Sunday 1st August

Stashed up in an hotel after a friend's birthday party.  Sun, swim, lots of birthday cake and good conversations.  More details tomorrow when I get home and lots of pickies of the venue.  LN....I should do this every weekend....LN

Monday 2nd August

So I was up at seven this morning that my next door neighbours had their own party when the rest of the hotel was asleep.  They were on the balcony having a drink, then there was a lot of noise coming from the hotel room and I almost banged on the wall but...what was the point.  I got my own back this morning though when I scraped the chair on the balcony and move the clothes airer and his snoring stopped.  Point made.  I took several pictures of the lake and hotel before the hoards descended and tried hard to catch the fish as they jumped out of the water but it's such a big lake that you centre on one point and then the fish jump in the opposite direction.  I won't make a nature photographer....I've come to terms with the fact.

Down to breakfast by eight thirty and not much choice.  I anticipated a buffet and got 'Princessa' which is toast with ham and cheese on it and I was disappointed that tat was the only choice.  It did come with two slices of tomato and two of cucumber, Turkish black coffee and I waited twenty minutes for a glass of water...perhaps the well was running dry. I packed up the room and got swim gear on and must have been in the water for a good hour or so, back for a shower, paid the bill and set off in convoy to my friends' house and by this time the thermometer was showing forty degrees.  I left at two, stopped off at their local shop and bought bread and a few more items and had a conversation with the shopkeeper that I've know for around ten years and caught up with local gossip.  Back in the Nipper and took the highway to hell back towards Kardjali and took the back lane making sure that I did early signals and braked so that the idiot behind know that I was going to attempt an unusual move,  Success, I arrived home in one piece, unpacked, put the shopping away and turned on the TV and settled down after opening all the doors to let the wind blow through.  I also managed to wash the swimming gear and that needs fetching in...it's all go here.

It was good to get away for the night and mix with the locals and renew friendships.  Supper is going to be a limited affair,,,not hungry and much too hot.  LN....Now back to the Olympics and The Blacklist.....LN

Tuesday 3rd August

Seven start and it was eight when I got out and started my daily chores.  The plants needed watering, I wanted a bonfire and I had to reattach the handle to the body of the garden fork....it had rotted and was in need of repair.  I opened up the little house and made swift work of it by renewing part of the shaft that fitted into the handle, used loads of wood glue to secure the wood and smothered the surrounds of the shaft with wood glue, replaced the handle and screwed everything back into where it should be.  I checked this afternoon and every thing seems to be solid and secure...good job done.  I watered some of the beds and got the hose down to the bottom of the garden and close to the burning bin, a fire when everything is so dry is dangerous hence the precaution of the hose to hand.  That underway I replaced the lid and left it to its own devices which left me free to move the garden hose around and give everything a good soaking.  

By this time I was in need of watering so went into the house and got myself a bottle of water which was to be the first of many I've had today.  I had five minutes with the Olympics which stretched out to an hour or so as I watched the sailing where we won two golds and a silver medal.  Next job on the list was to use the grass mower that I'd got out earlier to remove the long plantain heads and stalks and the yellow daisy things that bashed against my ankles each time I walked the garden. I managed down to the mulberry in the first session, more water required as we were now in the 'extremely hot around forty degrees' time of day, more sport on the tv and then back out to finish the rest of the big house grass.  The rest can stay for another day and the petrol ran out on the last run so I thought that the machine was telling me that it had had enough for one day too.  My Avatar appeared at the door with an unknown and he wanted a tool of some sort and I just didn't know the word.  He got his phone out and was fiddling and suddenly I hear the words 'spirit level' and now it was obvious what he wanted so into the workshop I went and found on, handed it to him and off he went to carry on with the work at Avatar's house.

Time for a shower since my skin was leaking like there wouldn't be a tomorrow and washed my hair and sat watching more Olympic roundups.  At four I decided to go into Djebel for potatoes but didn't leave until six.  I stopped off to have a few words with my students mum since she was still working and suggested that we all go for a pizza if she hadn't planned anything for supper.  We waited for her husband to finish work at the garage and went to our local pizza restaurant and had a special evening.  On our way back we noticed that the water fountain in the square was lit but there was no water.  I suppose the holiday is over and it won't be going again until the next one.  The went home, I went to the supermarket for ice-cream and potatoes and was home for eleven fifteen.  A dish of the ice-cream is finished, the rest is in the freezer and will live for another day.  LN.....What a busy life I've got at the moment....LN

Wednesday 4th August

Six thirty this morning, coffee and up and at it quite early.  I watered the garden, got the grass mower out and by eight thirty I'd finished the rest of the grass and was putting tools away.  I didn't see anything of the tortoise, I checked the side gardens at the bottom but nothing...not even a rustle of leaves witch normally gives the game away.  I came in for water but settled for another cup of coffee, turned on the Olympics, caught some of the skate boarding and then turned to the red button for the cycling.  By this time breakfast was calling so I removed a pack of frozen bacon from the freezer, fried off half of it, added an egg and made fried bread and sat in the lounge watching more of the athletics.  It will be over at the end of the week so I'll probably take to reading books or sewing, it's much to hot to be outside, again it was thirty five degrees and counting.  

I settled on the sofa and caught up with a little sleep and after the exertion of the morning and woke myself up with a shower and removed the dust from my feet that had accumulated mowing the grass.  Actually thee wasn't much action except for on the hillside in that the shepherd's nephew was racing around the hillside on a motor cross bike revving for all his was worth so I sauntered down the garden but I didn't manage to catch him in the process but I did later,  His cousin was screaming up and down the road in a little blue car and with so many old women walking about, somebody is going to get hurt.

At half seven I went out to water the garden and noticed Blue heading for the main terrace and Rosy coming out of the garage.  I found the snow shovel in the little house and scooped up Blue and put it down on the grass, went back for Rosy and she got deposited back in the garden and as I walked back up the steps I saw the other Blue by the terrace chair and did a double take.  This one also was scooped up and put back in the garden.  I can only think that its cool in the garage that's why they make their way there, I'll have to put a dish of water in there for them.  I carried on watering and watched them disappear to the bottom of the garden and heard the latch go on the gate.
It was the sheep farmer's nephew with a wedding invitation for me for one of the sons so I took the opportunity to asking him why he was racing round the hillside and he said that he was gathering in the cows.  I think he should get a quad bike, it would be less noisy.  I also asked him to tell his cousin to keep his speed down.  

I think I shall be doing some early weeding tomorrow, a few beds need sorting and then another easy day.  I've earmarked Friday to get the Nipper MOT'd and get that out of the way.  It's not due until next week but hey ho.  LN.....Now time for another shower and fresh clothes....LN

Thursday 5th August

Six thirty start, coffee, walked the garden and started weeding the old veg patch.  The only bed left to do is the sunflower bed....too many roots might be disturbed and wouldn't want to disturb what is a beautiful display,  No tortoise in sight but I didn't investigate the back of the garage just in case they are having a secret meeting.  I finished in the garden at eight, the temperature was climbing already so I settled on the sofa and put the Olympics on and watched some of the skateboarding until I got bored and switched over Netflix and the Blacklist.  I was beginning to get hungry to used up the rest of the bacon, made sandwiches and that did me for the rest of the day except that the ice=cream is no more.  I had a quick shower and dressed and the rest of the day has been spent lazing o the sofa in front of the TV except for a flurry of activity in the little house.  The empty water bottles are hung up, the old lavender is put with the rubbish for burning and that's a job for another day, there was too much wind today.  I had to secure the fly screen from the porch to the yard, the wind was whistling through the house and forcing the plastic clip fastening open.  It's now secured with a hair tie.

Lovely surprise today, Princess phoned for a catch-up and to check that I was still OK.  They are replacing the kitchen in the house and when she told me of the work that she had boon doing and said that I would have been proud of her, I know now that she's a chip off the old block.  The push comes this weekend when the kitchen is delivered and installed so they're not living on a building site.  We had a conversation about her growing up, my ex doing his 'home improvements' that never seemed to end and me cleaning up after him.  It's amazing what childhood memories we hold on to.

A little sleep this afternoon, it's down to thirty four degrees and my next job is to water the plants, the wind today must have been brutal for them.  Hamburgers for supper tonight, still too hot to linger long in food preparation.  LN.....Kardjali and the Nipper tomorrow for its MOT and maybe a hotel for a swim afterwards.....LN

Friday 6th August

Six thirty start and I was out in the garden by seven even relinquishing my coffee until later.  The sun was hiding behind the clouds but it was really hot and humid, not nice at all.  I set about watering the garden, I'd not done it last night so thought I better get on with it.  I caught sight of one of Blue by the cranberry tree so filled up the lid with water and in it got.  Firstly I thought it wanted a drink but then it got all the way in so I filled it up and wondered if it was trying to debug itself.  My doctor told me that they are normally infested with ticks, hence that why I use the snow scoop to move them down to the bottom level on the garden when I find them on the terrace.  Apparently they lodge themselves between the scales on the legs.  Garden done I set about weeding the bed between the steps to the grass but didn't get very far.  There seemed very little air about this morning so I went inside.  At eight I phoned the internet company, the internet had failed last night, I'd run diagnostics this morning and the return message was that there was a problem with the modem.  I'd unplugged it, left it, put the plug back in but still no connection.  The one number I used put me through to an answering machine so I tried the next number I had and again it was an answer phone so in stilted Bulgarian I reported that I had no internet.  Just before nine I got through to a person, who spoke no English and hadn't got a lot of patience to try to understand, she found my account eventually and i put the phone down.  Just after nine I tried again and realised that they must have had a problem at their end and service was restored so I phoned her back to let her know and this time she appeared quite friendly....Job done.

Toast for breakfast and my first coffee of the day.  It was now almost ten, my plans to get the Nipper checked over and MOT'd dissipated so I went down to my Avatar's house to check that she didn't want to go into Djebel and the cash-point.  I found her in Beyser's garden with other ladies from the village and we agreed that we'd do the trip on Tuesday when her money would be in the bank which suited me fine.  I was offered coffee but they put so much sugar in it that it's like treacle so I declined and headed back home.  

The rest of the day has been a bit of a blur.  I've done a lot of nothing, it's been hot, humid, I was out of energy and snoozed in front of the TV watching the Olympics.  The cycling was fantastic with another gold for Britain by a fantastic points margin and the girls won ten of the twelve sprints in the event with five points for each and made up a lap on the rest of the field earning another twenty points leaving the other teams to scramble for silver and bronze.  Eventually the clouds rolled over and the thunders and lightening started.....and then came the rain and the upside of that is that I don't have to water the garden tonight.  The temperature has gone down and the air seems much fresher.  I saw a baby owl on the lonesome pine, grabbed the camera and off it went....quicker than I was!!

Baby party tomorrow in Kardjali and I think I have enough instructions to find the restaurant and it's not until twelve anyway.  I'll be finished by two so might even find a swimming pool and then do my shopping....two birds with one stone.  LN.....Time to find something for supper......LN

Saturday 7th August

So I left myself with an awful lot to do this morning to be on time for the baby party at twelve at a restaurant that had been described to me but I hadn't manage to locate on Google maps.  I was up early enough but the Olympics got the better of me, boxing, diving and cycling and I'm pleased to report that the Bulgarian female boxer took the gold medal beating the Turkish contestant into silver medal.  This served as a good talking point at the baby party but it's obviously not a recognised national sport.  I think I was the only one that knew.

It was a beautiful morning, mist in the valley, hardly a cloud in the sky and temperature pretty warm from the off.  Lots of birds out there that I could hear but not many I could see but I did manage to catch the woodpecker but unfortunately it was in the shade.  The flycatcher was lingering on the electricity lines, shooting off to catch breakfast and then returning to eat the said bestie and then off for the next.  Blue was out marching across the grass towards the bottom of the garden and the cat just sat on the perimeter and watched.  It was obviously looking for breakfast but I didn't want to see it.

At ten thirty I made my move.  I cleaned off old nail varnish, had a shower and washed my hair, dried it, found something to wear and was in the Nipper at eleven twenty.  I went down the rough road and it took me ages to get out on to the main road, there were streams of Romanian cars going both ways.  The holiday season has begun.  The journey into Kardjali was very slow and I fortunately managed to find a parking place near to the starting point of the directions I'd been given.  I headed for the square and asked three youths if they knew where the restaurant was and they were more interested in asking where I was from not where I wanted to go.  One even ended up speaking to me in German so I responded in German that I didn't understand him and all I wanted was directions to the restaurant....so I moved on and asked at the ice-ream kiosk and was pointed in the right direction.  Two minute walk and I was there and they make a big thing of baby parties here.  There must have been almost two hundred women there if not more.  I found my student, her sister (mother of the child), the mother of my students and was show a place to sit,  At first you don't see anyone that you know but when I settled down I was sitting next to someone that I did know, well I knew here daughter when she was eleven and time moves on.  

We had the usual menu, chicken soup, chicken and rice, cake, a fridge magnet to take home and a few sweets.  People drifted off, some had to go to work and we were soon down to family and I felt more at home.  Because of the virus I hadn't seen some of them for a year or so and we caught up at a distance.  I ended up loading the Nipper with things to take back to Djebel including a rather large bunch of balloons tied together and after a stop at Lidl I delivered the item to their home.  Home for four thirty, I didn't manage my swim, unpacked the shopping and settled for a bottle of water and a yogurt and the chicken wings will have to wait for tomorrow.  I'm still waiting for photos of the event to be sent to me, I didn't want to take my big camera and the little one is playing up so really must get that one sorted.  Garden calls, the plants want water, it's been another hot and humid day.  LN...the baby has well and truly been photographed and shown off.....LN

Sunday 8th August

So another silly night last night in that I was watching TV and didn't realise that time was marching on and it was three before I got my head down.  That said I still kept to the routine of waking early so at seven thirty I was out in the garden with the hose-pipe doing what's necessary to keep the garden alive.  The flowers weren't so bad, I'd given them a good soaking last night but I knew we were in for another hot one and I was proved right.

I came in and made breakfast of bacon sandwiches, realised that my camera was bugging me in that it would not record to the card and no way would it let me delete the contents and reformat it.  I would normally have taken my camera with me yesterday to take shots of the baby party but relied on others to do it for me and sent them over and since they were mainly of me, those don't get published.  So after breakfast I sent out a message to my friends in the local village to see what they were up to today and if I could pop over with the camera.  He uses a machine running Linux which isn't so sensitive and after lots of deliberation, we came to the conclusion that it was the SD card that was the problem, he inserted one of his and the photo was written to it so tomorrow, I buy a new card...easy.  We put the world to rights, I refused lunch the bacon sandwiches had done what they were supposed to and I came home around five this evening.  Fortunately most of the Romanians had headed to Kardjali earlier and my turn off onto the rough road to my village was negotiated without any difficulties, put chicken wings and vegetables into the oven and supper was ready for seven.  

Tomorrow I'm off to the garage to get the Nipper pre-MOT checked over, having breakfast with my student, off to Kardjali to the garage but not sure if she'll be joining me or not.  The rest of the day post MOT is going to be...as it comes and might even entail a swim at my favourite pool.  I've washing up to do, the last of the Olympics is put to bed and all that's left is my 'Blacklist' that is still entertaining me when there's nothing but rubbish on other channels.  LN....Nine thirty my time...soon time for bed said Zeberdee.....LN

Monday 9th August

Usual start with coffee but instead of getting on with the watering I sat on the balcony in the morning sun and thought about how lucky I was to have chosen this path.  The garden is more or less tamed, the shrubs are established and on the point of cutting back to keep the garden in shape and the grass is not a burden just now.  It was in the spring and will be in the autumn but at the moment it's behaving itself apart from the cutting back of the seed heads and that's OK.  I did set to with the garden hose and found Blue in the bed at the bottom by the bonfire station looking to position himself for winter and as I walked up the garden towards the little house I caught sight of one of them on their back with little legs and neck flailing about so turned it up the right way, put it in water basin just in case it had been struggling for a long time, it had a drink and then moved on so back to doing what it does for the rest of the day.  I managed to get two loads of washing done and pegged out and then set of for the garage to get the Nipper checked over for it's MOT and made my way to my student's home for breakfast.  She cooked toasted cheese and salami and served it with tomatoes from the garden and t was all very civilised.  We caught up on where we might go for a holiday together, she has an outstanding airplane ticket that I'll book and pay for, that was her birthday present from last year.  The plan was to go to Antalya in Turkey and then Cappadocia but that's been shelved at the moment because of the fires.

So off to get the MOT and as for the best laid plans, the rollers for checking the brakes weren't working and I have to go back tomorrow.  He was sitting with his wife outside the office eating an ice-cream and he very kindly offered me one...I'll take him up on it tomorrow.  Next stop the hardware outlet and I was tempted by a new umbrella which was in the sale but I managed to stop myself, it wasn't a big reduction on the original price and then on to Kaufland where I bought a kettle as a spare and also to use on the landing for morning coffees...at eleven leva I thought it was a good deal.  Over to the computer shop for a new SD card and he tried two of his but neither worked so next stop Lidl to replace one of the solar lamps that was duff and to try a new one, into the electrical shop next door and a very nice man found the correct card and the camera is now working....good to go.  Home for four thirty, television on to watch the episodes of my Netflix that I'd slept though last night while drinking fizzy water with bottled cherry compote in it.  I'd tried to stop for ice-cream in Djebel but the road is being resurfaced and they blocked off the carparking so I settled with what I'd got.

So tomorrow I'm going in to Kardjali to try again with the Nipper....I've got until the twelfth so it's not desperate but I want to get it out of the way.  Washing in and I have to make up the bed before I can go there, I've had cheese and breadsticks so I shan't be cooking tonight.  LN....Another hot, sultry night it's going to be....so shower and bed....LN

Tuesday 10th August

Six thirty start and back to the routine on boiling the kettle upstairs for the first cuppa but forgot the cup so I still had to go down before I could say...jobs-a-guddun.  Lovely morning and not too hot, we had clouds in the sky and a slight breeze but eventually my curiosity was aroused as to which tortoise was legging it down by the bench on the long wall side of the garden.  I went down with a filled watering can to top up the water lids for the tortoise and I spotted Rosy lingering by the one so filled it up and Blue was heading down the garden at full steam so obvious he was OK.  I know if they were on the hillside they would be having a rough time, at least I water the garden and supply watering holes but for next year I'm going to install concrete walk through shallow dishes for them...spoilt things.

Watered the rest of the garden and didn't rush, I'd worked out the agenda for today and it was money from the cash point first, start insurance process, over to the council office to pay my car tax for the year and house tax that I'd forgotten about and then back to the garage shop.  There was only one hold-up, the insurance document wasn't completed until one but I was at the MOT garage by one thirty so that was OK.  There wasn't a queue and I drove straight in, the promised ice-cream from yesterday materialised, the MOT was completed and everything in the garden was rosy. Next stop was to pay my phone bill, back to L|dl for a few things, filled up with gas and home for four thirty.  Not a bad day's work.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in sheer food debauchery...Toblerone, Coca Cola, cream cheese and bread sticks and television and of course...a nap.  It's been in the mid thirties today again and quite draining.  I've just been over to see Avatar to check on what time I'm taking her in tomorrow to Djebel and we agreed on nine.  She also asked me if I minded taking her to a village outside Djebel to see her brother, she's not seen him for a year or so.  I saw his wife at the baby party on Saturday and I have no problem.  I joked that I would charge her for the petrol to get there and we agreed on one hundred lev so that's her weekly pension gone.!!  Alternatively she can work it off splitting the remaining logs ready for winter...

Nothing for supper except maybe a few grapes and lots more fluid and looking at the temperature for the rest of the week, we're still going to be in the mid thirties.  LN.....I might be finding a pool tomorrow afternoon.....LN

Wednesday 11th August

Heck of a thunderstorm last night so I switched off phones and went to bed and was asleep in quicksticks.  There was some rain but not really enough to wet the garden and the only sign this morning was a damp patch on the terrace.  I made my coffee and hung the chair cushions form the balcony to dry and watched the sun come up into a clear sky and it remained that way until around eleven this morning when the clouds started gathering again.

I didn't bother with the garden but probably should have done,  More sunflowers have come out in several other beds though they're not as big as the ones in the veg garden.  I didn't bother with breakfast and was into the Nipper at ten minutes before nine and as I backed into the gap near my front wall my Avatar was walking up the road ready for action.  I loaded her in, drove to the top square and realised that I had my reading glasses on so doubled back to the house and went in for my driving glasses which made much more sense.  First stop was the cash point and she handed me the card to do the business.  I asked her how much she wanted, she told me but firstly she wanted to know how much was in the account.  I'd selected English as the language but obviously selected the wrong account and the machine told me so.  Did I want another transaction@  Yes we did and eventually I managed to get the money out and told her the balance since it's printed on the bottom of the receipt.  Next step I thought was to the office to pay for her house tax but instead she is entitled to free coal so we made out way to another office and she stopped to complete it.  I decided to move the car nearer to the office so set off and by the time that I got back she had finished and was with another lady and I think Avatar was panicking that I'd got lost.  We walked a little way, I told her to wait while I fetched the Nipper as stopped to pick her up just as the police car drove by ....and fortunately all was well.

So we set off for her brother's house, she hadn't seen him for a year and what a surprise when she saw that her sister was over from Turkey.  She hadn't seen this one for four years so had lots of catching up to do.  We sat outside in the summer kitchen and the wife prepared fruit for us but unfortunately it just encouraged the flies and I'm not too good at sharing my food.  I asked if I could take a photograph of them for her and she agreed and we said our goodbyes and back to Djebel we went and I'd now gained the grandson.  Avatar decided that she wanted Banichka for breakfast so again I parked up, the main carpark was cordoned off because of road works so everything was everywhere.  Why they don't do it at night I shall never know.  The shop was very busy and it took ages to get breakfast but my painter was in Djebel and kept Avatar company until I returned.  Back to our village and I dropped her off, put the car in the yard and went back with one of the two melons that we'd been given and we sat down to breakfast in the garden of banichka and tomatoes and I'd taken a bottle of water back with me with a lid.....again lots of flies.  

So this afternoon I put the TV on and watch nothing in particular and has a sleep.  The clouds had rolled over, it was hot, very muggy and the thunder is still rumbling around.  We had a couple of showers which did nothing for the garden so I ended up giving it a good water and hopefully it will get more overnight.  I'll deliver the photos tomorrow and probably take one down for the brother and sister later this week.  Avatar was overjoyed with the surprise.  Again it's too hot to eat or even think about food at the moment....probably tuna and potato salad later.  LN.....Nothing to do tomorrow...nice feeling......LN

Thursday 12th August

Five thirty start this morning, I tried to get back off to sleep but to no avail.  I emerged from bed at six, made coffee and went out to the balcony, found the cushions that hadn't got damp over night with the dew and enjoyed the morning.  The woodies were out in force getting breakfast and very noisy in the process.  Firstly the call to let others know that the territory was occupied and secondly the headbanging.  I walked the garden and spotted Blue on the concrete on the terrace by the woodstore so moved a couple of the pears that had fallen nearer to him.  He hid away when I first approached but came out of his shell when I walked away and started to eat the fruit.  I did go round and make sure that the water containers were full, we'd had a little rain overnight and so didn't bother with watering the garden.

I came in and made toast for breakfast and yogurt and washed some grapes that I'd bought a couple of days ago and took half over to Avatar.  I sat in the garden with her for a while, she told me about the conversation she'd had with her sister and I told her that the photos would be delivered tomorrow.  I'm not sure if I have any frames or not so might have to make a special trip to Djebel.  By now the temperature was rising so I chose to stay indoors, I followed up on a few 'Hints' from ancestry but didn't make much headway...my heart wasn't in it.  The early morning start was getting through to me so the TV went on and I had an early morning nap and it was lunchtime when I woke up gain.  I pottered in the little house tidying up the screw jars and gardening tools, refilled the strimmers but so far there's nothing to strim.  No grass to mow and the mower does all the collecting of the seed heads but even they have slowed down.  We've been in the mid to high thirties for the last month or so and it's taking its toll on the garden and me.  I think I definitely need a pool tomorrow.

I watered the garden and gave everything a good soaking, the sunflowers are beginning to look a little sad with heads bent over so I should really be cutting the heads off and drying them for the winter food for the birds and also to get the seeds for next year.  There's a pre-wedding bash going on in the square tonight.  It's the daughter of my sheep farmer and the wedding is on Saturday so I'll have my boots blacked ready.  Unfortunately it's a very noisy affair tonight, the music is very loud and likely to go on until midnight, when the groom arrives to claim his bride all arrive by car with horns at full blast and as for fireworks, I don't know where they bought them from but it sounded as if the village was under attack from the air as well as from the land.  Perhaps that was just money talking....bigger and better than anyone else.  Tuna and potato salad for supper, a nice meal without much effort.  So now back to my Blacklist on Netflix, it's the final season and we're heading for the conclusion as to who really is the spy, who is the heroines real mother and who is her father.  Grandfather has just died, mother has just be supposedly shot but it's happened before and this could be another twist and turn in the plot...it's hard to keep up with it but I'm still trying.  

The noise seems to have died down a little, it's a good job I didn't need the car tonight, I couldn't have got out of my drive with cars parked all along the road.  LN.....Probably no bed before midnight, they've just started up again......LN

Friday 13th August

Six start again, I made my coffee and went out to have a bonfire.  There was no wind this morning so I cleared out the empty burnt tins and got rid of the debris into the burning bucket and set fire to it.  I suddenly remembered that the hose pipe was still near the house, not down by the bonfire which is where I normally have it when I have a fire so I connected the hoses, turned the water on and continued to water the shrubs while the fire took hold and then subsided enough to put the lid on it.  I didn't stop there,,I put the garden fork to good use and cleared the bottom bed by the low wall and noticed that I had a couple of baby yuccas growing there that must have come from the old plant that I knocked over and removed the top of it.  It's reminded me to check the others for babies.

I came in around ten after watering the rest of the garden, made toast for breakfast and it's been a very lazy day.  I printed off a couple of photos for Avatar for her sister who came over for a visit and had a mare of a day trying to work out the new Microsoft word program.  What an abortion it now is and so difficult to manipulate the settings and seems so much more basic than when I used to use it for a living to deliver training documentation.  I don't think I could manage it now.  I popped over to see Avatar and a couple of the village ladies were sitting in her garden in the shade so I didn't stay long.

There's another party in full swing somewhere at the bottom of the village.  I'm not sure if it's related to last night's bash but again we had fireworks and as for my poor ladies, they've had two disturbed evenings, we're all losing out beauty sleeps.  More gardening tomorrow if the weather stays cooler, I've finished my Blacklist series and am still wondering about the end of it.  Wrong person died and not sure if they'll bring out another series to carry on where this one left off.  There is a letter unread and I for one would love to know what's in it.  LN.....I'll probably never get to know either......LN

Saturday 14th August

It's been a day and a half today but I've got a lot done.  Six thirty start, intended doing washing which I forgot all about and remembered that I said I would deliver photographs to my Avatar's family so I set about finding frames for them/  I came up with enough and decided that I would use PowerPoint to create the images not Word as I'd tried yesterday and failed miserably.  Again it looked much different that I was used to managed to find my way round it and able to deliver photos to size that fitted the frame and it all worked out well.

I made bacon sandwiches for breakfast and set off for the village that I was delivering to at ten and fortunately they were home.  I was offered coffee but decided that I didn't want to get too involved with coffee, melon and the likes so said fond farewells, wished them a safe journey back to Turkey and I have an invite to stay whenever I want to which is good to know.  Back to Djebel and parked up on the main carparking and walked towards my picture frame shop and was accosted by my friend who's opened a new shop and she introduced me to two English people that I'd not met before.  They were staying or rather house/dog sitting in a village near Momchilgrad while the owners were taking a holiday in Greece and eventually I excused myself from the conversation and carried on to my shop and bough the picture frames.  Walking back via my friend's shop, the English people had left so she gave me some plants for the garden, I bought some flamingo picture frames from her and a present for my student's birthday which was today.  She gift wrapped it for me so with a slight diversion I popped round to her house, she wasn't in but her mother was and again with the offer of more coffee I abstained, left the gift, bought a loaf of bread from the supermarket and headed home and by not it was almost one thirty,  

I settled on the sofa with some water and an ice-cream, watched a programme about measuring noises from volcanoes to see if they are about to erupt and fell asleep, so I'll never know.  At four I thought it was time to get my backside into gear, the bus for the wedding this evening was leaving the square at five thirty and I hadn't a clue as to what I was going to wear.  Shower, hair washed and dried, found my standby outfit of navy cotton dress and my bright green velvet jacket , navy shoes and  tan leather belt and matching handbag and I was walking down to the square by five twenty.  No panic at all.  I was dragged into the first seat on the bus by a teacher friend from the higher village and off we set for Makaza hotel picking up along the way.  I'd known the bride since she was about twelve and told her so when we went to offer out congratulations and at the hotel I was told by her uncle that I was on table sixteen with the rest of the ladies from my village while the men sat at seventeen and got dutifully tanked up.  I'd remembered to take a bottle opener so I had my work cut out for me opening the bottles to save the others using forks or knives to complete the work.  

It was a very noisy affair as are all weddings here, the food was slow but had improved since the last time I was at a wedding there and we were back on the coach for eleven and home for eleven thirty and dropped at my door.  It's good that I get invited and am no longer the trophy English person but just a local.  LN....I need sleep....LN

Sunday 15th August

Seven start, sun was already up so I sat on the balcony having my first coffee.  The second I took down to the garden with me and started gardening down the bottom clearing another patch and working out what to do next.  I feel that I've got to go into Djebel and buy some more lengths of wood to renew the garden surrounds, it's looking shabby and I'd like it done before winter though it would make more sense to do it in the spring so it's on the back burner until I decide.  I watered the garden well, as I was digging over the bottom bed it was a dust bowl but I suppose it's to be expected.  Today we had high temperatures and a high wind this afternoon, the trees were mostly horizontal.

I'd put a load of washing in the machine while I was doing the watering, came in for breakfast and went out again to peg it out.  I had toast for breakfast and the rest of the apricot yogurt while watching Gardener's World and introduced by another stand-in for Monty Don.  He must be taking another holiday!!  It was too hot for gardening so stayed inside and as per normal nodded off catching up on my late night last night, had just come round and there was a gypsy barging in through the fly screen and into the corridor.  I jumped up to meet him, in his hand he had two bed covers and said that I could have one for fifty leva.  I told him that I wasn't interested and with each demand that he left the price came down eventually to twenty and I'm still not interested....I have some to sell him.  He started to become aggressive so I had to respond and eventually he left and I followed him out after about a minute, I hadn't heard the latch go down on the gate and he'd left it open so I shut it and dropped the latch.  The last thing I wanted was tortoises out and cows in...the joys of living in the country.

I went out to empty the veg peelings into the composter and heard a strange noise coming from the porch to the little house.  At first I thought it was the grapevine being pushed against the windows by the wind but realised it wasn't so got the keys and opened the door standing well back in case a cat or dog had managed to get in there.  The house hadn't been opened for a couple of days but there is a small window that I haven't covered.  Nothing rushed out, I tried to look inside but could see nothing, the strimmers were all over the place so I braved it and went inside, heard nothing so stood by the gate and suddenly there was movement at floor level and I realised it was the once green and now blue tortoise clattering against the plastic snow shovel.  I cleared the area, got it on the shovels and deposited it down on the grass at the bottom of the steps.  I put a bowl of water down which it ignored and it set off for the low wall....and I suddenly remembered I'd got a 'seen better days' tomato so I mashed it up, put it on the grass and it took what it wanted and then moved on.

Supper is in, tonight I've got roast chicken and sweetcorn and I'll make a potato salad to go with it.  I really like the Lidl on with creme fraiche but they seem to have stopped stocking it again.  Not sure what's on the cards for tomorrow, maybe Kardjali for a bit of a top up and the pool is calling me.  LN.....Really ought to before the weather changes......LN

Monday 16th August

Really hard job waking up this morning.  I was in one of those dreams that you don't want to come out of until you've worked out the end and I never did.  I could vaguely remember it but as I woke up it faded so I compensated with coffee and the balcony and enjoyed the morning.  It was seven thirty when I checked the clock, I was late and had an early night last night...result.

I made more coffee and took it downstairs, put the remains of last night's chicken in a plastic bowl under the wild cherry tree, watered the pots giving them a good soaking and changed the hose and let it run to sprinkle the shrubs at the bottom of the garden.  I checked on the tortoise and found Blue hiding in the garden that gets most water, almost hidden by the greenery.  That's the secret, create one or two feeding and drinking stations and despite the high temperatures they will survive.  When you think about it they have more chance inside than outside the wall.  The sheep came over from the farm while I was down the bottom of the garden and boy is it dry over there and I wonder how they managed to find anything to eat.  Nobody is out there watering.  I changed the end of the hose and moved up the garden watering as I went and it must have taken me a couple of hours or so.  Goodness knows what the water bill will come to but what's the option, some of the shrubs are mature and despite the roots going well down, it doesn't do them any good to get stressed out.  I left the hose on the maple that I'd brought from England.  It's about seven foot now and well worth preserving.  I located the garden fork at the bottom of the garden and set about weeding the rose bed and the little garden where the rhubarb was and is no more,  The weeds came out easily apart from the couch grass but it was easy digging.

I came in for some water and breakfast and ended up toast with cheese slices and it's done me through until tonight and I've found a chicken cutlet in the freezer and it's thawing as we speak.  So at two thirty I'd had enough outside, I'd moved the tomato towards tortoise with the broken shell and it waddled off towards the drinking dish, couldn't managed to get into it so I tipped it up and it ended up drinking from the ground and then off it went down the short wall.  I topped the dish up again but I need to redesign so they can walk in and wall out and get it patented.

First job was to have a shower, I'd leaked a few pints of the stuff and drank a litre of water to top myself up again.  With the daws open it had stayed quite cool in the house so I settled on the sofa, nodded off for about half an hour and settled down with sudoku trying to beat my previously set records but without success.  I didn't bother with the pool, it was just too much effort to drive to the other side of Kardjali.

Half six and about to cook my supper and will probably make it into sandwich.  I've just checked out the weather and again it's going to be in the mid thirties tomorrow so more of the same.  I guess another shower before bedtime.  LN....Kitchen calls.....LN

Tuesday 17th August

Six thirty start and out to the balcony with my coffee and took the iPad with me and after doing the normal check-ups to see how the  world was doing I went back into my own and played several games of sudoku.  The world still appears to be going mad and fortunately it's not really affecting my little world.  I went down to make breakfast of beans of toast and moved to the lounge in front of the TV and watch some Good Morning and then had to turn it off.  Two female presenters who turned into Rottweiler fish wives baying for one of the government ministers blood, spouting statements from the opposition which are always suspect and I found the off switch.  They then had another female presenter who mispronounced Metropolitan...where do they get them from.  Diversity has a lot to answer for.

Breakfast over I washed up and found myself on the wrong end of the hoover deciding that cleaning it out would make it more effective and it did.  Not sure how much I lost up it but that will be found out at the next emptying. I cleared the chest next to the wardrobe and sorted out the bedding that is waiting for the next bed change, moved into the third bedroom and unfortunately fell into the trap that clearing one space and upsetting another so the hoover is still on the landing, the clothes are still waiting for sorting for recycling and some pictures are ready for framing.  Diverse but much too hot to be outside.  I settled again in the lounge and had my afternoon nap which was much longer that normal but much needed, the hot weather takes if out of you.  The garden is watered, I found Rosy and cracked shell Blue in the top garden and filled up the water containers.  There was some in there but it had stood all day so it needed freshening up.  Rosy shot up to the top of the garden while the other one legged it down to the bottom where there is much more greenery to get stuck in to.

I must do something tomorrow...I'm feeling housebound, self inflicted and in my own hands so Kardjali is on the cards.  I also have the urge to go up to the second hand warehouse, not sure what the pull is my there might be something waiting for me.   LN.....Shower time, I need to wash my hair through......LN

Wednesday 18th August

Well thank goodness it's been a little cooler today but unfortunately no air at all.  It's very still as if something is going to happen, I only hope it doesn't rain.  I had the normal morning with coffee on the balcony and by ten I was beginning to think that I should be doing something and start my day.  I decided to write my shopping list and really couldn't come up with enough to warrant a trip into Kardjali.  I broke it down into 'immediate' and 'on the list' but I'd only managed four items of immediate and they didn't actually equate to 'urgent' so instead I carried on sorting out clothes after having the rest of the can of beans for breakfast.

The forever needful garden was watered and all seems to be well.  I was about to remove the sunflowers and dry off the heads for the birds but they've started putting up secondary  flowers so I want them to live out their lives.  Blue 'cracked shell' was out in the midday sun so I brought the drinking bowl to it but it supped for a while then headed down the garden at the rate of knots.  Green Goddess was spotted at the bottom of the garden and Rosy seems to have gone AWOL.  At least I didn't hear any strange noises coming form the little house and I've kept the door locked.  I'm still not sure how it got in there.

I settled on the sofa but no sleep today, when I went to bed last night after a late bath there wasn't an ounce of sleep in me and it was around two when I eventually put the light out.  I made the decision to move the bookcase in the lounge along the wall so that the curtains hanging down in the corner would fit in the gap.  I also came up with an ingenious way to get the curtains onto the curtain pole, it's very heavy old water pipe so I reckoned I could lift the rail of the support and rest it on the top of the door making it easier to hang the curtains.  Next step was to put the pole back on the support and one up and one to go.  It was at this point that I realised that they could probably do with washing so down it came again, the steps went back in the porch and both curtains are now on the washing line.  I also thought that they might shrink and I'll check that out before I rehang tomorrow.  It's all go in this neck of the woods.

Supper tonight I thought was going to be pork ribs but there wasn't a bone in sight so now sure which part of the pig it came from.  It was tasty but dry and I'd sliced up two potatoes very thinly and put those in the over.  They turned out like fat crisps and I served them up with mayo but it got binned, it was a new one but didn't taste that good.  I'm thinking that I having to go for a different variety...the plastic pots are not keepers.

So tomorrow I'm remeasuring curtains to see if I need to sort out the length before I hang them.  I haven't watered the garden tonight....you never know Norman, it just might rain.  LN....My day was pretty well filled....LN

Thursday 19th August

Silly night again.  I fell sleep during the repair shop and woke up to the news discussing the Afghanistan problems with bullets flying and it has somehow wrapped itself into my dream.  I suddenly realised where I was, switched the TV off and made my way up the stairs and fell straight asleep again.  It's quite a coincidence that I've started watching a Netflix about the Capitol being bombed and the forty second in line is now the President of the United States and making decisions that no one really wants...he's not following the script.

I meandered around a little, didn't have any breakfast, moved on to the balcony and performed my morning ritual of doing nothing without a pang of guilt and heard a screech of brakes  and knew that visitor had arrived.  I headed down stairs and unlocked the 'drawbridge' and it was who I expected it to be so went to the kitchen and put the kettle on to make coffee.  We went out to the terrace, he'd come over to borrow my acrow-prop for a minor repair to his property so I opened up the little house and found it in the 'kitchen', the lump hammer removed the wooden baseplate and nails from the wood so that he didn't damage his car seats.  Back to the terrace, we put the world to rights, I had a brain wave that if Bekir wasn't working he could give him a hand to get the job done and it was arranged that Bekir would go to his house when Bekir had finished for the day.  One more off the list.  I also asked for help and the wooden screen is now moved to the back of the garage so that I can store the logs that need splitting.  It rained last night so I'd like to get them under cover.  Off he went around twelve so I made the decision to go into Kardjali armed with my shopping list.

I took the back lane to the Makaza road, got flashed by drivers coming the other way advising me that there was a police radar ahead so maintained my normal sixty through the sixty signs.  Lots of traffic going into Kardjali so parked up near the House of Culture, went to my leva shop for the picture frames and bough a couple of bicycle type locks that might be useful for the gate overnight, more as a hindrance than a preventative.  I carried on to the material shop and bought the material for covering the two sofas in the lounge, went into the second hand shop along the street and they had a fitted sheet in the colour that I'd just bought so had it weighed up and paid the girl and set off for Lidl.  Blow me down, they had fitted sheets of the same colour for nine leva each so bought two....some thing might work and at least I have choices.  Did my food shopping, headed home through Djebel this time, had a few words with my student's mum and made my excuses by saying that I'd got frozen food an ice-cream in the Nipper and didn't want to end up eating twelve small ice-creams with a spoon.  Shopping away, curtains in from the line, sheets washed and hung out and it looks like it might rain again overnight.  We had a similar sky to last night that seemed to foretell of impeding doom but we only had rain.  I've not watered the garden and I've got my fingers crossed.  I've had a yogurt for supper and that should do me until breakfast.  LN....Too hot to eat......LN

Friday 20th August

Another disturbed night and I woke early so have felt jaded for most of the day.  I had my coffee on the balcony as per normal, settled for the second cup in the same place and eventually found my way downstairs and out to water the garden.  Unfortunately it didn't rain last night as I was hoping for and by this morning everything was 'crispy' and definitely in need.  I came in and made tomatoes on toast for breakfast, went out with the intention of getting the loppers out and trimming back some of the branches of the acacia so that I could see more of the hillside but I forgot what I was about and ended up removing the stalks from the day lilies and some of the dried leaves and generally tidying up the beds.  I was going to start to move the uncut logs into the space in the garage and swept it out ready to clear up the old leaves and general dust but they're still waiting to be split and after thinking it through it's better that they are split before they get stored.

Blue was in his usual place down by the bonfire bed and I think he's staking his claim for his winter abode.  It's where he was last year.  Rosy was tramping along the low wall gardens and stopped at the watering hole for intake and then hid in the honeysuckle near the well.  Nobody with any sense was out and about today, another one up in the high thirties,

The tele went on this afternoon and I settled down to cream cheese and bread sticks, tidied away the evidence and promptly got my head down for an hour or so.  Came up for air and a yogurt, collected one of the sheets from the line and covered the smaller of the two sofas in the lounge to see if I'd made the right choice of colours.  I changed the cushions around and am fairly pleased with the result and the other ones sheets can be used on the beds so won't be wasted.

I've just come in from watering for the second time today, looks like we've got the makings of a full moon and it's really shining brightly so better draw the curtains in the bedroom tonight.  I pulled out a few weeds from round the red hot pokers and watered them well and looks like I've got quite a few new plants at the base of the originals.  Time to find something for supper and it's likely to be something easy, I'm out of mayo so it won't be tuna.  LN....Decisions, decisions.....LN

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