Cheering Loveliness

There is a man in Scotland dressing up as a giraffe and...

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:57:46 -0500

There is a man in Scotland dressing up as a giraffe and dispensing kindness to strangers. Hooray for him.

Pigs are good guys (via @suzannemoore).

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:05:21 -0400

Pigs are good guys (via @suzannemoore).

I did this with white carnations as a child, but the news that...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:06:00 -0400

I did this with white carnations as a child, but the news that it’s also possible to dye the bums of ants is enormously welcome. (Click the photo to learn more about dying ants).

3 million views and counting, but still one of the very most...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 08:55:09 -0400

3 million views and counting, but still one of the very most cheeringly lovely things I’ve seen in a LONG time so it deserves to be preserved here.

Cakes for spring, with bunting (via http://www.georgiemglug.com)

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 05:16:03 -0400

Cakes for spring, with bunting (via http://www.georgiemglug.com)

This woman is baking one Victoria sponge ever day for a year and...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:43:39 -0500

This woman is baking one Victoria sponge ever day for a year and giving them away, and her husband’s doing all the washing up. Hooray for them both.

Photo: BRUCE ADAMS

My colleague was sent this by a nice PR as an apology for...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:46:00 -0400

My colleague was sent this by a nice PR as an apology for mis-emailing her.

“Sorry about that. Consider it ammended.

Please find attached a smiling wombat, that I hope will make up for irritating the incorrect inbox.

Hope all is dandy!”

LEGEND.

indiaknight: Baffled German (?) person gets quite cross about...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:05:43 -0400

indiaknight:

Baffled German (?) person gets quite cross about insect etymology. Via @lettersofnote.

Everything that’s great about people: resourcefulness,...

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:43:28 -0400

Everything that’s great about people: resourcefulness, hope, friendliness.

Mysterious Paper Sculptures

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:00:07 -0400

Mysterious Paper Sculptures:

Mystery is very, very good for the soul.

"The day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Steve Buscemi, who worked as a firefighter from..."

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:17:56 -0400

“

The day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Steve Buscemi, who worked as a firefighter from 1980-1984, showed up at his old fire station, Engine Company No. 55 in the Little Italy section of New York.

For the next week he worked 12-hour shifts, digging through the rubble trying to find the bodies of missing firefighters, all the while refusing to do interviews or have his picture taken.

“It was a privilege to be able to do it,” the 45-year-old actor said. “It was great to connect with the firehouse I used to work with and with some of the guys I worked alongside. And it was enormously helpful for me because while I was working, I didn’t really think about it as much, feel it as much.

“It wasn’t until I stopped that I really felt the full impact of what had happened. It would have been much harder for me to get through it if I hadn’t been able to do that.”

Steve Buscemi might have been a senior firefighter by now - if only he had stuck with it. He’s still in touch with friends at the New York Fire Department, and went back there for a medal ceremony only recently in honour of a lieutenant who took part in a rescue last year. But Steve Buscemi played his part with “the bravest”, as America’s firemen are known, from 1980 - 1984 and moved on. Yet, he continues to support his firefighter brothers whenever they are in need.

”

- http://www.indieking.com/E55.html and twitter.com/markeverclear

Learning the Welsh for jelly fish, with India Knight

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 06:22:32 -0400

Learning the Welsh for jelly fish, with India Knight:

It’s ‘Pysgoden wibli-wobli’. Yet another example of why Twitter is a stupendously brilliant thing.

It’s very hard to watch Rachael Dadd and Ichi at work and...

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:14:19 -0400

It’s very hard to watch Rachael Dadd and Ichi at work and not be cheered. If you like the way she sounds, you ought see Rachael live. She’s very good at bringing all the beautiful bits of life into focus. Oh, and singing. She’s good at that too.

This book is gloriously funny and clever. Winston Churchill...

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:01:00 -0400

This book is gloriously funny and clever. Winston Churchill used to refer to his depression as a ‘black dog’, so Rebecca Hunt calls the dog Mr Chartwell, makes him 6’ 7”, and shows him flumping all over those he visits, chewing rocks in corners and suggesting it would be best if they just stayed at home with him. If you’ve ever felt even close to depressed, this book will feel a lot like coming home.

Picking blackberries is brilliant, and it makes you feel all...

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 11:54:00 -0400

Picking blackberries is brilliant, and it makes you feel all self-sufficient and at one with nature. They’re nearly all gone now, so go and get some. Brilliant easy things to make include sorbet (add sugar and water, warm up, strain, freeze) or blackberry gin (which is what I shall be doing tonight).

No, it’s not the fancy modernised one, it’s the...

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:05:00 -0400

No, it’s not the fancy modernised one, it’s the proper old one from 1952 and it’s marvellous. No one can splosh about like Gene Kelly does, especially not when he’s in love.