Sunday 20th June

Lovely skies last night at around nine but not much going for it this morning.  I was up and about around seven sitting watching the morning but this time from within the house from my bedroom and not many birds were out and about.  I could hear the hoopoe but so far haven't seen it, perhaps my garden is just too cultivated, it prefers scrub, and then I ventured down to the kitchen to make bacon and egg for breakfast.  Supper didn't happen last night and I was feeling really hungry, everything washed and tidied including me and I ventured out to review the garden close too and realised that there was a lot of grass and vetch lingering in the flower beds so started pulling some of it out and lobbing it over the wall.  Next job was to get out the tree lopper and removed several branches from various acacias round the garden, the branches were getting very heavy so they had to be removed.  It's a pretty tree but really needs controlling and I didn't stop there.  The wild plum tree got a trim and I went outside the house and trimmed the lime tree that's hanging over the road and the debris went over the road into Haciber's patch for the cows, they'll made short shift of it.  I strimmed round the beds using the new strimmer and I must say that the blades seem much stronger than the others I used to buy from the internet or maybe it's because the holding plate is new, the blade didn't keep popping off.  I know now why they're red, so you can find them easily in the undergrowth.

I came in for a drink and sat on the sofa and nodded off and it was only ten thirty and I've been like that all day.  I've gone out and done 'stuff', tidied round the tyre garden and compost bin, repotted the clementine which I thought I'd lost and put in lots of self set tobacco and petunias and the area looks good.  I came in and did a load of washing and managed to get it out, caught the end of the tennis, the other player was just too good for the unseeded English guy but he really put in a good performance and took it to three sets.  More tidying and weeding and at six I decided that the top part of the grass really needed doing so I got out the biggie and just managed to get down to the mulberry and switch the machine off and then it started to rain....very well timed.  I was hoping that it would run out of fuel so that I could clean underneath but that will have to wait for it's next outing.

Supper went in at six before I set to on the grass and it's ready not so I've turned the oven off and can smell roast chicken, jackets and roast beetroot and it's not that I want to rush things but I'm really hungry...it's been a long time since breakfast.  As I was emptying the grass box for the last time I saw black cat over the wall and munching on something.  From where I was standing I couldn't see what it was so I went out with the camera and I've yet to see what it was....probably a lizard or something and that's nature for you.  Quite a lot achieved today and I see to have worked through some of the mental list.  LN...It's supper time....LN

Sunday 20th June

Lovely skies last night at around nine but not much going for it this morning.  I was up and about around seven sitting watching the morning but this time from within the house from my bedroom and not many birds were out and about.  I could hear the hoopoe but so far haven't seen it, perhaps my garden is just too cultivated, it prefers scrub, and then I ventured down to the kitchen to make bacon and egg for breakfast.  Supper didn't happen last night and I was feeling really hungry, everything washed and tidied including me and I ventured out to review the garden close too and realised that there was a lot of grass and vetch lingering in the flower beds so started pulling some of it out and lobbing it over the wall.  Next job was to get out the tree lopper and removed several branches from various acacias round the garden, the branches were getting very heavy so they had to be removed.  It's a pretty tree but really needs controlling and I didn't stop there.  The wild plum tree got a trim and I went outside the house and trimmed the lime tree that's hanging over the road and the debris went over the road into Haciber's patch for the cows, they'll made short shift of it.  I strimmed round the beds using the new strimmer and I must say that the blades seem much stronger than the others I used to buy from the internet or maybe it's because the holding plate is new, the blade didn't keep popping off.  I know now why they're red, so you can find them easily in the undergrowth.

I came in for a drink and sat on the sofa and nodded off and it was only ten thirty and I've been like that all day.  I've gone out and done 'stuff', tidied round the tyre garden and compost bin, repotted the clementine which I thought I'd lost and put in lots of self set tobacco and petunias and the area looks good.  I came in and did a load of washing and managed to get it out, caught the end of the tennis, the other player was just too good for the unseeded English guy but he really put in a good performance and took it to three sets.  More tidying and weeding and at six I decided that the top part of the grass really needed doing so I got out the biggie and just managed to get down to the mulberry and switch the machine off and then it started to rain....very well timed.  I was hoping that it would run out of fuel so that I could clean underneath but that will have to wait for it's next outing.

Supper went in at six before I set to on the grass and it's ready not so I've turned the oven off and can smell roast chicken, jackets and roast beetroot and it's not that I want to rush things but I'm really hungry...it's been a long time since breakfast.  As I was emptying the grass box for the last time I saw black cat over the wall and munching on something.  From where I was standing I couldn't see what it was so I went out with the camera and I've yet to see what it was....probably a lizard or something and that's nature for you.  Quite a lot achieved today and I see to have worked through some of the mental list.  LN...It's supper time....LN

Monday 21st June

So it was a pretty early start.  The light was still on, the Kindle had fallen to the floor but my glasses were folded on the bed next to me....it was five fifteen.  I tried going back to sleep and it just wasn't happening and at five thirty there was some mist in the valleys but the sun hadn't broken through to spoilt the views so out with the camera.  I love it at that time of the morning, there were very few birds about, I'd even beaten them to it.  St seven I was making a bacon sandwich with brown sauce and I sat outside on the bench and by then the sun was up and not even the bottom of the garden was visible but it eventually cleared and turned into quite a pleasant morning.  I cleared the kitchen and decided to have a bonfire and on my way down to the bottom of the garden, black cat was sitting hopefully waiting and I remembered that I had the remains of last night's chicken for her so I went back to the house to fetch it, she moved to the top of the long wall, I put it on the ground and she waited until I was almost back to the house before she approached it.  I left her to it and only started the bonfire when she'd moved on to pasture new...and nothing was left only the potato skins.

So I had a good burn up and put the lid on it in case the wind picked up and at nine thirty I was heading in to Kardjali down the rough road to the Makaza road.  It takes around fifteen minutes off my journey but you have to beware of the idiots flying down to Greece especially from Romania.  My mission today was to buy the other discs and blades for the battery strimmer, now that I knew they fitted I wanted to make sure that I grabbed the last of them.  I carried on to Kaufland and bought potatoes, carrots and tomatoes towards my health kick and on to the Raider shop and asked if they had more blades but they didn't and there are none available on the website so I might have just bagged the last.  Drove on to my cheapy shop but didn't find anything, back to Lidl and topped up with a few items and then on the road home.  I was back for one, unpacked the shopping in the rain.  I'd just got home in time but it was a short sharp shower, it cleared up and now we have a beautiful evening.  I've just spotted Rosy heading for the mulberry tree to hoover up the mulberries and now she's off to find a bed for the night under the short wall.

I forgot to mention that this morning I posted photos of my time in Gibraltar police and there's been lots of response and even a message from a police woman that I used to work with.  We lost contact around nineteen seventy five so lots of catching up to do.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow, it the weather stays good I'm sure I can find something to do in the garden and I've got two benches that need sanding down and sorting and several large shrubs that need haircuts.  Macaroni cheese is ready, so kitchen calls.  LN.....Always something to do....LN

Tuesday 22nd June

Another silly early start but this time the light was off and the Kindle was on the side table.  Not the same sort of day as yesterday, wall to wall mist when the daylight came up so coffee, back to bed and a few games of Sudoku.  I opened the balcony door, it wasn't cold but there was a dampness in the air which fortunately dissipated as the day wore on.  I settled for a couple of boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, fed the cat the remains of last night's supper and again, she waited for me to go before she started it, I crept back and all I saw were two green eyes staring at me so I left her to it.  Cleared the kitchen and stripped the downstairs bed and got the winter quilt cover and bottom sheet into the washing machine.  The nest can go away until next year and made the bed up with summer quilt and cover....maybe I will have guests again but really doesn't seem likely but live in hope.

I was out to the garden at nine thirty with all tools to hand.  First on the list was the forsythia in the frog garden, it's really taken off with the weather we've been having and I wasn't able to see the bottom of the garden from the terrace and felt hemmed in.  I've taken it down about two feet but will probably give it another haircut leaving it time to grow so that it flowers next spring.  I moved midway down the low wall and the lime hedge had gotten covered with vetch and looked really naff so the first job was to try and remove the vetch to see what was underneath.  I used the rake on it pulling off what I could but then decided that the hedge trimmer would do the job and it did.  It took longer, there was a buzz, a couple of sparks and I'd cut through the extension lead cable so I retired to the workshop, grabbed a screw driver and now I can add another string to my bow.  I walked to the bottom of the garden, connected it back up and it didn't power up and then I realised that for safety I'd unplugged everything in sight so back to the workshop, tried again and I was in business.  I moved on to the wild rose bush and the wild plum next to it and they're both down to a reasonable height, another forsythia tamed and another wild cherry reduced and made into a ball.  I've cleared the ground underneath and strimmed it and tomorrow I can use the old engine oil to coat the wood surrounds.  I did have another go at the electrics, the cable was severed for the second time....

I took a break and came in for a drink and munched on some jelly mice.  I really wasn't surer if I enjoyed the sensation, the brain plays strange tricks sometimes.  I had a brief interlude with first one tortoise and another.  I'd spotted Rosie in the bushes have a nap and turned round and Blue Boy was circling the underneath of the mulberry looking for the fruit so I scoured the ground for him and almost handfed him.  I made a heap of about five or six and they were devoured in quicksticks, Rosy appeared about an hour later and we went through the same performance.

Eventually tools away by six, strimmer cleaned, cables wound up ready for action tomorrow and if it stays dry, it's a lawn mower day.  There's just been too much to do this year because of the weather....maybe we're on the change, it hasn't rained today but there's still time.  LN....I should sleep well tonight.....LN

[b]Wednesday 23rd June[/b

Another six start, again it was misty and not a lot to see.....but you know it's out there....the views, the freedom and the work....gardens never stop growing.  I did have my bath last night and went to bed very relaxed and had a good night.  I put a load of washing in, settled for toast for breakfast, noticed that Rosy was under the mulberry so I took some grapes out for her.  I put them down in front of her, I obviously woke her up as she gave a big yawn and didn't seem at all fazed when I spoke to her and didn't disappear into her shell.  I left her to it and ten minutes later that she was off down the garden.  I really should produce a map for them....it seems to change every day, grass strimmed, hedges trimmed, new plants in and weeds out leaving patches of empty ground.

To today's challenge was to remove the weeds, from the old veg patch.  I'd divided it up into squares or sort of squares and sunflowers were in one, beetroot in the next and wild poppies in the other that was about it.  So now I have three planted up and three with nothing in them except a sucker from the tree at the bottom of the garden and two lupins that were hiding under a bunch of weeds.  I found two more and now they have a bed to themselves.  By twelve it had really got hot and sticky so I came in for a break and raided the goody box and drank lots of water.  I settled on the sofa, settled for a recommended film based in Russia and I really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately thee quarters of the way through, I realised that a storm was in progress so stopped the film, grabbed the washing from the line and by now it was throwing it down and the thunder was overhead so I ran in the house, put the washing on the airer and went back to the film.  It finished at five and so I went out again and finished off the flower bed clearing the old broad beans and tulip seed pods, moved over to the other side of the garden and ended up digging up and old tree stump and moving the old concrete roof from the outside toilet on to the old concrete base.

I came in just before seven, tools away, barbecue spare ribs in the oven with a jacket potato.  The sun's come out again and it really is a pleasant evening...and no sign of the family...they must have gone to bed for the night and I shan't be long after them.  LN......Time to check the kitchen......LN

Thursday 24th June

Another six start and it seems to be becoming a pattern.  I really don't mind but I should get into the habit of going out and making a start on things in the garden.  I would have done but it rained yesterday and the poor grass mower is struggling as it is and so am I...two runs and the grass box has to be emptied...hard work.  

Omelette for breakfast and I felt it wasn't worth opening the packet of Cheddar cheese for one small omelette.  I discovered an issue with the Kindle before breakfast this morning, I couldn't get into Hotmail and the message was that I could not access the Hotmail server.  Now I've done nothing different on it and the last time that it happened it was down an update form Amazon and they'd forgotten to make the update to all available devices.  They sorted that one so I went on to the chat help line to remind them that my device is an old one and the developers have to remember that it exists but all the guy had to go through was a script and he wanted me to de-register the device and then to re-register it.  I ended the session and my details are held for twenty four hours so that I don't have to go through it again and so far, it's not resolved itself so it's another session tomorrow.  

By this time it was really too late to start mowing the grass but I made a start on it....and regretted that I had.  It ran out of fuel so I cleaned underneath again and it really needed it.  The grass clings underneath and it's heavy to push and the blade isn't efficient...so it was OK for a while but then I was back to normal.  The ground is so wet.  Eventually I came in and waited until after five to go out again and it was still up in the high twenties - low thirties, I was dripping sweat like a wet sponge, my hair was drenched so at seven I gave up, put the machine away, locked up the tools and settled for a shower and hair wash.  

I'm feeling much fresher, opened up the computer on the top landing and just notice Rosy having the last of the sun before she takes to her bed for the night.  Blue was very active today, I noticed him firstly half way down the garden near the long tall wall, then by the bonfire pit and later this afternoon he was back under the mulberry.  I know that it seems odd making friends with tortoise but they really have been a life saver without the responsibilities during lockdown.  I don't see my neighbours so much, they have family appearing from Turkey and I know they have tests but for me it's not so secure as the vaccine.

It's going to be tuna mayo tonight, easy to prepare and quick to deliver.  Tomorrow providing we don't have rain overnight, I have to finish the grass which should take a couple of hours and then finish trimming the bushes and then it should be finished for a week or so...that's if it doesn't rain again.  LN.....Where is summer?.......LN

Friday 25th June

Early start, sat and had coffee on the balcony then stripped the bed, it had been a clammy night and I decided to freshen it up for tonight.  Three loads of washing done, breakfast of boiled eggs and toast, kitchen sorted and it was still only nine o'clock.  I tried the Kindle out and I was right to think that it would sort itself overnight and it had, the only thing it didn't do was to send messages directly but put them into the Outbox and I had to push them on.  I went back on to update the help desk but they really didn't want to know and just asked me if I'd de-registered and re-registered and to let them know when I had and that was the last I heard of them.  CBA to carry on any discussions.

I eventually got out to the garden at eleven and carried on where I'd left off yesterday when I ran out of steam and it wasn't such hard going.  I finished it about one, was dripping with perspiration, we were up in the thirties.  I swabbed down, watch a little TV and headed for the kitchen and made a potato salad with onions, grated carrots and eggs and with a small can of tuna, that was lunch.  I'd made a huge bowl of mixture so put the rest of it in the fridge for my evening meal.  As they say a full stomach requires rest so I settled down on the sofa and was out for a couple of hours, checked my emails and lo and behold there was one from Amazon.  I assumed that it was asking for feedback on my interactions with them but it wasn't.  It was confirming that they were sending me a replacement Alexa and I was to return the faulty unit otherwise I would be charged for the replacement so I emailed them and received another email saying that I had replied to an email that didn't accept messages.   I went on to the help desk again and elected that they would call me back but I was asked to enter my Bulgarian number but Bulgaria wasn't listed on the dropdown so I settled for my UK phone.  I was contacted almost immediately, I explained the problem, the girl checked my account and nothing was amiss on it, she confirmed that the operator had sent the email to the wrong person, that it was completely unacceptable and would I accept their apologies.  I asked for confirmation in an email and I'm still waiting.

Feeling energised from one success, I went out and finished off the big house grass, it wasn't too long but needed a trim to complete the look of the grass I did yesterday.  I now only have the grave garden to do.  Funny light tonight, it looks like it might rain, the sky is very black but the air is very still.  Tortoises were out and about today, Rosy and Blue were on the grass and I spotted Sandy underneath the big lilac.  My last sighting of Blue was on the main house terrace and goodness knows where he was going so I picked him up, his little legs were going like mad, put him down on the grass and he shot off like a bullet out of a gun.  I came in, washed down and got into summer PJ's, had another bowl of salad and this time with beetroot.  LN.......Just a few pickies....and hopefully no more interactions with Amazon.....LN

Saturday 26th June

This time it was a five o'clock start...I shall have to start leaving the balcony door open, it was very muggy last night but at five there was a cloud base with only a hint of sun when I started its day.  I sat on the bedroom chair with the door open, checked the Kindle and it was working as it should be.  I was receiving emails and able to send  without them lingering in the Outbox.  Intermittent faults...pah....the last one was two years ago...someone was moving stuff over to another server at a guess.  I made my second cup of coffee and used some from an old jar, tasted it and promptly threw it away and the contents of the jar went in the rubbish.  I don't settle for using it just because it has a value...no like...no use.....so I went downstairs and opened a new jar for upstairs.  It's on the landing so that I can make it when I'm working upstairs and set it up originally so that I didn't disturb my guest.  When he's over from the UK he sleeps downstairs, likes the fact that it remains cool.

So the old bread went out for the animals and I was waiting for the bread van, I was out of eggs as well. He came about eight thirty, Haciber was walking down to the square and she doesn't look well at all and told me that she's going to see a doctor in Turkey and stay with her daughter.  I looked at the yard and asked if she wanted me to strim it so after I'd bought essentials from the van, I went home, picked up the strimmer and toddled off to her house.  I was doing well until the screw holding on he cutting plate shot off somewhere and so couldn't continue.  I searched and searched and still no luck, realised that I'd got the old one in the workshop, it had been taken apart not by me, the screws were in a coffee jar top and I thought I was in luck....but no joy.  It's a special screw with a reversed thread on it so I did some research on the internet and it's no longer available for parts....bugger...so I'll go back to the store I got the last batch of blades from, to see if they can help out...I can't be the only one to lose a screw.

I cleaned the mower ready for action but by the time that I'd finished on the internet it looked like rain so I put the machine back in its hidey hole, promptly went to sleep for an hour or so, it hadn't rained but the thunder was belting round, out with the mower and finished the grave garden and came in and watched the tennis from Eastbourne.  By this time the sun was up again so I attacked the garden between the big lilac and the mulberry to get rid of the grass growing just inside the garden surround, planted up a couple of shrubs that have been in pots and trimmed back the bushes that have finished flowering.  I've just got the iris to tackle, they need the leaves trimming back and lifting so that the tubers are exposed, they aren't at the moment and didn't flower well at all this year.  

So came in at seven and had to walk the garden to achieve my ten thousand steps and there was a satisfying buzz from my Fitbit.  Might have to get the new electric little strimmer out to do the bottom of the garden tomorrow, it's a bit like the Forth Bridge but I want to get near as dam it.  No supper, I had the remains of the potato salad while I watched the tennis, it's settled into a very quiet, calm night, thunderstorms tomorrow according to the weather 'experts' but it might be a swimming day on Monday or Tuesday...it's supposed to be sunny all day.  LN.....I'm off for a shower.....LN

Sunday 27th June

Well I once heard that Sunday was the day of rest and it has been today.  The mother of all thunderstorms last night, we had power cuts and I was out with the tea-lights finding my way in the dark and fortunately the power came back on around ten so I still carried on and had my bath.  Into bed by eleven and the storm was still raging, with horrendous winds and lashing rain so I switched the lights off and even drew my bedroom curtains.  I just don't like storms of that magnitude, some people take great pleasure in watching them, not me, I'm a lightweight.  It was calm this morning and plenty of dew on the grass so I knew that I wouldn't be strimming very early so I took it at my leisure.

Fried tomatoes on toast for breakfast, the washing up is still waiting to be done as are many other things.  I dutifully wrote my list with the intention of having a cracking day but instead of that, realised it was far too hot to be out there working...so I didn't.  I now have another coating of the brown stuff and must have gone down a couple of shades in the tanning charts.  Around one it got very hot and my mind turned to making a sun shade so that I didn't shrivel up completely and my mind went into overdrive.  I found a couple of butcher's hooks, two single tab-topped cotton curtains in a very nice lilac shade, two lengths of wooden curtain poles and some safety pins...after all this is only the prototype,  I set to and hung one of the wooden poles using the butcher's hooks to the metal curtain rail in the inside of the bedroom.  I looped the curtains, now joined with the safety pins, over the fly screen and closed it up leaving the balcony door open.  I inserted the other length in the top of the other curtain and hoisted it over the balcony and I had a sunshade.  The weight of the wooden pole stopped it from flapping about and stage two is on the drawing board.  

I need to secure two other lengths of curtain pole to the balcony railings so that they are above the current balcony level, make two little pockets so that the top of poles attached to the balcony railings hold it firmly in place and give it the height and then it should be all set to go.  So into play tomorrow comes the sewing machine, tie wraps to secure the poles to the balcony rails and sun.  I love working things out...of course I could go and buy an umbrella but the force of the wind at times coming off the hillside would mean it would be in the next village if not properly secured or in shreds if it was.

As for supper, haven't even thought about it yet...far too busy.  The sun shade is now inside, I've moved the bench over to the other side of the balcony and tied it back on and I must remember to tie the chair down as well...don't want any damaged windows.  As for the garden...it can wait.  LN.....I've had a good day.....LN

I laughed, get a bit of a high tide there do you. High enough so you have to tie the chair down so it does not float away.