Inese Dūka

September 1st

Turns out there is a September 1st also in Brussels - kids return to school. But all of them have forgotten one thing - FLOWERS!!! That is one of the great things when you live in Latvia - on September 1st the streets are filled with kids carrying all kinds of autumn flowers… A sigh…

But here in Brussels this turn of the calendar page seems to have awoke the city to life again. My walk to work no longer is solitary. From today there once again are kids with huge backpacks, people in bright vests stopping the traffic at pedestrian crossings and loads of cars to stop. Now once again Brussels feels almost like a city… ;-))

Improvements!!

Being the kind and generous person that Stan is, he has made a very nice Contact me Form. So now, if you are in the mood to tell me something that in your opinion doesn’t qualify as comments for a certain piece of writing or specific picture, you can fill out the form and reveal your heart to me. ;-)) I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you!

January, 1991

It’s amazing how time flies. Already 14 years have passed... January 20 is now a remembrance day for the events in January 1991 – the barricades and the storming of the Ministry of Interior. Although I was only 11 at the time but I still remember some things rather clearly. Like standing in front of the TV in disbelief about what’s going on in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was just too much to understand for 11 years old that a tank could just drive over a person…

Thinking about many things I have wished to have been born some 5-10 years earlier just to be a part of it. To remember it more clearly. To experience it for myself. Perhaps to take an active part in it… My mom has always said that the night she spent on the barricades in Old Riga was the best time she has ever had in Riga. Everybody was so friendly and good-natured. Singing and drinking tea while warming themselves at the fires. That’s what we hear a lot – at that time people were united. I wish I could have experienced that…

I will try to get a taste of it tonight in the Dome square where there will be a bon-fire lit for the people who stood on barricades back in 1991 and also those who always believed the independent Latvia.

After doing some surfing in the www on this topic I found this quotation that pretty much sums up that time:

In January, 1991, Black Beret troops seized several buildings in Riga. In Vilnius, Lithuania, the Black Berets skirmished with civilians in a fight for the main radio and television facility, killing fourteen Lithuanians. Although fears were high in Latvia that troops would end the drive for independence, an estimated 700,000 people took to the streets, erected barricades around important government buildings, and initiated street patrols. Although the virtually unarmed citizenry posed little real threat to the Red Army, the symbolic and selfless gesture made by the citizenry galvanized support for independence throughout the Baltics and the rest of the world.

In case you want to have more than one variation to this story you can also follow this link.

I’m sorry if this post doesn’t actually give all that much of information as I find it hard to put it all into words. I guess it’s more of a feeling inside. Deeper than words…

Nature’s ways...

A day before our Independence Day (November 18) a lot of people were caught by surprise when we awoke to find the world around us rather white. Most people probably didn’t believe it would last but nothing has changed in the last couple of days. During our long holidays (we had 4 whole days off!!) the temperature at times was as low as 12 degrees below zero (Celsius, of course)… some people already managed to get out their skis and snowboards… I myself only got out my camera to show you the change - it went from golden to silver in less than a month… At least now I officially can begin to prepare for Christmas. For some reason this year I just can’t wait!!!

Then I also should let you know that between the autumn and the winter colours was November 11. In Latvia it is a remembrance day called Lāčplēša diena. Lāčplēsis (Bear slayer) is the protagonist of our national epic of the same title. But November 11 has no direct connection with him. This date rather has a historic significance when on November 11, 1919 Riga was freed from the Bolshevik army (though 4/5 of the soldiers were Germans) lead by a Russian Colonel Pavel Bermont who called himself Knaz Avilov. So on this day the government officials and army leaders bring flowers to the Monument of Liberty and cemeteries where the officers of Latvian army are buried.

There is however another tradition – lighting candles in the wall of the Riga castle. Unfortunately I cannot tell you how old this tradition is – my guess would be at least 15 years since our regained independence in 1991. We have made it a tradition to gather our course mates and be a part of making the sea of lights. We have done it 4 out of the 6 years we have studied together. In 1999 and 2003 we couldn’t as all of us were in Denmark… With the help of the wonders of technics you can see how we have changed through the years: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. Enjoy!!!

Where the wild horses run...

Hmm... It has taken me less than 3 months to write something new in my wonderful homepage… ;-) Ok, ok… I know it’s dreadful. But at times I am just overcome with sloth… So I just had to find a great reason to over come it. And looks like I have found it…

Arta invited me for a ride again! This time we headed west. As far west of Latvia as it goes. So our destination was Liepāja. One of the biggest Latvian cities that lies on the very coast of the Baltic Sea. Both of us were really curious but for different reasons. Arta had never been there. Well, that is not quite true, her father flew her there when she was 5 years old, but that doesn’t count, does it?… During our trip I remembered that I actually had been already 3 times to Liepāja. The most recent one being in 1996. But somehow the city hadn’t managed to impress me. So I just wanted to see if my opinion has changed. As I believe in criticising things that you know something about… First-hand knowledge preferred…

Saturday, the 9th of October was the date. We had agreed that Arta would pick me up at 9 o’clock. Already at 8 I was woken by her worried phone call. She was wondering whether we should go, as the morning was rather bleak and drizzling. The drizzle didn’t seem like an obstacle for me…

So a bit after 9 Arta was at my doorstep and we embarked on our journey. Well… first we had to find a gas station and fill her up… but after that we were finally ready to leave the capital city. It was around 10 am. We were an hour late. And time was important, as it already gets dark before 7 pm and we had a drive of roughly 230 km ahead of us. The first half of the journey I was very familiar with because originally I am from a tiny village near Saldus, which is halfway to Liepāja. But once we had passed Skrunda (some 30 km west of Saldus) the road was new to me too.

The weather cleared up somewhere after Saldus so we were driving towards a rather clear sky and some sunshine too! We were pleasantly surprised by the well repaired roads but not pleased at all with a crazy/drunk hitch-hiker who was so keen on going somewhere that he walked almost to the middle of the road… Once we got to Grobiņa we were pleased with the sight of a whole garden of wind turbines. That warmed my heart greatly, as I first saw such things when I first went to Denmark… Both of us were getting hungry but before we headed to Liepāja for some food we decided to take a look at the Kapsēdes dižakmens – the big stone of Kapsēde. It is the highest stone in Latvia. Though first we got a little lost and found Rudais akmens – Gingery stone…

Then it was finally off to the city of Liepāja and to find some place to have a decent meal. Very fast we were able to find a nice and very convenient parking place right next to the central post station. And even faster we found a place to eat. Looking through the window it seemed to be a very posh place but we entered nonetheless. And were pleasantly surprised. At least by the prices. Both of us had pork chop the size of a big guy’s palm and something to drink and we paid just 3.30 LVL!! And the meal tasted really good too. All the while we were sitting and marvelling at the interior. Because everything there was fake… Even the flowers on the table… But altogether it actually looked stylish!! ;)

We had decided to devote no more than an hour for sightseeing in Liepāja, as we had promised Arta’s mom to take pictures of a cult spring further south. But as soon as we entered the church of Holy Trinity it was clear that we’d have to change our plans. From outside it looked just like any old church. But the inside… Was uncharacteristically posh and golden for a Lutheran church. That was the result of a fierce competition between the German parish in Liepāja and in Rīga. So at one point till 1912) the organ of this church was the biggest in the world!! As in many other churches in the bigger cities you have to pay in order to be allowed to take pictures. Here it cost 0.50 LVL, which I was willing to pay, as I really liked the interior. For another very modest 0.50 LVL we were allowed to climb up the tower to enjoy a bird’s eye view of Liepāja. The buildings are not so nice as looking on Rīga from St. Peter’s tower but in Liepāja you get to see the sea. And the whole ascent to the top of the tower is far more interesting. You get to see the tower clock’s mechanism, the bells and even the joists above the vaulting… very interesting indeed!

Then we headed to the old centre of the city, where nowadays is the market. Some of the little streets could impress even me!… After having bought some snacks for dinner we headed back to our car to drive to the seaside. Though before that we also went to the canal to see the fishing boats and the nice wooden sculptures.

It was very nice to see some waves in the sea because the couple of times I have been to the seaside this summer the sea was very still… As soon as we saw almost everybody bent down we understood that they must have been searching for amber washed ashore. After some initial hesitation on our part (after all we grew up with the horror stories how people thought they had found amber but it turned out to be phosphorus and they ended up being badly burned) we embarked on the hunt ourselves. For both of us it was the first time we have found amber ourselves. When our parents were young that was a very usual thing to do when visiting Liepāja. After all we sing about the Amber Sea… I guess we became slightly greedy and we ended up leaving the city of Liepāja only a bit after 5 pm…

Our road lead straight down south towards the Lithuanian border. Our destination was the Sventājas svētavots – the cult spring of the river Sventāja. After talking to several locals we reached a road over a field into the valley of the river Sventāja though no visible signs of the spring. On the other side of river we noticed a post with some coloured inscriptions. We took it for a sign of some sight. Hehehe… all of a sudden I realized what the colours on the post signified… That was the Lithuanian border post… good that we didn’t attempt to cross the river… So in the last daylight we found the cult spring. Its water is said to have great healing power. Yes, it did look very nice with its straw roof and the biggest bird-cherry tree in Latvia… but that’s also where it ends… see for yourself!!

This was to be the last stop of our journey. Wonder why the title of the story involved wild horses?… we didn’t get to see them – their working hours were over 2 hours before we arrived there… but at least now we know them and are planning a trip to see them at the end of the month when Mogens is back in Latvia!

Still the word is FREEDOM

So here I am again. After a month… but not because I have been out enjoying my freedom. It was just as I said – just a smell of the freedom. After 5 nice days at my parents’ place (it was Midsummer – a national holiday in Latvia) it was time to return to work. And earning some money as once again I was asked to do a translation and it still was on the fascinating subject of saws… I honestly didn’t know there were so many different kinds of them! ;-) Then it was time to edit my book translation. But that’s a lengthy story that I don’t want to get into… and in the middle of all that I graduated from the University of Latvia…

Well, but now I’m free again. At least until the next thing comes up. So far I’ve tried to use my freedom productively – as you might have noticed I have posted many new pictures for your (and of course my own as well) pleasure. I have also decided to let you wonder the twisted ways of my mind and show you what makes me think. This you will find in the category that is called Food for thoughts. I hope you will have something to read very soon…

Now it’s time to be off for the weekend. The plan is to go with my mom and her choir to Estonia. Finally!!

Cheers, friends!

Pictures speaking their thousand words...

Inese seems to have got the hang of her shiny new digicam and filling the gallery up nicely with lots of photos.

I've taken the liberty in putting a random image function which is visible on all non gallery pages for a bit of eye candy...

Anyhow, that's all from me, feels quite odd to post on a weblog that isn't my own. :D

Happy Birthday Inese!

Wishing you the very best birthday and that lots of fun eating, drinking and celebrating with your friends and family!

Hope there were plenty of pleasant surprises too! You'll have to fill me in once the dust has settled. ;)