all fixed and running

My long period of silence between the 19th and today is not without a reason. A couple of weeks ago my pal the laptop died a swift and painless death. Try as I might I was unable to resurrect it. It was one of those odd situations where after accepting another Windows update, I restarted the computer just to find out that it would not start. I could now go into a long and detailed series of complaints against Microsoft, Windows and PC’s in general, but I’m afraid to open that can of worms. All I can say is that this incident once again has reconfirmed my love for the Mac. That said, I’ll go on with the story. I was left with a dead laptop on my lap (No pun intended!) and no idea where to turn for help. I began by calling all my relations and I guess it should not surprise me that I ended up finding four professional “computer dudes” within my direct circle of family and friends. The first happened to get his thumb cut off by a table saw shortly before I could summon his help. The second, as it turned out, had just won gold medal in yacht racing, in his age group, in Latvia and had decided to skip the country and go on a long holiday (Probably blowing his prize money!). The third was climbing Kilimanjaro and was due back no sooner than September (His friend sighed into the receiver and added: “as long as he’s still alive, come September”). No, I’m not making any of this up. Really! That’s the craziest part. It could be explained by the size of this country or maybe all the people I know are a little “out there”. The last of the four was sick with the flu, but willing and able to take in my dead lap top regardless, and promised to do it at home so that I could save a few extra bucks. Yeah, it turns out that fixing this lap top through a known and reputable company in Latvia could have cost me nearly as much as buying a used one on e-bay. Go figure!

Well, after I finally got a hold of the fourth computer dude the laptop got fixed in a matter of a week or so. However, I did lose a whole stack of pictures and files in the process. It was a good lesson, a good slap on the wrist so to speak… I have begun making regular and careful back-ups now. It turns out that viruses can hide even amongst things like Windows updates and having the latest Norton (Including all latest security updates) does not necessarily mean you’re safe. I hate it!

But I love having my lap top back! :-)

Since the last blog post Stella has sprouted her second tooth on the bottom. It announced itself only a couple of days after the first. She’s also beginning to shuffle across the floor on her belly and occasionally even lifts her but up in the air in a crawling position. Oh, and she began to sit on her own just last week. Kaspar is slowly forgetting how to speak English and learning more and more current Latvian slang from his senior cousins and friends, some of which is not really approved by me. So, we occasionally have some serious stand offs regarding the appropriate use of language. I never thought that I’d be having these sorts of problems before the age of three! C’est la vie!

I’m sure there are a few other things I could mention, but I’ll leave some of it for the next blog post. I’m tired and the Song and Dance Festival starts tomorrow. I need to catch up on some sleep before the coming week of busy festivities and late nights.

tooth

Stella has a tooth! Finally! At six months and ten days on the nose she is finally got a little tiny saw edge of a tooth on the bottom right hand side. She's happy to show it off, as you can tell, but pictures don't do it justice just yet. However, just give her a finger or a hand and you'll no doubt will sport a nasty little bite mark in no time.

grey sky

ever tried one handed typing? how about the one handed one fingered typing? it's a preoccupation of mine these days. imagine a laptop on a kitchen counter. stella fluttering about in my lap no less then half a meter away from the counter. yeh. her ability to reach far away objects of her desire is unprecedented. so, my forever expendable right arm is reaching across the coffee mug, the counter, across stella, towards the computer... if i use this laptop much longer the backspace button will wear out, no doubt.

it's been raining the last few days. cool refreshing summer rain. for latvia it's a sure sign that summer solstice is approaching. it always rains during 'jani'. i don't know if it's true, but so the saying goes. i cannot complain, though. the yard was in desperate need of some rain as it had been warm and sunny and dry for the last six weeks. the farmers have been complaining, too, on the local newscast almost nightly. not me! we've loved every moment of this super fine summer weather. however, kaspar has been thrilled about the rain, too. yesterday he decided to do some serious digging in the damp earth. or as he'd like to put it: "i need to do some gardening, mom!" i realized i'd left his raincoat at my brother's, so we designed a brand new style of rain gear and we're going to market it as the "super fine, super fast, super recycled" rainwear. what do you think?

stories told

I remember being told that kids get really interesting after they begin talking. I did not believe it, though. I enjoyed every stage of Kaspar’s growth. But now, when I’m faced with a six month old and a two/almost three year old, I’m beginning to see what they were talking about. It’s much more fascinating to follow the daily events of an almost three year old then those of a six month old baby. After all, how much can I talk about her drooling, teething, sucking on her toes and so on? Kaspar on the other hand is full of surprises and NEVER ending chatter.

The other day I opened my email to find a handful of fire truck pictures for Kaspar from his grandparents. He climbed into my lap and we did not stop looking at them until the laptop finally ran out of juice and even then I had to deal with heartfelt tears. Kaspar has the wildest imagination. One or two pictures of his liking are often enough to spark questions that in return will begin an entire story in his little head. And the questions he asks are not of the easy sort. I often find myself speechless, looking for a good answer and while I wait trying to figure out a good reply, he just continues with the same question... repeating it over and over again, as thought to help me understand it better or something. It’s a strange quirk. But I think that most kids his age like to repeat questions. I know that some of my friends have complained about the “why? Why? Why?” period in their toddlers’ lives. Kaspar has not taken to the simple “why?” question. His ‘why?’s are much more complicated. Take for instance the fire truck pictures. He asks sort of like this: “If this really is a parade, and I think you’re wrong mommy, then there should have been a Santa Claus or some elves somewhere or at the very least balloons. They don’t make parades without balloons or elves. I know! I’ve been to parades. Remember? Remember? Remember?” And even though I try to tell him that I know he’s been to the Santa Claus parade his “Remember?” keeps coming until I do remember, yes, St. Patrick’s day parade or as he likes to call it the parade with the green elves and clowns. But before I finish a sentence he’s already flying : “So, if it’s not a parade then why would all the fire trucks be on grandpa’s street? Maybe there was a fire in the next building? Or maybe there was one in their building? Maybe even a small fire in their apartment.....?” And you can just tell that the drama is beginning to build, regardless of my answers to his questions, he’s already begun his story. His eyes are shining; he speaks a little faster, a little hurried. He leans in to the computer a little and continues: “Maybe, MAYBE... grandma left some matches on the counter (he has just learned about match safety, because here a lot of people have gas stoves that have to be lit with a match!) and some little boy came into the kitchen and took the matches and all of a sudden one match lit up and then one more and OH BOY, I think that boy is going to get into trouble! Isn’t he? Isn’t he? Isn’t he? Isn’t he? Isn’t he?” Eventually his story took us back to the firemen having to drive up grandma’s street and save the burning kitchen and grandma being very thankful... and the firemen having to wash their dirty trucks... etc. etc.

It’s interesting, though, that he is very aware of it being a fictional story. If I was to ask a day later what the story was about the trucks and grandma’s place, he’d more than likely just look at me perplexed and confused. He seems to create these stories in the moment and leave them just as fast behind. And all of them start with a very, very exaggerated “MAYBE...” I love listening to him tell the stories and sometime even help him along by carefully interjecting a little detail or two that take him in a new direction. It’s amazing with how much detail a three year old child is able to tell a story! They’re sometimes way better then the published stories in children’s books. If he continues like this then by the time Stella is ready for bedtime stories I won’t have to tell them myself. I’ll have a way better storyteller in the house... Ha!

not so very sick

Well, Saturday sale was not meant to be for me. Even though I was feeling much better, Stella came down with fever on Thursday night and I ended up staying home with her on Friday as well as today just to make sure the fever is over and done with. Like most baby fevers it came and went over the course of about 8-12 hours and I’m clueless as to what caused it. Since she has not had any of mine or Kaspar’s symptoms, I’m guessing that she might have had something as insignificant as teething fever. Who knows? She has been teething during the course of the last week, that’s for sure. We travel with 5-10 shirts and/or bibs everywhere we go. It does not take much more than 15 minutes for the entire front of her shirt, from neck to waist to be soaked through. Maybe she’s caught a cold because of it. Ha! What does it matter, really? I’m just glad that she’s better and Kaspar is on the mend, as well, and I’m getting better if ever so slowly, too. Thanks for all the good energy!

I was talking to a Toronto pal yesterday and we were comparing notes on laryngitis infections, common colds, flu and remedies of all sorts ... and ... it made me realize once again how much of what we do is influenced by the way we’ve been brought up and the way we are used to solving problems. Do I sound profound? Ha! Not really where I meant to go. However, our conversation sparked an interesting train of thought... bare with me for a moment...

Most people go to see a doctor as soon as they get sick and most doctors will prescribe a medication of some sorts to heal the ailment, whatever it may be. Most of the medications in their list of contents have things that are completely foreign to us, at times even unpronounceable chemicals and drugs that we have never heard of. Yet, we wholeheartedly trust that this medication will make us better, because the doctor said so. Or maybe it’s because we paid a plump sum of money for the drug at the pharmacy? Whatever the reason, but generally we’ll trust the drug. Ok, you might argue that this is a simplified version of the truth, but you can relate to it as truth generally speaking, right?

On the other hand, if I told you to put a hot (well, let me correct myself, very warm – so that you don’t burn yourself!) baked onion on your ear for about four hours to heal an awful earache, you’d probably roll your eyes and not really want to take me seriously. Most people don’t. Yet, I’ve grown up on healing wisdom like that. I’ve used it and know that it works, at times even better then the drugs. I don’t know why it works, but it works. Perhaps the reason why we have not found a cure for cancer or aids is strictly based on money? Sounds like some crazy conspiracy theory? No! But think about it ... If people invested the millions of dollars that are being invested in research of drugs and chemicals, instead in researching commonly known herbs, fruits and vegetables that are known to have healing properties, then maybe we’d know why a baked onion can heal an earache faster than any drug will. Maybe we’d also know a lot more about the healing properties of that onion, ginger, lemon etc. But why would a company invest money in something like that? They cannot make big bucks selling onions. Of course not! So, I figure it’s only logical to give every home remedy a try before going for the hard core drugs, because an onion is not just a part of your daily vitamin C intake. That’s only scratching the surface of it. Medicine has its place, no doubt about it. But first we should all take the onion seriously!

Hanging out with some older folk in my family, talking about their memories of times past and seeing my grandparents homestead again has made me, once again, want to write down all these little wisdoms that come from within, that come from a time when we were simpler yet wiser as a human kind.

Maybe one day I’ll post a handful of my family’s recipes for well being on the blog. Or publish a book. Or just keep them in a dusty box under my desk and take a peak once in a while when fighting another nasty bout of laryngitis. In either case I’m glad to have my little box of treasures!

sick

Arrgh. I’m sick. I hate being sick. I was sure that I was going to be unscathed. However I seem to have gotten it worse than the kids. Stella is just a little restless at night and congested. I can tell she's fighting a bug of some sorts. Kaspar has been sick for several days, but only with minor cold symptoms and a hacking cough during the night. But together it's enough to keep me up at night more often than I’d like. So, I’m blaming my laryngitis on the sleepless nights. Got to blame it on something, right? And I have it bad! Very bad!!! It’s the most terrible timing, too. I got into this big craft show and sale in Riga very last minute. I had missed the application date by a mile and I was sure they would not accept me, but they did. It’s taking place this Saturday and Sunday in an outdoor museum not unlike a typical “pioneer village” in Canada. I’m still planning to do it, but I do have some back-up if I end up being deathly ill. I hope I’ll get better. It’s Thursday night as we speak and I have not a voice and my throat kills and I’m chewing on raw onion just to keep the tickle in the throat at bay. I hope you feel for me. I need some sympathy... say a prayer for me and send all your good thoughts my way... I need all the help I can get.

a little irony

What irony... After posting yesterday's post I was looking at some of my pictures and found this one. Kaspar is in the middle. Just look at the kid... talk about overdressed. Unfortunately I cannot take credit for dressing him. It was his own doing with the help of his cousins. Maybe he's just trying to fit in?

through rose coloured glasses

greenhouse

Have you ever noticed how busy life suddenly gets, when you are on holidays? It’s this strange phenomenon. I always make these grand plans of catching up on all these little things (like organizing my ‘itunes’ and sorting pictures and such) when I’m away from home, but they never get done. It’s almost as though I need the stress of a very busy life to get anything done at all.

I was convinced that while in Latvia (especially now that I have a work lap-top!) I’d be blogging a lot more, too. Alas, it isn’t so! It seems like every minute of the day is taken up by one insignificant little thing after another and before you know it the day is over. And even though Kaspar has begun napping again (He often sleeps a good two to three hours during the day! Yay!!!), days when both kids are asleep at the same time are far too rare. So, when it does happen, I grab the opportunity to do a thing or two.

The weather has been blissfully warm and sunny and we’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors. It’s ironic that despite the usually cool springs here, this one has been consistently warm and sunny. I’ll even go as far as to say that every single day the projected temperature has been warmer than that of Toronto. And that’s a true rarity! I’m sure Toronto will catch up by the end of this week... and we’ll probably get slammed with some unusually cold days sooner or later... In the mean time, I’ll enjoy the 20+ degrees during the day, the sun and the wind in my hair and the nice cool nights, where it’s enough to keep a window open so that you can snuggle into the blankets and breathe fresh crisp night time air and listen to the nightingales.

The thing that perplexes me the most, as I stroll through the streets and watch other mothers here, is the way they dress their kids. Honestly... it’s a little disturbing. It’s not unusual to see a mother dressed in a summery top and shorts, probably sandals on her feet, lugging around her two year old with a close fitting hat on his or her head, the kind that has ears and they’re always tied tightly below the chin, a parka, socks (sometimes even a pair of tights under the pants) and most certainly long pants and long sleeves under the parka. It’s as though all the children are sick. And even a sick kid in Toronto would not be as over dressed as these poor kids. I’m sure that I have left some mothers wondering what I’m staring at them for. On the other hand, I’m sure I’m being started at as well. I’ve named this phenomenon “the greenhouse child”. In Latvia this is the norm, unfortunately. My brother’s wife and I have had some amazing laughs at times. She is on my side of the “the greenhouse child” issue and her stories of children her kids meet at the daycare are not only extremely amusing, but also a little frightening. Most mothers in Latvia are of the age old (at least for Latvians) belief that the only way to keep a child healthy is to dress, dress and dress them very well. And it’s being taken to the extreme. I do remember vaguely being told to pull my hat over my ears when I was a child and told to wear a scarf and stuff like that, but I had never noticed how extremely cautious parents here are.

I won’t go into the details, but there is also the “no ice cream” rule for anyone who’s got a runny nose, sore throat, cough or even cold hands. A drink is never served cold from the fridge to a child no matter how hot the day might be. They like to add a tad bit of boiling water to anything that comes out of the fridge even milk. Juices get served lukewarm. Just imagine – lukewarm grapefruit juice. Yuck! Anyways... you get the picture, right? And people stare, they really do stare at my kids, who are allowed to wear a t-shirt and shorts or bare feet on a baby, because HEAVENS!!! It’s +23!!!

how can it be?

I'm tired. How can I be tired at 10pm? But I am. Stella was up this morning just before six. Kaspar shortly after. Days seem long if you wake up at six and don't pack it in until after midnight. We spent hours on the beach today. Even though Kaspar was wearing a woolly winter hat and the wind was cold and brisk, we ended up spending the better part of two hours just watching three boys dig around in the sand. If only life was one big sandbox, huh? Stella is not yet of age to be in the sand. She at the stage where everything within reach has to be first put into her mouth. So, obviously, sand would not be a good idea. I'm anxiously waiting for the return of warmer weather. My only consolation is that even in Toronto it's cold. Here it's normal really to have a much cooler and longer spring before the truly warm summer weather hits. Well, I'm really out of steam today. So. This is all you get.