Lately I’ve been noticing that if I smile at someone, they smile back. Amazing, huh? I remember a classmate in college whose natural expression was a sort-of grin. I always assumed we were more or less friends until one day, apropos of nothing, he walked up to me and said, “You are basically evil.” Who knows what I did. Frankly, I don’t really care, but the incident obviously lurks in the back of my mind.

Pit bulls have a wonderful smile. It stretches from ear to ear right across that giant jaw. I hadn’t seen Dolly’s smile and began to wonder if she had less pittie than we thought. Until, one day, she ran full-out at me. Her paws were sending out little puffs of dust, she roared past me with not an inch to spare. On her face was the biggest grin you could hope to see.

I’ve never been able to get a picture of this expression; my camera is just not up to the task. There are some lovely pit-smiles at a website I found. http://www.pbrc.net/ There’s lots of information on the site.

The smiling idea came to me as I drove past the Mazda dealership on my way to Townsend this morning. They park the cars facing the state road, and some of the models have a grill that imitates a smile. I always find myself smiling back. Good design. In the interest of full-discloser, I admit to having an RX7 habit. No longer made, but what a car. I’m enjoying my 1987.

 These are Miatas, not the venerable RX7, but still – a cheery sight on a bleary day.

A row of smiling Miatas