Tuesday 15th April

Missed the dawn but I'm not sure it was worth waking up for but there again, I'll never know.  Seven of the clock this morning when I raised my weary head from the pillow but I'd had such a busy day yesterday in the garden.

Breakfast...bacon and egg sandwich but I worked it off ...honest.  Out into the garden by nine thirty and I actually finished at five this evening.  There was the odd lapse on to the activity centre for a session with the book that I'm still reading which might be likened to Robin Hood but this is looking at it from Will Scarlet's point of view.  He was imprisoned by the Sheriff, escaped via a fluke and has now got married back in the Greenwood with ten percent to go...so I'm nearly there.

Today I've cleared the long flower bed where the grass from the field insists on impinging on my little patch.  It's very pretty with cow parsley, sticky willy and the likes but it's much better its side than mine.  Chickweed is good in so much as it spreads a long way and if you find the centre you clear quite and area but the roots are so fiddly.  Had a bonfire and got rid of the burnables, cleared out the suckers from round the pear tree but looking at it, it's not very happy....might be that it's all for the bonfire and just an old tree.  There are some leaves and blossom but I've had very little fruit off it for the last couple of years.  As for the cherry, lots of blossom that's now dandruffed my garden and the wild damson things look to be fruiting already.  Planting tomorrow, I've got some bulbs from Lidl that appear to be quite tall so indigo violet.....let's see what they do.

Not hungry this evening ....we had several half eaten bags of crisps left over from Princess and co's visit so I've demolished the lot.  I also found a pot of yoghurt in the fridge but looking at the calorie content I think I should have abandoned it half way through.....four hundred grams of sugar cleverly disguised as an healthy option.

Knacked so off for a shower.  LN...There is a little beer on the go but it would be rude not to, it's time I wended my way downstairs, splashed about a bit and curled up in front of the fire and sojourn with the rest of my ten percent. LN.

Wednesday 16th April

Saw the dawn...well and truly...woke up at five and waited for it to happen but not that there was much of it...sort of a grey day..flashes of sun and then cloud and finally rain at about nine thirty this morning.

I rescued the fire early on...it makes the morning warmer somehow especially on these dreary days and my intention of planting out 'stuff' was blown to the wind.  Toast for breakfast and read for a while and out for nine thirty to Djebel with the intention of returning a bowl to the restaurant owner left over from the party night and heading for the bankomat to collect money and pay for the already eaten lamb.  Over to the school where Bekir and Sally are earning a crust and lamb paid for and their services for the one day that they were with me also paid for.  I can now hold my head up high and the standing joke of 'I'm now reduced to bread and water for the rest of the month' was uttered and 'maybe a little onion' was the response.  We love out little jokes.

So headed to Kardjali with the school master with the intention of a trip to Lidl and the market garden that we had found.  I noticed that they'd put some rope up so that we couldn't park near to where we'd found the fir trees a couple of weeks before....I think they realised that they'd had visitors....   This time we rang the bell and a lady sauntered up and I asked if they were open for business and she replied that they were but they obviously don't get many visitors.  We looked round...I spotted a few shrubs that were worth having namely some spirea that I could take from the hedgerows  but at three lev for a decent size plant it wouldn't be worth the effort.  I've got some more that I don't recognise but we ran out of space so I couldn't get the silver birch to replace the tree that the wind brought down about two months ago.  Required.... one more visit with a decent vehicle.  Back to the school after a trip to Lidl and the rain still came down.  The men are back with me next week and it's perfect weather for concreting....whenever I mention terraces and stone walls...it rains so yes...it's all my fault.

Home...plants unpacked into the garage since there's a gale force wind blowing, logs in, fire going and still thinking about food but not really in the mood since a French stick with ham was devoured after my shopping expedition at the school.  Read until my eyes hit my cheek bones and slept for an hour but after my early start I needed it.  Librarian comes to visit tomorrow and we're sorting out her air booking and boarding pass....I'm signing off now.  Too damp to take pictures today....but posting one of a bird that I spotted and last night's moon which was pretty spectacular....LN...I'm off.

Thursday 17th April

What a storm last night ...the rain lashed on the windows and the wind howled and at one point I thought that the wind shield to the door was going to take to the skies but it stayed in place.  Thank goodness I moved some of the shrubs into the shelter of the house and the large clay pots...they would have been gone to the clay pot heaven in the sky.  I was at my desk when a movement in the garden caught my eye....Harold the Hare is back...or his mate.  I reached for the Canon camera and unfortunately the battery wanted changing and off he toddled...I changed the battery and blow me.....he came back so I have a couple of him but tomorrow I'll be waiting.

Much calmer this morning but it was still raining.  I lit the fire from last nights ashes and settled in to poached eggs on toast washed down with steaming coffee.  There wasn't much else to do....there was no gardening to be had and all I had to do was to rescue the seeds from drowning and empty out the bowls underneath the nursery plant pots.  We must have had quite a few centimetres of the watery stuff.  Today's task was to remove the clothes from the downstairs bedroom....I'm going up in my world.  All my winter clothes are ready to go away and the spring ones are still available with a couple of thick sweaters close to hand.....not so much not to cast a clout but just to keep everything to hand.  The new wardrobe thing has stood up well to the disposition of the clothing with still plenty of spare space.  

Checked with the Librarian and she wasn't coming out to play since her son wasn't working at the school but she changed her mind later and got dropped off at about one thirty....just in time for me to prepare lunch for the two of us.  She had a look round and hadn't see the new furniture or the completed bathroom or the new balcony balustrades...suitably impressed she was.

Off she went with her son at five thirty to sort out the animals.  She's had a bit of a catastrophe.  The little pups are no more..she has lost all of them to a mystery illness and she thinks that they had been poisoned...such a shame...they were darling little things...RIP to all of them...   No supper for me again....I must admit though to devouring a packet of biscuits as I got settled in front of the newly lit fire with my book after they left.  Just after seven thirty my time...it's still raining and the mist is hanging over the hills and in the valleys...come on boys...enough 's enough.  LN..back to my book and the fire...LN

Friday 18th April

What a piss poor day for weather and it's thundering and lightening now so it's going to be a quick update.  Early start and coffee in the pit as usual and haven't done a lot all day.  The weather has been dire.  It's rained on and off all day and tonight we have the lashing rain and the winds again....it's April for goodness sake and Easter...how's a girl going to show off her Easter bonnet in this weather.

Breakfast ...baked beans on toast and discovered the beginnings of an an ant infestation so it was zapped before it could begin to take hold...little old observant me.  Fire going all day ...keeps the cold at bay....and as I said nothing much happened but at four there was a need for fish fingers and chippies with lashings of mayo with a dash of tomato ketchup and needs must...the call was obeyed.  Washed down with a little of the golden liquid and then I set to updating my really old computer with avast and Malaware bites.  Managed the one but not the other but I'm still at it...

I noticed that there were rain clouds to the south of me and that the sun was attempting to show her little face so out with the camera and that's when I saw the rainbow.  What a sight...complete but my camera couldn't take it all in so I did the best that I could.  Clothes sorted...winter stuff away and summer stuff hanging in my new wardrobe thing....getting organised for that summer that seems very slow appearing.

Have a lovely Easter everyone...I'm off to the shops tomorrow to try to buy some eggs for my ladies...my holiday...my treats.  LN....those flashes are getting more regular and brighter so I'm off...LN

Saturday 19th April

Seven start and not much to wake up to.  The weather has been miserable and cold all day....lit the fire at about eleven after walking the garden,  The intention was to get out there...the motivation wasn't upon me and today has been spent watching Dr. House, playing Freecell and reading my book.  It's Easter for goodness sake and the weather is normally good at this time of the year instead we have been issued with severe rain warnings from Sofia and I could have told them that.

Seven forty five my time or thereabouts.  I'm running a bath to ease away my aches and pains brought on by the damp weather and I'll take to my bath with a little wine and a book....but not my kindle.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow....but the forecast is not good until Monday....LN....I'm going for a soak...

Sunday 20th April

And a Happy Easter to all those believers....and to the others...just enjoy gorging on chocolate without a care in the world..

I had a very lazy morning.  I'd released a fillet of beef from the freezer last night so this morning's breakfast which might sound decadent to some was fillet of beef with two fried eggs...and the statutory slice of bread.  Off to my students and had prepared a couple of texts so that it looked like we were doing something constructive.  So what happened?...Tea, cakes, lunch, juice, visitors, chatting and generally enjoying the day.  They are a lovely family.

So the news is that my man that made my furniture is insisting that the final little chest is not part of the original order...not I have the photo to prove otherwise so I'm insisting that if he insists on charging me for the little chest, then if I refuse it he has to subtract it from the original quote...short and curlies or what.  At the end of the day...I will pay for it but I feel that I have to make my point and I shall.  The family are all behind me and we reckon the shock might force him to speak again.

So home James and a lovely surprise when I got home...I was in the middle of filling up the log basket and the phone went...it was my Princess thanking me for the visit and saying that she had been spreading the news far and wide that i had established a watering hole in the depths of Bulgaria and there were some takers.  I am expecting emails from likely visitors.

The remains of the fillet fried off with onions and potatoes with chilli added, tomato paste and honey and baked beans formed the basis of supper.  This was served up on a slice of bread and it was delicious.  Improvisation is the mother of invention or so they tell me.

Tonight a little mastica on the go....not much to do apart from enjoy the evening....LN....tomorrow...I have plants to plant...let's go for an early night....LN

Monday 21st April

So there was a white out this morning...lost the mountains and Greece until more or less ten when the sun started to burn it off.  I'd had a fairly early start and read for a while...this new book is two stories running in parallel and I suppose at the end they'll meet otherwise he could have just written two books...

Cooked a couple of poached eggs for breakfast and the debris is still sitting in the kitchen awaiting my attention,  As the day picked up I went out to survey the estate but from the terrace since the grass was extremely wet and saw something wafting by.  It was too slow for a small bird and thought it could be an insomniac wayward bat as it headed for the wild damson so rushed in to get the Canon and sat myself down on the stool to see if I could manage to see it again.  At this it headed back to the damson so I legged it down to the garden and managed to take a few pickies.  Watched it for a while and then it decided that it would make for the fence and it spent the day hiding in the grass.  You could hear its wings and it's a magnificent specimen of ....something.  I've checked the internet and the closest I get is a gum moth...but I'm still not convinced.

So what else did I get up to?  Raked over the soon to be veg garden and I've planted my beetroot.  The broad beans were going in but the packet said not to plant if the soil is waterlogged and is my soil waterlogged!!  The amount of rain that has fallen lately and it's falling now...the ark is a distinct possibility.  But before that happened....I planted out a couple of shrubs....dug out lots of roots from my tree that provides my neighbours with their 'linden tea' and now I know what Sally went through when clearing the ground for my wall.  He did a sterling job but now it's clear to put in some of the big stones to tidy up the area by the front wall....all I need is a man with the will to succeed to get the stones from the temporary wall in front of the little house and up to the new permanent wall.  Wednesday should provide the manpower.  So rain stopped play again....'s

Monday 21st April

So there was a white out this morning...lost the mountains and Greece until more or less ten when the sun started to burn it off.  I'd had a fairly early start and read for a while...this new book is two stories running in parallel and I suppose at the end they'll meet otherwise he could have just written two books...

Cooked a couple of poached eggs for breakfast and the debris is still sitting in the kitchen awaiting my attention,  As the day picked up I went out to survey the estate but from the terrace since the grass was extremely wet and saw something wafting by.  It was too slow for a small bird and thought it could be an insomniac wayward bat as it headed for the wild damson so rushed in to get the Canon and sat myself down on the stool to see if I could manage to see it again.  At this it headed back to the damson so I legged it down to the garden and managed to take a few pickies.  Watched it for a while and then it decided that it would make for the fence and it spent the day hiding in the grass.  You could hear its wings and it's a magnificent specimen of ....something.  I've checked the internet and the closest I get is a gum moth...but I'm still not convinced.

So what else did I get up to?  Raked over the soon to be veg garden and I've planted my beetroot.  The broad beans were going in but the packet said not to plant if the soil is waterlogged and is my soil waterlogged!!  The amount of rain that has fallen lately and it's falling now...the ark is a distinct possibility.  But before that happened....I planted out a couple of shrubs....dug out lots of roots from my tree that provides my neighbours with their 'linden tea' and now I know what Sally went through when clearing the ground for my wall.  He did a sterling job but now it's clear to put in some of the big stones to tidy up the area by the front wall....all I need is a man with the will to succeed to get the stones from the temporary wall in front of the little house and up to the new permanent wall.  Wednesday should provide the manpower.  So rain stopped play again....'s no joke....no winter and no spring....this is not what I expect...I'm near the Med for goodness sake.  

Not in the mood for food.  The eggs are still sitting heavy from this morning so I think a little beer and that will see me through until the morning...LN...I'm back to my fire and at theis rate the wood is going to run out this year....still got lasts and more in the workshop but it's nearly May for goodness sake...come on now...play the game...LN

Mummy, I'm so glad the sun has finally come out..... I was worried that you may get Trench Foot at this rate!
Back to work for me and Bubs tomorrow and I'm NOT looking forward to it- still, 2 bank holidays in May and only 5 weeks til we break up. I think I can survive it..

Dov vish de nay, Lekta nosh, Moon and back, Princess xxxxxxx

The nearest my moth book has is "Emperor Moth" - looks like the female, which is larger than the male (as it should be).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnia_pyri
Just done a google and come up with this one - Giant Emperor Moth, the biggest that Europe can provide. Socking great beastie isn't it!?