Norq From Ork

I read an article recently which talked about winter being a time to rest and recharge.  Time to hibernate like the animals do and restore our souls from busy lives. Somewhere along the line, we’ve lost that and life often seems a non-stop merry go round which seems to be speeding up all the time.  It’s an incredibly busy time of year and fitting it all in is quite the challenge.  It was lovely this week though, to catch up with so many friends and enjoy some fun and laughter as well as good food in the various festive eating dates I had.

There’s a group of us that meet up called the Magnificent 7, except there’s 8 of us, and two are missing from the picture, including me as I was holding the camera.  You get the gist….

I had the loveliest of catch ups with CrazyHaze on Saturday as we had lunch together at a local pub.  She took her jacket off and I admired her lovely broach.  It was a crocheted mistletoe and I told her how much I liked it.  It turns out I made it for her a few years ago!  How embarrassing, admiring my own work.  I had completely forgotten but seeing it again I was pretty chuffed with my handiwork!

As I mentioned last week, I’ve reached the time of year where all week I never see my house in daylight.  Traveling back and forth to work in the dark can be hard going especially in the wintery weather.  I often pass sheep in the fields all crowded together in the corner seeking shelter from each other. For all that it must be nice to hibernate, I’m glad I’m not a sheep!  Do you want to know what they look like in the dark?  This….true story.

Next week I will be 49.  Turning 40 feels like yesterday and now here I am about to head into my final year in my 40s and it seems unreal.  I’ve decided to make a list of 49 things I’ve never done and would like to do before I reach 50 and I’m asking for your suggestions.  As I said on Facebook, don’t waste your energy suggesting things that involve jumping out of planes or being attached to bungee chords.  But I’m open to all other ideas for my list. I’ve been given some lovely ones so far, and making it on to the definite list is planting 49 bulbs, geocaching (like a kind of treasure hunt) kayaking with Orkney Beef, a daily gratitude diary, walking to The Old Man of Hoy to name but a few. So send me your suggestions and I’ll keep you posted through the year.

We bought a tree today and are now letting it settle before we decorate it.  In other words, no one had the energy to do anything with it, and we’ll somehow have to make it stand up straight too.  I have a carol service this week as well as a birthday and another meal out and Christmas shopping in my lunch hour. Is anyone out there lucky enough to be able to hibernate?  Or do you love the craziness of it all?

Have a great week everyone.  Go easy on yourselves, and if you see a friend wearing a nice broach, make sure you didn’t make it yourself before complimenting her on it.