Sunday 7th August

Flaming sheep...woke me up at 6.45 this morning with the patter of tiny hooves but when there are two hundred times four for each sheep that eight hundred tiny feet and they make one hell of a noise of dry ground .  

So watered my garden and there is a nip in the air.  The flaming hose pipe still leaks at the tap end despite my valiant efforts to stop the flow and still bends when I'm moving it around but I suppose twenty five metres of the stuff is a lot to expect to keep straight all the time.  Tomatoes harvested...all two of them.....but there are lots out there with only just a tinge of red so they can be left to come on and next year I intend putting in more so that I can juice them.  As I've said, this isn't about me preparing for the onslaught of winter but seeing how easy it is using a juicer and if KD of S can do it, so can I.  When I went round the other day he was bottling carrots and I must say, they did taste delicious.  You forget what a good carrot tastes like after the cultivated, picked and packed UK version although where it was grown, picked and packed you have to read the label to find out.  On his blog he has some very interesting little stories.  Now to turn off that hose that is cleaning the terrace beautifully and get some breakfast....

Well IF I can do it, it must be easy.  http://www.thegudlife.com/cook/tomato_puree.htm.  Carrots next year then?  Watermelon? Rakia?

Sunday continued

Just as as add on to that....he did offer me some onions but they weren't strung so I refused....his response?....I suppose you want me to string them for you to which I replied that he had last year....   Oh we have fun in these hills in the very south where many fear to venture....  

I wish KD of S DID have a blog, rather than what appears to be Internet version 1 (c. 1987) then we could comment on him in his underpants. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!

Quoted from Old Holborn

I wish KD of S DID have a blog, rather than what appears to be Internet version 1 (c. 1987) then we could comment on him in his underpants. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!

As for the children...doesn't have any...doesn't want any....only associates with other people when there is alcohol involved and the edge is taken off the encounter....but don't you just love him!!  Steady on...you can always comment on his photographs on his 'blog' and I think your description of it would be challenged  

So what did I get up to today?  Gouljan arrived with her work and laptop and took over my top landing.  She's fasting at the moment and so...no entertaining to be done...result...or so I though but KD of S phoned and asked if he could come round for a coffee with Illyias who he reckoned was being 'nosy' and wanted to see the house.  They arrived, I got the coffee out and I think he was taken with it.  Full guided tour, no entrance fee but coffee included.  The latest notion that is taking on a seriousness that up until this point has been a joke, is the indoor swimming pool in the wreck, changing room, shower room, kitchen, lazy area with open fire and Illyias' idea was to include a bedroom so that if you were driving after the enjoyment of the day you could get your head down for a while before taking to the wheel....right.

My present from Gouljan...some baby pears that are supposed to be very sweet but when I started to core them they were already alcoholic so took out the best of the rest, decided that they would probably be better as jam so added red wine to them, ground ginger and boiled them up and now have two pots of 'stuff'.  Got me in the mood though so tomorrow I am definitely making wild plum jam, yellow and red and then my main crop of plums should be ready next week.  Because she gets up at three in the morning to get in her first meal of the day, by about four this afternoon she was flagging so I had made up the bed in the bottom bedroom and she slept for about an hour.  Meanwhile in the lounge I managed a couple of hours of semi conciousness.  It's strange having another person in the house...you hear all of the movement.  

To horse....supper is in the slow cooker.....pork curry and the rice is just going on now....tomorrow is doctors with my hotfoot neighbour...I am taking Gouljan into Djebel at the same time and then home for my domestic chores.  Looks like another busy day...   LN....

Monday 8th August

Boots blacked this morning....up before the sheep, checked and watered my garden and ready for the doctor run. So arrived at the house and my Avatar informed me that the doctor came yesterday.  Now I don't know if he was called out, Avatar was hard at work in her garden, her son has ten days holiday and his wife and kiddiwinkles have gone to Marmaris for a holiday so he's left to keep digging the well looking for a liquid asset.  I didn't go in to see Hotfoot, I went and picked up Gouljan, took her into Djebel, did the market before any stalls were completely set up...bought myself a 'Bulgarian' juicer that I'm assured will last for years and I hadn't got the heart to tell her that I probably don't have 'years'.

Home for nine this morning, fresh bread from the supermarket, added some water to the remains of last night's supper in the slow cooker and that was in preparation for lunch with crusty bread.  As discussed yesterday, today's task if I wished to accept it was making wild cherry plum jam.....and yes I've made jam and did it make me wild.  It's taken five hours from laying my blanket down on the ground, hitting the tree with the rake, picking up said blanket and contents, washing said contents, removing stalks, slicing to enable the stones to rise to the surface when cooking, identifying a suitable recipe and converting pounds to kilos since I had collected three kilos of the beauties and after cursing and swearing I have two large pots of jam.  It tastes delicious but I ask you...five hours.  Every recipe that I read said that the stones will rise to the surface and most of these were dragged out screaming that they wanted to stay where it was warm.  I think every pot and utensil in the kitchen was used as brainwave after brainwave came over me to facilitate removing the beasties and I believe all are removed.  And guess what.....I have only done 1.5 kilograms to date...the rest are sitting in the saucepan and I'm trying to summon up the courage to start and still trying to identifying the best approach to stone removal....maybe tomorrow

Emuley my third builder came round today while he was waiting for the bus into Djebel.  So I asked him where his car was and he said that he had no money for any benzine and no work so I pointed at the fence and said that he could have a go at that if he wanted to which he replied that it was too hot to work.....hence the bus.  I was tempted to take him in and get some more sugar for the jam 'fest' but I didn't feel that sorry for him.

So as you can see, most of my day has been taken up....going out to water the garden....but I'll leave it for a while before I start charging around...the martins are swooping low over the garden to get their evening meal.

LN....I might...just might...go for the jam...and below you have two pear small pear and ginger from yesterday and the two biggies from today...LN

Tuesday 9th August

Gardening at six thirty this morning and in by nine thirty...it was just too hot for gardening and too hot for most other things....so...decided to make that jam and that took me until midday...what a performance.  I refuse to make any jam that that has a mini-stone in it again...just too much like hard work and so fiddly.  Anyway I have another two pots and it does taste good.

Lunch..... tuna, onions and mayo and ate it while I was watching a set of hour long movies of Hugh Laurie as an American doctor.  Brilliant and got lots of them thanks to Dom.

So back out gardening at four thirty and it was still hot but I was determined to remove the grass and weeds from the base of the steps and to the side.....and I've done it.  Tomorrow I shall put down gravel to make it look semi-respectable and I've decided to gravel the base of the wall to the terrace.  I can spray it with weed killer and it should keep it looking good.  Worked outside until eight and noticed the sun going down...rushed up to get the camera and take the picture from upstairs but realised that I would have the electricity cables in the way so went down again and over the road....the sun looked like it was on fire and the cloud looked like smoke.... went down to check with my Avatar if hotfoot needed to go to the doctors tomorrow to be informed that the doctor was at the house and dressing the feet as we speak.  'Bout time too.  a) three flights is too much for anybody with burnt feet and b) she's not a spring chicken for it to have happened to.

Sat in the garden and had a rough conversation with Avatar and her son and grandson.  He is very pleased, they have water in the well, beer in the glass and milk from the cow.  Home James...late with my update but needs as needs must today....I'm badly in need a shower...dirty feet....sweating most of the day ...so must freshen up before I take to my virtuous couch.....LN...I have things to attend to.....

Wednesday 10th August

Six am on the dot...my internal alarm seems to be working well.  The garden called but so did a book, 'A short history of tractors in Ukrainian'  which is proving to be very funny but eventually the coffee and the garden called louder.  Breakfast...yoghurt with a fresh peach and grapes and I sat out on the terrace and that's when I heard the garden yell at me.  So got my bonfire going to get rid of all the couch grass that I've dug up and finished digging out the base of the wall removing several barrow loads of 'builders rubble' that has obviously been left there for me to find and discovered a mini-polythene mine which kept the bonfire going beautifully.

An albino 'something' was on the wall and I must look it up.  Shaped like a grasshopper or could be a praying mantis...completely white and I have the photograph to prove it....    and I've just Googled it...white praying mantis confirmed....beautiful....

Thursday 11th August

So last night I was fancying cheese on toast so thought on with the oven grill and no light was forth coming.  Thunderstorm was circling and first though was the electricity was off so tested the electric rings, they worked so Houston, we have a problem.  Dug out the guarantee and fortunately it's for twenty four months so off to Kardjali this morning to try and explain the problem and 'get a man out' and that should be fun.  There is only one man in the who superstore that speaks a smattering of English so let's hope he's not on a day off.

Mother of all storms last night.  The water level in one of the buckets is at about six inches and even drew the curtains since the lightening was really rattling around.  It had been threatening it most of the day and we'd had one or two spots of rain but at eight last night, it really did get going.  Now I tried to take photos but I seemed to be always pointing the camera in the wrong direction but I'm sure KD of S got some really good ones so maybe even might post a couple.

This mornings weather report dull, overcast, mist rising in the valley over the river, red sky in the morning so I hope the shepherd is watching out, wheelbarrow full of water and exceptionally green garden.

Hi Elsa, love reading your diary. Photos are great. All ok here, bit of a worry last week with my Mom, she had an infection, but a good dose of antibiotics fixed her up, now back to her usual self of moaning and telling me all about her bowel movements for the week. heehe.
Been busy at work and saw my daughter Hayley and the family today for one of my Grandsons b/day, she cooked a lovely hot dinner as its bloody cold here at the mo. Hope you day is grand. Take care Linda.x