The other night, we had a girlie night in.  Bjørn came round, Eurovision 2013 was blaring on the laptop and these were the two willing models.

First request:  That they were waiting in dressing gowns with hair washed

I will admit that both Anna and Daisy were a tad nervous but Bjørn knew what he was doing and I had in mind what I wanted to achieve.  Using only what we had – ok, I had bought in hair spray, mousse and some pins – Bjørn went to work on Anna first.

Sadly, BeAnne turned into BitchAnne by taking the best bed in the house.

Rather than offering her guest, Amina, the best seat in the house, she told her to stay under the table. I was ashamed.

So Amina fell in love with Jack instead who felt a tad nervous.  He did not want a paternity test or maintenance responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Bjørn worked his magic on Anna and Daisy and then I took over and did their make up.  We used my jewellery and other pieces.  I am not very good at make-up but I had a go.

After that came the hard work for the girls.  Wow!  That is the only word really.

So, while I was taking photos of Anna with and without her mask, Bjørn worked his magic on Daisy.

Again, same drill, mousse, hairdryer, makeup and jewellery that I already had.  I cry when I see these photos but that is because I am her mother so I am allowed to.

I also loved the girls both together like two princesses about to be sold to the highest bidder, in the Royal Family.  This was pure make believe with dressing-up.

Ok, so I was learning how the camera(s) worked, how to use a tripod for this sort of thing, the best lighting, trying not to shake at the amazing results and watch Eurovision at the same time.  This is the reality, between scenes.  Daisy had socks on, as well as wearing one of Floss’ dresses (as was Anna), BitchAnne and Jack at their feet, perched on the sofa trying not to giggle at the whole fantasy of the evening plus the “ridiculous” behind the scenes.

The girls laughed so much too, which was very healthy as we were just experimenting in looks, different worlds and having fun!

(someone felt a little left out – but she is always a supermodel to me!)

Anyway, back for the second go was Anna.  A completely different look for her and it was an incredible transformation again. The girls did their own make-up this time.

Wow, oh wow!  I just kept snapping. I had given up being any influence.

Bjørn worked hard too in the kitchen ….

And these are Daisy’s second photoshoot photos ….

Wow!  I can’t find words for these incredible transformations.  The girls are so beautiful.  I always knew that. I say it to them all the time but, of course, being a mother, they never believe me because that is what mothers always say.  The camera, however, never lies.

What can I say?  Well, really a huge enormous thank you to Bjørn for helping two teenage girls see their potential, their beauty and their awesome power.  We had the best night and it was life-changing for us all.

And this is the morning after! A duvet day for the supermodels.  They deserved it.

The girls, Anna and Daisy have been busy, doing “stuff”.  All will hopefully be revealed later.  I am still very worried about Jack. He is not his little grumbly Victor Meldrew self and now he has gone off his food (never a good sign for Jack-et Potato – he lives for food).

So I have been spending time on my own on the croft.  Today, I discovered my first proper orchid had blossomed.  I love Shetland orchids.  I would like to be able to say this is Shetlandus Orchidus but I am not that clever.  I recognise them and see them for their beauty but I do not know the official name of this orchid.  They do, however, carpet my steps to the chicken shed and I adore them just for the fact that the rest of the world does not have this beautiful walk to their chicken shed.

Of course, Taktur still thinks he should be fed daily, despite Bjørn’s orders that he does not need it.  You try telling him.  Taktur still comes to the gate and loiters about looking hopefully in my direction. I have tried to ignore his devilishly handsome good looks but I always end up giving in and finding something.  Today was broccoli stalks.

I

Luckily there is an ever-ready picket line of moral support in the form of Bozz-Bozz and Arcturus who fully support Taktur’s need to be fed every day.

It’s like WHAT DO WE WANT? WHEN DO WE WANT IT? …….now, if you don’t mind, thank you very much!

Though Taktur does get a little annoyed by the small people and there can be arguments in the picket line.

But all is happy in this little herd and Les Boys get on perfectly well.  I love them all. They make me smile which is always good (and they all have beautiful smiles too) when Taktur tells them to.

So, I gave in, and opened the gate because Arcturus was trying hard to make his point….

And so did Bozz-Bozz.

They are persistent, I will give them that and I suppose because of their efforts, Taktur achieved what he wanted, ie to be in the small paddock with little or no grass waiting for me to feed him, which didn’t happen so I explained this to him, kissed his nosey and called him a Mummy’s Boy, which was not good enough but was all I had.

Still, I always have my orchids on the way to the chicken shed.

Anna and Daisy here…

Today, Mum is a tad stressed out.  She is building a website for someone and coming off painkillers at the same time.  Can’t say we envy her.

So with the car keys in one hand and Mum’s big camera, we went to visit the babies.

Dingo still isn’t interested in people, but we’re getting nearer and nearer.  One day.

Anna has been “training” Zoot by teaching her to come when she whistles.  She thinks it works – yer, right.

Good luck…  Zoot adores her hugs or is it the other way round?

Next, we went on a ride to the beach as it was such a lovely day. Iacs enjoys the feel of the wind in his silly frilly.

Iacs and Hakon aren’t the greatest fans of a beach that they can’t gallop across, so our visit was rather short-lived.  The ride home is always faster than the ride out.

Anna harbours a love of birds, which includes chickens and oyster-catchers.  Her dream is to get near one!  I don’t think they want this much.  We might give a chicken to hug before she goes.

Mum here:  the website is learning to behave (bloody buggering HTML) and the painkillers are making me feel meh.  Rest assured, tomorrow I will be back on form.

I found a pile of horses and ponies outside my backdoor.  They were snoozing in the sun.

Happy and with no intention of waking up much either.  There was not one horse left on Guard Duty which shows a huge amount of trust in each other and their environment.  In any herd of horses, mostly one is left awake and standing to guard against marauding tigers.

Luckily the tigers were fast a bye-byes too so the marauding will have to be re-scheduled for another day.

It was very sweet to watch and I crept around them trying not to wake any Kraken(s).  They looked so happy in the sun, enjoying its warmth, all together.  I heard no snoring and yes, I did stop to listen.

Taktur woke up and got up to talk to me.  He is looking wonderful his first proper summer in Shetland.

Taktur is “on holiday”, with no work, no nothing, shoes off, for a few months.  This is all part of his training to be a happy, well adjusted Icelandic stallion.  For a 4 year old, he doesn’t look bad imho.

But what do I know?  I just think he is a lovely boy who is very photogenic.

I am not allowed to call him a Mummy’s Boy but he is – he loves His Dear Old Mum.  He follows me, comes when he is called, always turns round to say thank you and likes his nose kissed.  If that doesn’t make him a Mummy’s Boy, I don’t know what does, to be honest.

And then the Krakens woke up so I ran away as I would’ve been nibbled or hassled to death.

She who takes photos and runs away will live to take photos another day (a little known photographic saying).

While two of my visitors plus one daughter were packing to go back to school, I drove Daisy and Anna to see the bebbies, while I said goodbye as well to Jo’s favourite uncle, Don, who was on the boat too and going back home after far too short a visit.

Don’t worry, he has better wheels than that!

The rain from yesterday has not really lifted so I just popped outside and took a few snaps of the horses.  An interesting herd group.  Note how Fivla (little white pony) is always between the boys and the mares and foals. They are a contented bunch and that is lovely to see.  This is how the foals will learn all the skills they will need to integrate into any herd environment or situation.

Charlie was revolting.

It is nearly impossible trying to imagine him as the leader in tandem at the RHS a few years back twinkling along at the front impressing the judges.  

Anywho, Anna wanted to hug a newly hatched quail chick who happily obliged.  I see a future modelling career for this chick.

Errr, this, apparently, is what Jo had for supper tonight (apparently they were the bigger versions).

Snati, Jo’s collie pup was bored.  So he found a bone and threw it around the room at himself for a while.  It wasn’t much fun.

Then he found Beeble who was peacefully asleep on the floor and so he was eaten instead.

There was a second when Snati tried to behave but it was short lived and over-rated ….

…. because he spied BeAnne snoozing.

And with that, the Battle commenced!

BeAnne always gives as good as she gets.  There is no stopping her. She rarely cowers. Just speaks as she finds.  She is from Chester-le-Street, County Durham after all.

There was much snapping of teefs and giggling from us in the background.

While these shenanigans were going on, Beeble turned into Winston Churchill ….

so BeAnne sought refuge with Daisy.