It' a long winter... amusing actvities #2

Today we went to birthday party for a friend of the boys, who turned eight. An arty and determined soul, he had spent the last few months building knight's helmets and armour out of plywood, so that his guests could launch a huge battle in his backyard on his birthday. Today was the day - and the battle was fierce. Funny thing is, although the temp has been hanging around -7 or so, it didn't feel cold. We must have acclimatized. Or our brains might be frozen....

It's a long winter...  amusing activities #1

Playing pirates on our bed. Most exciting part is when someone gets swept overboard and we have to haul them back on deck. Costume direction by Captain Mikus....

Finishing touches

So we aren't going to be in our new house by Christmas. Things were moving a a cracking pace until most of the gyproc and structual work was finished, then about 10 or 12 of the workmen moved onto other houses, leaving one erstwhile builder to finish the first floor. We have been waiting for the last month for him to finish the "dirty jobs" -sanding plasterboard etc - before we bring in new handymen to finish up the inside work. All we have left is the wooden floors, doors, painting, tiling. You...

It's been a long time ...

... between drinks. Or writing blog posts, for that matter. I have just been inundated with things in the last month or so - with the stuff of real life, I guess.Jem has been on two work trips, to various Scandinavian destinations, in which we at home went into lock-down, get-through-until-dad-gets-home mode. Then I had to fly to Muenster, Germany for a work conference (with a classic swap-the-kids routine, where Jem flew back home on one evening and I flew out the morning of the next day). We have...

Margarita

On Saturday we will say our last goodbyes to my very strong-willed, artistic and caring grandmother Margarita, who passed away last Friday. She will be sadly missed by all of us. This is a picture of her and my grandfather Eduards, on their engagement day in 1933....

Georgia on my mind

I travelled to Georgia a week ago with the "Saucējas" to sing at a festival in Batumi, a resort town on the Black Sea. We spent a whole week travelling to various places: a few days in Batumi singing, dancing and walking on the grey and pebbly beach; some time in the capital, Tbilisi, which we already knew from a trip 2 years ago, and day trips out to various places in the country - amazing cliffs with networks of caves long abandoned; a monastery made of rock with monks still living within; a...

Lapkritis

Here's some random snaps of things we've been up to lately - many related to autumn, of course. Even after 10 years of living here, I am still amazed by the way our lives are so intricately linked to the seasons in Latvia. So this post is obligatorily about chestnuts and acorns and woolly jumpers. As it should be in late October!At Kūgures on the weekend we made a menagerie of chestnut and acorn beasts. Lots of fun. The building bug has bitten my parents, and a month or so ago they embarked on...

In our neighbourhood

Our house is moving along nicely. We've had a complete change of work crew for the interior work and it really does look like we will be in by Christmas. So much so, that I have begun to imagine actually moving in and LIVING in the area. Our suburb, Āgenskalns, is a wonderful suburb just over the river from the old town - a challenging mix of the most gritty Riga life, and the most interesting and charming. It is an eclectic blend of 100 year old stately wooden homes, set back from the street in...

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