What It's All About

For those who don't know what the Latvian Song Festival is (or where Latvia is for that matter!), I offer the following from Lenore and Laura. It's a really nice, succinct overview of what's going on in Latvia right now. What we experienced in Indianapolis and Chicago when the song festival was in the U.S. is probably a pale comparison!

"Laura sent a little info to her friend Amy who works for National Geographic travel. Here is what was added to Amy's blog."

From a cool Picasa web album:

See more pictures like this and a little movie of the parade here.

Weekend Biathlon Triathlon

Lenore and I did a Laura-style biathlon on Friday so she would be sufficiently tuckered out for her long plane ride. It was a Laura Double Hill Latte: 14 mile bike ride followed by 2 large hills to a latte at Starbucks. Here's the double hill, which if course is much steeper in real life.



Later that same weekend, I decided to try a triathlon, also of my own design:
Leg 1: Cutting the grass, weeding and transplanting hostas


Leg 2: 14-mile bike ride with Roland

Leg 3: Cherry picking with Roland and a second bike ride to my
folks' for dinner (and cherry pitting).



All in all, exhausting, but I made good time. Especially on the ride since I drafted off of Roland almost the whole time, but not because I was lazy, because HE showed up on his road bike and I had my mountain bike so it was only fair. With the wind at our backs, we averaged about 20 mph coming home. Sweet!

Bonus picture: Lenore's Latvian breakfast of champions

Transcontinental V-Chatting

I've had good luck so far using Sightspeed to video chat with Lenore in Latvia. There's about a 1.5 second delay, but it works like a charm otherwise. And best of all, it's free! The biggest challenge is finding a time to chat that's compatible with both time zones. Otherwise, Lenore ends up crouching out in the hallway at midnight so as not to wake her roommates. Here's documentation of some visits with Lenore and Laura and also with Graeme, Tom, Laura and Piglet (hiding).

Worlwide Potholders

Lenore took some potholders with her to Latvia, perhaps in hopes of selling them on the black market. I think she's has better luck just giving them away though. Here is family friend Ilze with her potholder posed complete with suitable Latvian backdrop.

A Chair of Bowlies

I thought we needed some documentation of all the cherry picking that's been going on around here. Here are some action photos of cherries ripening, being harvested, and then the fruits of our labor. My migrant worker has already gone on strike, so this may be it for the harvest, unless I can bribe her with pie.

These photos do not do justice to how gorgeous the cherries look on my tree this year.




"Yes" is the answer to "Wait, do these sweats make my ass look huge?" Sadly, I didn't ask the question 'til after the photo was taken. Oh well.


The high-tech process of pitting cherries with bobby pins.



I meant to take a picture before we dug into this cherry crisp, but we were in too much of a dessert frenzy.




More fruits of our labor: sour cherry freezer jam -- it is the BEST.


And I got to use this interesting rummage sale spoon in the process, which made me happy.

Stumpy Update

Little Stumpy has a new home! According to the animal hospital, one of the surgery techs has fallen in love with her and is planning to adopt her as soon as she has her last surgery to have more of her tail removed. Apparently she's become quite the little mascot. Today she was "helping" them cut up bandannas (by diving into the piles). Yay for Stumpy!

Just Because

This is why pants are better, even (or especially) on Ginger. Though you have to wonder, who the heck dressed him?



What does this have to do with anything? Nothing. I just find it fascinating. And I haven't had time to blog because...the cherry tree is goin' to town! This has been the BEST year for sour cherries since I've lived here, so my migrant worker, Lenore, and I have been pickin' and pittin' in between fireworks displays. I made two batches of freezer jam and there's a cherry crisp in the planning stages. Roland joined the harvest this morning, and, much to Lenore's delight (not really), he left his ladder.