Lydia Crow
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lydiacrow.bsky.social
Lydia Crow
@lydiacrow.bsky.social
Lover of challenges, creativity, curiosities. Freelancer, manager, researcher. Folklore, place, people, identity. Some things digital, some things education.
Happy, Happy Spring! There has been a change in the air this week. Last night's frost hasn't been quite as thick, and the sky is already getting lighter, signs of another beautiful day ahead. I'm taking a break from here, but if you need me, I'm sure you can find me elsewhere. #TheBeaufortReport
March 20, 2025 at 5:59 AM
And so, winter comes to a close in a blaze of sunshine and glory. The children were leaving school in short sleeves and laughing all the way home, just with the sheer unbridled joy of it all. The tractor was ploughing the hill, and the firth offered a quiet and calm reflection. #TheBeaufortReport
March 19, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The firth this morning was bathed in subtle purples, the kind you get on cold and clear mornings, promising a glorious day ahead. It reminded me of another early morning overlooking Stenness Loch almost exactly nine years ago (pictured). #TheBeaufortReport #BlackIsle #Highlands #Orkney #Scotland
March 18, 2025 at 7:04 AM
It has been a golden sort of day, with blue skies and occasional contrails and mostly-fluffy clouds. A very precise, boxy cloud hovered just shy of the mountain peak for a while, making it look for all the world like Ben Wyvis was wearing a pillbox hat. #TheBeaufortReport
March 17, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Lydia Crow
I got to play at being in Labyrinth this weekend, and captured dreams and daffodils in my crystal ball.
💚🔮💚
#Spring #Caithness #Scotland
March 17, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Last night's rugby was just a bit too much for some. #Scotland #SixNations
March 16, 2025 at 7:42 AM
This week, I ordered a second-hand copy of "French Provincial Cooking" by Elizabeth David, and I have become a little bit obsessed with what I found written by the book's previous owner inside the cover. #books #cookery
March 14, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Last month, @joannechocolat.bsky.social invited subscribers to her newsletter to submit their poems on the theme of chocolate. Here's what I drafted - a light-hearted reflection on what chocolate has meant to me and my family over the years. It was good fun drafting this! A walk down memory lane.
March 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
The Unwonted Fatigue of Being Online.

A mostly raw stream of consciousness about digital lives, priorities, and running with things. And, as it turns out, an accidental brief insight into having a brain that Just. Won't. Switch. Off.
The Unwonted Fatigue of Being Online – Lydia Crow
lydiacrow.com
March 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM
There is a magical light this morning. A golden glow that hasn't disappeared with the fledgling day, but has stayed to make sure that everyone knows that anything can happen. #TheBeaufortReport
March 14, 2025 at 7:58 AM
The weather is on the up again. There is more snow on the mountains, but more sunshine and warmth too, and less of the bitter wind. The trees are budding quickly now, you can almost see the growth from one day to the next. There is everything to play for. #TheBeaufortReport
March 13, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Lydia Crow
Say hello to Honoria Hare, who I made friends with this morning.
She was entirely not bothered about me!
💚
#Stempster #Caithness #Scotland #NaturePhotography #Nature #Spring #MadMarchHare
March 12, 2025 at 10:07 AM
This photo essay by Lynn Fraser about Kumpo, a figure in Jola mythology, is excellent. Stunning photography. #FolkloreThursday
Spirits of Tradition
Jola mythology meets everyday life
open.substack.com
March 13, 2025 at 12:52 PM
My Scribbles and Sketches notebook this month is focussed on snippets from the library of books I've collected over the years: Commonplace Folklore. Recent posts have included the words of "Ambrose Merton" and Alan Dundes, and passages about gremlins and the Nuckelavee. #FolkloreThursday
Scribbles and Sketches | Lydia Crow | Substack
A series of seasonal notebooks, four a year, each lasting a calendar month and following a single theme, which may be predominantly textual or predominantly visual. Perhaps some may include audio or v...
open.substack.com
March 13, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The mountains aren't there at all this morning. A solitary beacon-white wind turbine dances furiously in front of a moody petrol blue and greying sky on top of one of the hills, twisting to see Wyvis somewhere in the gloom beyond. #TheBeaufortReport
March 12, 2025 at 6:58 AM
After a somewhat middling at times day, the sun pulled it out of the bag just before sunset to grace us with some piercingly beautiful attention from the western hills. Now, night has fallen, and there's a chance of snow. #TheBeaufortReport
March 11, 2025 at 7:31 PM
There has been a dip in temperature today after the comparatively balmy weekend. A fresh covering of snow on the mountains. The sun finally broke through mid-afternoon, and made a point of hanging about as if to apologise for her absence this morning. #TheBeaufortReport
March 10, 2025 at 5:35 PM
More haar, more sunshine. A certain type of warmth, promising spring. The sun has changed colour for the season, and is already spilling over more of the garden by midday. #TheBeaufortReport
March 9, 2025 at 8:11 PM
The haar over the firth has crept up the hill to the end of the garden, leaving us floating above the world. There is a perfect raindrop on the tip of every branch of the Japanese Maple. #TheBeaufortReport
March 8, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The firth was so still today. No sign of movement from a distance, just blurred reflections merging into one another. #TheBeaufortReport
March 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Every now and then, I get an overwhelming urge to disappear. Sometimes digitally, sometimes physically. I know it is just how I am wired, and I've spent more than forty years adapting to this, but yeesh! It is exhausting being me, sometimes.

Today is one of those days.
March 7, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Lydia Crow
Heard my first skylark of the year this morning, pelting out its arias from a hundred feet up or so; the song that lifts the heart as it falls.
March 7, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Every three months, I share a daily notebook on Substack, each with a different theme. This month's theme is Commonplace Folklore, featuring excerpts from the library of books I've collected over the years. #folklore #FolkloreThursday
Scribbles and Sketches | Lydia Crow | Substack
A series of seasonal notebooks, four a year, each lasting a calendar month and following a single theme, which may be predominantly textual or predominantly visual. Perhaps some may include audio or v...
open.substack.com
March 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
We went into Auri's school today to take part in some #WorldBookDay activities. We took the "build something based on a book from the library" task very seriously.
March 6, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Past sunset and well into the grimlins, a thin wave of pink stretched across the sky from the west. It lasted a scant handful of minutes before it faded to palest lemon before dissipating into the blue-grey. #TheBeaufortReport
March 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM