New life

From Kaziņas Bonijas siers which translated is
Bonijas Goats Cheese

We finally got to see our friends new goats this week and I forgot to take our camera. Fortunately she has a Facebook page, so you can hop over there and see some really cute videos of little goats jumping about (link here). Goat babies are exceptionally cute, but the climbing antics of one in particular did not make Ian feel like we ought to have any goats at all. One climbing alpaca and three nervy sheep that occasionally make some extraordinary leaps are enough for us to handle. Still it was fun to visit.

We've had some rather nice days. Today was not one of them.
Today the snow was melting and it was foggy. This picture
was taken yesterday (Sunday)

You did what? Argued! Well I never!

I told our friend we had had a humdinger of an argument last week and she was shocked, even more so when I explained that we had only had maybe around four such arguments in over 31 years of marriage. She couldn't believe we actually raised our voices to each other anyway. Like I said last week it isn't normally our style. We have been much better this week, we've still had our disagreements but not as bad. I even let Ian drive the car this week and be on his own out on the land. I will still go back and help with the hay shifting. He did tease me the other day and said he got the snowblower out, which he hadn't. He had got the tractor out though and used the spring tine tractor attachment to scratch the road as it was getting rather slick with ice. At least putting some grooves in before it set solid will help to prevent it acting like an ice rink for now. Why none of us had thought about that before, we don't know, although it is not the normal use for a ground preparing implement. That goes with other lessons learnt this winter of why we shouldn't put the hand brake on in the car when it gets down to the low minuses and why most people here leave the car in gear instead. Doh! We live and learn!

Kiss and make up! Hah!

Our boys have actually been arguing a bit this last week or so.
It is to do with the Spring. They are the same every year.
Don't feel too sorry for Peedo in the middle though, he is not
always on the end of it, sometimes he starts it. Nothing too
serious though.

We did joke that we wondered if our neighbours thought Ian might have lost his driver's licence when they saw me doing all the driving. You know how rumours can fly about. It is so rare that I drive the car these days and I have to say I was quite relieved to hand back the keys and get back to my own routine. I do enjoy being out on the land, but I also enjoy being able to set my own plan for the day at my own pace (I guess that has added to some of the friction over the past few weeks). Therefore today was spent writing messages, answering emails, reading for my studies and marking someone's homework for the Sociology course I tutor. I also downloaded some information for the Development Studies unit I will start to tutor in September. Not too bad for one day's work.

Looking artistocratic

Soaking up the sunshine. It's nice to see them outside for a
change

It was amusing to read some of the sections of the book for the new course. In one of the case studies I fundamentally disagree with their assessment of the outcomes from the development project. From my previous studies I know that hydroelectric projects are rarely good development projects for people or conservation and are often mired in controversy, so to say it had achieved certain millennium development goals (the standard set for development projects by the UN, that actually finished last year, but the new ones are still under development) seemed rather trite at best and downright untrue at worst. It will be interesting encouraging students' critical analysis of development projects and I would hope by the end they will be able to see that even if the World Bank is behind the project, it does not guarantee a good project. I am quite relishing the challenge.

Ian has been working with Chanel and halter training. She is
quite jumpy - literally. 

Slowly but surely and little by little, the former laboratorytechnician is helping her to become calmer and starting to
walk on command - but only in the alpaca house at the moment

It is now 13 years since we left the UK this last week and eight years since we arrived in Latvia. A lot has happened in that time. Three children have left home, we have gained a son-in-law and daughters-in and out of law and five grandchildren. We also mustn't forget the 10 alpacas, four sheep, upteen chickens, two cats and 13 hectares (33 acres) of land. A bit of a change for a stay at home Mum and a laboratory technician. Also in that time I have got a Masters degree and nearly finished a PhD. Ian has learnt to shear alpacas, cut their toe nails, trim teeth, learnt to card and spin the wool, learnt how to plough, dig ponds and a myriad of other land related tasks. It has been fun and amazing that we have been able to do so much.

While I was trying to take photos of Ian halter training
Chanel, Aggie was nuzzling my neck. She wouldn't talk to Ian
at first after his absence but she has now more often than not
switched allegiances back. I think here she was just being plain nosy

Someone else enjoying the sun

We have become so very comfortable in our lifestyle out here that we could not really ever envisage going back to live in the UK. The very thought of getting stuck in some traffic jam on the over busy roads sends shudders down our spines. Being determined not to go back was one of the reasons I decided not to ever vote in an election in the UK. How could I vote for something that did not affect me personally? Why should I make a decision that would affect someone else and that they would have to live with and I wouldn't? However, I registered to vote this last week and got the confirmation of registration today.

We couldn't work out why Veronica had straw on her back

We wondered if it was to encourage Brencis to be weaned.
I'm sure it isn't really, but he will be by the end of the week
or at least we hope to move him up to the boys place soon.

Plotting something? Or just having a natter? 

I will be voting in the EU referendum, because it could affect me personally and not only those back in the UK will have to live with the consequences, but so will I. Not just me but our neighbours too. The integrity of Europe is under threat from so many sources and the peace and stability of the last few decades is wavering (this article from by the Guardian is an interesting article and reflects our thoughts too). I feel that now more than ever there is a need to draw strength from each other in unity, but not the sort of artificial unity, but one that debates and grapples with the future issues in a meaningful and respectful way. Anyway, in short I shall be voting.

The first signs of Spring in our greenhouse.

This rather stylish looking carder is called the Ekelund and
designed by a former Volvo engineer. One day we may
get one.

I mentioned that Ian has learnt to spin and he cards the wool by hand at the moment. We realised this wouldn't be a long term solution and so we decided we needed to get a drum carder. There is a wonderful electric version, but a tad expensive for us at the moment at £2100 + vat - if anyone feels like investing in one for us, then we will gladly accept donations

In the absence of an emoticon, here is Aggie's thoughts on us
getting donations

A wide carder by Classic Carders

For the time being, we decided to opt for a hand carder. Not as fast but this wide drum carder means we can card the fleece for felting, spinning and to make fluffy linings for clothing at a reasonable speed and certainly faster than using hand carders. It also means that even if we were to go for an electric one at a later date, we can still use the hand carder for demonstration purposes and felting classes.

Our new cockerel from our friend at the goat farm. We didn't
think we should breed for egg layers from our cockerel that
has frost bitten feet, so we needed a new one. The comb on
this one is a bit of a mess and he has a few feathers missing
on his back after a run in with a male turkey. He didn't come
out of that very well and was separated. It has been amusing
watching him trying to exert his authority over the females.
He's not particularly aggressive, but just enough for the
females. We do have one particularly aggressive female
in there and she has been testing her boundaries by
nipping him on the back where he has lost his feathers. It
hurts, bless him, but he is standing up to her. She still tries
though and she circles around him trying to get to his back
 and he circles around to stop her - a bit like a dance.

Proof that Spring has sprung, well in the greenhouse anyway

Ordering it wasn't without issues though. For some reason the system didn't like Ian's card and it ended up getting blocked. Several days later and we managed to get it unblocked - I'm sure it would have been quicker to phone, but I preferred to use the internal bank's messaging system, rather than sit in some interminably long telephone queuing system, listening to some awful tinny music. Once the card was unblocked I was also able to order some felting needles and silk in preparation for felting scarves and little animals (making little animals from felt you understand, not felting little animals, which would be cruel). I just hope it all works well. Having never done dry felting before. I have also heard that the small felting machine that someone has given to us has set off on its journey. It has travelled down the country from Northumberland to Sheffield and should set off on the next leg of its journey sometime next week (I think that's the plan). I should have asked for transfer pictures to watch its progress.

Sunshine rules! Ok!

Well it was 7 years this week since we left England and it is amazing how far we have travelled in the meantime. It is so hard to believe where we started and what we have done. I was a housewife with three kids at home 7 years ago, now I am a student again with no children at home. One child is now in Australia, another planning his wedding and another at Uni. Ian and I have moved three times internationally and visited many more countries as well. When I think of all God has accomplished in those 7 years, it makes me excited for the next 7 years; I'm up for a challenge!

So the start of the next 7 years saw us in Cyprus again. I said Ian had had a call to help out on a Friday and on Monday we had booked the tickets to travel, by Sunday we were in Cyprus where we spent a good week, Ian working hard in a lab and me studying hard sat outside in the garden (hard life isn't it?). In the Bible it talks about a Jubilee year as a time when you don't reap or sow but live off what grows naturally from the land, well we sort of did that in our first year of being in Latvia by living off our savings, the year after Jubilee is a time to sow and the third year is the time to reap what you sowed the year before. Last year new relationships were formed by Ian and old ones re-established meaning he spent two weeks working in Cyprus last year, this year has been the fruit of that. I also needed the sunshine and the fresh vegetables to boost my immune system, I finally shook off the cough I had had for weeks so worth the trip out there for me. Don't get too jealous though, we arrived back to even more snow than when we left even though we expected it to have been melting while we were away.

In travelling backwards and forwards to Cyprus we have discovered a really good airline, Czech airlines. The food is not bad for an airline, they even have metal cutlery, they describe one meal as a light snack but it is a whole baguette with ham, cream cheese and roasted red pepper which is included in the price, a rarity these days and their main meals are pretty edible too. It is just a very pleasant experience and would be even more so if the times of flights from Prague to Cyprus leg weren't so awful, we arrived at 2:30am and left at 3:15am. One of the best parts is the discovery of a brilliant animation Pat and Mat which is made in the Czech republic but it is classic slapstick stuff, we always look forward to seeing them on the in flight entertainment and you don't need to know Czech to understand it. Talking of food and airlines, I had to laugh at one bit of news out from United Airlines (an American airline) that they are going to introduce an organic option to their snack box range, does this mean that finally there is something in the box that is more edible than the box itself? Believe me their snack boxes are awful normally, so hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

I was spitting feathers at one particular news story about IMF's Mark Allen called out of retirement to come and sort Latvia out, the sense of smugness he has about the job he has done and the sense of rightness that the guy has left me astounded. The fact is that if he has been operating for the last 40 years he has not been doing a very good job. His experience is useless and is still putting the pain of adjustments onto the poorest segments of the population something the Icelandic people decided was not something they were willing to do in their nation judging by their referendum this week. If the IMF did proper assessments of the job they do across the whole of society and found their systems work then I would acquiesce to their knowledge but the only criteria they have is that the country pays back their debts and they believe the pain that is inflicted is fine because the poor will benefit in the end, something that is not borne out by experience, the poor suffer and continue to suffer even after the economy is supposed to be on an even footing. The pain is also only worth it when you are sat in your ivory tower and don't have to watch your child dying through lack of medical help or food because your suddenly expected to pay for it. At least in Latvia people are not dying for want of medical help (well not that I know of) but they do end up with big bills as one of our neighbours has and without the means to pay it.

Not sure if I am happy about the fact that the World Bank has agreed a loan for providing a social security net in Latvia. I agree with the fact that the poor do need additional support and there are plenty around judging by the numbers there are clearing paths in our village. Clearing paths is a job creation scheme for those without work, helpful when it has been very snowy but sad that there are so many needing the money. The problem is that a loan is a debt that needs repaying at the end of the day and is only necessary because of the bad debts that Latvia has got into and the stupidity of bankers greed in lending the money in the first place, the children of this nation have been mortgaged to the hilt now and it will be a long time before they will be free of it.

On a lighter note I was quite entertained by an article on a citizen's initiative in Naples. Claudio Agrelli set up an online community whose citizens never jump red lights, and they always use the pedestrian crossings in other words they always follow the rules, not something that Naples or Italy is renowned for. He is seeking to establish a community where people respect rules and actively participate in discussions on those things they believe would be good for the community which is brilliant really, anything that moves people to becoming active citizens with an interest in other people is to be applauded. Good citizens of the world unite

Photos
Photo 1 My spot by the pool under the palm trees
Photo 2 A lemon tree in the garden of course, not many of those in the UK or Latvia
Photo 3, 4 and 5 my more sheltered spot for windy moments
Photo 6 It wasn't warm all the time so nothing better than a seat by the fire to carry on doing some reading.