Friday 1st August

What a mare of a night I'm having.  I posted this response and it just didn't want to know so I apologise.  Last night was good.  The hotel was fine but the fish supper left a lot to be desired and was expensive for nothing.  The beds were comfortable and it would have been OK on the second night but you know how it is...first night in a strange bed and all that.  So after yesterday swimming and generally chilling by the pool we had supper and sat out for a while until all the other residents had taken to their slumbers but we were out before most this morning.  We walked down the village and noted several more hotels that hadn't been there the last time I was there but the names are logged for future reference.  Stopped off at a shop this morning and grabbed a couple of coffees at the local restaurant  on our morning walk round the village but the owner went off to deliver some bread and his wife went AWOL.  They had left the keys of the shop in the door and we could have robbed them blind.  I shouted out a couple of times to try to attract someone's attention so that we could pay for the coffee but no go so I left a two leva note on the table making a guess at the price.

Back to the hotel for the all inclusive breakfast of a couple of toasted sandwiches each and then on to Kardjali which by now seemed a million miles away after calm and seclusion getting pinked up lying by a pool.  Filled up with the essentials at Lidl namely cat food for Mrs Kingdom's Dave and Allan and then to Djebel for beer for the pair of us and ciggies for her.  Back to hers, dropped her off and got the washing machine going and it's all now dried and put away.  Star Mush daughter came round and asked if she could have the code for my internet for her son...I obliged by logging him in and said that I would be here over the next two days should he want to go on it again...You wouldn't ask the question in the UK and though I find it hard to refuse...I did.  

Supper was cheddar cheese with crackers and pickle..LN...a little Martini and tonic is about to pass may lips and the photos will be in the next post...LN

And the rest

And it looks like it's going to pour down,,,so much for Momchilgrad fete worse than death tomorrow...LN

Saturday 2nd August

Well the rain set in overnight and carried on until this morning but then it cleared and it turned into a reasonable day.  I was even able to sit out on my upstairs balcony and read.  Bit of a change from lying round a pool.

Earlier today I saw a shadow over the lawn and realised that my stork that likes to circle was up to his/her tricks so this time I grabbed the camera, watched it go round again and it came in pretty close to the house and it was low.  I realised there were two of them and its mate headed off down the village but saw that the one had settled on the electricity pole so out onto the guest room terrace and managed to grab a few shots of it.  It stayed a while and took off heading for the hillside.  I posted a few of the pickies on FB, got into one or two conversations as you do and then continued outside until I could read no more so on to the bed for a quick nap.  

Around seven thirty the weather changed completely.  I suddenly noticed that the wind was getting up so it was a quick wizz round the house closing windows and doors and moving some of the pots of plants from the edge of the terraces and into the lea of the wind.  It was really sudden.  A few metal bowls went scurrying around the garden until secured, you could see the rain on the hillsides until the hills disappeared.  There was a peculiar light over Velikdenche, the village you can see to the south of my garden.  It looked like a rainbow that never got going and coupled with the sinking sun....there was a strange feel to the evening and then the rain came down so one more night without having to water my garden.  Thinking about the weather though, I've never known a summer like it here.  Yes you get this weather normally around May time but not going on like this for so long.  I'm going to wear my lawn mower out at this rate...

Tomorrow I've got my student in the morning and I've been invited to a baby naming in Djebel that I'm going to try and fit in.  If I'm early for the lesson I can do both so no one will be disappointed....especially me.  LN....I'm still sleepy after my afternoon nap....I think the swimming took it out of me but I'm sure the exercise did me the world of good...LN  

Sunday 3rd August

Lovely sleep last night and caught the end of the mosque wishing me a good morning...I'm even starting to join in the chorus.  No breakfast, read for an hour or so, went out and picked the sweet peas and threw out the old ones and they're sitting in my through lounge and smelling like sweet peas should.  Shower and hair washed and almost ready for nine fifteen but Gouldjan arrived and she was having a lift to Djebel but she realised that she hadn't printed off the lesson for her students so we were up on the computer when Remsier arrived to remind me about the baby day.  Unfortunately it was in Fotinovo which is one hell of a treck from Djebel so I said I would make it if I could but I gave my apologies in advance if I didn't.

We set off for Djebel at nine fifty, I dropped Gouldjan in town and she was meeting her boyfriend's mother in Kardjali.  I did chastise her for not wearing the statutory baggy trousers and headscarf but she is a modern miss and not to be tangled with.....Allah help the mother so to speak.  Over to my students and they had a relative staying from Istanbul and also her grandfather who I've met before...lovely chap.  I was offered a job just to talk to him since his has the possibility to talk the legs of a donkey, for three hundred Lev a month, but I declined the offer...even I have boundaries.  Their aunt appeared in her pyjamas holding a blood pressure monitor so we all had turns with it just to see how we were doing.  I came out at one hundred and thirty over eighty so I think I'm good to go so to speak.  I didn't really register the others but no one appeared to be at death's door even though the aunt thought she was.  She made claims to being diabetic with heart problems but we couldn't get out how many tablets she takes.  As I said she appeared in her pyjamas and proceeded to lie on the sofa with a pillow instead of heading up to bed.  At one point she offered me money to take her up to Michevsko to see the village but I wasn't in the mood to go trekking so the family were with me and we made valid excuses.  We had lunch and again she lolled on the sofa so I went out to see the grandfather who at eighty had a lot more going for him that the aunt at sixty eight.  He was shelling beans that are for winter storage so I settled down and helped them clear the beans from the shells.  Left there at two thirty and drove home stopping off for benzine...and parked Beauty in the yard.  What a surprise...there were two sheep snuggling up to the Beast, sheltering in the garage and obviously they couldn't find an escape route.  I left the gate open and shouted 'chuk' and out they went.  They could have been in the freezer...and no one would have been the wiser....except me....

Supper is cooking....potatoes and onions in chilli oil and the chicken wings are in a separate container in the oven.  A little beer to wash it down and then down to my book.  My current author is Robert B Parker...he churned them out for years....I turn 'em over in quicksticks and I'm on number six already....good to go so to speak....easy detective novels.

I can smell supper and I'm on my way downstairs...LN...beautiful night, calm still and tomorrow...nothing planned....LN

Monday 4th August

Six start and it seems pretty standard now.  Up for a coffee and out to watch the sun come up and eventually made it back to my bedroom terrace with the camera and the Kindle.

Pretty slow start today....I was faced with all the things that I could do but firstly I couldn't decide and secondly I couldn't imagine doing any of them and I have to get the pictures going in my head first and then I burst into action.  The metal panels in the front wall won.  I went out armed with a pair of surgical gloves that lasted all of five minutes, found the wire brush to take off the surface rust from the wall panels, found a new brush and the three in one metal surface coating that's supposed to tackle the rust.  I got the rake and removed the old leaves from the far end of the wall and off I went.  I finished one panel but lunch time but it was getting a little hot out there even though I was working under the tree so in I came and had to summon up the enthusiasm to move on to the next.  There was lots of advice from neighbours and lots of tooting of horns when the villagers drove by and after all, Monday is market day so what was I doing working!!

Late lunch of onions fried off with spicy sausage and that's it for today and then I was out to do the next panel....two down and only another nine to go and then I move on to the balconies...I'm hoping that my imagination keeps up with my inspiration, enthusiasm and energy.  

All quiet on the western front so they say....beautiful sun-set tonight but mostly they are....LN.....Blog and book and soon to rest my weary head...I have tomorrow worked out...for now...LN

Tuesday 5th August

Six start which seems pretty standard.  I suppose I could draw the curtains and close the door to the balcony but it's a good time of the morning to wake up.  Coffee, caught the sunrise and back to bed with my book and imagined a plate of bacon and egg and so to horse.....I was eating it by eight and about to threaten the other wall panels but I found the hoe in my hand and the trowel and the top gardens under the wall look so much better now that the weeds have been removed...even Harold my hare looked happier and I noticed that my Abelia is coming into its second flowering.....only one so far but fingers crossed.

So I was beginning to feel guilty about the wall work but I read my horoscope for today which advised thus... 'When we put ourselves under pressure, we compromise our own ability to enjoy life. Celebrate what you want to do now'.....so I did.  I got out a can of tuna, mixed it with mayo, three slices of toast and the remains of a bottle of white wine from yesterday.  I shut the main door after removing the key from the outside, went up to lie on the bed complete with lunch and a book, read for a while and got my head down for a couple of hours.  Such a hard life.

Out into the garden again, shelled the broad beans that I'd picked yesterday and found more cucumbers and four red peppers that I'd missed hiding in the cucumber bed.  Looked at my excuse for a lawn and decided that it needed a trim and so I've done most of it and only got the grass in front of the little house to do.  I was going great guns but then one of the back wheels fell off the lawn mower so I searched the area and found the metal spacer and now everything in the garden is a goer except me who'd had enough by this point.  

Tools all away...tomorrow is another day but I'll read my horoscope tomorrow to see if I can get away with the wall panels for another day but I think not.  I hate things that are half done and now I've a lawn half done and the wall panels two ninths done.  So maybe Djebel first thing...I really need some working gloves...it took me ages to get the pain off yesterday even using the proper stuff.  Just after nine my time...no supper for me....I thrive better on breakfast and lunch...off for a shower and back to my book...LN ...as I said....such a hard life....

Wednesday 6th August

Usual time this morning and down for a coffee and up for a read but both Kindles were powereless so both now charged and my DS...brain trainer was also close to looking its brain cells  so it was out into the garden for me.  I didn't bother with breakfast this morning...still full from yesterday so out I went on an empty stomach.  First job this morning was to take photographs of the cacti that I had inherited from Kingdom...I think Ms Dom want s to start off some babies....and photos taken and despatched...

The intention was to go into Djebel and pick up some gloves for painting the panels but unfortunately the weeds got the better of me again...maybe I'm just delaying the inevitable but I will do it I promise.  I looked at the tomatoes and I believe the weeds were soaking up the water every evening and the tomatoes got zilch.  Now fully cleared and gave them a good soak and added support where necessary.  So back inside for another coffee and sudoku and suddenly the power went off.  Now normally I know because the UPS for the central heating kicks in and there is an alarm that sounds.....no alarm so alarm bells begin to ring.  I've unplugged it, unwired it, knackered the fuse by unscrewing it and now it's off to Djebel and in the event they haven't the bits...Kardjali.  Now there is no great hurry with this..the boiler is not destined to be lit until October / November but the girl guide in me comes out...I'd rather get it fixed.

Back out into the garden and had a bonfire to get rid of the garden rubbish.  I was tempted to complete the rest of the mowing but the weeds took preference.  I had the rest of the tuna mayo for lunch and this time opened a bottle of red since the white had mysteriously disappeared.  It has been so humid today so I eventually settle in and read my book and at this point the thunder started and the heavens opened.  Eventually the electricity came on so number one priority was to change the times on the boiler control to make sure that I don't pay over the odds for my hot water.

So the weather cleared and the sun was shining but tonight the thunder has returned and it's belting out loud and clear so this a quick update....LN.....I'm off to my slumber zone with my book and hope the thunder doesn't go on for too long....LN

Thursday 7th August

What a  disturbed night,,,I was awake at five so read for a while then eventually went back to sleep at half six and woke up finally and seven thirty.  I had some really vivid dreams that you just can't remember but you know that you had...

Coffee and out to the garden but there was no early sun and it took ages for it to break through the clouds and it was in and out all day.  It felt very close, there was rumbles of thunder but I was out with my trusty English fork and spade doing a few jobs around the garden,  Around eleven the sheep seemed much nearer than in the next field.  I was working in the yard so went out to the terrace and there were about forty sheep at the bottom of the garden and they were still coming through.  I picked up my stick and headed down and started yelling at them in their language...like chuck....and they headed down to the fence at the bottom and where there is no escape.  Eventually one remembered where they came in and it was follow my leader, they all rushed out.  I looked at the entry point and realised they'd annihilated the fence so into the workshop, grabbed hammer and nails and a few planks from the heap and headed down.  It's not pretty but it's functional...no more intruders today.  I found some baby hollyhocks that have seeded round the mother plant so I've moved three of them under the front wall and keeping my fingers crossed that they make the transition.  I've spotted a few more so just need to decided where I want them.

Late lunch of a portion of some sort of fish from Lidl but to make it more of a gourmet dish a I made a sweet chilli dressing and banged it back in the oven with some oven chips.  All was going well until there was a power cut and now that the UPS is unplugged and waiting for me to sort the battery out I've got no alarm bell ringing that the power is off.  I finished the fish off in the frying pan so the benefit of having two gas burners and two electric on my cooker came into its own and at this point I noticed that the wind came, the pots were looking precarious on the terrace and down came the rain.  I finished off with ice cream, got settled into my Kindle since I was going to get wet if I worked outside and then got my head down sitting in the armchair.  

Six thirty when I woke up....the screech owl was out and about but didn't manage to catch a glimpse of it.  Not much of a sunset tonight, there was too much cloud around but overall it's been a good day.  LN...really wish the weather would change for the better...this is like no summer I've ever known here...LN  

Friday 8th August

So thanks to my elongated nap yesterday I was awake at three thirty this morning with a bloody mozzie zizzing in my ear.  Now I know that I'm a light sleeper so I went down for the spray can of inhibitors and thought that I was safe to read for a while.  I heard no gentle humming but blow me down, my feet were exposed on the top of the covers and the blighter got me until I sprayed my feet and I believe got him.  I never really settled after that but played Angry Birds and cleared a few levels, read for a while longer and was ready for the mosque.  It was a very misty start to the day, put a load of washing in at seven and didn't hang it out until about eight thirty when the mist had cleared a little.  Lovely cobwebs about this morning covered in dew but unfortunately both my cameras needed charging so it's beggars can't be choosers....you'll have what you get.

Out gathering this morning and thought I'd get to the lavender before the bees found it this morning...it was way too early for them to be out.  Two bunches are drying inside and the third is ready to be brought in.  I also took some lavender cuttings and put them in the little house nursery...if they all take I shall need a bigger garden or be digging up my excuse for a lawn.  My bottle brush seems to be coming up for a second flowering but I think I have another plant in the same pot and I might have to separate them soon.  I'm not sure what it is...if it flowers I might have a clue but if anyone has any ideas....hand them over.  My Lonicera Semper...something is doing well and that was from my students trimmings when they gave theirs a haircut.  It has the most superb orange tubular flowers.  The bougainvillea has come on in leaps and bounds and will soon need repotting at this rate and I'm getting the gin and tonic in for the lemons that seem to have put a spurt on.  I owe it all to the inclement Bulgarian crap weather but at least something is benefiting from it...

So up with a book this afternoon when it got too hot to be out and clouded over again and after my three thirty start I got my head down but whether someone was trying the door or not I don't know and knocking but I woke up at three thirty...do I detect something here.....went down, grabbed some water and back until four thirty.  Supper of chicken wings, potatoes and onion are in the oven and finishing off...I have a little Tawny port on the go thanks to my last guest and his wife....and chilling and preparing the bedroom before encampment tonight buy spraying and leaving for about an hour before I make my grand entrance....I'll say goodnight, or LN...I'm off to the kitchen to check on the sustenance for this evening...LN