Norq From Ork

I’m afraid I’ve killed the weather.  It all started last week when I waxed lyrical about what amazing weather we’d been having in Orkney and I woke up the next day to fog so thick you could barely see the hand in front of your face! It’s been pretty dire all week.  There’s still need to emerge from the sea and don industrial-strength layers and assume the post-swim warm-up look.

so I’m hoping for a turnaround, but even in the more misty mornings, we can still see the beauty in the little things.  Everywhere you drive at the moment in Orkney are fields full of dandelion clocks.  They’ve gone from bright yellow to a billion, billion little seeded head which will blow away and re-seed in other places, but the humble dandelion is here to stay so we might as well enjoy it.

Throwback to a few years ago when Orkney Beef took this photo at 3am when he was working night shifts. Beautiful!  Glad someone is up at that time taking photos so I don’t have to.

Father Bear celebrated a special birthday this week and is repeatedly told how he doesn’t look his age.  We had open house with cake and sandwiches as well as a meal out in the evening and yet more cake after church today.  ‘I’ve had the best birthday ever’ he told me.  Worth being *whispers* 80 for by the sounds of it.  He’s the best dad a girl could ask for and it warmed my heart to hear him so delighted with his day.  If you’re wondering where he gets his youthful looks from, it’s me 😉

Since working full time I’ve had less time for ‘proper’ writing so I tend to post more soundbites on my Instagram page and Norq from Ork Facebook page.  It’s interesting to see which posts do better than others.  (Dog pictures are always a winner) and things that resonate with people.  This week I posted an image of myself that I would never dared have posted a few months ago with the following caption and the post did really well.  In fact it was my most successful post ever, so I guess all of us have hang-ups about our bodies.

”A transformation is taking place. A few months ago I would never in a million years have allowed Ally Moore to share this image of me, but I’m becoming so much better at accepting a body that can let me do incredible things like rise fierce, go on a micro adventure and go snorkelling before work. Thats exactly what I did this morning. 💪I snorkelled around Barrier 2 in Orkney where there are shipwrecks 🚢 and it was amazing. We saw starfish, hermit crabs, fish, and a magical garden of seaweed that looks like nothing on earth at low tide but is unbelievably awesome when in its natural environment. What a way to spend an hour before work, when two years ago I would’ve laid in bed and flicked through a ton of holiday snaps of someone I hardly even know on Facebook 🤷🏻‍♀️”

It’s late and I need to sign off. I spent four hours in bed this afternoon with the mother of all headaches.  So bad that Orkney Beef brought me toast, tea, and flowers.  I think he was genuinely a bit worried about me.  I’m heading back for more beauty sleep because tomorrow is another day, and I need to rise fierce again.  – Hopefully!

Have a great week everyone. x