Thursday 10th May

Five thirty start, a very misty and damp morning and very slow from my point of view.  I was watching morning tv downstairs on the little handheld and I noticed my Avatar on the main terrace clutching home made yogurt.  I whipped outside still in my peacock blue PJ's, she commended on how good they looked and they do.  She said that she was waiting for the bread van, I was spurred on to get washed and dressed for the garden and as I set out to start the strimming at the bottom of the garden I heard Avatar's lawnmower.  As I'd emerged from the house it started to rain but hearing her trying to get the mower over the grass between the wall and the road, I went to help her armed with my battery strimmer to take some of the height from where she was trying to mow.  To be fair she'd done most of it but I cleared about fifteen metres and got in close to the wall where the mower couldn't go so between us job was a guddun.  I headed home and strimmed outside my wall and down to the lane and kept going inside the yard until the battery ran out.  

As for the rest of the day it's been cloudy. showery, thundery, full sun but not many gaps between the different states,  I managed to weed the biggest grave plot, there was lots of chickweed and bindweed and plant up some of the new tobacco in its place.  I moved on to the conifer bed and cleared that giving a fighting chance to another spirea and pulling out the daffodil greenery that's been hanging on in there giving light to the bed.  It did start to rain but I worked through it.  The pear tree that produces small pears has been cleaned up at its base, the branches have been trimmed and I've put in a support to see if it can be more like a tree than a bush...fingers crossed.  There used to be one there but about five years ago the wind ripped through the garden and it was down.  The side bed has been cleared of weeds and I've unearthed several marigold babies and they need to be put together to give effect to the bed and the remainder of the tobacco will be planted between the shrubs.  Tomorrow's job.  I cleared away by four...the rain  had really started to come down and had gone cold so I cooked a couple of chicken burgers and had them on buns, found myself a warm cardigan and settled down on the sofa for a late siesta...and so that's why the update is late.

Nothing scheduled for tomorrow apart from strimming the rest of the grass if the sun comes out and it dries out.  I've got forsythia to trim down and cuttings to get in...they do brighten the garden when we've just come out of winter.  LN....Boiler and bath I'm thinking.....LN

Friday 11th May

Really good sleep last night, washed and dressed but missed the bread van but caught it on its way back.  I managed to get one of the last loaves and no fishes but headed into my Avatar's garden and sat with two other neighbours under the tree and sheltered from the few drops of rain.  We were joined by another lady from the bottom of the village and she asked where the bread van was and I explained that it had been and gone and she looked mortified...she had no bread so what could I do but sell her mine.  She did mention that I have transport and it wasn't a problem for me but I mentioned that the Beast doesn't run on fresh air which I think she acknowledged as...'that's the last loaf you get from me'...

So home and it was too cold to be out, too wet to be gardening and Ms D of S changed the plans and was no longer going into Djebel and since I'd dressed for town I was at a bit of a loose end.  At eleven I made the decision to head down to Ms D of S abode and collect my tomato plants and we sat in the garden while the little one bounced off various concrete structures collecting scrapes and scratches...that's what little ones do.  I headed into Djebel. confirmed that the lamb roast is on for tomorrow, got stung by a lady in the market who charged me double for my cucumber plants but I'll leave the rest to Karma.  The man who I bought the peppers from tried the same thing but his mate had already told me that they were a lev so I put my hand out for the change from a two leva note and got it.  A little food shopping and home for three thirty.  I'd come back with a chicken so that went in by four and was ready by six and was really tender.  No pickies tonight...damp, miserable and haven't really achieved much today...fingers crossed for better weather tomorrow....I want to get the rest of the grass strimmed.  LN...Deep breath and chill....LN

Saturday 12th May

Six start but it took a while to get out of bed.  It was cosy and warm.  I was washed and dressed by seven and delivering marigolds for planting up to my Avatar when I saw what I though was a tortoise on the road.  As I got nearer I realised it wasn't...it was a big fat toad and when I say big, it really was but it was dead and must have dented somebody's pumper...OK...slight exaggeration.    I carried on to  Avatar's house and she thought that I was kidding but we walked back and buy this point my other two neighbours were out and looking and we walked back up the road.  Avatar used her stick to toss it into the verge and it was lost to sight,  No way was I going to furtle it out and it turned out to be a talking point.

So it was put to the garden and it's been pretty hard work today and not really pretty.  The grass is strimmed, the forsythia is cut down to size and I can now see the side garden from the terrace, I lawn mowed what I didn't strim, tomatoes, peppers, parsnips and cucumbers are all in and I'm knacked.  Remsier came round for a chat just as I'd finished tidying away and sat down on the terrace and it looked like we were in for a session.  I casually mentioned that I'd been invited to a lamb roast tonight and that I had to have a shower and wash my hair but some fell on stony ground.  Eventually the stotinki dropped and at six ten she left which gave me around fifty minutes to get myself sorted, into the Beast and get to Djebel.  I made it by ten past so not so bad and there were only a few people there before me.  Salads and meats were on the table, drinks were provided and it was in celebration of my student leaving high school and off to university in the autumn.  It's a Bulgarian custom but the American Ball thing has hit BG...so there'll be some thing else after that.

Lovely evening with family and friends and the lamb was very succulent.  As for the rice cooked inside it...I'm to too sure about the spices they use so I pushed that around the plate.  Fond farewells and I was reminiscing with his mother...it was five years ago that I took him on his first plane and to the UK for a holiday.....how time flies.  Home for eleven and the Beast put into the drive but not in its home.  I might just plug in to the Euro-vision to see what's happening.  LN....I might just change my mind.....LN

Sunday 13th May

Bit of a nostalgic day today...I would have been married for forty six years today....where have the years gone??

Seven thirty start but OI didn't get out of bed until eight...I was intending having a very relaxing day but it didn't turn out that way.  Washed and dress and thought that I'd just go out and 'do a bit' but if was six thirty when I came in.  I'd come in for a brief intermission around late lunch time and happened to put on TV Catchup and found the Diamond League event from Shanghai recap.  I was just settling in nicely, had just finished a packet of bread sticks and a carton of pineapple juice and could feel the eyes going southwards when Remsie and her grandson appeared at the door.  Now she was here yesterday and I wasn't sure what this was about but I quickly cottoned on.  The boy wants a car and despite telling her yesterday that I don't have the documents so technically can't sell it, she was asking me how much I wanted so I went through it again with the boy present.  She was also telling me that her son arrives into Plovdiv Airport and how difficult it is to get from there to here and I think she wanted me to get in the Beast and leave straight away.  I mentioned that there is a taxi firm in Djebel that would probably do it for sixty leva....not today for me.

Just about to start my blog when the bea-eaters arrived and they are still out there now.  I showed the photos to one of my neighbours and she reckons that they are budgerigars and wouldn't have it any other way.  She asked me where they lived and I told her I hadn't a clue....I guess she thinks they've escaped from somewhere...and by the colours....from over the rainbow...

Cold chicken for supper...I'm feeling peckish.  I'm worn out after a day in the garden.....the walnut is more of less cleared and I found a great heap of compost that had self created from the grass cuttings and I know I can make use of that....and I'll save that for another day.  LN...Kitchen bound...LN

Monday 14th May

Another restless night...I think I had my supper too late to digest it and my hands were giving me gyp....I think I registered too many hours gardening.  Out of bed by seven, down for a coffee and sat on the terrace in my bright green PJ's, inspected the garden and decided that the Escallonia that had lingered in a pot all winter should be given free range to expand and grow so it's now sited in the newly cleared bed at the bottom of the garden.  Not sure it's the right place but II shall be taking more cuttings from it as a precaution...I should hate top lose it.  I didn't stop there...despite being in my PJ's I carried on, cleared the lilac bed of bindweed ready for planting up and put some rockery plant seeds down on the really rock bed at the bottom by the wall.  The garden hose is out but I appear to be missing connectors so it was make do and mend but I think they're on the other hose that's still in the little house.  So veg garden watered and I suppose it's time I went out there and did it again.  I also managed to take nine forsythia cuttings and repotted the Himalayan poppy that seems to be ailing in some way...fingers crossed I can at least get one good one out of the four that germinated.

Headed in to Djebel by ten, I remembered to take in the pine and acacia syrup for my student's mum and eventually found a parking place.  The town was so busy, it was market day but people come in from all the villages and we have a lot of guests from Turkey at this time of year.  I sat in the garage shop trading ideas and language differences with my student's mum for an hour or so., next stop at the chemist for more tablets that appear to be helping my arthritis and my cracked rib...duel function.  I stopped off and caught up with my lady who used to run my favourite restaurant and then off to the garage to top up the Beast and I remembered to get petrol for the lawnmower.  It was a successful day.

Home and the clouds were gathering, the thunder was starting up and the rain started to fall.  There was no going back to the garden so I caught up on my sleep on the sofa and I've just checked out the garden to see if anything needs watering and noticed that the clematis is out on the workshop terrace with lots more flowers to follow.  I should really get another one and put it where I can see it.  Eight thirty my time almost time for bed.  LN...Fairly restful day....LN

Tuesday 15th May


Lazy old start to the day.  I watched the sun come up and took the pickies and then went back to bed.  I did jump into action.... load of washing in and out, scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and I meandered through the rest of the day.  I have more cuttings from Japonica and Forsythia, the Cosmos seeds are planted in the garden, the hosepipe has been sorted but I've realised that the reason I couldn't get it fixed the other day is that the connector was broken,  The men put it away last year so obviously an accident and nobody mentioned it. Not to worry, I managed to connect it to the outside tap and put the sprinkler on the vegetable garden so gave them a good soaking.  Another problem solved.  The Himalayan blue seem to be happier now that they're in their individual pots and looking more established even after one day...fingers crossed they'll pull through.

I also sauntered through the afternoon..reading, sleeping and I spent about an hour on a printed out copy of Saturday's Daily Mail Sudoku and still no joy.  It will save for another day.  My little gecko hotfooted it over the patio with great aplomb taking shade from the plant pots as it went.  Supper was the rest of the chicken made into a curry and there was enough to put one small portion into the freezer but I have a habit of putting it in there and only taking in out when I'm clearing out the freezer so I finished it off and undoubtedly the rest of the rice will find its way over the wall tomorrow.  Kitchen is finished and I shall have a tidy one to come down to in the morning.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow...let's hope I've got more energy I really want to finish strimming the bottom of the garden and generally sorting it out.  LN...Wish me luck.  LN

Wednesday 16th May

By six I was taking photos of the morning and by seven I was watering the veg patch and then I moved it down to where I'd planted the cosmos yesterday....It looked like being a warm one despite the early clouds and there was a brisk wind which stayed all day and at one point I had to close the balcony door, it was whistling through the house and shutting doors left right and centre.

Toast and Marmite for breakfast, I wanted something quick and wanted to get back out before it got really hot today.  That wind really got up and I sympathised with a very attractive butterfly that was really struggling to settle anywhere.  I tried hard to get a pickie but there wasn't much hope, it was really being blown around.  I came in for a drink and a few minutes off and settled down on the sofa.  I'd got a printed copy of the Sudoku that I'd found a challenge and managed to do it but it did take some time.  I think half of the problem was that my eyes were going southwards but I managed to stay awake...just...and headed out again determined to clear most of the debris from the bottom of the garden.

I found a couple of bushes that I can't really put a name to but I trimmed them to a point for a bit of interest, I removed a load of clover and lobbed it over the wall for the animals and the rake came out to gather the stones and put them at the base of the wall.  I've had a good day and I'm absolutely knacked.   One more day and it should be finished and I can plant it up although I might get some wood out and get creative.  The walnut needs a bench.

Settled into a beautiful evening and the bea-eaters are out.  Strange though...where I've disturbed the soil down the bottom, the birds are ground feeding....never seen it before.  And now they've taken to the air again.  LN.....Knocked off just over nineteen thousand steps according to the Fitbit.  LN...A lap of the garden and I should crack the twenty thousand....LN

Thursday 17th May

Early start. toast and Marmite for breakfast, washed and dressed by seven thirty and played around for an hour or so trying to re-hang the picture on the landing.  I'd caught it with my shoulder as I made my way upstairs and it came crashing down and fortunately it and I survived.  It's in three panels and the nail sticking out of the wall is very shallow and the ring that it has to go in to is very small.  I'd tried yesterday but ran out of patience but this morning I was determined...it was in the way on the landing.    It is now adorning the stairwell...

Out to the garden, I was delayed for a time, we had a shower which didn't amount to much and washed the terraces but it didn't rain on my parade.  My mission today was to complete clearing the bottom right corner but it got waylaid somewhat.  I found myself directed to the pile of old fencing stashed against the left hand wall and now some of it is framing the bottom garden where I've just put in the Escallonia.  Not only is the garden framed, it's also covered in my favourite salve...old engine oil which is guaranteed to sort out the bugs in the timber and to give it a new lease of life.  It's strange how memories come back.  The timber was collected from a farm on the way to Rogosche.  We loaded it in the back of the Beast with about two meters extending beyond the door and Bekir was holding on to it as if his life depended upon it and in some ways it did.  By the time we got to within fifty meters of the house the wood was dragging on the road but we made it and seven years later after serving as fencing to keep out the livestock....it's now put to decorative use.

I came in at one for what should have been a water top up and five minutes rest but I opened a tin tuna, slathered it in mayo and made toast and a full tummy requires rest so they say and by two thirty or thereabouts, I was in the land of nod and didn't wake up again until four.  I came too quite slowly but straight back to  it. seven eights of the surround is complete and I've just got to cut one of the lengths to complete it.  I dug most of it over ready to plant up some of the zinnia and tobacco and watered it well tonight so that they'll have a fighting change when they go to their new home.  The rest of the plants have been watered and more zinnia scattered on other parts of the garden...they will or they wont.... nature will sort it out.  

I eventually came in at eight thirty and almost needed a torch, nine twenty my time and I've missed all of my quiz programmes tonight....the daily brain exercise has been scuppered by physical activity in the garden.  Lunch will suffice for supper...just going down for fruit juice to top up the liquid levels and then early night for me despite the afternoon collapse.  Bea-eaters were out but I fair upset their routine by working in the vicinity, the walnut was out of bounds to them.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so far.  LN....  Might have a day off...LN