You've gotta smile...

Bit of a change from two weeks ago when we were sat in Oz!

You've gotta smile, otherwise you might cry. Laughter has been our safety valve and our help just lately. No we are not in denial, yes it was irritating at the time but it's life, it's tough sometimes. Things happen and if we can laugh and realise it is not the end of the world then we will get through it and get on. So what travesties have we endured this week?

The unfinished barn. Snow stopped play!

We arrived back in Latvia to rain, not pleasant when there is a lot of snow about, but useful for reducing huge piles of snow everywhere from mountains of snow to hills of it. Apparently while we were away there has been a lot of snow in Latvia which has resulted in utter chaos at times, places were cut off of course which is only to be expected, but also whole swathes of rural Eastern Latvia, Latgale, were without electricity for two weeks over Christmas and early January. Foreign crews from Sweden and Finland had to be called in to get areas reconnected as the local Latvian electric company were unable to cope with the scale of the problem. Latvia knows about snow and is usually well prepared but the type of heavy snow and the scale of it, overwhelmed this sparsely populated country. It also overwhelmed our polytunnel. Yes the very same polytunnel that took 5 months to get built and was built late in the season, which set us back last year right at the start of the rather short growing season. As you can just about see, two sections only are still standing and Ian managed to get in and knock the inches thick ice off the roof to try and save it. Much of the wood is salvageable we think, but until we can get in properly we can't be sure. It looks likes joints have failed rather than the plastic, which is what we thought may fail. We aim to rebuild it but next time we are going to try and put some more internal structure into it, using some of the leftover wood from the barn. At least we don't need the space for the tractor anymore as we have the barn - or will do when its finished (yes the snow stopped play there too) and we now have the two wheeled tractor to turn over the ground in the polytunnel.

A sad and sorry sight, our collapsed polytunnel

So, the polytunnel is down and to get to it we have been hiking across the snow in our snow shoes but to actually work on it and determine what can be saved we needed to get the tractor back to the land and clear space to work in. It would appear that is easier said than done too. The tractor just got back to the land and in the process of clearing space to get onto it when the rear window shattered, scaring the living daylights out of the driver, we got there just after it happened and I thought the driver was going to have a heart attack as he was white with shock. The driver was distraught but these things happen, like the glass on our oven door that would have to shatter while a friend was stood in front of it, this would have to shatter on someone driving the tractor as a favour as Ian cannot drive on the roads in a tractor here in Latvia. We laughed, we joked, we made silly comments and Ian went to get some plastic from our polytunel to cover the gaping hole at the back of the tractor. Well there had to be some use for the plastic now. Well our tractor is now parked up at our neighbours farm and Ian will make a temporary repair on it tomorrow before sorting out digging his way onto the land tomorrow. While he was parking the tractor up and sorting it out for the night, I was scraping the road of glass so it didn't get into people's tyres and cause an even bigger mess. Sheesh! The day started off so quietly too.

The tunnel created which protected our
vines which are all snuggly wrapped up
on the right

Other things have been niggly too, like the new four slice toaster we bought in England in October that was working when we left is now a two slice toaster, which in our household is a disaster. The internet keeps playing up - or rather our airport or wireless connection keeps playing up but in the grand scheme of things these are not important. While we have been sunning ourselves in Australia, our poor neighbours and friends have been struggling with snow, struggling with heat or lack of it, struggling without electric or intermittent electric and generally having a hard time and so who are we to get down with some inconveniences? Polytunnels can be rebuilt and thank God no one was in it when it came down, tractor windows can be fixed and an extra toaster was bought and we swapped the two slice toaster from our other apartment with our should be four slice toaster, so all is good! 

The view from the other side of the polytunnel. As you can
just about see both ends are still standing and it is the
middle that has collapsed forming a tunnel on one side.

The present left by our neighbours who
were keeping our apartment heated while
we were away.

We have many things to be grateful for, such as our neighbours that made sure our other apartment was heated when our friends who were going to do it got stranded when the snow reached chest height, our neighbours even left us a picture, a candle and fridge magnet as a little Christmas present. We knew that our apartments were in good hands while we were away and that is something to be very grateful for. Also amazingly when our polytunnel came down it didn't flatten the vines, the table and chairs, the small plastic greenhouse, the roof panels for the barn that had been stored in the polytunnel or the cement mixer. It has flattened the plants that were in there as an experiment but they were already killed off with cold when he who shall remain nameless left the door open when it was -10C outside, so no problem about that. It is bad, but not the end of the world, we shall learn, we shall start again only better and we move on, we won't dwell on it - well perhaps we will but only for the comic value we can get out of it.

Wedding Part 2

Wedding Part 1 in sunny Perth, Australia. 

It's a good job that I write notes to remind me of things we have done or I have read during the week, otherwise I would forget, especially this week. It has been rather a hectic week that started out in sunny Perth, Australia and now ending in a wet and windy England. Door to door it was 25 hours of travelling and it was so nice to roll into bed at the hotel at the airport, at least that way we were in a fit state to travel on to our friends the next day.

Wedding Part 2 England. Notice the difference? The shawl
was needed for this one.

We were impressed with the Emirates flights as the food is certainly not bad as airplane meals go, sometimes a little too spicy, but not bad. The service is good too with plenty of entertainment to while away the hours. It is amazing how much difference pleasant staff and reasonable food can make to a plane journey - something the American airlines as a whole could learn from. The ambience on the emirates planes is intriguing, as they play bird song near the end of each flight, not sure if it is to wake passengers up or relax them but it is nice, along with the changing colours of the dimmed lights as we are coming into land finishing with lights reduced to what looks like star light at the end. All very pretty. Getting off the plane in England though, I was shocked by the filthy state that passengers left the seating area. Does it really hurt that much to pick up sweet papers and lids off the meals? I know people are paid to keep the planes tidy but there is no need to leave that much mess. Our journey was good, 40 minutes early in Dubai, an hour late in Manchester which didn't bother us, but I guess inconvenienced many others, but our daughter's journey a couple of days before was rather worse as they had to divert to another airport due to fog and ended up sitting on a stationary plane for 7 hours while they waited for fuel and crew to be delivered to an airport not geared up for the larger planes. Not ever so helpful for their preparations for the second part of their wedding.

Shawl detail. I appliqued and
embroidered poinsettia's onto the shawl
along with lots of stars to hold the fabric
and base layer together

Well wedding part 2 was good, the shawl/stole/pashmina whatever you want to call it was completed the day before the wedding, thank goodness and we managed to get into the hall and decorate. It was really weird to be working with our friends, Graham and Steph again, who we have worked with for many years in children's ministry setting up in the very same building where our daughter was getting married. We still seemed to have the knack of working together each doing our separate things and yet working together to a harmonious whole, we were pleased with the result, this was despite me getting up at 5:30am to be ready to get some flowers for the arrangements.

Love this photo as they look like they are having
so much fun

The wedding itself was a little different as our daughter and her new husband were legally married in Australia and so it was a chance for them to decide exactly what they wanted to do and arrange it the way they wanted as they did not have to go through any of the formalities. I was proud of the way they rejected the rampant commercialism and tried to do everything as well as they could and yet not spend a fortune. I was also proud of the fact that people were invited to all of the wedding and not just parts of it. I never understood the way many invite people to the wedding service and then expect them to go away until the evening do, while the selected few ate a sit down meal. I know part of it is due to costs but why go to the expense of a posh meal if you can't have everyone there? Why not do something simpler and share it with everyone or wait until later to have the sit down meal after the main body of guests have gone? Each to their own I guess! We did enjoy the chance though to join our daughter and her new husband the next morning for breakfast, after the busyness of taking down all the decorations the night before and to give them a big hug before they set off on their honeymoon. We then spent a lovely afternoon with our oldest son and his new wife (the ones who were married in October remember) looking at all the photos from the day before and laughing so much over many happy memories which spilled over into the Sunday lunch with our friends who had done so much to make our daughter's wedding special. A very tiring but thoroughly enjoyable weekend, not bad for a wedding really!

The decorated hall. White material down the poles with
ivy and red bows. Fairy lights and fabric around the cross
plus two carnations in a glass vase. One large flower
arrangement

I was rather pleased with this
arrangement, it didn't take me nearly
as long as I thought it might after such a
long period of time since I last
did arrangements.

It has been a privilege to see our daughter married in Australia and England but also a privilege to see so many willing helpers prepared to make both days special. Rather than impersonal services provided at great cost by a company, the wedding was prepared with love and care by those who demonstrate the love of Christ through their actions. So if you are reading this, thanks very much to all who helped, you made the days very special and a precious time to remember.

Sew, sew, sew

A wedding in the garden. Not the best picture but I promise
to post more later

Yes that does say sew, sew, sew and not snow, snow, snow - that might be in about a week's time when we get back home to Latvia. We have managed a few days of sightseeing, here in Perth, Australia but the rest of the time was spent on wedding preparation including sewing. Early on in the week it was decided that the really abrupt tan line on our daughter's back was not going to even out in time for the wedding and the only option was to hide it beneath a panel insert and so on the Tuesday before the Saturday wedding we whizzed off to a local fabric store to get some net curtaining - as you do, don't all brides wear net curtains? As our daughter was having her hair highlighted and cut, I got started on the embroidery to go on the panel; at least they gave me coffee and water while I was sewing even if they must have thought it a bit odd me sitting there embroidering. Fortunately the panel wasn't huge but it did need some decoration. Unfortunately there are no pictures yet as that is a surprise for the English part of the wedding next week. I also finished sewing the shawl to keep her warm in England as there is going to be rather a huge difference in temperatures between the Australian summer wedding and an English winter wedding. I must say I am rather pleased with it, again you have to wait for pictures of that too. By way of compensation though you can see the place where the wedding was held, it looked so pretty and we had great fun decorating her friend's back garden.

One of the pretty little places in Guildford with the not so
aesthetically placed for sale sign

There were a few things that marked this out as different to an English wedding, firstly it was outside in January, the sun was definitely shining and all I had was a cheap sun hat and not a glorious wedding hat - would have looked over the top anyway for this casual wedding. Secondly it was in someone's garden, all that is needed is someone registered to carry out a marriage and that was a friend of theirs who is Australian but they met him in England when they all lived there. We also had a fly pass of big black birds, only these weren't crows or anything like that, they were a parrot type bird called red-tailed cockatoos. Thirdly the day nearly started out in disaster when the one of the hosts got bitten by a redback spider which can be fatal - fortunately not all bites are serious and usually only for little ones and this one wasn't. One other spider was spotted later and swiftly dispatched. It was a lovely day, so relaxed that even though I managed to leave my bible and glasses in my handbag (purse) in room inside the house for the reading, it didn't matter as I toddled off to get them. It does mean though, that it may be one of those stories that gets recycled and I get teased about for a few years, along with the story of how with an hour to go to the wedding I realised I hadn't any suitable shoes for the wedding, only a tatty pair of sandals. I nearly wore a pair of purple flip flops, or thongs as they are called here (stop laughing Brits), very Australian. Instead I resorted to borrowing a pair of high-heeled shoes from my daughter and managed not to kill myself in the process walking around in them - major achievement for me.

What everyone should have growing over their
garden wall in January

Our two outings this week consisted of going to see Historic Guildford, a town built in the 1800s, and a walk around the river area near the centre of Perth. The phrase "historic" makes me giggle here in Australia as it did in America's mid-West, as their idea of historic and mine are rather different, but I guess it is just a matter of perspective and the Italians would possibly find my idea of historic just as laughable. One story that made me smile on the interpretative panels they have dotted around the town of Guildford, was of a young lady, who with her aboriginal servant rode into the sea many times to save quite a few people from a shipwreck and a certain Mr. Brockman on hearing of her heroism immediately rode out to meet this remarkable young woman. They eventually fell in love and married. A bit different from your soppy romantic stories where the young lady swoons into the arms of some heroic young man.

One of the cycle paths around Perth

I am not fond of cities, I have to say, but Perth as cities goes is not bad. It has many cycle lanes which makes getting out and about reasonably easy - well it does in the rest of the year, it is a bit hot for me at this time of the year. We did go for a long walk though that meant we could stop and take photos of some of the statues which are dotted around in the parks and on the streets, as well as the parrot type birds and the scenery. Just a pity that it must take loads of water to keep it all looking so green in such a hot and dry climate. Also managed to take some pictures of the naked ghost gum trees this week, those that shed their bark in summer, which is something to do with drought resistance apparently. I find that strange as I would have thought the bark would keep the moisture in. So sorry folks, I have got quite brown for me and this is despite it being January.

Short post this week as we are packing and cleaning, or rather Ian is as I write this to head back to England rather too early in the morning tomorrow so here are some more pictures from our trip

One of those naked trees that have shed its
bark. Hope to have some more next week
as they are still on my camera and my lead
is packed somewhere.

Noisy as a galah, so the saying goes. An apt name for these
noisy parrots

Some of the many statues in Perth

Perth with the infamous or famous grounds where England
were defeated this year for the only time in Australia to regain
the Ashes. Apparently it is because it was the only pitch that
was hard, the rest have been soaked by rain which favours the
English according to one shopkeeper we got chatting too
in Guildford.

A cormorant who was not photo shy and even stretched out
for me to get a better shot of his feathers. Show off!

One for my friend Ju, a nice rusty train

Just chatting

My bunch of flowers

Where has this week gone to? I don't feel like I have done much and yet it has flown by. I seem to have spent much of the time making alterations to our daughter's wedding dress. I thought it was sorted and then she would try it on and something else would need altering but finally it was finished. The next task was to get it dry cleaned - Sheesh!!! One company told us it would take 2-3 weeks to be done, not good with just over a week to go to the wedding, and the cost was eye-watering, fortunately another company told us it would take a week and wasn't quite so eye-wateringly high, it should be ready on Friday, errrr only the day before the wedding. I did get a lovely bunch of flowers though from our daughter for my efforts, so all is good. 

Sunset from the backgarden

Still managed to get to the beach again at the weekend, everyone else ie Ian, our daughter and fiancé, biked it there and I drove the Land Rover, well someone had to and it was supposed to be hot. I did go for a swim in the sea to make up for the lack of exercise on my part, just so I earned the fish and chip lunch we had. One thing I learnt on that trip, though, was relying on technology to get you somewhere when you are the only one in the car is a recipe for disaster. I was trying to follow the route with an iPad but it kept switching off at the wrong times and no traffic lights were on red long enough to check my route, I would have been far better writing all the road names down and following that and it would have saved missing my junction many a time. I have to say that driving around Perth normally is quite easy for a big city, all the road names are signposted before you get to them, which is very very helpful when trying to navigate your way around a city you don't know. 

Typical scenery on our way to our holiday before
Christmas

A pelican that rather obligingly flew back so we could
get a better picture

Ian and I also managed to see a friend that we met when we lived in Denmark (Europe) who just happens to live in Perth - small world. Both of us have come a long way since then and so it was good to chat about life, faith and kids. I know it seems to be a long way to come just for chats but I love to do that and in some ways would rather have a good old chat than go and see all the sights your supposed to see on trips like this. It is the conversations that I remember best and I guess that is why we enjoyed our stay in the youth hostel so much before Christmas - at this point my daughter can say "I told you so, I knew you would enjoy it!" To cap it all, someone we were having a chat with while we were on on holiday got chatting to our daughter's friend and they worked out they both now knew this crazy couple who live in Latvia, how weird is that? Goodness only knows where that will go.

Since the New Year has come and gone, I was pondering on the year ahead, as you do, and wondering what our focus should be. I wanted to know what God thought on the subject, as that to me is more important and straight away a thought came into my mind with surprising speed, I was expecting a long drawn out conversation with God about the year ahead. The thought that came to mind was the scene in the Muppets' Christmas Carol where the ghost of Christmas Present appeared and his first words were "Come on in and know me better man." I knew immediately what God was getting at, my focus was to get to know the God I love even better, simple! Nothing complicated. Just in case I didn't get the message, a friend posted a verse from Ephesians 1 which says 

17 "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." 

Ian jumping the waves at the beach. That's as near as he
gets to a swim

Okay I get the message God!  He is good! I love it when he just makes sure I have got the message. I have also had the song "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine" going around my head, which on the surface sounds a bit maudlin really, but I do have a sense that the world from my perspective is going to look very different in the year ahead, and you know.... I do feel fine, not scared, not worried, in fact I even feel quite curious about it. Thought it was just me but another blogger, Martin Scott, also feels the same way as he is looking to navigate the way through what will be a changing year by closely listening to God, good to know I am not the only one tracking that way.

Wilson inlet, another photo from our holiday before
Christmas

One article I have to mention this week is the news about Neo, remember him? The guy who published the earnings of many of the top earners in Latvia after he hacked into the tax services computer system, due to some very lax security. He has been voted the European  Person of the Year 2010 in Latvia, for "daring to defend democratic and European values in Latvia." Many people supported his actions as he highlighted that, while many workers for state owned organisations were getting pay cuts, those at the top were not suffering in the same way and earning, by Latvian standards, obscene amounts of money. He certainly brought into the light things which some people would rather be hidden. 

Roasting

Don't these make fantastic Christmas
trees, we have nicknamed them star trees

Well while the Northern hemisphere is shivering in the winter we are roasting in Australia, about 40C today and around 37/38C over the Christmas weekend. This meant that Christmas day was spent inside, in the air-conditioning, but it was a lovely relaxing day all the same, with our daughter and her fiancé. Needless to say the roast dinner was left until well into the evening, Christmas dinner mid-afternoon didn't seem quite so appealing somehow but the salad and fruit lunch did. We closed the shutters mid-afternoon to shut out the light to watch the Muppet's Christmas Carol and remind ourselves of cold winter Christmases. Once again Christmas down under seems topsy turvey to a Northern hemisphere lass but the good news is that from tomorrow it is due to get cooler - around 33C, much more bearable.

The tree top walk, not particularly good value for money
as it is so short, and would be much better opened early in
the morning or at dusk to see the animals and birds but
fascinating anyway as you get to see the trees from a
different perspective.

Our holiday in Denmark.... remember Denmark, a small town on the south coast of Western Australia not the European Denmark, was a little wet and when it wasn't wet the flies were a nuisance but all in all it was still a great time, at least the rain was warm. We stayed in a youth hostel, The Blue Wren, which was a fascinating experience, meeting so many people on journeys. It was a microcosm of life with some who we connected with and some we didn't, some we spent hours chatting too and still don't know their names, some who just left and we never said goodbye and some we did, and it was all so transient and yet ...... very real. I think sometimes we hold onto relationships and people so tightly that we are not able to enjoy the pleasure of those just passing through, or we don't even make the time to enjoy those people that doesn't mean I don't value long term relationships that go deep, I do but not all relationships have to be long term. As a Christian from an evangelical-ish background your sometimes made to feel that unless you get the gospel through to at least a dozen people and three come to know Christ then the trip isn't worth it, fortunately I don't see it that way. I believe that God will work through us, definitely, but I do not feel the need to finish God's job for him, but to merely be a part of his plan. If something about our life, or our words, touches someone and draws them closer to a loving Father then great but we are happy to let God travel with the people and for them to meet someone else along the journey who opens their eyes a bit more to the reality of that heavenly Father who loves them intensely, we don't have to do the whole job in one night. In life some people take the plane flights along to their destinations, some take the slow train and some walk, but they are all on a journey and that is something we really took away from the week and the sense of freedom that comes with being able to travel when you feel like it. These folks we met weren't lazy, they work hard, in the fields, in the restaurants, even in the banks but they work and then travel, moving on, experiencing different cultures, letting it change them; and yet so often they are thought of as irresponsible or it is fine to do while young but at some stage they have to settle down and get a proper job. Not so sure I agree with that. It was good to read Paul Leader's article on journeying and how they echoed our thoughts about those who travel and how inspiring they are, it is not just us then who think that way. I particularly liked how Paul pointed out that the Bible is full of sojourners and not settlers, food for thought!

So cute! Alpacas

We didn't spend the whole week in the hostel though, we did get out and about and visited beaches and towns, galleries and a sandalwood factory, natural attractions and farms. The things that stood out to us was the warm welcome from Mark Hewson of Torbay Glass Studio who we spent quite a while chatting to about his work and his life as well as our life. I love talking to craftspeople who have a passion for their work but also a passion to share and the glass he makes is inspiring, I really loved the glass water lily fountain, it was so delicate looking due to its transparency and yet robust looking, unfortunately we couldn't fit it in the suitcase. I also loved the idea, that if you wanted to, you could come up with your own design and work with Mark to make the finished product - now I would love to do that. We also went to a pet farm, which seems an odd thing to do when we don't have little ones with us but we did have an ulterior motive. We visited a shop in Denmark that sells alpaca wool products and they were so soft and light and yet felt so warm that we did wonder whether it was feasible to actually have alpacas ourselves in Latvia and so a visit to the Pentland Alpaca Stud and animal farm seemed like a good idea. It was a great visit and the lady owner was very helpful and gave us lots of information, so much so that we are seriously going to look into it when we get back, especially as we know that there are spinners and knitters in the village back home in Latvia. We also got to feed the alpacas and the kangaroos too, well you have to don't you!!!! They were all very sweet and good natured and we loved the alpacas, especially when they talk to you with their humming voices. 

Our daughter driving us down the 4x4 track

We didn't quite manage the barbecue on the beach on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas for my American friends), it got too dark and the charcoal wouldn't light, added to which we only had my torch to light up the meal, so it got abandoned, but it was still lovely on the beach at night with the crashing surf and the millions of stars twinkling overhead, I even got to see a shooting star. The barbecue was meant to be the finish of a day where we went 4x4ing, I hadn't realised that there lots of tracks that 4x4s can use, but it is a regular hobby for some here in Oz, especially to get to isolated beaches. It was funny to see our future son-in-law taking on a family tradition of towing cars out of messes, this time it was a family with young children towing a large trailer which had got bogged down in soft sand on the track. I didn't get out of the car at this point, as the 40C heat meant instant burn for me and sand that was so hot that it was too hot to stand on, even with sandals on. We got close to the beach and the last section we walked but by the time I got to the sea my feet were burning, so it was straight into the water for a plodge and I spent the rest of the time either plodging in the water or sitting in the beach tent they had bought specially for me and my delicate northern skin. 

An emu coming for a closer look at the pet farm

I know in England there has been some disquiet at the student protests and some of the rowdier elements have been disruptive but I found the fact that students are willing to protest as encouraging. There are a few things that fill me with despair and one of them is the apathy of the younger generations, even my generation were pretty apathetic with few who have fire in their bellies. We need the youth to challenge our pre-conditioned way of thinking, we need them to not accept the status quo but to continually question, otherwise the powerful will takeover and people acquiesce to mediocre lives without even thinking about what they are doing and why. Even if at the end of the day we do not change, at least we should know why we are not changing and that is why I am encouraged by the students' protests. The youth with fire in their bellies, with questions as to why their future has been sold down the line by greed. Let's face it the generation that are making the decisions for the future are the ones that have squandered the resources of this planet, and squandered the chances they have had meaning that there is not much money now for our children's future. The generation that had free university places are no longer willing to pay for the next generation to have the same benefits. Yes the system needs looking at, why does everyone have to go to University? What kind of education is important? What do we need to take us into the next millennium? All important questions, but we should not rob this generation of their future and one young man on youtube shows what fire in the belly can look like, he doesn't have all the answers, but he's thinking, he is beginning to take an interest in the world around him and I am encouraged. Will be interesting to see where he will go, may he retain the fire in the belly for years to come.

Some more photos for you

Feeding a kangaroo

Vegetation near the beach

Sunset on the beach

Still weird

Studying hard!!!!

Bit early this week but then again we are off to Denmark, remember Denmark, Western Australia, not Denmark, Europe! Also we happen to be 8 hours ahead of GMT.

Well it took until Saturday morning to finish my assignment and it felt like an epic to get it done. That did mean I was stuck inside most of the time, which when the sun is so fierce is perhaps not a bad idea really. I hope I have learnt something from the module and I hope I have passed, after that I am past caring, it was a slog. I knew this semester was going to be a challenge to keep on track with what I am doing when trying to fit in the weddings of two of our children but it was worth it to keep on track with getting the course completed and being an online course does mean that at least I am more flexible in where I study - always a good thing I think.

The beach near Fremantle

I haven't been inside the whole time of course and although you might think it is a boring existence to get out only to do some shopping, we did manage that. Not Christmas shopping or anything, haven't done any of that, just regular shopping. Shopping in a different country I find fascinating as it always gives you a clue about the food culture of a place, what's there and what's not. Fresh meat, fruit and veg, I am pleased to say, is abundant enough but rather eye-wateringly priced. Managed to spend on one evening for four what we would normally spend in a week in Latvia for two, but then again there are not many Kangaroo kebabs in Latvia. We even had steak this week, partly because it didn't cost much more than the pork, and we can get plenty of that in Latvia, very nice it was too on the barbie (Barbecue - just in case you are wondering, which I am sure your not) something you have to do of course whilst in Australia. Mind you I don't think that sitting outside having a barbecue is quite as popular as we imagine, sitting inside air-conditioned houses is though.

Fremantle Round House, looking very pristine for its 180 yrs

Finishing my assignment meant I was finally free to get out and about and see a bit more of Perth and so our daughter and her fiancé took us  to Fremantle or "Freo" as it is called locally. There are a lot of colonial buildings made of limestone that look incredibly new, but having checked the history I think it is just the difference between limestone bleached by the sun and not weathered by the wind and the rain like it is in the North England like we are used to. Having trundled around the town looking at hippyish market stalls and observing the architecture including Fremantle Round house we headed for a bakery for something to drink; never before has an iced chocolate drink looked quite so appealingly in December, hot chocolate maybe but never iced. The temperature a little cooler in the late afternoon and we headed to the beach for a swim, my daughter laughed at me but it took ages for me to get into the water it was so cold, I am not particularly fond of swimming in cold water, it was just a blessing that unlike England after a bathe in the early summer sea it wasn't freezing when we got out. Maybe you are wondering about Ian? Well!!!! He plodged and could not be persuaded to enter the water past his ankles but then again Ian and water that is not in the shape of a bath or a shower never mixed.

Just to prove it! Here's me swimming in the sea in December

Ian has been spending the week on a borrowed bike and walking around the area while I have been studying (no he hasn't been walking around with the bike, he would go out for an hour or two on the bike in the morning and a walk in the afternoon and is consequently getting quite brown already)  and he has been itching to get me out on a bike as he was telling me how good the cycling paths are. I don't mind cycling but I do like to use a bike as a means of transport to somewhere rather than just cycling for the sake of it, a point Ian is well aware of and so he told me there was a wonderful little café along the way. Sold!!! Sunday morning we set off and the bike trail took us besides the Swan river, a well used river for recreation by the look of it, with people picnicking, power walking, strolling, power boating, kayaking  etc. both young and old. We wended our way past conservation areas with wetlands - yes such a thing does exist in Australia and maybe a valuable means of protecting the river banks from erosion due to the use of pleasure craft on the river, past the marshmallow plants and the bullrushes, past the trees that appear to have almost naked and polished trunks, past the sign saying beware snakes on the path - doesn't specify which snakes or whether the idea is not to hit them or not to get bitten by them, and onto the little tea shop, which very conveniently for us, is situated about half way around the loop we were cycling. I don't go in for iced tea normally but being a little hot, decided on an iced peach tea, which was ..... very peachy and iced. Ian had a latte to keep him awake, think he was close to falling asleep I was going much slower than he would normally go, actually he said it was good to go slow as he hadn't really had much time to take in the scenery when he had been hurtling around the track this last week.

The little fella keeping Ian entertained while I was swimming

With plenty of good company to eat with and a lovely home to stay in, all in all its not been a bad week even if I have been stuck in a good bit of the time but I did put at the top of this post "still weird", well it is still weird. Being bitten by mossies in December, seeing star shaped pine trees and weird twisted trees, seeing Christmas decorations in a little tea room but sitting outside in the shade, hearing the wafts of Christmas music in the malls and it is not a mistake as in Latvia where they carry on playing the Christmas music into June in our local restaurant because they don't understand the lyrics, just little things that take some getting used to.

It's just not right

Beautiful but no idea what it is

Well it is weird, definitely weird. Snow scenes in the shopping malls and balmy nights with Christmas lights, eating outside and people sitting at other tables wearing Santa hats and pulling crackers. All upside down and back to front somehow. It doesn't feel like Christmas. No shopping done, and no time at the moment anyway as I am still trying to write an assignment, and having difficulty getting my head around it, although it is beginning to flow a bit now. Maybe it is jet lag but I don't feel that bad and sleeping well.

The backgarden! A little different methinks!

It doesn't feel that odd that it is so warm and yet the nights darken so early, I got used to that in my visits to Brazil and when living in Colorado. It doesn't even feel that odd seeing all the different types of trees and plants as they remind me of Cyprus. Neither does it feel that odd that we set off from snowy lands to land in a pleasantly warm one, we experienced that last year in our visit to Cyprus in March. No what does feel odd is the occasional glimpses of Christmas, the occasional house decorated with fairy lights, the wafts of Christmas songs in the shopping malls, people greeting each other with the phrase "Are you ready for Christmas yet?" It's just not right! It jolts the system and gives me a strange "not quite sure I am with it" sensation. It is also odd being bitten by mossies in December! Don't they know its nearly Christmas? I may as well have dropped down on another planet, such is the strangeness of landing in Australia near Christmas time.

What a life!

The weather has been good to us as it has been quite pleasant most of the time and only on one night did it feel stuffy and that was before we discovered how to put on the air-conditioning courtesy of our future son-in-law. Okay we know how to operate air-conditioning but we are staying in someone else's house who is not here at the moment and it is difficult to know where the air-con controls would be situated, even if they are right under your nose. We did meet the young couple whose house we are borrowing before they set off to the other side of Australia for a family wedding, in fact we even drove their car back from the airport so they didn't have to get a taxi. I find it so encouraging though to find a couple with such a gift of hospitality, a very underrated gift I might add in Western cultures. In the bible, hospitality is highly rated. Romans 12:12-14 says

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.


I think the Western church is very good at preaching about the first verse, less so about the second though and yet it is so needed. Hospitality used to be the hallmark of the Celtic monasteries where even an important fast would be broken for the sake of hospitality (The life of St.Columba), and they took their fasts seriously in those days. Sharing your home with a stranger is not easy, but if you can do it with grace and humility then that is a rare and precious gift, this couple have it in abundance. 

York

It has been interesting getting to know the place where our daughter now lives and spending some time with the about-to-be-married couple. We have not had much chance to get to know our future son-in-law up until now, so it is a special time indeed, just hope we don't put him off - as if we would!!! (Innocent smiley here I think!). Still he has made all the right moves by taking us out to eat, to a lovely quaint place out of the city in a place called York and our Christmas present from the both of them, was to pay for a holiday on the South Coast in Denmark next week (or was that to get rid of us for a few days? Hmmmm). York! Denmark! Not quite like the places we know that are called by the same name, we even lived in Denmark at one time but it wasn't in Australia that is for sure. 


And just to update you, back home in Latvia I am told there is 40cm of snow. Looking forward to landing in that when we eventually get back - I think!