Everything changes

Brencis chewing on the idea obviously

I started this blog on the 18th March but didn't get far. The title was "Everything Changes" even back then, but how little did I realise how much it would change less than a week later. I had had a hectic time, trying to fill in for a sick colleague and also having to help Ian deal with Turbjørn our alpaca that suddenly died and so I ran out of time to write a blog before travelling to the UK to see the kids and grandkids. 

Between him and a few of the girls they were 
determined to give Ian a hard time while I was 
away. Ian thinks he was having an argument with 
one of the others and slipped on the ice. The 
bandage came off today and he seems fine now.

Karla on look out duty.

I mentioned in my last blog that I was getting a bit anxious about the travel. It just seems so much more of a hassle. I wanted to commit to not travelling by plane but spending hours on a bus to get to trains or ferries just did not look like a wise option. On the Tuesday before I was due to fly on the Friday we both got sore throats. Fortunately a friend of ours had two home Covid tests so we could both do a test. We were negative. I recovered quickly but Ian was ill even after I left. It did mean that Ian didn't get the blood tests the doctor wanted him to have, but at least they were just regular ones and not for any particular purpose - just our age. I had mine done in August last year for work, so not a problem for me.

Ilvija always seems to have straw in her mouth
for her pictures just lately.

Some of the girls were struggling with the wet
kind of snow we've had just lately and ended
up with infections between their toes. 

So to get to the UK I had the plagues to deal with - Covid era regulations and illness - sore throats. Then there were the storms and floods. The floods did not affect the roads we were travelling on, so that was fine, but storms were forecast in the UK. Yippee! I thought (sarcastically of course). The plane from London to Riga set off just before the worst of the winds, but it arrived about half an hour late in Riga. There also seemed to be some delay in getting the plane ready, but that was fine as the flight back was then after the worst of the wind had passed over. It was a bit of a bumpy ride, but I've known worse just flying into Denver when we lived in Colorado. In fact the landing was text book perfect. 

Lolly has had her last bottle feed yesterday. 

So much snow, this was the 5th of March.

My sons had organised between them where I would go and when, so it was my youngest's job to come and pick me up. He had further to travel than my older son would have and so a bit of concern as he would be travelling during the storm. I told him not to set off if it was too bad and to stay safe. I could have waited if necessary and my older son could come and pick me up if the journey was impossible. He did make it down though and the roads were relatively quiet as the lorries were off the road.

And this was yesterday. The marks are from 
Ian dragging a Christmas tree over to the boys
so they could have tasty snacks.

It never ceases to amaze me to see caterpillars
crawling across the snow at this time of year. 
Usually they are these very furry ones, sometimes
brown and sometimes black.

I had aspirations to write a blog while in the UK but forgot to pack my camera (I did remember the charging unit but not the camera itself). My camera on the phone had a cracked screen and was no use and the phone I had ordered as a replacement was not due to arrive until after I got back (although it arrived the day I was flying back and that was almost a story in itself - I'll spare you that one though). So three weeks and no pictures of the UK. Mind you, a lot of the time it was wet and windy - typical for March. 

Brencis enjoying his snack

And a scratch - just under the chin

and a scratch under the neck. 

After a tasty snack, some ice-cream perhaps?

My first week went well. I had a great time playing softball inside with my young grandson and showing his much older sister how to do embroidery stitches. My grandmothers also taught me to embroider so it was nice to be carrying on the tradition. We watched films that they thought I might like and I did. We walked the dog, who I met for the first time. So all went well until near the end of the week and time to move on. 

Snow sculptures.

Ginger Tom on the prowl

I had been keeping an eye on the events in Ukraine but I really didn't think that Putin would order his troops in. I felt he was just bluffing for effect. It was a strange feeling to be in the UK while Ian was in Latvia with all its history and baggage connected to Russian invasions. So it seemed Putin wasn't bluffing and Biden wasn't over stating the case after all. As I've read some of the back stories and thoughts from experts, I wondered how much it was to do with oil and the threat of the world weaning itself off the black stuff. Time is running out to prove something, although proving what is beyond me!

A military helicopter but fortunately not that
much activity overhead

These are the kind of flyovers I would rather
be seeing at this time of the year, especially
if they are heading north. Everything changes
but somethings are stay the same in those changes
as the seasons turn. 

 So that was rumbling on in the the last couple of days at my youngest son's house. On the final day though, I had what I thought was a disagreement with a Chinese meal - not used to it I thought. Unfortunately I managed to pass something on to my oldest son's family during my first week staying there. It was only a 24 hour thing but went progressively through most of the family. Whoops! Well that kind of curtailed some activities but we got through and I also helped my son move his bike workshop to a different location. The work I do on the farm is obviously helpful to build up my muscles so while he carried stuff into the building, I carried it up a spiral staircase and we shifted larger stuff together up a regular staircase.  

The day before I left for the UK

Somethings change but not as much as we'd hope.
Over a month later and the snow is still with us.
It is going but very slowly.

See there was a wood pile under the snow.

Another fly in the ointment, as we say was my mother got Covid and we weren't able to go up to see my parents as we had originally planned. Good job since I was also infectious with something else. Fortunately my Mum recovered quickly and my Father didn't get it and so we were able to see them the following weekend. It just meant more driving. Mind you, I think I did a good job of keeping the kids entertained in the back of the car, sorting out any minor squabbles and teaching them to draw 3D pictures. 

Josefs enjoying the sun.

Meet Dora the explorer, aka my new car. She's 
looking a bit worse for the wear as Ian's car
first struggled with a cold snap we had while
I was away and then the brakes, so this has been
his primary mode of transport. Good job
we had a second car after all this year.

The war rumbled on in the background though and there was a sense of frustration of being in the UK while all of this was happening. I was reading of refugees heading to Poland and people I knew were organising aid. What could I do? I knew though that this was not going to be over in a few days and so there was time to get back and make some decisions. My grandson had been wanting to do something to raise money for charity and so with his parents they decided on a run of 2km each day for 8 days and the money would go to refugees through an organisation that I knew of. Normally they raise funds for Syrian refugees but they put their knowledge to use in helping in this closer crisis. His parents suggested he aim to raise £100 but he said he wanted to raise £1000. We thought that might be a bit ambitious for a 9 year old, but he did it and also ran more than 16km, he ran over 20km and finished with a personal best time on the junior park run. So proud of him. 

Freddie looking surprised as usual.

Top right-hand corner - that is grass!!!!!! Spring
is coming, I think!

So the world is doing some crazy u-turns and in the space of a few short weeks it returns not to normal after the lifting of some Covid restrictions but to a world teetering on the edge of war, fuelled by a oil and a maniacs desire to cling to power and prove he's a world leader. As I headed back to Latvia I was turning this all over in my mind but I spotted a quote on a mural by Jules Verne, “The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment.” I'm sure that for those suffering in Ukraine at the moment that last moment has already gone, as it has for those in Yemen, Afghanistan and Palestine amongst many of the places of conflict, but for the world as a whole as we stand on the side of an abyss we still - just - have time to step back. There's a lot of work to do, but together we can do it. Let's wean ourselves off the oil and consumption that often fuels these conflicts or at least like adding petrol to the fire. Let's work towards a kinder world. 

Our three ponds. They are there somewhere.

Silla walking on top of the snow. It is going
because she would have been able to just step
over the fence about a week ago. Fortunately
she didn't try.

Tasty snacks for the girls too

At least Karla is rolling in the snow and not
the mud like it might be in a week's time.

Yumm!

The path to the greenhouse. 

In the Eurozone

Nearly time to put the Christmas decorations away, but not
just yet. I know it is traditional to take them down either
yesterday or today, but ours make the place look cheerful
in this rather dreach weather. You may notice the rather odd
addition to our manger scene. He comes out every year and
is called Dally. 

The first of January saw the beginning of the end of the Lat, which many are quite sad about here in Latvia; although there are some older folks for which is not a problem as they have seen rather a lot of changes of currencies over the years and at least the Euros have bigger coins that are easier to see. It was quite common to see an old lady hand over a pocketful of change for the cashier to sort through, as it was almost impossible to tell a 1 santim coin from a 2 santim coin. We still had some Lats leftover and so we have just about spent them all now, we have until the 15th January. 

Some green grass, but not much

Being in the Eurozone means there is now no more confusion between Latvia and Estonia for me when I'm travelling, since Estonia was already in the Eurozone. There were worries of prices going up with the switch, but since I don't buy much or take much notice of prices when I do - it is what it is!- as our Swedish friend is fond of saying. It is the kind of attitude we have developed over the years of travelling, after it became much to complicated to convert back to a currency we were familiar with. However, I do know my milk, from my local farmer, has gone down in price. It should be 57c per litre but it was reduced to 55c - easier to add up I guess.

Ian has dug up the last of our carrots. Normally we don't
leave them this long, but since the weather has been mild
we could risk it. In fact this is the second mildest year in
Latvia's history or rather since records began.

As I said, the reason we don't take much notice of prices, is the fact we don't actually buy much from the supermarkets. My milk as I mentioned is from the local farmer, we are practically self-sufficient in vegetables, the lamb we hopefully get this week is a swap for some hay at the beginning of the year and we should have some chicken soon, once the cockerels are big enough to dispatch, which all goes to mean that we don't need much beyond citrus fruits, mushrooms, oil, salt, flour, cheese, rice, sugar, margarine, yeast, tea, coffee and toilet rolls. I think that is about it, apart from chocolate and it isn't just me who craves chocolate from time to time, Ian is the more regular consumer of that. 

Not much grass here!

We decided to go on a walk this New year's Eve to watch the fireworks. Turns out it was a little more dangerous than we thought it would be, as one chap threw a firecracker in our general direction. He wasn't even a young chap, so we can't blame the act on youthful exuberance. Fortunately it just made us jump rather than doing any damage. Fortunately the rest of the walk was uneventful and we saw quite a few fireworks. On our way back we saw a glow in the sky and wondered what it was, too low and slow for a meteor, too low for a satellite and not enough noise for a helicopter - besides who flies helicopters on a New Year's Eve? It turns out it was a paper lantern, as we saw it stuck in a tree burning away. The thought that came to our mind, was what if it had landed in a farmer's hay stack instead? I do hope it is a fad that disappears.

The new shelter for the sheep

We've had a little change around on the farm this week. The sheep, as I said last week, were escaping and we can't really blame them. Although they were being given hay and concentrated feed, what they really wanted was green grass and there was precious little of that where they were being kept. Ian could only move the fence a little and they still have shelter and so we decided on a complete change. Around the back of our barn and greenhouse is some reseeded grass that was still long and green. Ian built another shelter from some logs and a tarp we had and between us we moved the sheep up. For two of the sheep it was pretty easy, Ian just walked up with a tray of food and they followed, the other one is a bit more nervy and so I walked behind to encourage her to go in the right direction. That sort of worked, most of the way, but she didn't quite make it into the area we had fenced off and she had to be chased back in to join the other two. Unfortunately she decided to take the quickest route and crashed the fence, breaking one of the fence posts. Oh well! At least now they have the opportunity to eat fresh green grass during the day and they get penned up into the smaller enclosure at night. They may as well make the best of it, as the temperatures might plummet in just over a week's time and we would be lucky if the grass was still green then, or even if it could be seen if it snows. 

Yey! The food man's here! Even when there is green grass
the concentrate is still appealing

Our young chickens have shown signs of growing up this week, two of the cockerels started crowing. These are the two we decided to keep, as we thought they were the more advanced of the chicks. It is funny when they first start to crow, it is almost as if they are shocked at what they have just done. Even the other chickens turn their heads and seem to give them a funny look, as if to say "What was that?" On a slightly different note, we had a visit from a forest ranger this week. In Latvia you need a permit to cut trees down over 12cm wide, which is fair enough as it is to stop people from over cutting the forests. The only problem with getting a permit, is that the forest rangers then start inspecting the forests and expect it to be kept tidy. That means clearing the undergrowth and thinning trees, which is what we were going to do, but at a slower pace than they were hoping for. Anyway we have done the majority of it, and he could see we had done some work on the forest to tidy it. The only thing was that he couldn't speak English and our Latvian is not good enough to hold a conversation. Still he got as much information from us as possible, we didn't have the paperwork out on the land, so that wasn't helpful for him and in the end, he decided it was enough and went. Sometimes it is helpful not to speak the language. 

Yum! Grass!

Life at times takes on a bit of a scary quality - although that seems a bit of an overdramatic statement when you compare our safe lives compared to living in a war zone - but there are times we are not certain of the next step and it reminded me of the "Bridge of faith" in one of the Indiana Jones films, where he has to step off the cliff before he sees the bridge (you can see it in the YouTube clip below). I feel a bit like that at times. I know it might seem stupid, but marking someone else's Masters project felt like that. It doesn't help that I didn't have the kind of feedback that I'm giving to the young man whose Masters I'm marking, mainly because the process is different in the UK. It is only by stepping out though and trying these different things that I can put into practice what I know. I'm sure it will get easier, but it still feels a bit scary. 

Shattered fence post. Not the one the sheep broke, this is
one the alpaca girls broke when they decided to go walk
abouts. At least Ian found out the girls are now quite happy
to follow him too. No idea how they managed to shatter
the fence post though

I’m not into resolutions and haven't made any for years; that is partly because I fail miserably at that sort of thing anyway, but thanks to another blogger who is, I have a phrase to carry with me for a while and that is the phrase “God is enough.”  I do know that really! I have lived that! Time and time again I have know that to be true, but each time the journey gets scarier and the potential to fail higher and each time it is like stepping onto that bridge of faith in the Indiana Jones film, that aspect doesn't get any easier, well not for me anyway.


On the topic of war I know I know, I sometimes get on my soapbox but I couldn't let this pass. A Unicef representative said this last week, "Targeted attacks against children are a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law and must stop immediately. Concrete action is needed now to prevent violence against children." But war full stop is a violation of human rights, not just targeted attacks on children. That is abhorant, but so is blowing them to bits with bombs, so is blowing anyone to bits with bombs. A war by its very nature is a violent act that violates rights. When will we learn? There is no justification for war, ever! Right now I will get down off my soapbox.
I managed to get a little creative this week. I not only finished some presents and sent them off along with the presents I posted the photos of last week- now that the post office is finally open. No photos for those I'm afraid, hopefully the recipients will take photos. I also did some more felting. I managed to find some finer fleece and so made some slightly softer felted pieces than the last time. So here are my efforts for one days work - combing the fleece by hand is obviously not such a quick job, but it was relaxing anyway.

Oh yes, lots of ours to comb enough fleece for this little lot

A piece done on a long silky piece of fabric

Close up of the swirly pattern

Background for a snowy scene?

Felted onto a piece of dark purple and green fabric

Felted onto a piece of lace