Here we are again!

Antonia rocking the mud socks

Another two weeks and how much is done? At least jobs are getting ticked off. Slowly, but they are getting ticked off. It's also been a couple of weeks of weather. You know! Those times when you don't know from one day to the next what the weather will bring.

Mr. Stork out for an morning walk

Soaking up the sun by the barn

The greenhouse got finished in the small window of time when it was reasonably warm and not too windy. There were one or two hairy moments when the wind picked up a bit as we were sliding the acrylic over the greenhouse and wondered if it was going to flip up and break or whether it would just curl over like it was supposed to and slide down the other side. Fortunately it slid over. Ian has also put some sealant on the exposed holes before it persisted it down with rain and handles on the doors. So, now it is already to plant up with tomatoes, both my own and some more from a friend of ours. I'm looking forward to seeing these new varieties as they are quite different apparently.

Aggie also in zen mode soaking up the sunshine

Taking the sunbathing to another level. 

I got a haircut this week. Ordinarily not a remarkable event but in these strange times it is a privilege of living in a Covid19 free area. I had to sign a form and put my phone number on for tracing purposes in case a customer gets sick I suppose. I also had to say that I hadn't got any symptoms, been abroad recently or supposed to be self-isolating. My hairdresser knows all of that information anyway as we are Facebook friends and she won't cut hair if she doesn't know someone. Safe for both of us that way.

Ilvija also enjoying a sunbathe

Peedo, however, looks like it's all a bit too much for him. I
don't think the plague of little annoying/biting flies helped.
Fortunately they have now gone.

We are also in a region of Europe with limited numbers of cases and those are just about under control, so now we are free to travel to Estonia or Lithuania, just in time for shearing. Now we just need the weather to warm up a bit. At least the snow has gone but the wind is chilly and we've had a few hailstorms, wind and rain, so not exactly pleasant weather. We did get some more alpacas sheared locally but still not sheared ours yet and I think they are happy enough about that, until the sun comes out and they get a bit warm.

I think Lady V has had enough too.

And after the sunshine? Snow!

I finally managed to get the last of the potatoes planted - in between the showers that is. I took them out a bucket at a time so I could quickly get back into the greenhouse if it started to rain. I've also planted lots of bean seeds because beans are easy to freeze and last well. There will also be plenty to dry. In the old greenhouse I have pots of tomatoes and peppers that are growing well waiting to go in the new greenhouse. There are cabbages, Brussel sprouts, Chinese cabbage, chard and more beans that are waiting to go outside.  Cucumbers, squash plants and nasturtiums are just starting poke through now and I have planted lots of other seeds at the weekend. I hope it warms up by the time they are ready to go out.

The walk down to the "office" first thing in the
morning was a little chilly

Quite weird with the green poking through

And the spring flowers

Pastel colours

The snow went and we then had rain and hail and rain and
sunshine and rain and sunshine and hail and....

One of the most important jobs at the moment was completed last week. I have handed in my thesis for my doctorate. So one more step completed. Well it nearly was. Apparently the board weren't so happy with my summary and I had to do that over the weekend. A friend of mine who does my editing has been an absolute star for stepping in and helping me get it all finished.

Ilvija looking a little damp and very like a Suri alpaca

She even seems the right kind of shape for a Suri.

My project work is still plodding on, rather too slowly but it is getting there, which is a bit worrying when we need results very soon. I'm sure it will be finished on time, just! The problem with all this online work from our very rural location does mean that we are very reliant on our phones for the internet. The week before my birthday my phone started to cut out rather alarmingly for very little reason. 50% battery! Cut out! Phone call from someone! Cut out! I got to the stage of leaving it plugged in if I was doing anything important. I decided to get a new one, well a reconditioned one. I had planned on getting a Fairphone, but I couldn't wait the three weeks for a new one.

The three amigos looking a little damp. On the day we were
coming back from shearing at someone else's place, I got out
to undo the rope that blocks our entrance and Ian then drove off
without me, or nearly did. He get half way up the bank and
sheepishly rolled back. He'd been so busy looking at our alpacas
that he forgot about me until he saw me in the mirror. Hmmph!

Despite the rain, I think Herkules is looking a bit happier
these days. He's standing up to the other boys again and he's
able to get up without help from Ian. Such a relief.

This last week it was Ian's turn. He tried to get a video off his phone onto the computer and the phone went really weird and then started locking up. There is no time to be able to get it fixed and he's had it about 4-5 years, so kind of only to be expected. That is one of the reasons I wanted a Fairphone because they are repairable to a point of course. Still a reconditioned one is better than wasting resources on a brand new one for me, but Ian needs a robust one so got a new CAT phone.

George heading for a good scratch

A beautiful evening

An old tree

The boys enjoyed their week amongst the trees, apart from
when the flies were also out

It did mean they could have a good scratch though

Someone's not happy

Chanel also having a good scratch

The other girls coming in from their forested patch

Cool!

Vibrant colours against a dark sky

The wet alpaca house looks quite surreal

Home again

It's a hard life being an alpaca. It doesn't look like a
comfortable way to lie to me. 

It's a good job that I'm not a fan of routine. It sure would bore me silly. So last week consisted of a day in the Estonian office, a day of travelling back home to Latvia, a day out discussing alpacas and explaining my research, two days working from home, a day trying to think what I should do on a day off at home and a day off for an Estonian national holiday - Independence Day. So I make my own routine and get the job done.

Moving projections of flowers in Tartu

Relaxing in the local garden centre

The day in the office was as productive as it could be and so worth it to get the chance to go and meet up with everyone. Wednesday morning was the day off for the friend who I was staying with and so we pottered around a garden centre before I set off to go home. I haven't done that in ages. I bought some cacti to put in some decorative cups. They were a present but too small for me for my tea breaks but perfect for putting cacti in. I also got a weeding tool. Success! I'm not really a shopper but a garden centre or a craft shop works for me, especially if they have a restaurant to sit and chill with a tea or coffee and cake. I wasn't skiving either, I worked on the buses and trains using their Wifi.

I liked the ceiling patterns

Our alpacas relaxing in the sunshine. This was taken after a
bout of rising hormones brought on by the rather spring-like
weather. We won't go into details, bearing in mind these are
all male alpacas.

Next I was given a choice of whether to go to our friends with alpacas on Thursday or Friday and decided to take the Thursday off because the sun was supposed to shine that day. It did peek out but it wasn't stunning, better than the cold wintry squally showers later in the week though. It didn't really matter that much about the weather as we sat around chatting for most of the time. We chatted mainly about alpacas of course, but as I mentioned we also chatted about my research. It was interesting talking to someone who has studied rural tourism and moved back into the countryside, about the expectations of the younger generations who take similar decisions to start a rural business. I would love to do a study on the outcomes of those who make that move and see how they find it after five years, especially as children come along.

Mr. Tellus looks pleased with himself

Errr! Winter sunshine?

I have been doing so much on my thesis and work on projects that I have almost forgotten what to do when I take time off. I ended up doing some fairly random jobs as I saw what needed doing. I cleaned a windowsill that had got muck on it from some squashes that have been sat there since they were harvested last year. I brushed the floor. I made felt balls. I did some washing. I started on the leaflet for our felting course in August. Mainly though, I sat around wondering what I should really be doing. I definitely need a list of things I could be getting on with when I am not writing.

Brencis gazing out over the fields. Is that spit I see on the
back of your neck though, Brencis?

Will someone tell the honeysuckle that it is not spring, but
winter and it could be sorry for this burst of enthusiasm

It's still a weird winter here in Latvia, it is near the end of February and still no deep cold days below -20C, in fact it's been rare this season to even touch -10C and then only briefly. That did mean that after a morning of visiting friends I could still get in the garden and do some weeding today, even though the wind was a bit chilly when the sun sank behind the trees. The main thing is that the ground was not frozen, neither were the well rotted hay bales that needed the string taking off them. Instead of being impossible jobs with everything well and truly stuck to the ground or under a deep pile of snow, the very wet and soggy bales were fairly easy to move and the weeds easy to pull.

This has been acting as a reservoir for water rather than a
storage shed. Ian did a little sorting out so it doesn't keep
collecting water. 

Jakobs sporting his well brushed Elvis look

On my day off, when I didn't really know what to do, I watched a talk on Revolutionising Capitalism, by Dr. Michael Schluter, where he argued that the economy needs to move to a system that relies more on relationships. I agreed with much of what was being said, but found myself thinking about the problems too. The argument was that the government have taken over the role of families, which is true to a large extent but we have to look at the reasons for that. We have to acknowledge that when families work well, they are good, but when they don't they can be very destructive.

Here Jakobs looks like he needs a brush. Decidedly wind blown

Flowers? February? How can this be?

Families cannot be isolated as that can be a recipe for abuse and neglect. He argued that families should relate to others through local institutions, but I have also seen where local institutions are not helpful to the local community or the families within them. Families have to be seen as part of the wider society and not untouchable units. There is a need for structures that allow families to flourish. As Michael said, capitalism does not help this, new ways of doing markets are needed. We have to understand that capitalism is not the only way of that markets can operate and that it is not capitalism vs communism, there are other ways, as neither works well.

Jakobs makes me laugh. Did he paint that moustache?

So many signs of life

The problem is that we have to be careful not to think of families within the nation as static things. Too many leaders are following the populist route and demanding that the traditional values be put first, which supposedly adheres to the Christian faith - not one that I recognise though. We have to be aware that static families fixed in some rigid view of traditional families can lead to parochialism and inbreeding. There needs to be fresh blood. As they say, travel broadens the mind, and I think it also helps to show us that we are all the same with the same needs but expressed differently and that is okay.

Hollyhocks coming through in the greenhouse. Some early
spring greens anyway

Chives starting to peek through

We still need the safety nets, the balances and checks that outside authorities can help with. We have to acknowledge that not all family relationships are healthy and be wise when to intervene. We also have to think of families as open units and not fixed, some will move and some will stay. They should not be forced one way or another. I for one need new challenges to keep my mind active, whereas some prefer routine. We need the life blood to flow to in our communities, in our families and local institutions, refreshing them and bringing oxygen and nutrients. New people coming in with new ideas that can also refresh tired old ideas.

Mr. P's teeth look much better since they were trimmed.

Mr. Turbjørn sat on his own as he seems to like to do

When I think of the Celtic Church, I think of it as a fluid community. There were those who stayed and tended the land, providing hospitality for those who moved through. They provided healing, teaching and then encouraged those who should to move on, to find their own place in the world. Traditional families have their value and they are under threat from rampant capitalism but we need to take care what we demand. It should not lead to the demand for an exclusive and elusive ideal that stifles innovation. Not that I think that is what Dr. Michael Schulter was suggesting but just some of the thoughts that sprang from what he said.