Spring is just around the corner

One of the biggest problems I face during the long winter days is finding things to keep occupied, once the snow arrives and winter has really arrived,with the house up together what can one do? One can read, troll the internet, go to Facebook and see what others are doing, watch TV, check out ebay or Amazon to see if there is anything you want or need to buy, But after three months of snow one begins to go stir crazy . Unless you have lived through a northern winter believe me you don't know what it's like.

The snow is snowing,

At least all of the gardens look the same

 It is beautiful, everything covered in a layer of pristine white snow, The air crisp and clean which is just lovely for the first few days and then reality sets in.

One nights snow and there will be more on the way.

Don't get me wrong I do love it, but just imagine a diet of cream cakes, Ok for one or two days  but after that what one wouldn't give for a cheese and pickle sandwich  I am sure you get my drift.





I have  not been completely unproductive though, and have made several plant supports for sweet peas,  roses and various other plants that need to be kept safe from some of the strong winds we can sometimes get. Another project was at the request of Valerie, we have some very nice pieces of wooden furniture, and although we can buy
Aerosol cans of polish in the shops, she wanted
some old fashioned Lavender scented Beeswax
you know the kind our mums used back
in the day when we were kids, so unable to find any in the shops or online the only solution to the problem was to make some. Ingredients needed where beeswax,( this meant a trip to the forest where a bee keeper had agreed to sell us some) white spirit and lavender oil. Put the three together and low and behold Lavender scented beeswax furniture polish, works wonderfully well and fills the house with the memories of home when I was a young boy.

Beeswax furniture polish, 

But hey there is light at the end of the tunnel, it's the 2nd of March and fingers crossed it's gone, the snow that is, the sun is rising higher in the sky and getting  some warmth with it and the days are getting longer.
 I know things are improving as we are now getting more varieties of birds to our table, we have had Great tits, blue tits, house sparrows, nuthatch, greenfinches and lesser spotted woodpeckers.and today to our surprise a merlin was sat on it.(most likely waiting for his lunch)


 Today has probably been one of the warmest we have woken up to and as Spring approaches I decided to take my camera and go for a walk around our little village to give you an idea of what life is like as we awake from our long partial hibernation.
Stelpe may not be the center of the universe but it is our home and we love it.

The village we call home

On leaving home I decided to see what state the river was in and headed towards the little bridge

As you can see  the water is very high.

So here are some pictures I took my first are of our main road. which is interesting to say the least.

The delight's of country roads

 As winter leaves us  we are left with a surface which is somewhere between corrugated iron and soft putty. This then develops into  a choice of dust (if it's dry) or bog (if it's wet)







My attention then turned to my stomach and  thought maybe a nice sweet to suck while I walked would help me focus on the job in hand, Our local shop was on my way so I popped in to make my selection                                                                      
I have called it an emporium not because it's large

The Stelpe emporium

 but for the wide range of goods there on offer, There is all manner of smoked meat, sausage, cheese and dairy products, bread and cakes, drinks both soft and alcoholic, frozen veg etc etc the list goes on. oh yes and of course sweets of which I made my selection and was served by a very pleasant lady. I wished her "visu labu" (goodbye) and  continued my walk.

Think of this as your old corner shop and you will
have some idea of  what it is like.
Sadly a disappearing part of english life

What a joy it is to be served by someone
with a smile on there face.

Where to next? On our last trip to Vecumnieki ( our nearest large village with a supermarket) we had noticed that a small wood was being felled so I was interested to see how far they had progressed and as it was not far down the road that would be my next port of call. Keeping well away from the road edge and thus avoiding being sprayed with the mud soup that n places covered the surface I was surprised when a people carrier pulled up and before anyone could ask me anything I said do you speak english? Yes yes yes came the answer and a gentleman asked if I knew where Stelpe Water was as they were looking for the bore hole that used to supply the said business.  was pleased to be able to give them the directions they needed. They were somewhat taken aback to find an English man walking along a country road and so our conversation turned to one  of what, why, when and where.

turned out the passenger in the car was Latvian, who had gone abroad to Australia when he was a young lad and was now back visiting  "SOS Children's Village's International "  of which there is one in Bauska. Surprising who you meet along the road!

Anyway back to my walk, I heard in the distance the sound of a chainsaw so knew there were men at work in the wood.

Felling a small patch of woodland.

A lovely slow means of transport, with a very low
impact on the environment.

As I stood and watched the men at work a real slice of rural life came along a lady who had been to our local grain store, (a granary from back in the days of collective farming ) with her horse and cart. They certainly were not responsible for the state of the road. We passed the time of day and  saw her later in my walk around the village.

A short distance from where the men were clearing the wood is a cemetery and  so  decided that I would have a wander along to it. The place is called "Stengu Kapi" Latvian cemeteries are usually found in a wooded area with graves set out neatly and kept in  good order, many graves will have a small bench where relatives can sit in a peaceful setting. In the spring this cemetery lily of the valley growing in profusion  everywhere. the scent of the flowers filling the air.

It was here that I found the lady who had driven by me on her horse and cart, she had tied the horse to a tree and was quietly going about tidying  what must have been a family plot.

Although a cold day there was a peaceful air about
the place.

 My walk around our village almost over I decided to return home by a different route and passed by the granary I mentioned earlier, it's a very interesting building. One  would like to explore in some detail.

If you look carefully you will see the ever
watchful guard dog.

The only thing left to complete a lovely walk was a cup of tea and a slice of cake, both of which were readily available at 13 Upes Iela

PS. Just as we thought everything was turning to spring, we are back to everywhere white again and snow is falling even as  type this!