IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN.

At the moment we find ourselves in that transitional time when the weather doesn't seem to know what it is going to do. One day the sun shines brilliantly, the next it's wet, dull and thoroughly miserable. Temperatures up and down like a yo yo, the wind one day coming from the south with a milder wet touch the next from the north east, extremely cold and lazy, by lazy I mean it won't go round you it just wants to blow right through you.

A taste of things to  come

Some folk over here have already had snow but the nearest we have got has been some rain that is almost frozen, but not quite, a bit like a “slush puppy” drink neither one thing or another and cold with it. Another thing that goes through this transition period is our road which during the summer is usually a dust bowl, now it becomes a muddy track on which one slips and slides, in places where the surface becomes soft, deep ruts are formed by huge log lorry's which slow down for no one and can be quite intimidating if one comes up behind you, they wait for the first opportunity to swing out and hurtle past you. Soon though when the temperature drops the road will freeze solid and once more be firm to drive on. I must say though I still find it strange when driving with temperatures of -20c before the snow comes seeing a plume of dust in the rear view mirror where the surface of the road is freeze dried and dusty.

Red sky at night shepherds delight! who can tell

So who knows when the weather will make up it's mind, it is said here “when the swans fly away three days later the snow will come” but I guess like a lot of folk law sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. We must take whatever the Good Lord sends, it's still one thing we have no control over, but I am sure some politician some where is working on it!! But we won't go down that road.


                                                                

Trouble is a brewing

The other day I had a walk down to the little river that runs along the bottom of our garden, when we moved here to Upes Iela we had three large hornbeam trees growing on the river bank I guess they were about 60ft tall, sadly they have all died, still every cloud has a silver lining and the two latest victims will make someone some very good firewood. That's if I can  find someone to cut them down and take them away. I will need to get the correct paperwork sorted before anything can be done, but that is just a visit to the village office to sort it out.

Branches stripped bare by woodpeckers.

Anyway back to my wander down the garden I was amazed to find under the trees a lot of stripped bark all around the base of the dead trees, looking up into the branches I found at least one of the culprits, a black woodpecker, it was quite happy doing what woodpeckers do tapping away at the dead bark to find the small insects who thought they were safely hidden away for the winter. 

A mulch for our garden? Oh no it's bark stripped by
our Black woodpeckers

We regularly see three different kinds of woodpeckers here only one of which is found in the UK, the “Great spotted” they are regular visitors to our bird table,

A Great spotted woodpecker.

A Grey headed woodpecker

 then there is the “Grey Headed” which we see looking for ants in our lawn,or as you can see  this one on our electric pole.

The european Black woodpecker

 and now this autumn we have the “Black woodpecker” which is the largest in Europe with a wing span of about 30 inches, quite a large bird, no wonder there was such a mess under the trees. This year we have increased our bird accommodation with the addition of a sparrow terrace on the barn. This has been a great success and several birds have visited and are checking the place out with a view to occupying the new accommodation.  

Welcome to my "pied a terre"

"Neighbours everybody needs good neighbours"

Sometimes I am asked is there anything you would like to change if you could have you time over again, well I may have done some things differently but I wouldn't change anything. Though maybe just maybe I would have liked to be an ornithologist and watched birds all day long. But don't tell Valerie that.

I'll leave you this time with some pictures of our Autumn colours which this year have been wonderful.

PS and this is what we woke up to this morning, things can change over night!!

The first real snow of winter.

There's a definite nip in the air.

Today we packed our garden furniture away. This year we have used our summer house a lot more, but I guess all good things must come to an end, and yes there is a bit of a nip in the air. Warmer clothes are the order of the day. Autumn is here. Having said that if the sun shines we can still  enjoy it's warmth as it gets lower in the sky.
Another sign that the shorter days are upon us is last week we took a trip with our pensioner friends which will be the last one of 2016 I guess. This time we headed towards a small place called Piebalga in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. About two and a half hours away, so it was another 7.30 start to the day.

As the day starts so the mist starts to dissapear

 Some way into our journey in a quiet spot, we pulled off the road for a comfort break where three quarters of the folk disappeared into the woods and I will leave the rest to your imagination.
Feeling more comfortable (well those who had visited the woods) we travelled on to our first point of call
Piebalga porcelain factory has been open to visitors since 2007, and is the only  one in Latvia.

Piebalga Porcelain Factory. 

First you pour the slip

wait a while then empty

to the top of the mould

then tap out ready to be glazed
and fired.

 Having looked round the gift shop where we could buy all manner of  very fine porcelain items, we were able to see how items were made and have a go at pouring slip (technical name for runny clay)into moulds and produce our own piece. which would be fired and glazed for the next group of tourists. We were given one that was made earlier in true Blue Peter fashion. oh yes, where did the clay come from ?? would you believe, Stoke on Trent, yep !!!  quite a surprise , that was,

We then travelled  for about  20km down a very narrow road and found ourselves at "Kalna Kaibeni"
a school founded in 1868. It is now is one of the oldest museums in Latvia. After waiting for our guide who lived next door we went into the classroom and were told about school life and the history of the school, as is the case in so many visits we make  we were only able to pick up on the gist of the talk,  hearing words we recognised, and putting 2 and 2 together came up most times with 4.

The house where Reina and Matisa Kaudzisu
worked and lived.

Home and school house in one

The most modern kitchen, note the cooker in the back
and the wash tub towards the door

 Having listened for a while Valerie and I decided to walk around the garden. We returned to find the talk over and we were free to look over the house, which was not only the school but the teachers home. Now this was much more up our street peering into cupboards and rooms which gave us a much better understanding of school life so many years ago.

Valerie found a new friend in the school garden

Not sure if he was carrying a dog or was off
ferreting 

Now what has he got in there??

Dinner time found us at the cafe "Laura" where we enjoyed home made solyanka (a Russian sweet and sour soup) which was very tasty, and karbonade, a cut of pork sliced thinly and beaten flat,  dipped in egg and fried,  accompanied  as always with boiled potatoes, salad and a mushroom sauce. and plenty of it. all washed down with a fruit drink. A very typical Latvian meal, very tasty and enjoyed by all, and all for 5 euro's,







Our next visit was to a Lutheran church which was completely destroyed in 1944 and was rebuilt in 1997. At which point the battery ran out in my camera,(note to self must buy a spare)

There are plans to build a new bell tower

The inside of the church kept very simple, unlike many of
Latvia's Lutheran churches,  the altar was just a
large block of stone.
It was at this point my battery ran out!!!!

                        Then back on the coach and off to visit a museum dedicated to "Emils Darzins" one of  Latvia's greatest composers,The house is approached down a long avenue of lime trees which was not unlike the approach to the school we went to in Uckfield, the building at the end though couldn't have been more different, after a look round the rooms and memorabilia we all sat and listened to one of Emils Darzins greatest pieces, Melanholiskais valsis  https://youtu.be/JCAakhvNeTE?list=RDJCAakhvNeTE





The last place we were to visit was a organic farm, we were greeted by the owners who welcomed us with a smile and a song,  The farm has been in the same family for three hundred years, and the current owners work very closely with the environment  using cattle, wild horses and sheep to maintain pastures. Unfortunately the weather had taken a turn for the worse and we arrived just as the rain started. Hurrying  into a marque set up by the side of a large pond, there was hot coffee and tea with small cakes waiting for us.as we listened to the history of the farm there were baskets of apples coming round for us to taste.,after a whistle stop tour of the grounds around the farm house, it was back on the coach where the farmer sent us on our way with another song and we headed for home.

Oh yes I almost forgot our souvenirs from Piebalga porcelain factory

Ummmm still not sure what they are
Any ideas out there???

Liepaja, "The city where the wind is born"

Liepaja from the top of  the
Lutheran cathedral 

Next stop Sweden

 

It was the third time Valerie and I have visited Liepaja, which is the third largest city in Latvia and known as "The city where the wind is born" it is the most westerly city as well. This time we would be going with the teachers from school which always makes for an interesting day.

Having checked the weather forecast and found  it would be "sunny with some clouds" we both took coats which stayed on the bus as it turned out to be a lovely september day, not hot, not cold, just very pleasant.
It was just getting light as we set off at 7am as Liepaja is 239 km from Stelpe and settled in for a good 3 hour coach trip and only stopping once for a comfort break,we found ourselves rolling into the outskirts of the city at just after 10.

The sun was out the air crisp, what delight's would
Liepaja hold for us today??

The first activity of the day was to be a trip around the old town complete with tour guide. Sure enough there she was waiting for us as we all got off the coach, Having said a few introductory words she lead us off at what you could call a brisk pace taking in places of interest  one of which was a gift shop, where one or two things were bought,

Four wheels on my Lada, but no steering wheel
this one's not going far!!

Under renovation one of the city's older properties.

Flowers always brighten the day, one of the
market traders stalls.

St Anna's Lutheran church

another place of interest was the town market , unfortunately we were through it like a dose of salts  so never got to see  very much. Then  back to  our coach, which then took us to a very nice park where there was a fascinating "tree"

The tree of ghosts, made from 4000 steel rods in memory of
the rock band "Livi" One can sit and listen to some of their
songs

Liepaja's long sandy beach where it is still possible to find
pieces of amber along the waters edge. 

 then off to a  pathway that  led down onto the beach where we enjoyed a lovely stroll before taking a look at a monument erected in memory of a US military airplane which was shot down in 1950 during the cold war years.  After a tour of narrow streets we arrived outside of the cafe where we would have dinner alfresco in the back courtyard, we sat and enjoyed the sunshine while we waited for dinner  to be served.









Lunch over it was back on the coach round a few more narrow streets where we would visit a very interesting house in which there were several artisans working and talking about their particular craft.Liepajas Amatnieku nams (Liepaja craft house)

Craft house,

 In the entrance the first thing you see is a large wooden machine, that has to be a printing press I told Valerie how wrong could I be!! You learn something new every day.

Well it does look a bit like a printing press.

The house was set up to enable traditional crafts to continue, weaving, (both material and willow) ceramics, leather work and many more were being demonstrated, we watched fascinated as new items were produced, I could have stayed much longer but we had an appointment to keep in the cities Lutheran cathedral.

Traditional costumes

Beautiful quilts

Felt pictures

This lady made baskets from willow set on natural wooden
bases of all shapes and sizes. 

 At one time it must have been a splendid sight, built in 1742-58 it has the world's largest mechanical organ which has not been reconstructed.
 we were to be given an informal organ recital after we had looked round the inside of the church, [sorry no photo's allowed],we , well some of us climbed the 55 meter tower which was an adventure in it's self,  but well worth the effort as there were  splendid views over the city. we then had to get down the stairs,  mmm !!!, quite a slow and careful job ,, we then got settled into the not too comfortable pews then our recital began, to hear such a splendid instrument put through it's paces was an amazing experience from the highest to the lowest notes which vibrated throughout the building one could feel the power produced by the organist who we were able to visit at the organ console, some of our party were bold enough even to try playing a few notes. I was content to leave it to the master.

This was nothing!!  there was more to come.
Onwards and upwards,it will be worth it
when we get to the top.

A pause for breath as I take a look at the clock 

So this is how they drive the four faces of the clock.

After the church  the next "port of call", was Karosta (war port) which now joins Liepaja  this was once home to the Soviet's major naval base in the baltic region and we drove through what once was the home to up to 30,000 naval personnel and their  families one could only guess at what life was like for Latvian families who lived anywhere near by and reflect upon the sheltered upbringing those of my generation had.

An easy stroll before the journey home

The beach at Karosta, it seemed a little strange as in the
trees that backed the beach were the remains of what
was once a huge navel base.

 Our last stop was a car park which was the start of the northern breakwater which is 1800 meters long and while some of our party were prepared to walk out to the end Valerie and I decided we had had enough exercise for the day and stayed close to the coach,  enjoying the view of the beach, sun and sea,   and the a little stroll along the breakwater, but not too far .










Oh yes the printing press turned out to be a communal laundry press most large villages had one somewhere, ladies would bring sheets, blankets and towels  to press, and gossip no doubt. How wrong can you be!!

Go on Valerie put you back into it!!!