The weather hasn't been much better this week, but we still got out and about. My daughter and I have been to Costa coffee a few times because my daughter prefers their coffee and she and a friend often meet up there with their kids. I'm just happy to tag along. It works well with the older ones colouring and the younger ones confined to a corner playing and at least it is out of the house for an hour or two.
Morning coffee spot for Ian. I hope I don't miss all the good weather though
All the migrant birds have been returning. Ian even saw four storks on the day our newest granddaughter was born
There were dry evenings and so my daughter and her husband went for a couple of evening bike rides while I babysat. They came back rather covered. They may as well take advantage of me being around though. Mind you, I did end up on sentry duty on the door of the boys bedroom as they weren't exactly getting the idea of what sleep was for that night. Still been there, done that and got the t-shirt, so I didn't really mind too much. It's a phase!
Freddie
The new baby with proud older brother and sister
We were beginning to wonder what was going to be the best way for me to get to my son's for the third and final week, as my daughter didn't want to take a long ride down if my son's newest baby hadn't arrived, however, the baby finally decided to make an appearance on the Wednesday. It was very exciting to be able to say hello via Skype to my eighth grandchild and in plenty of time for me to see her. I love that her name also means resurrection or miracle.
At least the drainage is still working to clear away the melted snow by the side of the greenhouse
A bit dark but my granndaughter is blowing out the candle on her birthday dessert.
It was my granddaughter's birthday at the end of the week and I had put together a little bag making kit from some of my fabric stash so I could make it with her. We spent one afternoon having fun sewing. I'm not sure she was that bothered about the bag in the end, but she enjoyed the process. It was lovely to be able to carry on a tradition, as my grandmother was one of those who taught me to sew when I was young.
Another sign of spring - deep ruts
And muddy driveways. We obviously still need to work on the drainage here
Stomping in mud puddles
One of the joys of little children is their ability to find fun in a muddy woodland walk. It was a relatively nice day (one of the few) when my daughter, her friend and all their children went for a walk around a reservoir. Those children managed to jump in just about every puddle along the route, they found it hilarious and were soaked by the time we got back to the car. Near the end of the walk was a steep hill and the kids enjoyed rolling down, well the oldest rolled down but the younger ones only really managed to roll in circles.
There has also been some spring snow showers too out on our land
The little one I rescued in his all-in-one
There was one point where one of the little ones was rolling round in circles when the oldest was coming down the hill rather rapidly towards him. I played my role of Supergran and swung into action by hoisting the little one out of the way by the back of his all-in-one suit. I always knew that swinging hay bales around would come in useful sometime.
A lovely spring day and the alpacas are getting the freedom of eating out in the fields
Young alpacas love to roll in the grass too
On my last full day we went to a soft play area in a sports centre. I was impressed with the chap who was supervising. He trundled the kids around on a snake for most of the two hours and played basketball with them, although he did have to spend a while trying to extract an over large ball that got stuck in the net. It was lovely at the end as shook all their hands as they left and thanked them for coming. He obviously had a big heart for kids and keeping them active. We finished the day with a family birthday pizza party. The kids were truly amazing, especially the two year old who managed to hold it together despite a lack of sleep and a lot of running around all day. I was half expecting a melt-down but he didn't.
The girls' field doesn't get as much sun as the boys one does
Another spring returnee
Eventually it was time to leave and so we set off early on the Saturday morning to my son's house. On the way down we stopped off at a pub for lunch run by my son-in-law's older brother. We had a lovely meal but the best part was observing the conversation between my two year old grandson and my son-in-law's brother. He's been a bar tender for many years and he just went with the flow of the little chap's conversation. It was a classic and I was in stitches listening to them.
The girls' field may not get as much sun, but they still find the bits of green grass
Our cats have been joining Ian on early morning walks while I'm away. I think I am going to have some major time change adjustments when I get back. Apparently all the cockerels are crowing at 5:30am
After a long drive we made it to my son's house and I got to meet my eighth grandchild for the first time. It was lovely having a chaotic afternoon with six of my grandchildren and their parents, but sadly I had to say goodbye to my daughter and her family as they travelled back home. So now I am on the south coast getting to spend time with another set of grandchildren and helping mum with the new baby. I even took all the little ones to the park today for a bit of fresh air including the baby- another muddy place but fortunately for me, we managed to avoid the worst of the mud this time around. I think there will be enough washing to do this week somehow.
Eyre enjoying the sunshine on top of the cupboards in the greenhouse
It wasn't me! Mari stood on the remains of the hay
Ian is still sending me alpaca pictures and so I can
keep in touch with what is happening back at home.
Here the girls and the youngsters are all outside
enjoying the sun - or probably shut out so they go
outside
This week has revolved around the grandchildren mainly. The first part of the week revolved around school times. I went with my son's partner to take my granddaughter to school and to collect her most days. I got to see her at Mass at the Catholic church linked to the school one afternoon as her class took part in the re-telling of the Easter story. She played one of the soldiers who arrested Jesus. I also went to the Star of the Week Awards at the school. It was lovely to hear her being awarded the Science Star, especially in recognition of her enthusiasm and obvious knowledge gleaned from outside school. She has such a natural curiosity that it is easy to chatter about science when we meet. I have a science background and our family also used to talk about science subjects at the evening meal at times and it is nice to see some of that has rubbed off.
The snow is taking time to go on our land but also
coming and going
I love this picture of a cattail
seed head from our pond
We also got an invite one evening to my son's partner's father's house for an evening meal. He asked what we wanted to eat and I suggested something Chilean, since he is from Chile and I have never eaten Chilean food before (well if you discount the vegetables that originally come from that area of the world). We had Empanadas to start with, which are pastry filled with meat, cheese or mussels. Ours were filled with meat or cheese and had raisins and olives in, amongst other ingredients and they were tasty. It was an eclectic meal with pork and chicken in a mango sauce, plenty of veg and ice-cream and apple strudel to finish with. So around the world in one meal I think.
The snow always goes quickest off our south facing
ski hill
Still plenty of ice around
My granddaughter and I made a chocolate fudge type thing, similar to what I have been making at home for us. She even liked the dark chocolate taste. It didn't turn out quite the same, but I think that was because the cocoa was slightly different. It still tasted good anyway. We enjoy making things together, so we experimented in making a scratch card where you put black paint on top of wax crayons. I'm not sure yet how that turned out as it needed a lot of layers of paint to cover the wax crayons and it wasn't dry before I left.
Every year our ponds goes through a phase of looking
like an agate when the snow begins to melt
Sofie looks a little windswept
On our last day, the weather was not so good and I had to do some work on the academic paper. As I mentioned last week it had to be handed in by the end of the month, so I had been taking bits of time to work on it then send it on to others to work on it too. Anyway I finished in enough time to go out and we went to a soft play area for lunch and to let my granddaughter run around. At one point I had her racing against time to see how fast she could complete a route through the play area and back. She managed to get under a minute on her last go.
Enjoying a good scratch on a spruce tree
Freddie is starting to look quite big now
On the Saturday my son and his family and I went up to my daughter's for my second granddaughter's birthday party. She will be five soon but her party was at the weekend for friends and family. I did take a pause mid-afternoon to finish off my contribution to the paper during the middle of the party, but since it was from the afternoon and into the evening, it wasn't too long a time away. I did help the littlies to make bracelets and necklaces from beads and elastic though.
Turbjørn eating hay
Enjoying a snack break on our walk. This is the
granddaughter whose birthday will be soon with her
cat ear headband she got at her party.
Sunday was a slow start to the day after the slightly hectic party day and in the afternoon we took advantage of the lack of rain to go for a walk. I should have taken some pictures of the paths though, as in places they were a little deep in mud. One point would have made a great picture as my son-in-law was perched on a rock holding the gate open while my daughter tried to navigate the buggy through a rather deep puddle with baby still on board. Not sure if he was awake at that point or not. I could only observe while holding the hands of the other two to make sure they didn't slither their way down the muddy rocks. Another point to take a picture was probably the one of me leaping a large puddle as there was no way around it and I was the only one without proper waterproof hiking boots or wellies on - they did all stop to watch my performance though. I am glad to say I did not disgrace myself by falling over or into the puddle, as everyone was probably hoping.
Tellus
Snow this morning in the UK
Today we woke up to snow but still needed to get out a bit for some fresh air. We took a walk into the town to get a few things and noted the lack of stallholders on the market. Only one had bothered to turn up and there were not many folks about. Even Costa was shut. We trudged back but had some wailing from the granddaughter who wanted to hold Daddy's hand and not mine and then claimed she couldn't take her wet boots and socks off. I did explain that if I took them off there would be time spent in the bedroom to calm down and so my next few minutes were spent waiting for calm outside the bedroom door. Lol that does bring back some memories.
The view from our walk
A bit of a misty picture but it is of a group of trees in the
middle of the picture that I know very well but from a
different vantage point. These trees can also be seen from
a cafe we used to visit often when we lived in the UK
It wasn't all bad though, while Mummy and Daddy went out, Grandma Oh Oh was left in charge (that's me, just in case you don't know). The little one was in bed anyway and I played with the older two. We played at picnics, dominoes, fire rescues (pretend I hasten to add), clearing up playdoh from earlier (when I made a green dragon wth yellow fins on the back, purple arms and pink eyes - I know how to have fun) and then we were just about to have hot cross buns and grapes when Mummy and Daddy returned. So I am surviving well, no colds or coughs picked up from any of them and also I am getting plenty of cuddles, especially from the youngest grandson. Still waiting for news though of the next one to be born - it had better arrive before I leave the UK.
Is Aggie laughing because I'm away? Whatever,
I think the windswept look deserves a suitable
caption
I know it is probably showing my age, but it still amazes me what can be accomplished through the internet at times. It is so easy to moan about all the bad things that are achieved that it can be forgotten the good that can also happen. I was doing some embroidery on a felt piece and at the same time chatting to a guy in Uganda about permaculture and farming. He asked me if I knew how to grow watermelons as he hadn't grown them before. I haven't had any success as they require a long hot season but I knew someone in the States who I thought did. I sent a message off in my American friend's direction and within half an hour had a reply with instructions on how to grow them, which I duly passed on of course. The internet has been a great source of inspiration and knowledge for us, since there is so much that can be researched on the net. Of course we also have to learn how to sift the good from the bad, but it is often worth it.
Lady V looking very regal as usual
We do feed our animals, honestly. There is also
some rather nice fresh hay to eat
I have spent time unpacking the boxes we took to our other apartment last week and then re-packing boxes with more stuff from the apartment we live in. At least the unpacking didn't takes as long as I thought it would. So far it is working okay and I am finding homes for everything, which is encouraging. I also got the cellars sorted and vacuumed at the one we are moving into - good job we have a heavy duty vacuum cleaner to tackle the thick layer of dust/soil that was in that cellar. The new owners of our apartment had arranged for someone to measure up for a new kitchen, as we plan on taking ours with us. This is partly for cupboard space, as there is a lack in our other apartment and partly because we spent quite a bit on it and it was made by our friend to order. Hopefully he will be back soon for a holiday and therefore help us to take it down. It helps when the person who constructed it helps to take it apart.
A downy birch tree
George is getting quite fluffy now around his face
and we are obviously going to face the same issues
we had with Mari when it came to shearing time
of how to shear around the cheeks and under his
chin
Some of my waiting this week, that I mentioned last week, is over, as I heard that my application for the job has been rejected without an interview. I wasn't really anticipating getting an interview and so wasn't too distraught, but it would have been convenient if I had, as the interview date was while I was still in the UK and it was one of the reasons why I took a chance and applied. I was encouraged though as some of my friends sent me messages of support when I told them they wouldn't be needed as referees.
Even though the snow is still down on the ground
you can tell spring is on its way due to the redness
of the branches of the trees. We also heard the first
cranes of the year and saw some swans
It can be a struggle at times to get
my work done with a certain little
boy giggling in the background
I don't think my supervisor was too upset that I didn't get the job either, as I think he was worried that I wouldn't have time to finish my PhD. I mentioned last week that I was also waiting for him to finish reading my papers I had written, which unfortunately he didn't have chance to do as he was at a conference. However, the good news is that he did get an unexpected opportunity to submit a paper with a faster turnaround. He would like me to contribute to that paper too and that would give me the third paper I need to finish. The problem is that it needs submitting before the end of this week, which doesn't give us a lot of time and it is a bit inconvenient as I am currently in the UK visiting grandchildren. I am pleased I did get a good start during my flight over and in the morning during a quiet spot of yet more waiting.
Mind you sometimes my little
grandson is engaged in other
activities like getting to grips
with car racing using the console.
He did choose a rather nice
purple car
I had a meeting with a professor today who was visiting the university in the city where my son lives. I have been using her work to analyse the situation in the villages that I have been studying and so it was great to be able to chat about my findings and encouraging to hear someone who has been thinking along the same lines I have in terms of development in rural places. I didn't feel like I had to start at the beginning to explain where I felt the challenges and opportunities in these villages lay, she understood where my ideas were going and agreed more work needs doing in the areas where I am doing the research, I still just need the funding to keep it going though.
Ian asked for captions for this on Facebook and one
of our friends put ""My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Unaccustomed as I am ..." I thought it was very funny
Not the tree in the city but out on our land which
often has the type of lichen that shows our air
quality is very good
After my meeting my son's partner came to pick me up but she needed to get a blood test doing (nothing urgent), so we went off to a walk-in-centre. It was not a problem for me to look after the kids while she went in, but what we didn't anticipate is the waiting time before she even got to go in. After two top-ups for the car parking charges, one drink time, one snack time, a drawing game, a drawing squares game, playing with playdoh, a walk outside looking at lichen and maple leaves later, she finally got to go in. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the school age granddaughter had an unexpected day off as the electric and heating was off at school (there may have been some dancing of joy in the morning from a certain young lady and despite the teasing she assures she wasn't responsible for the electric fault).
Mr. Herk looking good these days. His hair is keeps
growing back so well now.
We spent our first full afternoon in the park
and as you can see it was warm enough for
an ice cream
It is nice having little grandchildren but it is also nice having a nine year old step-granddaughter who has a curiosity about life. We've talked about all sorts of topics, discussed complicated words like Ostinato - a musical term that had my son and I looking up musical terms because she could remember it was to do with rhythm and began with an O but had forgotten the actual word and we hadn't got a clue. I've already baked a cake with an orange icing drizzled on the top with her or rather supervised as she baked, as well as played the waiting game at the walk-in-clinic today. While outside we also discussed making maple syrup from the sap of maple trees and using lichens as an indicator for air quality. She is quite the bright spark.
Getting his vitamin D. The days are sure getting
longer now in Latvia. I am quite surprised here in
the UK when it seems to be dark for longer, even
taking into account the clock change
Ian is home alone looking after the alpacas once again. I did go out a couple of times before travelling to the UK to help sort out a few things and check up on the skin issues we have been having. We decided to give Chanel the heavy-duty stuff to try ensure the mite issue is well and truly under control. She has stabilised but we cannot risk a deterioration while I'm away. Our snow is gradually going so Ian is still on the winter jobs of cutting trees and taking the alpacas for a walk. Ian often times his walk to coincide with one of the buses going past our land, as the driver always gives an enthusiastic wave as he goes past. The bus driver even seems to make sure the passengers knows they might see Ian walking them, as occasionally he has been seen pointing out the alpacas to someone on the bus.
I had to take a picture of the ivy on the rock, we
don't have that in Latvia or at least it is fairly
rare, but here in the UK it is everywhere
Spring is obviously further on in the UK than it
is in Latvia and the celandines are already out
here
The nicer weather over the weekend, meant that we did have some visitors. Typical how they wait until I go away, I try not to take it too personally (only joking). Talking of visitors we have had lots of virtual visitors too, both to our website as people begin to search for things to do in Latvia on their holidays but also to a video I posted online about two years ago. The video shows our younger girls pronking around the paddock. Pronking is a technical term for the stiff legged way they bound about sometimes, antelopes are known to do something similar. It seems that it appeared on searches after someone on American Idol said they wanted to win the competition so they could realise their dream of owning an alpaca herd. Last time I looked the video was up to 17, 680 views - a bit different to the views we normally get. You can see the video below
