Thursday 18th April

Lovely long sleep last night, seven forty when I woke up...that's almost eight hours without interruptions....it must have been the six hours of gardening and no daytime sleep.  So this morning I'd forgotten that the doctor had requested my presence to check out my blood pressure and confirm that all these tablets I'm taking are doing any good.  I had a shower and washed my hair to create a good impression and was in the Nipper by ten and heading for town.  I didn't bother with breakfast and went in 'empty' just in case she wanted to send me for another blood test, the last one was screwed up by having two bananas for breakfast but she didn't bother.  There are eight doors along the corridor and each one hides a doctor.  Imagine that in the UK.  She wasn't at home when I arrived and there was a medical representative making her way along the cubicles and sat down beside me but no way was she going to beat me to the draw.  The doctor arrive, we got up together and we were both invited in and I sat down on the bed while she put her brief case on what should have been my chair.  She was given short shift, handed over her leaflets and we got down to business.  The doctor checked my blood pressure and it's almost as it should be, I think we've identified the pain in the ribs/sternum as an attachment issue and she's prescribed tablets which appear to cover everything possible.   Let's hope so....they were expensive enough.

I went to Kaufland and picked up a few things, made my way to my second hand furniture warehouse and found a couple of Lloyd Loom chairs but unfortunately couldn't manage to get them in the Nipper...I shall require the Beast so another day.  I did manage to find some small pots that look like broken chicken eggs and they'll make superb Easter gifts with chocolate eggs for my ladies.  I also asked about a knitting machine and by golly they had one....but goodness knows whether it would work or not and at one hundred lev...not worth the risk.  I know that mine in the UK works and it wouldn't cost me that much to bring it over.  I stopped off at Lidl and bought myself an indoor jasmine and it smells divine in the lounge.  It was almost four when I got back so I lit the fire since it's been cold all day, made myself a coffee and a mixture of salad stuff for lunch and finished off with a couple of eclairs....my blood pressure is coming down so....

I got changed and set off for my Pilates class and met up with my student's mum outside the shop.  It was a very small class tonight, only three of us and the teacher but I really enjoyed it and participated more than last week.  Because of the degeneration of my spine I can't lie flat on my back and put my arms on the floor over my head...so I didn't and sat through that exercise modifying it slightly.  Home for eight thirty after a lovely drive through the forest with the full moon going in and out of the clouds, I poked the fire, opened it up bringing it back to life and am about to make myself a hot drink, post this and get myself an early night.  LN....Another full on day....LN  

Friday 19th April

Another good night's sleep...hope it becomes a habit.  It had rained overnight again and the terraces were showing the last damp patches, it was a cold wind again but warmed up towards mid morning.  Washed and dressed for gardening, I made poached eggs on toast for breakfast knowing that I was going to have a hard day in the garden.  I didn't rush out and waited for it to warm up and it did settle at sixteen degrees...it's warmer ion the UK.

I sorted out the new little cracked egg flowerpots for my ladies and have enough petunias to put in them.  Unfortunately I picked one of the plants up by the leaf and the roots aren't very big so that one went into one of my pots on the terrace.  First job was to mend the garden fork.  The handle had snapped off yesterday and it meant chiselling out the old post between the handle and the stale adn then finding a piece of wood that I cut cut to shape to joint them both parts together.  It appeared to work but came apart as soon as I put it to the test so now it's sitting in the workshop and I've applied wood glue to it....fingers crossed it's going to work.  The garden being attacked today was the onein front of the workshop terrace and is one of the bigger ones.  It's also a very damp garden and the weeds love it.  So it was slow and steady wins the race and it took me about five hours and ten thousand steps on the Fitbit.  It gave me quite a start when it started to vibrate on my wrist.  I've added marigolds from self sets from the bottom of the garden and some plants that one of the ladies gave me yesterday.  I was amazed how many snapdragons have gone through the winter and are looking very healthy.  

There's a chicken cooking in the oven with roasted potatoes and onions and it should be ready any time soon and I'm ready for it...I'm hungry.  I've got a bit of a back ache tonight so I'll take it easy tomorrow.  LN....Another successful day....LN

Saturday 20th April

So this morning it was to identify the damage and put things back into their rightful places.  The storm developed very quickly and I was worried at one point that I would find the Nipper banged against the railings.  The trees were bending over and as for my lonesome pine...I was worried about losing it...and there's nothing you can do but watch.  It quietened down after half an hour but I left it until this morning to pick upthe pots on the little house terrace.

I was awake at seven and washed and dressed by eight, out into the garden to pick things up and put the pots the right way but it was a cold old wind and still blowing.  My plans for clearing the rest of the flower beds were put on hold...there was no way I was going to subject myself to cold, strong winds...tomorrow is another day.  I'd checked the UK weather and they were predicting temperatures of twenty and a few pluses...they've got my weather.   Toast for breakfast and I settled down on the sofa and the Kindle for a few games and my book but I realised it was getting pretty cold in the house and eventually I gave up and lit the fire.  No sooner had I lit it and the sun came out and the temperature in the house went up and it actually hit twenty five in the house and everything was good in my little world.  The wind struck up again and those flower pots took off again but they can wait for tomorrow.  This afternoon I settled in to make my Easter cards for my ladies, packed up the flower pots and chocolates and they are ready for delivery.  I've got another couple for others and I'll be delivering them tomorrow morning.  

This afternoon I settled in to watch Willy Wonker and the Chocolate Factory, the original, and I know it's spooky in places but I love it.  The snooker World Championship is also been televised so that should keep me out of mischief for the next couple of weeks.  Robbie my hero doesn't play until Monday and then has another rest until the end of the week.  Tomorrow I'm out to lunch at a Kardjali restaurant and it might entail a visit to the furniture warehouse shop.  Cold chicken for supper and I might even make chippies but don't tell the doctor.  LN...Kitchen bound.....LN

Sunday 21st April

Happy Easter to all my BG and UK buddies but for some of you in BG you will not celebrate it until next week following somebody else's orthodox traditions.  Blow the conformity, I delivered my goodies in true Interflora style.

I digress.  Last night I had a phone call from Guldjan asking if her and her mother could come and visit despite the late hour.  Since she's over here without internet I asked her if that's what she wanted and she said she didn't but her mother wanted to phone the other sister in Turkey.  I don't have a problem with it, they are good to me in other ways.  They arrived, I'd done a quick flip round,banked the fire up, closed the curtains in the lounge to maintain the heat and boiled the kettle.  One coffee, one tea, connection to the internet and we bundled the mother into the lounge where she could have it on loudspeaker and let the children at the other end shout their little heads off as is the norm.  By ten the call was ended, her mother started complaining about her knee so I went upstairs and found a tube of rubbing gel that she could have and off they trundled most gratefully.  I insisted that Guldjan borrowed a coat from the porch, the temperature was dripping and she only had a thin fleece on and a short while after they left, she was on the phone to tell me that there was money in the jacket pocket and did I know.  I must have used it to go down to the bread van and it was the change.  So last night I missed the television that I'd lined up for myself, caught the end of the Jonathon Ross show and eventually got to bed at one.

Sod's law....I woke up really hot since the fire had been going at full stretch and by five I was ready to be up and at 'em.  I did managed to stay in bed until six, made a coffee, finished wrapping the impending deliveries and set off at nine thirty in the Nipper the first stop being at Guldjan's house in the next village.  She was very surprised to see me, I'd made a special parcel for her and the family, I picked up my coat with the money still in the pocket and headed up to the next drop off point.  I was offered sweets at every stop and coffee or tea and dutifully refused, flowers, pots and chocolates for Haciber, Beyser and my little lady, Zelinger is away on her travels to Turkey for a wedding so she'll have it when she gets back.

The Librarian was due to arrive at eleven so I had time to dead head the daffodils and narcissus, we walked the garden and in the Nipper by eleven thirty heading for Kardjali and Kaufland but stopped off at my student's family house to deliver their gift.  The little one immediately commandeered the chocolates and I threatened to take them back if she didn't share.  It's one of our little jokes. .  So in Kaufland we both picked up a few items including more plants and then headed to the restaurant north of Kardjali.  As per normal we ordered too much food and ended up absolutely stuffed but satisfied, carried on to the secondhand where I bought a yellow version of the eggshell pots that I'd got for the ladies and a rather super pale green clouded glass single flower vase for myself.  Well it is Easter.

Home James, I made coffee and we talked for a while and off she went while I watch a little of the snooker, got the fire underway and have just had a visit from Haciber with a saucepan full of home made yogurt which I had to transfer into my saucepan and it's now in the fridge.  I washed hers up, gave her a cream filled chocolate egg and it went inside the saucepan so that the rest of the neighbours don't see her carrying anything home...such is village life.  No supper for me, that wind had been cold today despite the sun and the temperature is now dropping but let's home it's not white over again in the morning.  LN....Gardening day tomorrow.....LN

Monday 22nd April

It's been a funny old day and a funnier old night.  I was up at three thirty, half asleep and half awake until five, back to sleep until seven and a pretty slow morning.  I took my tablets and had muesli and yogurt for breakfast which set solid and so much so that I went out to work in the garden an eleven and was back in the house by twelve.  I felt absolutely shattered so lay on the sofa and had myself more than forty winks..  I put some washing in the machine and eventually got myself out there again and carried on with the job that I'd started in the morning.

It was a slow old job, The top of the garden has decent shrubs in it but midway from the large berberis down to the walnut and beyond used to be the dump for the builder's rubbish and the wall has only been in for a couple of years or so.  Every year brings its own selection of weeds and unfortunately the self set poppies had mingled with this year's crop.  They have been the losers, and a lot of them have found their way over the wall for the animals along with the weeds,  At least I managed it.  I've found new patches of soil where the grass cuttings have disintegrated and lodged between the rubble and now sustaining life and hopefully the flowers will take the place of the weeds.  I've put some  clumps of established plants in there already and they seem to have taken so tomorrow I'm going to do some splitting of daisies and dig up some hypericom and put that down there.  It should do well as a ground cover.

I put my tools away and strimmed the dandelion stalks down, strimmed the grass in front of the main gate and tied up the roses that last week's storm had forced away from the wall.  Haciber came down for a little chat once she saw me taking to the lady who has the garden next to my house.  Love her but she doesn't want to miss anything that she feels might be going on.

No supper for me tonight, it's my quiz night on Beeb 2 tonight...it's getting near or might even be the finals....I haven't checked yet.  I think it might be a bath tonight afterwards...my back has been playing up a bit....I've worked it hard today.  LN...I want a better night...LN

Tuesday 23rd  April

I was awake by six, made a coffee and let it go cold, I sipped it and immediately had the burbs so left it where it was.  I was out of bed by seven thirty, washed and dressed more or less straight away mainly because it was a little chill.  On the list today was to get out to the bread van...I needed fresh bread for breakfast.

Another cold, miserable day, not rain, not dry just the odd few spots.  The plan to go out and finish the weeding of the long and bottom wall went out of the window.  I was feeling that miserable that I just had to make myself a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast.  That went down well, I'd starting sorting out the jars that the ladies deliver and needed to empty those that were no longer worth keeping and wiping down the jars.  Even this was put on hold until three this afternoon, the bottles and jars washed and are now in the little house waiting for the ladies to start this years production.

I watched some of the snooker this morning but didn't want to watch Ronnie's failure to win against the amateur opponent.  I gave up and went back to my book on the Kindle.  I was tempted to light the fire, it was twenty degrees in the house but felt much less but instead of lighting it I put another sweater on and held out until four, got more wood in, cleared teh ash can and got it going.  

I've just checked out the weather for tomorrow.  It's going to rain overnight and go down to four degrees but according to the report, we should have hazy sunshine for the next couple of days.  Fingers crossed I can get more of the strimming done and plant out the sunflowers tomorrow.  LN...They're getting tall...LN

Wednesday 24th April

It's been a funny old day again.  I didn't feel up to much today....so didn't do much.  I get the feeling that these new tablets are knocking me back so it might mean another trip to the doctors.  I did manage to get dressed fairly early on, made dry toast for breakfast and that's been the sum total of the intake for today. I'm not going to bother with supper.  

When I eventually got going at half three I achieved quite a lot.  The topiary was done on the wild plums and now have regained their circular shapes more or less.  The lady from the next garden popped her head over the wall and said that they were so pretty and asked which trees they were....and didn't recognise that most are wild plums with a couple of sloe bushes.  They are interesting and cheap.  I've repotted the oleander that appeared to be struggling in one of the large brown pots and it was time for rehousing.  The roots were very matted so I forced them apart, took the tiles out that the roots had grown round and used new compost.....fingers crossed it settles in nicely.  I also noted that the nasturtiums had germinated, some where they'd been planted and others I've no idea where they've come from ,  They're now replanted round the orange that I've lost using the branches of the tree for support.  Another little task was to pinch out the lead shoots from the sweet peas.  According to Monty Don it's the thing to do so that they flower longer.  

Guljan came round this afternoon, she needed to print out her boarding card for her flight to Germany tomorrow morning.  She'd booked the flight through a travel agent and was waiting for an email with the attachment and had to text the office ...the email hadn't arrived and took ages to appear.  Eventually it arrived and was printed off...she can leave.  Her father is taking her to Sofia tonight at midnight...she looked absolutely shattered so will probably sleep all the way and I guess on the flight as well.  I think she was pleased to be going back.

Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow...more of the same with the garden...weeding  and moving stuff around filling in gaps.  LN....Hopefully I'll start earlier....LN

Thursday 25th April

Another good night's sleep but by twelve I was knacked and got my head down again.  I had some of Haciber's home made yogurt with my strawberry jam for breakfast followed by a slice of dry toast to see if that would settle the stomach discomfort.  The doctor gave me tablets for pain but I'm not taking them...it's not pain as you know it...more of a feeling of discomfort in the middle of the chest and I'm thinking this extra half tablet that I'm taking morning and night is the culprit.  So I did managed to get some of the sunflowers planted up and moved some hypericom to the long wall where I'd cleared the weeds on Tuesday.  I also set about removing the weeds from by the mulberry tree and found a lavender I'd forgotten about that appears to be doing really well.  I looked at the strimmer when I went into the workshop and decided to leave it there.  I know what I'm like....I tend to push myself sometimes at the wrong time so caution came in to play.  I did spend time watching the vying for the nest under the little house eaves.  I thought one of the martins was going to get stuck midway but he eventually go it there.  I think it's put a few sparrow's beaks out of joint though...I think they fancied it as their own.

As I said aI got my head down but no sooner had I settled when Haciber arrived with some yeasty pancakes and I'm not really sure what they are for.  She tries to speak Bulgarian but her natural language is Turkish like most of the ladies in my village.  If I lived in Sofia or one of the larger towns I reckon I would be speaking Bulgarian much better but hey-ho...it is what it is after ten years.  Most people understand me so I don't worry about it and at least I can order in restaurants so I shan't go hungry or thirsty.  So after she left I again took up my position on the sofa and nodded off again.  I was awake by three and headed out with my trusty garden fork and carried on along the long wall and now most of it is done.  

I came in at six and got washed and changed...tonight was my Pilates night and I was in the Nipper by six forty and heading for Djebel.  My student's mum was waiting outside the shop and we walked together to the venue.There were hoots of laughter as we approached the building and I just hope they weren't taking bets as to whether I'd turn up or not but turn up I did.  I'm now getting to know the exercises and am trying more each week.  I can certainly feel the bones grinding into the new positions and the muscles stretching but there are some exercises that I'm not going to tackle yet.  I tend to adapt the movement to suit me but i do feel better for it.

So tomorrow I think I'm going to head into Kardjali.  I think I've made my mind up about the Lloyd Loom chairs and there's a mirror stand that I've quite taken a fancy to and with a little adaptation of the furniture in the downstairs bedroom, it could serve a purpose.  No supper...I really don't need it but I've just put the boiler on...a soak could be beneficial tonight.  LN.....When are the next Olympics?....LN

Friday 26th April

Lovely night's sleep again and woke up at six thirty.  FB, Hotmail and Soda Crush kept me occupied until seven thirty and it was a nice leisurely start to the morning.  I made a lemon,honey with salt hot drink but left it to get tepid since the doctor has told me not to have jot drinks. ...I'm getting used to it.  Yogurt and strawberry jam again for breakfast and a slice of dry toast and it seems to be working.  It had rained overnight so I was unsure what I was going to fill my day with.  I decided to put my trip to Kardjali on hold and since the weather appeared to be clearing up and the terraces drying so I put gardening on the top of the list.  

The sunflowers are out, the old burning bed has been weeded and two patches of zinnia seeds have been planted.  The larkspur seeds are in and for now in the conservatory until they germinate and the oleanders have been repotted into terracotta pots.  The sun was out now and the temperature in the lower twenties and I was waiting for it to dry up so that I could tackle the grass.  I headed in at one and had sweetcorn, tuna and beetroot for lunch and was on the sofa when the conservatory door opened and someone came in.  There was a shout asking if I was home and I said it depends who it is and it was the Librarian.  She arrived with a bag of fudge which I declined....and said she would get more use out of it than I would at the moment.  I made tea for her, we chewed over the fat for an hour or so and off she went.

So I this point I took up the challenge and I've managed most of the big house and the top of the little house grass and the worst is over.  The mower ran out of petrol so I was able to clean underneath where the damp grass had lodged.  I topped it up and carried on coming into the house at six thirty.  What a good day it's been but my back knows about it.  I stripped off the grass laden clothing , gave it a good shake and straight into the washing machine with it.  Showered, hair washed and now into my PJ's and relaxing building up strength for tomorrow, weather permitting.  

Today has also been a day for birds...I'm thinking that I shall have to be out with the paint scraper tomorrow, the martins have decided that my houses will make marvellous nest building sites....wrong.  I don't mind the one that I have but I don't want more.  LN...Tits, starlings, sparrows and martin...enough...LN

Saturday 27th April

Awake at three and no reason for it except that the quilt felt heavy.  I've got two on the bed left over from my winter habits so I heaved one off, settled down again and straight through until six thirty.  At least there hadn't been rain overnight only a heavy dew so I anticipated that I could be finishing off the grass after lunch at a guess.  I didn't bother with breakfast...I was out by ten clearing the old pots of old soil and dumping it down the bottom of the garden where there's not very much.  I assembled a new composter from Kaufland....no instructions but it seems to have fitted together OK....everything clicked into place successfully.  I swept off the little house inner terrace and removed lots of old leaves from the non-flowering jasmine and I'm still wondering why it's growing there....no flowers, no aromatic smell, doesn't deter mosquitoes...might have a rethink on that but too big to put anywhere else now...ah well.    

I came in at one and had my customary nap and was half awake  watching the snooker and my non-favourite player go out of the Worlds.  I don't know what it is about him nut I delight in his defeat.  Eventually I got the enthusiasm going to get out there and finish the grass..I'd just got to the end of the little house grass when it ran out of fuel and this looked the perfect time to put it away for tomorrow and it was five thirty.  I sat down on the chair on the main house terrace with a glass of water...checked the Fitbit and iI'd done nine and a half thousand stems today and hadn't reached my target.  So back to it...cleaned the underside of the mower, filled it with fuel and of I went again and forty five minutes later it was done....and tools away.  I had a bonfire to get rid of some broken flower pots adn the burnable rubbish from the kitchen, watered a few plants in new places and came in feeling very satisfied with my day.  I took my wellies and socks off outside, most of the grass cuttings have found their way inside the boots and didn't want that treading in the house.  Everything in the washing machine, machine switched on and now awaiting the clothes airer.  A couple of hours with the strimmer tomorrow should complete the task, just the flower beds to weed....a woman's work, with a huge garden is never done...

Boiler on for a bath...the back is aching and tomorrow I ave a few things to do and going in to Kardjali might be one of them.  I'll see how I feel in the morning.  No pickies tonight...I'll walk the garden with the camera tomorrow....everything is springing to life.    LN...Tired but happy...LN