, another “It’s the small Things” post.

Last week was very low key. i did nice things, but nothing out of the ordinary. I went to Cape Cod, which is always nice. I took a very long walk on the beach and watched the sun set over the ocean (see photo below). i had some long walks in the woods. Back in New Hampshire I saw some deer on Sunday morning. Always cool. I wrote two songs and messed around with both of them. I have had cats on my lap and curled up with my as I sleep.

All of those little things are smile worthy :) And there were so many more. The blanket of snow this morning (OK, mixed feelings there..) ), a nice conversation with a friend, etc., etc.

Our lives are made up of a lot of small moments and only a few big ones. To enjoy life sometimes we need to pay attention to those small moments.

Hi all! Just a real quick on for this week. Yeah, busy work day…

This was a pretty good week. There wasn’t a whole lot that stood out. But one thing was a little different.

I put up my Christmas tree.

Yep, it is that time of year. We now have an artificial tree. We’ve had it at least 5 years, most likely closer to 10, but no more than 10. I have specific things I like, so I am the official tree setter-upper. Anyway, this may not have been the best job ever, but it is fine. We had most of the lights off and Christmas music playing. I have turned off the Christmas music since then – I’m not ready ;) but it was nice for setting up the tree.

So that is my smile for the week, setting up our Christmas tree.

Hi All! It was a pretty good week. I took a few days off of work, so that was nice. It was a holiday here, Thanksgiving, which was also good. Although there was rain on Friday and Sunday, the weather was pretty good. I spent a lot of time outside on beaches, in the woods, walking around town and village, across fields, etc. Over all, pretty nice. This was a week where I could pick my smile from several. So, what will I pick?

Animals seen in the wild.

I often see animals when I am out and about and have written about some of the critters here. Today I will talk about three.

On Wednesday I was walking by a cranberry bog when I saw movement. There was something out there swimming. At first I thought beaver. It looked a little sleeker, so I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t see the tail, which is a huge give away with beavers. Also, there were no signs of beaver around, i.e., no chewed up trees or wood. Possibly a muskrat? Maybe. I didn’t get a long view of it as it hid and I didn’t have my camera. Later I looked up these types of critters and decided that it was most likely an otter. That would be cool because I never saw an otter down here, at least not when I knew it was an otter.

Hi All! This was an odd week. A short one today as I don’t have a lot of time to write. In ways, that might seem a little ironic when all is said and done. Why? Glad you asked!

Back in October I came up with an idea for a book. I did a little research. I then did a lot more organization than usual. And then, the last week of October, I sat down and wrote the book. It just came out, the words flowing like water from a fire-hose, topping off with writing more than 30,000 words in a single week!

Anyway, a little over a week ago I wrote “The End”. But I wasn’t done. I had made few last minute decisions so I had to go back and make a lot of changes. And then there was general clean up. After going through a few times, I can now call the first draft complete!

Hi All! Today is a typical cold November day, perhaps even a little below average. It is funny since we have just come off of a few weeks of warmer than usual weather. This weekend was pretty nice (OK, it rained all day Sunday, but the rest of the weekend). It was a long weekend for me since we were celebrating Veterans (Remembrance Day in some other countries). Friday was a beautiful day. I spent the weekend on Cape Cod, so I am sure you know what is coming…

I walked to the nearest landing on Friday morning and was surprised at how smooth the water was. I went home, changed and was on that water within a half an hour, maybe closer to 15 minutes. OK, I wasn’t just floating by myself on the water, I was in a kayak. I did a relatively long paddle. The water was beautiful and I was the only one out. A perfect day.