JOY PARADE No.4
Warthogs in Rainstorms! Soviet Piglet! PEONY ALERT!
HELLO!
Hasn’t the weather been glorious?
I always think of myself as more of an autumn/winter sort of person - I enjoy hunkering down in knitwear hugging a crackling stove, but this last week has been lovely. So sunny and warm!
I sat outside for a cup of tea the other morning and had to use a stick of rhubarb with the leaf attached as a makeshift parasol…
Thrillingly, the wisteria is finally in flower. She’s been teasing me for a few weeks but at last she’s resplendent. So many dangling blooms like extravagant, lilac coloured, chandelier drop earrings all over the pagoda. Lovely whiff from it all too!
In between work (I’ve started on the illustrations for my new book - TOP SECRET for the mo…) I’ve continued to do a lot of BEHOLDING! and EXCLAIMING! at the world.
Look at these view from the lane the other afternoon! The greens! The vast blue sky!
LAMBS! And their mums! (These belong to my neighbours. They delivered 18 lambs last week!)
And look at this sunset!
And then this nice evening watching by candlelight as the sun slipped away and night descended.
The owls on Sunday were also a particular joy. I lay in bed listening to them twit-twooing like mad outside. Magical!
Right then, onto this week’s JOY PARADE!
Would you just LOOK at these tulips in the front garden of a house I promenaded by! Aren’t they beautiful? I think the dark ones are Queen of the Night, but I don’t know what flavour the other tulips are, but so gorgeous as an arrangement. Also in that garden there is a patch of Forget-Me-Nots and the colour of them combined with the grass and the tulips is just edible. I want to stuff it all into my eyeballs.
COME ON DELIGHTFULLY PLANTED BORDER - LET’S GET SICKENING! *death drop* On the subject of flowers:
THE FIRST BUNCHES OF PEONIES HAVE BEEN SPOTTED!
IN FLORISTS AND AT SUPERMARKETS!
THIS IS NOT A DRILL! RUN, DON’T WALK!
(But please leave some for me - they are my favourites.)
The weather this week has made take down my copy of Sara Midda’s South of France sketchbook.
I LOVE this book. It charts Midda’s year living, as the title suggests, in the south of France in 1990. It’s SUCH a lovely book, full of tiny sketched details, painted watercolour swatches labelled ‘Drifts of poppies that drift into the vineyard’ and ‘Parched grass on terraces of olive grove’, month by month handwritten lists of notable moments (arrival of the first cherries on the trees, what date the first Panama-hatted tourist is seen in town, things bought at the market and what food was eaten and where). It’s a really superbly observed account of a year passing by in a beautiful and inspiring place.
Here’s a page from inside:
You can get a copy of the book here or from online secondhand bookshops.
(Be warned: after the first few pages it will absolutely make you want to be on the first train south from Paris.)
BEHOLD this 1940s poster I bought this week! I love old letterpress posters and this one is particularly brilliant. And huge. It’s from WW2 and I’d love to have gone to the event itself. All those victory roll hairstyles and khaki slacks and knitted pullovers. I’m desperate to know what knick-knacks were for sale on the White Elephant Stall…
The man I bought this from had a dog called Walter who was terrifically chunky with an underbite. I fell in love INSTANTLY. This 1969 Soviet Winnie the Pooh animation is wonderful. I’m particularly taken by Piglet.
I like this golden bee pin badge. Think how it would glisten in the sunshine as you stroll along admiring exhibits at Summer Fetes in the manner of E the Queen M.
The Kensington Dollshouse Company (a collaboration between the creative genius Lucy Clayton and her mum, Rebecca - also a creative genius) consistently outdoes itself with every new project, but their latest creation is breathtaking.
THE DETAILS! THE ATMOSPHERE!
Never have I wanted to be a Borrower more…
(Do also give your eyes a feast with their other projects too - exquisite!)
This cover of Radiohead’s Creep by Erin Morton is sensational!
(Also watch the audience. So wonderful to see how her voice sizzles through them one by one!)
Again, inspired by the weather this week, I found myself thinking of the sun-dappled paintings by the “Master of Light”- Joaquín Sorolla. I saw a fantastic exhibition of some of his work in Dublin a few years ago.
I particularly like this one titled Nap in the Garden (1904) because is there anything better than a garden nap on a sunny day? ❤️
And finally…
Oh, to be waiting out a rainstorm with a warthog…
Thank you for joining this week’s JOY PARADE!
I hope you all have a lovely weekend. It’s a three day one here in the UK due to a Bank Hol.
It’s going to be rather a social whirl for me - a 40th Birthday celebratory lunch one day (not mine, I am still 39 just an apple cheeked youth fresh from the schoolroom) and then a VE Day themed party for a 97 year old the next. I’ll have to put two red flowers behind my ears, pop on a white linen frock and have a Joaquín Sorolla-style garden nap after it all…
I’ll be back next weekend with JOY PARADE No. 5. In the meantime do 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,
Alex T Smith
HEAD PIGEON.
Sara Midda! I love this book - all the different colours 😍
Oh I love these letters. Thank you for sharing your effervescent joy with us ❤️