Tuesday 1st May

Morning....white rabbits....and at least I would see them.  'How green is my garden', not 'how green is my valley' and I think today is a day to do something about it.  Yes I know, once the sun really set in then some of the stuff that has taken hold has a short life span but having been promised the loan of a lawn mower and a man to do it, it or he hasn't materialised and the cow would be too destructive unless it was tethered.  I hear Kardjali calling....where's that tool shop when it's needed.

Beautiful sleep last night and I'm putting it down to a bowl of chips and tomato sauce and that could be another reason for having them again.   Time to get on and I'm having my coffee before setting off on my daily jaunt.

Tuesday continued.

Well I had the sun in the morning and the moon at about four thirty this afternoon.  Quite a strange phenomena.  Beautiful day though...hot as you like or don't like if you are working on a roof and I think I disturbed Bekir from his slumbers when I shouted up did they want anything from Djebel just before I set off for my student....

Didn't manage to get to Kardjali.  I worked on the garden this morning and got rid of lots of the weeds that were ruining my top garden and tomorrow I build a new raised patch, put in the new broom with some sacking in the bottom so that the roots remain damp and make a new bed.  I've loads of tobacco plants and that reminds me...I have to take some to my student's mother.....when I said that I had tobacco plants growing she associates it with the acres that they grow here and get a subsidy for.  I told her that I grow it strictly for pleasure, it comes in every colour you could think of and at night smells superb.  She was amazed so must put up a large pot of the stuff for her so that she can have it on her balcony.  

My student's lesson today was on building history through the ages and I learnt that Christopher Columbus was buried in Seville cathedral.  Now I've visited it and this was a fact that no guide told me about.  So his homework and he had no choice but to accept it was to investigate the said man and tell me all about him.  Neither of us could remember whether he brought potatoes or tobacco back to this country but I've left him to find out.

Got back with a requested bag of cement and the question of the roof came up on the existing front porch.  To be honest...I'm sick of this roof....and my attention span has wavered somewhat.  A decision had to be made as to whether we extend the roof over the said front porch and Sally muted that we could have a terrace over it and at that I freaked.  Please finish the roof and move on to the next subject....

Worked on the top garden when I came home....tomorrow I will make the raised bed and get it installed.  No students, no nothing tomorrow...it is my day.

Supper...not a clue....drink...vodka, tonic and pineapple juice since I didn't have peach or apricot....heading downstairs to see what's in the offing or in the fridge.  LN....  really calm night...no fire necessary not even for effect....it's been a beautiful day.....LN

Wednesday 2nd May

Silly o'clock start again and eventually went to sleep again until six thirty.  What is it with me...either too much of the potent stuff or not enough....must start a diary of imbibement.

Men back.....I told them no breakfast for me since I cracked open a jar of my peach and ginger from last August and had it on toast with lashings of butter.....just the way that I like it.  Today's work has been all about filling in.  Bekir was up on the roof finishing off the wiring of the roof tiles and Sally was awaiting instructions which came after a site meeting.  Windows.....the first decision was to not reduce the width of the corridor window space between the pillars.  Too much work for too little visual impact so we've gone with the potted version thus saving me a man day or so.  The next decision was to remove the windows from the first bedroom balcony, raise the window sill level by one brick and build a column behind the door so that it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  Also the window sill height in this room was raised by one brick height so jobs a guddun.  I suppose that's the benefit of being on site.  I make these decisions instantly.  Only one sticking point.  In the second bedroom not sure it I want to put a door to the garden in or just leave it as a window....and I think I need to sleep on it.  

So lunchtime we were all in for a surprise.  Apparently one of my neighbours has gone to the great beyond so what do they do here?  The men go to the mosque, the women take goodness knows how much rice and a cow or a sheep (I know not which even after eating it) and they feed the rest of the village and some of the other villages as well.  Mine came, as did my men's with a soft drink so that was lunch sorted and so much so that I think supper is out of the question.  

I've spent most of the day working on the top garden dispatching weeds and tomorrow I'm making my raised bed and planting it out.  The garden is easier to cultivate when you have defined areas...this patch has just gone wild.  My four honeydew melon plants are in, I bought some dwarf tomato plant and carnation seeds this afternoon when we had to go to Djebel to get the mesh for the upper terrace and Socks came to pay a visit late this afternoon.  He's got such a beautiful nature with him.

So men home....as I said I'm not much into the cooking tonight since I have eaten already....probably cheese and biscuits later.  LN....got to tidy up my tools and then back to a new book which is a little strange but I'll enlighten you tomorrow when I'm a bit more into it....LN

Thursday 3rd May

Silly o'clock again and read until four thirty and then got my head down until six thirty.  I did go to bed at ten though last night because I was really tired....that'll teach me.

Down to the yard this morning to pick up four meter lengths of roof guttering since the lorry promised for yesterday with the six meter lengths didn't materialise.  We were promised this afternoon...couldn't risk it...men with nothing to do isn't on.  The guttering has to be placed before they can put the capping tiles on the roof so that should be happening this afternoon....

Was taking the coffee out to the men by the stored timber and there was a scuttling and two lizards shot between the planks.  I came back in to get my camera but all I got were their noses peeping out and you'll have to look closely at the pickies...one was yellowish and the other those beautiful shades of blue and green.  I think spring must be here for them too.

So my student this afternoon and I've just found out that my Avatar's sister, that's the one that walks with two sticks and is almost bent double, took a fall yesterday and was taken to the hospital last night and is due for an operation today.  Tomorrow I am on taxi duties....now to get a text for my little beauty to get his head and his tongue round....

Thursday continued

Not making the Kardjali  trip tomorrow apparently.  Number two grand-daughter is running a temperature so Granny to the rescue while mother and father work in Germany.

Metal work on the roof complete and late as it was, they did manage to settle down to a glass of beer and it's the first time this year that it's come out.

Delivered men home,  ent to visit my Avatar when I got home and checked on the patient.  Still running that temperature but sleeping it off.  Supper tonight was a pan fried chicken leg with fried onions and potato crisps.  Delicious...LM...I've got a book to read and a glass to fill....LN.

Friday 4th May

Slept well last night upstairs in the guest room....wanted a change and went through until five thirty so read for an hour or so.  Made some coffee and sat outside for a while but it was a little chilly before the sun came up.

Went to pick up the men and down to the yard to get some tiles so that Sally could put new ones on not the two that he had taken from the stack....tow old ones didn't do it for me.  On the way down there I mentioned that the yellow broom was very pretty and that I wanted some for my garden so on the way back from the yard I stopped the car and out we got.  The first one Bekir pulled didn't have a good root stock on it.....I picked up my window scraper and managed to dig a reasonable piece out and Sally got a piece that didn't have much root stock and what it had had been stripped of it's outer covering.  So when I got back it all went into a bucket and we've decided that we are having a competition.  Bekir reckons that one hundred percent his will take, Sally said that he is two hundred percent certain that his will survive and mine...well not really sure.  So now the competition is on.  I've actually stated that I have the notion that Sally will sneak another one in or will apply Roundup to Bekir's.....it's that serious.   

So they've been up on the roof today and it has been hot, hot, hot.  The capping tiles have to be cemented in place and Sally was supplying the cement and making sure that the line was right and it wasn't like a donkey's hind leg, while Bekir pivoted on the roof.  They were still at it at seven thirty tonight so Sally had red wine and Bekir beer and I got back at about eight fifteen tonight.  It's a long day for me too.

Tomorrow I am off to Haskovo to attempt to get a lawn mower.  I am tired of looking at the ocean of greenery that could be passed off for a lawn with a little effort on my part.  It will make it so much easier to manage.  Need a few more plants.  I've sorted out the ones that I have and lobbed some peat into the posts to give them a fighting chance.  Several geraniums, three fuscias, lots of white busy lizzies to go in and petunias.  There are several self sets of nasturtiums around the garden and I have loads of tobacco, zinnia and white pretty stuff that has germinated.  I just need them to get a little bigger to distinguish them from weeds.

Lunch was tuna mayo with hard boiled eggs and potatoes thrown in and it went down well.  I finished off with the remains of the black cherries from Lidl and as for supper, I'm not really in the mood.  I've got a glass of the red stuff on the go and I'll see how I feel later.  My colourful lizard has been out and about today.  I spotted him in the 'var' pit by the front gate but by the time I had the camera he had gone.  He was last spotted up on the roof just as Bekir was finishing off for the night.  The reckoned they should leave a hole for it.  I reckoned on fitting windows and doors and leaving it to fend for itself.

LN.....I'm back to my book and I promise I will give you the run down on it.  LN

Saturday 5th May

Washed, showered, hair washed and dressed and ready for the big time.  Off to Haskovo with the librarian to do a little 'shopping'.  They arrived at nine thirty as arranged and off we trundled with an empty car.  

Found the shop very quickly and the road from Haskovo to the hypermarket didn't look too promising at first but it was as I remembered it from last September and it just had to be done.  Grabbed a trolley and the first thing to be spotted was one of those up and down wind up umbrellas but on a support arm not a central pole.  It was then laid aside next to the cash desk.  Found some curtain rings, they were put into the trolley and I very nearly made it with only those items but then the lawnmowers came into view.  Now as you know I keep looking at my sea of green and really needed to do something about it.....well I have.  I am now the proud owner of a super petrol driven lawn mower and the men will have to put it together on Monday morning and fire it up for the first roundup.  The beauty of it is that you can adjust the height with a simple lever and it's self driven.  All will be revealed...watch this space....which was more than could be said for the car.  I did say that it was empty when we set off but on the return journey it was full to the gunnels.  Not only did I make purchases but they did as well.

Bought several large flower pots and on the way back from Haskovo we stopped off at a man at the side of the road that we had seen on our way in.  A few antiques were on display and I now have a butter churn and a rather large terracotta jug and had to limbo into the rear seat of the car.

Back to Kardjali and into Lidl to pick up some butter....the local stuff just doesn't seem the same and I think they were packing my shopping round me.  Home, everything unpacked in the hall and lounge.  Several plants are soaking in water and the forty litres of potting compost will come into its own tomorrow.  German beer on the go, supper was chips and mayo and I'm thinking that it's getting a little too often but they were followed by a dish of very healthy grapes.

Chocolates at the ready....the way to hell as they say is paved with good intention....LN.....I'm back to the ground floor and not sure where I'll be sleeping tonight.  It was cold last night so cosied up in the nest....I'll just have to wait and see.....Photo shoot tomorrow if I managed to unpack and assemble anything...otherwise Monday will have to do...LN...

Sunday 6th May

Beautiful moon last night and supposedly the nearest it's been to the earth for one hundred years.  I didn't catch it as it came up unfortunately...I was too busy stuffing my face with chocolates but I suppose better late than never.  Early morning start.  I've done the estate, sat out with my coffee, caught the morning sunrise and general have a good feeling about today.....The librarian is still having problems connecting to the internet so I'm off today to have a look at the computer and try to find the best spot in the house for it by moving furniture.  Problem is the wall of the house are thick and they might be on the wrong side of the hill so going to try it upstairs to see if that's any better.

Breakfast calls, got some gardening to do before I set off.  There are three Spirea shrubs that I came back with yesterday in a bucket that need attention.  Must get on.....

The house looks to be coming along famously!! When will it be ready for guests ??

I'd be happy to "test drive" it to ensure it all works well and is comfortable and ready for "important guests"

Quoted from Hwlffordd

I'd be happy to "test drive" it to ensure it all works well and is comfortable and ready for "important guests"

Now I take your comments on board...how about we settle for concrete floors, windows and doors before we start experimenting on the comfort potential of the establishment....I should hate you to only give it a four star rating when I know eventually it will receive a five....

So off to the librarians with laptop in hand and established connection with Mtel with mine and her computer.  This afternoon was a training run on how to emails, play freecell and generally use the laptop.  I thought she was aufait with it but turns out 'no'.  Now she can email....jobsaguddun.

Thundered this afternoon and a smattering of rain.  I had my Sunday lunch and would have gone to Greece for the afternoon but for the lack of a passport that was sitting at my house...next time.  She was taking a carload of locals to the hot springs and a fete worse than death that is only held once a year...and I missed it...or did I?

Back home for fivish.  One of my neighbours came round with a huge pot of yogurt and cost to me...two of my Belgium chocolates...exchange is no robbery.  I also came back with some lupins that will be planted tomorrow along with the other things sitting in the bucket.....I'm going to be so busy and I must go in to get some benzine to fire up the lawnmower.  The book will come out pretty early and I think Bekir will have great fun with it on its test drive.

Lovely calm evening after the mini-storm.  Not much thunder, lightening or rain but sufficient to dampen the gardens.  LN.....back to my book and bottle of the fermented stuff....work tomorrow....  just a few picks of yesterday's gatherings....LN