A busy start to September.

September has started with a great flourish of activity for us starting on the 1st with "First school day"
 Now I don't remember my first day at school, apart from my mum leaving me at the school gates.
But I do know it was  quite unlike children's first day here.

The start to the first day of school

Nine o'clock found us sitting in the school hall waiting for the bell to ring and right on time off it went.

All ready to go.

What have we got in here.

No ones to old to be in the kindergarten class.

The first class with their teacher.

  "First school day"  is just what it says, the first day of the new school year, and here in Stelpe  as in schools all over Latvia
 is a cause for great celebration, it is the day new pupils are
welcomed into school.  The eldest students bring the youngest, with their teacher into the school  hall and introduce them to the assembled parents ,grandparents ,students and friends.The new children are given a small gift of pencils  or crayons. The school principal takes time to thank all of her staff from the school gardener to the nurse who comes and does what school nurses do, a great many flowers are given and received with teachers collecting great armfuls from their students. It is a wonderful time with no one being left out.

Gifts and flowers waiting to be given.

As school settled into it's routine, the 2nd of September found us heading for Riga Airport to meet old friends from "Con Brio" (a choir I used to sing with) who were flying over to perform two concerts one here in Stelpe and another in Valle, small village close by.  Right on time the choir emerged from the arrivals hall and great excitement filled the air as we were reunited . We were soon on the coach

All aboard for Bauska.

which was to be the choirs transport for the weekend and heading for Bauska where the choir would stay. This was the third time "Con Brio" have visited us so we wanted them to see a little more of our local district, and arranged for them to visit places of interest in Vecumnieki which is the center of our area.

Klingeris.

And coffee

Eleven o'clock  we started our tour with coffee and klingeris ( a Latvian celebration cake) difficult to describe  and is a taste of Latvia that can only be appreciated by eating it, large slices were enjoyed by all and the remainder returned to it's box and put aboard the coach for consumption later.

Each carving has a story to tell.

And each building means something special.

Years of work have gone into making this a very special place
and it is all for charity.

 It was
 then off to visit an interesting garden full of structures built by the owner each with a special idea in mind, many of them expressing his belief. There is a small chapel, licensed for weddings,, and the choir sang an impromptu  "Gabriel's Trumpet".there

Hearing of Vecumnieki church history.

 It was at this point it started to rain so quickly back on to the coach and on to Vecumnieki Lutheran church where 2 ladies  had come to tell us about it.'s history.
We have many people who grow flowers to supplement there incomes and we visited a man who grows dahlia's not best viewed in the rain but he showed us round where there were blooms from a just a couple of inches across to flowers as big as tea plates with so many colours.everyone was amazed at how beautiful the blooms were. The last place we had lined up was the local museum which is housed in an old school and was at one time a very grand building. Here we were treated to stories about local people who have played a big part in Latvia's history. it was a very interesting  time,
We returned to Stelpe where the choir enjoyed a late lunch, cooked by the school dinner ladies, it was extremely tasty and appreciated by all after such a busy morning.

Our own very special Stelpe ladies singing group.

And so the concert began

The cello ensemble from Riga

All singing and playing a very popular Latvian song.

The highlight of the day of course was the concert and despite of the uncertain weather a good crowd assembled. The choir excelled themselves singing popular songs both old and new, one of which the audience demanded an encore. The choir were joined by a cello ensemble from Riga and our own ladies group from Stelpe.and it all ended with everyone singing  "Ai jel manu vieglu pratu"  which surprised a lot of people as the ''Con Brio choir sang it in Latvian, No one went home disappointed and a good time was had by all.
Sunday was a more relaxed day, the choir and friends joined us for an alfresco lunch in the garden
at our home,

Time to relax

Inside or out it's good to chat.

Well now that was a surprise 

Foods on it's way

"Con Brio" and friends.

 before heading for                                                                                                                            

,Valle church.

A completely different venue from Stelpe.

Valle ladies choir.

Valle and their second concert,this time held in the church, they were joined here by Valle ladies choir, and afterwards enjoyed some lovely refreshments with a chance to meet and chat with new friends before leaving for their hotel in Riga.
All to soon their time with us was over, so sad to say goodbye but taking lots of happy memories of people they met and places they visited.