#orkney
April 13th 1996 saw the death of the Orkney Poet and writer George Mackay Brown.
George Mackay Brown is perhaps Orkney’s best known author. He was born in Stromness in 1921 and his poetry, plays, novels and short stories continue to have an impact worldwide.
His work was inspired by Orcadian folklore – the myths, legends and sagas - Orkney’s Norse heritage, the natural landscape, his childhood and exploration of his faith. He wrote about his hometown of Stromness and chronicled the lives of the people who lived here and the way of life.
After six years as the Stromness correspondent for the Orkney Herald and a period recovering from tuberculosis, GMB, as he is often referred to in Orkney, from 1951 studied at Newbattle College in Midlothian under warden Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian writer. He went on to read English at Edinburgh University, returning to Orkney in 1961.
While in Edinburgh of course he drifted towards the crowd in Milnes Bar and into the company of Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig and the likes. He met and fell in love with Stella Cartwright described as the bars muse and she was lover to a number of Scottish poets, they were briefly engaged but kept in touch until she passed away in 1985.
Dubbed by some as the Orkney bard, his first book of poems sold out in days. Despite almost continual ill-health he continued to write and gained numerous prizes for his work. These included the James Tait Memorial Prize for his novel The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories. Beside the Ocean of Time was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Scottish Book of the Year title from the Saltire Society. He was awarded the OBE and three honorary degrees.
His weekly column which ran for more than 25 years in The Orcadian from 1971 is in print in book form and gives an insight into his Stromness routines and his observations on a changing Orkney.
George Mackay Brown died in 1996 but his legacy lives on in his words, and in the George Mackay Brown Fellowship.
https://georgemackaybrownfellowship.com/
Shroud.
Seven threads make the shroud,
The white thread,
A green corn thread,
A blue fish thread,
A red stitch, rut and rieving and wrath,
A grey thread
(All winter failing hand falleth on wheel)
The black thread,
And a thread too bright for the eye.
.
George Mackay Brown
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Ring of Brodgar
#backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #orkneymainland #ringofbrodgar (at The Ring Of Brodgar Stone Circle & Henge)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B028S30Awjx/?igshid=1wvzal4a6lczu
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Standing stones of Stennes
#backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #orkneymainland #standingstonesofstenness (at Standing Stones of Stenness)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B027jNGgXgH/?igshid=zp3p94u13hnx
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#backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #hoy #hiking (at Hoy Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B026HCrgyJ8/?igshid=1xi8dhc1o1gpd
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Lunch break with a view.
#backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #hoy #hiking #fog #sea #cliff (at Hoy Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B025oRRAmui/?igshid=18ghty75czn5a
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Frodo vibes.
#backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #hoy #hiking #fog #theshire (at Hoy Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B025CBpAjJR/?igshid=do1wukxdvt7x
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Travel encounters.. #backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #hoy #caterpillar (at Hoy Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B024IZ6gkMT/?igshid=i69s15zarp6a
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#backpacking #solotravel #solotraveler #wanderlust #fernweh #adventure #scotland #scottishhighlands #orkney #hoy #oldmanofhoy (at Old Man of Hoy)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B023dZbA-xa/?igshid=tp7ut2kt6af4
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Jaunts: Paradise, 59 Degrees North
At least when you set an alarm for 6 AM in the highlands of Scotland in the summer it goes off in…
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Day 9 of #marchmeetthemaker ~ The story behind the name.
Arra was the name of my great grandmother, Arra MacDonald, who was born in St Margaret’s Hope and grew up by the sea on Orkney.
I wanted a name for my business that I had a connection with and that sounded vaguely Scottish but not so much that I wouldn’t be able to move one day!
My first collection was inspired by the seascapes of Orkney after numerous holidays to visit family, so it seemed fitting to use a name that would continue this legacy!
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#makersmovement #buylessbuybetter #scottishcraft #weaversofinstagram #colourmyhome #scotland #orkney #contemporarycraft (at Brough of Birsay)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuzW1VYgKbf/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7fp9svrrxb42
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I just liked the colour of these rocks.
Plant of the Day
Tuesday 26 April 2022
Growing in the grassy mounds and cliffs of Orkney were clumps of Silene dioica (red campion, red catchfly). This short-lived perennial or biennial plant has downy stems and deep pink flowers.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Sunday 24 April 2022
In a moist but well-drained soil Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ (Siberian bugloss) makes a ideal plant for the front of a border. The large, heart-shaped silver leaves are edged and veined with green, and there are sprays of small blue flowers in spring.
Jill Raggett
The sheep of North Ronaldsay in Orkney have been living on the island as far back as the iron age and have evolved to eat a diet of mineral rich seaweed. The Orkney Sheep Foundation.
Reconstructed face of a 4,500 year old dog from Orkney- the world’s first canine forensic reconstruction.
This skull was one of 24 excavated from the chambered tomb of Cuween Hill:
The tomb was used 600 years earlier for the burial of human remains before it was used for dog burials.
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