Norq From Ork

Driving round Orkney (or walking if you have 150 layers and don’t care about not feeling your face) at this time of year always brings a smile as we begin to see and hear lambs populating the fields. I saw my first lambs of 2018 on Friday.  Two little white ones and one black one, as I was driving past a field.  I was so surprised I had to do a double take.  The winter has been so long and hard this year I had actually forgotten that it’s lambing season. But now I’ve seen my first I’m pretty certain I will begin to see many more. This cute smiling wee lamb could melt the hardest of hearts could it not?  I came across this photo on Twitter and was kindly given permission to use it.  He’s called Utility because he spent the first few hours in the farmers utility room after his confused mother rejected him.   I’m only too aware of the beauty and harshness of nature as these little balls of cuteness begin their battle to survive.  A farmer once told me that if you have sheep, you spend your whole life trying to keep them alive while they spend their whole life trying to die.  I don’t know how true that is but I hope the weather warms up and keeps them smiling.

 

‘Utility’ born Spring 2017 photo credit @farmbeam Twitter

In addition to lambs making an appearance, there were real signs of spring this week making me think the epic long winter may finally be drawing to a close.  Daffodils now line the roads and verges, the first signs of colour can be seen in the garden and I still have the tail end of snowdrops.  There is life pushing through, hold on in there folks!

Another sure sign Spring is on the horizon is I had my first cuppa outside on the garden bench yesterday.  It was so warm and peaceful and for that half hour I spent out there it was absolute heaven. Here’s to many more.

 

 

The dog loves the view too.  She spends her life standing up at the window looking for cats.  I wish I had a spy cam so I could see how many hours she devotes to this activity whilst we are at work.  If only she had thumbs she could make good use of those binoculars.  I gave her a stool to sit on and see out easier but it just confuses her and she faces the wrong way.

 

 

We celebrated Tech Support’s 18th birthday this week. For non UK readers this is the legal age now to vote, drink alcohol, and be classed as an adult for all decisions. Here we are doing one of those legal activities.  We had a great night out leaving after midnight (on a school night!)  Thanks to all who came.

This week I’ve been reading ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gale Honeyman. A lot of my friends have been speaking about it and it was absolutely brilliant.  One of those books where you abandon usual Saturday afternoon plans in favour of finishing it.  No regrets, it was a beautiful book. I’ve twice been told this week it’s high time I published a book.  I would if only I knew how to go about it.

Have a great week, and may we all be smiling as this little internet superstar.  I’ll show him again just in case you didn’t smile the first time.

Happy Spring.