October 5th
Went to the beach with Ainar and 3 of his friends from Riga - Janis, Eva, and Ingus. They came to Jurkalne to film themselves playing in the storm. Ingus was the main film guy and we just walked around, playing in the sand and wind.
Word..............vētra = storm
Dish................sour pear juiceHighlight..........when Ingus picked up his cigarette butt instead of leaving it on the beach
Random Observation..........I really like the combo of art and nature - it's like taking the best from the city and bringing it to the woods.
October 4th Sunday
The electricity was out in the morning so I couldn't even have coffee. Quite tragic. No electricity means no heat, no hot water, no stove, no garage, no phone, and of course, no lights. Lights came on around noon. Finally made my cranberry sauce. And in the afternon, went on a long walk with Marija in the woods - not too many mushrooms. It's been stormy and the wind was blowing super hard. Very invigorating. Marija walked home and I ran for 40 minutes, getting home just before dark.
Word...................karš = war (I asked my grandmother if she had a dowry and she laughed and said no, it was war-time.)
Dish.....................tomatos, cucumbers, onions, and piecesof rye bread floating in a mixture of heavy fresh cream and water.
Highlight................having coffee when the electricity came back on
Lowlight................not being able to have coffee immediately upon waking up!
That's my new hat I finished knitting. It's cute but a bit too small.Random observation............I don't like the idea of being completely dependent on electricity. Yet another supportive rationale for me living completely off the grid.
October 3rd Saturday
Went to Kuldiga with Alise and Nagitte. First went to pick apples - we got four huge bags full for only 4 USD - so many different varieties! Then, Elvi for groceries - got some beer to help me chill when the two of them are pestering me too much. Should have drank one in the store since afterwards we had a bit of a breakdown in communication and mom couldn't decide where she wanted to go next while I did a few errands on my own. She kept trying to get me to go do my errands with the car and I kept insisting I wanted to walk and I guess she just couldn't understand why. It drives me nuts here that Marija, Alise, and Nagite all insist that they know what I need/want more than I do... aren't you hungry? here, eat this. now, eat that. aren't you cold? no? i got you this heavy robe anyway, wear it. put socks on. aren't your feet cold? etc. etc. etc. Arggghhhh!!!! (ok, I also got my period today which probably explains my impatience!)
Finally, got an hour on my own and walked around town. Bought 4 beautiful skeins of yarn for my first latvian mittens I'm going to knit. Finished knitting a hat.
Dish.....................dzerven zupa = we bought celery root and mom used it to make a vegetable soup with carrots, potatoes, onions, and cabbage. Mom cooked it with the meat but then kindly removed all the meat pieces to make it more "vegetarian" for me.
Highlight................buying the beautiful skeins of yarn in the yarn store
Lowlight................losing my patience with people trying to be too nice.JPG)
Random observation...........I've lived alone way too many years of my life and am too independent to have two old ladies and a neighbor be pampering me so much.
October 2nd Friday
Rest day. Can't even remember if I did anything. I think I stayed in bed and knitted a lot. I didn't even touch my big basket of cranberries. In the afternoon, I crawled to the beach and ran. The beach was stormy and beautiful.
Word.....................miers = peace
Highlight.................relaxing in my room
October 1st Thursday
Drove 1.5 hours south, past Ventspils, to the small town of Stikls, where we went into a bog looking for bog cranberries - they are the big ones you're used to seeing in the grocery store. "We" consisted of Nagitte, her daughter Kristine, Nagitte's husband, and a friend of their's, Rudi. I'm not supposed to tell mom that the car was full for some reason. It wasn't raining when we first got there but then it started to, and we shlopped around ankle deep in the bog, picking beautiful huge cranberries until our fingers were numb. I think I had leached bites on my ankle even though I was wearing rubber boots.
Dish......................pankukas = pancakes. mom had warm greasy little pancakes waiting for us when we got back. Ļoti garšigs with homemade blueberry jam and/or apple sauce on it.
Highlight ...............schlopping through the marsh was ridiculously fun. plus, I thought I heard cranes!
Lowlight................driving home in the rain was no fun.
Random observation..............the less I drive, the less I like driving.
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