cats

Latvia is full of stray cats. Maybe some of them aren’t stray, but just not looked after, too well. Who knows... but it’s May and wherever we land, I’m always listening to a half a dozen of howling cats at night. The apartment buildings and the courtyards in the cities are the havens for these night time sopranos, but I have noticed a couple on the street where my mom lives, as well. The best night time choir I’m hearing right now, just below the third storey window, where my sister lives. The loud choir of miow’s and screeching occasionally gets interrupted by someone screaming at the poor creatures to stop the noise and a little while ago it sounded like water (or some other liquid substance) being thrown out the window. A swoosh of a sorts followed by a whole racket of cat noises. Entertaining to say the least!


My sister has a sweet little cat named Hercog. He has accepted Kaspar as an equal, a playmate of sorts. They get along famously and even seem to be alike in some ways. They both like to play with the sheer curtains in my sister’s pad, very often getting totally tangled in them. They both are equally good at using up the toilet paper. The roll quickly gets spread throughout the entire apartment, if someone leaves the bathroom door open by mistake. The painting above my sister’s couch often gets attacked, even though the cat seems to scratch and Kaspar seems to pull and I’ve learned to restore with the use of nail polish, gum and other innovative, spur of the moment procedures. Thank God my sister cannot complain too much abut the painting, as it really is my painting, that she’s acquired by fluke. The stroller has also become a favourite of the cat and Kaspar. Hercog can spend hours sleeping in the basket underneath the stroller and Kaspar can spend hours trying to get him out of it. It’s great! It keeps Kaspar busy and entertained and I have time to watch bad Latvian day time drama.

on the road

Even though I haven’t had a chance to update this blog on a regular basis, I’ve been keeping notes on paper. These next few entries might not be in the right order, but you should still get the general idea of what we’re doing and where we are these days.

We’ve been on the go the last few days. I’m beginning to feel like a gypsy, spending a night or two in one place, before packing up and going to the next home. My family members all live in separate towns and we’ve pretty much have done the rounds in the last few days.

About eight or nine years ago, some European report listed Latvia as the country with most traffic caused deaths per capita. It changed soon after that. I think the government realized that this was not good for tourism :-) Police cars were posted on highways and tickets were handed out left and right for a while. I remember one drive, with a friend of mine, from Riga to Jurmala... I think we got stopped three times within that half hour. Every time we got away with the minimum 5 Ls (about 12$ CAN) charge. Today some things have changed. However, highways are still the same old narrow two-way roads. Yes - there is only one highway in the whole country that is more then a two-lane (one lane each way) highway. It's the short stretch of road that leads out of Riga, passed the airport and on the way to Jurmala (the long narrow city stretching along the shore - beach capital of Latvia). The roads are not policed quite as much. People still drive way over speed limit. And the way people pass the slower driving cars still at times takes my breath away. I think, living in Canada has turned me into a 'pussy cat', as far as driving is concerned. Even though I sometimes find myself in complete moments of panic, while sitting in the front seat of someone’s car, I must admit, that those Latvians are very good drivers! It must be the Soviet training… having to learn to deal with the worst conditions and still come out on the top. The drivers here are defensive, quick, fast to react…

We’ve spent so much time in cars the last week or so, that Kaspar has finally learned how to sleep in his car seat. He now takes naps whenever we go for a longer drive and has adapted to ever changing schedules and sleep patterns. I’m amazed at his adaptability! He’s hardly ever cranky and at times, when company is good, he’s willing to stay up until 11pm or even midnight. Then we usually spend the next morning sleeping in until 10am or so. He’s a spectacular travel companion! Am I repeating myself.... ??? I can hardly remember what I wrote in the last blog entry.

dandylions lilacs & violets

We caught this picture on the last day before the rain began. There are dandy lions everywhere! They hardly use any chemicals on lawns here, so, dandy lions are an inescapable part of reality. Kaspar is thrilled, because these are the only flowers he’s allowed to pick. If he had his way, he’d have my mother’s yard all plucked and turned into mush. And then he’d go for the next door neighbors’. He’s definitely a “flower child”, but on his very own terms!

It seems like the whole world is in bloom. Cherries are just dropping their petals. Apples, plums and pears are in full bloom. So are most of the lilacs. It’s a gorgeous spring, here! I don’t even mind the rain these past few days. However, I cannot say the same about Kaspar. I’m beginning to think that he suspects a conspiracy against him. No one is willing to take him outside, no matter how much he begs and pleads. The last day we were out for a walk must have been three days ago. We spent the morning walking around the grounds of the property, where our wedding was held about six years ago. It’s near Talsi. I took this picture of Kaspar under the old oak. That is, if you can spot him there, a speck at the foot of the trunk. It’s said to be 220 years old and many people here believe that such trees hold a certain sense of magic in them… maybe Kaspar felt it. He sure did not want to leave this little spot under the tree.