A lot of people around here have been complaining about how wet and cold it has been this spring. Truthfully, it has been a little cooler than normal, but not much. First, I find that most people have a very very short attention span when it comes to the seasons. There is also that we had slightly milder springs the last couple of years, though they weren’t the warmest I can remember. But, yeah, we have been trending a little cool.
Until last week.
The week started close to normal. And it warmed up from there. We had two days at around 90F/32C. And it was humid. We have also had some days closer to 80F/27C, which is still very warm for this part of the world at this time of year.
Hi All! It was a pretty low key week. I was active and the weather was mostly pretty good, but not too much happened. Still, I do have a smile lined up.
I am the typical guy in a lot of ways. One way is that I do not like to shop. Nope. That being said, I am not huge on getting clothes on line either, I want to see and feel what I am getting, even if it is the same thing I’ve gotten a million times before! OK, I do order my turtlenecks because I have found only one brand that works for me and they don’t have a physical store, so…
Anyway, back to the story.
It has been at least three years since I have picked up jeans or shorts, and even back then it wasn’t a one-for-one replacement – most of my clothes is at least 5 years old. When I took my summer clothes out of storage I noticed that my shorts, well, fine for sitting around the house, but they were all in pretty bad shape. And then the knee blew out in my favorite pair if jeans. Over the winter I “lost” another pair. It wasn’t the knee there, but let’s say I do not want to be arrested for indecent exposure…
Hi All! Last week was pretty good and I had plenty to smile about. My sister and brother in law came out to visit Cape Cod from Ohio. They didn’t stay with me but at a time share. I think they arrived on Sunday and left Friday.
I drove down to my place on Monday evening. I had to work on Tuesday, but my sister and her husband stopped by at around 5. It was the first time they had seen my new house, so that was nice. Besides Tuesday evening, I spent most of the day on Wednesday and Thursday with them. We had three dinners and two lunches out together. We walked around my neighborhood, my favorite woods walk around here, explored Chatham and Hyannis. Being in Hayannis we went to the JFK “museum”. It was OK, but I would suggest buying a very nice coffee table book about his life since all it was was photos and text… We also drove out to Falmouth to see the Nobska lighthouse. It was the first time I had ever been there. I wrote more details on my coffee share,but here is a photo (phone photo).
Hi all! Weird week. II did have a lot lined up for the weekend that I was going to write about, but it all fell through. Well, there was a misinterpretation and… You know how those things are. And then there is a lot of anticipation, and some worry, about the coming days. There were a lot of little things last week, but even there, not really stuff to talk about. So, anyway, well, I guess just life ;)
All of that being said…
Early Friday morning I went out for a walk. At the edge of town I saw a group of high school kids walking down the road. They were all wearing reflective vests and several had bright blue garbage bags. No surprises – our town is doing a post winter road cleanup – it started two weeks ago and ends next weekend where people can volunteer to clean up beside the roads now that all of the snow and such is gone.
I also noticed/didn’t notice that pretty much every student at the elementary school was outside. Well, it was a nice morning, if still a bit cool.
Oh, one piece of information you need to know – I live almost directly across the street from the town’s library. OK, a smile in itself there :)
Last week was a nice Spring week. Flowers were blooming and there are buds on the trees. It was pretty warm – I wore a short sleeve shirt and no jacket a few days. I ran with shorts and t-shirt (no sweats). I took a few very long walks in the woods, including some long dog walks (mostly just Fiyero when there is any length). I did a little outside work, like raking (our back patio collects leaves all winter, as does a few other places in the yard).
It wasn’t just all Spring, though. I’ve been alone in the house with just the cats the past few days and the cats are always worthy of a smile or two.
Yes, they like the dogs (well, Grace might not) and the dogs love them. Idina sometimes acts like Tiberius is her puppy, and he doesn’t mind being babied a bit, particularly when he isn’t feeling well. But still, they are a little freer without the dogs.
Hi All. So, it seems to actually be Spring now. I see daffodils and such. And we even had a few warmish days. Yeah, a little cooler than usual, but… Of course being spring means that I have to start doing spring things.
Like kayaking.
On Saturday I was out on the kayak for the first time this year. I was able to make it out on the water a little earlier last year, and when I lived on Swan Pond I would occasionally kayak all year(!!). But Saturday was the first day this year that I had time, it was warm enough and the wind calm enough.
It was very nice to be out. It was a little cool, but the sun felt nice and I do a lot of work. Surprisingly, the water wasn’t really as cold as expected. I did hit some windy places, even to the point where waves were crashing over the boat and I was getting wet.
Hi all! Back when I first started doing the Weekly Smile I said it could be about anything that made you smile (well, anything non-hurtful, non-discriminatory, etc.). I gave examples of different things and included seeing a movie, a photo or even reading a news story.
Which brings us to this week’s smile.
It is often pretty discouraging to read the news these days, but we feel we have to, so we are aware. But then, every so often, they sneak a bit of good news in.
Hi All! I have to laugh – last week I had my long post about it finally being Spring and today I woke up to a covering of snow. Looks like winter is back… Lol. It is not unusual for there to be snow after the beginning of spring. I’ve seen snow in mid to late May! But still… It will warm up later in the week, back to normal.
Not only is the weather weird, but so is just the week in general. Not a whole lot out there that stands out (talking in my life…). Beyond the general world news and a couple of work projects, not a lot to frown about, but few big things jump out as things for huge smiles.
So, this another “It’s the Small Things, Arts Edition.”
Hi all! Guess what? It’s Spring! OK, I am being very Northern-Hemisphere-centric, I know, but still… Yesterday, at 11:33 Eastern time (my time zone) we had the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. Big smile.
In the last week I have heard peepers. These are little frogs that go crazy in early spring, making small peeping sounds. But there are hundreds, so a huge chorus. I heard them both on Cape Cod and in New Hampshire.
There have been a lot more birds around. Red wing blackbirds have staked out territory in a few places that I walk. I saw two osprey. The sounds of birdsong are everywhere! In the morning it is down right noisy :)
I have seen a few early spring flowers. Crocuses are coming out and I have seen snowdrops. The trees are all budding. There are hints of color looking out, with wispy green, a little yellow and some red. Of course that little bit of purple dotting the landscape. I see daffodil shoots coming up and should see the flowers in a few days.
Hi! Yeah, another week full of dark news. Again, this is a smile post, so I say we need to stop for a moment, turn off whatever screen you are looking at, look out of the window and find some beauty someplace in the world, be it the smile of a child, a bird in flight or a comedian’s joke. OK, ready? Breath in, breath out. There…
So, I have a small chuckle before my main smile. If you read my coffee share, sorry if I am repeating myself :) So, the other day I got my passport back. I had the photo for it taken a week before I had a haircut, it was cold, so I wore a hat to the store where the photo was taken and they told me that if I smiled they would have to retake the photo. Sounds great, right? So on the passport there is a small black and white version, and the first thing I thought was “Wanted, Dead or Alive!” Yep, I thought I looked like a Wild West Desperado! I took a photo of the original photo (funny, right?) and tried to make it look like the PP photo, but the PP photo is worse…
OK, so it is still winter in New Hampshire. Last week it got down to 4 F/-15 C. I woke up to new snow (over the old) a few days last week. But on Sunday (yesterday) it was sunny and got up to almost 65 F/18 C. Quite the difference!
I spent a lot of time outside yesterday. I played with the dogs, walked the dogs, did some chores and went running. I must have been out at least 3 hours, maybe more. Yes, there was snow on the ground and where there was no snow it was a muddy surface that often had ice under it (this is called “Mud Season” in New England for a reason!). But it was nice. I did see a few bugs, but not many. There is also some green, which is nice. I won’t see flowers for a couple of weeks, but many buds.
In many ways yesterday was a warm late winter day, yet I could feel spring in the air. The day was longer – I can tell the equinox is just around the corner. The angle of the sun makes the quality of the light more spring-like. It just didn’t feel like winter. Not just that, although we have had a few warm days over the last three weeks, I have not been able to get out to enjoy them the way I was able to get out yesterday.
So those are my smiles for the week, my “desperado” passport photo and enjoying a warm, spring-like day.
What made you smile?
(A reminder – There will not be a Smile Recap post next week).
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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 Recap post. I’ll try to get the new smile out between 7 and 8:30 Eastern Time.
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