Although I have stopped posting on social media, I do like taking photos and sharing them with people is fun. I just want to do it in a place where I don't feel icky every time I open the app. And so this is the first of what I hope will be a roughly monthly photo dump on my blog and newsletter.
The only necessary context for what follows is that my husband and I have a tiny cottage on one of the smaller islands in Orkney and that we spent some time there this summer.
Just a normal summer evening. Taken from the end of our road.Morris explores the Earl's Palace in Birsay.We went on an expedition to the Orkney mainland to visit this beautiful beach. I did knit that headband myself, yes — a vital summer accessory in the far north of the UK where it is somewhat warm but also windy enough to want your ears covered.A curious local cow.The primary school children were asked to make signs for the island gym about why exercise is worth doing. I really like the last point here: "If you keep going to the gym you could be like this snail."The flower festival in St Magnus' cathedral in Kirkwall was both weird and wonderful. Each arrangement had a very specific theme and this one was "Eurovision Song Contest" (?).While we were in Orkney, we went on a little mini-break for a couple of days to one of the "outer" isles (ie the ones where the ferry from the Orkney mainland takes 90+ minutes). We went to Stronsay, known as the "Island of Bays". Morris tried to swim at all of them while we were there.There was also an excellent heritage centre with displays about the island's boom years as a landing place for a massive herring fleet.Another one of Stronsay's many lovely beaches. I like a beach where you wear boots, gloves and a coat to visit it in August.Stronsay's other major attraction is this rock arch known as the "Vat of Kirbister". Most of the rest of our days looked a bit like this: back on our usual island, enjoying the fact that (barring Storm Floris) the weather was exceptionally good this summer.On our way south to get back to our usual abode in north-west England, we stopped at Loch Brora so Morris could swim. (Are you sensing a theme of how we travel, it's mostly just between bodies of water so our dog can enjoy himself.)Then we went to Edinburgh, a place I love but have only made very fleeting visits to for book events in recent years.This time we were there for a bit longer and managed some wandering about, as well as some time working in here, the National Library of Scotland.And now we have returned to our usual stomping grounds. The willow has grown rather.
If you were missing the photos of my dog I used to post on Instagram, I hope this has made up for it! I'll aim to do another photo dump at the start of next month.
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