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One of my resolutions is to travel outside Latvia AT LEAST once a year - to have a little sojourn in another country for a bit of 'kulcha', to encourage thinking outside the square, to refresh certain faculties that are underused living in Latvia (ie. being friendly to strangers) and to remind myself of various realities that I don't come across here (ie. museums are for children too!).We've just come back from four jam-packed days in Berlin, where we visited a heap of museums and children's learning...

I woke up this morning to Matiss' smiling face close up to mine, with his tousled blonde hair and ice-cold feet, crawling in next to me under the duna. His friendly greeting: "Your wishes are all going to come true today, Mummy". Yesterday I had said to him that my one wish was that someone would buy me a new pair of blue jeans because my old ones had just ripped in the knee! So guess what I got for my birthday.These boys certainly make life worth living. Such intense little animals that are so...

Ok, I suppose that might seem like a bit of a negative approach. But contemplating turning 35, it did occur to me that in 15 years time, I'm going to be 50... Which is ok. I think I like getting older. By no means would I like to be in the "head space" of a 20 year old again. I like the wisdom, sense of calm that each new year of life experience brings. I laugh a lot more now than I did years ago. The only problems about getting older (so far) are the fact that you physically start finding it more...

Here's a pictorial of our Easter weekend at Kūgures (the family country house near Saldus). Action included tapping a birch for juice; colouring eggs in Latvian style; another tradition of swinging on a swing especially put up for the occasion; and the very Aussie chocky easter egg hunt.IIn Latvia on Easter Saturday you usually colour eggs by pressing leaves and flowers to a raw egg and tightly wrapping it in gauze or a piece of stocking, then boil in water which has already been pre-boiled with...

Now that's a lot of eggs! This picture was used as an Easter greeting card by my grandmother and her family in 1931. It pictures some girls from the family (from left, my great-aunt Aina (affectionately known as "Zanuks"), my great-great Aunt Austra (aka "Afulis") and my grandmother Margarita (who everyone calls "Rituks")) in the backyard of 13 Skrundas Street, Saldus with a bunch of Easter goodies, pre-WWII Latvian style. This is where my parents now live, and today the backyard is mostly overgrown...