Something's in the air

Got any food mate? The volume is creeping up from these
guys and yes they do have hay and yes they do have water
and yes they do get a helping of oats every day. Sheep are
just noisy. Makes you think when God compares people to
sheep!

Something's in the air? Unfortunately this week that is not all good news. Ian is still sick, although he is better than he has been and now drives himself out to the land. He comes home as it is getting dark feeling pretty grotty though. Into the bargain, I now have a cold. Fortunately I didn't get all the aches and shivers, just a sore throat initially and now a bunged up nose. This has meant we have spent the last week sleeping in separate rooms so we don't wake each other up.

Handsome dude!

Contemplation on a murky day

To add to our woes (but dear reader do not be too despondent, it could be whole lot worse) the road out to our land is closed. About half way along, the road has collapsed down a steep embankment into the river. Initially we thought they had closed it to work on it, but no! They have closed it and stabilised the area, but that will be it presumably, until spring. There is some confusion as to whether it can be used or not by the locals requiring access so that we do not have to take the long detour, which means an 18km trip instead of 6km one. At first we took the long route round because the roads have been so bad with the continued rainy weather we have been having and because we thought they were working on it. Now the rain has stopped, the sun come out and the temperatures dropped then we feel happier about taking that route as the road won't be so unstable or resembling liquid soup.

The caravan in its winter quarters

What a difference a day makes. A sprinkle of snow and some
sunshine and the world is a different place

At the beginning of the week I was fine and drove Ian out to the land. Of course he wouldn't stay away from his animals, he wanted to go and see them, even if it meant spending the rest of the time in the caravan snivelling - although to be fair he often felt worse in the dry, warm atmosphere at home. I helped him with the heavier jobs like poo cleaning after our holiday break, since it was a step too much to ask someone to do over that time. There was about three wheelbarrow loads from each alpaca house to clear and then I put a good layer of hay for bedding on the top. After that Ian was able to manage most routine jobs and I just helped out when he needed an extra hand, like topping up the hay, which requires shifting more bales of hay.

Lady V is much more sprightly with her Vitamin D and
mineral injection. Those old bones need some sunshine
vitamins. I know the feeling

Taking lunch with her

We took one of our calendars with photos of our alpacas to the local vet who has been so helpful to us, as a thank you for all the work she's done. She didn't think she had done so much, but she has. Even if she didn't know how to help, she did her research and we discussed together the best way forward. I think we work together as a good team and that is the best we can hope for in a rural location with no previous experience of alpacas. She was thrilled with the calendar and looked through every page while we were there. It was nice to give something that someone appreciated so much.

Freddie glowing in the sun

Meditation in the sunlight

We have already started getting people ringing about visiting the alpacas this year, but nothing has come of that so far. Part of the problem of course has been the weather, but with more settled weather forecast then it is more likely they will come. We've also had an email reply from another alpaca owner who is interested in keeping in touch and learning about the alpacas. This is good news and something we hope will develop over time.

George is still getting milk from his mum, but he is also
quite keen on the squash he gets from time to time

George and his mum maybe different in colour but they do
have a similar shaped face, especially the nose and ears

Chanel glowing in the sunshine

So that's about it from the house of plague! There has been a lot of bone broth in this week. A lot of time just moping about, coughing and spluttering, but life goes on and we are recovering. Good job as I am also in the middle of finishing off the amendments to my latest academic paper and then it can be resubmitted. It's a good job it was only minor revisions that are needed

And because there is not much to write about during a week
of illness then here are lots of alpaca pictures. Here they are
the girls, setting off down the field 

Spreading out, having a good look around

Right that's enough of that, back to the paddock everyone

Freddie is nearly as big as his mum. Wonder if he is going
to be a big chap like Brencis.

What else do you do with a Christmas tree?

Eat it of course

Having a good scratch

Brencis is such a handsome chap. He has got a new harness
now because he outgrew the old one and his fleece will make
it impossible to fasten soon

Hello! Our rather deaf alpaca. I know the feeling, especially
at the moment.

So here we are

Icy rain today and just a dusting of snow. Not exactly a
pleasant start to the year

Another new year and nearly ten years since I began blogging. It has been an interesting time and I would never have thought we would be doing what we are doing now all those years ago. So much has happened and I have met so many people over that time. What a ride.

Our youngest grandson

This year we had our first family Christmas in a few years, where all our family got together. What used to be just five of us is now 12, since our three children now have children of their own. We set off to the UK on the 21st and were picked up from the airport by our youngest son. It is nice not to have to worry about transport these days. We were launched straight into a round of feasting with party number one at my son's partner's father's place. We met the sisters on that side of the family for the first time. It is a long time since we have been amidst so much present unwrapping, as we have never been big present givers at Christmas, so it was almost a bit overwhelming to see so much wrapping paper heading for the bin. Ian laughed later when he reminded our son how everyone used to carefully take off wrapping paper as it would be used in craft projects later in our house.

You can see why he gets so many comments on his hair.
Quite a head of hair for a seven week old

Needle felted pictures by Debbie Colby. I also bought a
tree brooch and some flowery ones for my daughter
and daughter-in-laws

During the year I had made contact with a lovely felting artist, Debbie Colby. I realised she lived close to my son and so we organised to meet up. I was always amazed at her work, I kind of felt she made the pictures that were in my head but I never really got a working image that I was happy with when I was doing my embroidery course though. Then again I had not heard of needle felting at that point and maybe I would have got a more satisfactory result if I had. I shall be getting my designs out again and having another go using some of the techniques that Debbie demonstrated for me. What I love is the thought of being able to use up some of the fabrics I have lying around that I sorted out into various colours the other week.

Our alpacas had visitors too and were well looked after while
we were away. Here the boys have been tempted outside in
the snow with some food.

I spent the afternoon showing our adopted granddaughter how to use her new toy sewing machine, that actually worked quite well. We made sacks for two of the Christmas presents, rather than using wrapping paper. I had already made some Japanese knot bags during the one free day I had during the week (must remember to wash the fabric first next time though, storing them had an adverse effect). We also had a go at making gluten free Latvian style Christmas biscuits or at least the dough. It was good fun to have a helper in the kitchen.

Not an alpaca insight

After our shopping expedition my leg was a bit stiff and so
my son lent me his roller to massage the back of my leg.
They laughed but at least it was a bit easier and now it is
almost back to normal

We ventured into Coventry where my son lives on the Saturday. It was not as busy as we were expecting, which was probably a good thing, considering we are not so used to crowds these days. My son's partner was hoping to take her daughter to see Santa but as we queued up we were told that unfortunately the grotto was closing as Santa had thrown up. Too many mince pies already I guess. Very sensibly the young lass decided it wasn't a proper Santa as Santa is never sick and so we toddled off to IKEA where apparently Santa was definitely residing. Ian and I didn't go up to see Santa as my leg was starting to ache by then, so we had a drink and I put my feet up, while we waited. We were also treated to a lovely meal in town.

Yes I was stood at the door of the greenhouse to take these.

Our son's cat. Surprised she is still friends with us as Ian
helped to de-flea her :D

Our son put in a special request for a Christmas breakfast of home-made croissants. It was a tradition in our house to eat those for Christmas and Easter breakfasts and it is nice that he remembers that. I taught our adopted granddaughter how to make them and got her to do all the hard work of rolling them out. Nothing like a little willing slave labour. It also kept her occupied whilst my son and partner went to prepare Christmas meal number two at one of her sister's homes on her mother's side this time. Gammon featured a lot in our meals over the last week! There were some hilarious games to watch in the evening, although I forgot to take photos during The Pooping the Potato Race. A classy game! Not!

Our messy greenhouse in winter

Our Granddaughter opening her
presents

Before rolling into bed, or rather onto the couch, that night I finished off rolling out the croissants one more time and put them in the fridge to rise overnight. We were usually up early enough to put them in the oven in the morning, as we were still on Latvian time at that point. So Christmas morning we began with the unwrapping of presents before our croissants and had a more relaxed day with Christmas dinner in the evening. Yes more gammon!

Brother and sister

Boxing Day we went for lunch in small, quaint village of Knowle, but the restaurant that we planned to go to was not open. We wandered around a bit before I spotted a little Italian that seemed to be open. It looked shut at first but I realised it was actually the estate agents next door that was shut and the unobtrusive doorway to the Italian was on the other side. It turned out to be a delightful discovery with one of the nicest waiters I have known in a while. A family of older people also turned up and they were friendly too. They complimented our adopted granddaughter on her manners, all credit to her super mum. Our little grandson has also been the star wherever we went. His hair always gets comments. We finished off the day with more time spent in the kitchen (just to clarify, that is my son's kitchen not the Italian) cooking more biscuits to take to another family party the next day.

Me and all my grandchildren. I only got into the picture
as the grandson on my knee would not sit for the photo.

So onto the next Christmas meal at our daughter's house, or rather post-Christmas meal since it consisted of cold meat (yes you've guessed it, there was gammon again too) and various salads with a rather nice selection of desserts. It was also our youngest son's 28th birthday. Hard to think our youngest is creeping rather close to his 30s and our older two are already there. It doesn't seem that long ago since they were the same age as our grandchildren and yet in other ways it also seems eons ago. It was quite a gathering of the clan, as my other son and his family came up from the South and my parents joined us as well.

Our sheep, unlike the alpacas seem to have spent most of the
time outdoors in the rain today

It had been planned that our other son would collect one of us from our youngest's as there was not room in the car for both Ian and I and my youngest's son's family. I went in one car and Ian in the other and we set off in convoy. Only that part didn't go according to plan. We were separated early on at a junction and we got behind another car that looked the same as my youngest son's car. We followed for a little while before realising it was not the same car. Thank goodness for SatNavs on phones these days though as it meant we were quickly back on track and just phoned through to say, sorry we weren't following and we would meet at our daughter's. It turned out our route was the fastest as there was an accident along the route my youngest son took and we were there a good half hour before him. There was some teasing!

Our cats disgraced themselves. They got into the cabinet
where the food is, although I suspect it was the other one,
as that was her trick. The food was relocated to a drawer they
cannot get into

My youngest son went home with his family that evening and Ian and I stayed on at our daughter's along with our older son. In the morning Ian and I met up with Ian's old boss from his time of working in the hospital labs. As I mentioned back in mid-November I received an odd email telling us that his old boss was retiring and they were planning a party. It was odd in the fact the email came to me and not to Ian. Ian got in touch with his old boss and had a bit of an email exchange where he arranged the meeting at Chatsworth Farm Shop for breakfast. It was an amazing conversation of catching up on folks who Ian has worked with. Some sadly have died, many have retired and some still working at the hospital.

He wasn't going to let me get a picture of him, he kept
running to the back. 

Most of the time we didn't go out or do anything special but the children played together quite nicely, which is great. It was a good job they did too as the weather wasn't altogether pleasant and one of them in particular did not like the wet snow. There was one point when all the guys went out to get a tyre fixed as it kept going down on my son's car. It turned out there was a nail in it. When they got back, my daughter, my daughter-in-law and I went out for a coffee and we left the guys with the little ones. I was very proud of my husband, he instantly realised what I meant when I said we were going for a coffee and had no qualms about being left with the little ones. It seemed only fair!

The cockerels in this ark are still not
crowing. Looks like it could be anytime
soon though

It was a bit like Christmas before we set off to the UK, as Ian got a microscope. We were panicking as it arrived the afternoon before we left. He had ordered other parts for his parasitology testing kit to arrive in the UK as it was cheaper, but the microscope would have been more difficult to bring back. There wasn't much time to have a look and play, but it was enough to find out that the eye piece camera was not working on our Macs, even with a Windows adaptation. Ian popped the camera into his luggage and we took it along for our son-in-law to have a look at. Eventually it was decided that we could take another laptop back with us that would work with the camera. I think it is the first laptop we have owned that is not a Mac. We had been falling out of love with Apple just lately and so not too traumatised, except for trying to get it in and out of my rucksack at the airport - small and lightweight it is not, but it works and that is all that matters.

This chap maybe the smallest cockerel but he is definitely
crowing and harassing the females

The next day our daughter and son-in-law left their oldest two with our son and daughter-in-law while they drove us back to our youngest's home. I still had another sewing project to do with our adopted granddaughter on the present I had given her. The present was simple enough, a Japanese knot bag pattern that I had printed out with a piece of dyed woollen blanket and some felt and buttons for flowers. Rather than expect her Mum to help her though, I said I would help her make it before I left. So in the time between visiting her Dad and going to the pantomime we made the bag on my Granddaughter's new sewing machine. It was a nice way to finish off a family Christmas.

Well it was dark and miserable, so lots of chicken photos

So on the last day of the year we headed home. Unfortunately Ian was not so well and we had to dose him up before the plane travel. I had got a sore throat from the kids over a 24 hour period but had recovered by the time we set off,  Ian though seems to have come down with something more. At least the staff at Manchester airport were incredibly friendly, even in security. I have never had a pat down done by such a pleasant member of staff. One of the staff also carried my tray to a table rather than leave me to it. Their approach, I felt, really kept things moving along and left us feeling well cared for rather than traumatised going through security. Not that we have ever been thoroughly traumatised, but it often feels like an ordeal rather than something that just has to be gone through. We also got chatting to a guy on a sandwich counter - mind you I think he was perhaps a little bored, but it filled in time.

Our Grandson is not the only one with a quirky hair do

Hoping to have eggs from these soon

So after a busy Christmas we headed for bed. I did get up in the night when the fireworks started, as I knew they would be loud. I also made the porridge for the morning as we hadn't done it earlier. When all was quiet it was time to head back to bed. We woke up late but it was so dark and miserable, it didn't really matter that much we were late for letting the animals out. They hardly went out anyway during the day. They seem to have developed an aversion to the white stuff that we had on the ground again.

The herb bed and vegetable garden. Needless to say I didn't
bother trying to dig carrots or leeks today

So that just leaves me to say, I hope you all had a Happy Christmas, whether it was as busy as ours this year or more like some of our previous ones where we took things easy. I also wish you all the best for the New Year. May your year ahead be filled with precious moments.

Merry Christmas

Well blog night falls on Christmas day this year and since I am with family I will keep this blog short and just wish you all a wonderful Christmas. May it be filled with love, joy and peace.

Improving

Freddie venturing out in the snow. Mind you, he seems to
be the only one from this group, the others have largely
remained inside

I think that kind of sums up the week. I'm improving. My leg is getting better, the next paper is coming along and my PhD is progressing into its final stages, although there is still a while to go yet but at least the end is in sight.

Off for a wander on his own

Yes! Quite warm and toasty here, I think we will stay in

I have been hobbling along for most of the week, but I have progressed from using two walking sticks to one and then none most of the time. My leg still aches a bit but I found liniment seems to help a lot. The first half of the week I was at home and only went out to go to our other apartment to do some sorting out, a nice 10 minute walk on a good day but a bit nerve wracking with ice on the ground but I took it slowly and there were no incidents.

Well Brencis doesn't mind sitting outside

A very blue scene

The reason for going up to our other apartment is because it needed heating now that winter is truly upon us and I needed to organise my fabrics that were lying on the floor. I no longer have a rainbow assortment on the floor, it is all stacked neatly on shelves so I can actually get to them and see what I have. That really feels like progress to me. We had decided to that since I was at the other apartment and had been heating it all day we may as well have a bath night. I thought it would be nice to soak in a nice warm bath, it would certainly help to ease the aches.

Mr. P

Ian came round after finishing on the farm and at some point he spotted a mouse, looking like it was having a good sleep on the floor next to the stove. One of the issues we have had at that apartment is evidence of a mouse. It had eaten some of my seeds, fortunately just the squash ones which I have quite a few of anyway and of course left little tell-tale signs in places. I was fortunate it hadn't chewed through my fabric stash. We put it on the fire since we knew it would have died from the poison we had put out for it and didn't want the neighbourhood cats getting sick by eating it if we threw it outside. Ian decided to check to see if there was evidence of any more mice and got the torch out to look under the sink next to the stove. He found that the floor was wet and one of the pipes was leaking. Sigh! We are often having issues with pipes leaking, whether it is ours or our upstairs neighbours. The components are not good that we can buy here and Ian said he will plan on renewing the plumbing before we move in. For now the water is turned off.

This is Lady V and the photo was taken at the end of
November.

The following day I had to go out with Ian to the farm as he needed to give Lady V some injections of vitamin D and some minerals to help her with dodgy legs. I went back there today to put some liniment on her legs too. I managed to find one with arnica in it and another one with the deep heat effect which is what I have been using. I made her some treats with comfrey, turmeric and plantain - all good anti-infammatory stuff. She gobbled those down. Hopefully it will help her feel more comfortable. I don't think we will cure her dodgy legs but if we can stop it getting worse then that will be good.

Tellus sporting the jaunty red-neck look

More blue tinged scenes

I haven't been buying meat from out butchers just lately, we have more than enough for us at the moment from our own sheep and chickens. What we have missed though is bacon sandwiches, so I had a go at using the mutton to make bacon. It does not look like pork bacon but a deep red colour and it wasn't cut quite thin enough as it was more difficult to cut than the pork I would normally use, but it worked. It made a passable bacon and that's all I ask.

The boys making it out of their alpaca house, well just

The sheep in their winter paddock. They have finally started
eating the hay and stopped digging through the snow for the
grass underneath it

On Thursday I had to head up to Tartu to present my work in a seminar to my supervisors and colleagues on the Friday. I decided to take a different route to normal as it meant less walking, but it did mean sitting around in a little cafe for three hours. Fortunately it is just a supermarket cafe and so not expensive and one drink an hour suffices. In fact I had an early lunch there too and it only cost me €2.90 including a cup of tea. Originally the plan was to take the early bus to Riga and take the train up to Valga and then the bus, but the meeting that was booked in Riga was cancelled due to the lady having treatment at the dentist, which was worse than she anticipated. At least it meant a 15 minute lie in, which is nice at that time in the morning. A 6:55am bus always seems better than a 6:40am bus. That got me into Cesis at 8:55am and the train left at 12:30pm.

Mr. Tellus again

Looking a little forlorn and lost in the fog

I got into Valga station and noticed the Estonian train on the opposite side and even better it was going to Tartu. I hadn't realised one of their few link trains would be there- it no longer works for me the other way around rather annoyingly. So instead of getting into Tartu just before 5pm, I was there just after 3pm. My friend came and picked me up from the train station too. I had meant to work on my presentation slides on the way up but I had to sort out some questions to send ahead as they had a new format for the PhD seminars and I wasn't aware of it. It was all good preparation for my thoughts though.

Still not exactly venturing far

Well at least the fog lifted sometimes

The presentation went surprisingly well considering there was only one other PhD student there besides me and the supervisors. It meant I could skip through the background and we had some really good discussions. It was even better that they felt I had identified areas of research that were still needed. I was not sure if it was an area that had been covered somewhere within the discipline already but it hadn't, so that is exciting. They were also quite excited that my paper has had two citations already. The problem is there are so many papers written in the academic field that getting a citation, where someone quotes from your work, can sometimes be rare, unless you are very well-known and I am definitely not.

No it is not the greenhouse on fire but the lights on in the
caravan, which is inside the greenhouse and taken early in
the morning 

My friend, Edith Chenault took this photo as she was on the
right side to take it. It looks so ethereal on this snowy,
foggy day.

My trip back was easy, well it was for me. My friend who I stayed with for a couple of nights decided on an adventure to drive me home and then head back on her own. She has driven to Latvia before and came down for the felting course in August, but this was winter and she hadn't done the trip alone before. There was also the issue that the last time she came down a rock hit her oil sump and she broke down. We decided on a route that had tarmac and not a dirt road, as the roads have not been good and we found a very pretty snow covered route through Nitare. It would have been even prettier if it hadn't been foggy. My friend stayed overnight and headed back the next day. The trip didn't go quite to plan but she made it back okay, so an accomplishment.

Frosted car badge