JOY PARADE No.37
Grounded by Cows! A Hand-knitted Nose Warmer! Balancing Donkeys!
Pssst! If you are reading this via an email, the JOY PARADE might be a smidge too long for you to see all of it. If so, just click the title and it’ll take you to where you can read the whole thing with your eyeballs online!
OH HELLO!
Well, here we are - burrowing into April with spring all around us. How nice!
Did you all have a lovely Easter? What did you do? We broke from tradition here and went out for Chinese food. I think it’s quite nice to throw something new into the mix occasionally and maybe start a tradition in the process. Then on Monday it was time for the first of the year’s trips to the funfair.
Last year when I took Little Neph (11) to the Easter holiday fair the weather was absolutely horrific - rain like something from the Shawshank Redemption and wind that practically kneecapped us. But we persevered until we couldn’t have been more soaked if we’d tried then we retreated back to the car for hot chips and the heated seats cranked up to bum-scorching.
This year couldn’t have been more different - GLORIOUS warmth and bright blue skies! (But still hot chips because there must ALWAYS be hot chips.)
The rest of the week was lovely with some really wonderful spring weather. One day even felt summery! The highlight for me was this sunset evening stroll I went on down the lane. Pop your pumps on and come with me now as we recreate it..
SHEEP!
Hills undulating off into the pale blue distance! The Ravilious of it all!
TREES! Some already green and some with buds like five o’clock shadow just waiting for their moment.
More sheep!
My favourite spot!
STITCHWORT! (I think?)
A peek-a-boo sheep which would have been a superb photo if I could have got the ruddy thing in focus!
And COWS!
Seeing these big beautiful absolute units has really been the best bit of the week. When I turned the corner and found them I went full Queen E the II…
I stayed for a while just watching them. Something very grounding about cows, especially set against a big sky like that. My fav one was the one lying down. She kept nonchalantly looking over her shoulder at me. V. Barbara-Cartland-on-her-sofa- dictating-her-novels energy.
Another good bit of my week was going to a new farm shop and finding that in the animal feed section you could buy, if needed, something called “Donkey Balancer”.
How lovely, with everything going on the world at the moment, to know that there are farmers RACING (in their tractors) to farm shops to buy supplies to level out their donkeys.
THRILLING!
Right - we MUST start our JOY PARADE! (It’s a slightly longer one this week!)
1. We begin, as is tradition, with some BEHOLDING! and EXCLAIMING!
Firstly, just LOOK at these rhubarb and custard tulips!
My eyes popped like an amorous cartoon wolf’s when I saw them. The white is definitely custard coloured in real life and I’ve made a mental note to order similar bulbs for next spring.
Secondly, BEHOLD this field of pear trees!
They were planted just before WWII and now they stretch across the grass all knobbly and blossom covered. It made me think of the saying "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit…"
2. I had a very nice time answering these FIVE FUN QUESTIONS posed to me by Keris Fox!
3. If you are having a moment where you feel a bit overwhelmed by things, I do recommend stopping, taking a deep breath and then spending a few minutes looking at the fashion stylings of Gonzo from The Muppets.
If he doesn’t have a cameo in the new Devil Wears Prada movie then I don’t know what the point of anything is.
4. I am DELIGHTED by these vintage tinned veg packaging! Can we please go back to everything being designed beautifully like this again? How cheering would our cupboards look?
5. How I want your email to find me:
6. THESE TULIPS! What a description! (And the petals against that striped jug - HEAVEN ON A HATSTAND!)
7. Wouldn’t those tulips also look beautiful displayed in this vase?
8. BONJOUR!❤️
9. DEEPLY cheering ticking tablecloth (bonus points for the colour being “Lipstick Pink”)
10. This candelabra would look good on the above Lipstick Pink tablecloth. Or on a wrought iron garden table for dinner on a summer evening.
These photos of cosplayers with their families are honkingly funny and also oddly very touching.
12. I think I might have posted this before but it popped up again this week and is always worth a dekko - how great is Peggy Guggenheim’s Alexander Calder silver bedhead?
13. Amélie is back in cinemas this week to mark the film’s 25th anniversary. (I’m going to see it with a flask of tea and a chocolate chip cookie the size of my face).
In honour of this occasion, we MUST look in detail at these paintings by Micheal Sowa.
More of Sowa’s glorious work here.
14. We’ve all been absolutely GLUED to the Artemis II mission haven’t we? I’ve been both awed and deeply moved by it - the visuals! The wonder! The beautiful humanity of the astronauts!
This moment really got me this week. 💕
FINALLY…
We always finish with a song and this week we have one of our most favourites, Victoria Wood and the cast of Nearly a Happy Ending with Don’t Get Cocky , Baby!
Thank you for reading this week’s JOY PARADE.
I hope you have a lovely Sunday. What are you all up to? I’m currently dog sitting two extra dogs so there are FIVE of them in my house. As you can imagine there is a LOT of energy (when they aren’t all sitting on top of me, snoring…)!
Also, I must say an enormous thank you to you all for your kind words about the cover reveal for my new book (out in September). I’m very excited for you to see it and will hopefully be sharing a sneak peek of the inside of it with you very soon. (Signed copies are available to order here.)
I’ll be back next Sunday with JOY PARADE No.38. In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed this JOY PARADE I would simply adore it if you were to hit the heart button ❤️ below and do please follow me on Instagram (I’m mralextsmith over there) and also subscribe to and share this newsletter to all your chums.
Thank you so much!
In Tearing Haste,
HEAD PIGEON.
I have followed your example of sketching my week in little boxes. As someone who struggles with drawing in sketchbooks this has been a real positive start for me. I love your photos especially the one with the solar glare.
So excited that Amelie is being shown again. It's one of my absolute favourite films and I have a couple of the Michael Sowa paintings as postcards. If I go to see the film again on the big screen I will have to hope all my scissors because immediately after I want to cut my fringe to match hers. Every time I have done it it looks weird mainly because I am not a chic French woman or indeed Audrey Tautou! The struggle is always real.
Very excited for your new book.
I heartily recommend Bloms bulbs for your tulips.
Thanks as ever for the Sunday joy - it is like a Sunday supplement from the old days and I love it.