After everything that has happened over the last week I found myself struggling to make a post about happy things. So much so that the first draft of this post was titled “This Does Not Spark Joy!” and discussed Sarah Everard’s murder and the experiences of so many women, myself included, who have been on the receiving end of harassment and violence from men.
I intend to share that post at some other time because it is so important to talk about these things and to keep talking about them, even after the mainstream media have moved on. But not today.
When I picked the theme of this blog series I did so in order to offer an escape for my readers from the relentlessness of the world, no matter how small that escape might be, and to help me to continually remember to look for the glimmers of happiness and fun that everyone needs in order to keep going. When I checked my twitter bookmarks I was relieved to see that I had been doing that, despite everything else.
So in that spirit I offer three small but delightful things I noted as lovely during my forays into social media. Hopefully they’ll lift your mood and help you keep on trucking:
1. Blair and the sled dog puppies.
If you don’t follow Blair Braverman on twitter then I would encourage you to remedy that immediately. Not only will you suddenly have 100% more sled dogs peering out of your screen, there will also be fascinating information on mushing and you’ll sometimes get well written and carefully considered advice on life, the universe and everything that is genuinely positive and helpful.
Normal service from Blair always includes lots of photos of the dogs being gloriously doggish but at the moment Blair has a litter of PUPPIES. So there are teeny beans on tiny paws and the smallest wiggles and waggles. The latest thread includes this adorable video and you should absolutely click through to find more pictures and videos to make you go “d’awwww”:
2. A stoat* on a trampoline.
You don’t need an explanation for this one, you just need to watch it again and again and again …
3. A tiktok from WildCat Ridge Sanctuary in Oregon, involving a bobcat and a cuddly toy:
And finally (yes I know this is more than three but shh) a picture of the things I have gathered to make a charm to welcome in the spring energy and the bag I crocheted to put them in:
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*It has come to my attention via comments on this tweet that many people struggle to tell stoats and weasels apart. It’s not so bad if you have one next to the other because weasels are much smaller so it’s relatively obvious (as the joke goes, the difference between stoats and weasels is that weasels are weaselly recognisable and stoats are stoatally different). However you normally only see one or the other so comparisons of size are unhelpful. Instead you need to look at their tails. If it’s got a black tail tip it’s a stoat, if the tail is brown all the way down it’s a weasel. For easy remembering, stoat is spelt with two t’s for tail tip, weasel has no t’s and no tip!
Kizzia Mildmay 