OUT and ABOUT, ( The first time in ages)

The sky was blue, the air was warm, the wind was soft,
What a great day for an outing.

Well here we are again, I think that I have now caught up with most of our happenings although I guess knowing my memory other things will emerge and if they are of note I’ll let you know.

This week though I can come up with something, that's right up to date.

On the 13^th of March we went into lock-down here in Stelpe and since that time we have been quite isolated just seeing our neighbours across the way. As restrictions have eased there have been occasions when we have been able to meet friends albeit with social distancing, it’s not the same.

So you can imagine our delight when we heard that there was to be a pensioners outing scheduled for the eleventh it was to be a local trip and would start at 9.50am visiting places in and around Vecumnieki novad (county) Unlike most of the outings we have been on this would be a gentile sort of day.

9.30am saw us assembled at the school waiting for the coach and it arrived on time and soon we were on our way, with many chow’s Hi’s, Labdiens and sveiki’s to friends whom we hadn't seen for such a long time. Within a few minutes, we were turning off the main road to visit our first port of call.

Let the visit begin.

An idyllic spot. 

Just one of the many beautiful corners of the garden.

(Cast your mind back if you will to my blog entitled “Our Garden “ and you will find the lady who we gave a lift home and she showed us her garden) Our old friend’s garden has been lovingly cared for and was a beautiful place just to wander around and admire the plants,

Valerie explains that our yuca came from this mother plant.

I once said to a group of men “ Perhaps we sometimes too busy just being busy” we are all guilty of not taking time to stop and smell the roses. I am reminded of a poem we learned at Framfield school by W H Davis (1871–1940)

What of this life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare,

No time to stand beneath the boughs,

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide there nuts in grass,

No time to see in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

And as we walked among the trees and plants it was good to just take the beauty of it all in.

Who wouldn't want to rest in a garden like this?

All to soon we were on our way to our next stop the small village of Barbele, so often we find ( to use another quote) “familiarity breeds contempt” and so many times we have passed through this place and said how pretty it looks but never taken the time to stop. So what delights did it have to offer?

Barbele Lutheran church,

The all-important sign, a must. This way for food and another for the loo.

Barbele administration center, part of it used to be a pub.

We learned that a member of the upper class wanted to go to Russia and see the czar but the ordinary folk didn’t want this so they murdered him and he has a memorial stone in the churchyard, the church is the third one on the site as the other two burned down. ( or so we think if we got the gist of what was said ) We then moved on, way off the main road to where a spring with the clearest water was bubbling up, though it did taste a bit strange, and found that it was a sulpher spring and at one-time people would come and bath in the water in the nearby bathhouse, sadly like so many things it is just a memory now.

Just a modest roadside cafe, but excellent service and food.      

Unlike our lunch which was taken in a small cafe in the village center, while Valerie opted for the cepelinai ( so-called as they are shaped like a Zeppelin airship) made from grated and riced potatoes and filled with meat, they are very tasty and will stand by you for 24 hours, I decided to go for the chicken, which was the other option on the menu. Many roadside cafes advertise pusdienas which can be translated into hearty lunch and our lunch certainly fell into this category and the cost of such a lunch is usually around 3-4 euros.

Cepelinai

My chicken.

Clean plates, it was very tasty.

Lunch over we headed for Skaistkalne and to a small nursery called Darznieciba Dobites which is owned and run by a lady called Sandra, we know her well as most of our summer bedding plants came from her. The quality and price of her plants are excellent. We looked around her private garden and spent some time enjoying refreshments that our host had prepared for us, before climbing aboard the coach for our penultimate call.

Welcome to the plant center.

The sales area,  it so reminds me of my garden center days

Around our host's garden so many interesting plants to see.

Vecumnieki have just opened a tourist information center it is filled with exhibits of historical value and the ladies who run it are able to tell us about interesting places to visit. There is also a small display of articles produced by local artisans ( I hope to exhibit some of my scrollsaw work there in the near future) I asked if they ever had English visitors and sadly the answer was very seldom. It seems that folk from the UK do not venture far from the set tourist trails of Riga Jurmala and Sigulda, which is such a pity as Latvia has so much to offer.

Inside the information center.

So then it was just a short drive to the last call of the day our local florist Inese, where a small concert was arranged on the lawns of her house. plus we had some refreshments and time to wander and chat,

All too soon our day out was coming to an end and we were heading for home, The whole day was made extra special as we had in our party a young man who played the accordion and everywhere we went we were accompanied by lovely Latvian songs and music.

A very accomplished musician who kept us entertained all day.

 Then all back home after having spent a lovely day with friends.

At each stop, there is a welcome. This time with a song.

The concert, with songs and poetry.

Time to chat.

This week I have a poem/song which seems to sum up my feelings about where we find ourselves at the moment.

No man is an island,

No man stands alone,

Each man’s joy is joy to me,

Each mans grief is my own.

We need one another,

So I will defend,

Each man as my brother,

Each man as my friend.

Lost in translation

Hi there,

I have spent the last two blogs catching up and dwelling on some of the things that have happened to us, but thought this memory might make you smile before I move on to more current happenings,

I am sure many people who have lived in a foreign country have suffered from the problem I have expressed in the title of this week's blog. "Lost in translation". Most times things can be sorted with a little patience and explanation, let me see if I can tell you what I mean.

Some time ago a friend asked Valerie and me if we would like to go on a boat trip, the teachers from the school were going and there was room for us if we wanted to go. Well, of course, we would love to go thinking it’s just what we could do with, an afternoon leisurely drifting down the river Memele. You need to be at school at such and such a time our friend said and I’ll tell them you'll be there.

Great, it was a beautiful day, sun shining with just a gentle cooling breeze as we climbed aboard the bus that would take us to a village of Kurmene where our trip was to start.

A view of the river Memele in Kurmene.
(Picture fromVecumnieki .lv)

I might point out here that our friend was not among the group, and at this point alarm bells should have started to ring.

Everyone was in high spirits as we made the twenty-five-minute journey to our starting point and the coach pulled up in a narrow country lane opposite a track that led to the river, and having unloaded his passengers our driver sped off to await our arrival at the end of our trip in the village of Skaistkalne. There was a distinct buzz of anticipation in the air as we all made our way down the track and as we rounded the last bend the full extent of our “Boat trip” became clear.

We were expecting a boat! but I guess we did have a choice,
a red and white or yellow and green canoe.

"There's canoes"!!! Valerie cried out, ( now she hates the water and water sport of any sort, except for perhaps the University boat race,) But what could we do, the bus had gone, our friends were all climbing into the canoes after of course putting on life jackets and calling for everyone to follow as they set off. I can tell you it took all my power of persuasion to even get Valerie into a life jacket and sat in the one remaining canoe. Oh how many times have I heard the Latvian phrase “bus labi” and it was with these words ringing in our ears we were pushed out into the river and were on our way.

Bus labi Valerie.

 I was in the front with Valerie behind me and all was going well until I had a cramp in my hip, talk about agony, and there was nowhere to stretch my legs. So ten minutes in we were heading for the bank to change places, this in itself was no mean feat believe you me. As we set off once again we caught up with some of the rest of our group who were experiencing their own set of problems so that made us feel a little better (not a lot though)

Our friends waited until we were on our way.

Someone had said when I asked at the start of our journey “ How deep is it”? ( any water that comes over my knees is deep) oh not very deep, so when I put my paddle down into the water and couldn’t touch the bottom I knew it was DEEP. Added to this in places the water was quite fast and in places large boulders came close to the surface and could only be seen when we were almost on top of them, we did in fact hit a couple which really raised our heart rate.

While the rest of the group headed off down the river. 

To reassure Valerie, I told her it won't be long before we can see the end of our journey, I was working on the idea that from our starting point to the finish was ten minutes by car not far at all, what I hadn’t taken into account was the river doesn't follow the road but takes a more meandering course.

Don't worry Valerie I'm sure the end is just
round the next bend.

Finally after what seemed a lifetime ( but was nearer two and a half hours) we rounded the last bend and joined our friends for a well-earned rest, and as we were the eldest in the group were very proud of our effort and all in all, it was a beautiful trip with lovely scenery,

The scenery was beautiful

A boat trip it certainly was not!!

They say every picture tells a story, I was cream crackered

I think everyone was glad to rest and relax at the end of
what was really a great day out.
Would we do it again? Not on your Nellie!

Oh yes last time I promised to tell you the result of the garden competition, well I am happy to tell you that we won and were presented with an illuminated award, a conifer tree and three bags of compost plus a bale of peat. We were so happy that all of our hard work had paid off.

Our garden competition award which now
takes pride of place in our sitting room.

And if you are wondering what "bus labi" means well it's a phrase we hear quite a lot and is simply "it will be fine" 

 

My hymn to finish this week is one that many will remember firstly from school days at Uckfield CS school I think it was the most chosen hymn when class’s took assembly and it was OK to sing a hymn, have a bible reading and say a prayer. Boy how things have changed.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways; reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find, in deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word, rise up and follow thee.
O sabbath rest by Galilee, O calm of hills above, where Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity, interpreted by love!
Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire thy coolness and thy balm; let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still, small voice of calm.