Last few weeks have been intense.  Could be because I turned 40 recently - something I was not remotely worried about, until the birthday loomed nearer and nearer.  Then suddenly I really, really didn't want to be 40.   I felt a bit panicky and regretful.  Doesn't matter that I got a whole lot of encouraging emails and theories about only really starting to live after 40.  Nope. SO not convincing.  The main thing about it was that you haven't got a choice - no amount of whingeing or pleading or money or influence can change the fact that time is marching on... OK, ok, that's it, enough of a window into my burgeoning  mid-life crisis.  To cut a long story short, I had a little  tanty and told Jem that I DIDN'T WANT A PARTY, although he had already started organizing it, and thoroughly enjoyed my day with close family - but no balloons or streamers. It was great.

Then on the weekend we went away to Saaremaa, an island off the Estonian coast.  Booked into a fancy spa hotel, we got totally chlorine-logged swimming in the various pools, the boys taking every opportunity to swim, while I curled up on the deck chairs reading on my new kindle (yay!) and pretended we were on the beach at Coolum.  Just as good except no sunburn....

Saaremaa was a fabulous surprise for all of us.  A friend told me we would be facing a touristy metropolis, so I was stunned when the little town of Kuressaare boasted only 3 souvenir shops, a couple of antique shops selling nautical equipment, and a handful of cafes.  Lots of quaint wooden cottages. A big moat-surrounded, well-preserved medieval castle.  There weren't too many other tourists, and it really felt like we were on the edge of the earth when exploring the delights of the island.  Deserted beaches with artful grey rocky shores and little wooden fishing boats pulled up on the rocks.  A lighthouse we could barely see for the fog. Geocaches hidden in the most interesting places -in bird boxes hidden in pine forests; in the ruins of Soviet bases set amongst juniper bushes; in rocky outcrops near old wooden windmills. What a wonderful weekend.

Guess it's not so bad turning 40 after all.



Looking for a geocache on a deserted beach.  In the middle of this adventure Mikus said: "Now I know why it's called E-STONE-ia!!"  Came home with a car boot full of beautiful rocks.

  I took last week's forecast of "snowstorms at Easter"with a grain of salt.  Sure, I figured, if it does "snow" it will be a thin sprinkling of icing-sugar that melts away the minute it hits the ground.  So we spent Easter Saturday in the country, awash with springtime goodness, dreaming up  garden and summer plans, boys going on their first hike to the "Wild Square" (see this post), admiring the snowdrop flowers that had already pushed their way through the earth.  Went to bed on Saturday night planning routes for the Easter bunny.  And then we woke up to THIS.


It was a thick, fluffy blanket. METRES of snow.  It looked like Mother Nature realized that Christmas this year was bleak and snow-less, and remembered that she had sacks of white frozen stuff that she forgot in the back shed.  Ok, so lets just dump it on them now - better late than never, right??

So we had our first-ever snowy Easter egg hunt.  Oh, Lordy, was it cold.  By the time the boys got out there, the snowstorm had even covered some of the "bunny's" tracks - and eggs.  But mostly the colourful papers looked awesome against the fluffy white backdrop.

I've gotta say there were moments of beauty in the snow, though.  In the afternoon the grey cleared, and we had perfect sticky snowball snow with bright blue skies, a roaring fire indoors, Easter egg chocolate handed around... a hybrid Christmas/Easter feeling was good enough for us.

So happy Easter everyone - hope yours was good, no matter what the weather!

Tiss goes to volleyball training twice a week at the Riga Volleyball School.  He didn't want to go today, had a tanty before getting in the car.  I ask you:  who wouldn't want to go to volleyball when they were greeted with this lovely mural everytime they entered the building? (that's only a detail above... you should see the whole thing).