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AUGUST - "Here, where the reaper was at work of late, In this high field's dark corner..."

Here, where the reaper was at work of late, In this high field's dark corner, where he leaves His coat, his basket, and his earthen cruise, And in the sun all morning binds the sheaves, Then here, at noon, comes back his stores to use; Here will I sit and wait, While to my ear from uplands far away The bleating of the folded flocks is borne, With distant cries of reapers in the corn  - All the live murmur of a summer's day.   from "The Scholar Gypsy" by Matthew Arnold Summer 2025 will certainly be remembered for the high temperatures, storms and wildfires! For me, August is a month apart from other months. Here, in north west Caithness, it is a month of green and golden hillsides - the green peppered with the dark and pied shadows of cattle as they munch, munch, and masticate their way through the rich grass. Some fields have sheep - those pretty lambs which delighted us in early spring are now strong and solid and no longer babies. The golden fields appear amber in t...
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About the Blog

In January 2017 I started a blog. There were 12 blogs altogether - one for each month of that year. When I had finished, my daughter and I edited the blogs and I wrote two more chapters so that my first book was formed. It is entitled "Child Of The Isle" - like the blogs - and covers aspects of my childhood in the Isle of Axholme - then a quiet corner of rural Lincolnshire - through the fifties and sixties.

I miss the blog thing. And I have enjoyed putting the book together. It follows that I should have another go. I am now attempting to answer all those people who have, over the years since we first moved to Orkney in 1986, asked the question, "What's it like up there?"  We lived in Orkney for 10 years, moved back to the Isle of Axholme for a while, then to Barrow upon Humber, and now we live in Caithness.  We meant to return to Orkney but we stopped off in Wick. We've been here since 2009 but I have never forgotten my roots and I am still searching for more information about my ancestors from Axholme and from other parts of Britain - some may be from further away but that is a work in progress. I intend to weave memories into "What's It Like Up There?" So, each month, for 12 months, I will take a topic and write about it from my Caithness viewpoint, referring back to other times in my life.

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