Norq From Ork

In the battle  of winter v spring, spring is currently in the lead by producing two sunny days in a row.  Although there was a white frost this morning on the ground the sun was shining and there was hazy mist which reminded me of early summer days.

While I’m probably perceived by many of my friends as an extrovert (or is that loud an irritating?) I actually get my energy from solitude so I have no problem in my own company (or is that just antisocial?) I had a morning off so I took the dog down to the local beach.  This is the one that can be seen from my sitting room and kitchen window and living by the sea was a definite on my bucket list. It’s just over a mile away and if I had my own way I would live in one of the two houses right on the beach.  However I’m speaking as a former city girl and Orkney Beef having grown up here has his head screwed on with less romantic notions.  He goes on about salt water, storms, rocks being thrown at the house by big waves *yawn* so I had to settle for a house a bit further up  the road.  Nevertheless I can still see the waves and hear them when I step outside the front door and I’m happy with that. The morning was so bright I even wore my sunglasses!

The land scape and coastline changes over the winter as (though I hate to admit it) Orkney Beef is right, the huge waves can erode the coastline and drag thousands of tons of stones back and forth along the beach, the sound is quite something. You never  know what you’re going to find and I love scanning the stones for a new surprise gift from the sea. I’ve seen barnacle covered tyres

as well as shoes, mattresses, endless plastic bottles (which makes me sad) and even an onion.   A local beachcomber tells me it’s not uncommon to find fruits and vegetables washed up on the beach but how they get there remains a mystery.

In the summer people with more time, patience and skill than me make creations out of the stones like the one I saw last year, only to be washed away by the waves. However people never seem to tire of making new and wonderful creations so there will be plenty as the weather warms up and more people visit so look out for them in future blogs.

An update on chicken news is I returned home to find one of the hens had laid another egg.  I think that makes a total of seven this week so maybe one or even two of the chooks have finally worked out what they are supposed to do.  What with my now laying hens and the tub of cress growing on the window sill I’m think I’m practically a smallholding.  Happy Spring!