Cowgirls and tom cats

Mudzuks and Vecais have made friends with a local feline that now comes to warily drink milk while being pawed by the siblings. Even the clever disguises - cowgirl and...err...farm boy (?) - couldn't fool their fluffy new friend.














He knew that sooner or later someone was going to try to pull his tail...

Kids Gone Wild

No, it's not that kind of "gone wild" video. Last week Mudzuks and Vecais convinced Papuks to take them to visit their extended family.

Rhino #1: Does my bum look big in this?

Ew. Smells like poop.

Meanwhile, Mamuks sat at home writing about Deleuzian becomings-animal and molecular animal symbioses. There seems to be a trend emerging here: we live it; she writes it. Well, at least it will be a damn good story...

The Waves

So while Mamuks whiles away her summer writing about bodies of water, Mudzuks, Vecais and Papuks actually spend some time enjoying them - including a couple of days camping at Lake Erie with VJ and TP (and a Sunday visit from Nan, pictured below).


Mudzuks and Vecais both try their hand at seeing how long it takes before the water level falls (don't you remember as a kid actually believing that would happen?)

Buried Treasures:

Looks like Lake Erie isn't the only body with a sandy bottom:

And one last trip to the beach before bed (there's nothing quite like sand in the sleeping bag!)

Meanwhile, the only waves Mamuks is contemplating are Virginia Woolf's rather verbose ones (don't you feel sorry for her yet?)

Summer Harvest

S-I, S-I-D, S-I-D-R- abene!

So goes the decades-old cheerleader cry for that illustrious children's camp, Sidrabene!

Mudzuks got her first experience as a bona fide camper this summer, attending the day programme at the Latvian camp for 2 weeks. Despite coming home every night crankier than a turn-crank, Mamuks and Papuks think she had a lot of fun (they just think the 12 hour days might have done her in...)

Here she is performing at Bernu Svetki (kids' festival) last weekend. And what a rousing rendition of "Mes Esam Muzikanti" it was!



And doing the age-old polka, with her partner Eriks (who happens to be the son of someone who went to Sid with her tante Saule and Mamuks so many moons ago...) :


Only Vecais was less than impresed with her camper-girl habits. He would wonder the house for hours, uttering his breathy little question to whomever would listen: 'rusa? 'rusa? 'rusa?

At least he finally got a chance to cool down with her at the camp 'Shroom after Bernu svetki.

(Now that's what you call a real Boat Pose, Mudzuk!)

S-S-S-S A-A-A-A F-F-F-F E-E-E-E T-T-T-T Y-Y-Y-Y....

Safe-Safe-Safe-Ty Dance Dance Dance Dance!

You can dance if you want to.
You can leave your friends behind.
Because your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance (well)
They're no friends of mine.*


(*Note Vecais' proficient use of the patented "Pop!" hip shimmy. He puts Hugh Grant to shame...)


Mudzuks and Vecais luuuuuuvvvv cuttin' the rug.


Suggested playlist of M&V's favourite songs:
Koo-koo-koo (soundtrack to the Bollywood film Taal)
Nyandi (waltzing - or "dancing, as M insists) Matilda (Trevor Adamson)
King of the Bongos (Manu Chao)
Sea Lion (Feist)
Chicago (Sufjan Stevens)
Three Little Birds (Bob)
M'Bife (Amadou & Miriam)
Ai jel manu vieglu pratu (Jauns Meness)
Monster truck theme (Vecais never - we mean NEVER - fails to shake his hair...)


(PS Mudzuks' own musical debut coming soon to a Blog near you...)

*You need to be a Canadian alive in the 80's to get this glorious musical reference