Jānis Paukštello Giving Concert In Stelpe School

The greater the person the humbler and more open they are. Actor Jānis Paukštello has been a Latvian theater megastar for nearly four decades. Today he gave a concert in Stelpe School. Not only Stelpians but also people from nearby communities had come to watch. Everyone felt lifted up and charged with new energy from the concert.

"I'm old, behind the times and happy," says Jānis Paukštello about himself. He recited poems about our homeland Latvia, sang old favorites, the most popular of which was Cielaviņa "The Little Wagtail" introduced to Latvian public by himself in 1982. He had come to Stelpe together with his wife Elīna who was also the driver.

Jānis has met a lot of suffering in his life, both physical and emotional. But he has always stayed strong, full of humor and energy. "I feel that people thirst for positive emotions, and my responsibility being an actor is to give them to people" - this is how Jānis Paukštello has been commenting on the show he was performing in Stelpe.

"An elderly man with a doubtful occupation who needs to start thinking of the time when he will be leaving the room feet first while Cielaviņa (The Little Wagtail - a song closely associated with himself) is being sung, and that by his own self, is for the time being still available live..." - this is how Jānis Paukštello wanted me to introduce him to Stelpe spectators.

Flowers as a sign of appreciation of Jānis Paukštello's talent were given to him by the grateful fans and spectators.

UPDATE: Yesterday (Monday) our local newspaper "Bauskas Dzīve" (Bauska Life) published an article and a photograph of mine. You can find it also on their news portal: Bauskas Dzīve

 UPDATE 2 : Today (Friday) we walked, the whole family, in Bauska. My son Dag paid attention to a TV screen and said: "Hey, is this not Jānis Paukštello?" And it was him indeed together with his wife Elīna. It felt so personal and different seeing them on TV when we had just met them in person in Stelpe School.

First School Day - September 3

September 1 traditionally is the first school day in Latvia. So the phrase "The first of September" is often used with meaning "First school day". That is why we say that we had September 1 today even though it is 3rd already.

There are 71 schoolchildren in Stelpe School this year.

The opening ceremony took place in a freshly remodeled hall. Remodeling was possible due to the hard work of head teacher Dagmāra Venclova together with the local government of Vecumnieki. The hall is now beautiful, and the acoustics are incredibly good.

Another specific thing was the celebration by the staff of my wife Sandra's 50th anniversary. She got a lot of flowers from her colleagues and students, and heard a lot of appreciative words. When the official part was over, we had a little party in her classroom.

Liana Symonenko (Лиана Симоненко), volunteer worker from Ukraina, sang "Крылатые качели" (The Winged Swings) together with her fellow volunteers from different countries.

Valdis Rusiņš is a member of Vecumnieki Municipality board where he often supports the cause of Stelpe School. Apart of that, he supports the school privately giving funds for a number of needs. After being thanked by head teacher Dagmāra Venclova, Valdis Rusiņš was given the floor.

Sandra Neliusa being greeted by head teacher Dagmāra Venclova

Big and small lined up to greet teacher Sandra Neliusa with flowers

 

  Those who begin the school today - with their teachers Iveta Grantiņa (left) and Ilze Lukša

 Teachers, students and guests

 Sandra Neliusa and head teacher Dagmāra Venclova

 Schoolgirls' quartet

 Class 8 - the one where the class teacher is Sandra

More August: Sports Festival, Gladioli Party

The XVI annual Sports Festival of Stelpe took place on August 18

 

 

On August 21, the pensioners club "Dižstelpe" (The Great Stelpe) gathered for a gladioli party at Visvaldis and Ilga Viņķelis, our loved gladioli and irises selectioners

Theater Festival Or How I Got A Thumb Up From Olga Dreģe

On August 11, there was a theater festival "Kā to dzīvi vajag dzīvot" (How This Life Is To Be Lived) on the open air stage of Stelpe. Amateur theater groups from District Vecumnieki and beyond had come to celebrate. Each one of them had brought a short piece of show with humorous content.

The special guest on the occasion was Olga Dreģe, actress of theater the Daile, Latvian performing art megastar. 

The parade gathered at the school. Skaistkalne Brass Orchestra with their leader Jānis Kalniņš are our guests again.

The parade went from the school through the alley to the open air stage where there was the celebration.

 

My responsibility was the opening speech. As if it were not enough, I had to sing "The Year of Cavaliers" (Kavalieru gads), an iconic song from an iconic play - "Gösta Berling" by Swedish playwright Selma Lagerlöf. It was actually my first time to sing solo, and that happened with Mrs. Olga Dreģe watching! That was one of the biggest challenges I had ever faced when doing something in public.

While singing, I could see occasionally Mrs. Olga Dreģe behind the scene. She stood there and held for me a thumb up! Do I need to tell how grateful I was for that feedback of hers? Yes, it encouraged me and helped me a lot. 

The theater festival coincided with Olga's nameday. So the flowers from the spectators and fans went not only as a thank you for the performance but also as a nameday greeting.

Iris Naming At Ilga Viņķele

Ilga Viņķele is an iris selectionist. One day in June, she had invited her friends to a little iris name-giving party. Also my wife Sandra Neliusa was there.

 

 This yellow iris now is called Sandra in honor of my wife

 

Looking back to the brightest moments 2012 I

Opera soloist Evita Zālīte sung Russian romances in Stelpe School. Guitar accompaniment - Ivars Hermanis.

Children's dance festival. Young dancers from nearly all the schools of District Vecumnieki took part.

 

Easter celebration together with our friends from South Yorkshire, England - Jean, Ian and their daughter Debbie, for whom this was the first time in Latvia. Also Ilya, a volunteer worker from Ukraina was taking part. He taught us to make an origami frog. 

As for Ilya, he is a very determined young man who has learned to play violin to quite impressive level having practiced only for a year and a half. On a later occasion, he played the lead piece from Pirates of Caribbean at a fast pace without a single uncertain note!

Popular children characters - dwarfs from a TV program played by celebrated artists Dina Bitēna -Sirmā, Atvars Sirmais and Dace Skadiņa. They were our guests in Stelpe School on the occasion of Mother's Day celebration.

Mother's Day concert by Stelpe schoolchildren

Ēriks Balodis is a well-known one man show artist for children. This time he had brought to Stelpe his puppet show about healthy living 'Little Onion, Little Radish and Their Friends'

Brit Sønsterud (right), head teacher of Kjeldås School in Norway visited Stelpe School together with teachers Bente Høydahl and Hanne Marie Ruud. They held a presentation about their school.

Together with our guests from Norway, we went to see tulips blooming by Rundale Palace

Zbigņevs Stankevičs is the Head of Roman Catholic Church of Latvia. He had come to Stelpe to meet with local people. There were also many guests from neighboring communities having come to meet with the archbishop.
Unlike many other Catholic clergymen we have met so far, he spoke about real problems, did not pronounce a single slogan or cliche. He faced even some difficult topics, but his answers were bold and honest. We are happy to know that the second largest Christian congregation in Latvia is being now led by such an outstanding personality as is Zbigņevs Stankevičs.

 

A jolly children's party together with popular cartoon characters

 

Commemoration of the Siberia exile day when shortly after Soviet occupation in 1941, thousands of Latvians were sent to death camps in Siberia. For many of them, their way of suffering began here in the railway station of Vecumnieki.

Aloida Baķe, teacher of history, made a presentation about the Siberian exile in Vecumnieki museum.

 

Jānis Kurševs sings popular songs in a classical manner. He came to Stelpe School together with Ingmārs Zemzaris, composer and pianist. They together gave a beautiful concert dedicated to women.