Eventually

The beach at Beadnell, Northumberland

Well it has been quite a start to the New Year. It seems so long ago now since I welcomed the New Year in at my daughter's house in the UK. I'm back home in Latvia now and getting into the normal work routine groove - well as near normal as I can get.

George looking dapper

It hasn't been the best of weather during my stay, but this
day was glorious. 

The New Year's party was quite entertaining, with 7 adults and 9 relatively small children. They did pretty well, even if one of them was a bit over wrought and spent the count down with a bucket in case he was sick. I joined in a virtual reality game, which involved virtually swinging light sabres at virtual boxes with arrows on. I think it was more entertaining for those watching and apparently I looked more like I was dancing, than swinging a light sabre. Good fun anyway.

Brencis practising his singing again

Ian and I had a lovely walk along the beach and then back
along the tops of the dunes. 

On New Year's day I headed back down to my son, who had the surprise 30th birthday party the week before. My older son took me down and dropped me off, as he was heading home with his family. We were a bit late arriving and so as soon as I arrived, I was off to another surprise party. It wasn't a surprise to everyone else, it was a surprise to me, as I didn't know I was heading off to a New Year's Day party. At least I knew everyone there and so not a problem. It was a lovely afternoon in fact.

A beautiful frosty moring out on the land.

Peekaboo! Amanda peeking out

We got to visit a few different places, like a city farm near the end of Birmingham airport runway. It is possible to watch the airplanes coming into land from the park nearby. Unfortunately they were coming in from the opposite end that day and so not as impressive, but that was okay as I got to spend quite a bit of time chatting to my granddaughter as we sauntered around the park. I also felted some fingerless gloves with her from the wool I gave her for Christmas.

The cattail rushes look kind of odd just sticking out of the
centre of the pond. One of the problems with the pond drying
up the year before is the rather large amount of vegetation
that grew there.

Northumberland has some great beaches, just a tad cold
from time to time.

One of the reasons for not posting until now is trying to be available to my family and spend time with them as well as fit in my work. I can only be so flexible. Another reason was a change from my planned itinerary. Ian phoned me to tell me that his brother was back in hospital and wasn't expected to live more than two weeks. Ian was already struggling with me being away, the dark and miserable weather and the alpacas not being pregnant and so not a good start to the New Year for him.

A snow bath

There is snow on them thar' hills. They are also a long way
a way. The area has a large waterbird population that nest
there in the summer months. There are also lots of geese
around in winter too.

I transferred some money so Ian could book flights and then started working out a plan to get us up to see his brother. Our kids also swung into action and between us we organised where everyone was staying and travel plans. Gratefully we all managed to say our goodbyes to Ian's oldest brother, before he passed away last week. Despite the sad reason for us being together and having the pain of saying goodbye, it was actually mostly a pleasant time. We got to spend time with Ian's next older brother (Ian is the youngest of three) and Ian's niece, who our oldest son was staying with. We promised the next gathering of the clans will not be for such a sad occasion.

Antonia glowing in the light

The ubiquitous windmills in the distance. Can't think why
they would have them there :D

After the few days up in Northumberland, we dropped Ian off at my daughter's so he could be taken to the airport in the afternoon and I travelled with our oldest son to his home. Home for him is now a caravan. He and his family got sick of being shunted around whilst renting. They are making a good go of raising three kids in a caravan and they seem to be enjoying the experience for the most part. It was always going to be a challenge to share a caravan in January, but they bought a little pop up tent to put in their awning. It worked - I'm used to caravan life and life on the road now, so not so much of a problem, apart from when Storm Brendan swept in. We stayed up late waiting for the wind to die down before I headed to bed in the awning. Unfortunately the wind picked up in the middle of the night, so there were a few sleepless hours listening to the wind. I was snug in my little tent though and the awning survived, even if my son and I had to nip out in the evening to re-fasten one of the storm straps.

A glorious sunset on the land

We had lunch in the conservatory looking out at the dunes.
It is a holiday cottage owned by one of our nieces and Ian's
brother works as a caretaker for them. So while he worked
we relaxed. 

After an eventful time with family, I headed home to Latvia. I sat next to two young women, who seemed to be trying to figure out how to get to their accommodation in Riga. I explained how to get bus tickets and how to recognise where to go. I had hoped to get the 3pm bus from the city centre but our plane arrived late, so no chance for that, especially as I had to wait for my luggage. My travelling companions went off to get tickets and I waited by the carousel. I was watching as one lady with two small children struggled with them, a buggy and a large suitcase. In the end I went over and offered to help, I couldn't bear it any more and no one closer was helping. I walked with her suitcase out to the taxi stand and we chatted a bit. She promised to come and visit our alpaca farm in the future - not sure if she will or not, but at least she seemed happier than when I first saw her, she even called me an angel.

Ilvija wearing her dinner

A cheery face while I do a bit of work.

I caught up with my travelling companions and so we got the bus together into town. I helped them get orientated and waved goodbye. I had a couple of hours to kill in the bus station but time passed quickly enough, especially watching the security guys who were moving on the drunk homeless guys. I have to give them credit for doing that in a respectful way and not in a heavy-handed manner. Mind you, they were big guys and not the sort to mess with. I felt sorry for the homeless guys though, often they just wanted to sleep and one had such bad legs he couldn't have walked well, even if he wasn't drunk.

Ian has been busy fulfilling orders for
yarn. He cleans, cards and spins it himself

Mr. P. in his snowcoat. You can see the problem he has with
his teeth. At least they are not sticking out tonight

On Sunday and Monday morning I caught up with some work. Ian had some bank issues to sort out and so went to the big town but picked me up before he headed back to the land. The aim was to cut Mr. P's teeth as they had got far too long. He can eat hay fine but grasses in spring would be an issue. Once we sorted that out we went for a wander around our land and returned to the greenhouse to puzzle over the disappearing chicken saga. Over the last two nights one chicken has disappeared. It didn't help that not all of them have been going into their arks at night. There are gaps under the arks but we couldn't see how an animal could have dragged out a chicken and there weren't that many feathers left. Anyway, tonight, I climbed into two of the arks and physically made sure all chickens were in, since there were a few of them not going in. Ian got the ones in the other ark as I couldn't reach. Hopefully tonight they are all safe and sound and whatever has been pinching our chickens will give up.

Brencis with a peachy sheen to his coat

A photo of a photo. This is Ian's father at 65 years old. He
died in 2007 at the age of 80. Ian's next brother looks fairly
similar as he heads towards 65 and Ian is beginning to look
more and more like his brother, so I guess this is what Ian
will look like at 65.

So there you are, that's what I've been up to since the last time I blogged.