Now let me tell you a story...

A really weird cloud formation over our land this week

"Are you sitting comfortably? Now I'll begin". Well that is how "Listen With Mother" used to begin, a radio programme for children under five that ran for many years in the UK. I'm not sure if I ever used to listen to it, but the words are a familiar way to start a story. So if you are sitting comfortably I shall begin this week's story. Once upon a time and not so far away, I met a lady at the Latvian Rural Parliament. We got chatting and swapped contacts with the result that - as usually happens these days - we became Facebook friends. During the week she sent me a message to tell me that a well-known former journalist and author was doing a talk at a bookshop in Riga that sells English books. She was rather sad she couldn't go. Neither could I go either. Too much to do at this time of the year.

Chanel looking rather too chilled out considering she is due
any day now

Still very much pregnant and so the wait continues

Baby swallows. They flew the nest
today

I still read through the details for the event and then did an internet search to find out more. He sounded an interesting chap. I then saw that the gentleman was actually going to be visiting the Struve Geodetic Point that happens to be two minutes down the road from us. This point is part of a chain of points used to estimate the radius of the earth in the 1800s. Interestingly enough the first point established was in Tartu, a place I visit often of course. This point is on the UNESCO Heritage List, but would you believe, we haven't even visited it, although we keep meaning too. Anyway, this was too much of an opportunity to pass up, so I sent a cheeky email to the bookshop to say that if the author wished to join us at our farm, we would love to meet him.

Ian found a wagtails nest in the alpaca house this week. It was
not in the safest place and in danger of being stood on. At least
they were safe from the cats. Later Ian found them in a safer
place on one of the pieces of wood and then later on under the
feeders. The great thing is that the wagtail parents s were
hanging around Chanel and seemed to be catching flies that
were bothering her. Hopefully these little chaps will be joining
the parents and making life easier for the alpacas. We do wonder
if they normally nest in the alpaca house and we've just never
found them before. There is usually one hanging around and it
is certainly safer than the wood piles where the cats usually
find them.

Under the feeder

Close up of a baby wagtail

They haven't read the books! Alpacas do not like long grass

The first surprise was when the bookshop owners replied to say they would pass on the message and do we have a contact number. I duly passed on my phone number and thought no more about it. The next day I had a phone call. Yes the author would like to call in, will it be okay in two hours time? What!!!!! Oh yes! Of course it is. After I rang off I suddenly remembered I was meant to be having a Skype meeting, or at least I thought I did. After a frantic phone call to my boss I found out the meeting was the following week and so it wasn't a problem. Annoyingly the invitations to the meetings seem to disappear from my inbox if I click on accept and do not reply with a comment. I then get a reminder only 30 minutes before the event - not terribly useful. I also remember this happens every time about 30 seconds after clicking on accept and before writing it down.

Neither are they supposed to eat oak leaves

Having a good scratch though is acceptable

Digging up molehills for peaty soil for potting on plants

After the panic I trundled on down to the barn where Ian was working and explained we were about to have a visitor and since it was a particularly naff day with showers it would be a good idea to tidy up the greenhouse. So the next couple of hours we spent sorting the place out, washing up and making scones. As you do! It needed doing anyway. The author was a true gentleman who was happy with whatever we offered and was utterly polite in a quintessentially English way. It seemed so utterly bizarre to be eating strawberries and scones and drinking cups of tea in the middle of rural Latvia with a famous author and his driver, but that is what makes our own journey so fascinating.

My walnut tree is starting to get going now, finally!

And my waterlilly is thriving too. 

Chanel was definitely uncomfortable this day, so Ian was up
having a chat. Unfortunately all settled down and so we
still wait

We had quite a long chat about this and that. We found out he was fairly familiar with places we knew as a reporter in his early days. He even knew what a flow cytometer was - which is the type of specialist machine Ian used to work on in his time as a lab technician. He was also interested in my research as some aspects fitted in with something he was doing, so it seemed particularly serendipitous for all of us. After a lovely time and of course a visit to see the alpacas before the rain curtailed that, he had to go. He nearly didn't leave us, not because we were having such a great time, but because the tyre was flat on his car and Ian ended up changing it in the rain. It was a good job Ian spotted it, as that wouldn't have ended well. At least the gentleman and his driver managed to get to the meeting in Riga that evening and I understand it went very well.

Still waiting but not for the rain

It all looks like quite a dramatic backdrop, but still most of
it is heading around us and not over us. We have had one good
downpour today though

Having a jaw!

Cut and baled and greening up now after the rain.

Besides sitting around talking to well-known folks we have got two lots of hay baled up and under cover before any rain, so more Crown Green Bale-ing. We are now a third of the way through the amount we need for the following year, which is good. What is not so good is the forecast this week is for showers all week with cold temperatures. So while a large portion of Europe swelters our weather deteriorates. Hopefully it will warm up again and we can get the rest of the haymaking done.

Little helpers! Ladybird larvae are also voracious eaters of
aphids

I'm hoping these are pupating ladybirds, otherwise I have an
infestation of something else.

It is not so obvious in this light, but
I love the contrasts of purples and
yellow plants with the different
greens. I'll try again on a sunny day

There have been plenty of visitors this week too and one coach load were from Austria. We went to collect a friend of ours to translate from English to Latvian so the guide could translate into German as requested. In the event, most of them spoke perfectly good English, especially as many were quite young. Many of them were also from farms and so were quite interested in the care of the alpacas. Although there are many alpacas in Austria, there are not many where this group come from. Fortunately our friend enjoyed chatting along to the young folks anyway and so was a break from the usual routine.

Now if anyone knows what this is, I would
be grateful. It is a strong smelling herb of
some description. I bought some herb
seeds and planted them up last year. Two
sorts I cannot remember the name of.

Just like his father, Brencis takes a good photo in the
dark alpaca house. We couldn't do that with Mr. P

We also had a visit from my crazy young friend. Only she is not quite so crazy these days, nor so young. We both work remotely and so there was one point where we both needed to get on with some work and so we shared a co-working space, with our computers set up on a picnic table just outside the greenhouse where we could see the alpacas and using my phone as a hotspot to connect to the internet. It worked rather well. There was one point though we were startled to see a young alpaca running free.

Not often we can get a good photo of Mr. P but I do like this one

Yes we had rain and rainbows today

At the time we had another set of visitors, a mum and young son. They wanted to take an alpaca for a walk and so Ian sorted out two Freddie and Josefs, so they can go together. The idea was the young guy would hold the rope with his mother taking the end of it and Ian walk with the other one. Unfortunately she didn't hang onto her end and Freddie got away towards the end of the walk. I stopped what I was doing and walked up to Freddie slowly. He had a long lead and so I was able to grab the end and reel him in slowly. I held onto him until Ian turned up. It wasn't too big a deal really because Freddie knew where to go and just wanted to get back to his other mates.

There have been some great cloudscapes this week

Some of the new girls do enjoy sitting
in this hollow next to the alpaca house
to keep cool on sunny days

He wasn't the only escapee this week. Vanessa's lot have got out twice this week. It seems they need a reminder of what the electric fence is for. We think the grass had got so long they didn't see it and walked through it the first time. The second time they decided the fence wasn't worth bothering with and headed straight out anyway. They were confined to barracks on both occasions. They will need confining a little longer too as Ian needs to make some more wooden posts and the ground is still too hard, despite the bit of rain we've had to hammer them in properly.

Confined to barracks

More interesting bugs

My friend and I weren't on the computer all the time though. She also picked strawberries. We always think of her when picking strawberries, as that was one of the first things she did when she visited us many years ago as a young teenager. In fact she picked so many that by the end of her time with us, she had gone off them - at least for a short while. Unfortunately she wasn't around long enough to eat too many of them and I took her to the bus station yesterday to send her on her way. She maybe back soon and if not, then we will no doubt catch up on her journey another year.

The circus rumbles on

Muah! Just kidding, they are play fighting again

It has felt like a circus in many ways this week. The article I wrote about last week for Dispatches Europe on living the rural dream in Latvia and what that can mean in reality, was translated into Latvian. Not that I knew anything about it, until a friend posted it on Facebook. The stats for our farm page went through the roof - okay not into the stratosphere but certainly we have seen a lot more activity online and people liking and following our page. At first we didn't know why. Normally we may have a flurry of activity if I advertised it somewhere or told a group about what we are doing, but that would be under 10 folks at a time maybe. So far this last week we've had 53 page likes and 65 page followers and they were mainly Latvians, so more likely to actually visit. In fact we did get visitors this week on a fairly grim and muddy weekend.

Altogether now! Jump!

Looking in

Poor Freddie has a splint on his leg. He is bottom of the
pecking order and he seems to have weak tendons or
ligaments. Not sure what happened but he has to wear
this splint for two weeks. Now just to try and keep it dry in
this weather! When Ian was examining Freddie with a lady who
is coming to learn more about alpacas, he rose up and Brencis
went for Freddie. They had to confine Brencis away in the
alpaca house. Ian wonders if Brencis was trying to protect
him - although in reality there was nothing to protect
from as Freddie really is quite the sweetest little fella. He
was only objecting to being handled, as all of them do.

The circus doesn't end there because there is always Brexit for a complete and utter farce. A German friend of mine with political leanings declared that he wished Britain would just go, so the rest of Europe can get on with planning for the next funding cycle, instead of being sucked into what feels like a never ending story of bewildering ineptitude. I sometimes think that folks in the UK forget that this Brexit process is hugely expensive for everyone, not just the UK. It demands time that could be better spent on fixing some of the myriad problems our nations, continent and world faces. At least students have the right idea by striking to try and concentrate the attention of politicians onto climate change. It doesn't matter whether the UK is in or out of Europe if the future is dire and becoming more inhospitable to mankind. As I mentioned in another article for Dispatches Europe, it is rather like fiddling while Rome burns (you can see my reflections here)

Oh yes! The snow is going properly now and more geese
have been arriving

Suspicious clouds building though

I had an issue this week that could have had disastrous consequences. I had lit the fire and thought it smelt a bit hot. I went to investigate and realised the pump was not on and the fire roaring away. I went to check on the electric and realised it was not on. I called Ian and he told me to check the switch outside the door. It was odd that the door to the switches was slightly open and our switch was down. It is as if someone had switched it off. I have a suspicion why, but I can't be certain and just hope it doesn't happen again.

A smiley George. He looks all sweet and innocent here

Comrades, listen carefully!

I was in a bunker this week, literally 9m underground. There was a university group visiting from London and I was invited to join in. They were mainly students studying for a Masters in Urban Planning, but also finding out about planning issues in the small provincial town of Cēsis. The first part of the day though was finding out about life in a Soviet bunker in Ligatne. One student said it was awful and at first I was a bit confused, but then I realised she felt the whole place was depressing, which it was sort of, but I have got used to the Soviet colour schemes and Soviet decor. These still do exist in some municipal buildings and Soviet apartments. Not all places have been renovated completely yet and like more local visitors, I recognised the wallpaper, floor coverings and even the plastic covers on the tables - I had seen them all before in other places.

1980s Soviet style computing

A child's gas mask

Clothes designer's space

The trip to Cēsis was interesting. We visited Skola6, which is a co-working space and an entrepreneurial starter hub. People can pay for small spaces to experiment with setting up in business or just work with people rather than alone at home. It looked a busy and fun place to be. The lady who started it off was a passionate but modest lady and one of my friends stood up to explain what a remarkable achievement the project was. After a tour to see some of the work going on, I explained to the students what I was doing in Latvia.

The artist who works here, also
displays her work in Berlin

The joys of soggy paddock areas at this time of year

I was treated to a late lunch and then we were off to hear from the municipality about the reality for planning in the town. Cēsis is one of the more successful places in Latvia due to a forward thinking mayor who is not afraid to experiment. We had a lively debate on how these kinds of places can have a detrimental effect on rural areas or can have some positive impacts. It was good to be able to air my concerns about the lack of vision for rural areas and it gave me much to think about. I ended up writing a short report and sending it to my friends who had invited me to see what they think of my vision for creating a positive focus for surrounding rural areas.

Still some ice patches though

Thank goodness we have full ponds and well that is close
to overflowing

We had a sad visit though this week. Our friends who had bought alpacas last year let us know that one of their alpacas had gone into labour, but when Ian rang back he found out it had not gone well. We put our own animals away early and went to see them. The poor little thing was barely alive but there was nothing to be done for it. It had a deformed nose and therefore likely to suffer all sorts of breathing problems. It also had extra feet and totally deformed back legs. It was a genetic mess. The kindest thing to do was to let it go and not fight for this one. The mother fortunately, despite being an old mother, seemed to be in a good state. She obviously realised that her baby was not going to make it, and indeed it breathed its last while we were there. We do hope the next birth does much better for them, but at least it is a younger animal this time that is pregnant. Ian milked the mother so that the colostrum can be frozen in case it is needed later for other births.

Veronica's crew are also suffering
from a wet paddock, but they still do
get out and about

Ian calls this a Chanelapillar - because this caterpillar is
the same colour as Chanel.

The rest of my time has been spent getting my head around the importance of the Baltic Sea to health and wellbeing again. It was swimming around my brain until this afternoon without a clear focus (no pun intended), which is not terribly helpful when I am supposed to be coming up with ideas of what we search for in academic papers. The project's aim is to find evidence that would help policymakers to make good policies for the environment and for people. They don't understand the concepts clearly either, so I need to be able to find a way of thinking about the issues in a way that makes sense to them. Fortunately, as I mentioned, this afternoon the whirlpool of thoughts started to slow down and form some sort of a coherent idea. Let's hope I can do something with it by tomorrow.

Vanessa is getting braver these days. When we had one group
of visitors one of the ladies managed to feed some of the girls
in this group. A major step forward