Cuddles

Our little helper in the snow that has fallen
since we left Latvia

Last week was a little fraught, trying to get ready whilst still not quite so well. I had hoped to get my uni work done before going away, but that wasn't going to happen, I just couldn't manage getting all our stuff washed, the house clean and be coherent enough to work my way through my assignments. Ian had also hoped to get a lot of preparation work done on the land to make sure we didn't get flooding whilst away, but that needed some snow to start melting and there wasn't much of that happening, in fact he was even on yet more snow clearing duty just before we went after another snow fall. When we left to travel to England on the Wednesday it was -18C - rather cold for March, even in Latvia. Our neighbour from our apartment block is looking after things while we are away and sent pictures of even more snow since we have gone. Apparently her son was going to clean the snow away, bless him, that would be a lot of cleaning if he managed it and he's only little - my little helper in the summer for those who remember those posts.

Pops in his favourite pose

England was warmer, but not as much as we would have thought. Although it was cold in Latvia, it is often without the stiff breeze that you get near the coast in England. Our leggings went back on and the fleeces dug back out as it tried to snow, fortunately it didn't succeed in doing more than producing a few flakes in the breeze. Our welcome from our son, his wife and new baby was warm though. It has been a pleasure to see our son enjoying fatherhood and working well with the baby. None of this hands off or awkwardness that you sometimes see in new fathers. Ian hasn't lost the knack of getting babies off to sleep though. The little one had been ill the week before and so was a little more grizzly at times and Pops, as Ian is called, was able to get him off to sleep. As the week went on, the little one got better and we could see his smiley little character come through more and more - yes we are quite smitten and yes we got plenty of cuddles.

After the Thanksgiving, four generations!

My parents came down for the weekend too as there was a Thanksgiving for our son's little one, so we went out for walks, ate out quite a bit and generally enjoyed the company. We went out to a lovely fish restaurant and Ian and I shared a meze fish meal - well it saved us having to decide which fish we wanted to eat. We do like fish and it is not something we can easily obtain in our rural village in Latvia, unless we take up fishing ourselves. On one of our walks we found a little craft fair, which wasn't brilliant, apart from one stall which had novel gift items. There were cup cake baby socks and baby items put together in such a way it looked like a pram - very ingenious, maybe more expensive than buying just a pair of socks and a couple of mini silicone rubber cupcake cases, but so interesting and different they made a lovely little gift for grandchild number two.

Arundel castle

It was a sign of the times that our new granddaughter was announced to us via email on our son's smartphone while we were out and about, but the announcement was almost instantaneous. Despite the fact our daughter was in Australia and we were in the UK, we were able to keep up-to-date with the labour, or unfortunately, the lack of labour and the resulting c-section. We were able to send comments and encouragements along the way and when she was bored in hospital waiting for the her baby to put in an appearance we were able to email back and forth. Makes quite a difference to the times when someone might be aware that a family member was going into hospital but you then had to wait until after the birth and dad had got sent home to find out what happened. Amazing what differences new technologies can make.

A little different from Latvia, still cold though

By the way, sorry for the delay in updating the blog but all will be revealed next week

Time creeps on

Wow the weeks are speeding by. I'm now sat in England, in my son's house and not in Latvia. The kittens are being cared for by a neighbour and her small son. It did feel very strange to be saying goodbye to them, knowing we are leaving them for a longish time. One of them was especially cute and cuddly in the morning as if she was making us feel bad for going away. Heh ho! A seaside town on the south coast of England is so different to rural Latvia with the seagulls making a racket, so much traffic on the wrong side of the road, and so many houses and shops. It is odd to have culture shock returning to a land we once knew so well, but something we have become accustomed to.

The week has been a time of preparing for going away, making sure we saw people we needed to see, tidying up so we don't come back to a mess and preparing for a wardrobe that never arrived. The wardrobe is a long story indeed and I guess it will be ready for when we get back, well maybe.We have got used to things not quite going to plan in Latvia fortunately. I had wanted a wardrobe for a long time and we looked around in shops and never really saw anything that would work for us and so we ended up arranging for it to be made locally by the firm that made our kitchen, but things have been difficult for him as normal and possible delivery dates have slipped time and time again. Frustrating but in the words of one of our friends "It is what it is" and getting irritated or even angry won't help at all. So for the time being the clothes remain in plastic crates until we get the wardrobe installed.

We landed in England and immediately were taken to a small town for a cup of tea, some food and a meeting with some friends we hadn't seen in quite a while. Our friends are people we knew from our time up north and one of them goes back about 25 years, a long time indeed. Our friends have since moved down south and were visiting relatives in the area where our son lives. It all seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. The time was spent catching up and reminiscing much to the amusement of the cafe owners. We stayed for a long, long time and apologies were even made when our party was leaving for spending so long there, but all was forgiven as we had spent enough money in the process. Phew! Good job really as it was only a small place with eight of us crammed into a cosy nook, taking up probably half the cafe in the process.

Today was spent in the company of my son's niece and nephew, released from school last week for Christmas and needing some entertaining whilst their mum still works. Part of the day was spent in a play place, where scaffolding type constructions are covered in foam and children can get to run around,  play hide and seek and slide down the slides. Perfect for running off lots of energy but oh so noisy for people used to the rural way of life, and there were so many people of different shapes and sizes! It was funny watching the little ones toddling around but we are definitely passed that stage in life of running around after our own little ones, well until grandkids come along and then we can pass them back. Watching our son dealing with his niece and nephew made us realise how far we have come from that young family who set off on adventures new to a small rural village in Derbyshire, that our friend who we had met up with again had witnessed, oh so many years ago. At that time we never dreamt that we would end up in a small rural village in Latvia, with our children spaced so far apart.

One of the things I forgot to mention last week was my book prize came and it's huge. I didn't realise it was an epic book of gargantuan proportions. Okay I exaggerate a bit, but it is only a bit. I haven't even had the chance to really sit down and absorb much of it at all, but I did get the chance of making pumpkin pie using one of the recipes; a recipe a little more geared towards the European palate with less sugar in it. It worked well.

I think it is encouraging to see younger people beginning to engage with issues, such as education by the 19 year old last week that I mentioned. This week the youngster hasn't even left school and yet he is engaging with the issue of evidence based medicine. I hope this young man does indeed become a champion for evidence based medicine, it is sorely needed but ...... and it is a big but, that extends to so called conventional medicine too. As conventional medicine is often derived from natural formulations, separated from other components with a greater risk of side effects, then it is not always better for you. Conversely just because it is natural does not mean it is safe. Just because it has been used for years and years does not mean it is effective. The problem is that conventional medicine is not always based on evidence either, as sometimes evidence is tricky to collect ethically, but evidence still needs to be collected somehow. So where am I on this scale of alternative vs conventional? Neither really or stuck straight down the middle. If over processed food is not good for us, then perhaps over processed medicine which ignores a more holistic approach, may possibly not be good for us either. Remembering that many drugs etc are researched by companies aimed at making money, should help us to remember to keep a healthy scepticism of their claims too.

I have to apologise there are no photos this week either. Never mind there will be some cute photos of alpacas next week when we go and see them - hope I remember!