AT LONG LAST

I thought that if I kept quiet , no one would notice that I hadn't been doing 'tales from Upes Iela '. But oh no some bright spark made mention of it on that social network site !!! and then the comments started Where is it' 'I've missed it' { thanks a bunch Lucy} and Andrew said Dad,,it's been four months since you last did your blog' and so on  !!

We never fail to be amazed at the views from our bedroom window

My O my, how things change, it's Mother's Day today and Valerie opened her gifts which contained sweets, candles, scarves and other things, plus more to follow it the postal service gets it act together. It's a far cry from the days when it was called Mothering Sunday and as children we would come home from Sunday School with a small posy of flowers for mum, who as always had cooked the Sunday dinner, apart from maybe a cup of tea and a slice of toast in bed not a lot changed. Did we think any less of our mothers then? I think not  !!! If truth be told we thought more and didn't take them for granted as it seems the younger generation do today. Right off the soap box now and back to the matter in hand.

25th of November I posted last, no excuses this time as I haven't got a single one!! Why change the habits of a lifetime, Don't do today what you can put off till tomorrow, or any other suitable phrase could come in handy here, truth is I just didn't feel like doing it.[plus having been unwell,]

Visitors to the school party

but today the sun is shining, the birds are singing ,the snow is on it's way out and Spring is just around the corner. So here is what has been happening since November.

Christmas parties both the school and pensioners (this year we made small box's and filled them with homemade florentines and heart shaped tree dec's) came and went in their usual enthusiastic whirl.

This years gifts for the pensioners

  Before we knew it we were at the airport to meet our friend Barbara who was coming to share Christmas with us, [along with friends from across the river]. It was grand to have her with us especially as she brought some English cheese with her.

We booked a trip to the theatre to see 'The Silver Skates' as to how this story would be acted out on a stage in the National Theatre was a bit of a puzzle but all was to be revealed, The cast were excellent and entered into the performance with such enthusiasm it was infectious and the whole audience were entranced by the skaters whirling round the set. Marking the performance out of ten it must rate at least an eleven.

During her stay with us over the Christmas holiday we were able to take Barbara to visit Sandra's parents, who live about 100k from us and it was quite an eye opener for her especially when she had to use the outside loo.

Another first for Barbara a winter picnic in the forest

All to soon her visit was over and we bid a fond farewell to her knowing she will be back.

Last of our entertainment program to date was a trip to the circus, we had hoped to go before Christmas but trip was so heavily over booked and there was no room for us and so another outing was planned, The circus act's included, trapeze artists, performing dogs and yes Lions, who were the happiest lions I have ever seen, far more content than many I have seen in zoo's. Oh yes and of course clowns, very therapeutic are clowns it's surprising just how good for you a. really good laugh is, beats any drug prescribed for stress hands down

We had enjoyed a white Christmas and almost as soon as we were back on our own the snow melted away and almost disappeared, to the point that

we thought we had escaped with a very short winter, but Oh no mother nature had a different idea and no sooner had we relaxed than we found ourselves in the grip of blizzard's, heavy snow, bitter cold winds and the daily chore of digging the path out of the snow drifts. 

Snow snow and still more snow

Now we find ourselves almost halfway through March and the snow is just begining to melt albeit very slowly.

As always there are jobs that need doing around the house and this winter we have replaced the sink in the kitchen (courtesy of Ian)

a work in progress

and I laid laminate flooring in the sitting room.

Now that's more us

Since we moved to Latvia we have enjoyed a much more active social life, what with local concerts and the Opera, Ballet and trips to the theatre, which are all so affordable to a much wider audience base.

Even the local concerts are of a very good standard as was the case  last night,when we were entertained by 'Vecumnieki Youth Orchestra' being greeted at the door with a polite labvakar (good evening), a flower for the ladies and a free glass of wine, and then being shown to your table by one of the senior members of the orchestra certainly sets a good impression. Especially when followed by an excellent performance of music that ranged from 'Moon River' (From Breakfast at Tiffany's) through ' I’ve got you under my

skin' ( Cole Porter) to a selection of popular Latvian songs, and to top it

all IT WAS FREE!!!!

Sorry but had to take a small intermission ,Sunday Club had been cancelled as some of  the children were going horse riding?? (strange) but low and behold at 10 o’clock children arrive as if nothing was changed. So after a quick think it was mother's day cards and baking session for buns to take home (this never happened as they were eaten while still warm!!) but the cards went home to mum.

Our involvement in school continues and it was very encouraging when class 8 came for a visit just before the end of term and told us they enjoyed our classes as they were fun and very interesting ( not to sure how much prompting they had had before hand) but it was good for our morale.

Last week when in class and asked what would you like to do ,ideas ranged from play games to eat tasty food, the girls can make it and the boys can eat it, which sounds about right  !!! Plans are in hand to do some cooking with them but the room used for what we would call domestic science is sadly lacking in equipment especially for a class of eleven students. ( detail's can be sent to anyone who would like to help improve this situation)

You can never have to much firewood

.

So where are we now well just last week we had our first delivery of logs for next winter yep Life really is just one big circle.