Saturday 21st August

I woke up at five which was way before the sun and the moon had already gone off to get it's head down...at least on this side of the planet.  I'd slept well so woke up the Kindle and checked emails but there were no new ones in from last night, facebook had a lot of rubbish on it which is par for the course these days so I settled for Sudoku.  My first two games were a fiasco and only found out that I'd got one square and number wrong and it didn't show up until the last few moves.  I've given up trying to sort it without taking it back to the beginning so in both cases I started new games....no shame in that.

At six thirty I checked out the balcony and seeon came in again, the morning had that autumn feel about it so chose to sit on the chair inside with my coffee where it was a lot warmer.  At seven thirty I made my second cuppa, watered the garden and I'd finished that my eight thirty so decided to make a bacon sandwich for breakfast and half way through the frying my gas bottle decided to run out.  Last year I didn't top it up so I was half expecting it any time soon so I finished the bacon off in the microwave and sat at the table in the stairwell eating it.  This made my decision for me, I'd go into Kardjali and get mine topped up and take Avatar's in as well, she'd mentioned that she needed more if she was staying here for the winter so I killed two birds with one stone.  I loaded both bottles in the Nipper and secured them with bungees and firstly I went to the hardware shop to see if I could buy some more of the hose pipe so that I could renew it.  The first question asked was whether I wanted eight or ten millimeter so unable to answer it I left the purchase for another day.  I'd had a vague smell of gas so I think I need to get a man in to check it all out.  Stopped off at Lidl to buy more bottled water and anything that was going cheap and back in the car and to the garage that fills the bottles and made my purchases, ten leva in Avatar's bottle and twenty in mine,  A quick stop at the supermarket in Djebel for fresh bread and then back to the village to deliver the bottle to Avatar amd tem tp mine to unload the shopping, try to connect the gas bottle but it needs more force than I can give it to reseat the valve and ensure that everything is safely connected.  It's now sitting in the little house, I did put water on the exit valve from the gas bottle and no gas was escaping but I'll get someone else to do it.

Seven thirty and I've watered the garden and had an early supper of tuna mayo and toast and somehow a small packet of sultana biscuits have been devoured.  I also bought a bottle of Coke while I was in Djebel and that's taken a hammering too.  Another still night but I must remember to get the sheets in that are now dangling by one peg each from the washing lines.  I think they need to go back in the washing machine.  LN.....It's going to be an evening in front of the computer....if I can find anything on Transponder to watch.....or resort ot Netflix.....LN

Sunday 22nd August

Six start and I was out there with my coffee to watch the sun come up and listen to the morning unfolding.  I could hear woody headbanging on one of the trees but I knew that if I got up to grab the camera there would be no chance of catching him in the act.  I made the second cup and took that out as well, I was in no rush this morning to get anything done except get those two sheet in that were now suspended by one peg each and so I brought them in and into the washing machine they went....eventually/  For some reason I ended up in the guest room and noticed that the plastic chest that stored goodness knows what was bursting at the catch so I opened it up to see what was in there.  I salvaged a lightweight quilt in a zebra print that will do for the autumn to match my curtains in the bedroom and quilt covers made here that are particularly useless for my plain quilts.  They've got diamond shaped cutouts in the middle so they're going to a local charity along with several other things as I work my way through.  So first in the washing machine was the quilt and secondly a lot of bedlinen for a worthy cause yet to be identified.  All went out on the line with plenty of pegs to secure but I lost the two grey sheets again but they'll do.

I quick breakfast after I'd watered the garden, washed and dressed and headed out to the workshop to play with a bit of metal, the vice and a hammer but it didn't work out so back to the drawing board Cecil.  I logged on to the computer and did my morning rituals and ended up adding a few more dates to the ancestry chart that I've been looking at for someone and found a new person.  By now the temperature was rising so I stationed myself on the sofa and with Netflix in the background I unpicked the hems of the lounge curtains intending to pin them up but decided it was going to be much easier if they were on the rail so I found the three stepped ladder and did the business.  Steps away and got involved in Netflix 'next episode' and the day wore on with me munching on tuna mayo sandwiches.

Washing came in in five, garden watered again, workshop locked up, I checked on Rosy taking an evening stroll and she wasn't interested in the dish of water I put in front of her so she's doing OK.  I also spotted a mole that's been left I think by my black cat, it looked as if it hand been captured much before I spotted it.  The local cowboy on his motor bike was rounding the cows up so I decided to lie in wait to have a moan at the noise he makes but he thought it was a perfect photo opportunity so I didn't way anything,  Lovely sunset this evening, more clearing tomorrow especially if the weather is like it was today.  LN...Alternatively might get up to something.....LN

Monday 23rd August

So I settled down to watch Antiques Roadshow at just after ten my time and I woke up at two thirty...obviously catching up on my unfilled quota of sleep.  So up I got from the sofa, headed up to the bedroom, head down and it was seven before I woke so must have needed it.  I think it's the heat that takes it out of you, again we've been subjected to mid thirties so I worked this morning, head down again this afternoon and filled an hour or so and soon it will be time to go to bed.  Another day gone and nearer to September....the days are flying by.

I was pegging out my washing by eight having spent the washing cycle on the balcony sipping coffee.  The hose pipe went on and the gardens along the tall wall were all watered well including the shrubs at the bottom of the garden.  They were all looking sad and a good soaking has done them the power of good when I checked this evening.  Breakfast was just a couple of cheese spread sandwiches on the hoof so to speak and I started to watch Good Morning Britain but again I was forced to abandon it.  What gives the presenters the right to just keep slamming the government and empathising with every guest that it brought to the programme.  They seem to have a huge pot of hot oil that they pour on to every topic and fanning the embers...at which point I find the off button and go back to what I was doing.  I found the shovel and Mr Mole is now over the other side of the wall and this time I saw the white and ginger cat standing stark still on the other side of the veg garden.  It was obviously listening to something or waiting for the finches to come for the sunflower seeds but no way can it jump that high.  I sorted the washing from yesterday and folded up the sheets and put them into the chest with the rest of the bed linen.  I've decided that I need two more sets of shelves, one for boots and the other for material that I've accumulated and done nothing with.  The trouble is once it's hidden in a chest at my age you forget that you've got it ...and okay, surprises are good but I really should get down to getting the sewing machine out or at least buying a can of spray glue and recover some storage boxes that have see the best of days.  Another job was to unpick a broken zip from a faux leather rucksack and I'll stitch up the opening, the bag has loads of storage.  I won't use it but I know someone who will so that's a job for tomorrow.

By now it was getting on for just after two and very hot so I settled in front of the TV in the lounge with the cool breeze blowing through and off I went.  Time to get the washing in and put it away, I found the curtain rings for the corridor curtains and they're now up for the winter....I'd taken them down when the man came to decorate through, washed them but it has taken a while to finish the job but now it's done. I decided to boil potatoes to make potato and tuna salad and had to resort to the electric hob since the gas wasn't connected and boy did it smell.  I've only used the hob about four times in the last ten years and the grease from the gas rings must have settled long and hard and it was only when I applied power to one of them that it started to burn off.  I persevered, opened the windows fully to get rid of the smell but I think it will take a while.  

I finished preparing my salad and was just sitting down to it in the lounge when my neighbour arrived with a place of meat and rice, a gift from Zelinger for a 'mevlit' or to memorise the departed.  My neighbour encouraged me to eat it since it was hot but I pointed out that I was half way through supper so that it would have to cool down and I'd warm it up again tomorrow.  Now my neighbour is local and used to things like connecting gas bottles so I asked her if she could and would, she said yes so I fetched it from the little house and she connected it without any fuss.  She knew what she was doing and did it.  It looks like the electricity hobs won't be used for another few years.  Washing up done, doors locked and I'm in for the night, nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so far but the night is still young and my brain fairly active.  LN....Kitchen back to normal.....LN  

Tuesday 24th August

Just after midnight to bed, must have been asleep by five past and didn't wake up until seven so what a good night.  It could have something to do with the lack of activity, it's still up in the mid thirties and destined to stay there for the rest of the week.  I watched the birds balancing on the sunflowers and picking off the seeds and took some photos, I made the second cup of coffee and enjoyed the morning and the antics of the birds.  I stripped the bed and remade it with sheets fresh from the washing line, the old ones went in at forty degrees and were pegged out by nine drying in the sun.  I went to look at the garden and spotted cracked shell near the bottom wall and Rosy was lingering in the larger bed at the bottom of the long wall.  

It was breakfast time and I decided to use up the bacon that I'd opened the other day now that I'd got the cooker working again in a controllable fashion.  Electricity doesn't do it for me, so I went to strike the cooker up, it lit and then stopped so I opened the cubby hole to check and realised that my neighbour had connected it properly but shut the supply off so I put it back on bacon and egg was underway.  Breakfast  in the stairwell.

I did some more sorting in the bedroom that covers as a sewing room and it was twelve before I'd looked round.  Yesterday I'd sorted out wool that I will never use so I decided to walk over to Avatar's house to see if she wanted it.  As it happened, her grand-daughter had at last arrived from Germany and she was on her trip round the village so catch up with the ladies.  I returned home and settled in the lounge with the Kindle playing sudoku until I got bored with the game and raided the fridge for an ice-cream and realised that the rest of the day was going to be a non-day...and it was.

Just after seven my time, I have the food that was delivered last night by my neighbour but I'm never sure about reheating rice so I might just look for something else or ...nothing.  Ice-creams have that effect on me so I might be OK or batting around the kitchen at ten tonight in desperation.  Just off to water the garden and fill up the water stations for the animals although most of them have probably got their little heads tucked in for the night.  LN...Tomorrow I will do something.....LN

Wednesday 25th August

It's a good job that the computer shows the day and date at the bottom of the screen, the days seem to be drifting along and it's all getting much of a muchness.  Tonight though we have a change, the clouds are gathering, it looks like it's raining over Kardjali and I just hope that it decides to drop some of the load on the garden...if only to settle the dust.  I've just spent an hour watering the garden which is OK but the grass is another kettle of fish so hopefully, if it does rain, the grass will take on a green tinge instead of the dried up brown colour.  Fingers crossed.

So now for my day....Six thirty start and it was on with a fleece jacket to take my morning cuppa on the balcony. The woodies were out in force attacking the lonesome pine and the walnut and the photos were at full stretch.  The other pale coloured bird was down by the bottom of the bottom wall and was swinging its tail backwards and forwards and chirping away as if I had no right to be down there having a bonfire.  Eventually it gave up realising that I was not going anywhere and shot off over the hillside.  I'd moved the hosepipe down to the bottom of the garden while I had a bonfire and once I'd got it going watered the shrubs well at the bottom of the garden and took the old spiky flowers off the buddlieh and hopefully the new ones will flower.  I moved up the garden watering as I went and brought the tops of the buddlieh up with me and have now around fifteen cuttings in water having a good drink before I put them into a bucket of compost.  I came in for breakfast and made a spicy sausage omelette placing two slices of cheese on the top and that did me through until now.  I went over to see Avatar and asked her if she was interested in the wool that I'd found in the bedroom chest yesterday, her little eyes lit up so I went to take it over around five, saw the village ladies sitting in her garden so returned home and went over at seven when she was on her own.  

I spent some time this lunchtime clearing the weeds from the veg patch and the little garden between the steps but came in when it got really hot out there, put the TV on and got my head down around three and woke up around four thirty.  I went out and finished weeding the little garden, tidied up my mess, watered the garden, got rid of a stalk wasp nest by the fly screen to the porch by attacking it with the nozzle on the hose pipe and upset quite a few wasps.  Wool delivered and she has taken an order for two pairs of socks for me and it should keep her busy for the winter.  

It's been a busy old day and I've seen the results, now to have a shower and sort out supper.  LN.....Kardjali tomorrow....I need spray glue and a picture to be framed.......LN

  

Thursday 26th August

Six thirty start so I made coffee and took it out to the balcony.  First job was to remove the top cushion and put it out to dry on the balcony rail, so we had rain but it could have only been a smattering and it was confirmed by Avatar who said that we had a few drops at three this morning whilst complaining that she couldn't sleep last night.  Guess she was probably working out what to do with the wool.  I played a few games of sudoku came in from the balcony when the sun went behind rising mist forming quite dense clouds, it was cold so I even shut the balcony door.

I went downstairs and made breakfast of boiled eggs and toast, tidied the kitchen, washed up and went back to the table in the stairwell, took my blood pressure which appears to be very stable at the moment and finished off my shopping list.  Washed and dressed ready for town, it was a funny old day so I put on a pair of jeans and a very loose top and drove in to Kardjali.  I managed to park next to the Vivacom shop in the free parking and took my picture to be framed, then on to the stationery shop and bought my one hundred and sixty gram paper and the price wasn't too bad.  I was offered a one twenty gram pack at about a thirty of the price but the other is tried and tested.  Back to the Nipper and over to Kaufland and managed to stick to the list and even got through the six item checkout.  I made my way to Lidl and again stuck mainly to the list, stopped  off for petrol at my normal gas station, the fuel warning light had come on so put forty leva's worth in.  That should do me for a while since mainly I use gas.

I stopped off at my student's mum's shop in Djebel to deliver egg cartons that I'd saved for her, into the supermarket for bread and chicken wings and now I had the makings of supper.  I carried on home and checked my phone that had rung as I was driving from Kardjali and found it was my daughter so phoned her back and spent an hour on the phone.  We discussed all sorts of things and she said that she was looking after a tortoise for a friend's daughter and my response was 'only one, I've got four and I suggested that she watches the Durrells...easy to watch and pleasantly amusing.  The one that she's looking after apparently lives in luxury with a mini food garden built in and is caged where mine take it for what it is and dig their own chambers to sleep in for the winter.  I took some grapes over for Avatar and told her not to bother preparing supper, it was my treat for tonight.  I hadn't been there long when the Haciber came round to check on what we were doing, Avatar had been really busy and had decorated several rooms and has made a good job of it.  So supper in, television on, supper out and delivered and sat down to mine.  By this time the clouds were really gathering and by the time I got home the thunder had started and so did the rain.  It threw it down, there was the start of a rainbow which dissipated very quickly and it stopped as quickly as it had started.  LN.......No garden watering for me tonight ...a night off.....LN

  

Friday 27th August

So I woke up at five thirty, headed out on to the balcony.  Everything was very wet so I suspended the chair cushions from the balcony rail and they were dripping water onto the terrace.  It had been a short, sharp downpour and not sure if we'd had more in the night but it was much too wet to stay out there and I didn't bring them in until late this afternoon.  I made coffee and went back to bed, it wasn't cold but no way could I be tempted to sit on the balcony, the air was damp, the sun was definitely hiding and low clouds.  I fired up the computer on the landing and carried out the normal morning checks and then for some strange reason decided to check up a few details on the ancestry that I was researching for a friend and found that one of the names appeared in a family chart within its record.  There were a few discrepancies and duplicates but it confirmed my original finding and took me back in outline for about one hundred and fifty years and taking me back to early sixteen hundreds.

I eventually managed to get down stairs, walked the garden and found Rosy at the bottom of the garden but none of the others.  Black cat was sitting on the lawn squeaking persistently at me but I had nothing to give her this morning except bread so i threw some out.  At ten I thought it was time to think about breakfast so went in the fridge for the ham that I'd bought yesterday and didn't find it in there.  I checked the freezer and didn't see any fresh stuff on the top and then I fell into confusion.  I checked the receipt and yes, I'd bought it and the only thing I can think of is that I must have left it in the trolley or at the back of the checkout.  I even checked the rubbish bins just in case I was on auto-pilot and the strange thing was that I'd discussed making a sandwich with my daughter and mentioning that I had prosciutto ham and we both drooled at the thought.  And to date...still not found, I even searched the Nipper.  Breakfast was poached on toast without the ham...such a let down.

As for the rest of the day, I stationed myself in the lounge after breakfast and promptly got my head down for a couple of hours watching the backs of my eyelids.  I don't know whether or not it was a rapid change in the weather, the early start, but I felt absolutely drained.  I started picking on food which I try not to do, went back to the TV and watched garbage for an hour or so.  Avatar came round with the dishes from last night and brought me a pot of her home-made yogurt and it's much better since it doesn't have added sugar.  Back to ancestry to try and wade through the errors that the previous person had made and now I will write it up tomorrow.  

The weather changed again and went back to normal. thirty degrees but there was a breeze pushing its way round the property so quite pleasant inside and that was the place to be.  Nothing for supper, I've picked too much, no garden to water but I might have to do it in the morning.  The only flurry of activity today was when I spotted the stork circling so I went out with the big camera at full stretch and was unable to see the screen because of the sun.  I snapped away, gave up hope and only managed to get a glimpse of it in a passing shot.  LN.....Ah well, better luck next time......LN

Saturday 28th August

So a little bit of a restless night, woke up at five and didn't want to so slept through until seven and still didn't want to wake up and managed to go off again until eight...result.  In all it was a pretty slow start, I made coffee, sat on the balcony with it, took out my sudoku book and knocked off pretty quickly two 'hard' ones and then settled for a 'very hard' one that did take me quite some time and eventually managed it. I try to avoid looking at the answers for confirmation that I'm on the right track and today managed it.  Down to the kitchen and put the washing up away from last night, made toast with cheese spread and then washed up every thing that was waiting for me, scrubbed the roasting tray and even washed that up and put it away.

The shower was calling me, my hair was in desperate need of washing so I had a lovely long shower, combed my hair through in the upstairs bathroom and cut around two inches from the length.  It looks reasonably straight but I really must get it done professionally at some point otherwise it could be up to my ears and that would never do if I keep taking a little more from each side to straighten it up.  From the stairs I noticed that one of the tortoise was on the terrace and looking to find away down so I made it easy for it....I grabbed the coal shovel and hoisted it up, went down the steps with it and dumped it on the grass, went back in the house and brought out a few grapes which it ignored.  So much for looking after your wild-life...and now to get dressed, the bath towel really didn't cut it at ten thirty in the morning.

Back to the balcony and I finished off a half finished sudoku from the book, made a phone call to the UK and then set about tidying the things that were on the top of the wardrobe in my bedroom , made my bed and settled on the computer on the landing checking Google out for the best software for producing professional looking family ancestry charts.  I didn't get an answer so decided to phone a friend and we had a good catch-up and she said that she'd paid a man to have one of her charts she was doing for a friend professionally bound and it cost just under one hundred pound.  It looks like I'm doing it myself and enlarged and photocopied in Kardjali for about five leva...I love where I live.....and not too much extortion when they know that you live here.

Paralympic games and Diamond League this afternoon since it had clouded over and we had some short sharp downpours which again means no watering the garden for me.  Another day of picking including cheese and breadsticks and apricots with natural yogurt so not too much damage done.  So at eight my time it's turned into a very pleasant eventing, not a cloud in the sky and no wind at all and nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so far.   LN.....Hoping for a peaceful night......LN

Monday 30th August

This is going to be a swift update...the electricity has only just come back on and really ruined my afternoon television.  To throw in the mix we had rain, thunder and lightening so after a good morning's gardening. even that was postponed....but there's still lots to do.  I had my morning coffee on the terrace, didn't bother with breakfast since I couldn't decide what to have and by the time I had, the power was off so I went out to the garden armed with my hedge trimmer and loppers and set about tidying things.  The topiary on the bush balls is all done and I've lopped off the bottom of the pointed tree in the middle of the main garden so that the trunk is longer and the round bush next to it looks more pronounced.  The bushes along the short wall are now back in shape after the cows made up their own designs which didn't fit well with the rest of the garden.  I also dug up a wayward acacia which is a root runner from the big one by the side of the house but having one I really didn't want another and in fact, the big one might also have to go, it's a bit too close to the house and the well.

Brunch was a chunk of smoked local cheese and I went back to sorting out the paperwork to support the chart that I've more or less finished.  I'm still checking out a few dates but again, with the power going off that put a stop to that.  I watched the Tokyo Paralympics' and caught the  one hundred meters with Johnny Peacock and very unusual, there was a two way tie for the bronze medal and he was one of them.  He was upset in his interview and hindsight is a marvellous thing but it wasn't to be.  He holds gold for the last two Olympics but now the title has gone to Germany.  I went over to see Avatar this afternoon to return what I thought was one of her dishes that I'd found in the cupboard.  It wasn't hers but I left it with her, she can be accused of stealing it if it's recognised by one of the neighbours.  I came back with a goody bag of a peach. two chocolate bars and a banana and I had to have the statutory carrier bag so that no one knew.

So to compound the day's events, the water is off and that put paid to having a bonfire this evening.  Everything is still so dry that you just can't risk it.  I'm taking advantage of the electricity being on, I've put a rack of barbecue ribs in to cook and I just hope that it stays on, firstly to complete this offering and secondly to make sure that I go to bed with a full tummy.  Clouds are gathering again so we might have another downpour overnight and I'm pleased, the garden is taking on a feint tinge of green.   More gardening tomorrow and definitely a bonfire if the waterboard is kind to me and sort out it's problems.  Spotted Sandy today and I haven't see this one for at least a couple of months...could have found an escape route and then decided it's best in the enclosure...who knows.  LN.....Funny old day......LN

Tuesday 31st August

So I went to bed pretty early last night by my standards, the electricity was on but the water was still off.  It didn't take long for me to go to sleep but it didn't take too long for me to be awake again at three, restless for an hour or so and then back off again until six thirty and I was back into the world.  The electricity was still on so I could make my coffee, I'd bought the cushions in last night in case we had rain so I made coffee and took it out on the balcony with my Kindle and first watched the sun try very hard to come up and break through but there wasn't a lot to see.  There was a glimmer between the dark clouds and then it disappeared.  I made another coffee and made my way outside and filled up a water bottle from the water barrel that collects from the roof and took it up to the bathroom.  Unfortunately it was tinged with green and specks of dirt, not ideal for pouring down the toilet but that was the best I could do.

I didn't bother with breakfast, I loaded the Nipper up with seven empty water bottles and drove down to the well just beyond the next village.  As I drove on the main road I saw the digger that I'd seen earlier heading down the road standing in a field with around ten men standing along with it.  Labour's cheap here, no sense of urgency that would occur in the UK and people take it as 'situation normal'.  It was in the lap of the water 'maesters'.  I carried on to the spring watering hole and noticed that the water power was definitely down.  One is always better than the other and it didn't take long to fill the bottles and I was joined by a grandfather and his grandson of four years who was off to the UK later this week.  I drove back and almost ran over Guljan's father who didn't hear me coming explaining that he ears weren't working properly.  He asked if I had clean bottles, I said I did but the bread van stopped further conversation as it drove up behind me.  I'll sort some out and take them down.

On the way back I stopped off at Beyser's house to see if she wanted a bottle of water but they've all topped up.  My Avatar was in the garden so we sat in the sun gossiping about the rest of the villagers, Covid and Turkish visitors. I found out today that our mayor has got the virus so that's brought it nearer to home for the rest of the villagers...now they believe it's real.  I unloaded the Nipper and put five bottles into the little house, moved two to the bathrooms in the main house and with three shop bought bottles I should survive.  I went on to the ancestry programs and tried to untangle an enigma concerning a boy born out of wedlock and a woman from Aylesbury who appeared to be his grandmother and it's still unsolved.  I went to the kitchen, the washing up stayed in the sink and I made myself toasted cheese and onion sandwiches, went back for another and the electricity went off so now I'm without all facilities so it was just a cheese and onion sandwich and the computer was now out of commission.  

Eventually the electricity came on, closely followed by the water so I did the washing up and settled down to watch 'Clickbait' on Netflix, a series that I'd started last night and at this point the heaven's opened and the thunder started...well it was afternoon.  I finished the series and not what I'd felt it was going, the water is still on so far so let's hope that they did a permanent job not a temporary one to give us a day with and potentially a few more with and without.  There's a few fluffy pink clouds in the sky between the majority of grey.  At east the wind has dropped, it was blowing a holey out there late afternoon.  Might head into Kardjali tomorrow to pick up my picture from the framers and even carry on to Haskovo for a large bale of potting compost ready for autumn seed planting.  LN.....I'll see how I feel.... LN