Halloween antics | a family vlog from Orkney - October 2020

Transcript of MumDeeDoes video #14:

I'm a ghost! Whooooo! No, I'm not!

Hello my Darlings and welcome to Mum Dee Does. I am Dee, a mum who does it all and today we are celebrating Halloween! Whooooooo!

There is a competition going on here on my island of "The Scariest Pumpkin". So, pumpkins have been delivered to everyone's houses and people have to carve them out and leave them at the end of their drives. And  the community members can walk around the island and admire people's creations and then the scariest, most creative, best Halloween pumpkin wins the competition. So James and I have decided to move our scarecrow from our garden to the end of our drive, and also put the pumpkin, our pum... pumpkin there. So we'll need your help to come and help us move the scarecrow. Come on!

First things first - we need to carve a pumpkin.

Draw circles. And, of course, we are carving the pumpkins to scare away all the unwanted spirits that wonder the realm on Halloween night. So we're making them really scary! Hroarrrrr!


Traditionally here in Orkney they would carve a turnip, but we have three lovely orange pumpkins (and a turnip), so we will carve them all and make a lovely... or rather, James will make a lovely pumpkin and turnip, and potato soup for our celebration dinner. 

And there is another lovely tradition up here in Orkney, which is to appease trows. And the story goes that you have to put a little parcel of food and put it on the crossroads to appease these ancient spirits of the land.

Now, I don't quite know if it's for the Halloween tradition, or just an Orcadian tradition in general for every celebration, but what you have to do is open every lock in the house, and every locked object has to be opened to allow these spirits free access to your house and to your belongings. And apparently that's how good luck comes into your house. Of course, that does include all the bottles. So, James, none of your home brew demijohns are safe! I can't help it!

All. There. Scoop scoop!

Ron is having a fantastic time and, as always, that's all that matters. These are the sort of Halloween traditions that I want him to remember: carving pumpkins with the family, lighting the Jack-o-lanterns, and, of course, eating pumpkin soup!

I love how Ron is such a foodie. He always grabs things, no matter how new they are, puts them in his mouth and then really enjoys them. Like right now, he is eating a raw pumpkin. Now, it's much tastier cooked, but  I am sure it's delicious raw as well, and there is no harm and so I am just letting him explore the food that he has found. And he is really enjoying it, really loves it. Do you like that pumpkin? Nom nom nom nom nom!

Hello baby! (Charlie, move!) Where am I? Here I am! A peek-a-boo! Where are you? Peek-a-boo! (A cutie pie!)

Bzzzzzz! Is that what the light did? Did it go "bzzzz"? Dzzzzz!
Ooooh, whilst we were filming this video, the light flickered! What happened? Did it go like this? You don't know? We don't know! What did it do? Did it go: "bzzzz"? Bzzzzzzz! That's right! Maybe a friendly ghost is in the house with us already! Who knows? How exciting!

Now, I am not much of a believer in ghosts or spirits, or anything like that. I am quite skeptical, I like things to be logically explained. But I have to admit once or twice this house has given me a reason to raise my eyebrow a little bit. There was one time when I was pregnant that James went into town... Now, going into town for us is quite a feat - we have to take a ferry. And the ferry only comes to our island of Eday once in the morning and then once in the evening, so it's only set times that one can go into town and then back home to our island. And I could have sworn, hand on heart, that I heard the front door open and James saying "hello!". And the dogs got really excited, they went "woof woof woof" and they ran to the front door. And I was busy working at that time so I just said "hello!" and I really expected it to be James. 

And then suddenly I thought "Hang on a minute, it's three in the afternoon (3pm)! The ferry doesn't come into Eday until half past four (4:30pm)!" So I... I thought "Hang on, maybe James didn't go into town at all, maybe he's just playing a trick on me?" ('cause James is like that sometimes). So, I went outside with the dogs and I said "hello!" and the dogs were really excited, they were looking all around... And I couldn't see James. So I went into his shipping container, and he wasn't there. And then I went to the shed, and he wasn't there... And then I thought to myself "This is really strange, 'cause the boat doesn't come in until half past four and it's only three o'clock in the afternoon!"...

But then the voice that I heard, and the door, it just... It really sounded like the door opened, and James walked in and he said "hello" and then the dogs barked and then I said "hello" but now we can't find him! So I decided to confront James, and I went into my messenger and I said "where are you hiding?!". And James sent me this really confused face, saying "what do you mean?" And I said "well, you just said hello!" And he said "no, I haven't. I'm in town!" and he actually sent me a little video saying "look, I'm in town, the boat's not in until... until... half past four!" And that was really strange because I really could have sworn, hand on heart, and the dogs reacted as if James actually had come back home. So it gave me this really goose-bumpy creepy feel!

But that was... that was... a... a... probably the first sort-of-paranormal experience that I had. Now, the rational Dee puts it down to "perhaps there was a bit of wind" and "perhaps there was a bit of a coincidence that it sounded the way it did" and with all the superstition up here in Orkney, with all the old ways and spirits being so rife and alive in people's beliefs - you never really know! 

(Yeah!) Have you had any paranormal, unexplained... NO!!!! No? You haven't?
Have you had any paranormal, unexplained, weird things happen to you, or in your house, or do you know anyone with any such experiences? Let me know in the comments down below! Spooky!

I just want to share with you just how proud I am of James. He has applied to join the RFA in January and it's taken us a long time to get to this stage, purely because the military moves in a very slow way, but he's do the job, he's been accepted and his starting date is January. But James tells me that out of thousands who apply for his particular role they only take 20 people a year - that's two lots of ten - and he is one of those ten who is starting in the new year. 

So... We've always known he can do it, we've always known he has the right skills, the right attitude, but we're also extremely proud that he's actually managed, once again, to land his dream job. It's never been hard for James, whatever he wants to do, he sets his mind to it and he tends to achieve it. Which is really funny because in school he's been told that he can't do everything he wants to - he has to choose a path and stick to it. But I guess he's proven them all wrong as he's done everything from dog training, to nursing, to... embalming (oh, spook, Halloweeny), he's even been a priest... in the prison? (Yeah!) a priest in the prison service! How interesting! Basically, we're never short of stories when it comes to James's career... and RFA is a brand new direction and a brand new step, although he's worked on boats in the Army before, and he's worked at the Salmon Farm here on Eday, this is a brand new experience in that he's gonna have to go away for up to four months at a time. The first initial stint is seven months, 'cause that includes the training period, and it's going to be really hard for him to leave me and Ronnie behind... But the rewards are worth it, the financial rewards, the ability to have holidays, to travel and see the world, to show Ron the best of life... is worth all the effort both James and myself will have to put into this new... new stage of life, if you will... it just means we're gonna have more opportunities open to us and we really can't wait! So, we're gonna miss Daddy very much, won't we? Hmmm! Yes! But then Daddy will come back and we'll go on holiday! Is that right? Dadda, dadda! Dadda dadda, that's right! 

Look at my poor spoon! It's all bent, isn't it? Uh-oh! Uh-oh!! Uh-oh!

From our field we can see an uninhabited island just across the sound of the sea, and on that island live a lot of seals. And what seals do is they make this very disembodied sounding call that echoes through the sea and sounds like ghosts! Whooooooo!!! Is that what the seals say? Hm! Yes! What do they say? Can you say it? Can you tell me? Whooooo! Like that, do they? Can you say it again? Whoooo! Right, like this, that's right! So sometimes when we take the dogs out for a walk after dark it sounds really spooky, because it's dark, and we can't see them, but all we can hear is the wind carrying these disembodied sounds. Wheeeeesh! Wind, that's right! Whoooosh! Wind is blowing (*blowing*) That's right!

And a little eye, and a mouth! Do we need a nose? The nose! And then it has two eyes, does it? A little eye, and a big eye! (Look at that, oooh!) Basically, this was an accident. And then I thought "oh, well - it's gonna be a scary face!"

Now? A-Peek-A-Boo! No! You want to be a ghost like this? "Whooooooo!" Boing boing boing, whoosh, peek-a-boo! "Bo! (aka No)" Boing boing, ghost jumping on a trampoline... and, peek-a-boo!!!

Are they meant to be lucky or something? What is that Ron? And where did it go? Just a brief little reminder that we do live on a farmhouse, on a farm, in the middle of nowhere... Little critters find their way in "Bye bye!" Bye bye! And Ron has a great time exploring them when they do! 

Now all these seeds will make a great first offering to the trows. Although these trows are a little bit more physical and a bit more real, because they are my chickens! Hello chickens! Look what I have for you! Happy Halloween!

We're at the crossroads right next to our post box and the wheelie bin, and I have a cup of offerings - basically just chicken food and grain that I am thinking the wild birds will eat, but this is the crossroads and we are offering this to the trows! Happy Halloween trows!

James and I have decided to move our scarecrow from our garden to the end of our drive. So this is the scarecrow I made in the summer to protect the little baby chicks from the crows and seagulls flying overhead and I named her Gwendoline because we wanted something Welsh... And there she is, my gorgeous beauty! She's become a bit saggy in the rain, so all the hay has gone down to her legs.Everything goes down to the hips, eh? So, we're going to stop by the car which I used as a drying rack for the hay and now we're going to use that hay to pad her out a bit and then we will put this and the end of the track to scare our neighbours, really... 'Cause who else will come here? And we should see some horses on the way as our neighbours have moved some into the field next door. How exciting! Do you want to come and see horses Ronnie?

RONNIE!!!!

We have a case of a free-range Ronnie. He gets his bike and off he goes. And when I'm here on my own when James goes away to the RFA I don't know how I'm gonna have eyes at the back of my head with two dogs that tend to run off and do their own thing and the child that does exactly the same! Oh, honestly... Little things like that niggle at me now. Realising that I'm losing that extra pair of hands, extra pair of eyes, extra pair of... parental supervision, the skills, the know-how, it's basically gonna be me on my own. And I'm trying not to think about it, 'cause I know I'll just make the most of it and do the best I can, but... sometimes, when I do think about it, it does scare me a bit.

I did tell you that we have cows as neighbours and for company, and it is cows that are watching me take my scarecrow down... and I see horses!

She's... she... she's suffered a terrible accident, as you can all see, which is very unfortunate. Hmmmm... What do you have there Ron? Hmmmm! Some boot polish!

The lady whose house we bought from called herself a "white which" and she told us that our house has very good vibes in it. I have to agree, now that we've lived there for four years, it does really have good vibes in it, I like my house!

Don't know how long this is going to last, but "dab dab dab", dab dab dab like that, and then whoop, that's right, that's very good make-up artistry! You have a future as a make-up artist Ron! And some eye shadow. Oh, that's lovely eye shadow going on here Ronnie. And then we're gonna do lips... Black lips, like that. Oh, very pretty! Whoop, whoop. She has very wide lips, 'cause of the accident!

No buoy was harmed in the making of this video. Well, that buoy is! This isn't harm - this is make-up! There we go! Smeared with all this boot polish! Smearing, smearing - is this fun? Look at his cheeks, I think Ronnie's having fun! 

Now she is perfect! And ready for her role as a Scarecrow of Halloween! I think Gwendoline there looks great, she is a work of art, worthy of haunting your dreams and mine. We could be twins!

Very well carving! (Charlie move!)

Happy Halloween! Or Samhain, or All Hallow's Night, or whatever it is you celebrate. Happy night to you all! I hope you enjoyed our family celebrations! Thanks very much for watching, subscribe down below to find out what Mum Dee Does next week.Ta ta for now! Bye! That is very good!