Who are they that sing of Janis, ligo ligo
Before the summer's barely come here, ligo ligo
First the shepherd boys begin to, ligo ligo
Then the farmers, ploughers of fields do, ligo ligo
After that the children of Janis, ligo ligo
Picking Janu grasses, flowers, ligo ligo

Finally the long awaited day arrives. Olga settles into the car with her family and their overnight supplies. They head north out of Toronto. Olga, Ilze and Jekabs sing at the top of their lungs, ignoring any warnings by their father to save their voices for later. Their mother keeps a careful watch on the roadside, looking for any oak trees that she can gather branches from for making oak leaf crowns.

These are the most essential part of the men's costumes. Oak is the ancient Latvian tree symbol for masculine energy and no other leaves will do for this occasion. Since it is not suitable to pick branches off the sparsely available oaks in the city of Toronto, then the branches must be gathered where oaks grow more plentifully in the country. Women and girls wear daisy crowns. Fortunately, these flowers grow bountifully in the roadside ditches of the dirt road leading into Saulaine.

Finding the right stand of oaks to pick branches from is an annual challenge. When Olga's mother spots some oak trees, her father starts to slow the car down while muttering comments about being certain that there are more oaks further along the way. Mother insists that these are the ones and Father pulls over to the gravel shoulder and stops the car. With a lot of encouragement from Mother, he then backs the car up for half a kilometer or so, along the gravel shoulder, against the flow of fast traffic, back to the chosen spot.

Never mind that there are two fences, a creek and a field full of cows between her and the oak trees, Olga's mother assures her family that it will take but a minute and she'll be right back. Her family sits in the car watching while Mother easily climbs the first fence, makes her way among the cow paddies, crosses the creek, climbs over the second fence and disappears among the oak trees.

When she can no longer see her mother, Olga shifts her gaze to the cows at the other end of the field. Several cows have raised their heads from their grazing to watch Olga's mother. One cow, curious about the intruder on her field, slowly starts to walk closer. Olga watches with fascination as one by one, the other cows stop grazing and slowly, nonchalantly, follow their leader.

By the time Olga's mother reappears with her arms full of branches, the cows have drifted right onto her path. So then Mother has to make her way through the animals, walking around cows, carrying the branches. She makes it to the last fence and thrusts the branches across. As Olga's mother climbs over the fence, one cow, horns lowered starts to run at her. The rest of the family sitting in the car watching are nervously laughing so that their sides ache.

Mother makes light of the matter. Well pleased with her harvest, she fills the car with the oak branches. Father gets the car back on the highway. Olga, Ilze and Jekabs resume singing as enthusiastically as ever and their mother settles down to making crowns.

She breaks off small clusters of leaves and binds the stems together with a strong cotton cord, making a progressively longer chain of oak leaves. Periodically she measures the length of the chain by trying it on Olga's father's head. He stoically endures oak leaves dangling in front of his eyes as he tries to keep the car in its proper lane of the highway.

Picking daisies along the side of the dirt road is a more peaceful affair. There are no other cars in sight so early on Saturday morning. The whole family gets out of the car and wanders along the roadside. There are farmer's fields on either side of the road and they spread out seeking the largest and most perfect blooms.

Olga loves this first real contact with country energies after leaving the city. She distances herself from her family, letting the sun and the smell of the earth and natural noises permeate her being. Even with the wind rustling roadside plants and insects buzzing and humming, busy in the early summer flowers, Olga feels a profound stillness flow through her. It satisfies some need that she was not even conscious of having and situates her firmly in the moment. Every daisy bloom, insect and blade of grass comes into a wonderful clear focus, nourishing her spirit with their beauty.

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