I think the warmer weather has made us all go a bit silly recently. After such a long, long, dark and cold winter, a bit of sun and the opportunity to go outside without your jacket is incredibly motivating. Most of Latvia at this time of the year is digging in the dirt, raking leaves from last autumn, cleaning windows and sowing seeds. We, on the other hand, decided that Mikus' birthday, combined with the weather, provided an excellent opportunity to invite friends and family to the country for...

I'll bet you didn't think I'd update this blog so soon! But our wonderful weekend excursion has got me all fired up to post another photo report on life in Latvia. So here you have it - I had to sing in a concert in Cesis (a beautiful town about 100 km north of Riga), so we decided to make a weekend of it.We booked a night in a manor house near Cesis called Ungurmuiza. Apart from its fabulously klumpety name, it is also the oldest wooden manor in the Baltic States. Built in 1720something, it has...

....and I'm getting old. Oh, lordy lordy. I won't make a long story of it, but the last few weeks my body has suggested to me that things are slowly going downhill. I spent a week in Vienna in mid-March with the Saucejas, whereby we soaked in a great deal of art and Germanic order. I also (foolishly) assumed that it would already be springtime in Austria, and so I didn't even pack a hat or gloves. Of course, when we got there, it was just as cold as in Riga, but with a fierce and icy wind that blew...

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