THE END BIT !!!

Just a little bit more and then I am almost up to date. After the craft market in Riga, we were asked if we could help transport some children to a 'children's festival' in Barbele which is the next village down the road, no problem, so Sunday morning up bright and early we set off to collect the kids only to find one lad was now going with his father and a young girl failed to appear when we arrived at her house,where she was no one seemed to know. Ho hum never mind let's just go with the flow.

Darvis singing about chip's

If you want to sing you can no matter what age

Now just about every village has an open air stage where village entertainment takes place through the summer months, be it a children's festival, dancing, singing  or a theatrical performance. Some like Stelpe's are new some in need of some attention and some like Barbele's are just an area with a few seats for the audience,  Arriving we found a few children and adults gathering and performers practising on stage doing what might be called sound checks but really it's a time when kids can play with the mic's,if one arrives early enough it's possible to see the acts several times over and hey they are only young besides this they have got out of bed on a Sunday morning and are doing something. You don't find many kid's hanging around on street corners, kicking there heels looking for some mischief to get into over here, what you do find however as we saw yesterday three small girls hoeing rows of vegetables,or maybe a young lad mowing the grass around his home.
Anyway back to the festival Darvis the young lad ''who went with his dad took the stage and sang with great gusto a song about chips that's right chips of the crisp variety. To say that the day was cold would be a bit of an understatement, having had days where the temperature had reached the high 20s  it had changed and we sat huddled together for warmth and just after Darvis had sung the heavens opened and down came the rain. Now in a situation like this what do you do? that's right like any good English couple we got in the car and headed straight for home and a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

          Now the next day {Monday} we were due to join an excursion with folk from the village and it went something like this.
Up with the lark just after 6am feed the chickens walk the dog and then breakfast {not necessarily in that order} and then be at the school to leave at 7.30 outings start early so you can get the best out of the day.
First stop {well not really as we stopped at a petrol station {8.30} for toilets crisps coffee sweets cold drinks and a general stocking up on all the essentials needed for a day out {8.45} Half an hour later we
arrived at out first venue on our itinerary

Where to go and what not to do

 Vienkocu  where the sign at the car park told us,not to drop litter, pick flowers, cycle, light fires never go off the path or to sing as if we would. I did however half way round the park feel like bursting into a chorus of  'I love to go a wandering along a mountain track' { for those readers who are to young it's a golden oldie' {1953} I resisted the urge much to Valerie's relief. The visit was however very interesting with exhibits staged around a pleasant walk through the woods some captured the imagination more than others,

A Latvian summer kitchen

A bath tub

An  Eco house

Brings a whole new meaning to togetherness

 I thought the Siberian toilet deserved a special mention. Consisting of three poles and a hole in the ground, what I here you cry!!!! why I would feel a little exposed using it you say!!! but it's not a place to hang around, let me explain.

A Siberian loo

 One pole is to hang your coat on the second pole is to support yourself whilst {not to put to delicate a point on it} doing the business and the third stick is to defend yourself against wolf attack. See it's simple when you know how things work.
A hour and a quarter later we are back in the bus heading for Cesis {pronounced ' sey sis'} an interesting town with a castle  which is popular with tourists. Assembling us all together we were told now would be a good time to get something to eat and then meet at the monument at 12 ish for a visit to a hands on science exhibition this in fact gave us about 30 minutes to find a cafe and get something  10 minutes later seated in a small cafe choosing something the question was asked how long will the food take to cook ?

A quick snack

 Oh only 15--20 minutes now my maths is a bit rusty but even I knew time would run out before our food arrived so it was a flaky pastry { the kind that is all flake with very little filling  you know one little cough and you cover everyone at the table in tiny flakes } and a cup of tea, still at only 55 pence not bad value, perhaps we can get something later.

Back at the monument {at 12 } we set off for the science exhibition, down one road, round this  corner along another road round by the bus station, across the rail tracks {trains in the station}!!

The train now standing at platform one

Across some waste ground along to the traffic lights cross the road double back on the opposite side of the road round one more corner and here we are. We found a small hand's on science exhibition which was great for the children who were with us {there's a bit of a child inside all of us} and soon we were trying out the different exhibits
While everyone was still absorbed in finding how things worked Valerie and I slipped away to see if we could find a snack to nibble,,,,

Table and chairs for a small apartment???

Sound waves

Not sure if they have a licence for that crane

Just a short drive outside Cesis was the  next place on our itinerary a  visit to see exotic animals!!
Turning off the road we followed a winding track and arrived  at a small car park complete with an information board  but no gate to enter the place. Fortunately someone saw us and waved us down the side of a fence where we were able to gain entry and here to the delight of many we found  camels, llamas, sheep {well one}and alpacas.

Hey I'm a Alpaca not a poodle

I might look silly but somebody loves me

This is my new baby

Yep just had to be called Dolly

PS, I made a donation to someones jumper.

which had just had their annual poodle cut,{a professional shearer had to be brought in. The owner told us there were very few people in Latvia with the right equipment and experience who are able to do this task} 
One of the llamas had given birth that day and everyone was intrigued to see the baby who was just a couple of hours old when we arrived. Some of the animals were free to roam amongst the visitors and so we were able to get close up and personal with them. Fortunately there was a a small stall selling ice creams and more importantly cups of tea so we left refreshed and better informed about {exotic} the animals.
Our final visit of the day was to the eagle cliff which is one of the highest cliff's in Latvia overlooking the Gouja river, after a scramble down the most challenging wooden steps { H&S would have a field day with them} we found ourselves on a small sandy beach, this is one of the most beautiful areas in Latvia and is part of the Gouja National Park.

From the top

From the bottom

 All to soon we had to retrace our steps back to the coach and head for home, Travelling through Segulda we passed the Latvian bob-sleigh track which for £66.50 you can ride down in the winter.{ if you have the nerve} and so headed back for home, after a good day out.









 As promised in my last offering,the pensioners meeting was held at one of the members nursery where she grows Iris breeding new varieties each year Both Valerie an myself now have varieties named after us. {Orders can be placed but you need to be quick to get the best.} The day was perfect clear blue sky, light breeze so lunch was had alfresco and Valerie contribution this time was coronation chicken and a trifle complete with hundreds and thousands both dishes went down a storm.
So as I final catch up with all that has gone on I will leave you with some pictures of our visit

Starting our tour

Valerie with her Iris

The trifle

Our host's Ilga and Visvaldis

My Iris  tall, strong and well formed {just like me}

CATCHING UP PART 2

Well now where was I, ah yes telling you all the exciting things that have happened over the past couple of months.The memory ain't what it used to be! Sights, sounds and smells bring childhood memories back in full technicolour as if it were yesterday,but what I did yesterday is anyone's guess, now where was I, yep got it back to the beginning  In April, I had agreed a price and ordered 15 cubic meters of fire wood and the first load arrived, Jaseps arrived with a new {to him} timber trailer complete with extending arm grab and unloaded the first 3 cube

The first of five loads

This was the first of five loads, all placed neatly along side our barn, so much better than last year when it was just tipped in a great big heap. One different thing here is all trailers have to be tested and registered and have their own number plate, so if you have a tractor and trailer but the trailer's not registered legally you can't take it on the road.

Look no hands

                                                                                 

Talking tractor's sorry ladies, whilst visiting our friends nursery { More of that later}I found the tractor of my dreams. Now the Latvian for 'I want' is 'es gribu' So  es gribu one of these,it's a motor block complete with trailer and seat,a state of the art machine

My dream machine

Only trouble is when it comes to making a choice between one of these or a ride on mower, I'm afraid the mower would have to come first darn it!!!
Also Valerie could use the mower, but can't see her driving one of these.

Well now onwards and upwards well up to the bird box's at least, since we moved in I have taken the opportunity to put several box's around and we now have Pied Flycatchers, House Martins,Swallows Swifts, Starlings, House Sparrows and Blue Tits nesting that we know of, if I could find them, I know there would be Wagtails,Great Tits and several more varieties nesting in the hedges and apple trees. But the opportunistic prize has to go to the Blue Tits.  Among the fire wood I found an old woodpeckers nest so cut it out and thought it would make an ideal nest box for putting in one of the trees, I showed it to Valerie and left it by our fire pit fully intending to find a spot the next day.

 Next morning however when I pulled the curtains low and behold it was being investigated by a Blue Tit which duly took up residence and a pair have raised a family.

For those of you who like craft markets, let me tell you about the one we visited in Riga in the open air museum early in June, http://www.brivdabasmuzejs.lv check it out. Now the craft fair is all about Latvian made craft, {not one bit of tat from the far east} Its a wonderful celebration of all things Latvian from hand woven place mats, lace making, basket work, wood carving, pottery the list goes on and on, food stalls selling hot soup to soured cabbage, with not a burger stand in sight all at very reasonable prices. It would be easy to feed a family of four with a hot meal cooked for you while you wait, for much less than a tenner

Home made pickles

Hot soup

Pottery of all shapes and colours

Hand knitted hats

A rocker for the garden

Beautiful hand woven craft

A stone and iron rooster, heaven only knows how much it weighed

Wonderful hand made modern day hope chest's

A rocker for the sun lounge?

What a day, so much to see, all set in the trees, plus you get to look round the museum. That took care of Saturday.
This same weekend we had a children's festival on the Sunday, Then on the Monday a trip to Cesis, Sigulda and a zoo with {exotic animals} but more of that in Part three.

TIME FOR CATCH UP AT UPES IELA

Gosh!! I have just looked to see when I last published my blog and found to my shame it was the 8th of April,so I guess I had better bring you up to date with life here in Upes Iela. 'Don't time fly when your having fun'?? So here is a quick look at what has been going on


Going way back then to April it was out with the old and in with the new, for those of you who have visited us {shame on the rest of you} you may recall the grand curving shower cubicle in the bathroom, I had been having trouble with it leaking round the tray so it was decided to rip it out and start afresh with a walk in no frills one.The first job when the old shower was out was to chop a hole in the floor for the drain, now our floor is concrete and about 14 inches thick with reinforcing, so choosing my spot I started first with a small drill and then one 22mm diameter and about 18 inches long and wouldn't you know 'sod's law kicked in and I found that

The finished  shower

 the reinforcing rods came right in the middle of the hole, once they were out of the way it was plain sailing,
 waterproof lining up the wall waterproof cement on the floor with mosaic tiles and waterproof grout, I am proud of the results.Now we can walk in and out with no problems.

The first storks arrived in April and so we knew spring wasn't far away along with them came the cranes and geese.The weather however didn't play ball with us and on several occasions we found it so hot one day and  the next day found it necessary to put the central heating on,                

State of the art rail transport.

 The highlight of April though must go to the sighting of 'The train!!!!!!' a few kilometres away we have a small train track which appears to go from nowhere to nowhere, the track is as straight as a fiddlers elbow and as level as a switch back ride at the fair, and the only way we know it is used is when we see the wheel marks when it has crossed  the road and in four years we had seen the train only twice. When we approached the crossing  one day in April low and behold there it was coming down the track,it was one of the few times we had a camera in the car so we were able to record the occasion if for nothing else to prove to ourselves that the STOP sign is there for a purpose after all we wouldn't want to get caught on an un maned rail crossing.


Moving swiftly on,during the long dark days of winter we often thought that a jigsaw puzzle would be a good way of whiling away a few hours and had asked for one to be sent over from England,and so we received a very nice puzzle of tigers which rather took over our dining table for several weeks but with a great deal of determination we completed it minus one half piece which had been chewed by one of our sons dogs.

Taking over the table

The finished puzzle

Strange thing happen over here sometimes and one day we woke up and found that our car had been covered with a fine green yes green dust.which we discovered was pollen blowing from the silver birch trees and we watched it in clouds carried on the wind. People in Moscow were surprised by it as well and thought it may be some radio active fall out from somewhere { hope not!!!!! Moscow's only 350/60 km from us here}

Green dust everywhere

Sunday club is still going strong, and thanks to some friends in England who sent us a wonderful box of goodies we had a great time one Sunday decorating tee shirts and and another making a 'Thank you banner'

This make's it all worth while

All their own work

 We had been sent these things on a lorry along with some things for the pensioners collected by the lady who first introduced me to Latvia.

So happy with gifts from England

The scotch eggs

More gifts

Our times with the pensioners is always one of
interest and every time we meet we introduce them to different food from England last month it was 'Scotch eggs' and  it was interesting to watch every body's reaction, first a good look then a smell then cut open and finally a taste,after which much discussion takes place and in every case they have found our cooking to be 'very tasty We finished up by giving the things we had received, a sewing machine,kettle, blankets,a music centre,mugs and lots of other things.

Four teenage girls from school asked if they could come and learn how to make a cake, the results were wonderful six chocolate and orange cakes{with chocolate icing} one each to take home. one for their school teacher and of course one for us,mmm!!! very tasty.

Look what we have made!!!!!!!

Yes and when they had done they washed up put away and swept the floor,

To be continued

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Home sweet home

Hi there , well I am pleased to say, since my last post there have been no problems in the motor department. But the weather!! that's another thing all together, the snow all went and for a short while we had clear,albeit wet and mucky roads, but the snow had gone,then it came back with a vengeance, on the 2nd we had a fall of about 10cm and then two days later it was gone ,, phew ,thank goodness,  life resumed it's normal pattern, going to school bringing logs over, wander along the river with the dog and so on and on and on.
I could bore you all with the minute details  such as got up,cleaned teeth, made coffee etc etc etc yawn yawn, WAKE UP !!!!! you mustn't go to sleep just yet. 
What can we do? while the snow thaws and  the ground dries up. Well the one thing that has bugged me since we first moved in is the wooden wall cladding  Ugggghhhhh !!!!! I hate it. Well boredom had set in and so bad that it had to come off.   Yippee!!!!!!!!
I have learnt over the last four years,{yep it's four year s since we moved here, time flies when you are having fun} that is you can do anything in Latvia as long as you have  bit of wood and a pound of nails, size doesn't matter but the bigger the better.

Out with the old

And  the same the other end

Valerie, who had reached the same stage of boredom as I had, was willing to help remove the offending wood cladding, well that's not really a true description it was more just bits of wood 1mtr long x 9--12cm wide and12mm thick nailed!!! to the wall,with gaps big enough to drive a truck through
We decided to replace it with some new lighter colour material,so heading off to K Rauter {Latvia's equivalent of B&Q} we were determined to get the job done as quick as possible and it would be a one shop stop, we needed the panelling, and the battens plus clips for fixing, and some insulation for warmth,,,, easy peasy ! was it ????? not a chance,they didn't stock our chosen items,just a plastic alternative, and since we don't want to live in a plastic box ,so we left empty handed,
Girts will help us I said confidently to Valerie.Now Girts is a good man to know, first because he speaks English and second because he owns the hardware shop in Iecieva. 
Having discussed our plans, he gave us all the options open to us and we left {if truth be known more confused than when we went in}  to return home and decide what we would do,I returned the next day placed our order which would be delivered. When? 'Maybe next week or the week following after all there is a holiday weekend  who knows' , and so we wait and wait. Meanwhile we have one rather  bare  looking wall in our dining room  and no curtains are we worried no not a bit.

Cranes awkward on the ground but graceful in flight

'Que sera sera'   

There must have been over 500

We had the opportunity   yesterday {Saturday} to visit Sandra's parents who live a short distance outside a town called Dobele some 100 kilometres away. Leaving home at 9 o'clock we were looking forward to a pleasant journey and not forgetting the camera this time,,!!!  we hoped we might see some deer to photograph. 4 kilometres  down the road we saw a flock of geese just a few metres off the road ,so pictures were taken . and then a short distance farther on we saw some cranes so another stop.                                                                      
                                                                                              
I needed  petrol at the filling station in Iecieva, so another quick stop and then we must get on, wrong!!! as we pulled in Valerie said look there's an English number plate on that car, sure enough there was, with a man standing by it. Now you must appreciate this is not a common site over here and certainly one that would need investigating, pulling up I got out and went over to him and said good morning { well you would wouldn't you at 9.30} His good morning confirmed him to be an Englishman and after chatting for a while we found out that he and his wife had bought a house in Bauska, and were on there way to open it up for the summer. I am waiting for him to email me,we can then arrange to meet up and swap stories. 
One last stop for some gifts for Sandra's parents {we had packed eggs, jam,milk, chutney and some homemade chocolate cake from home} but some cheese and sausage we know are always welcome.

To say that Janis and Inta live off the beaten track is a bit of an understatement, the back of beyond is more like it.

We have known them since the first time Valerie and I came over in 2005. Of all the friends we have ,this couple would come in our top ten, they are such lovely folk and always make us so welcome. With so little of this worlds goods their home is just filled with love, that plus Inta's apple cake {which is to die for} make this a second home for us.                                                                                                                                                                       
  

Two fine ladies enjoying a walk in the forest

                                                                             
                                                                               
 Being so far from the main road, the peace and quiet are something else. A walk in the forest is always a time to stop and be grateful for the things we have been blessed with.
St Paul said 'I have learnt whatever state I am in to be content,' perhaps there is a lesson for us all to learn.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end and with a gift of some two year old dried fire wood we had to say our goodbyes and head for home, with only a quick stop at Rimi in Bauska for some milk.

                                                                                                          
                                                                                               

Good Friday and Easter Saturday were fine days,  the sun shining through some hazy cloud,although the wind still had a bit of a bite to it and we were looking forward to a good Easter Sunday. Perhaps a little gardening on Easter Monday?How wrong can you be, Janis said when we were at the farm if there is little or no snow at Christmas,it will come for Easter, this is an old Latvian saying, Well don't knock the old folk law, what did we find on opening the curtains this morning!!!!!! another 4'' of snow!!!!!!!!!!!!
                                                 HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE
                                                                                                                                                                  

Inta,  Sandra's mum

Sharing lunch Latvian style