Things Go Moo In The Night…

Image from the RSPB.

Mister Hen Harrier came back! We have a lovely walled garden and I can see out over the tops of the trees from our upstairs bathroom window. Every year I see a male Hen Harrier hovering over said garden searching for something to hunt. This time around was a real treat ~ I spent at least a minute watching Mr. Hen Harrier right there outside of the window in all of his glory! (I didn’t dare move in case I scared him away like I did that first year.) During his hover he dove down to the ground but I didn’t see anything in his claws when he floated back up above the trees.

I’ve seen female Hen Harriers all over the area but Mr. Hen Harrier really seems to have a thing for our garden! He ended his hover by making a lazy fly-by RIGHT past the window!! I was one gigantic pair of gaping eyes.

We escaped the farm and headed off to Stromness with Little Miss CHEEKS and had ourselves a lovely time. Elspeth is such a happy baby! She just lights up like a wee, blue-eyed torch whenever we interact with her in any way. And so she was lighting up like mad when we went into that little cafe… it sells organic foods etc, can’t remember the name, and had wur tea.

I’ll admit it, sometimes it’s hard being stuck in the house on those days we have a crabby wean that does not want mommy to put her down EVER. But the rewards of seeing that happy face and holding her sweet little self against my heart and tickling those wriggling mini-feets totally outweigh any moments of drudgery. Those are soon forgotten when I look at and kiss those CHEEKS!!

She’s such a joy to be around! Always laughing and smiling and staring at people with those intense Scorpio eyes. One of the ladies working at the cafe held Elspeth while we ate. The wean tolerated this strange person holding her for quite some time while being given a cheerful tour of the wee shop. At one point I saw the bottom lip come oot and she almost cried but upon seeing mum and dad again she soon cheered up. She’s hilareous now: likes to stand up (with parental help of course) and then while doing so she suddenly goes ridgid and lets out sumo wrestler noises hahaha!

Did I tell you she imitates the roaring of the coos????

After tea and a bit of shopping for a few organic things an post cards, husband and I went on a lovely walk in the warm, still, midgie-free air. All while Little Miss CHEEKS sat propped up at the end of her pram and took in all of the sites with her usual keen interest. Accompanied by copious drooling. She was wearing her waterproof polar-tech rain poncho which is black and makes her look like Bat Wean.

After Stromness we enjoyed the scenic routes home while oggling “Orkney TV” from the car windows. We ended up getting home an hour after CHEEKS’s bedtime but she napped in the car, woke up, had a massive sook, and now she’s sound asleep in her basket.

It has been a fine evening! Now I’m ready for bed. Goodnight!

Buckoos are surprisingly helpful critters…

The hens give Erlend a hand at digging out some of the mint along the hoose.

The hens help me dig weeds and old bedding plants. (Right… I can’t crouch, kneel, or squat. But I can garden while folded in half with my butt in the air ~ the worst possible position for my back yet for some reason it doesn’t hurt.)

The finished bed, awaiting new bedding plants!

Afterwards the buckoos stalked me and watched me through the livingroom window…

I’ve been ripping the house apart and getting rid of soooo much stuff. Which means I’m still going through my wardrobe and weeding. I’m not being draconian or anything, just practical.

When I thought that I was going to be breast-feeding Elspethy I hit up a favorite Muslim shop back in the states and bought three “wrap-in-snap” abayas. I figured they’d be PERFECT for when I needed to whip a boob out in public or at church or what have you. But due to no one being able to show me how to operate these things on my chest, I ended up bottle feeding. So now I have three goregous peachskin abayas and… Orkney wind. As you can see in the photo below, the abayas open up in the front. They wrap around kinda like a kimono, first one side across the chest then another side across the chest in the other direction. Very nice for creating a breatfeeding tent. Not nice when one steps outside in so much as a breeze.

I LOVE THESE THINGS!! Since I can’t afford real silk, peachskin is the way to go. As Aunt Diane said, “This stuff makes you feel like a million bucks!”

I have to figure out a way to save my abayas… I’m thinking maybe, just maybe, I can find a seamstress that can turn them into dresses. Maybe along the lines of the cotehardie in the second photo…

I can’t wait until I’m done with all of this. The chaos is getting to me… LOL! “What to keep, what not to keep. What to keep, what not to keep…”

“Mummy was a firefighter once and now I’m going to pay for that for the rest of my life…”

Spring means I can finally wear tights without FUH-reeeezing!

Elspethy on her belly ~ she looks SO MUCH like daddy in this pic!

Hello all of you lovely readers! I’m still amazed that people actually come here and read my blitherings haha! Have you been enjoying good weather? It’s been SUNNNNNY here in Orkney! (How long this will last, only God knows LOL)

Wee Elspeth is rolling over onto her belly now but she get stuck there and howls for help. This repeats allll day. When I’m totally fed up I stick her in the pram and we go for a walk out in the SUNSHINE!

Farm Chic(k) !!

Mummy and Elsepth at Woodwick House

I love it when spring arrives. I feel like a whole new person ~ as if I’ve woken up from a very long winter doze. I have to enjoy this mildly sane interlude between the dwindling down of lambing season and the beginning of silage season…

We’ve been off-line for ages because of a nasty virus that put the computer in the shop for a few weeks. But it’s lambing season so that we didn’t miss it much. We’re almost done… just have those hangers-on in the byre refusing to lamb just so that they can extend lambing season for as long as possible. But one day we shall be free again!!

We’ve two hens and a cockeral strutting aboot the farm now. My friend up the hill came down to see them and just reached out and started petting the while I stared in surprise. I’ve been around plenty of hens but they always kept their distance! So I petted my hens while they were cooped up for four days (so they’d heft to the farm) and now they come running looking to peck grain from my hands. Most times I get to stroke their (Henrietta and Pauline) bonnie feathers but Prince Buckoo, the cockeral, will have none of that nonsense!

Last night after the wean went to sleep pulled out a dozen of my head scarves and several copies of an Egyptian fashion magazine and had fun trying out various wasy to arrange the scarves. I took photos but the camera is still on strike against the computer soooo I’ll have to upload photeys after I get them on disk at the chemists.

Another fun persuit has been that of sending and receiving post cards! If you like that kind of thing then hop over to Postcrossing.com and sign up ~ it’s so fun! You get post cards from alllll over the world. Apparently there are not a lot of folk in Scotland on Postcrossing so I’m sending a heavy recruitment hint hahaha! (I haven’t seen hardly anyone from England or Ireland for that matter!)

Daddy is feeding Elspeth ~ he gives her milk and also porridge in the mornings. She’s still not wanting to eat solids of any kind but daddy has a knack for getting porridge down her hatch in the a.m.. Elspeth is not sitting up yet but she’s starting to roll over onto her belly. One of her arms remains trapped under her chest but she’ll soon figure out how to pry it free. Meanwhile I’m spring-cleaning and decluttering the house like a mad thing before she gets up and crawling! Thanks to the Blue Door charity shop I’m emptying the backlog of stuff from the hoose at a swift rate.

Ok, time for mom to eat porridge!!!! Cheerio!