Hello Elsa,
It's been lovely looking at all your photos, and the house is looking really nice. The wall looks great and you have achieved a lot I  a year. Coming back to the Uk with your student  and it looks like you spoilt him rotten. The cow and sheep In  the garden make me chuckle a bit like watching an episode of the good life. We have still not sold, so still waiting to get over. Look forward to reading todays blog. I have been searching for you on facebook but have not found you yet but if you get a request from a sausage its just me. Take care.

Wednesday 16th October

Thank you Scarahfluff.....I've private messaged you my details on FB so you should be able to find me now....I don't believe that you will actually mix me up with the Minister from the USA...not much in common.

So woke at five thirty this morning...played Angry Birds until the battery ran out and decided that there was more sleep in me so over and out until...wait for it...eight twenty.  Coffee and on to the PC and looked up and realised it was almost twelve thirty and did I feel guilty?...Did I heck as like.  Toyed with the idea of going into Djebel...I was out of fresh bread and I needed some more ant powder since I've upset a few nests recently.  Into the car for one of the clock, got rid of the empties into the skip in Djebel and over to my student's shop for chats before I started my shop.  Temperature today...22 degrees and very pleasant it was in the sun.  

Next to my leva shops and I'm now the proud owner of tea glasses so now I'm Turkish...I have the authentic tea pot and glasses so I can have a tea party any day I choose.  I've got all the kit.

Home four thirty or there abouts after my shopping was complete...bread, beer, insect killer, potatoes, eggs.... oh and a bottle of brandy.  And this time it's brandy not Rakia.  Supper tonight was home made chippies with eggs fried in the chip pan and lots of bread and butter to make chip butties.  This obviously had to be swathed in tomato sauce and mayo and it was absolutely delicious but for my sins I shall probably be awakened at fourish with indigestion and it's nothing more than I deserve.  Beer is on the go to wash it down...fire is doing its stuff and I've several messages on FB that I should be attending to.  I'm also following up on a holiday in South America combined with a cruise...well someone has to take up these special offers.  LN...I have things to do....LN

Thursday 17th October

So it was the rain that woke me this morning and the howling wind.  It was chucking it down and so I went down and got a coffee at five thirty and there was one almighty flash of lightening and a clap of thunder and I was about to batten down the hatches and that was it.  Now it was either the last of the many and I'd slept through it or just a random flash...if you know what I mean.  Last night's supper sat well...I was expecting a turbulent night with all the food that I'd put away but it behaved itself beautifully.

Yesterday I was trying to track down a cruise going to Machu Picchu but why is it that the particular cruise that I was interested in didn't show any prices on their own website and suggest that you go to an independent to book.  Now all this takes time and puts you in the position of trying to find the best deals when surely that should come from the people who own the ships.  Anyway...I've given up for the time being...they'll be running the same cruises for a few years yet and I fancy having a mobility scooter on board...they seemed to have much more space in the dining room than I did on the last cruise and their corridors were bigger.  It got so bad on the last cruise that we had thought of introducing sleeping policemen ...they got up a fair speed.

Down for breakfast at nine thirty this morning...there was no rush since the weather was rubbish and toast and boiled eggs were the order of the day.  Just on to the second egg when I noticed that the Librarian was lingering outside the kitchen window so on with the kettle, out with the toaster and we breakfasted together.  She said that she'd fancied a ride out and have a catch up.  I've arranged to see her tomorrow...I was going to her neck of the woods to have a look at a house for a friend over in that direction so she's going to come with me.  I shall probably take my sleeping bag and stretch out there tomorrow night...it means we can have a little drinkie together and there will be no rush on Saturday.  Off she went at just after two...I lit the fire and got a few logs in...it's not so much cold as damp...we're not used to the rain and it's October for goodness sake.  This cold damp weather should not be starting yet but a very harsh winter has been forecast and not by me.  I'll just check out Accuweather...they seem to be on the ball...maybe crystal ball.

What else have I done today...topped up the coal bucket....found the new curtains destined for the lounge when I get the curtain poles up and that's a must for this winter, found out the material for the curtains for the spare room upstairs and unearthed the sewing machine so the curtains have found their way onto the unwritten 'job's list'.  

Leek and potato soup for tonight...I'm thinking about getting it underway and crusty bread will suffice tonight.  The old stuff was flung to to animals this morning along with a few eggs of undetermined age.  I have this thing about eggs...if I feel they are suspect ...they have to go...so over the hillside they went.  Weather calm and peaceful if dull and that's rather how I'm feeling at the moment.  I think it's going from periods of high activity where there is automatic motivation and you're on the merry-go-round and then it stops but please don't take that as an invitation to visit....I'm not that down   

So early posting.....going to 'chill' by the fire....with a book.  LV...

Friday 18th October

Firstly, Happy Birthday to my beautiful grand daughter and I hope that you have a wonderful day.  Your present should have arrived and here's hoping that your Bulgarian birthday card made it too.  Big hugs from a  very proud nanny.

Lashing rain, howling winds and the moon shining brightly over Smolyan hills.  What a morning.  Eventually the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and it has been a beautiful day and back to t shirt weather again.  Out this morning over to the Librarian's house and we were off looking at houses for another friend which turned into a complete fiasco with Beauty nearly losing her undercarriage on a road that only loggers go up following someone's satnav in my car because theirs broke down on the journey to the house.  Before I really dish the dirt I want to let other people know...when I've done that you can have the gory details.

So we dumped them and took the right road to try to find the village on our own and managed to find the village but not the house.  There is a reservoir close by and the area is really beautiful.  Went back to the local motel and bought stuff for lunch but we decided that we could risk driving with one Ariana since it is a back road or cheren put road back to the Librarians.  Lunch was served as fresco....and we both nodded off in the sun for about half an hour and whether it was down to the sun or the beer, who can tell and who cares....we certainly didn't.

Fish supper....I'm staying here tonight but the internet connection is so poor that you might only get a couple of photos....LN...the rest will follow tomorrow and off to bay at the full moon tonight....LN

Saturday 19th October

Happy birthday father and I feel that you have been around me today....

So this morning woke up at the Librarians at five thirty with the clock ticking away and read for an hour until sleep beckoned me and I was away for a couple of hours.  What woke me? She set off a banger to scare away the dogs that were barking and instead gave me the alarm that I really didn't need but her son slept straight through it.  So her locale woke up earlier than we did...toast and stuff for breakfast and then the neighbour arrived to take get us on the route for taking pictures of properties for sale with the intention of putting it on the internet.  Now my issue with this is that there are not many takers so if you post a stupid price for your property you will get no takers.  Too many people have worked in Germany and come back with European prices for Bulgarian properties and like....it just ain't happening.

Took the photos of today's three happenings and I believe one of my friends might be interested in one of the properties.  The roof has caved in on one of the others but they still want silly money for it and despite the fact that there is a lot of land...it's not really going to be of interest.  So pictures over to my friend in the UK...we'll wait and see if there is any interest and meanwhile we have lunch in Benkovski, sleep in her village and her neighbour insisted on waking me up since the rest had taken to their beds...That's the problem with being a guest...I was sleeping outside.  Hostess surfaced and I packed my bags and home for six twenty.  Fire lit, drink sorted, soup warmed from yesterday, photos of the properties sorted and minimised, facebook entries posted and now to rest my weary bones and take to my lounge.  LN...I have nothing to do and nowhere to go until tomorrow when I have my student at ten...moon tonight wonderful and posted on facebook and there are lots of pats on the back...LN...I'm off down stairs..

Sunday 20th October

Silly night's sleep.  The UPS for the central heating was bleating it's little heart out and I turned on the light by my bed and confirmed...no TOK.  I heard the noise and thought that I'd left the PC on and after I found out what it was there was no problem.  The immediate urge since I was awake at three thirty was to make a cup of coffee...doh...work it out girl.  Went back to sleep and eventually surfaced at seven thirty...a most respectable time to open eyes and opened the curtains to a fairy tale morning of hills and mist in the valley and it just had to be captured.

Quick wash and brush up and a quarter of fruit cake for breakfast with a couple of cups of coffee and over to my student's house.  Mother is ill with a virus, my student has just got over a virus, father is fine and other daughter is hanging in there.  Mother has actually taken to her bed and is no where to be seen but heard on her occasional trips to the loo.  Now apparently this virus is virulent....sickness and diarrhea and this has been reported by my other student's mum, as being the result of the water in Djebel.  Now my water I believe comes from a different source so I'm hoping that what is in Djebel...stays in Djebel.

When I got to the house my student's sister was preparing bread from a new recipe and it was delicious.  She also prepared lunch with chicken wings, salad, and fried potatoes but next week the treat is on me.  I'm picking them all up at eleven and shipping them over to sample the delights of my Bulgarian/English cuisine....now this could be good or mediocre...let's wait and see but my salads will be made in advance and only the mains will be produced on the fly so to speak.

Home for four thirty.  My fire is laid for tonight, I've played around with lots of facebook messaging and tried to answer some of them in Bulgarian...trouble is...and the longer you are out there...you have friends that only speak their language and try as you might...you come unstuck occasionally.  My other favourite website is having issues with performance so I'm staying out of it for the time being.  I've sent other info on the houses that I went to see yesterday but not sure if there is a need to progress with more photos.

About to light my fire...after a huge lunch I'm not sure that I need to be slaving over a hot stove....I few swift brandy and waters might be all I require before I hit the virtuous couch tonight.  Need to catch up on my Daily Mail Sudoku....got a few back issues to do to try to bring down my average time and my telephone has just gone and my men are working tomorrow...super...my second wall will be underway.

So now to work out which photo belongs to which property and then to send the photos on...LN...it might become clearer after another wee drinkie...LN

Monday 21st October

Seven o'clock wake up and off for the men at the usual time.  We didn't go down to try to source the winter wood, we'll do that tomorrow.  Bekir has a bandaged finger which apparently he did with a knife and I didn't ask how or why.  He was also sniffling and sneezing so we might all be down with flu tomorrow.  I seem to be surrounded by ill people and I'm hoping that I've got resistance to all ills or maybe I should keep dosing myself up with alcohol so that they just don't have the chance to multiply.

So what have we done today.  I decided to get out my new telescopic window washing thingie and take it for a spin.  I managed to reach up to the top windows but didn't connect it to the hosepipe as recommended and only dipped the brush into a bowl of hot water with multi-leaning fluid.  The brush is superb...the scrapper thing for taking off the water is not so good but in the destructions it does say to use a chamois leather over the brush to get rid of the water from the windows so I reckon that they know that it's not much use.  The rest of the windows got the once over and my bathroom window still had the protective covering on the frame from when they were installed...it had somehow been forgotten.  So I set about it and it was a bastard..three years of sun had baked the glue holding it on and with the aid of almost every kitchen utensil including a knife, it is now job done but it took about two hours in total.  While I was busy the men were making the final panel for the front fence and I noticed that a little bit had been tacked on to the end and I'm not sure if it was measured wrongly but I pointed it out to Bekir and he still seemed to think it was OK.  Now at the time of hoisting it into place....I pointed it out again and there was a huff and a puff and a swift removal of the said panel, the metal cutting machine was in play and it was being done correctly.  Now whether he wasn't feeling well or it was first day back I don't know but I did give him a rub on the arm and thanked them both for making it to my standards...the little bit they used to make the small panel at the side so it wasn't wasted.

Brilliant starling flights today but where is the camera when you need it.  When I managed to retrieve it from the landing there wasn't a bird in sight but I found them all sitting on the electricity pylon in the next field so a few shots had to be taken.  Men home...think it's going to be a cold night but the house is warm from all the sun we've had today and it holds on to it well.  LN...I'm heading for the kitchen to see what I can find...LN

Tuesday 22nd October

Early morning start...up to wake up with the sun and fairytale and yet again but I took my camera with me this morning on the way to pick up the men and I got some really good morning shots.

Beautiful weather today...it hit thirty two at some point so my washing had to go out and bake in the sun.  Sally got on the wrong end of a shovel and proceeded to dig out the trench for the new wall.  We had a brief discussion about it.  It was supposed to be straight through without a knee joint but I changed the plan deciding that it was one hell of a long wall otherwise.

So left the men to it and realised that there was a lot of activity outside my gate and found the tractor and a broken something and there were big discussions and my tools coming out by the dozen.  Now Semile reckons that he doesn't like Bekir but today he absolutely loved him...because he was mending his tractor...but tomorrow...who knows and all this time Sally was shovelling soil to make the trench.  Work on the tractor complete...I have a few logs out of the deal but not much else and he was on his way with all his bits intact so to speak.

Went into Djebel to have my winter tyres fixed and goodness knows why considering the temperature today but there were a few other things that needed sorting with Beauty.  My dashboard lights have a mind of their own but now I am the owner of a new dashboard and everything works, we have added oil to the gearbox so that that works smoothly again, oil to the engine and the water has been drained, the rubbish got rid of and antifreeze added for the forthcoming winter.  Three hours in intensive care and one hundred and thirty leva later, including replacement of my winter tyres that were stored at the garage, I am good to go and that even included a new set of wheel trims and tie wraps to hold them on...

Back home...I had a new guest that I haven't seen before and I'm always worried since we are putting in a new wall that people don't remember where the old wall went.  Believe me I am not out to gain more than I should.  Men thought that I had gone AWOL and were suffering from caffeine deficiency but all back to normal within five minutes of returning home.  Men back to theirs, me home to mine, food is being thought about but despite my promise to supply my Avatar with leek and potato soup tonight...I think this is going to be tomorrow morning's task.  Steak thawing for tomorrow along with bacon for breakfast...what I don't get today I'll make up for tomorrow...LN...I think it might just be toast or maybe if I wait a while...it could be a steak sandwich...LN

Wednesday 23rd October

Firstly Happy Birthday to my cousin in Australia...it hardly seems a year since I was out there and catching up with the family history and the descendents of my mother's sister.  Not many of us left now but we're not quite ready to hand on the baton to the next ones in line...

Silly four o'clock start so it was Angry birds and a new book but by six thirty I was feeling that I should be going back to sleep but dreaded oversleeping and being late for the men.  Down for a coffee and kept myself awake and out at the usual time.  I did make my way to the kitchen last night and made a steak sandwich with onions which went down very well but didn't stop much in the middle.  Rare steak can have that effect.  This morning I had my normal fairytale start to the day with beautiful blue pink skies and mist lingering in the valleys.  What is there not to like about it except that I woke exceptionally early and was ready for it not woken up by it.

Stayed in bed reading until seven thirty then it was a mad dash to get dressed and out.  Managed it though and pulled up exactly at eight at the restaurant and my goodness doesn't Beauty feel good after her resuscitation...everything works including the radio which had been removed when I had a 'leakage' causing my battery to be flat each morning.  Had on the local radio on the way back with the men until two silly males giggling at their own jokes got up all of our noses so turned on to a Greek station playing Turkish music which went down well with the lads.  

They've worked well today on the wall but at lunch time Bekir was nowhere to be found.  Well by now you've got the message that he can make up a bed and sleep anywhere and Sally and myself looked for him but found nothing.  So Sally set to making the next lot of cement for the wall and hey presto...he appeared clutching a bag and he had been mushrooming.  Give him his due...he did offer me some but I refused and home they've gone,

Booked another body for tomorrow.  The stone for the wall has to be gathered from various piles around the garden and it's better that someone else does  it and the men concentrate on building...like head screwed on for the necessities.  Cooked leek and potatoes and added the rest of the steak and made a very nice soup which went half to my Avatar and the rest I had for lunch.  Eating at lunch time is so much better but she did bring us a snack this afternoon from her banichka lunch party with the girls.  

So tomorrow I have three men.  I've tidied the patio off so that he has a clear run with his wheelbarrow tomorrow.  On the way home we spotted a planet lingering low in the west and Bekir thought it was Jupiter but after a little investigation now that I am home...me thinks it is Venus.  No supper for me...I am replete...a little mastika and water might finish the day off beautifully until I take to my virtuous couch and my Kindle.  

It's been a good day...LN

Thursday 24th October

Awoke at six this morning and lay watching for the dawn and listening out for the mosque.  Not disappointed by either.  The dawn came up just as it has for the last few mornings with beautiful blue and pink dancing lights and the dogs joining in with the hojja at the mosque must be captured on video so tomorrow that's my challenge.  They all start and it must be something they detect from the morning prayers....you'll have to listen on facebook.

So seven thirty and out of bed, quick wash and jumped into my work clothes but it was only for show.  Took pictures of the journey in this morning to fetch the men but I don't know why I bothered risking life and limb for a few action shots but the windscreen was, and still is, so dirty that I might have been taking them with a pin hole in a dark room...effective egh.  Go to their village and the mist had truly come down and it was like entering a ghost town but they were there with their little rubber work shoes at the ready so I nipped into the shop to buy a loaf of bread...mine had gone green and Tommy finished it off yesterday.  Home, our new worker was waiting for us when we arrived and now we are three.  Three slices of heavily buttered bread for breakfast and coffee and then the work was on.  Now my third worker today was to get the stone from various points around the garden and deliver it to the front of the house for wall building.  I looked out of the upstairs at the goings on and noticed that my third worker was sitting down after delivering said stone and the wheelbarrow was now full of cement and the other two were using it as a receptacle.  Now I know they need a receptacle but now that leaves one new worker unemployed or underemployed so my logic tells me that if I buy another wheelbarrow, I can have him fully employed.  The men looked askance at my utterings but now I am the proud owner of two wheelbarrows and I've told them that this one is for me and my new worker and not one iota of cement is to touch it on pain of death.

Had a surprise visit from the son of my restaurant lady with another man and apparently he had been talking about the 'English lady's house' that much that he wanted to see it.  He loves it and is trying to get the locals to build in the same style but they only seem to want to use 'small' timbers not the huge things that I've managed to get in this house.  He works for Kamenitsa as a rep and left me two bottles of beer which I thanked him for but he commented on my honeysuckle growing by the little house so I gave him one of my newby plant.  Exchange is no robbery.

Men home...work on the wall has been superb today and having the third worker has proved well worth his money.  He went home with a sore back but maybe it will move some of the puppy fat from him....and he's working again tomorrow and a few days next week so he should be a little fitter.  As for Sally...lean as you come and really strong with it...Bekir is better after his afternoon nap which is now a standard.

I've got chicken in the oven, a dark beer on the go and a photo of Venus after confirmation that it's not Jupiter from the internet.  LN....kitchen calls along with an empty glass....LN