It came, it went

A magical Narnia like scene once again

I guess it has been that kind of a coming and going week in more ways than one. The Brexit deadline came and went and the UK is still in the EU for now. March came and went. The snow came and went. It is frightening how fast this year seems to be speeding by. We even moved out of the apartment and into the caravan for the summer on Sunday. Although it snowed last week, the days since have been sunny, which makes staying in the caravan okay. It is still in the greenhouse protected from the wind and therefore has some insulation of sorts and soon heats up with an electric radiator.

The snow then headed to the land and this is Ian's photo
just as it was arriving

The day after was a glorious but cold day

I do feel a bit responsible for the snow. I did say in last weeks blog that it would snow because I had planted some seeds outside, so lo and behold it did. It didn't last long though and now the snow is only lingering in the shadiest of places like the forest. The grass is beginning to show some small signs of recovery and the weeds are racing to get ahead. It meant I was able to forage enough leafy stuff to add to a meat soup. It makes a change from squash and onions anyway.

Dear, sweet little Freddie. He had his splint taken off
on Friday and so far he is doing well and his leg looks
good.

The young men of the group. Soon to be joined by two
little ones

Talking of Brexit, I got an email from the Estonian authorities outlining what will happen as a British citizen in Estonia after Brexit either with a deal or without. It was reassuring on the basis that they will issue British Nationals with the relevant ID and there will be no hurry. They will also allow me to return to the country, which is a relief. There is so much unknown, especially with the MPs in the UK Parliamentarians still discussing the issue at this time in the process. As the MEP Guy Verhofstadt said, please can the Parliamentarians vote "for" something and not just vote "no" all the time.  Such a shambles!

Oh Mr. P. You do need your teeth cutting.
Couldn't you have waited until shearing
time?

A stork visiting our pond

Anyway leaving politics aside for now, we've also had some comings and goings on the farm. The storks have come back from their long jaunt and visitors have been arriving to see us and the alpacas. The first group consisted of one of our local friends from the nearby sheep farm and camp and a guy from England who manages a large walled garden. I remember many years ago watching the Victorian Kitchen Garden that was set in a derelict walled garden and I always loved the idea of having a sun soaking walled garden. I did use to do some gardening for a friend at one time in the old walled garden on her farm, but that wasn't quite so grand as our visitors' 4 acre plot. We had a good time though talking about some of the ideas we use here on our farm and thinking how we could incorporate a no-till garden into the set up at the sheep farm with a demonstration plot too. This will be Ian's part-time job to develop over time with probably a bit of input and moral support from me.

Up close!

Brencis looking very stately and calm here. He's lovely
really and will come up and allow you to stroke his
neck - well most of the time and if you have food.

We also had another three groups who had come to see the alpacas. One group arrived as we were walking Josefs and so they were thrilled to see us walking across with him on a lead, but I don't think Josefs was that thrilled as were were just on our way back to his mum when we spotted the group. He was fine though and we soon wandered over to take him back. The next group were an international group, a Dutch guy with his Russian wife and two children now living in Riga. They came for the tour and then walked two of our alpacas. We took Tellus, who is a steady plodding sort of alpaca and Mr. P because Brencis is getting a little more unpredictable. He is just coming into full adulthood and I am sure he will calm down a bit later, but he's too big for young children to take for a walk. We hold on too while youngsters walk the alpacas but we still need the alpacas to be calm and sensible all the time.

George and Freddie, sill best buddies

You could even call them drinking buddies

The last group were an interesting group. They had come from the north of Latgale (East Latvia) and so north east of where we are. They have lots of animals, ostriches, emus, horses, goats and so on. They are another mini-zoo and had bought three alpacas last year from Lithuania. They had a good tour around and fortunately organised for a young woman to come and translate for them, so they could find out a lot of information. They also went away with some of the special alpaca food, lots of advice and we also got another booking for shearing. In addition to all that going on we got our first enquiry online for the felting course we will be having in August. All in all it definitely feels like we are heading into summer.

Turbjørn

Tellus looking like a wise old sage

What are you guys looking at?

Oh so that's who you've seen. Some female red deer

They stayed around long enough for Ian to run back to
get me and then back again to get his camera with the
long lens on. Not the best photos but as you can see from
the photo of the boys' the sun was going down. It's sights
like these that makes putting up with the cramped and
sometimes cold conditions of living in a caravan all
worth while.

Backwards and forwards

Outside the Estonian University of Life Sciences.
Not bad heh!

Well I applied for residency in Estonia and got it. It was all done in one day for the sum of €25. If I had waited until Brexit goes through, that would not be the same situation. I wouldn't say it was a totally pain free process as it was a good job that my Estonian friend was there to ferry me around and sign some papers. I went to the police station first, where they process the applications and the very nice policewoman gave me back the form I had filled in and said it wasn't necessary. She sent me off to the council offices to register there and told me to come back when that was sorted. We managed to get there about half an hour before their three hour lunch break or maybe it was the half hour lunch break and two and half hours where they get on with other work. Who knows! The lady at the council office gave me a form to fill in and sign, which my friend translated. He also had to sign that it was fine for me to stay at his place - which I do sometimes and off we went back with my piece of paper and a personal code back to the police station.

Meanwhile back at home

The frosted trees lend a magical touch even in the city

In the police station they have photo booths, it takes a digital photo that is sent direct to the system for the ID card they give you. I thought I felt a bit dizzy when the machine was preparing to take the photo, until I realised it was the machine that was moving downwards and it wasn't me having a turn. Of course the machine needed to move a long way down, since I'm so small. My friend had found the lady who had sent me off to the council offices and she took my paper and my passport. I signed another paper, paid by card and that was it. I just have to wait for the ID card now and that can take up to 30 days but usually less.

Chanel trying to disguise herself as a snowman

Outside the cafe of the uni

I got to my office (I even now officially have a desk, well officially for my use anyway) and then went for lunch. It was a long day of work ahead of me after that. I had already done a little in the morning in preparation for an afternoon meeting, but there was more to read in the evening when I got back to my friend's apartment. She was a star, she cooked me some good food that kept my blood sugar under control, which was a bonus. We had snatched conversations, but not much more on that day.

The gym building glowing in the winter evening. 

Anyone for an outside al fresco meal?
The ski track is just beyond the first
fewtrees

The next day I walked to work on a very crisp morning, it was glorious, but in common with many people it would be dark by the time I set back off to my friend's place in the evening. My day was made up with meetings, online with the international team and locally with my other supervisor after lunch. Then back to work in the office. At least lunch was in a nicer spot than the previous day. I found there was another room to the cafeteria and I could look out on the frost encrusted trees and watch the cross country skiers on the university ski track. At least that evening I got to chat with my friend instead of working.

Come on mam, let me in! Josefs in his frosted coat

Our old oak tree in the distance as gorgeous as ever

Thursday I headed off back home to Ian. The last time I was up in Tartu, Ian and I had got our wires crossed and he was expecting me back on the Wednesday, not the Thursday. A bit awkward, but this time we made sure we knew when I was due back. I worked in the morning in my friend's apartment and then met her in town to hand over the key, as she was teaching that morning. We had time for a coffee before my bus and then off I went. First by bus, cup of cocoa in the train station cafe, on the train with internet access, hang around for just over an hour in the next train/bus station, cup of tea from the little shop there, on the bus and home. Door to door it is about 8 hours. At least I get to set off at a civilised hour and I can work okay on buses and trains.

Ian has been giving Vanessa's crew a bit of room

Trying to keep the channel next the greenhouse clear 

On Friday I was able to do a little flexi-working as Ian came home with the trailer and we shifted two loads of wood from the wood store to the store down in our basement. Sounds easy, apart from the fact we had to first dig our way past a snow bank where a tractor had obviously cleared a path down to the garages but not the wood stores. We then had to push the trailer through the snow to the wood store before Ian reversed the car down. At least the second time around it was easier. Hopefully that should now see us through most of the heating season.

Glowing trees

The oak tree again sporting a more subdued colour

Saturday I did a bit of catching up for work since I had had Monday and Friday afternoon off . It took me all day but I caught up with what needed doing. Sunday I took the day off. I lay in bed until 8:30am reading, and then spent the day pottering around doing things like putting the Christmas decorations away, polishing our wood furniture, cleaning up the pine needles. I actually took the Christmas tree down on Friday morning. I threw the tree out of the door and over the balcony (we are on the ground floor) so Ian could take it away in the trailer. I also made my bread, some cheesy biscuits for Ian to snack on and some pizzas. I had planned on going out with Ian so I could do some skiing but couldn't be bothered being up and ready for when he leaves the house. He has always been a bit of an early bird.

We have a magical place

Lots of paths to make Ian's job easier

Today was back to academia but working on a paper for my PhD. I'm still plodding on with that but at least I feel I am making progress, so all's good. Inside was the best place to be today anyway, since it snowed all day and there has been some drifting too. Apparently the alpacas stayed in too, only occasionally venturing out. It's a good job we sorted out the wood supply on Friday.

Turbjørn lapping up the sun

The snow is a bit deeper in Vanessa's crew's paddock

I am always so amazed by the frosted trees in winter

The contrast is stunning

Mr. P soaking up some sun too

Our neighbour's greenhouses are beginning to disappear in
the snow and our wood store is to the right of that lot

Looking the other way out of the back of our apartment

Out the front of our apartment. The ridge is getting
quite high

Hmmm! I think I might have to do a bit of snow clearing here

Step by step

The Christmas tree that delayed this post.
I have the Christmas tree rash to prove
it too. This tree was growing in my
garden and it was starting to get a bit
big for being in a herb bed.

We used to sing a song at a kids clubs that I used to help run, "Step by step we're moving forward, little by little we're gaining ground". Politically it doesn't seem like it and I was appalled that the UK British Government can go into recess having delayed any decision on Brexit. Less than a 100 days to go and they go on holiday after putting on the most awful pantomime first. I was not impressed to say the least. Fortunately apart from that, this week seems to be one of going forward.

As you can see though, Christmas trees grow like weeds
around here and we won't miss the odd one or two.

The view of a graveyard from the bus. Always with trees
and well kept plots - well they are well kept under the snow 

Tuesday of last week was spent getting ready for my trip up to Tartu and then in the evening travelling to another village to pay the final instalment on our new chimney. I have to say the guy is persistent in trying to communicate to us in Latvian. I got the gist of what he was trying to say and we managed to explain that we would email our friend who recommended him to clarify the details. Even if we had understood what he'd said, I think we would do the same, so we were sure.

Amanda

Valeria

I set off to Tartu on the early bus as usual. It takes a while to get up there and lots of changes of buses but I get a little extra lie in that way. It is also more scenic than going through Riga and hanging around there for hours. Due to the connection timings there is always somewhere I have to hang around, no matter which bus I actually catch. I lost count of the number of permutations I have tried and in nearly each case the buses or trains miss each other by a matter of minutes. It is quite frustrating really.

The oak tree on our land always looks more dramatic in winter

Ian has been getting the wood chopped and stacked ready
for burning next winter. We are getting an idea of how
much we need, now that we are in the apartment full time.
Still at least this is a lot cheaper than paying the heating bills
that we were paying last year.

There were two changes to my journey this time around though. As usual I arrive Valka in Latvia and walk over the border to Valga in Estonia. My usual watering hole though was shut for the day for a function, which was rather disappointing as there are not many places to eat in Valga or at least there didn't used to be. However to my surprise about three doors up there was a new coffee shop. I only really wanted a drink and not something to eat anyway and it was a bright friendly place to have a cup of chai. My usual place has good priced food, but the service is a little dour, although efficient enough.

This will not be a Christmas tree for
the house, but it looks pretty with its
dusting of snow

George with his dusting of snow. Shows the insulation
qualities of alpaca fleece anyway

After my chai and a cup of tea, I raced up to the bus station to catch my bus. I had more time than I thought though. Eventually the bus turned up and I got on, I told the driver where I was heading to and he pushed some buttons on his ticket machine and the ticket was printed. The strange part was that he didn't take the money I was brandishing and he had his hands folded as he said something to me. I was perplexed. The lady behind tried to tell me something and I apologised and said I only speak English. She shouted something up the bus and someone shouted back "Free." She then told me in English that the ticket was free. The penny dropped. I knew this was something that the Estonian government had planned but didn't know when. Not all of the buses are free, but at least this one was. Pity that the only way back on a Saturday morning was by train and those definitely are not free. Still it saved me about €5, so not too bad. I felt a bit of a nana (rhymes with banana) though as I explained in a message to my friend who met me in Tartu.

Is that a wistful look Mr. P?

The view from the boys paddock. I should have gone skiing
but I didn't. 

On the way up I had a nice early Christmas present, I finally got an official acceptance for my second academic paper. I had been told unofficially a short while ago and was actually close to sending a message to find out what had happened to the official email when this one came in. That takes me a step closer to finishing off my PhD. I need three papers, so two down, one to go. My supervisor jokingly said "Is it really true?" because it has been a strange and rather convoluted way of getting it through the process.

Ian had to get the snow blower out this week to clear some
paths. He also managed to fix the handbrake on the tractor
which got broken while he was away. 

Walking into work

It was a bit weird on the way up to the university from my friend's house this week. It is one I have walked a many times before, but this time I was actually going into work. The only time I have actually walked into work before is at conferences when I was heading for the children's venue, as I used to be a children's worker at Christian or church conferences. I did have a small cleaning job once when I was short of money, but that was a long time ago. Usually work for me is on my computer or on our farm.  So heading into a room to sit down with colleagues to discuss a project was rather novel. Quite nice for a change. I was still a little unsure about the project details, as I have never worked on a joint university project before and so I was encouraged to find out that neither were my colleagues and that it is common at this stage of the project. So even though I joined in a little late, I wasn't as behind as I thought I was. We managed to make quite a bit of headway and have a plan for the new year, so all's well.

The view from the room where we were working

Vanessa's crew have been outside a lot using the outdoor
feeder. They are the only ones that do. It is not so bad in
the cold as the snow shakes off rather than wets it. This
one is Silla 

One of the suggestions by the university HR department was to apply for Estonian residence. It took a little while for this to sink in that it is actually possible to have residence in more than one country. It is just if I am in the country for more than 90 days, which would be unusual, I would need a residence permit, so it is better to apply now and have the permission, even if I don't need it exactly. Seems daft having two formal places of residence but it just means I can work in Estonia without having to watch the number of days spent there. I'll still be resident in Latvia though. Not sure what happens in the event of Brexit, but not even the UK government can make up its mind on that, so we just keep on hanging on waiting for a final decision (I'll stop there now, promise!) I got as far as making an appointment to meet with the border police anyway, but that isn't until the end of January. Not a quick process obviously.

Vanessa's crew all outside

Vanessa looks really pretty in this photo. You wouldn't think
she was 10 years old and the boss of her crew.

Tartu square in festive array

My friend whose house I was staying in, asked if I wanted to eat in or out, so I suggested out, since I haven't been out for a meal in ages - eating on journeys do not count. She invited some other friends and we headed into town. My friend and I arrived first in the square and had a wander around the stalls and looked at the decorations. All quite festive. The decorations are up in our village too, but they stay up for ages to offset the winter gloom and so I don't tend to think of them as festive. It's one of the reasons that Christmas tends to sneak up on me, as I am not surrounded by all the reminders of the date. After a bit of dithering around by all of us, we settled on an Italian place. It was a nice way to round off my first day at work and a present to myself.

Chanel also in wistful mood

Eyre warming up on the radiator. She doesn't look like she
appreciates the privilege of being allowed in. She is usually
evicted pretty soon, once she has warmed through she goes
investigating for bread and cakes.

On Saturday I set off back home. I had to go through Valmeira for definite as I had managed to leave a new pair of gloves on the bus on the way up. Thanks to bus Wifis I was able to contact the bus company who managed to locate my gloves and they were left at the bus terminal for me to collect on the way home. I ended up in Cesis for rather longer than normal in the process though, so I went and did a little shopping for the kinds of things that you cannot get in a small village like cornflour and large bags of dried fruit to make a Christmas cake. After that with still about three hours to kill I went to the cafe where I can get cheap cups of tea, but they shut at 4pm despite the fact it said 8pm on the door. I was asked to leave. I felt like one of those homeless people as I had to go back to the station to wait another hour and half. It wouldn't have been so bad but a bus that could have got me within half an hour of home where Ian could have collected me left two minutes before my bus got in. Oh well!

Freddie has been eating the snow

I love the splash of red of the car in this otherwise
monochrome picture

When I got to the bus station the only people there were work folk. It looked like the whole place was going to shut down early too. Fortunately that was not the case. At one point a young guy came in who was well and truly drunk. He struck up a conversation with me, or at least tried to in Latvian, but switched to English when I told him I only spoke English - not quite true but true enough when it comes to a conversation. His opening words in English were "I'm f*ed up!" Not what I would consider an acceptable conversation starter for me, but I had to agree it certainly looked that way. We had an amiable conversation before he asked me for 50c, which I refused, then he asked for €1 - the logic escaped me. He said he needed it for the bus. I said "No!" He laughed and said, "You know I'm lying don't you!" I smiled and said "Yes!" He said "You are a good woman" gave me a buddy handshake and toddled off.

Mari

Mari's son, Jakobs. Oh he's looking cute and cuddly. He's also
turning into a friendly little soul too

A rather nice shot of Sofie. Our neighbour was telling us how
she turns up to her place and often sleeps in her cow barn.

The next day was the day before Christmas eve and so I thought I had better go out with Ian to the land and cut our Christmas tree. It had been growing in the garden and was getting too big and so we had already planned to use this one for Christmas. Of course it was covered in snow though, so spent the night in the bathroom to thaw before I could put it up. The first job for Christmas Eve was to tidy the apartment. Of course I had brought home all the seeds that needed cleaning up as they had got dusty and they needed sorting out into a couple of robust boxes rather than falling apart ones before I could even start on the other unsorted boxes in our living room. Eventually I managed to get some order into the place and shunted boxes around so that we had places to store them.

It amused me that the boys decided to all go outside when
Ian was around with the snowblower, trying out the paths
he had just cut.

Out for a stroll on the freshly cut paths

The only problem with the paths is that you can guarantee
that Turbjørn will stand in the middle and not let anyone
else get past

I love the startled look on George's face. Caught in the act?

Which brings me to the reason the blog is late. I was still decorating the tree in the evening, preparing some baking and so on. There was no big rush though, as we didn't have company for Christmas day and it would just be the two of us, but it was nice to finally get the living room in some sort of order and get rid of the boxes that had been lying around for too long because I was too busy. I get there eventually!