HOW TIME FLIES, WHEN HAVING FUN

How time flies by I have just checked the date of my last blog and I have been silent since the 16th of March, now I know some will say thank goodness he's quiet. But for those who have missed me {bless you} I'm back.!!!!!

I often quoted that " procrastination is the thief of time"and I've procrastined enough!!!!! { well thats my excuse anyway},,

So what has happened here at Upes Iela since my last blog, well the snow went and left us with a mess, mud ans slush everywhere, but that goes with the transition from winter to spring. "Spring shows us what God can do with a drab and dirty world" {Virgil A Kraft} {a member of the cheese family I suspect} and boy!! has He done it.

Valerie spent Easter in England with our family, leaving me on my own at home,  BUT !!! while she was away, I had a "slight " accident with the car and a parked lorry [which had been there for ever] whoops!!!!.. I was collecting the children for Sunday club,  and was turning the car round, and because of the mud on the back window, , I didn't see the lorry as it jumped out and hit me,   smashing the back window, !!!  OUCH !!, [Roger never actually owned up to any of this,   well,,not to me , [val]---,  till  later on !!]    anyway !!   120 lats and 4 weeks later , we had a new window,  the moral of this story is,=  always keep your back window clean,    I did redeem myself tho,by building a new fireplace in the sitting room,  [from reclaimed materials].

Pauline and Norman came back with Valerie,for a weeks holiday which turned out to be 2 weeks, due ot some "minor" interruption from a small island in the North Atlantic, and a bit of dust !!!!,, so we put them to work !! Pauline weeding the borders, and Norman and I set about building a  deck/pergola/eating area, using more reclaimed wood, from the old sauna/shed. at the bottom of our garden, much of this has been reclaimed when Mark and Alison  stayed,  [many thanks to all for your help], it is now progressing, [all be it slowly] .as the picture shows,

The firepit, is by courtesy of Valerie, she made it  [unaided] and loves to light fires in it,   and she's very proud of it,,,,

Thanks to our neighbour Edward,our ground was ploughed, cultivated and ridged ready for spring planting,  we now have carrots, beans, onions,cabbage ,cauliflower and of course potatoes, and they are all growing well,   oh yes!!  not forgetting strawberries as well, 

Our flower borders are doing well and we have the most beautiful Iris, and many other things, it always surprise me that after such  cold weather and the ground frozen solid , that anything survives at all.

                                                                                                                                                              The storks all came back, and repaired their nests, and now they have babies,we have also seen several pairs of cranes, we have the house martins nesting on our house again and we have a pair of swallows nesting in the barn,Birds are singing , what seems to be like 24 hours a day, even at midnightwe can still hear the nightingale,and around 4.30am, the cuckoo starts along with the dawn chorus, !! and it is daylight then [not that we get up at that time, ha ha !!]

        We have visited  our friend Egil's english classes several times,over the past weeks, on the last occasion we were asked by the class if they could visit our home for an end of term BBQ, and celebration, assuring us that they would bring everything,!!!!, and indeed they did, right down to the matches, salt and pepper, plastic plates etc,,,,oh and the food, !!!!   we introduced them to some English things,   Scones, strawberry jam and cream,  cornish pasties, and apple pie and custard,  which went down a real treat, all topped off with champagne !!!! mmm !1 wonderful,,,, it was a great time, 

We had a bit of a scare with lilya,  she was quite poorly,for a couple of days, so we took her to the vets, who told us , it was a virus,  Parvo-virus,!!!!!!!!!!!! [which we understand, can be fatal , within  a few days] !!! panic , panic!! anyway 7 injections and 4 tablets later, her temperature was right down, she was eating and "pooing" [sorry about that bit]  as normal,   all costing around £25,[that also included an innoculation ] all seems ok , and no more vets visits are needed, thankfully, !!

Indoors, Valerie has been very busy,, painting floors,[much cheaper than carpeting]  it has made such a difference, luckily we had some warm days so the windows and doors  could be left open, as it was a bit smelly, there are still 2 more rooms to do, but they will have to wait, as the weather took a turn, it started  one eveing around 10-30 with a wonderful thunder and lightening storm,  what a show it was !!!!!!

There have been several visits to "our restaurant" called the Raspberry, eating out takes on a new pleasure now, when you dont' have to take out a second mortgageto pay for the meal,  the last occasion , was when Andrew. Michelle and Thomas came to stay,

 

we also took them to see Rundale, , Bauska castle, a ride on the tram and a trip to Riga and the sights, ending up at the Lido for a meal      ,BUT !!!!!!  the highlight of their visit was has to go to the man we saw , on  the beach,  at Jurmala, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!He gave us all the most entertaining 30 minutes we have had for a long time,   for some 25 mins, he performed a "warmup routine" which must have included every muscle in his body, repeating several amusing exercises more than once,  before entering the sea, [ you can walk for more than 100 metres into the water before it even reaches " the whoops " spot,, you know where that is ??]  at which point he launched himself into the sea, ,, swam for all of 2 mins  then walked out , looking as if he was washing himself............ only to repeat the exercises all over again as a warmdown, at this point we left the beach, with aching sides and tears running down our faces, ,, I leave you with this picture of him, 

    

 Oh yes!!,, WHAT is this thing called The World Cup ..   when working in a large garedn centre in England, I was always amused by colleagues, who for most of the year, had little or no opinion on some sprot, they would suddenly become experts in, tennis, F1, football etc... knowing how or why those actually participating in the event, could do better, perhaps, they needed their ego's to be as inflated as the much over paid, over exhaulted sprots person they were setting to right.   this is just MY opinion of course,,,,,

just to let you know !!  13 Upes Iela  is a football free zone, !!!  

I promise it won't be so long a gap before the next blog installment,

Life goes on, and the snow STILL!!!!!!comes down.

As I sit in our dining room typing this weeks blog, the snow is snowing and the wind is blowing it into quite a blizzard, about 3inches has fallen in less than half an hour.Tomorrow we have friends coming from the UK and we just hope they are prepared for snow, as you will see from the first pictures we do still have quite a bit of the white stuff. Reports come to us from friends in England that temperatures are up, and spring flowers are blooming, and we still have all that to look forward to.

This picture is taken from our guest bedroom













In the blizzard we couldn't see the trees at the bottom of the plot
Since I last reported from Upes Iela we have had problems with our Internet connection in as much as most of the time it's not been there. Gets terribly frustrating as it is our lifeline to friends, and more importantly family.All possible repairs have been made and new parts installed,but the problems still seem to be there,at the moment we are running on reduced capacity and boy! oh boy! is it slowwwwww.!!!!!!!!. Thank goodness communication with God doesn't depend on such things, just a quick word and He hears His children.
. Last week we had friends from the UK stay overnight with us, two Dorothy's, Alan and Tony. It was good to see them again and catch up on news from England. We can't say "home" as the family tell us Latvia is now your home mum and dad, you just visit England.
Dorothy Ellis is the lady who introduced me to Latvia in 2004 when I joined a team bringing aid to people who were in great need of love and practical support,it was truly a life changing experience. Thanks Dorothy. We were able to visit some local folk and take them some food and a little financial help, unfortunately the snow prevented us from getting to some of the local pensioners.
On a brighter note ,we are happy to report that one lady who we visited on a regular basis now has a place in a home for pensioners in Vecumnieki where she will be well cared for, we plan to visit her in the near future.

We also had visitors from a little closer to home when our neighbours daughter-in-law brought her new baby to show us. His name is Kaspar's and he's a gorgeous little boy, he came with his big sister Kittya , who is 3years old and a real poppet,
You can see from the picture Valerie was in her element



Friday the 5th saw International women's day and yet another concert in the school, followed by a local "am dram"group who treated us to a Latvian farce, we were able to follow the plot but didn't understand the words, and a good time was had by all.
A week later we were in the theatre once again but this time at the other end of the spectrum, the "Dailes Teatris"in Riga is very modern.We had booked tickets some time ago, for "Saju Amors Bultu". Upon arrival it was suggested that we visit the theatre cafe for some refreshment, and what a treat that was, two cups of tea, a large slice of chocolate and raspberry gateaux and some Latvian honey cake set me back the princely sum of 3 Lats. Hows that for good value?
Unsure of just what we had booked for we took our very comfortable seats, sat back and waited in anticipation. Well we enjoyed two hours of music and song about the life and love in the circus. The cast were brilliant, they had such enthusiasm which made the whole performance most enjoyable.

 My latest project was to build a fireplace,using some recycled wood,and other bits and bobs,, BUT !!"Just popping out to B&Q takes on a new meaning!!!!! Our equivelent of "B&Q" is 60km away so!! next time you are popping out to your local DIY store, spare a thought for me,so plans and list's are a must.

I am now waiting for visitors comments, and commissions { I think it has turned out OK,!!}






To finish this week on a high point our chicken's have started to lay again, saved from the pot once again.I think I will have a boiled egg and soldiers for tea!!





  

SPRING and AUTUMN

Well here we are the 1st of March. February came and went in a sort of white blur, temperatures have risen to a comfortable +1-2c when the sun isn't out and a little higher when it is. Spring is in the air judging by the way our cockerels are acting yippee!!!!!  Perhaps we might get some eggs from our hens,for the last twelve weeks we have fed and watered them and the payment we have had could be counted on the fingers of one hand. 

Valerie has on several occasions gone in the hen house calling "chicken chasseur" and "cock au vin" but it just fell on deaf ears, perhaps if we show them the film "chicken run" it might have the desired effect.Watch this space for further reports. [Alright I know this isn't a winter picture but it's a nice one]   





We had a phone call from our friend Egil the other day, asking if he could bring the man who owns "the dry house" [large barn] to meet us as he had heard we were living in Stelpe and would like to ask our opinion on some things. OK! lets see what he wants. He has a new house in the village which can be let as a holiday rent,and also how could he develop an income from the wool of a flock of sheep he keeps as a hobby. He was a very interesting gentleman and shared some stories of his life in Soviet times [my goodness what sheltered lives we led in England] He stayed for two hours and so now we have to get our thinking caps on. If anyone wants a holiday in rural Latvia just let us know and we can sign you up.

The highlight of our week was meeting friends in Bauska for a meal in the Aveni restaurant [Aveni is Latvian for raspberry] gave a bit of a novel twist to eating out, I can assure you no "raspberries" were blown. Oh yes if you find yourself in Bauska we recommend it as a good place to eat [check it out on www.aveni.lv] but don't go on a Friday unless you like line dancing and country music.

                                          
We had a lovely meal together celebrating Kathleen's birthday, caught up on all the news and before we knew it over four hours had flown by,we parted with a promise they would pop in on their way home to show us plans for a new house they plan to build this year. Our journey home,was interesting to say the least, some twenty five kilometers on a road that was like driving on a skating rink!!!
Kathleen and Ian arrived next morning and we did a bit more catching up!! well one thing led to another and so they stayed the night, leaving mid day Sunday with a three hour journey ahead of them, we had an email later that day to say they had arrived home safely.Thanks K&I for a great time.
 This left the afternoon free for us to visit Egil, Sandra and family across the river.As the crow flies they are no more than 200 meters away,it is always good to spend time with them,we have learned that just being together is a real blessing,sharing day to day things, but walking there yesterday caused us some funny moments as the snow has a firm top to it and can give way when you put your weight on it, causing one to walk like someone under the "influence", lurching from side to side, and falling over,Valerie has become quite an expert at this [falling over in the snow that is] as previous pictures have shown.  

 The blog title this week  is "Spring and Autumn" well just along the lane is a pussy willow tree and as you can see it's beginning to bud, I know it's just a small thing but believe you me when you have had three months of snow even the smallest of sign of spring is real good. Now March is here we can start looking for the storks to return, you can be sure the first ones we see will be reported in the blog.
The autumn part of the title refers to our evening at the raspberry restaurant, the reason we were there was to celebrate a  birthday, so the four of us are what is supposedly called the autumn years of life, Pah, rubbish,tosh!!!!! life still continues to be an adventure, everyday some thing happens to surprise us. Thank goodness God doesn't write us off when we reach our "autumn years"

                                                          

Friends and neighbours

    To all of those avid readers of my blog,sorry for the delay in posting this weeks edition.

     We received a visit from a neighbour the other evening, Kristina came bearing a special invitation to a Valentines celebration at the school, would we please come. In her words "It will be a very beautiful" but then to her everything is "VERY BEAUTIFUL" and it did turn out just that way.

    If we were to come, please could we pick up some pensioners from the post office and shop on our way [ they sell pensioners by the kilo over here] oh yes, and please be at the school for 6pm.

It's never a problem to collect our pensioner friends as they are always ready and waiting. With five ladies plus Valerie on board we duly arrived in the midst of quite  heavy snow, but the  school was warm and inviting, we put our coats in the cloakroom, found seats in the hall,and waited in anticipation.


   A group of young ladies had come from Skaistkalne to sing and recite poetry to us, from Stelpe we had a group of ladies line dancing, several singers and a violin solo,and some of the young people from the school presented a short play.


In between some items, presentations were made to different people in the audience,this was the pattern for the evening
   Valerie and I sat there, not understanding a great deal of what was being said, but the entertainment was great, so we enjoyed it. Our friend Egil, was called to introduce the next award winner, you can imagine our surprise when he started speaking in English and called us up to the front, we did as we were asked and found ourselves being given a certificate and a decorated goblet
Egil said more but this time in Latvian and then the school director Dagmara said something!! [about us] Somewhat bewildered we sat down and asked each other " what is it all about"? After it was all over there was a group photo taken.

I then took the pensioner ladies home with strict instructions to return quickly.When I got back I found that a lovely meal had been prepared for all of those who had recieved certificates.The reason for the certificates and gifts was we had all been chosen as "good neighbours to the village". It was a very humbling time, to think the village had selected us.


We are so grateful to those who have sent gifts and money to help us meet the needs of those people in the village who are having such a hard time at the moment. The certificate should have your names on it as well as ours, as without your help we couldn't do what we do.






This week we met a young mum trying to bring her three young children up on just under £30 a month. Desperatly in need of help, financial and practical. We were able to give her some money,and then we came home, collected duvets and pillows and took them to her and we still have enough bedding for our family and friends when they come.
   God provides more than we need at times,so we can share it with those less fortunate than ourselves.


Saturday saw our son Mark and his family arrive [with lots of goodies] real cheddar cheese, proper English bacon, brown sauce, custard powder and oxo's plus other bits!!!
We all had chance to relax and enjoy time together, we were able to get to Bauska castle and had great fun sliding down the slopes on a sheet of plastic.We also enjoyed a lovely walk in the forest, hard going as the snow was way over our knees.Katie and Shelly made snow angels, and Valerie just fell over!!!! We did have sunshine, snow and a great time.


When family an friends visit their departure always leaves a bit of a gap, but Hey!!!! what do you know,? last night friends sent us an emailto ask --"Can we come and visit AGAIN " in March [their third time in six months] No problem !! book the flights and come on over.

Simple things

We are told by Latvian friends that this is the hardest winter for seven years, but it is a good one because it should kill off lots of nasty little bugs and flies, so it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good{John Heywood 1497-1580} that's the clever bit for this week.

As you will tell from the contents of the blog this week,not a lot has happened, we still have loads of snow, but we thought we would take Lilya out,as we had sunshine, didn't get too far, as short legs and deep snow don't really go well together {dog-wise} plus it's really difficult to walk and keep your balance as when you take a step, sometimes you sink further than you expect, then "whoops" down you go {well one of us did} 

We have had a cold east wind cutting across the plot,if someone could tell Russia to shut the gate, it might be a bit more comfortable, the only purpose it seems to serve, is to fill with drifting snow, paths that I have already cleared!!!
The wind also seems to find the smallest gaps to blow through,so I spent two days sticking slabs of polystyrene to the sitting room wall, and then papering the wall and ceiling, so Valerie could paint it.the colour is a kind of "bitsa" you know !! a bit of this and a bit of that, add a dash of white to soften it, we think it looks fine so that's all that matters. {and it's much warmer too!!!} 


At Sunday club this week the children spent time making things from gifts that Con Brio choir brought over with them last July. One of these things was a bag of small hollow beads which when put on a base board can be made into shapes and patterns, for two hours the children worked and created some wonderful items, with not a Wii,ipod, Nintendo or the suchlike in sight,and not a cross word between them.{ I guess what you don't have you don't miss}
;Sandris, as you can see, made a fire truck and a man, he has a great deal of patience and determination. All of the children come up with brilliant designs.The only comment the children made was that they had had enough of the snow and were looking forward to spring{and so are we}

One of the first things I did when we moved to Upes Iela was to build a bird table I put it just a few feet from the house and as we sit at the kitchen worktop we can look out and watch the birds as they come and feed on the bits and pieces we put out for them. It has been an endless source of entertainment as we have watched great tits,sparrows,nuthatches, and woodpeckers come and feed




Just this week while these cheeky sparrows were busy eating breadcrumbs the thought crossed my mind just how fragile their lives must be with all the snow about, If we didn't feed them where would they get their food from? Yet God tells us that he cares for them tiny insignificant creatures, the bible says you could "buy two for a farthing"
         So How much more does He care for us!!!!
One day this week I visite Dzedra one of the Stelpe pensioners who lives way out of the village and took her a little food for the week, she talks, I talk, she laughs and I laugh she doesn't understand English and I don't understand her Latvian but we spend some precious moments together and then I leave,and she is happy that someone has visited. 

Just a quick trip to the shop's

When we found we were low on milk,bread,and a few other things this morning, we decided that a quick trip to our nearest town was called for. Bauska is about 25km away and boasts of both a Rimi and a Maxima supermarket, and they both share the same car park. Great! we won't be long,the roads will be clear and we haven't had much snow overnight,lets go.
This is all subject to the car starting of course, it's been a bit iffy of late and forward planing has been needed just to get it out of the barn, first I have to unwrap the engine removing a sleeping bag,pieces of polystyrene etc (with temperatures of -29--30c) these are essential. I next have to put the small electric fan heater close to the fuel pump, switch on and cover it all up again for about 2 hours. Then the car might decide with a bit of a struggle start
Fortunately this morning it was warmer only -9c and so no problems and off we went.
   The first challenge when driving in what turned out to be almost whiteout conditions is finding the road, you know it's there but where are the edges!!!! There are no kerbs or pavements to keep you on course,and when coming to a junction, fortunately there are some road signs which give a few clues as to where the road is.
Anyway, shopping done do we go to the small hardware store in Ieceva, or home?  it was unanimous HOME and a cuppa, mind you with only two in the car it wasn't a hard choice to make.
A  journey that would normally take us  two hours  had now stretched to three, and we still had the trip home, oh well, such is life! and we only have ourselves to worry about.


Everything went fine, snow had started to drift across the road, but we could still see, well, almost see the way I was reminded of the verse in the bible "we walk by faith not by sight" and driving today fits quite well in this situation.                                                                               We finally arrived home  to find our milk lady delivering our farm fresh pinta.                             
  

 
  The only problem we had was getting back up our own drive,and I had to dig snow out from under the car, eventually with wheels spinning we made it. Then indoors for a cup of tea and a piece of apple and ginger cake.(home made of course)