Thursday 11th May

Another early morning, overcast but not raining and my bird's nest was still upright....we live to fight another day.  I put the washing away that had dried over night in the bathroom, cooked bacon and egg for breakfast and waited for the air temperature to climb before I went out and started gardening.  It was eleven before I was out there, I decided to finish off the grass, I'd been doing it in stages and some of the earlier sessions had resulted in uneven patches so today I intended doing the bits that had got missed and bringing it all together again into a manicured swathe.  And now I have.  I needed to be careful, Rosy, Blue and Green God were out and about and making it difficult especially near the longer grass areas....they should each have trackers on their shells so that I know exactly how to avoid them.

It's been a hard slog today....I ended up using the big mower and the electric both without the grass boxes and the hardest part was trying to clear down by the walnut.  The weeds were growing up the wall and it almost reminded me of the initial gardening that I did years ago...it was hard work trying to clear the weeds and this was no exception.  The area round the walnut is now cleared, there is now a path between the flower beds and the wall but I've left the bottom wall area uncut so that the tortoise have some shelter from the sun, should it ever shine again and the rain which is seems to be doing more of this year than before.  There's still plenty for them to eat near the wall until they become more adventurous as the fruit trees drop their goodies and that take to roaming around.

It was tools away at five and everything locked away, I lit the fire, put chicken wings in the oven and supper was ready for six.  I finished off with yogurt, put the TV on and promptly fell asleep, I'd managed to complete fifteen and a half thousand steps on the Fitbit today so now wonder I was worn out.  The washing up can wait, I'm just about to run a bath and linger for a while and hopefully I shall sleep well tonight.  Tomorrow I intend clearing the flower beds and look for wood to make more surrounds for the beds to replace the older ones.....I want to get back to 'maintenance' instead of 'hard slog' but to do that we need to move into summer and not monsoon where you can almost watch the grass grow.  LN......Now for my bath...and then bed and overnight recuperation....LN

Friday 12th May

So after a day in the garden last night I knew that I wanted a bath, I forgot to put the water heater on so settled for what was in the tank and it was enough to cover me...just.  I didn't get in the bath until just before eleven, stayed for half an hour, dried off, PJ's and I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  I was awake at seven and felt refreshed, it was pretty damp out there but it was just overnight dew.  I made breakfast and decided to have two poached eggs on ham and as it happened I had three.  The second one in the water was a double yolker...why does it always have to be the second one that gets cracked.  So breakfast served and savoured, washing up done and kitchen cleared, washed and dressed and it was another day...same as yesterday....but somewhat easier.  I had a bonfire and checked out the tortoise and found three of them all sunning themselves....yes...it had broken through the clouds.....missing was Little Purple and Cracked Shell.  I'd somewhat disturbed their habitat yesterday by routing out some of the weeds under the walls but they'll soon adjust.  It also makes it easier to find food.

It was more tittivating this morning and removing 'sticky willy' as we used to call it from the rest of the shrubs and lilies. I hate the stuff, that clover and chickweed just thrive in this garden.  Anyway....I've only got about three more flowerbeds to weed, the strimmer will take care of the rest.  Avatar's garden has been worrying me, I did say that I would try to cut it back for her so that when she gets back from winter in Germany she won't have so much to do.  I didn't manage it, there was no one in the village would strim it for me even though I offered to pay them.  There were various excuses, machines in for repair etc and I have one of the large petrol ones but it's just too heavy for me to use.  The little battery on only does about thirty minutes and as I proved today, the grass is too long for my mower.  I did wheel it over the road, not only is it long but very wet underneath so I gave up and came home, walked back with the broom and swept the path going up to the front door and locked the gate.  I later found out that she's coming back with her son who's staying for a month...it only I'd have known that before!!

I spent half an hour sitting on the bench on the terrace enjoying the sun, pottered for a while and planted up the fuchsias, moved some tobacco from last year's pots and planted them up in the short wall garden.  I came in at four and found a good film on Netflix, realised that I have visitors tomorrow and no cake so drove into Djebel and topped up supplies.  Early start with the hoover tomorrow, flick the duster round the flat surfaces and make myself presentable for the world around eleven.  LN.....No supper for me.....I nibbled while watching the film.....LN  

Saturday 13th May

This day holds special memories.  Fifty one years ago today I was getting married and at eleven that morning I was in town paying an electricity bill for my parent and hadn't a care in the world.  The rest of the family were jumping through hoops, my sister making sure that the bridesmaids, my nieces looked the part, I did my own make-up and hair and pushed it under a white hat.  Having donned the dress, everyone else had gone, my brother in law was driving us to the registry office and was waiting in the car so I said to my father that I thought we should have a drink before we went.  We shared a tot of whisky and off we went.  I got married in the place that I had started work when I was sixteen years of age and the room used to be the Council chamber and low and behold, the registrar I used to work with and I think we were surprised to see each other. It all went well, signed sealed and delivered and we walked to the venue for the reception but unfortunately my father had forgotten that he was supposed to welcome the guests and had gone off for a quick on with his mates at the working men's club further along the road. He was sent for, arrived and we were straight into it, eating and drinking, speeches and telegrams in those days....and I remember it well.  The marriage lasted ten years, we were still friends until the dreaded Alzheimers took hold but he seems happier now that ever he did.   His bills are paid, the inheritance is diminishing rapidly both of the children are OK with it and he's getting really well looked after.

As for today...seven start and the hoovering was done and the house finished by nine thirty ready for my guests to arrive.  I wasn't sure how many, had bought cake for the five thousand and only my ex student, her father and the grand-daughter arrived.  We sat in the garden and drank water and home made fruit juice, they didn't want feeding, had brought biscuits but I was told not to open them, the little one wont settle until they're out of sight so better without.  We found the tortoise in the garden and the little one wanted to play with it...believe me they're no fun, I've tried.    She settled for walking up the steps onto the little house terrace with grandpa walking behind was fun and she was like the proverbial yoyo.  They left with one of the cakes I'd bought yesterday, no way do I want those calories on my lips and hips, and I went back to my gardening clearing more of the grass and clover.

I played Candy Crush this afternoon for a while, it's been ages since I've done that and at five thirty, I checked to see if Avatar had returned from Germany and she had.  She was lying down on what was probably the coldest room in the house, no sun all day and I suggested that she moved into her usual room which was getting evening sun.  She was cold so I found another quilt and put it on top of her original one and she seemed to perk up.  It's a long old day, the flight was OK but she said that the four hour car journey from Sofia virtually finished her off.  The son was tackling the lengthy grass with the lawnmower and was suffering the same fate as I did yesterday.  I said that I'd got a big strimmer if he wanted it and he said that he had one but no petrol so that was soon sorted.  I went home and gave him my container that I use for my mower.  It should have enough in there, he is more interested in getting his car out of the garage and onto the road.  I'll offer to give him a hand in the morning....my little electric strimmer is really good and with two working on it, it won't take too long to do the yard.  Seven my time, I'm about to start looking for something to eat, the grubs are nibbling.  LN.....It's good to have Avatar back....I've missed her.......LN

Sunday 14th May

I wok up this morning to the sun painting a red glow on the wardrobes in my bedroom....it didn't last long though it went behind the cloud and has played chicken ever since.  I took the remains of the ham out for the cat, made my usual clicking sound and there wasn't any response and no visiting moggie but when I checked later it had gone so there was one happy four legged friend roaming.  I spotted Rosy beneath one of the shrubs by the low wall, she was getting what she could of the morning patches of sun but when I spotted her later, her shell looked very damp.  Others spotted this morning, Blue was down the bottom of the garden and Green God was half way along the base of the low wall and the others were noted by there absence.  I made toast for breakfast and had it with apricot sauce....not a lot of apricots had gone into the making of it but it filled a gap but because the weather has turned cold again, I've been nibbling on things all day and even had a bowl of ice-cream which made no sense at all.

I heard the strimmer going in Avatar's garden and went to the gate.  They'd had visitors already and I spotted Avatar near a car parked on the road which was just leaving.  I headed towards her and she came up to me and she looked much better.  I told her that she needed more sun and that I had my 'gypsy' complexion on and I owe it all to gardening.  She'd got her spark back and gave me a big hug and I asked her if she wanted anything from Kardjali tomorrow.  I have to take the home phone back, the machine keeps telling me that the charging cable is unplugged when it's still in and despite trying all of the cables I possess, nothing works....so back it goes.  Avatar did say that as soon as her son and daughter in law return to Germany, she want to come into Kardjali with me and especially Kaufland to top up on supplies so I agreed, it's a deal.  She really does skip round when attached to the trolley...much faster than I like to go.  As I was leaving her son asked me to go with him to the garage for advice on the blade for the strimmer and because I'm such an expert on all things practical, he took my advice and we managed to fit the new blade and it works like a dream.  Unfortunately didn't help that it was raining.

My bird has flown.  I'm not sure if it was mine but there was a thud on the upper window and there was a starling sitting on the table by the outside sink and four blotches of bird poo on my upstairs window,  It was very stunned, sat with its beak open taking in air so I left it to see what it did next.  Eventually it closed it's beak, shook its feathers and flew off towards the lonesome pipe with an older one joining it.  If it is mine, I'm pleased that the outcome was successful and at least I wont get chirped at continually when I'm out and about on the terrace.  Next step is to clean the bird poo off the top of the wall and maybe put it in some of the pots on the terrace.  Supper was good tonight...I've had two jacket potatoes and two belly pork slices with spicy flavouring and there's very little for the cat....I'm still licking my lips.  So tomorrow Kardjali, I'm going to get another string of the solar lights that are now adorning the tree near the little house terrace and I might get a set for Avatar for the grape vine support.....a welcome home gift.  The phone will go back to the shop, a few goodies for the freezer etc, potting compost and home.  LN......Fire going and now back to Netflix,,,,,,LN

Monday 15th May

Very early start, grey as you like outside, I made coffee, put some washing in the machine and hand washed my Jack and Jones wool cardigan.  I was wearing it last night when I put a log on the fire and the soon from the top of the fire place smudged against the sleeve.  It brushed off but it made me realise that I hadn't washed the cardigan for a year or so, not that I wear it much but it still hangs around in wardrobes...so I did it.  I put it in the kitchen sink with some 'Sensitive' Persil detergent 'stuff' gave it two washes and yes...it was dirty...so into the drum with it and set the machine to a rinse and spin cycle and went about my business pegging out the other clothes from the machine.  The spin had taken most of the moisture out of the cardigan so not much weight on it when I pegged it out and it's turned out OK...done and dusted for another year.

I phoned the company about the Greek Island cruise and caught her before she got to the office and she phoned me back with a price, reduced because I didn't want to travel on a coach for roughly ten hours, two to Plovdiv, three to Sofia and then about five down to Thessaloniki, the departure port.  Kardjali to Thessaloniki is estimated at three and a half hours since it's all motorway and an empty one at that....no brainer really....I can drive down, stay the night in a hotel and leave the car in a hotel car-park and that was I can see Thessaloniki in all its glory......and in the end she understood why.

I made my mind up that I would go into Kardjali to replace or stop the phone.....I'd not made my mind up.  I collected a few plants together that I'd promised my student's mum, planted one weigela in my old vegetable garden and the second one was going to her.  It's in flower and looks really impressive and she was thrilled.  I also took her some marigold seedlings, a philadelphus that's just about to come into flower and some more ground cover plant, hypericom, that covers a multitude of sins and weeds.  Before I left for Kardjali I cleaned and renovated my Timberland boots that I've been using for gardening.....they look so much better that I'll have to look for some other work horses.

I dropped the plants off, carried on to Kardjali with the phone, parked up and went into the store and was asked to produce my identification card and low and behold it was still with my passport from the last time I'd been to Greece.  She couldn't process it so it was a complete waste of time, I didn't even stop at Lidl or Kaufland, I did fill up with gas just in case I go down to Fanari with Guldjan on Wednesday which has been suggested by her so like a good girl guide....I'm prepared,  Drove back to Djebel and parked up, went to the cash-point to top up and then to my favourite local restaurant for chicken leg with rice for the grand total of seven lev. Stopped off at the flower shop and Dari gave me snapdragon that was looking worst for wear....it will be planted tomorrow now that it's had a good watering.  So student tomorrow, might do the grass tomorrow morning if it's dry overnight....I don't want the clover to take hold again.  LN.....Don't need supper...just need an early night......LN

Tuesday 16th May

Another early start...I was out of bed by six, made coffee and went back to bed with Sudoku and Angry Birds  and eventually surfaced to get on with the rest of my day.  I meandered around for a while, was going to have a shower but instead prepared scrambled eggs for breakfast, tidied the kitchen and got the mower out and did the top half of the garden.  I didn't start that until eleven though so goodness knows where the other hour or so went.  I did do a tortoise hunt before the work started.  I found CS in the garden by the little house, walked down to the bottom and found Blue, Rosy and Green G all in front of the bottom wall sunning themselves and lo and behold Little Purple was holed up half way along the low wall.  Only thing to do was to mark the register and all present and correct.  It was good to know before I started the grass, I always worry that I'm going to run over one of them but I could go full steam ahead now that all were accounted for.

At one I was cleaning another pair of shoes that are coming into their own now that the weather looks to be improving.  I have to devise new fastenings for them, the Velcro has given up the ghost and has no staying power and needs replacing, either that or I have to find another way to keep the cross strap from levering apart when I'm walking at a pace....now on the drawing board Cecil.  I printed off the next chapter of my book for my lesson this afternoon and it was only four pages long.  It was a continuation of the previous chapter and again we have to rely on the next chapter to bring it to fruition.  Undeterred we read through the four pages, I explained some of the odd words and gave explanations for others including 'hole' and 'whole'.   We worked out that you can't eat a 'hole' but you can eat a 'whole' bar of chocolate and this sat well with him.  Almost like hooks to hang your hat on.  I dictated a couple of paragraphs and he wrote it down and we marked it together....his response was that he knew he could do better so we went through the process again and he did....and this is how the 'hole' against 'whole' episode came into being.  The lesson today took almost two hours, I went down to the shop and sat with his mother and since it's Djebel's fair or 'praznic', I'm meeting the family on Friday, weather permitting and well have a chicken and bread supper in the square.  I have the full programme of events sent over by my student and will see if there is anything else that I'd like to get involved with.

Home just before seven, fire lit and has made the house toasty since it's not very warm outside, I settled for the remains of the tuna mayo on toast for supper and have just watched the end of a series on Netflix and am now looking for something new to watch.  Fanari tomorrow wince Guldjan wants to go to Greece but the weather doesn't look too promising so I should really check it out.  Nothing like a really windy rain swept beach to make you go inside for comfort in a Greek 'euro' restaurant.  LN.....I really enjoyable time with my student and I think he has a new signature with a flourish...we were practising......LN

Wednesday 17th May

So another dull old morning and checking the weather it was going to be thunder with showers all day.  It didn't bode well for out trip to Greece and the beach but I was up and ready to pick up the fellow travellers and suggested that I pick them up at their house so that there car didn't sit outside my house all day.  The followed up my message if we cold leave it until ten which I agreed to and another follow up message asking if we could meet at ten thirty.  They've been working on their new apartment solidly and I had no problem rearranging. I was in the Nipper by ten twenty, drove down to the next village and they were soon ensconced in the Nipper and heading down to the border.  

We negotiated the border crossing without any problem, there were a few cars in front of us so they soon opened up another window and we were through in quicksticks.
I suggested that we went down to Porto Largos first and we had a walk and sat down to hot water and tea bags that she'd brought down with her, we had ice-cream on the quay and I said that it was much better on the Sunday market day.....now it was just a fishing village with not a lot happening.  We carried on to Fanari and they just fell in love with the place.  Unbeknown to me they'd never been down to Fanari before and I was amazed.  The sun was shining so we walked along the beach, they both paddled, I didn't but it was soon sweaters off.  We carried on to the end of the beach and to the entry to the fishing boat moorings and by this time it was getting on for three so we decided to go for a late lunch.  Only a few of the restaurants were open but we chose on or rather they chose us inviting us in and menus were delivered.  Salad, taramasalata, humus, cheesy chips and a selection of main courses.  Beer for the boy and water for the girls, lots and lots of food with home made bread and it was five before we paid up and left.  They also brought us a delightful pudding to share.

Thoroughly stuffed we headed home, more cars at the crossing than were there this morning and we cleared the formalities by six and I dropped them off about seven.  The sun shone all day in Greece but as soon as we came over the pass the heavens opened and according to the locals, it's rained all day in Bulgaria so thank goodness we didn't cancel the day out.  They drive back to Germany on Friday and to their jobs and I don't envy them the journey.  LN.....I've enjoyed my day too....beautiful weather which was a bonus and delightful meal........LN

Thursday 18th May

So after yesterday's day in the sun in Greece we are back to cold miserable weather with one heck of a wind blowing.  The line where I mowed up to on Tuesday is now very prominent and I would have done the remainder today but it's just too damp.  Will someone please send me more that one day of sun.

I had a very slow start, I was busy playing Sudoku and Angry Birds from my bed and I didn't really surface until eight thirty.  I did get work clothes on straight away and washed  then went down to make toast and jam for breakfast, put in a load of washing and by now it was chugging on for eleven.  I settled down on the sofa, there was no outside work for me today, and switched on Netflix.  I'd been watching a series last night and had slept through a couple of episodes so back tracked and watched those first to get in touch with the plot again.

Around one I was surprised by a knock on the door so went out and there were people standing there that I didn't know.  As it turned out there was the daughter of the man that used to live in this house, a relative from Djebel, her son and daughter and two grandchildren and they asked if they could look at what I'd done with the house.  She was very sweet and obviously had fond memories of the place so after looking from the terrace I asked if they would like to look inside....and they did.  We started off upstairs and the son was very taken with the computer on the landing and commented on the views.  We did the three bedrooms and the bathroom, discussed radiators and heating from the woodburner and then we moved downstairs to take in the full scenic tour.  The mother was obviously overwhelmed by the work that had been done and she remembered my downstairs bedroom as her bedroom and the kitchen for her parents.  As for the kitchen the son said that it was an 'American' kitchen so I had to put him right.  It was done to my design, built and installed by a local and it was all down to me and my ideas.  The conversations were unusual.  She had forgotten most of her Bulgarian and because she'd move to Bursa spoke Turkish along with the son, his wife and the boys who lived in Istanbul so obviously spoke Turkish.  The brother was from Djeble so we managed to communicate OK.  When they'd finished with the house they walked the garden and we came across the tortoise down the bottom and the children were fascinated especially with the nail varnish on their backs.  I said fond farewells as I walked them to the car and the mother gave me a big hug....I think she approved of what had happened to her family home, and they went on their way.

So back to my series, I went to get some logs in and ended up splitting a few for smaller starter logs so that I could get one big one on later.  The series has now finished, it's just after seven so I should really be thinking about doing something with a pork chop that I took from the freezer this morning.  Djebel fete starts tomorrow and I've yet to translate into English the programme of events and tomorrow night if the weather is OK, I'll go into Djebel and eat with my students' family.  LN.....A relaxing day after yesterday and only done three thousand steps so far....and I'm betting that I shan't do many more......LN

Friday 19th May

It's been another funny old day weather wise.  We've had a little bit of everything, it looked promising this morning but the grass was too wet to make it the first job on the agenda so I left it until later...much later.  I made breakfast, washed and dressed and then went out and pottered for around a couple of hours removing weeds, clearing out the pots and moving new seedlings.  I found around ten small petunias that would be better suited somewhere else and now that have a chance to shine somewhere other that with a geranium in a hollow log.  The sweet peas are now in a much lager bucket with more soil underneath so that they can put on more roots.  I'd started them off in an old floor washing bucket but never moved them on so let's see what they do now.  The wind was still very cold so I had wrapped up warm but out of the wind it was quite pleasant.  

I'd had enough exercise for the morning, I was still waiting for the grass to dry a little and somehow stumbled on a film while I was waiting so that took up another almost two hours of my morning.  I was in truth delaying getting the mower out, it was still very clogged underneath but there was too much petrol in it to tip it over onto its side and clean underneath which is what it really needed.  By now I was feeling hungry and made a couple of cheese and onion sandwiches remembering that I was out for supper in Djebel tonight so didn't want to overfill myself.  I was also delaying going outside but eventually I bit the bullet, struck up the machine and set about the remainder of the grass down to the wall.  It was as I suspected really hard going, I put the grass catcher on and was having to empty it every three or four runs and the grass was obviously clinging to the inside skirt of the underneath and the blade was having a hard time of it.  Unfortunately I'd finished it before the fuel ran out so cleaning it is a job for another day.

I came in at four, took to the sofa with the kindle and played sudoku for a while and fell asleep.  I woke up around five and by now the rain was coming down, the wind was gale force and I knew that I was about to change my plans, no eating out in the open for me so I sent a message to confirm that I wouldn't be going.  The return text was that the weather was just as bad in Djebel so plains were curtailed and I lit the fire to keep me company.  I've just run the bath that I was going to have last night and didn't, taken a shot of the garden in the dying rays of the sun and the wind has now blown itself out and it's rather a pleasant evening.....so maybe the evening out will be rescheduled for tomorrow.  LN.... Too late now though, I'm in for the night......LN

Saturday 20th May

Last night's early night meant that I was awake at three thirty for about half an hour and then I managed to get off again until six.  When I came to switch off the over-ride to the boiler last night, it wouldn't obey my command so I decided to remove the device that sits between the plug to the boiler and the wall socket and think about it this morning.  My intention was to go into Kardjali and purchase a replacement but I suddenly remembered that I had a spare that I'd bought for the light in the porch so that when I was out an about at night I could put the light on the timer and it would light my way to the key holes.  When I fitted the spare I couldn't hear the tick of the timer device so I let it run in the socket without an output and noticed that it kept time perfectly well so it's replaced the one in the bathroom and everything is as it should be,  Success.

I made a cheese omelette for breakfast, it was a fair start to the day, sun up at six and then hidden by the rising mist which eventually cleared.  I went out planting other seedlings that I found, moving others, was planning to do the rest of the grass but my heart wasn't in it so I didn't.  I moved indoors and found a film to watch, went out again when Avatar arrived in my garden and we sat in the sun enjoying the warmth.  She also brought round a bar of chocolate for me and when she got up to leave I went with her to her house.  She wanted to show me the lupins that I'd taken round last year, I wasn't having much success with them but this year they've done really well in her garden, they're approximately two foot tall with tall spikey flowers.  She loves them and has shown them off to the other ladies in the village...no one else has got them, even me.  I have another packet and next year, they'll be in my garden too.

I arrived home around six, lit the fire, ate the chocolate and found another series on Netflix that I've just switched off now so that I could do the update.  As predicted this morning to my student's mum, the rain set in around seven, she invited me to join them in the square but I declined adding that I felt it was going to be raining and I was going to stay at home.  They've changed Djebel so much, the new mayor has put in lots of effort but there are big signs everywhere that this is 'Djebel'.  Where is the quiet town that I came to live near?  Yes the roads are better, the facilities are showier and the idea is to bring in tourism.  Thank goodness I live in a village a drive away.  

It's still raining so mowing the grass looks to be out of the equation for tomorrow....what a shame.  Another day of taking it easy.  LN.....And now back to Netflix....I have a series to finish....LN