Emma Mitchell

Author, designer-maker, naturalist, illustrator, mum

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The antinews Pt 4

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Floral jumble from the garden, including rose ‘This Scepter’d Isle’

Earlier in the year, before winter had ended and when the news seemed rather dreary I wrote several blogposts full of small pieces of good news as an antidote to gloom: otters reinhabiting the rivers of Britain, crocheted baby owls, cake recipes, primroses blooming in their hundreds on a local grassy bank-things that would rarely if ever make the headlines and yet brought small bursts of happiness.

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Monkey’s hat shop

Since Friday the news has not only been gloomy, it’s been horrifying. Post-referendum there is a ghastly, in places sinister mess and I confess I’ve read so many political articles trying to find something positive and hopeful to hold on to that my noggin’s knackered.

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Cheering list (note my stripey rosa mundi)

I need a bit of cheer so I’ve gathered together another small collection of good things below. I hope this post might be a source of solace just now…if you’d like to add your small pieces of good news in the comments then that would be wonderful…

Sifakas playing horsie

There is a Youtube video I turn to on difficult days. A troupe of sifaka lemurs, filmed by some tourists in Madagascar, are moving along a beach. Meh, so what, right? The thing is sifaka lemurs run in a special way. It’s as though they’re playing horsie – as though they are pretending to gallop with glee like Miranda Hart. Plus after a few gallopy gallopy giddy up steps they have a little sit down on the sand for a small rest. To add to the lemur joy they seem to have created a sort of horsey relay here. I find it immensely cheering:

A song about a guinea pig

The youngest Mitchell turned 8 earlier in the month and her main present was a guitar. Mr M is teaching her to play and she has learned each chord hungrily. In fact she’s written a song, ‘My little Piggy’ about her Guinea pig, whose name is Lamby (because he looks like a little lamb). When she plays it I sometimes have a tiny secret cry whilst pretending to be very busy putting the kettle on.

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Lamby, being swaddled in an old sheet

Umbellifers

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My favourite flower form is everywhere in the hedgerows just now. Cow parsley may have finished and gone to seed but its cousins and lookalikes are so numerous that we have reached peak umbellifer. It’s joyful (and lacy and beautiful) and all kinds of pollinators are cock a hoop about it.

Brief Encounter

I’m still utterly heartbroken that Victoria Wood died so suddenly earlier in the year.

This has been lifting my spirits today though. Thankyou thankyou Victoria

Comic Relief Crafternoon 2017

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Do you remember that magazine that I dreamed up and that Jane Toft and I edited last year? The Mollie Makes special edition for Comic Relief that was on sale in Sainsbury’s? The one with Miranda Hart in a knitted beard as poster girl (see below)? The one with all the felt guinea pigs made by the crafters of Britain (see above)? The one that raised £62,000 for brilliant causes?

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Actual Miranda Hart, in a knitted beard, designed by the irrepressible woolly genius Deadly Knitshade

Yes? Well, we’re doing it again for 2017…more on this story as it unfolds

 

Please add your good news to the comments below – however small.

Has a rose begun to flower in your garden?

Did you make an especially delicious batch of biscuits?

Did your hen sit on your shoulder and it made you feel elated for a minute or two?

I’m pretty certain there are MANY people who would absolutely love to read about it…..

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Thank you silver pebble, a lovely addition to my morning cup of coffee! My boys are thirteen and even they say ‘why isn’t there ever any positive news, it’s always doom and gloom’ So sad really…So keep up the good work, it’s sent me to work with a smile today! Xx

    Reply

  3. Many hugs to you Emma – what a joy to watch and to read!! The roses in my garden have been dashed by the lashing rain, the only chickens I have are are in the fridge, and I woke up this morning to find out Brexit wasn’t just a ghastly dream . Still, we are British and we will muddle through as my eldest consoled me.
    Three cheers for Victoria Wood.
    Good luck in all your endeavours.

    Reply

  4. This is lovely, Emma. What lifted me today is drinking peppermint tea in a rainy afternoon while realising that even though I don’t like being in the rain it is beautiful to look at.

    Katrina x

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  5. yes. This. happy news is what we need.
    my happy news – Miss K finished her exams, we went to an open air concert, and I met a school friend and we drank lots of gin. simple pleasures to focus on x

    Reply

  6. Hoping you can see this cheering photo – not just because it is a beautiful rose, but also because I think you’ll like its name : Gentle Hermione
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    Love Sarah x

    Reply

  8. Thanks Silvefpebble, keep it coming! Picked a beautiful sweetly bunch of sweetpeas from the garden this morning. Heavenly scent and heavenly sent!
    Thanks for the inspiration … off to my studio to work on some new designs.
    Lucy x

    Reply

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