What made you smile recently (2026)?

[Barriehie]

 

[Barriehie]

 

[MypinchofItaly]

 

[Barriehie]

Gone Hiking

 

[Lullabelle]

 

[Lullabelle]

 

[Barriehie]

 

[Barriehie]

 

[SoCalZone10]

I like the last one Barriehie.

 

[The Velvet Curtain]

I've just bought myself a new toy. It definitely made me smile.

Wilesco D409 Showman's Traction Engine

 

[TastyReuben]

I've just bought myself a new toy. It definitely made me smile.
View attachment 139721

Wilesco D409 Showman's Traction Engine

Tractors like that figured in a lot of farm work, and nowadays, steam threshers (as they’re usually referred to here) are pretty easy to find at festivals and fairs in the summer and autumn.

We have a local tractor club and they have weekend gatherings a few times a year just down the road from our house. When I was a kid, my dad was always dragging us off to threshing festivals (usually held in conjunction with fiddling contests/conventions).

 

[The Velvet Curtain]

Tractors like that figured in a lot of farm work, and nowadays, steam threshers (as they’re usually referred to here) are pretty easy to find at festivals and fairs in the summer and autumn.

We have a local tractor club and they have weekend gatherings a few times a year just down the road from our house. When I was a kid, my dad was always dragging us off to threshing festivals (usually held in conjunction with fiddling contests/conventions).

We have a lot of steam festivals over here, last autumn I was supposed to spend the day learning to drive a traction engine but I got ill, unfortunately I would never be able to climb aboard one now.
As a post-punk Englishman I have an unusually unhealthy interest in Flatfoot and Buck Dancing. But this does too make me smile, and threshing festivals would be right up my street.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/bskQ1UQkhyQ?si=iIepKOIq4rNh3xgE


Regarding the live steam model I bought, I only purchased it after my eldest brother agreed that he would take it on once I am gone. So I will get some fun for a few months then he will introduce it to his young grandchildren and take care of it. Eventually he is instructed to pass it on to the most appropriate family member so it continues to be used and loved. There is no reason why it shouldn't last 50 years if cherished. My gift to my family.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

 

[Barriehie]

 

[TastyReuben]

As a post-punk Englishman I have an unusually unhealthy interest in Flatfoot and Buck Dancing.

You’d have been fit right in on our back porch from 1975 or so through 1985, because that’s what was going on fairly often.