Wednesday 1st September

So last night my autumn weight PJ's went, I'd closed the door to the balcony. left the window on tilt and turn but brought up the lightweight quilt when I snuggled down.  It's not that it's cold but it's such a change in the weather that makes it feel colder than it actually is.  Autumn is here.  I had a good night's sleep and woke up feeling fairly refreshed, it was another dull old start to the day with mist and despite opening the balcony door I stationed myself on the chair inside with my coffee.  

I'm not sure what I did this morning apart from washing up, tidying and moving 'stuff' but it was ten before I got round to making breakfast of buttered toast and at eleven I was joining up the hoses in the garden and was about to start a bonfire.  Despite the recent rain, everything is still dry so it's a precaution that you have to take out here.  There's a fine if you have to call out the fire brigade or if someone else calls it out because they think you need the service.  While the hose was on I watered the buddlieh which after taking off the old flowerheads has decided to give another show.  I did a walk of the garden and managed to find four of the tortoise along the long wall and down the bottom of the garden and later today I had to remove Rosy and Blue from the garage and put them back in the garden but blow me down, Rosy was back in the garage this afternoon trying to attack a box.....and I know not why so i left her to her own devices.

I had visitors today delivering a bunch of grapes, be it a small one.  It was a daughter who normally only comes at weekends and wants cutting of everything from my garden and I was surprised to see her.  She came with her mother, I invited them in to the lounge and she immediately spotted my houseplant that's just coming into flower and was about to take a cutting when I told her to leave it alone and instead promised to get her one of the pretty Greek pink flowers from Djebel next time I'm in.  

The electricity went off again this afternoon, came on again pretty quickly but internet didn't want to load and my UK television site was deemed to be not a safe site.  I switched it off and checked on the computer and it was loading correctly so went back and this time it was asking me to log in to the program which is a complete pain with an on-screen keyboard that you have to navigate.  I did manage it first time and the program opened without problems although I'm not seeing any programs on Netflix so maybe my service provider has issues.

I didn't make it to Kardjali, the new offers in Kaufland start tomorrow and there's something I want to check out so it looks like I'll be going tomorrow.  I also have to pick up items from my stationery shop and the picture from the framers and Haskovo could still be on the cards.  So now to find something for supper.  LN.....Now what do I fancy for a change......LN

Thursday 2nd September

Silly four thirty start this morning and there was no way I was getting back to sleep so I played silly games for an hour or so until it was a reasonable time to wake up.  There was mist covering the garden and hillside, no sign of dawn at all and it was getting on for nine before there was a glimmer of that thing we've taken for granted for the last few weeks.  I threw out the stale bread for the cats, birds and whoever else in the garden wanted it and there weren't many takers.  I made toast and was searching for something to go on it from the plethora of odd pots accumulated from various neighbours over the years and it made me realise that I really should go through them.  I opened a pot of strawberry from the village, stuck a knife in it to taste it and it's now over the wall along with some little peppers that I found lingering and tomorrow is the day for doing it.  I wash and save the jars but the ladies of the village are not doing so much as they used to do.  Avatar came back from Germany when the growing season was underway and didn't catch up and with supermarkets in Djebel carrying a reasonable range at reasonable prices now that the basic pension has gone up, there's less urgency to bottle everything in sight.

I did a tour of the garden and didn't manage to find any of the tortoise but it was a damp morning so they were probably well hidden until the sun came out when they would take up their body temperatures.  I washed and dressed for Kardjali, putting jeans and a long sleeve shirt on and ankle boots, autumn is upon us.  I opened the gates to get the Nipper out and spotted Rosy on the concrete infront of the garage sunning herself and was just hoping that she didn't try to make a run for freedom as I manoeuvred the Nipper on to the grass on the other side of the wall.  She was on her marks but that was all...no Houdini antics.  I went down the back lane and first stop was Kaufland to get the storage boxes that I'd seen advertised, they were pretty difficult to locate but once found I loaded seven into the trolley.  The shelving units weren't worth bothering with so I didn't and I picked up six grow bags ready for next year.  They've got a pocket in the sides so you can harvest without disturbing them...neat and next year that's how I'll grow my beetroot and thereby a saving of water since it's contained.  At three for ten leva not a bad deal so I bought six.  It was obviously silly purchase day.  

Back in the Nipper and managed to find a parking space right outside the phone shop that I wanted to pay my house phone bill and did so and for some reason had to renew my contract with the company and it required around seven signatures.  The printed document was handed to me and it will probably take me until the end of this contract to translate it.  Tova e Bulgaria.  I carried on to my stationery shop and they didn't have nibs for my Parker even though they could offer me a good range of Parker pens and also didn't have none shiny A2 paper for the family charts.  Back to the art picture framers and there was a notice in the window that they were on holiday until the sixth of September so back to the Nipper and as I was unlocking my friends from another village were just looking for a parking spot so I suggested a coffee, they parked up and we settled for our usual one that 'got nice toilets'.  Over Cappuccinos we put the world to rights, a quick walk round one or two of the shops by the market and back to our cars.  Back to Lidl, I picked up a few items, drove home, unpacked the shopping settled down in the lounge and promptly went to sleep for an hour or so.  It's a strange feeling when you wake up you're never sure of how long you've been out for the count and wonder if it's morning.  I checked on the curry that I'd put in the slow cooker this morning and that's ready to be served now, just got the rice to do.  

Pleasant day, it was good to be out and about.  The sun eventually broke through this afternoon, the boots were a mistake but the jeans and shirt were just about right.  I've got storage boxes to fill tomorrow and it could be a throw aside day and someone will benefit.  LN.....'Stuff has to go'..... LN

Friday 3rd September

So bed last night at about half eleven and asleep by twelve, awake by two and played silly games until five, didn't managed to get off again so signed on to the computer and started chasing dates on ancestry.  I watched the morning come awake and the moon was lazily lying on it's back, a few morning starts visible but I didn't wait to see the sun come up, started my day, saw one of the tortoise so went out to investigate which one it was.  I took some grapes out with me, it was Blue who nosed them a few times and then settled in devouring one after the other but didn't manage them all.  I carried on down the garden and saw Cracked Shell in one of the little beds down the bottom, went to check on Blue and Sandy was up against the wall just warming up in a patch of sunlight.  I found my way in front of the computer again and remembered that I'd promised Jaylan's son that I would deliver a photo of his son on his trials bike so printed it and framed it and suddenly remembered that I'd taken a picture of Semile's daughter at the last wedding I went to and one of the photos was really lovely of them on the first dance.  I printed this off and framed both of them to deliver later in Djebel.

I made breakfast of toast and sour cherry jam, washed and dressed for Djebel, load of washing in the machine and by the time that it had finished I'd washed up and tidied the kitchen so pegged the washing out, pictures in a strong envelope and left around ten.  Unfortunately  Friday is mosque day and lots of visitors from the rest of Europe are here and also from Turkey.  Eventually I found a parking place near my student's home, a little walk from the centre and saw the trials bike son boning out meat in their butchers shop, he's a boy of many talents.  Semile his uncle was there so I handed over the envelope, he called the boy over and he was so pleased with the photo and I showed his uncle the one taken of his daughter at the wedding and he was in raptures.  He asked how much and I said nothing, they were gift so we settled that he would deliver a tractor of sheep shite for my garden....fair trade I though.  

I went to the next flower shop and bought a new shrub for the garden, very pretty with pink flowers and a yellow centre that's supposed to develop into a tree eventually.  Onwards to the car parts shop and had a few words with my student's mum who said that they'd be on holiday for a few days to Velingrad to a fabulous spa hotel, expensive but worth it so she said.  They'd closed the garage and the son had held the fort in the shop and I suddenly remembered that I needed aerosol glue and did they have it and yes, normally they do but the son had obviously sold it and not written down that it was to be replaced...it will be there on Tuesday so another job done or will be when I get the glue.  Home for two and I'd put the curry on to carry on cooking in the slow cooker while I was out so made rice and had an early evening meal followed by a couple of yogurts, remembered to get the washing in just in case we had the afternoon thunder storm, stuck Netflix on and promptly went into shut-down mode and caught up on my sleep.   Just had a visit from Avatar with some goodies, I told her about the offer of shite for photos and we both thought it was a good deal struck.  Tomorrow I'm going over to see if her old treadle sewing machine will work on leather or at least put holes in the side seams so that I can work the thread by hand....I love experiments.  LN....Bad night but good day.....LN

Saturday 4th September

So a much better night last night though I didn't expect it.  I'd slept through Monty Don on the sofa and expected that I was in credit with sleep so would have another disturbed night but I was wrong.....straight through until seven ten, sun was up, cool out but the balcony was still a very pleasant place to enjoy my morning coffee.  The birds were out if force, woodies headbanging, the finches were attacking what was left of the sunflowers and blackies were out foraging  for whatever might be available despite the dry conditions.

I walked the garden and found Blue lingering where Cracked Shell should be but no evidence of any others.  I threw some old dry biscuit type thingies over the wall for anything that wanted it and notice that the cornflakes that I'd put over yesterday were still there but the remains of the curry and rice had gone.  The ants were clearing up the remains of the old jam and I'm sure if anyone is really hungry, it will all go eventually, cows are not really fussy.  Toast for breakfast with sliced cheese followed by a yogurt and it's been a pickie day ever since.  I put the Para Olympics on and watched part of the wheelchair tennis, didn't get the drift of blindfolder football and the badminton was the best bet.  I watched some of the athletics taking part in torrential rain and as for the shotput, the poor chap was sliding everywhere yet still managed to come home with a gold medal.  I found myself a bunch of grapes to eat while I was watching but came unstuck...I normally buy them without seeds and this time hadn't so had a very fiddly time and unfortunately when I bit down on one, part ofthe pip wedged between a couple of top teeth and gave me such a jar that I was up from the sofa, on to the top landing and digging about with my large needle and eventually managed to dislodge it.  When I did, it was only part of the seed but felt huge when in situ.  I'll check the labels better next time.

I didn't make it over to Avatar's house for a sewing lesson.  I did manage to get out to the garden and cut back the dead flowers from the cream daisies and the seeds are now ready to plant up before the winter to have more plants for the spring.  I went back inside and started to tidy out the drawers in the cabinet next to the computer and have dumped a load of 'bits', sorted the rest and have installed cut down boxes to separate out 'stuff'  It's amazing how many bits one collects in ten years or so, it creeps up an you while you're not noticing.  Lovely calm evening and it hasn't been too hot today.  I was almost tempted to get the mower out to take off the seed heads and collect the fallen leaves but it can wait until tomorrow.  The idea came in but was soon dispelled and put on the waiting list.  Chicken cutlet tonight so not a lot of work to do.  LN,,,,A really pleasant day with results....LN

Sunday 5th September

Mush colder last night and I was really snuggled down.  Almost time to put a heavier quilt on.  I opened the door to the balcony at seven, the sun was already up but I went back to bed with my coffee and played games until eight thirty...no rush to do anything.  Washed and dressed, spotted a tortoise from the landing so headed down to see which one it was and it was Blue/  Further down the garden I spotted Cracked Shell and later on this afternoon I saw Rosy on the grass between the hose and the front wall.  She seemed happy enough and was chewing on green grass so there really is enough food for them.  Looking at the hillside I think they would be worse off.  I made toast and more coffee and slathered it with sour cherry jam following it with a yogurt.  First job was to empty out the bonfire burning pit and I was going to light the bonfire but the wind got up so it was saved for another day.  Next on the list was to remove the sunflowers from the veg garden and dig the small bed over...I need to get all the beds cleared so that when the tractor arrives with its load I can spread it over the beds to 'process' over winter.  I need to put nourishment back into the soil.  Coming back to the house I saw my painter but he was in the shade of the Linden tree and I didn't notice him at first.  He's not working at the moment and so tomorrow he's going to chop the rest of my wood and I can get that put away.  There are other jobs to do so I'm make a list and I've insisted that I pay him this time...he's reluctant to take anything but I feel better when I pay.

That done I went over to Avatar's house and three of the other women from the village were sitting in the garden.  Avatar was busy slicing up apples into a bowl and she intended drying them in the loft ready for winter.  They were from her trees and she still has lots of them and offered me some but today wasn't the day.  The party was brought to a half t when the bread van arrived, three of the ladies went down to make purchases, I remained for a while with Avatar and then went home.  It was now getting on for twelve, I watched some of the para Olympics, switched it off, got the mower out and filled it up with petrol and then set about collecting the dead grass and seed heads and it looks much better for it.  I had a brief sojourn after the big house lawn and then out again and did the second. the top of the little house grass and all that's left to do is the yard and between the house and the wall.  I came in at three after putting the machine away, sank around a litre of water and went straight in the shower and washed my hair,  I was covered in dust and my hair was full of grit that was blown up by the mower so had a shower and washed my hair and felt so much better  for it.  I went straight into my towelling lounger top and bottoms which also double as autumn PJ's and lazed away the afternoon watching one of my series from Netflix.  

I managed to stay awake probably because I was grazing on cheese and breadsticks, yogurt and grapes and should sleep well tonight.  I checked on the Fitbit and have managed fifteen thousand steps today but had to put link it to the computer to find out.  Now  I have two Fitbits that the back lights don't work any more and I can't even see what time it is so not much use except for recording 'happenings'.  I really must invest in another but it definitely won't be a Fitbit.  I think that when it only lasts two years. it's a very expensive object and you can't even get them serviced.

So my painter is coming tomorrow at some stage and we'll get the wood done and see what else he wants to get up to.  I've asked him to check out the cooker and pipework to the gas bottle to see if it needs replacing and if so I'll pop into Djebel to get new tubing,  No supper, I've picked enough, the wind has dropped and it's a very gentle sunset.  LN...Another day of activity.....LN

Monday 6th September

So another silly night, awake at two, games for a couple of hours and then back to sleep with the final resurrection coming in a flurry when I realised it was just before eight and my painter was supposed to be coming to chop the rest of the logs.  Bathroom, washed, dressed, coffee made, door unlocked to the world and I waited, and waited and waited and am still waiting now,,,well not quite, it's dark.  I thought I'd fill my time with a bonfire especially since I'd cleared out the container but the wind has been blowing a gale for most of the day and it just wasn't safe to do so.  The sun's been shining intermittently but two trips round the garden with a knife and a couple of 'on the turn pears and not a tortoise was spotted so I scattered them round the garden.  I guess they're all digging holes somewhere now that they've recognised that the weather's on the turn.

I settled for some corn wafers for breakfast that I'd picked up on my last shopping trip.  They're only seventeen calories each but I suppose the butter took up the count a little and the fact that I had five of them meant that I could have had toast with jam.  I swapped the water bottle over in the conservatory, cleaned off the buddleia that I'd put in water to pot up, found a bucket of old soil and took a couple of inches of compost from the composter and dug it in to it.  I've now ten cuttings in the bucket and I've put them in the little house already, the sun and the wind wouldn't have done them any good at all.

I was drawn to the kitchen for today's activity and noticed that I had stored several boxes of glasses under the worktop to the right of the cooker.  My glass cupboard is fair overflowing so I removed several of them, transferred them to the appropriate boxes from whence they'd been removed and now they can go as gift.  I don't have many visitors, am not likely to have a frantic party where people start throwing things and the pesky virus means that few come over and most of my friends in the UK are too old to travel.  I also removed some bottled cherries from my tree  that must have been lingering in the cupboard for several years, I'll open one up tomorrow to see if they're worth using up. The cooker glass dropdown lid was also looking grubby and if I've a workman coming in to check out the gas connections I thought I'd clean the cooker to save embarrassment on my part and it's now gleaming.  I've just got to find a man to check out the connections.  

I did another circuit of the garden and the wind was still gale force and breaking bit of trees and removing fir cones from my lonesome pine so the tidy up that I did on the grass all appears to have been in vain.  I settled at four on the sofa and promptly nodded off for an hour or so catching up on lost sleep, Tipping Point and The Chase, cheese and biscuits so no supper for me.  Let's see if my painter appears tomorrow, if not I'm off to Kardjali to get my picture that's been framed, my spray glue from the car parts shop in Djebel and a pot plant that I'd asked the owner to keep for me.  LN......An unsettling day....I like things to happen when they're supposed to......LN

Tuesday 7th September

At last a good night's sleep....it was twelve when I went to bed, snuggled down and seven when I awoke...result.  I made coffee and played a couple of games but didn't linger long just in case my painter turned up but it wasn't to be.  I guess he's got other fish to fry as they say.  I washed and dressed and gathered the washing that needed putting through the machine making up a full load with things that could have waited but it was ready to peg out at eight thirty.  The wind had picked up so I secured everything well, the clouds had come over and I had this image in my head of just finishing getting it out and the first drops would start to fall but I was in luck.  

I went back inside, made another coffee, toasted a couple of slices of bread and had it with butter and jam.  I decided I wasn't going into Kardjali and was determined to finish cleaning and sorting the kitchen and I have.  It was quite a morning of discovery...in the depths of one of the shelves I found covered soup bowls that I'd bought in my early years here and I'd forgotten all about them.  They're all washed and put where I know that I can find them should I need them...well that's a start.  Another box contained plastic lids for boxes that had gone to the great beyond and it reminded me of the joke about Tupperware lids and how long it takes to find one when it's needed.  I think they might be on a trip down to the bonfire when I next get it going.  The old jars were emptied over the wall, the cat approached the pile, took one look and sauntered off and later I found wasps busily buzzing around.  There was old jam that I'd made again in my first years here and there was the occasional 'pop' of a lid that hadn't remained airtight so they all had to go and the empty jars are now in the container at the bottom square.

Everything has been washed and sorted, all the tiles from the shelving cleaned and put back and now I can pick out every tree in the wood.  I also found an egg poacher that I'd acquired from somewhere and a mincer that I'd forgotten about so now I'll be able to make my own mincemeat...well it's a thought.  Eventually everything put back by five thirty and I was absolutely knacked.  My back aches and so does my wrist and I'm not sure what I did to deserve it but the elastic bandage is going on overnight to help sort it out.  Washing in and put away, pork rack in the oven with some sort of potatoes and it should be ready any time now.  LN......Busy day but a job well done.....LN

Wednesday 8th September

Just before seven start so I opened up the drawbridge or in other words the door to the balcony, grabbed a cushion for the chair and a coffee plus my half tablet for my BP and got myself settled.  After a minute or so I was back inside for a fleece jacket, the wind was pretty brisk and it was a tad on the cold side.  Out I went again with the Kindle  and knocked off a couple of Sudoku and realised I was chilled to the bone so came in. shut the balcony door, got back into bed with a fresh cup of coffee.  At eight I was getting washed and dressed and had made my mind up to go into Kardjali to get my picture from the framers and come back to Djebel and pick up the spray glue that the shop had ordered for me.  I made beans on toast for breakfast heating them up in the microwave, settled in the stairwell at the table to eat it, the remains of last night's supper out for the cat and in the Nipper by ten twenty.  I seemed to spend an awful lot of time deciding what to wear today.  It was cold so it was jeans with a sweater with a blouse underneath and then all change to just the sweater with an oversweater and winter ankle boots to complete the outfit.

Back lane down to the Makaza road or the 'Highway to Hell' as it's known by the kamikaze drivers that one encounters.  Fortunately they were all going in the opposite direction so it was a pretty smooth run.  I managed to park up in the free parking near the shops, went to the framers and they've made a really good job of it, back to Lidl for a few items, stopped for gas and then home run managing to park up outside the chemist near my student's mums shop.  Into the chemist for my tablets, over to the flower shop and she hadn't got the plants that I wanted but had text me this morning and I'm missed it.  She wanted to know if I wanted to go into Kardjali so I told her that it was too late, I was on my way home...another time.  Back to the shop and picked up two cannisters of the glue so tomorrow should I feel like it I can get creative with empty boxes and material to make storage boxes.

Home for three thirty, shopping away and settled down to watch Netflix while I was have cheese and breadsticks and surprise, surprise ....I managed to stay awake.  I've just finished watering the pots, the dry wind has made most of the leaves crispy, I thought I'd finished watering for this season. Chicken cutlet for tonight and I'm about to fry it off and make a sandwich of it and tomorrow it's a home day unless someone famous phones with an interesting proposition.  LN....At least I achieved what I set out to do.....LN  

Thursday 0th September

So it was another snuggle down night and seven when I woke up.  I opened the door to the balcony but didn't venture out, t was dull, wasn't raining but looked as if it would any time soon so took to my bed with a coffee and enjoyed the fresh air.  I was home bound today so got dressed and top of my list was a bonfire so I emptied everything that needed emptying and headed down to the bottom of the garden armed with the rubbish, the fire lighter and the garden fork.  The burning pit was empty but it was still slow to get started, there was a bit of a breeze coming up from the ground through the holes but eventually I got flames to catch.  I topped it right up, waited for it to catch properly then put the lid on the top of it leaving a slight air gap and left it to its own devices.

I went to check on the tortoise and Cracked Shell had moved position but I spotted Rosy towards the bottom of the garden so went back to the house and found a peach that looked a little worse for wear and with a knife sliced her some off and she soon put her head out and started tearing it apart.  I left more where Cracked shell hangs out and checking tonight that's gone already and there was little left of Rosy's hoard.  By this time it had started to come down so my outside activity was curtailed.  I did move some of the logs into the garage guessing that my painter wouldn't be out and about in this weather....and I was right.  I did have a phone call this afternoon saying that he had work to do and was sorry that he hadn't contacted me earlier.  My work doesn't have time restraints on it so I said it wasn't a problem, and it isn't.

So this afternoon I set about sorting out ten years of old manuals, receipts, rubbish and ancestry documentation and it's now in the relevant folders and the important legal 'stuff' is altogether in one place so that anyone could find their way through it if needs be.  I remember my mother saying through a medium in church that she was sorry that she didn't sort everything out before she passed over and it sort of struck a chord with me so now I've got on with it.  I'm not anticipating going any time soon but who knows!!  Having finished that task I though I'd check out the airflow up the chimney using a lit candle and as I opened the door to the flue box in the bathroom some soot fell out so it was a good excuse to get the hoover out, clear up the bathroom and hoover through the downstairs and that's another job off the list.  

Cheese and biscuits in front of the TV this afternoon to stave off the hunger once I'd put the hoover away, the cos cows are looking decidedly bedraggled and I had to verbally chase one from down the old lane having a good feel from my japonica Kerria.  I shall have to put more of a barricade up when I give the trees a final trim for winter.  Caught three of my ladies taking a walk when I was taking the pickies of the roses, I didn't take a picture of them for privacy reasons.  At lst it's stopped raining and at last the garden is taking on a tinge of green.  LN.....Supper and relax......LN

Friday 10th September

Five start just because I went to sleep at the end of the Diamond League and woke up in the middle of something else.  Trouble with my new look lounge is that it's so easy to go to sleep on the sofa but I had to make adjustments and put a dressing gown on and make use of the blanket that sits on the stool.  It was twenty degrees in the house but obviously my body had cooled down due to the clouds and rain over the last two days and I had to do something.  I was toasty when I woke up so made my way up the stairs to bed, snuggled down and that we me out for the count until as I said, five this morning.  I opened the door to the balcony, went out eventually and took a photo of the morning sun thinking that I might not see it again today but I was wrong.  Rain dried up, sun came out, wind died down and it was quite hot this afternoon as I slogged in the garden.

Unfortunately I had a lazy time this morning into early afternoon and only after my afternoon nap did I head out intent on doing something.  I cleared the old wood  bark from round the compost bin and a plastic bag that contained more of the same.  It was all destined for under the wall at the bottom of the garden but just hadn't made it...and now it has.  I took a selection of tools down the garden with me in my wood carrier, eyed up the situation and got going on the beds.  There was lots of dried grass on the surface but with the onset of rain the couch grass had started to send out its root system and it had to be stopped.  I raked it first, got the fork and dug it over, cut back the very spiky bush close to the wall and threw the debris over for the animals.  I also renewed the wooden surround, not pretty but functional and I really must order a few lengths of timber to complete other surrounds that need doing.  I found Cracked Shell in a bush hunkered down and under I pile of old grass I noticed that there was another tortoise and it was Rosy.  Not enough sun to come out for I suppose.  After clattering around near to another bush another one shot out and headed for the other side of the garden at great haste....only two more to find.

I cleared some of the smaller beds and cut back the weigela and now I've got around twenty cuttings sitting in water and they'll be potted up tomorrow.  Finished off this afternoon with a saunter over to my Avatar's house and sat in the garden with her for thirty minutes or so.  Of course we were joined by Haciber who can't be seen to miss a trick but fortunately she doesn't speak a lot of Bulgarian....and can't spread stuff round the village because she doesn't understand me.  I came back and put tools away, found a chicken thingy in the freezer, microwaved it to thaw it, fried it off and had it with potato salad which filled a gap admirably.  More of the same tomorrow if the weather holds and I was surprised when my Fitbit sent off fireworks on my wrist...I'd done my ten thousand steps.   LN......Not so lazy as I though.....LN