....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 through every woven hole in my crappy cotton scarf, and turned my poor un-gloved hands into numb icicles. And when I got home - literally a few hours after getting off the plane - I came down with an aching, exhausting, raging fever. A case of the dreaded late-winter "gripa" (flu), which I figured would knock me over for 3 days max and then I would be right as rain. So after sleeping and sweating and moaning my way through the next day, Monday, I got up on Tuesday and went to work.... for a few hours... by which time I crawled home and fell back into bed for the rest of the week. And that wasn't the end of it. Although I resumed my usual duties after a couple of days, I've been coughing and aching and having afternoon naps ever since - it's taken me weeks to recover fully. Daily chores have been a challenge, let alone some kind of creative thought or writings. So, dear reader (all two of you), let me assure you that the first thing to get struck off the "to do" list when I have a lack of time or energy is.... blogging. So there.
On a lighter note, our Easter long weekend was fabulous. The weather miraculously stayed great, and leapt up by about 15 degrees to give us a series of sunny spring days, so warm you could walk outside without coats on! We rediscovered the country and spent most of the weekend cleaning out the house, digging in the dirt, raking leaves, etc etc. A very exciting development at Kugures is that we now have a fully functioning sauna - which was crafted by local workmen over the winter. Its wood fired, and I can happily report after quite a few sauna visits over the long weekend that it works very well. Too well, in fact - the first night Jem and I went in without a thermometer and almost ended up passing out from the heat! The boys absolutely loved it, mucking around all sweaty and nude, tipping water everywhere and climbing all over and under the benches. They have never been cleaner!
The Easter Bunny made quite a late appearance on Sunday morning, planting chocolate eggs in painfully obvious places throughout the garden - and the boys walked past almost every one of them! But eventually we found them all, which was great fun. They haven't finished off their store of chocky yet... So without further ado here are a few pics, none of the sauna action for obvious reasons (count your lucky stars) - for that you'll just have to turn up and see it for yourselves!

Mikus dyes his prize-winning Easter egg the traditional Latvian way - Saturday evening

And the hunt is on! Eager kids chase after the tracks of the bunny while mum and I stroll behind. The house you can see contains the sauna...

I found one! (This one had an action superhero inside it - since when has Easter been about giving toys? Certainly not in my day! Back then it was all about chocolate, chocolate, chocolate)

Mikus on his winning streak during the lunchtime "egg war" - grab one of the eggs you dyed the night before, and bash your neighbour's egg. The winner is the one without the cracked shell. The winner then goes on to challenge the next person...