Stromness Shopping Week

Last week was Stromness Shopping Week, the 70th anniversary in fact.  It's an annual event and the whole town seems to take part ~ proper community spirit!  The week is crammed full of activities, exhibitions, music and just plain old fun 😊

Sarah over at Norq From Orq has written a lovely post which explains all about the tradition, far better than I could, so do pop over to her blog for a read 😊

The weather was glorious and from what I've heard Stromness was full of folk all week.  I took myself off down the road for a mooch around on Thursday, and boy was it hot!  I took a couple of photos of the harbour as I trundled by ~ just look at that beautiful blue sky!

Those are the Hills of Hoy in the distance.  Ward Hill is the highest point in Orkney.

This statue is of Dr John Rae, one of Stromness' (and Orkney's) "famous sons", who did not receive the recognition he so greatly deserved during his lifetime.  He was a very interesting man, and I recommend that you follow the link to read of his exploits 😊

I went down the road primarily to have a look at the Scottish Women's Institutes handicrafts exhibition.  There were lots of lovely items on display that the ladies had made, all kinds of crafts including crochet, knitting, quilting, painting and more besides.  I had quite a chat with the two ladies who were manning the door.  They were both so friendly and urged me to give the SWI a go ~ as one of them pointed out, I would meet more folk LOL 

 The other lady also told me that they are always looking for "younger" women to join.  I pointed out that I am hardly a young woman, at the ripe old age of 57 (as the recent photo above clearly shows 😉) but apparently that is considered "young" for the local SWI!  I am seriously considering the idea, and perhaps will amble along to the September meeting, after my folks have gone back home after their holiday up here for Mum's 80th birthday at the end of August.

I thought you might like to see our pretty little "day boarder".  Bonnie comes to us two days a week whilst her Dad does his long work shifts.  She is a nine year old labrador/spaniel cross and is a delightful little girl.  She is very well behaved and happily made herself at home straightaway.  Matty likes her very much and gets very excited when she first arrives ~ as you can see, though, he soon relaxes back into his default position of "greyhound couch potato" 😃