First Orkney Snow.......‘Procrastination Is The Thief Of Time’……Sweet Dreams…..
by Bernie Bell - 07:41 on 16 December 2022
Wendy & David have experienced their first Orkney snow…..
First Orkney Snow
Not gentle snow
nor with any malice
just falling
constant
descending
irrespective of
animal sensitivity
or human concern
whisked by wind
large delicate flakes
settle
in crevice
and hollow
crystal cold
seeping wet
into soggy
cushioned grass
sinking
sucking mud
whiteness
dissolving
swept up into
darkness of
early night
later
stars
in deep black sky
till they in turn
disappear
behind cloud
and a flurry
of hard white
pellets
horses stand
snow ridged
on rugged backs
resolutely
chomping
on forage
I seek
hot tea
the hearth
and
a warm fire
Wendy Alford December 2022
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Our own snowy scene….
A flock of Rooks regularly flies over our garden – we think they’re from the Rookery at Woodwick House. There’s one who is often on his own. We call him Roookie – pronounced the Yorkshire way – and he’s a very clever bird. His beak is too big for him to peck bits from the feeder but he worked out that when the feeder was freshly filled to the brim he could either land on the cross bar, push the lid up and pick whole nuts from the top, or, when the level had gone down a bit he'd perch on the cross bar, shove the lid up, clamp himself onto the mesh of the feeder, and stick his head down into it to get nuts. When it got to a certain level he could no longer do this, and we wouldn't see him again until it was filled again. What I don’t understand is – why the other Rooks didn’t copy him?
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/11/04/studies-of-a-rook/
in fact, he broke the lid of the feeder and we got a new one which is very sturdy and has a tight fitting lid which he can't shift - so Mike made a new bird table and we put nuts & grain on that for him instead - he soon learnt to be first there in the morning.......
Rookie on the bird table …right now...
The Broch of Gorseness in the snow…..again....
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/04/09/the-broch-of-gorseness-as-it-stands/
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‘Procrastination Is The Thief Of Time’……
Just some musings……I had an email exchange with someone about the possible complications associated with making or accepting change in our lives. He commented that maybe reactive change is easier to manage than proactive. And I replied…..
“My tuppenceworth – pro-active can mean less trouble in the long run. Do you know the rhyme…
‘For the want of a nail the shoe was lost
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost
For the want of a horse the rider was lost
And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail.’
That’s what my old mate Philip would pronounce to be ‘Feckin’ profound.”
True though.
I’m remembering years ago when I meant to get work done on the chimney of the house I was living in – I kept putting it off. One windy day some of the chimney fell onto the bonnet of my car - expensive to get fixed and bothersome to adapt to as there wasn’t a regular bus service. And getting the chimney fixed became imperative.
True story.
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Sweet Dreams…..
I’m reading ‘The Moomins and the Great Flood’ – the first of Tove Jansson’s Moomin books – begun in 1939 - published in 1945 – then kind-of fell out of public awareness until it was published again in 1991. Then, thank goodness – translated into and published in English in 2012.
I’m reading the part where the old gentleman invites them into his mountain where the ‘snow’ is ice-cream, the grass is spun sugar, the brooks are lemonade and milk, and I thought ‘Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl published in 1964 .
And before that – ‘The Good Ship Lollipop’ sung by Shirley Temple in 1934 https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/shirley-temple/on-the-good-ship-lollipop
Fantasies don’t change much.
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Here’s one I made earlier….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/08/26/solastalgia/
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