Tuesday April 1st

White rabbits and the rest and I saw about one hundred in my garden this morning....bit late for an April Fool but thought I'd give it a try.

Radio clock said six twenty, thought I'd better check and yes...it was one that I'd missed so I was on a quick, quick to get out in time for the men.  Over to the builder's merchants this morning and after some to-ing and fro-ing we managed to get all the metal we needed for the balcony rails for the two bedrooms with a promised delivery date of later to day.  We scoffed a little but wonder of wonders...it arrived at lunchtime today and so that's the men's job for tomorrow sorted.

As for today....the bathroom is more or less finished with the extra shelving in place after much oo-ing and arrgh-ing.  Bekir didn't read my mind as well as he should have and if I say...the same as downstairs and then I get different...not my fault.  Sally has finished the street side wall of the garage and has set about covering up another of my stone walls but it's soft stone after all, not like the rest of the property.  I got busy with lawn mower when some of the dew had lifted but I gave up and carried on more or less at four this afternoon giving the sun a chance to do its stuff.  There's just a little left to do and that's tomorrow's job should I choose to accept the challenge and of course, weather permitting.  Legs cut for the beds in the third bedroom and they'll be done in quicksticks and the old washbasin shelf unit has been converted into a shelving unit for the third bedroom but just as a temporary measure.....I'll give it about five years before I do something else...it's that temporary...   Librarian has her internet sorted and I'm up to sort out the cash tomorrow....is she pleased and she had a little surprise today.  The house next to hers was up for sale by the Turkish owner and suddenly out of the blue there's two English guys accompanied by some official lady asking if she minds talking to them.  Story goes...they bought the house six years ago and have all the documents but hadn't visited it since...and now the previous owner is trying to sell it again.  Naughty.

Men home.....fish finger sandwiches for speed this evening after lighting the fire and I'm about to settle in with a little beer in front of it.  So tomorrow the men become braziers and metal workers...I'm a painter and gardener...such a skilled lot we are....LN...going to get my strength up for tomorrow...LN

Wednesday 2nd April

What a day....picked up the men.  Had to go to Sally's house to pick up the welding machine and on the way back to mine saw a deer in the field more or less before my village.  It stopped, looked at us, Bekir took lot of photos but it's been so busy today that they're still in his camera....and tomorrow is another day.

Off to Djebel to buy the rest of the metal for the balcony rails and came back from Djebel with my scarf dangling from the back of some four meter lengths of metal but because it happened to have some red in it should be be stopped by the local police.....I now it's not red but it has red in it and any fool should be able to spot the dangling scarf...   So while we were away and this was a solo trip with Bekir, Sally had attacked my metal mound and was converting it into ...good metal and bad metal and most of the bad were their cooked meat and fish tins ever since they'd joined the project.....As I threw them to one side I quoted the cost of two leva for every tin and it seen mounted up.  So the upshot is...my garden is clear apart from the stuff that we should be selling to the gypsies, the rest sits behind the bus shelter so don't look to closely folks and now I am more or less tidy.

The rest of my garden is finished...I wielded the lawnmower around and my work is done apart from the odd pocket of stuff that needs to be removed with the hand sheers.  Silly thing is I have a huge strimmer but unfortunately I can't manage to control the thing...much too big for me.

Men set to with the panels and one biggie is complete and by my timing the first one should be up by lunchtime and the second well underway by tomorrow afternoon.  As for me..after finishing with the mower I found the hand sheers and cleared round the flowerbeds.  I tried desparately to plant a couple of junipers at the bottom of the garden but there's so much stone in the soil that it has one of two choices...live or die....

So men home and they were black as the ace of spades...metal work is no joke.  I didn't get home until eight my time, fishfingers and chippies for supper with mayo...that was about the height of my inspiration tonight.  LN....I really need to go and collapse and I think there is a bottle of Rose lingering in the fridge from the other night....LN...found it...

It is amazing what a couple of 'Masters' can produce from a pile of old junk and some new stuff.  

Trev

Thursday 3rd April

Early start...read my newbie until seven fifteen and then jumped to.  Quick wash, I don't think I combed my hair this morning but it's shoved up out of sight but not in the way of the paint that it encountered later,

On the way back, the deer that we had seen had been joined by another and again I didn't have my camera.  Tomorrow I'll go out prepared.  The men set to immediately and the first job was to take apart what they did yesterday since Bekir said that it had the look of a donkey's hind leg so that was put right and there was a lecture about a 'maister' doing work quickly and not turning out to be a 'maister' at all by the time the work was redone.  I didn't say anything...I left them to it and eventually the big one was hoisted and put into place and the short one eventually joined it, or rather was joined to it and one down one to go until we start the small balcony on the the third bedroom.  So the first one was in place more or less by lunchtime and let the fun commence...we have an even longer one on my upstairs bedroom and two side panels this time so let's see how good their measuring skills are and not a pencil and paper in sight.

I cleared out the third bedroom this morning, cleaned the floor and the windows and now it's ready for the beds to go in and they are more or less made already.  All that needs to be done is the connecting wood work to the legs that were prepared from the huge chunk of wood that I had lying a round in the workshop.  My men have really had to adapt to this mad English woman that said that if you make me eight legs about twenty five centimetres high I'll have two bases for the mattresses that are still sitting downstairs.  I put together the other table from Ikea and it's in case my furniture is not ready this Sunday....I shall wait and see but I have plan B in place just in case.

Played in the garden this afternoon and flitted from job to job but the weather is so gorgeous that it's easy to do.  At about three I decided to get the paint out and attack the new balcony rail and putting it on is like applying treacle.  Tomorrow we'll add something to it to make it easier to apply but the men laughed.  I'd put down cardboard so that it didn't get everywhere but I worked without shoes and trod on the paint pot lid and as I tried to walk my toes were sticking together and I got covered but thank goodness I'd got on an old t-shirt.  When end of play was called it was out with the petrol and I cleaned myself up...the metal was put in a safe place for the night and we all sat down with a beer in the yard taking ten minutes out before we set sail for their restaurant.  A really good day.  They achieved, I achieved and I think we were are dutifully tired at the end of it.  Super was pan fried pork and I used up half a can of baked beans to go with it.....LN....I'm going to have a bath with Neil Diamond...LN...and the photo shoot will be tomorrow...it was far too dark by the time I got back tonight....

Friday 4th April

Silly o'clock start but managed another hour before my seven o'clock up and out call to duty.  We were all waiting to see the deer this morning but no show,  The comment was passed that maybe Semile had been out there with his shotgun even though it's the closed season.  So Bekir told me that he's going for his forestry permit to shoot.  They have a course to do in Momchilgrad and have to pass an examination and the fee for everything is like....high.  The course covers what they can shoot and when...everything to it's own season.

Caught the bread man this morning so breakfast was bread and butter with a skimming of the Australian version of Marmite that is lasting out quite well and thank you Linda.  Out into the garden while the men carried out with the second balcony rails for my bedroom and I can confirm...they were finished around five this afternoon.  Just she paint to go on now and that's down to me...I've started...now I've just got to finish....

Had a really good day in the garden today.  I took apart the old fence that they wind had brought down when the wind swept through and took down a couple of trees.  I couldn't find any decent nails in the place to put the fence up properly but the foundation is down or rather up...tomorrow it will be two kilograms please.....

Avatar came round this evening with a photo that she wants copying and I had a surprise visit from Gouldjan telling me about her new boyfriend.  I had made arrangements to go with her to Kardjali tomorrow but now it;s ll change.  My other Gouldjan Facebooked me to tell me that my furniture is ready for collection so all change.... the Sunday pick-up is now a Saturday pick-up and there was me doubting that it would be finished at all.  All messages have been sent so it's boots blacked for tomorrow and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it meets all expectations but I'm aware that one of the pieces will be outstanding....let's just wait and see.

Bath tonight I think....I'm aching and need to soak for a while....LN....I'm going to start things moving...namely me...LN

Saturday 5th April

Usual early start and last night's bath was a disaster.  I didn't put the boiler on relying on what was in the tank already and hoping that the fire had added to it but alas, got about four inches and then it started to run cold.  I thought that I'd risk it but once in wished that I hadn't....splashed it around for a few minutes but it's when the wave stop that you realise that you're on a hide to nowhere so out I got after a quick scour and wrapped in a couple of towels off to find a place in front of the fire.  Serves me right...should have forward planned a little more.

Gouldjan phoned and I arranged to pick her up so that she could go to meet her new guy in Kardjali, the school master arrived at about eight thirty and mentioned that there was a problem with the internet.  Certain sites couldn't be accessed.  Now he's a problem solver where I just wait for it to be fixed and he was trying to find different routes to Rome which he managed to do...I think he was getting Twitter withdrawal symptoms.  I went down to pick up Gouldjan while he hitched up the trailer and off we set but he pointed out that his exhaust was making a noise so over to the garage and a quick weld took place while we waited around...total bill ...five leva.  Dropped off Gouldjan at the bus station then over to Gouldjan two's house to pick up her father and off we set for my furniture makers.  

The man was waiting for us and proudly showed us the two units and said that the others would be ready next week but I'll be able to get those into the Beast.  The furniture was loaded into the trailer with blankets underneath and carefully strapped into place and off we set.  Going through one of the highest villages on the route, there was a sudden bang and one of the straps had come loose, wrapped itself round the axle and the heat from the buckle had popped the tyre,  Unfortunately no spare so we unhitched the trailer, I was given ten lev to get a coffee and the school master went back to his for the replacement.  So into the restaurant with Gouldjan's father and he decided that a beer seemed more appropriate so I joined him while we waited.  We were quite a talking point since it's his village and what on earth was he doing with an English woman.  

Replacement arrived, wheel replaced, bought lunch from the shop attached to the restaurant and safely made it home only stopping briefly in Djebel to watch some motor cross buggies desparately trying to negotiate the river beds and then heading up to the village we'd just left.  It all happens in BG.  Moved the Beast out of the garage and pushed the trailer in and the furniture will have to stay there until I have the boys on Monday.  Cooked lunch, made the school master a blind for his room thirteen and off he went,  I got out the mower and dug a little deeper into the remaining grass, knacked myself completely, eventually got the fire going realising that I hadn't emptied the ash can so there was some reluctance and got my head down for a couple of hours and feel much better for it.  It's been an exciting day.

No supper required, a little beer on the go and so it's down to the fire with my Kindle.  LN I'm off to chill....LN and it appears I can't post pictures again...back to my American buddy I go....

Sunday 6th April

Early start and I've worked out that to do difficult tasks I have to imagine myself doing it for a couple of days and then the mood strikes.  Maybe I'm a born procrastinator in my book where others think that I achieve a lot....I should pat myself on the back a bit more often but the thought springs to mind that if you want a pat on the back...go lie under a cow's backside and I live in the right area for it.  Slept OK last night but still awake at five thirty so finished my current book and it's now leaning heavily on the story of Robin of Hood fame though it's set in Wales.  This guy is working on the theory that the forests in England about the time of the Norman conquests were so micro managed that no way would any outlaws manage to stay hidden and who am I to discount the theory.  It's the first of six books and I'll start the second and see what happens and whether it really does keep me hanging in there.  

Shower and shampooed and off to my students this morning.  Father had been busy making cakes so I presented him with a blender so that he would find it easier to whisk his eggs up.  He makes a mean apple cake with cinnamon.  We all sat for a while over coffee and then the parents went out to plant more stuff in their overflowing garden.  I think mother is of the siege mentality where they grow and store and grow and store even more....and then give it away.  Lunch was meat and potatoes with grated carrots prepared by my student since her sister who we've nicknamed Cinderella since she is so good in the kitchen had to go into work today so that her co-worker could have a Sunday free.  Sat around for a while after lunch and home for just after three.  Got the fire going and a combination of the fire and the sun got the better of me and sent me to the land of nod for a couple of hours on the sofa so at sixish I was looking for things to do.

Three more sleeps and my daughter and co will be arriving and now the countdown begins.  I'd hoped that the men would have finished walking in and out but there are still a few jobs that they need to do so the final clean has to wait until I can boot them off the premises.  Set about making the curtains for the last bedroom and they are finished.  The material I got over from England and it occurred to me that the material I purchased in Corby as remnants about thirty seven years ago and I'd done nothing with it.  It was a Warner fabric and those that know fabrics would appreciate that it's linen and called Pine Trees and Peonies, basically navy with lovely yellows, blues and greens.  I knew it would come in useful one day.

So almost time for bed...as I said the men are here tomorrow so I've an early start to collect them.  Their day will mainly consist of lifting and moving stuff from downstairs to upstairs and Bekir has to finish the table that he part made me on Friday because he thought I needed it.  I better get a list started so that nothing is forgotten...they move on to pastures new for a few days while I have guests.  LN...now where's that sheet of A3...LN

Monday 7th April

What a day.....I left the house at seven thirty this morning and got back after dropping the men off at just after eight thirty.  Worse than when I used to work for a living...

So what have they done...all those little jobs that are really quick until you start to do them and they turn into something else.  All the bath towels have been boil washed, beds stripped and everything dried and ready to go back on, the men have finished inside now...more or less but at least for this week and tomorrow is the big clean.  I'm afraid I told them to bring some of the tools inside so that they didn't have to negotiate the stairs every five minutes and they took me at my word and I think they were all in.

I've slung the new hanging chair in the cherry tree and that was a game and a half.  I assumed wrongly that the old one had the same fall and that the same length of hanging rope could be used.  So I slung the old rickety ladder against the tree, almost back flipped as I hooked it over the branch that held the old one got down and tried it for size and it was more like Daddy Bears than Goldilocks....Down it came, a longer piece of rope was brought into play but this time it's on a cleat so that I can easily take it down when the weather's bad....that's if I remember.

Went into Djebel and bought a couple of shrubs from the market and he offered me a free pot plant but unfortunately it was only one of the one leva ones so I handed over two leva forty which was all I had to have the four leva one instead...high finance.

Last job of the day was for Bekir to finish the garden table that it was his idea to do not mine so it was his fault that they were late home...well that's what I told them.  I've just cooked fish fingers, I'm too lazy and it's to late for a gastronomic event to take place.....Early to bed and early to rise....I've got a busy day tomorrow...LN...I might even start tonight to get ahead of myself..LN

Tuesday 8th April

Six o'clock start and it was four thirty when I finally put my mop and bucket away and sat down for a cuppa knowing full well that I had to get my act together and get into Djebel to see the man about the food requirements for Friday night.

The lamb is running its last evenings free as a bird and Bekir is doing the necessary for me and asked me if I wanted pictures of the poor thing so I said I'll leave it for this time....I don't really want to see it's little face at every mouthful I consume.

Headed off for Kardjali after requirements had been committed to paper but the owner of the restaurant insisted that I had the wife of the garage down for confirmation of the order.  Now there was nothing difficult about it but I feel that he just had to make sure that everything is going to be alright and believe me, I'm leaving it in his capable hands.

So the boys have been working away and I got a phone call from Bekir this lunchtime and I thought they had a problem but he was just checking that I was OK....he's so sweet.  He said that they were getting on well with the work in hand and I think it makes a change and the coffee is probably more regular than mine has been of late....it's been a bit of 'I'm off and the kettle's there'.....the school master stops for 'a brew' more regularly than I do.

Lidl shopping complete and list sent over to daughter so that we don't duplicate....boo-boed in Kaufland...got nothing weighed up and caused confusion at the checkout to some real 'humphs' from people behind.  I apologised profusely....and home now, shopping away, red wine on the go, Weiner schnitzel  for supper and almost ready to get my head down.....LN....Tomorrow Princess and co arrive.....we are all looking forward to it but unfortunately SatNav doesn't list the 'Anglechanka Dushinkovo'....Directions have been sent via Hotmail....LN

Wednesday 9th April

Beautiful sunrise this morning and checked emails and things.  The school master wanted to arrange to pick up the trailer but he didn't answer so I ended up asking Bekir to pass on a message. Eight thirty they were here, Bekir wanted the phone number of the ballast man so that he could order some for the school, the trailer was attached to the jeep and off they went.  So today I had the last of the work to do and I got a text to say that they had arrived but had to pick up the hire car from terminal two not terminal one and one kind bastard taxi driver took them the four kilometres for ...and wait for it....ten EURO.  Such a kind rip off merchant.

Work finished, got out the lawn mower and did the top half of the garden and the rest can wait.  It's the clover that seems to grow quicker than anything.  Decided that I would  shower and change before they arrived and I was expecting a text telling me that they had arrived in Djebel but no text and a car stopped outside and my family had arrived.  Such a wonderful reunion and on my turf.

Did the estate, supper was pork with roasted veg and potatoes wedges.  Number one grandson has taken to his bed since it's ten o'clock but they did have to start at three this morning.  In our corner of the world it's been a good day....LN....we're all having an early night..LN

Thursday 10th April

Beautiful day.....everyone slept in late and my first guest to arrive downstairs was at eight thirty this morning.....my grandson slept in until nine thirty and we had a selection of fruit salad and yogurt, spicy sausage, baked beans and fried eggs and sat around until ten thirty with various people disappearing for showers and reappearing wrapped in towels.....this is the joy of family life.

So off we set for Kardjali despite the downpour that lasted until well into the afternoon and it was definitely not a shower....over to my favourite shop and down into the  basement for the Thursday bargains and my daughter found it hanging on the rail.  A fantastic evening gown which she shot into the changing room and tried on and emerged looking absolutely beautiful,  The assistant smiled and mouthed 'One leva' and back into the changing room, on to the scales with the dress and the young lady reminded me that there was a twenty percent discount,  One dress, thirty five leva,,,,,what a surprise. Next shop the shoe shop and pink trainers for Princess and then up to the restaurant on the lake despite the rain,  Chicken skewers for everybody with cheesy chips and salad and then back to Kardjali town and the gun shop just to see what was on offer.  Over to Billa for a few supplies, Lidl for lemonade and to check out the offers and back to Djebel for an introductory tour showing off my family.

Got the fire going again and the boys went out with the gun and set up a target and shot away to their hearts content.....I sat around with my daughter and it was just like the old days, The camera is not to hand,,,,but will be in the morning and the light should be right to capture the beautiful bargain in the morning.  LN...it won't be long before we all head off for the wooden hills....it's been a very relaxed day...LN

Friday 11th April

Breakfast is over...the sun has just made itself known to my guests and at last it's looking more like the Bulgaria I love and adore.

So before you all die with frustration at not really knowing how the DRESS really looks...I'm posting the picture....After that we're heading for a fun packed day, we need more cartridges for the air rifle for target practice later and a new challenge has been set.  At forty meters my grandson has to hit one of the baked beans printed on the label from the can we opened this morning....such is life on a hillside.  Now to get on with the day.

Saturday 12th April

Yesterday off to Kardjali so that we could get more pellets for the air rifle and another purchase was made...another air rifle and so father and son faced each other and it was pistols at ...well three o'clock in the afternoon.  The afternoon found us at the school that we were pipped to the post at an auction by a local.  It was what had turned my daughter and co away from moving here but it was good to go back eight years later and bury the past.  We came back over Mishevo, settled in while the boys were playing and there was a deputation from the ladies of the village;e that came bearing gifts.  We soon realised that we had to get a move on to get to the restaurant in time for the other guests.

The party was for family and friends that are part of my life here.  A private room, a brilliant chef, a lamb selected by Bekir and food served by what was my first student here who unbeknown to me was the daughter of the chef.  Beautiful table with salads, yogurt dips, cheesy chips, drinks both soft and alcoholic and a full cabaret on the sheep preparation and deliverance.  Wonderful night...I'm sure everything worked well but unfortunately some guests didn't arrive and despite a telephone call we couldn't managed to track them down.

We eventually called it a day at about eleven thirty leaving with doggy bags and some lucky doggies got some of the offerings at the Librarians.  Mine is still in the fridge and tomorrow I'll look at it with a view to doing something with it.

Late start for us all this morning and we went for a spin to Zlatograd despite the rain.  Home for early afternoon and Gouldjan came round and delivered a couple of bottles of plum brandy for the boys.  Off to deliver goodies for the ladies of the village this afternoon while the boys shot at targets and everyone showered and shampooed, packing done and supper over and my family leave at five thirty in the morning so there isn't much humour going around this evening but if they don't go...they can't come back.  LN...four days have gone very quickly...LN

Sunday 13th April

The visit is over....packed them off at five forty this morning for the drive to the airport and the home seems remarkably empty.  I've come to realise that it is a home not just a house.  The status has changed ...my family have made the trek and they love it here....they didn't want to leave and there were tears and 'grab Nan' was heard as they pulled out of the drive.  They've got to come back...they've left things here that they have to come back for in the form of hair straighteners, an air rifle, perfume and a pair of jeans.  I did suggest leaving the boy to do the lawns for me but they wouldn't dream of it.  

So on to today...there's a hint of pink in the sky but I think that's about all we'll get for today.....I'm going to miss them all...moon and back Princess..xx

Looks like you had a lovely time Elsa, and are missing them dearly already. The meal looked very flash and they were all spoilt rotten. Take care. Sarah. X

Sunday continued

Over to my student's for ten thirty more or less and sorted out the confusion about Friday night.  I was waiting for them and they were waiting for me to confirm...what a shame but there will be other nights...it was such a success that we shall do it all again.  Stopped off on the way and bought five litres of oil and my other student was manning the shop and I call him Mr. Ten Percent...while he's working ...this is his wage.  He asked why CJ hadn't been to see him yesterday...I said that three days were not enough and they we spent it together...He reckons that he should go to England again this year....we shall see.

Not much of a lesson...had lunch and took the family to the father's grave.  It was a three year anniversary so they went to pay their respects.  I carried on with the father to my furniture manufacturers but as we approached the lane there was a digger digging up the lane and laying a water pipe.  So I jumped the ditch, over to the house, the chest was ready and a couple of lads carried it down to Beauty and I secured it in the back with bungee ropes so that it didn't bask against the back window.  Back to Djebel and dropped off the father.  I must really buy him a gift....he has been so good with his time.

Home and managed to get the chest in the house more by hook than by crook and it now sits in the lounge until I can get Bekir and Sally to get it upstairs.  Text from Princess to say that they had just found their car in Gatwick and to thank me....No...I should be thanking them.  Fire going, beer out and got my head down for an hour or so this afternoon.  Fire still going and I'm about to run the bath and linger with another beer in the bath....Oh it's such a hard life that my daughter now fully appreciates....

LN...tomorrow is a down day as it stands at the moment but the vegetable patch beckons.... ...LN

Monday 14th April

Earlyish start but I decided that my bed was as good a place to be as any and my Kindle served me well.  Coffee at about seven, the weather appears to have settled down a little....no rain but very cloudy start with no sight of the Greek mountains to start my day.  Found some bacon in the fridge that was beckoning me and fried off an egg and with some HP brown sauce make one heck of a breakfast.

Eventually the fog lifted and I could hang out washing that I'd done overnight and as I said my challenge for today should I choose to accept it was the vegetable patch....and I chose to accept it.  Worked for a while and made the mistake of looking up and seeing how much there was still to do.  I'd done about a third of it and practicalities took over and out came the lawn mower and I hacked down the other two thirds to manageable proportions.  Trouble is that having seen the size of what's left the thought came to mind ...did I really want such a big veggie patch.  As it stands now...half of it is completed and double dug over, and the rest is mown.  I'm very tempted to do the last quarter and leave a tract of grass between the beds,,,more than enough for me for tomatoes, cucumbers, beetroot, some garlic and onions.  After all I only play at it.   Moved on to the flower beds at the side of the patch and almost cleared the long bed but the back was giving up a little at this point so moved on to the easy second bed.  The rest I'll complete tomorrow and I felt that I'd done enough for one day.

Brought in the washing, put it away and went upstairs and lay on my upstairs bed for a while taking in the view.....unfortunately I nodded off for an hour...so now supper is delayed and might be non-existent....the beer is out, the fire is chugging along nicely and I'm so relaxed...I've had a good day.

I really must check out the contents of the bowls that we brought back from the lamb night.....and either use them or ditch them and return the bowls to the restaurant...LN....I'm back to my book and my glass...and a few more pickies of the visit...LN...

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!?

Tuesday 22nd April

Thanks Jean...I was unsure what it was but I've been warned to listen out for the caterpillars....I should hear them approach...eeaaakkks.  As for you Princess...I have the bowl of hot water and bleach ready to stave off the trench foot at the first signs..

Latish start for me, six thirty and up for a coffee and back to my bed with the book and lingered in my pit until about eight so not a bad start to the day.  The mist was hanging in the valley but at least the sun was shining today when it eventually burnt off.  Toast for breakfast and then out in the garden until twelve when I felt the need to rest the weary bones so back to the book but by one, the book was on the chest and the eyelids were down and I stayed that way until just after two.  I obviously needed it and when you need it out here...you take it.  

Back out just after my well earned rest and I went on to start clearing the old hedgeline inside my new wall.  There was all sorts of crap dumped there so the fine was going and I still have evidence of a one legged man or woman here.  I only ever find one of a kind of shoes and the same today...three off shoes but now confined to the bonfire.  Chopped back the bushes and got those on the bonfire as well and tomorrow I'm off to my market garden.  I was offered a huge forsythia and tomorrow I'm going to get it now that I've found the place for it....and I've also decided where the Maple is going....it's little but will be big and is destined for the middle of the new garden near my tomb garden.

So decided to dig over what used to be the vegetable garden last year and now destined to be lawn.  Blow me down...as I was digging I found my Om necklace charm that I'd not realised I'd lost.  I normally wear it on a silver chain and must have lost it when working in the garden and I'd looked for it and thought that I'd left it in the UK....so what a lucky find.  It was a gift from my son and I'm so pleased that it's back in the fold.

Tonight is the night that there is no need for the fire except that I wanted one.  The air temperature is up and around seasonal....and very welcome it is.  Supper is going to be what I can find in the kitchen, the men are here tomorrow and starting work on the terrace but since the Librarian's son is working with them...he is doing the  taxi in the morning...LN....I'm off to see what I can find in the kitchen.....the hunger bugs are biting....LN

Tuesday continued

Look what I found in the kitchen...fairies must have been in....

Wednesday 23rd April

So the fairies delivered but they didn't wash up...what sort of fairies are they.  Six thirty start, read for a while and then I remembered that I had men chauffeur driven and arriving at approximately eight thirty so a into gear so to speak and now the beginning of a new chapter.

First visit was to Djebel and we needed plastic pipes to go under the new terrace for the bathrooms and drainage for the room under the bedroom in the little house....and work has begun.  I'm back to planning and thinking and working as a team with my men and I'd got out of the hang of it....so here goes.  The first topic under discussion was the dimensions of the new terrace.  My only criteria was that the steps up the the new terrace had be symmetrical with steps down from the other terrace and if it meant that there was a difference in the width of the new terrace then so be it.  It didn't help that the little house is not in line with the first so hence the variance but I stuck to my guns and now we have a dog leg.  The terrace is two meters following the line of the house but there is a bend in the wall and I have my steps in line with the others.  I think there was an almost downing of tools and they always say that I can have what I want but a discussion with Sally while Bekir had his afternoon nap resulted in the compromise.

So now I back to being a building site.  The garden is dug up and drainage pipes are going in and stone is being assembled from far and wide for the wall.  My little gardens are now minus the surrounds and the yellow stone is filling the gaps.  Bekir did mention that one of my hydrangeas was looking a tad unhappy and now it's wallowing in its new location.  Both tamarind that I took from cuttings are now ensconced and the lawn to the right of the garden is now down to a manageable size....Two hours on the wrong end of the lawn mower and it's beginning to look like a lawn apart from the sand heaps.

We sat down at the end of the day with a little beer and I ended up tidying up the tools at the end of the day...I think the beer has to come out later tomorrow if at all.  We can see where they've been working and that has to be good.....Tonight I cooked chicken wings with a coating of honey and they were delicious.  Those birds would never have got off the ground any way....LN...I can hear a little mastica calling me from the kitchen...LN

And there's more

And if I take a long enough view of it...it still looks as good....LN

The house and garden is really looking lovely Elsa. Its amazing all the creatures that end up in your garden and the moth was amazing. Looking forward to seeing the caterpillars when and if they arrive.

Thursday 24th April

Thank you Sarah....if the rain holds off tomorrow, the rest of the garden will be cut back to size and then it will really look good....

Five thirty start and at six thirty I was about to phone up the men and ask them to be redirected to the schoolmasters house because I thought that rain would stop play....As it turned out...I was wrong and it stayed a fine until about four this afternoon when the thundered thundered and the rain lashed down for a few minutes, went on it's way again and then a period of short sharp showers.  Between the bouts lots of work was achieved.

So this morning the first job was to order some ballast and Bekir wanted me to go into Djebel to get the materials to do the plumbing under the terrace so that Sally could continue with the wall.  Now my little brain went into action and since I have to work out how to carry goodness knows how many lengths of PVC drain stuff it made much more sense to get the man with the lorry to deliver it....so a quick phone call and everything came at the same time...result.  Men got to and dug the trench and now I have three lots of pipes from the basement of the little house and the one down to the toilet collection pit is connected and two more so that if I want to install a swimming pool...part of the plumbing is already in place...forward planning or what.  I poodled in the garden and decided that one of the old windows would make another garden next to the tomb garden much to the amusement of Bekir and Sally.  This has now been named the mausoleum garden since we reckoned that we could bury another four in there and me in the big one and my neighbours in the other...it's all been sorted so no need to get ourselves down to the mosque.  I've even planted out some bulbs in the middle pane already and pictures will have to be tomorrow....as I said rain stopped play towards the end of the day and it was trench filling and stamping down on the soil and if the rain holds off tomorrow....lawnmower time for the rest of the garden.

Men on their weary way at six twenty and I think I made the mistake of giving them the remains of the rakia that I brought back from the lamb night...I had the distinct aroma of something alcoholic as they got into the car tonight...happy little bunnies.  Bekir was polishing off his little rubber shoes and I think they were off to the Swedish man's restaurant tonight...just a little sojourn before they get home.  As for me....a birthday treat for the schoolmaster at our favourite restaurant.  My birthday buddie gave me some flowers that she'd picked and fully paid up and home for nine fifteen with my 'pian mush' or drunken neighbour shouting his little head off on the street or talking loudly to the invisible man.  I wished him goodnight and legged it inside rather sharpish.....Mastica poured, I'm ready to go about an hour with a book and about to take to my virtuous couch.  LN...Friday tomorrow and then into the weekend...let's hope for good weather...I have things to do...LN

Hi Elsa, Lovely photos as usual... House and grounds look great. Found ya house on Google Maps on street view and your place is the street view, a bit surprised...lol    ( Old shot of it tho)..
All say Hi here. Keep up the good work. xxxx

Friday 25th April

Thank you Linda. Firstly for the kind remarks about the photos and secondly for the Easter card delivered this afternoon by my neighbour's grand daughter.  The card was a very nice surprise.

So this morning I was again greeted by that blessed water from above and realised that the men would be better suited to work indoors at the school and not getting soaked to the skin building a wall.  I listened out for them at the allotted time of arrival but was on the computer, went down the stairs to look for them and the lift had gone on to the school to spend the day working there.  They were all under the impression that I was having a lazy morning sleeping in.  I sat out with Bekir and decided that it was worth a phone call to the school master to find work in the school, Bekir was all for going home but I convinced him that there was a lintel which needed doing before the rest of the bricks came down so off we set.  Once they were working away, we set off for Kardjali with the intention of visiting the market garden but no joy.  I rang the bell and no one came to unlock the gate so quick trips to the local supermarkets to get things that we can't get in Djebel, back to the school for a late lunch, sat around for a while talking films and books and back home.  

Lit the fire since it was just a damp and dreary day, put a jacket potato in the oven and sat down with my book until the potato was well on its way, cooked a pork chop and heated some baked beans and finished off with some peaches and cream.  Well it had been a fairly washed out sort of day and I needed comfort food.  Lay down to read again and that was it...the eyelids must have headed southwards and the result...I woke up about ten minutes ago.  Apologies that the update is late but they do say that a full stomach requires rest and I'm now wondering what time I shall be starting in the morning..

Few pickies of the garden taken when I got back this afternoon and as you can see...the rain still rained and looks like it's set in for the weekend too.  Come on fellas...it's nearly May. I'm off to bed....with my book...LN

Saturday 26th April

So as suspected last night I was still reading at three in the morning and managed to finish my latest about the fall of Atlantis and the sojourns of the departees.  Merlin has just been born and now I think in the next book I'm heading for King Arthur and up to chapter four and Merlin is now developing his talents as a boy, Morgan has hermitted herself but I'm sure she'll make an appearance later on.

Slept until seven thirty but had the most amazing graphic dream that left me with a strangely unsettled feeling that sort of  stayed with  me until early afternoon.  I can't even remember the details but not a nice feeling.  Out to the garden when the clouds seemed to be breaking and there was a glimmer of that lovely hot thing that seems to be making rare appearances and my mission was to get rid of the burnable stuff that was littering my garden after the repositioning and redesigning of the  last few days.  Just for the record....my pyrotechnic skills for today left a lot to be desired and I failed miserably.  The fire started off well but everything was damp and that yellow thing didn't stay around for long and I was wondering why I was still at it.  Everything was brought into play....more paper, a Fanta bottle and the only thing I think that  I didn't resort to was a firelighter and a can of petrol but believe me, it was close.  Three of the clock saw me reading again and the eyes strayed southwards and I eventually came to at about five but felt much better for it.  I was stretched out  and wifi~ed in and there was a knock on the door and there was Gouldjan in her little black rubber shoes clutching a black plastic bag and her umbrella.  In she came, she refused all offers of hospitality, handed me the bag containing eggs from her mother's never ending supply and we sat chatting for about an hour.  Next week she is off to Burgas on a training course so I  volunteered to be the taxi and I pick her up at five thirty on Monday morning at the bus stop.  I have suggested that she phones me at five just to make sure that I'm awake and so all arrangements are in place.

Off she went at about eight tonight, I hadn't realised how late it was so a couple of pork chops in the frying pan, two slices of bread onto the plate, chops out, Gouldjan's eggs in and served with a little HP sauce.  The eggs were so delicious and the yolks so very yellow....that's free range for you.

Nine thirty of the clock more or less my time....the fire is going but only because it is still damp and miserable  outside....I'm about to take to my virginal couch and back to my new book....Stephen Lawhead has a lovely way with words and he's drawing me in beautifully.  LN.....quietly rested tonight and hoping that my sleep will be less disconcerting tonight...LN

Sunday 27th April

As suspected...those eggs that I had last night with the very yellow eggs were very new and had a strange effect on my nether regions so I was loo bound at four, four thirty and five and certainly not egg bound.  Now that might be more information than you actually need but I should know by now...and I don't heed the warnings.  I'll save the rest for a few days and they should have calmed down a bit.

So read for a while between visits and dear old Merlin doesn't disappoint.  Back to sleep until seven and out with the book until I realised that I would have to get a bit of a spurt on to get to my student for the allotted hour.  They'd promised me chicken wings with potatoes and onions done in the oven and made to my recipe.  They normally do it with just potatoes but it seemed to go down well.  The topic of conversation in Djebel and in fact nationally.  There has been a double murder in Djebel of a mother and daughter and the suspect is an eighteen year old student wanting money for drugs.  Apparently he was known to her and went looking for money taking an axe with him...the rest you can add for yourselves.  Now the history is that this boy is known to police and has done several minor robberies for money for drugs and I asked the question why wasn't he behind bars already and his drug problem addressed.  The fact that he's still at school seems to be the reason that nobody has taken sufficient notice of the problem.  My thoughts go out to the relatives on all sides....may whatever you believe in help you to come to terms with what's happened.

Lunch was delicious and was preceded by lentil soup.  After lunch my student marked my homework and I marked hers and with the father we set off to see my furniture maker in the hills above Djebel.  He'd finished my box and though we'd haggled about the price before seeing it, I handed over the required amount to the father and we paid up in full.  It does finish the bedroom off and is a good place for hiding my hairdryer and providing a stool to sit on while I dry my hair.  I need to ask him to make me two small bedside tables but that can come later....he has his garden to do and his grass to mow and don't we all.  He's determined to come and see my place and hinted as such to my student's father....it will be arranged after they come back from Istanbul.  I was invited but decided that my wall is paramount...when Bekir and Sally finish at my house for the summer, I can take off as the mood takes me.  As a sideline my furniture maker wants to sell his old motorbike and sidecar and I would be sorely tempted but I haven't a clue as to licence requirements and whether I would need to have the said documents if I only used it on the local roads and hot on the highways.....I'm going to investigate....it would be so cool.

So men with me tomorrow since the weather seems to have taken a turn for the better, I'm not sure if I'm a taxi or if my Librarian's son is able to assist since he's off to the school.  The sun eventually came out today but has gone again.  I'm going to say LN....I'm into the kitchen to put the ton of home made yogurt in the fridge that's just been delivered by my wonderful Avatar, look for something light for supper and fill up my glass with beer....have a lovely evening ...LN  

Monday 28th April

So there I was at four this morning bright as a button.  I had a bath last night and slept for two hours under the water...well not quite under or I wouldn't be doing this update but close and so at three thirty I was ready for action.  Fortunately that action wasn't required until five so I read and then at just after five Gouldjan hadn't phone me to make sure I was awake so I phoned her to make sure that she was.  That's friends for you.  She answered the phone and at five thirty I headed down to the bus stop and her mother appeared lugging the biggest suitcase I think I've ever seen and she's away for two days.  The girl is going to be changing every fifteen minutes to make sure she shows them everything....

Over to the bus stop and I dropped her to wait for the Zaltograd-Kardjali minibus that turns into a big coach in Kardjali to head to the Black Sea.  She promised to phone when she was on the bus, she didn't so I phoned her and she was in Djebel and about to head to Kardjali so I was content.  So back to bed with my book and realising that I was due to depart to pick up my men at just after seven so what was the point of sleeping.  I'd not heard anything from Librarian's son as to whether he was doing the transporting of my maestors or not so off I set.  I arrived at the pick-up point and who should be there but the Librarian's son.  I said that I'd tried to contact him and his mother to no avail and that he might as well carry on to the school since I was there to do the shipping.  Home with the men and it was raining ever so slightly....and according to my Avatar's cockerel it was going to stop raining in thirty minutes....that bird wants shooting...it's no better than the TV for weather predictions.  

The men carried my chest up to the bedroom and there were discussions about whether it would make a decent burial chamber or not.  I chose to ignore the comments and went out and dug up some wild plum trees and roots from my garden and gained approval from the men.  They call it 'play' and I call it 'work'.  I also planted the remains of the fir trees that hadn't gone already much to the astonishment of my men and to be honest, we both agreed that they have two chances...either they will survive or they won't.  Pancakes arrived this afternoon from my Avatar at the same time that I received a letter from my daughter.  Now both were a surprise but Bekir stood by while I opened it and it was a poem and as I read it I turned to jelly and there were tears streaming from my eyes.  Bekir and Sally were looking on and couldn't understand the emotion so I did a rough translation and I think they were almost reduced to tears.  Thank you Princess and so I had to put fingers to keyboard as opposed to pen to paper and send her a response...now it was her turn to blub...result...

Men went out eventually to distribute several wheelbarrows of cement over several tons of stone and I have a wall in the making.  I left them with their bottle of rakia to change into dry clothes and then drove them to their village or rather Bekir to the Swedish watering hole and Sally to the drop off point.  Home now and I'm sinking in to a glass of mastica to put the world to rights and drive the rain away and supper might be what I can find in the kitchen...I have no plans at the moment.  LN...Tomorrow I am advisory and official translator on materials for the school...so I better lay off the mastica...LN

I am very envious of your lovely boxes. I particularly like the rebate/groove that holds the lid to the right place on the base. That is so neat. Do they smell as good as they look?

Tuesday 29th April

They really do smell as good as they look Jean and I hope the man that made them has that one sense that remains...he is deaf and dumb and I managed to get what I wanted...he's coming to my house to  see them in situ....love him to bits and he has so much energy....amazing.

So today I was helping out the friend that has bought the school and acting as interpreter.  We were supposed to go to the restaurant to pick up Bekir but Bekir appeared at my doorstep and my Librarian's son had not understood the instructions and it was all arse about face but there again...it could be adapted to meet requirements.

The schoolmaster arrived and off we went to visit various woodyards to get the best deals on wood for the roof and we lingered over coffee in various establishments but the last one came up with the best price and has been accepted.  Over to Djebel to obtain the best price for the bagga machine for the school...the invoice had been received and refused so with a little negotiation the price was agreed.  I love it when  things work out.

Home for about two thirty....I was so cold that I got the fire going straight away and eventually thawed out.  It is so cold today I'm sure my fingers were blue and Bekir reckoned that I had no blood in my system.....I know that I have blood but obviously not enough.

Supper was spicy sausage with pineapple, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and it was delicious.  Michael Jackson is belting out in the background tonight and it's a pretty cool evening.  Not sure what's happening tomorrow...it depends on the weather....no rain...work...rain...no work....givot.    LN...let's see what the morning brings...LN

Wednesday, 30th April

So what of today?  It was raining this morning and so Bekir phoned to say that he had other work to do and that documents had to be completed but in all fairness the weather was not fit to be worked in.

It was a very grey start and not much could be seen of the surrounding mountains but by ten the mist had cleared and there was sun but the wind had a winter's chill about it and not what is normally expected in April.  I donned the fleece and went out with a shovel, put in a couple of shrubs that had been lingering in their pots, emptied the bonfire pit and rebuilt it but the wind was so strong that there was no way that was being lit  today,  I'd finished all that I was going to do so say in the  sun for a while realising that my old Kindle was better for reading in the sunlight than the new one and finally moved the bench from the terrace into the shade of the lounge terrace and sat there reading until the  wind was almost up to gail force and inside was much better than out.  

That more or less sums up today. At three I had the pangs of hunger hit so I went into the kitchen and prepared a bacon and egg sandwich that went down remarkably well and would have settled for a second but there is a waistline that appears to be increasing somewhat so abstinence was required.  Arthur has just been born and is into safe keeping, the two brother kings have been dispatched to higher halls of learnings and the mutual widow is about  to stake her claim on the thrown.  

Gouldjan has returned from her training and I got a phone call asking if I would pick her up from Rogosche....she appeared adorned with lipstick so I thanked her for her thoughtfulness and we had a little giggle about it.  Dropped her off at home and she now has a week of lazing around.  We have Bank holidays coming up so she has days of leisure.  Let's see what the weather brings tomorrow....it doesn't look good again and I think I can blame the threat of wall building and concrete. The school master has guests and what a shame the  weather looks to e rubbish for the visit and I've already issued warnings for other visitors that they should be bringing wet weather gear and I jest not.

LN....my fire is going and I have a little mastica on the go.....and it's now raining again.....back to Arthur and Merlin for me at ninety six percent and then on to the  next book....the rise and fall of King Arthur....LN