Well, it's a full moon again and time for another moonlit blether coming to you from the Orkney Islands. This month, Tom and Rhonda Muir talk about:

• the difficulties of childhood dyslexia (before there was a name for it)
• beloved childhood storybooks that helped Tom overcome traumatic school years
• how Tom stumbled into storytelling and overcame fear (terror, really) of public speaking
• how the Orkney Storytelling Festival first began
• warm reminiscenses involving some of the amazing storytellers and other people that Tom met through international storytelling opportuities (Lawrence Tulloch from Shetland, Bob Pegg, Donald Smith, David Campbell, Hjörleifur Helgi Stefánsson, Joseph Naytowhow, Stanley Robertson, Duncan Williamson and many more beloved friends)
• advice for newer storytellers
• and Tom tells a local Orkney story that took place in a mound site he once dug as an archaeologist!

Drop by on the NEXT full moon, when we'll be having a blether with award-winning Scottish bothy ballad singer, Scott Gardiner.

Podcast theme music courtesy of Fionn McArthur.

"Ower wi' the moon" artwork created by Jenny Steer.

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In Orkney, we used to have an expression: "I'll be ower wi' the moon," meaning, "I will come and visit you when the moon is full, to light my way."

In this first episode of the Orkneyology Podcast (with the encouragement of some steaming mulled wine for Rhonda's sake) we introduce ourselves: Tom Muir - Orcadian traditional storyteller, historian, author and publisher; and Rhonda Muir - an American expat who moved to the Orkney Islands to marry the love of her life (yes, Tom), writer, roamer in the wilderness of Orkney and publisher. We tell the story of our delighted surprise in finding each other from across the Atlantic later in life, and how we eventually came to build a life together in Scotland's Orkney Islands. We talk a bit about our website, Orkneyology.com, which explores Orkney life, travel, history, stories and archaeology. And we reveal a little about our plans for the Orkneyology Podcast, where we will be chatting with some fascinating folk in Orkney and elsewhere.

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