Rain stopped play

Well I wasn;t playing I was mowing the lawn, some say that mowing is therapeutic, you know all those straight lines, the sense of achievement, a job well done,  Rubbish I cry! when one of your lawns is 60 metres long and 25metres wide and you only have an 18 inch push mower and that's only a third of the grass that needs cutting it's just good to get the job done. Or as the case was today Rain stopped mowing thank goodness for rain. On the down side though It will be a bit longer tomorrow and still need cutting. Perhaps I'll get a quote for astro turf.

It does look good when the grass is cut

But I must say when it's done and the sun is shining it does look good.

Andrew Michelle and Thomas in the snow

It has been a  busy year for us here at Upes Iela, we arrived back after spending Christmas with family in England to find our car snowed in and it took half an hour to dig it out. Andrew Michelle and Thomas came to spend a week with us to enjoy our lovely snow in February, a friend was due to visit in April but was unable to come because of ruptured appendix just a few days before she was due to fly.

May saw us back in the UK for a  family visit and friends wedding

We had a visit from Con Brio choir and friends in July who performed three concerts locally, and then Anna Clinton,Olivia  and Joel  arrived for a weeks holiday this month.

     And now it doesn't seem possible that a week has gone by since Anna and family went home. Where does time go?

While they were with us we managed a visit to the seaside, and also a sightseeing trip to Riga, where we went to the circus,the highlight of the show was the 'GLOBE of DEATH' a metal ball about 10ft in diameter in which three men hurtled round on motorbikes, there were dancing dogs, jugglers, a magician, dancers, a bubble act, and of course a clowns, I think maybe I would have liked to be a clown, there something nice about making people laugh, and to communicate by action and expression,is a real gift. We had 2 hours of great entertainment, for not much more than a family trip to MacDonald's

Wednesday saw Valerie and myself visiting the British Embassy, and meeting the ambassador and staff, we do like to mix with the Hob nobs you know, The staff were great,and we came away feeling that we had made some new friend.

Our refurbishe kitchen

The rest of my week was spent stripping out the kitchen laying new lino and replacing the make do cladding that we had inherited when we bought the place with a tile splash back (anyone who has visited us will know just how much I disliked Heath Robinson job someone had done)

The new hall

Looking towards the basement stairs

Looking back over the last twelve months, it's surprising what we have accomplished, with the help of friends and family, we have inside stairs leading to the basement, a new toilet upstairs, a refurbished hall, and a greenhouse.

 This has brought us up to date with the main happenings for us here in Stelpe. But I must own up to one thing I am not to proud of, rather than walking 20 metres to get my car  keys I decided to push the car out of the barn, the floor has a slight slope and I found that trying to stop a one and a half ton  car rolling back is not so easy whoops!!!! The long and short of the story is I bent the drivers door beyond repair, and so we have a blue car with a green door, why green? it was the only secondhand one we could find . Will I never learn!!!