Merry Christmas!

 Another wonderful Christmas has come and gone and, as hoped, we got the white Christmas that we wanted. The snow has been falling steadily for days and we, again, have a deep blanket of snow all around us. This, combined with the new wood burning stove that we had installed this week made for the perfect cozy Christmas. Add to that an evening with Linda and Franceska where everyone had to "earn" their gifts by putting on a small performance and we couldn't have asked for a better few days of Christmas. Now, we are off for a 12 day adventure in northern Latvia and Estonia... let it snow!

Where is Lauki ?

The other day, I took Lauki out for his early morning walk which, these days, means a walk in pitch winter darkness. Along the way, we came across a large dog, a neighborhood friend of Lauki's. Together, the two of them ran off into the woods. Usually, this means some kind of circular run, Lauki taking a wide loop around me, returning a few minutes later. This time, however, the other dog's owner and I waited for 15 minutes, but the dogs did not return. Lauki has gone on extended rumspringas before so, I went home, told Ash, and we waited, together, for him to return. He didn't. 

We walked, searched, whistled, called his name. Nothing.

About 4 hours later, I found a Facebook Group called 'SOS Jurmala' and posted a missing dog post to it. As I posted, I noticed another post pop up, coincidentally. Written in Russian, "Lost dog. Wet, cold, and scared. Looking for his owner." Photos attached showed Lauki, hunching miserably, fear in his eyes, in a shop doorway on the main pedestrian street in Jurmala. Ko and I jumped into the car and made it to that spot on Jomas iela in less than 5 minutes. We were in front of the convenience store in front of which Lauki had been photographed but, no Lauki. We talked to some people who had seen him there moments before. We walked the street, calling his name for a long time.  

Hours later, we were still driving around Jurmala, looking for our poor doggy.  Our final outing was at 10:00 in the evening, now 15 hours after Lauki first ran away. We were tired, emotionally drained.  We fell asleep by 10:30, only to be woken up by banging on our windows at 11:30. Linda was outside with Lauki. She had received a call from someone not too far away who had spotted Lauki by their building. Racing over, Linda found little Lauki drooping by a fence. When he heard his name, he was more happy than she had ever seen him. Back at our place, when we opened the door, Lauki rushed in and gave us a full half hour of love and appreciation. He was overjoyed, as were we. 

Those photos of lost, scared, and cold Lauki on the SOS Jurmala page will sit in in my mind forever. We are so grateful for the community of people to so quickly and strategically came together to keep eyes out for our precious Lauki and got him back home much quicker than we expected. He didn't have to spend even one night out in the cold. We are so fortunate and so grateful!

Rai is 152 Months Old!

 This photo took about 8 takes to get right. It says a little about where Rai is at this stage. Photos of Rai used to be single takes. Now, it's like a photo elicits all the emotions that he is feeling into a single moment...

Kotaru is 134 Months Old!

 

First Snow

 Usually, the first snow of the year is a small, overnight flurry that leaves a centimeter thick layer of fluffy snow on the ground that, inevitably, melts within a day or two. This year, we had something different: Latvia's largest snowstorm in more than a decade!  Over the span of a day or two, a good 30 centimeters (or more!) of snow fell, covering everything if a deep, blanket of soft snow. Although a "snow day" was not called, we certainly enjoyed this at school, heading outside a few times to jump in the growing snowbanks with our students. At home, Lauki had even more fun, swimming in and out of the snow like some sand worm on Arrakis. As with most first snows, it did not last. A week or two later, it had melted but, looking out the window now, it seems that recent rains have turned back into snows so, we may have a white Christmas, after all.  We hope so!