It was one of those weeks of "Is it, isn't it going to be a white Christmas?" the snow came and went, came and went again. Some mornings we would wake up to a snowy white world and the next it would be green again. Eventually though we had snow on the 23rd and it has been white ever since. Mind you, we haven't got as much snow as some of our friends in Sheffield in the UK, which is rather unusual. Still it does mean that skiing season has begun here as I spotted some folks walking around with skis in hand today. It also means that the snow clearing season has begun and the snow blower actually made it out of the barn for the first time this season, which is about as many times as it made it out of the barn all of last winter.
Ian is there somewhere
We didn't plan much for Christmas itself, apart from what we were going to eat. We decided to go for free-range pork for the dinner, aka wild boar! You can't get more free range than that! It was rather tasty done in plum juice, sage and lovage, all from the garden, with just a little balsamic vinegar, mustard and worcestershire sauce. I also roasted other vegetables from the garden, like carrots, turnips, onions, beetroot and potatoes. It was rather satisfying to sit down to our Christmas Dinner knowing that so much of it had come from either our own garden or from the local area. I followed it up with a type of tiramasu, made from home-made chocolate cake soaked in squash and raisin rum, (which we have just decanted off from last year's brewing) and coffee, layered with home-made custard and blackcurrants. We ate Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve as we were visiting neighbours on Christmas Day itself.
Beautifully labelled! Not! Quite a few bottles of squash or
squash and raisin rum and it all tastes rather nice.
When I go out to the land, I usually feed the chickens and
as Ian went out the door, he called "Don't forget to check
for eggs." I do forget sometimes! As I checked I found a
package with five twix bars in the egg laying compartment.
The clever chickens had double wrapped them and written
a lovely little note for me. Isn't that sweet!
The croissants were made once again for Christmas Day breakfast. This is an annual ritual for many years. I'm not quite sure how it all started, but it makes a change from porridge anyway. I have baked them in the morning of Christmas Day for the past two years and then we've taken them out to the land to eat. As I've already mentioned we were visiting neighbours this year. We usually collect milk on a Thursday and weren't sure if we should go up, but since most Latvians have their main celebration on Christmas Eve it wasn't a big deal to be going to pay a visit on Christmas Day itself. Our neighbours daughter was home from university too and so it was an ideal time to catch up on some news of how it had all gone. What we weren't sure about before we went though, is whether we would end up eating there, as it has been known for us to turn up and a meal prepared when we weren't expecting to be fed. As it turned out snacks were provided and we had pīrāgs (which is a kind of bread roll filled with ham and onion usually) and apple cake, just right after a large meal the previous day. We also came away with a bag of apples and more apple cake, so that will keep Ian in cake for a few days. As for the young lady at university, it was nice to find out that she is doing very well and really enjoying the work, as well as adapting well to the city.
I said he was there somewhere
Still in captivity! At least they haven't escaped just lately
We have more exciting news to announce this week, grandchild number five is on the way next year, this time around the beginning of July. It doesn't seem that long ago since we were announcing the arrival of our first two grandchildren or telling you about our adoption as grandparents by our son's fiancée's little girl. It has seemed such a rapid transition to life as a grandparent, albeit from rather a long distance. Thank goodness for Skype. It not only keeps us in touch with our grandchildren, it has helped Ian keep in touch with his elderly mother, who has not been very well just lately. It is a pity that she is afraid of computers, otherwise he could talk face to face, but she is happy enough hearing his voice. Just in case you are wondering, Ian still has brothers nearby to his mother and so we know she is well looked after by them. It is still a worry though, not quite knowing how she is. She ended up with a trip into hospital this week and we are not quite sure if she is out yet or not at the moment.
The snow might be a nuisance for Ian and adds to his chores,
but it sure looks pretty.
Looking for seeds in the sheep's hay bedding
There is no denying that I am at a certain stage of life where hot flushes are a periodic reminder of how old I am. They have been both a curse and a blessing this last week as they seem to have returned with great regularity. In some ways they are quite nice for warming up freezing toes, but as I have discovered they can be quite dangerous too at below freezing temperatures. I was out on the land with Ian and although we have the caravan, it has a lot of warming up to do before it reaches a good temperature of about 6C. When a hot flush ensues I have to start whipping off hat, gloves, scarf and opening my coat up before I start to sweat as the last thing I need when it is -8C outside is sweat freezing. I then have to wait for the flush to subside and try and judge the best time to fasten up my coat and put all the other things back on to keep me warm and toasty. So far I seem to have judged it right and I've not frozen afterwards.
This little chap seems to be spending a lot of time around
And seems rather bold
Playing with my camera again. The alpacas in the snow
using the sketch setting
In the UK a rather well know supermarket used the Christmas truce of 1914 in their advertising. It is quite remarkable that in the middle of a war, men stopped firing at each other and played football, or sang Christmas hymns to one another. It makes you wonder whose war it was? For a brief period of time, men stopped seeing each other as enemies and made connections with each other. One of the soldiers of time, Louis Barthas, said this
"Shared suffering brings hearts together, dissolves hatred and prompts sympathy among indifferent people and even enemies. Those who deny this understand nothing of human psychology. French and German soldiers looked at one another and saw that they were all equal as men."
You can read a fuller version of the story on the BBC here. It makes me wonder what could have happened if the soldiers had then decided to call a complete halt to the war. Was it possible? It is sad that not long afterwards they were shooting at each other again, after orders from above and the moment was lost. Something wondrous happens when we stop seeing people as enemies or the other. It means we can see them as people, with hopes and dreams. It is hard to see some people in that way, especially when they have carried out heinous acts. But what happens when we do see them as young men and women with distorted dreams? Dreams of a pure life with a certainty, but bought in blood? What happens when we see them as people who have grown to hate our world with its inequalities and all consuming greed? Will it help us to sit down and try our hardest to try and work out why our society spawns such hatred and try to do something about it? I hope so.
Turbjørn looking handsome in the snow
Tellus in sketch mode
Aggie and Estelle looking inquisitive.
Looking upwards into a snow covered canopy of aspens
Well New Year is nearly upon us. What will this New Year bring? People are certainly filled with uncertainty and are worried what it will bring. It is hard to hold onto hope at times, but I cannot and will not let go of it. I still have my dreams, I still have my faith. I still believe that God is into renewing this planet that he made and I will work to the best of my ability alongside him. I cannot take any certainties into the New Year, but I can take hope and that is enough. Many years ago, as I looked forward into what appeared to be an unknown future, I took encouragement from a song called "Beyond these shores" by Iona. It gave me the courage to take risks and to step out of my comfort zone. I'm not in my comfort zone at the moment, but I can still keep going based on the hope this song inspires.
I've been busy dyeing today. This pink
fleece is sat in a shallow layer of blue
This will be Ian's mother's Christmas
present. I still have time, Christmas is not
over yet!
Because it's Christmas here are a couple of videos, first our alpacas in the snow. Herkules loves to sit in the snow or even roll around in it. Unfortunately Aggie likes to roll in the hay, just look at her fleece and all the bits in it when you see our youngest alpaca. She is meant to be white and I am finding out how hard it is to clean the fleece once it is spun. Can you imagine how hard this will be.
The mosquitos have been bad here in Latvia this year and I am still waiting for my insect repellent from the UK, the sort that does not kill you at the same time as repelling the bugs (heard today it is on its way. Yayyyy!). I hate DEET! In the meantime I thought I would design the perfect gardening wear to defeat the little blighters, unfortunately with the high temperatures we have at the moment I think I would cook in it.
At your nearest medieval stockist - out now!
Wild parsnip - this one is just a baby but they do not
grow to the same height as the giant hogweed.
Giant hogweed - very nasty stuff but an impressive,
statuesque plant
We have also found another invasive pest out on the land, the wild parsnip. This, like the ground elder that we constantly battle with, is another member of the carrot family some of which are downright dangerous like the giant hogweed and hemlock. Giant hogweed is a real nuisance in Latvia after it was introduced for animal fodder by the Soviets and animals fed on it have a slight aniseed flavour. Unfortunately giant hogweed sap reacts to sunlight causing nasty burns on skin where it comes into contact, as well as completely taking over areas with its massive leaves. It is an impressive looking plant though when it does flower and you can understand why the Victorians introduced it into their gardens. Wild parsnip is not in the same league as giant hogweed but it can still cause burns and so we are having to make sure we cut it down before it seeds itself. The other invasive pest has been back, the wild boar but this time they actually did us a favour, they very neatly took the ground elder out without digging their characteristic big holes. Pity they can't be trained to do that all the time.
Our three ponds in series. Still need some landscaping
as you can see but progress nonetheless.
We managed not to get the tractor stuck this week, thank goodness! But what we do have is the beginnings of two new ponds. It is easy to understand how we got so stuck last week as the bottom pond has filled up quite a bit considering we haven't really had any rain, a passing very light shower maybe, but no rain. The lack of rain is a problem as I have had to plant some leek seedlings out and the sun was guaranteed to cook them so I have had to put fleece down, not to protect from frost but to protect them from the sun and hopefully keep the moisture in!
Butterfly! I don't know the name of this one either. One day!
You will be relieved to know this one did escape our
polytunnel
We are finding a problem with our polytunnel is it is a magnet for butterflies, there are so many of them that it sounds like it is raining on the plastic and many of them don't survive. I try and rescue some that I can reach but not sure how much good that does them, failing that if anyone knows what we can do about our butterfly emporium or a use for lots of dead butterflies then do let me know. We have also had progress with the barn, we now have boxes ready for concreting for the foundations which is encouraging. Poor guys though it is so hot and not ideal working conditions as the area is a little suntrap and at lunchtime they decided to go home and not come back until the evening. Can't say as I blame them either.
Another mystery plant but I love it. I
rescued it from an area where it was
going to be destroyed to make way for
the barn road. Hopefully it will seed itself
We had some good news from the tax authorities, they have decided we don't have to pay taxes on our house that we sold last year as we had lived in it for so long. The laws in Latvia are often confusing which is why it has taken sometime to find out what the situation is, but that is partly because it is such a young country and there are not enough cases to test the laws made. It is easy to complain when laws are not clear but understanding the process of law making and how there are always unforeseen circumstances which test the limit of the law and highlight gaps in the law helps when dealing with the authorities. Making good laws that can stand the test of time takes time to work their way through the system. I know corrupt politicians do not help the process but not all of them are corrupt and even if they weren't the process would still take time.
Male broad bodied chaser dragonfly! Success! I managed
to find out what this one is called.
Talking of taxes, earlier on this year someone accessed the tax records of many of the politicians and business leaders of Latvia and published them online. He called himself Neo and was hailed as a modern day Robin Hood by some. It certainly threw up some anomalies such as how the head of the heating company for Riga got a bonus whilst cutting wages of the ordinary workers. "Neo" has given an interview to Baltic Reports where he explained that he hadn't "hacked" into the system as the system was not protected anyway - a little worrying but at least some good came out of it all by highlighting the problem and the arrogance of the elite. Caused quite a storm really.
Fortunately the owners of these feet
weren't in them at the time despite
what the picture looks like. Gave me
quite a shock when I looked out.
A friend of ours posted a link on Youtube of a video put together with the sound track "Beyond These Shores" by Iona. It took me back to the early years when I got the album "Beyond These Shores" as a present and I used to listen to it a lot. When I first heard the song I was a young mum with three young children and the song spoke to me of how God wanted me to launch out beyond the shores of my comfort zone. At the time the most adventurous thing I did was to co-lead a 3-5s children's group at a big event, there were a 100 of the little treasures. At first I wouldn't use the microphone as I was afraid of it but by the end of the week I even managed a double act with a puppet monkey (I didn't operate the monkey just talked to it) complete with microphone. Little did I realise that the song would take on a deeper meaning through the years as I really did leave the shores of country where I grew up. If you had told me all those years ago that I would be writing a blog about the life I lead in Latvia, having already lived in Denmark and the US and visited Brazil, I wouldn't have believed you. If you had also told me that I would preach in each of these countries and used a microphone, I think I would have been scared witless but God is good, he only gives us enough for the step we are on and prepares us gradually for what is ahead.
Chopping wood
f
Finished strimming
Mowing the orchard
These last three pictures are of Ian at work, somethings never change as these are the same things he used to get up to when he was in England, only he used to do these every now and again, not most of the time. Nowadays he works at what we jokingly call his real job, ie one where he earns some money one day a month and chops wood, strims, mows grass and plays in his tractor the rest of the time. Hopefully one day these activities too will provide us with an income. At least they do provide us with the means to eat and stay warm which means we don't need a huge income to live off. Nice!
Just a final comment to say thanks for all the sympathy regarding the toothache from last week, it has definitely improved and I only occasionally need some painkillers now, still grumbles a bit but at least it is so much better than last week. I wasn't a happy bunny!
