Saturday 19th August

Early to bed last night and straight through until six thirty....fantastic.  Early breakfast and the last tablet has now been taken...the swelling has gone down and most of the redness has disappeared....back to normal thank goodness.  I mended the hose pipe yet again...it collapsed on me last night and gave up the ghost so it was put top of today's list.  Fixed in quick sticks so the rest was watered.  Down to the bread van and there were a few new faces not seen no far this year.  It was hugs all round...it was good to see them again.  I had a surprise telephone call from my Cinderella back from Germany.  She'd taken my advice and come down from Sofia on the bus and said how good she found it, relaxing and quick.  She also mentioned that the wedding is in two weeks time more or less and I've offered to take her to Asenovgrad to get a wedding dress.....leaving it late again...

This morning was taken up with collecting seeds from the plants that have gone over...their short season finished.  Some  like the zinnias were gathered from deadheading and I've stripped them and put them into ice cream containers...the hollyhocks will be going in to pots and hopefully will germinate and planted out before winter.  I've got snapdragons, tobacco and big white daisies  seeds ready for next year....forward planning or what.  Watching Monty Don tonight....I've got to get a wiggle on.

As for the rest of the afternoon I took to the sofa with my book.  It was well up in the thirties and too hot even for pottering. At five this afternoon there was a commotion outside, I went out and there is my Avatar sitting on Star Mush well looking sweaty and puffed out.  Beyser was closing the gate and they'd obviously been chasing cows...I think my Avatar was doing the chasing and Beyser was directing operations....quite normal.  The two of them are worried about the things that are growing in there...If you plant a garden up and expect it to be up and running if you spend ten weeks away from it....I rest my case.  The cows are obviously getting in down the bottom and fix the fence ...once they've been it they remember where they got in and they'll always come back to the same place.  

So after the excitement they followed me back into the garden and they were down for the wild plums and took a bag each more or less.  I don't mind...it saves them going to waste and we were joined by Avatar's daughter.  The lavender drew their attention and I delved into my bucket in the bedroom and gave them some and Beyser noticed the hollyhock seed pods from this morning so I ended up fetching her and envelope so that she could take some home.  Off they went and I made a lavender bag and sewed it on the machine for Avatar's daughter I'll deliver it later.....

There's been a concerted effort on the watering this afternoon....I've moved the hose round to the different sections and left it to do it's own thing....much less work.  Jacket potato for supper tonight with lashings of butter and cheese.  Nothing so far on the agenda tomorrow...I'll see how the mood takes me...it might be a pool if it's hot tomorrow.  LN..Tele and bed...LN

Sunday 20th August

It's been a remarkably quiet day...there was not much happening this morning....it was another beautiful sunrise and it set the tone for the rest of the day,   Hot, hot, hot.  I'd stayed up late last night watching the Alan Bennet play about the lady and the van....it's the second time I've seen it but a lovely film/play.

I was out in the garden at about seven thirty with coffee and enjoyed the start of day.  It was so peaceful, the tractors ferrying the cow manure to the bottom fields seemed to be on a day off...the lads were sleeping in.  The bread van came and went...I'd got enough to last until tomorrow and I pottered until the sun really got some strength in it and then I came in.  I'd dug up an abelia yesterday that had nestled under the wall under the linden tree but it had really struggled this year.  It's been outside for the last couple of years but I'm thinking it's on the borderline of whether it likes the cold or not so I put it in a bucket of water to give it a real drink and not it's in a very big bucket and we'll see how it goes from there on.  I'll bring it in to winter in the little house with its sister plant.  They are the same but different varieties and the other one is doing really well.  Fingers crossed.  I trimmed up the rampant honeysuckle avoiding the shoots that were coming into their second flowering and intended taking cuttings but they are so easy to root in water so that can wait,

Today I intended to take more cuttings from the plants that I want more of but it was too hot to be out there.  I dug out the plant pots and the compost but the two never got together...instead I settled down on the sofa and finished my book while attacking a bacon sandwich...and that was breakfast.  I was surprised by a phone call from Princess with her latest news and made one phone call to the UK and they phoned me back.  That was another hour with the temperature getting hotter....definitely a day for indoors.  I was on the PC and I heard another rumpus from outside and yes....you've guessed it...Beyser was chasing cows from next doors garden.  This afternoon it was the athletics from Birmingham.  Some had obviously kept their form from the Worlds....others had gone off the boil but at least Sir Mo left on a high winning his three thousand meters.  

So now it's out with the hose again.  I'd soaked a few flower beds this morning but the water appears to have drained away so I'm up for the second shift.  I think I shall be starting the rain dance any day now but it will definitely be clothed.  My neighbours might only be sheep and cows but don't want to start a stampede...   No supper for me...I've demolished a pack of salted peanuts and they should keep me going until tomorrow morning.  Garden and 'Far from the Maddening Crowd ' tonight....sounds like me on my hillside.  LN..Another blank canvas tomorrow....LN

Monday 21st August

My rain dance worked but it didn't take off until three this afternoon.  The sun was slow to come up but I was greeted by a lovely red laden sky that changed as the sun came up behind it.  It didn't even show through until eight thirty more or less...so much so that I'd been out with the hose pipe and the spreader head and saturated most of the larger beds.  I came in for more coffee and decided to cook breakfast while the hose pipe was doing its own thing and settled down to two bacon and brown sauce sandwiches carrying on with my book...the second in the series.

I didn't move very far from the sofa for the rest of the day.  The temperature had gone up somewhat and I carried on with the book and as usual the eyes went southwards and I was on another plane for a couple of hours or so.  I went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, went back to the book and it was about this time that there were rumbles of thunder rattling around.  I went out and grabbed the tools that were lying a round and put them in the little house, I got the hose with the jet nozzle on it and washed the windows down.  I'd looked at them with a view to cleaning them this morning...I'm glad I hadn't bothered.  I checked out the weather reports earlier in the day and there was a sixty percent threat of rain...and it proved correct.  At three this afternoon it started...very gently and I thought it wouldn't do much to the garden but then it came down and the gutters started overflowing...music to my ears.

I settled for an afternoon on the sofa, two bowls of ice-cream and having a few conversations on Messenger...it's been a very leisurely day.  The clouds are rising from the mountains and now the sky is all over grey not like the turbulent cloud formations that we've had during the day.  Eggheads has finished and now down to the kitchen to be creative with a once frozen steak.  LN...Let's see what I can come up with...LN

Tuesday 22nd August

So my rain dance was so successful that it was still raining this morning.  I did my walk of the garden in the rain with t-shirt and summer weight trousers on and it reminded me of when my step daughter told me that she had won the Miss Wet T-Shirt competition when she was sixteen and it brought a smile to my face.  There is no way that I would be entering any competition and I went back into the house and dried off doing my DM Sudoku and attending to my emails and FB stuff.  I didn't realise how cold it was until I was sitting in front of the computer...it was a chilly morning.

I made another coffee, got washed and dressed in warmer clothing and put the washing into the machine.  I had a bonfire emptying out the container so that it had a chance of burning and got everything started.  It was reluctant but eventually got there.  The washing had finished by this time so it was out on the line and by now the sun was breaking through and the sky with very light cloud.  So what else did I do?  Firstly I fried off some tomatoes and had them on toast and threw out the ones that were not going to make it.  The steak that I took out for last night and didn't do anything with it was cubed up ready to make a beef curry for supper.  I took some cuttings of the hypericom, some more from the laurel and more from the honeysuckle.  They're in the little house  so all I need to do is remember to water them.  I took some baby petunias from the big container on the terrace and potted up the  hanging basket again.  The previous residents had died on me...too wet then too dry.

I took to the sofa this afternoon with the book and managed to stay awake....honestly.  At four thirty I made the curry and put it in the casserole to cook and at five thirty boiled up the rice and then put that in the oven to finish.  I decided at six to turn off the cooker with a view to serving up supper at six thirty but the best laid plans.....Gouldjan arrived with her nephew and her wedding invitation for me, tomatoes for the kitchen but she needed to go on my internet to send out her wedding invitations to those living far and wide.  I signed out of my Facebook hoping I could remember the password to get in and she got on and forty minutes later she was still tapping away.  I turned the oven off and then decided to turn it on again and they left at eight thirty.  I've just eaten my curry....it was delicious but could have been a little warmer but hey....it was good to see them.

So tomorrow we're taking the Librarian's computer back to the shop since it's playing up again but this time Gouldjan is coming along as translator so that the dragon in the shop won't be able to shout at us like she did last time.  They don't like problems or things that don't work.  So now I have to tidy the kitchen, try and find the password for my FB, put the washing away and then relax for the evening.  Lovely watching the boys bringing in the sheep tonight and as for the dog...not really necessary...they seemed to manage well without.  LN....Boots blacked by nine thirty tomorrow....LN

Wednesday 23rd August

So it was a five thirty stars...it was light on and read until there was some light outside and then I realised that someone has stolen my mountains.  Nothing to see...move along please.  There was a hint of pink where the sun should be but that was it so I was back to the book and waited for something to happen.  I had to make it happen... I decided to get the little computer sorted guessing that the Librarian's laptop would be heading into Sofia for repair and set up a guest ID to make it easier for the Librarian.It was a bit of nuisance because I had to try to remember my Google password and that was going to be a difficult one but it was sorted.  I got washed and dressed putting on a warm sweater...it was a cool morning.  

I went down to the kitchen and cleared the kitchen from last night...the overnight kitchen fairies had not been in...   As I was finishing off, there was a greeting from outside and my Cinderella who had only left me last night was back to finish off her wedding invitations using my internet....Love her....The original plan to phone her when the Librarian and myself were heading towards Djebel were shelved....she'd made contact with the school she used to work at and the documentation that she had to sign wasn't ready so she'd walked it up to mine instead.  The Librarian arrived and I made drinks for all of us and Cinderella said that she would be about ten minutes.  Twenty minutes later I told her that she was now into a Bulgarian ten minutes so she jumped to and was down and ready to leave for Kardjali.  We all had a little giggle, got into the car and down the lane for town.  First stop was the computer shop, Cinderella translated the terms and conditions of the guarantee and it said that in case of complaint the customer could decided it they wanted a repair or replacement.  The lady in the repair centre advised us that this didn't apply to Bulgaria, that the computer had to go back at least four times and the service centre would made the decision.  This is Bulgaria...

We went for coffees, Cinderella set off to get her work done and the Librarian and myself went for a pizza before we meandered around the shop.  I bought several packs of buttons for peanuts from my cheapy shop and a couple of blouses again for peanuts.  Back top the Beast, over to Lidl for just a few items and then up the back road and home.  We got my little computer fired up and I took the Librarian through the keyboard and hopefully she has managed to get her settings in.  Off she set, I settled in to my book on the sofa and come up now to do my blog.  The third book in the Kentucky trilogy is no more.

It's been a good day today...iI tried to rain as we arrived home but it blew over pretty quickly and it's fine but there are clouds and not much of a sunset heading our way.   Out tomorrow and all will be revealed....I'll be wearing jeans for floor crawling.  LN...I'll update you tomorrow...LN

I lied to you

We have a sunset.....

Thursday 24th August

Silly night last night...I missed supper because I was too lazy I think and settled for roasted peanuts so at four this morning I was either hungry of suffering the fat content of the nuts.  I read for a while and managed to settle down again waking up at seven thirty....so caught up.The sun was up already but as I looked out of the window the finches were breakfasting on the sunflower seeds so I grabbed the camera, opened the fly screen and managed to get a few pickies.  I made a couple of ham sandwiches, more coffee and then settled down to check emails and FB messages.

Mrs D of S was expected between nine thirty and ten and we were off for the day to pay a visit to friends a good few kilometres away.  I had a shower and washed my hair and was ready with boots blacked by nine.  Off we set clutching the directions...neither of us had been before and I was not in the driving seat today.  We took the back lane and Mrs D of S was surprised how good the back lane was having risked life and limb for the short cut.  On the way down I spotted a secluded natural well and decided that on the way back I would take some photos and it was well worth the stop off.  A lovely day spent with a lovely family and two babies with only two weeks between their birthdays playing and getting to know each other.  It was rounded off with a superb home made cake and we were on our way by one fifteen today.  As suggested we stopped off at the picture spot and there were a few other gems hidden that weren't obvious from the road.  We headed back to Djebel and stopped for coffee while the little one had an ice-cream.  A visit to the supermarket for chicken wings and I was home for three thirty more or less.

My neighbour has arrived back from Turkey to see what damage the cows have done to her garden.  The tomatoes and peppers are no more and the beans are now picked and she's shelling them like mad before the cows get back in again.  She's got potatoes to dig up, apparently the cows didn't manage that but she was disappointed I think that all the work was in vane.  It's all dependent on the fences...I had years of mending, hammering and nailing while they popped up the next day a little lower down.  The wall is the best thing I've done.

Chicken wings have gone in with potatoes and onions and are ready.  No way do I want a four start tonight.  It's turned into a beautiful day and it looks like we're going to have another magnificent sunset.  It's magic here.  Tomorrow I'm shopping with Cinderella in a town I've not shopped in before.  There's supposed to be a superb market so we could be in for some fun except that we're really going for a wedding dress and this town is supposed to be the 'centre' for them.  LN...I'll let you know...LN

Friday 25th August

What a night....I sat watching tv last night and I fell asleep in front of the computer and there must have been one hungry something on the landing...I got bitten to buggery and was I itching when I got into bed.  They are now very proud, very red and I'm about to take a antihistamine tablet just in case they start with a vengeance later,

Got my bonfire going early and washed and dressed and in the Beast by eight twenty.  Today I was offering support to Gyuldjan, my Cinderella...we were about to trudge round the wedding dress shops in Asenovgrad, the wedding dress capital of Bulgaria more or less so we were going for an early start.  I headed down to the bus stop in her village which has always been the pick-up spot, she wasn't waiting but two seconds later she appeared in her little black rubber shoes, changed into her out on the town shoes and the black ones were dropped into her father's lorry,,,,hence my nickname of Cinderella.

We were intending to stop off for a coffee on the way but we were keeping good time so we saved it until we got there.  I'd never been before and parked up...I was normally on my way to Sofia and through it in a flash but eventually after a little to-ing and fro-ing I found a very good...free parking spot on the edge of the park....Sorted.  We found a restaurant and had out coffee and then started on the shopping.  The first question was 'When are you getting married' and when she told them there was a little  'Good luck' but we persevered.  I found that most of the manageresses knew how to talk and of course...were very persuasive...too persuasive.  She was poured into several and on offer was that any alterations could be done within the house so what do you really want.  In the third shop I fell in love with the staircase and took photos to see if it's viable. In the fifth shop a red haired lady managed to show us something that rose quickly to number one in the charts so we decided to go for lunch and she had a serious think about it.  So back to the same shop, she discussed the alterations and additions, it was paid for, we went back and found the car and we sat in the park awaiting the phone call to say that it was ready for collection.  The phone call came, most of the roads in the town are being dug up but I managed to find my way to the street and parked right opposite.  Another fitting and it sat very well on the frame, parcelled up and we were on our way.  I filled up with fuel which came with free coffee and tea, we sat in the sun at the garage and then headed home.

There was a quick stop off at Lidl in Kardjali and I dropped her off at eight fifteen....almost twelve hours of hard labour today but well worth it.  Tomorrow she had more use of my computer...more invitations to go out and then we're delivering some to the villages.  LN....`I'm caught up on the treadmill....LN

Saturday 26th August

Busy old day.  It started off with what I thought could turn into a catastrophe ...but it didn't.  I fell asleep last night playing Soda Candy Crush and the battery ran down on the Kindle and this morning when I started to recharge it only half of the screen for the program loaded.  Having struggled my way through to level three hundred and something I had visions of having to start again but thankfully this afternoon when it was completely charged...it all came back to as it should be.  I'm one happy bunny.

So it started off well.  I sat on the terrace with my coffee watching and listening to the woodpecker knocking seven bells out of one of the plum trees on the perimeter.  I only caught glimpses of him and no way could I have sifted him out with the camera.  Eventually I walked the rest of the garden, noticed that one of the cosmos has put on three magnificent flowers and I thought they were all no goers.  I'll wait for the rest.  I was just heading into he little house to water the cuttings when Star Mush's daughter asked me if there was a gate in my wall.  I didn't really understand why but apparently she'd been down the bottom of her garden, secured the borders with horrible spiky stuff and couldn't get back in...or down the lane where she'd blocked it off on her last visit.  Brains egh.  I told her she was quite welcome to climb my wall if she was able and she managed it, she spied the rest of the wild plums growing in the garden and made a beeline for them so I provided a bag for her and off she toddled clutching it to her blue overall.

Gyuldjan appeared after I phone to remind her that she should have been here two hours ago to send out the rest of the invitations,  They are all done now.  I ended up clearing the downstairs bedroom, hovering and washing the floor over and put down the new winter carpet that I bought the other day.  It fitted a treat and looks good and now only one more to go but I'm unsure which room it's heading for.  Gyuldjan left at just after three and I was in the car and off to the Librarians to get the computer up and running.  She'd run into one or two issues and mobile phones and email addresses had changed and FB doesn't like that.  Anyway all sorted now and we had supper at the restaurant in her village,,,no exactly haute dining but very satisfying when you have a hunger and a thirst.  

Hoping for a quieter day tomorrow...it's going to be a potter day and if the weather is good maybe a bikini and terrace day.  That's the beauty of my garden...no prying eyes.  No pickies tonight...but I'll be out and about tomorrow....LN...Early start for the Head banger...LN