Bleh!

Well some signs of Spring! Inside! The
peppers are producing nicely, from the
plants we brought in from the
greenhouse last year.

I should be in Tartu tonight, braving the still icy paths, but I'm not. I'm sick and have been over the weekend so decided it was not wise to travel up today. Good job, I was asleep for two hours this morning and another half an hour this evening. I am on the mend, not coughing so much, thank goodness, but it hasn't been terribly convenient. It should have been the last week up in Tartu for a while and I so nearly brought my suitcase with spare clothes in back last week. Wish I had now. If I am well enough and Ian doesn't come down with it in the meantime, we will both travel up to Tartu, so I can go to the lecture and fetch my suitcase. If not it is plan B for what I take with me when we go away. It is not exactly what we want when we are contemplating going to see family, especially new born grandchildren.

Some of the things you notice when you let your mind
wander! In the centre of this picture of a train seat is "Jo,"
a name I am known by in England, Australia and the US
who almost automatically shorten names. 

As I said the paths are still a nightmare and I suppose I shouldn't complain when you see the snowdrift pictures coming from the UK. Snow is one thing, but drifting in strong winds is not pleasant. My Mum and Dad are once again snowed in. Good job they are used to it. The problem I have noticed more than anything else, about trying to walk on the paths, is how it narrows down my focus to just a few feet in front of me. Tartu is a beautiful town with lots of interesting buildings, well that is what I glimpse, but all I seem to see is ice. I decided it is a bit like being overly busy too, your focus narrows down to the few feet in front of you and taking your focus off the broader picture of where you are and what you are doing. A BBC article talked about the value of allowing children to get bored, allowing them freedom in their brains for creative thinking. One commentator also said it was good for adults too, allowing brains to wander over the landscape of our minds. I am sure we would be much more productive as a society if we did that more often. I know there are folks whose minds are in the clouds most of the time and that is not always helpful either, but allowing our brains time to wander helps us to make connections we perhaps wouldn't have made before.

Outside Eduard Vilde's cafe. Statures of Oscar Wilde and
Eduard Vilde, who never actually met in real life, but here
they are having a chat. 

It has been an interesting week of making new connections and reconnecting with old friends. About a week ago I had an email from a lady who lives in Tartu. She had read of my worries about getting stuck in Tartu if I missed my bus and had very thoughtfully offered a place to stay if I needed. She had been following my blog for a little while, but never commented, so the email was a little out of the blue. We agreed to meet up in Tartu over lunch to get acquainted, and she treated me to soup and salad at Eduard Vilde's. Well we chatted and chatted about all sorts of subjects, from the price hike of electricity in Estonia since they privatised the electric market (something that three people have now mentioned who live in Estonia, so obviously a worry) to growing vegetables and a little history of ourselves and where we've been. Mind you, as some things are on my blog, some of it was already known to my blog follower which is a little weird when chatting to someone I've never met before, but I guess one of those things I should get used to if I meet folks who have followed it.

The flags were out. At least we took them down before
the Latvian flags were out at half mast or with black ribbons on, commemorating the exile of
many Latvians to Siberia 

As I said we also had a lovely day with old friends, who we have known for nearly as long as we have lived in Latvia, but don't see so often as we live quite a few miles apart. In fact they have never made it to our apartment before and since they are English, I put out the English flags specially for them (thanks son for the flags, knew they would come in useful sometime). I must have been coming down with something when they came as I managed to have a few senior moments (or is it intellectual overload as another friend prefers to describe such moments) - I forgot to put the flour in the Yorkshire puds so had mini baked omelettes (nice in a sandwich), I nearly forgot to put the bread in the oven too. Goodness only knows what else I managed to achieve in the process. Still it meant we had plenty to laugh about and that is one thing we are good at when we meet. One of the problems of getting together is the fact we do like to chat - a lot! Had you noticed? So going all the way to their house and having to get back for the animals in the winter time when the days are short is not easy, there is just simply not enough time to chat, as much as we would like and even then they only left because it was getting dark.

This is the nearest we get to Spring
outside. That patch though is over
the spot where the heating pipe runs

I am not a great fan of genetic modification, aka Monsanto style that aims to tie up the market and keep farmers coming back to them time and time again for expensive seed and using genes from unrelated species i.e transgenic crosses, but I did see a model that I am prepared to accept. Crossing genes in the laboratory with crops from the same species, or cisgenic crosses, is far more acceptable to me. It is really doing in the laboratory what it would take years to do in the fields anyway. I also like the way that the Dutch University, who are developing blight resistant potatoes, are allowing the potatoes to be grown under licence by more than one company to prevent a monopoly. A much more healthy way to use scientific skills I think, especially after the problems of last years wash out crops of potatoes. The potatoes used are wild potatoes from Mexico and not a completely different species. Introducing wild potato genes is also likely to improve the genetic variability of the stock. Of course there still needs to be strict testing, as there should be for any new strain of plant, just to make sure that a monster has not been inadvertently created, but at least it is a start in a better, fairer direction. It should never take over either from the slower way of improving stock, that in itself may throw up other possibilities and the more possibilities we have of preventing major crop diseases the better, as long as it isn't introducing those unnatural genes into the mix.

Skipping along. Not!

Blue skies of winter

Another milestone week this week, it is ten years since we left England. It's hard to believe it is that long, as time has flown by and we seem to have done so much in that time. We lived in Denmark, I learnt a little Danish, loved the transportation system in Copenhagen and liked our Danish house, if only it had another floor it would have been perfect. One of the ideas I would like to take from that house into our new one, if possible, is to have a utility room as soon as you come in the door, so that all those mucky boots, coats and vegetables have somewhere to go before being traipsed through the house. New Years in Denmark was always something to remember too, it was almost like being in the blitz, but an awesome experience. Colorado was inspiring too, all those mountains. Ian still misses the blue skies, but I missed the clouds when I was there. I also began to see how and why Americans think the way they do, it is different to a European mindset, not necessarily better and maybe not worse either, just different. Whilst in America I also got the chance to go to Brazil three times, which was quite an experience.

Freezing cold outside but lovely and
warm in the greenhouse. A chance for
feet up and a James Herriot book

It is also five years since we came to live in Latvia and in that time we have done out two apartments, had a barn and two greenhouses built (if you remember one fell down in a bad winter), got animals and just thoroughly enjoyed our time here. I have also got a Masters degree and now embarking on a PhD, something I would never have envisaged when we set off on my travels. In all that time we have met some remarkable people along the way, not many of them would think they are remarkable, but they are and whilst sadly it hasn't been possible to keep in touch with everyone for one reason or another, we are still the richer for having known them.

Ian's been busy again. He made this trailer for the tractor.
I love the little details like the stand for the trailer, just
like on the real thing and the wooden thingymajigs on
the wheels which he made on his lathe

Talking about my course I am taking statistics as one of the compulsory courses I have to do, it is not a subject I'm particularly fond of, but our statistics lecturer loves his subject, however 2 1/2 hours is perhaps getting a bit long for a lecture. I actually leave early (well on time actually but he is still talking when I leave) as I have a bus to catch. If I miss it then I am stuck in Tartu for an extra day, nice though it is, it is also nice to get home. I nearly managed to miss the bus this last time, as there were lots of people at the bus stop and they all had tickets. I found out today that I have to be down there 15mins before the bus leaves to be able to buy a ticket at the office, this is going to be a challenge on Wednesday with the paths being so icy. I shall have to put on a bit of speed where the paths are not so bad. This March seems to be turning out to be colder than February, with sunny days to melt the ice and intensely cold nights to freeze it rock solid again.

Icy here too. That snow bank is also snow from the
greenhouse, it wasn't that deep really. 

The icy paths are not doing my nerves any good, two falls in recent weeks has not improved my confidence on the ice, I feel such a twit when folks just stride on past and there am I with my ice grips on my shoes, shuffling along. Still I would rather shuffle along than hurt my arm again. The first arm I hurt is fine now, if anything it is tired because I hurt the other one and it has do more work and being my left arm it is protesting (that conjures up some funny visions). My right arm that I hurt last week is getting better, but it still hurts a lot and I haven't got full mobility back in it. I keep stretching it bit by bit to try and get it moving yet I still feel rather pathetic when I wince putting my coat on. Mind you that is an improvement from last week, the reason it hurts putting my coat on is the weight of the coat, at least I can put it on easier now, last week putting on a blouse hurt. I must say I was really grateful for all the sympathy I got last week on the blog, thank you for taking the time to comment, it was greatly appreciated.

More seed boxes made too, ready for when we get back off
our hols

The weeks do tend to fly by just lately and if we are going to see some of our neighbours and friends we have to try and make a point of seeing them when I am not in Tartu, otherwise the weeks would pass and we wouldn't really talk to anyone much. We didn't get off to a good start with one of our neighbours, but we have made amends this week. Ian went to move the car so one of our neighbours could clear the snow away from the roadway with his tractor, which I mentioned that last week. While he was down there, he got chatting with the young man that we hadn't seen eye to eye with and found out he really wanted to see development in our village, Ian suggested to him that he could do with talking to me, since that is my field of study. One evening we decided to call around and see if he wanted to chat some more, we were welcomed in and spent hours chatting, later on relatives arrived too and we were invited to a small party with cakes and more jasmine tea - how could we refuse, especially since we knew the relatives reasonably well and I had taught the mother-in-law English a while back. The occasion was International Women's Day, not a big thing in England but celebrated here for sure. Still one excuse is as good as another to eat cake! Even after we left the home, we met another neighbour outside who was having a smoke, we knew him as a child from kids camps but he isn't often in a talkative mood, he was that night though, and surprised us by the fact he remembered our boys from those times in camp. We perhaps could have chatted longer but it was far too cold to be stood outside for very long.

Definitely a grumpy looking cat and a bit of a scar on the
side. She isn't that grumpy though, really

One of our children has managed to get flights booked to come and see us in June, bringing with him his wife and baby son. It will be the little ones first visit to Latvia and they are already teaching him a little song about tractors, which he loves. At around six months old, the little one will probably love seeing our alpacas - or at least I hope he will. Mind you, as much as I am looking forward to them coming, I wasn't so ecstatic at the time I got a text regarding what flights to get. At just gone midnight I got a text with the query and a few seconds later a second one apologising - oh yes! Someone had forgotten what time it was in Latvia. I suppose it shows that kids can still wake you up in the night, even if they are over 25 from time to time. I'm sure I will get over the fact he managed to wake me up the night before a 2 1/2 hour statistics lecture - no wonder I was having trouble staying awake.

Our chicken that was sick last week is on the mend. So far
all bits are where they should be and she is eating well now.
Same can't be said for the cockerel on the left. As he was
the most immature of cockerels he is no good for breeding
and only kept as long as he has been to add his body heat to
the ark over the winter. Now he has gone to the great freezer in the sky, well actually the freezer in our dump room and I
have the scratches to prove it. No he wasn't unduly treated
badly, it is just chickens flap around a bit after being
dispatched and I didn't have hold of him properly.

They've talking about us (Hercules and Tellus)

We have been wondering what to do about the alpacas. We would like to buy some more and we are looking at options for buying. The ones in Sweden are more expensive as they were the last time, but we know how to get them sent across now. We are thinking of talking to someone locally but not sure about the genetic quality of the animals. They maybe okay with our male as he might have some good genes to pass on - he had a very good fleece as a youngster but never tried as a stud male. Our options are more limited with trying to get a house built this year too. We had wondered about seeing if people would like to sponsor an alpaca, after all they are rather cute. It has been done by other farms too and usually involves sending cards, pictures and updates a few times a year. Sounds like a bit of fun, I mean what would we write about the alpacas in a quarterly newsletter? I am sure there must be some more ideas out there though and wonder what people would think is great for a bit of fun and what some people would just think is silly. So all ideas gratefully received and if you want to sponsor one, then you can always send me an email (just click on the icon on the left-hand side).

Pick me! (Hercules)

Happy chap! Blue skies, what more could he ask for?

Ian and I were chatting this week (yes we do sometimes actually talk to one another) as we had both seen an article about an accident between a motorcyclist and a bison. You don't often see a bison on the road there, believe me, we lived there for 15 years, but the occasional cows and sheep we have seen. The tight twisty roads don't help either and you always had to drive as if you expected there to be something around the corner, without getting to paranoid about it. Apparently the farmer checked the field every day, but says there is little he can do when cars and walkers damage stone walls and fencing and I agree. Even if the farmer is very diligent it is still possible for animals to get out, okay some farmers are not quite so diligent as others but even with the best will in the world, those critters will escape. Some are more likely to escape than others, like Hercules our alapca. If any of them were out it was usually him. Eventually we got the better of him and managed to stop him escaping, but it took time to find out the best method of keeping him in. As far as cows are concerned, usually one strand of electric fencing will keep them in, but not all of them and not all the time. Putting up and taking down the fences is hard work and farmers have got other things to do with their day and so country dwellers  and visitors do need to take care on the roads and not expect them to be clear.

Turbjörn

Evidence of a visitor, but what animal?

We did get onto more philosophical fences too and wondered if some fences were meant to be broken. Some of the fences are their for our own good and sometimes they are there to keep us out of places we would rather be or are even better for us. So should you be breaking out of a fence today? Or should you stay where you are? Always worth a ponder or two.

Not this one for sure.

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