Muckle Flukra

It's a good time of year to be catching up on reading books which languish on my book shelf only partially read or unread. Many of these here came from Mum. She, her father and I all had/have a love of natural and social history, something the titles on this shelf convey.

Currently I am making better progress with my 'learning to knit' project than my 'reading' project, although today I did get enthralled in reading Robert Macfarlane's book 'The Lost Words'. It's full of wonderful words and phrases, one which I especially liked and thought apt for today was 'muckle flukra' meaning heavy snow and used especially in Scots, in particular Shetland. Someone commented that their grandmother had also used the term for a time when everything seems to be coming at you. I'll have to recall that next time I am feeling overwhelmed - if nothing else it will make me smile!