Tuesday 25th July

What a lazy, lazy which in part I owe to the weather.  I was up at six and watched the sun come up but there was very little heat in it this morning.  I sat out with my coffee in my PJ's and took my Kindle out to carry on with my book but came in when I was a little chilly.

I walked the garden but mainly to search for the brass nozzle end for the hose pipe.  I remembered joining the two hoses yesterday and separating them and ended up last night with an old plastic nozzle instead.  I normally put it down on the end of the big little house terrace but gave up as a bad job after searching the grass.  It's not as if it's a little area to search.  Any way...down to the bread van for a sliced loaf and a cheesy bread for breakfast and I remembered, but he forgot, that I owed him for the last one that I'd had on Saturday....so all debts paid...I can hold my head up high again.  I took my breakfast up to the computer, it had clouded over so I settled for checking my emails and the likes and suddenly there were raindrops belting down so I legged it outside and brought in the cushions so that they didn't get saturated.  With rain stopping play I lay on the bed at around eleven and carried on with my book and at twelve thirty I opened my eyes to find out what time it was from the landing clock...and at that point I confirmed that it was day time not night.  I think I must have overdone it yesterday.

I pegged out the washing and now it had turned into a beautiful day with a lovely brisk wind for drying...and they're still out now. I was upon the computer again and fell on to Countdown that  I haven't watched for ages and it reminded me that Rachel has just agreed to accept the title of 'Rear of the Year'...facts that you pick up. ....and I suddenly realised that I was hungry so I went down to the kitchen, toaster out, beans opened and it was beans on toast followed by chocolate and strawberry ice-cream so that's me finished for the day then.

Just a few pics of my morning and some from yesterday that I didn't manage to post from the garden....LN...Lazy, lazy day....LN

Wednesday 26th July

Six o'clock start but there was a three thirty one with some stray young dog barking his head off in the garden.  And it followed that all the dogs in the neighbourhood were joining in the chorus.  I gave it a bit of a start though...I went out on to the balcony putting the balcony light on first and yelled in Turkish to get going...and it did.  We don't get as many as we did though, it's the first for a long time and I hope it's not out there tonight...I might be letting off a banger that's if I'm awake enough to realise which end is which...only time will tell.  Nice surprise last evening...one of the village lads gave me an invitation to his wedding ...very sweet....

So six twenty on the balcony with a coffee and the sun was already up and it's been a beautiful day for most of the day.  We did have a brief clouding over and a rumble in the jungle but it moved over quickly.  I was out clearing the said patch of ground digging up the old concrete an roof tiles that had been previously dumped so I've dumped them further along the wall but on my side.  The temptation is to lobbed them over but at some point I'm going to ask my painter to clear up the stuff left over from digging out footings for the wall and it wasn't my rubbish that is littering the hillside but I suppose if you buy land, you technically buy the rubbish so maybe it is mine....   I dug out two really good hole and I've planted up a forsythia and one that I don't know the name of that's been lingering in its pot for about three months....I moved some soil from the veg garden to put in the bottom of the hole and then watered it well so that the roots will at least have something to pull from....and then I came in...it was just too hot out there so I showered, got into my bikini determined to get my middle bit brown....and it's currently a shade of pink but in true form...it should be brown tomorrow.  I wasn't out there for long...I just hate buzzy flies so I settled on the bed with a book and that was another couple of hours gone.

Out again at four thirty and edged the garden with a plank, painted it with wood preservative and secured it in place.  The garden is a little higher there...it's my stone lined and concrete lidded toilet pit so there's no reducing the height...but I'll carry the height on to the walnut tree and I'm thinking of a raised wall and steps as a bit of a feature and a seat round the walnut.  So seven fifteen when I came in...toys away and where as the day gone.  LN...Time for relax...LN

Thursday 27th July

What a change in the weather but at three thirty this morning I wasn't looking out of the window bothering about the outside conditions.  I'd woken up with a pain in the gut, thought it best to pay a trip across the landing and think if I had a carpet I would have put a hole in it.  Eventually back to bed by five and it was eight thirty when I came to for the second time.  There was no need to water the garden and I'm guessing that I shan't have to do it tomorrow for the next couple of days.  The thunder was rumbling and suddenly there were a few crash, wallops and there so many sightings of lightening hitting downwards on the hillside and not just in one place.  It was all over the shop.  

I turned off the WiFi and most of the electrical equipment...it was too close for comfort.  The rain started lashing down, the sky was a curious mixture of grey and orange and there were a few blue patches.  The wind was up, there were a few crashes but nothing broken, the terrace cushions wee distributed evenly until I braved it and rescued them.  I decided that the obvious solution was more coffee, a bacon sandwich and a book.  I moved on to the sofa fully armed and settled in for a couple of hours.  

The weather eased off a little and so with a new made plan, I headed out to Djebel to get my insurance sorted for the Beast and then carried on to Kardjali.  I'd remembered my shopping list which was more or less, but didn't need it for the first shops that I went into.  I tried out the Leva shop but came away with nothing, headed for my cheapy shop and came away with a very large white plate/dish and then over to Kaufland to see what they were giving away.  They had offers on t-lights and garden candles which I went for, not much else went into the trolley and the bill was very light....result.  Final stop was Lidl complete with shopping list and the only extra was a chicken which is now in the over and should do me for the next couple of days or so.  

I came home via the lane and was tossing up whether to or not...by gum had it thrown it down.  It was OK until I hit the bit where the hardcore ran out, I picked my route through the puddles but at one point it was all puddles and it was a bit twitchy.  Some of the lane had collapsed but against the high bank to the left so not really that perilous....anyway...home safe and sound...shopping unpacked, as I said, chicken roasting with a jacket potato and that will be me for the evening...done and dusted.  I've not checked out the weather for tomorrow....I might just get stuck in where I left off on in the garden.  LN....I'm hoping for a peaceful night...LN

Friday 28th July

Seven thirty start and straight through...no dogs, the rain didn't disturb me and it must have been the chocolate peanuts last night.  Good job I have another packet that might demand to be eaten.  I couldn't see the mountains...well I think they were there at the start but the mist soon rolled in and everything disappeared.

The weather kept me in for the most of the morning.  I was on the computer dealing with the necessary, posted a few on friends websites and on FB, caught up with Messenger and had a very relaxing time.  I ventured out to the terrace, saw the willow looking very large for the pot it was in so took another tyre from the little house and added it to the other one that I filled up with an old plastic bucket.  It's now in its new home.  I'd managed to strip my bed earlier and managed to get it pegged out now that the fog had lifted and it looked like it was going to be a super day.

I hadn't bother with breakfast...it must have been the peanuts but at twelve the bugs were biting and so I was off to the kitchen and made two very large chicken and mayo French stick chunks and sat reading for an hour or so and I think it needed more than that to digest it and promptly fell asleep.  I was in one of those recurring dreams that you can't seem to get out of and I eventually managed to swim up to the surface, got in the washing and went down the garden and got stuck in.  There are a few more plants in there and I've put in and painted another piece of lawn edging and toys away and in by eight.  Where has the day gone?

Kitchen calls for supper and it's going to be more of the same or I'll be throwing the chicken out to the dogs.  I think tomorrow is going to be a day off...if the weather is good I'm out for the day.  LN...I'm getting there....LN

Saturday 29th July

Pretty late start again but I did stay up last night watching TV Catch up...Monty your actual and I picked up a few good gardening tips.  I wonder if he'd like to come out here and give the garden a make-over....not that he'd get it right though....

My morning was spent watching the sunrise, drinking coffee and taking lots of pickies of the start of the day and the pesky finches eating my seeds.  I went out to view the garden, realised that the garden hose that I thought would shut off hadn't held back the flow and blown the hose off the connector on the winding reel and the lavender was really well watered.  As I checked out the bottom of the garden I heard a crash and it sounded metallic so I legged it back concerned as to what it could be.  I checked the road and nothing was about...it was pretty early, looked inside the house and saw that the expanding metal curtain rail that I'd put up for the winter and never taken down had fallen down on the stairs so whether we had a tremor or not I'd not sure...that's the only reason I could think of....the rest is still standing...yea, yea, yea.

As for the rest of the day there wasn't a lot of activity.  Breakfast was toast with more coffee and that didn't happen until around ten and I seem to have wasted a lot of time today but after all...it's mine to waste and I don't feel guilty about it these days.  It was too hot to get out there and 'do' so I didn't.  I did make it to the kitchen and make a curry out of the chicken and that's ready and waiting and the rice is finished to so I'm not going to linger for much longer.  At six tonight I did have the urge to get the lawn mower out and half of the estate is mown...the remainder will be done tomorrow...I'd worked up enough of a sweat to feel that I'd achieved something.

So now it's time for supper...I got caught up watching the high school film on my little Lenovo in the kitchen while I was finishing off supper...hence the lateness of the update.  LN....Rest of the lawn on the list for tomorrow....LN

Sunday 30th July

Lovely morning and it was spent watching the birds, trying to catch them in flight and the same with the honey moths....they were just so busy flitting hither and thither and I have a 'blob' where it was but the camera just wouldn't focus.  I again had a very lazy morning again...I had another attempt at the DM Saturday Sudoku and again failed miserably and it was all to do with ones and nines. I'd printed it off last night and taken it to bed with me...I'd put in the numbers that I could manage but no way could I finish it and this morning I realise that I slept on the pencil...no sense no feeling.

So the rest of the lawn had to be done....but breakfast called first.  Toast with peach jam and more coffee filled the bill and at twelve I went out there, struck up the mower and I was back in by one....for a drink.  The grave garden would have to wait until the sun had cooled off a little.  So again I picked up the half completed Sudoku and this time managed to finish it.....I just have to have to look at the solution.  Book out, head down, eyes closed and two hours later I came conscious again.  It was straight out there again...the grave garden lawn finished, the grass between the house and the front wall completed and the surrounds strimmed.  I repaired the hose connectors, watered the pots on the terrace and then did the rest of the garden.  Everything is done...I can have tomorrow off....it's a nice feeling...I am my own task master.

I have the remains of the chicken curry for tonight's supper with a little left over rice.  I'm watching the world swimming championships and that reminds me...it's time I headed for the shower...it was pretty hot out there slogging the lawn mower around.  Kitchen calls, supper calls, shower and bed.  LN...I might be swimming tomorrow....LN

Monday 31st July

Late start...I was reading at three and don't ask me the reason why.  There was a dog barking but not in the garden but the active brain took over and it took a long time to get back off again.  Hence eight thirty when I opened my eyes for the second time.  

I messed around on the PC for a couple of hours and posted some old photos on to Facebook of my grandparents and me as a sprog with my sister and older with an old family friend at my mother and father's fiftieth wedding anniversary.  It's amazing how many memories some photos evoke in people, the comments that you get and the number of 'likes'.

By twelve thirty I'd got my bikini on and a suitable cover up, into the Beast and I was heading for the big swimming pool that I've come to like going out of Kardjali.  Being Monday there were only teenagers there but plenty of sunbeds so I paid my dues, got comfortable on a semi-shady sunbed and then about three quarters of an hour going across the width of the pool swimming...fantastic exercise.  I got out and by this time the sun had moved round and I put some sun screen on which must be old and goes on like a layer of lanolin...tomorrow I will but a new oil based one....it's not that I need protection, more as an anti-drying agent.  Back for another swim, dried off again and at four thirty I decided that I wouldn't go home before I headed to my student's house for supper.  I popped into Lidl and picked up a few goodies for them and found out that their aunt was over from Istanbul and we had a very pleasant evening together all of us....and I've got an invitation to Istanbul to stay at her house...and I might very well take her up on it along with the two students.

Home for ten thirty....I stopped off for Diesel and found that my fuel cap had not been replaced the last time that it was filled so that's the first item on the list tomorrow.  I'll check out the one on Beauty first....I'm not sure what's on there...it might fit Cinderella.  And now to bed...I've had a really good day...another layer of suntan settled on the old body, an evening with beautiful funny people where we make each other laugh....now what could be better than that.  LN...Hoping for a better night's sleep....LN