Wednesday 11th October

Good night's sleep again, although I did wake up early, nodded off again and no much sun to be seen. There was a slash of yellow over the mountains between very black skies and despite the fact that the sun came out, the wind had a autumn coolness about it.  I put on a fleece sweater. didn't want to catch a chill, toast for breakfast and emptied the household rubbish bags for a burn up later.  I set myself the task of clearing the leaves left over from the tree trimming, digging over the flower beds, replanting bulbs that had somehow come to the surface, getting rid of the debris over the wall, adding compost to the dug over gardens and covering it with the the wood that I'd shredded.  Result....the grave garden is completed and the two trees with stone surrounds have been compost and shredded wood toppings so the flowers should have more of a chance next year.  

I set the bonfire going this morning and it's still going now.  Some of the surrounds from the beds in the grave garden are really past their sell-by date so I've removed them, might replace them later but for now I'll just mow up to the base of the shrubs.  The wood was collected up and put into the burning bin and the leaves and bits of twigs are over the wall for the cows to sift through.  They make a pretty thorough job of it.  Tools away at six, nothing is cooking for supper so far so whatever is selected will go into the air fryer or a frying pan.....too tired after a day of activity to come up with a gourmet evening meal.  

More of the same tomorrow if the weather holds and the inclination comes to the surface.....the garden is so dry that we really do need a good downpour or two to liven up the shrubs.  No sight or sound of any of the tortoises today.....I suppose they're all busy setting up winter quarters somewhere under my garden.  LN.....Kitchen bound...I'll see what falls out of the freezer.......LN

Thursday 12th October

Fire thirty start but I did have a late bath that I kept topped up with hot water...a really good soak to take the aches and pains away.  I had a fairly active morning, the washing went in the machine at six thirty and was out on the airer by seven fifteen and it ready to be put away.  I found out my winter PJ's, my Bulgarian vests and my winter tights quite by accident,  I was looking for a place to put some of the summer things that I won't wear again this year.  I also found a bag of summer things in the same place that I didn't wear this year...I really need to start passing 'stuff' on.  I made a cheese omelette for breakfast and washing up done and kitchen tidied by eight thirty....and then came the relapse.

It took me a while to get going again and I  think I've built up a new lot of aches and pains for today  It's been full on with hammer and nails repairing the old vegetable garden surround, digging out the couch grass that seems to have roots going on forever, spreading compost and then the topping of the shredded trees.  I also raked round the borders to collect leaves and dried grass, a lot went over the wall for the cows, the remainder are against the low wall and hopefully will stop some of the grass and weeds coming up next year.....well one can always hope.  The bonfire has been going all day more or less....anything rotten is going to be burnt and most of the wood from the gate repairs has gone.  The wood ash will be spread on the garden near the bottom wall, the shrubs down there have been neglected with this drought....two good days of rain and all would be well again but there doesn't seem to be any forecast.

I came in for water and decided to have a break, Netflix went on and I watched a film that's supposed to be Number One in the new releases.  All I can say is that it was OK but I wouldn't watch it again.  I went out again about five, finished off the bed, put the remains of the old wood on the bonfire and relit it, gathered saw, hammer, nails and the rest of the equipment and put everything back where it lives. I do need more of the old engine oil from the garage for painting on the wood, it deters insects and protects it from damp.  Not feeling very hungry tonight so I might not even bother with supper, I'll see how I feel later. LN.....Housework tomorrow, I've got visitors this weekend ....eeks......LN

Friday 13th October

Early start again and I'd made the decision to go into Kardjali first thing to buy more bags of compost and wanted to do that before the roads and car parks got too busy.  I watched morning coming to life from my bed, it was a long time before the sun came up and by that time I'd put the washing away, washed and dressed, skipped breakfast, I would get something in Kardjali.  

In the Nipper by eight thirty, stopped off at the car shop to see if there was anything I could bring back for her but there was nothing.  I parked up at T-Max, picked up one of the low base trolleys and the compost was still on offer so I loaded four on to the trolley.  I didn't make the mistake of asking for help, none had been forthcoming the last time so I didn't want to be refused for a second.  I paid, put them on the backseat of the Nipper, went back in the shop and found more blades for my saw much cheaper that I'd got them in Djebel and was pleasantly surprised when the assistant at the shop spoke to me in English telling me to have a good day.  How much courage did that take on her part.  I walked to Kaufland which is next door, didn't have change for a trolley so went with one of the baskets on wheels.  I was only going to see if they had coffee on offer which they didn't.  I did pick up a cheesy filo thingy for breakfast, four pairs of gardening gloves which were reduced, ham from the cooked meat counter and that was about it.  I did use a new app that I have telling me the full composition of beauty products by scanning the barcode.  It reports whether it's good to use and colour codes the component parts and this had one 'dangerous' one listed so I put it back on the shelf thereby saving me eighteen leva.  Back to the car, drove back to Djebel, parked up near the shop and took one of the pairs of gardening gloves that was the wrong size for me and gave it to my student's mum.  She might even use them in the shop to protect her hands...who knows.

Home James, shopping unloaded and put away, two bags of compost into the wheelbarrow and two into the little house for its intended purpose.....to grow seedling.   I made ham and cheese sandwiches for a late lunch and the good intent afternoon slipped away while watch the end of a new series on Netflix.  I don't feel guilty...every day is mine to do what I want with.  At around six I went out to lock up the shop, wheel the barrow into the garage and looked at the roof line and there was my little owl that I'd heard often and not seen.  I went back inside for the camera thinking that by the time I got back it would have gone but it hadn't.  I went back into the yard and took a few, went round the back of the house and took more and eventually risked going inside again and out on to the guest room balcony and it was still there.  To top it all the sky and the setting sun on the clouds was really beautiful tonight, in fact the whole sky was tinged with pink.  LN......Red sky at night and all that....we should have a good day tomorrow.....LN

Saturday 14th October

Another silly night and I played games from two until four this morning.  I settled off eventually until seven thirty, washed and dressed by eight, hoover out and everything finished by nine which included cleaning out the hoover.  Looking at the amount of hair that the thing picks up it's a wonder I've got the flowing tresses that I have.  I didn't bother with breakfast and I went out gathering more seeds that I intended passing on to my visitors.  I managed to collect orange sun daisies, sweet william and a mixed envelope of white and yellow.  It will be pot luck when they come out.  I'm being more selective with mine and labelling them immediately....I have a colour palette to complete.

Visitors arrived just after ten, I made coffee, water for the little one who came in clutching her teddy and a plant in a small watering can that's now sitting in the porth.  It didn't take too long for her to find my Angry Bird soft toy that I picked up in a junk shop locally and the other soft toys that sit on the downstairs bedroom easy chair and they were all assembled on the sofa in the lounge.  She's a bundle of energy and didn't seem to stop for a minute.  I did manage to spot one of the tortoises so we headed down the garden to see which one it was and it was Blue and he's not been out for a while.  It was a beautiful day though, twenty five degrees and I noticed that the water containers were empty  so I headed up to the outside tap, filled up the watering can and then both lids that I use along the low wall.  It didn't take Blue too long to scurry off to the safety of the wall, to much noise and I thing the little one tried to give him a drink from a plastic cup....that'll work then.  We finished out coffee, talked about the things that we did when he used to stay here when he was buying his place and how his life has changed.  He's now got Bekir back and finishing off the latest project.  

Off they went around twelve to one of the local hotels for lunch with one of her little friends, I rearranged the soft toys, had the intention of getting 'stuff' done but it didn't amount to much.  I made ham and cheese sandwiches for a late breakfast and took a port chop from the freezer ready for supper and caught up on a few emails, sent a birthday card via the internet and transferred funds to my son for my granddaughter's birthday.  I only hope that he remembers to pass it on.

Cooked supper and it was ready for six.  The chop went into the frying pan, I added onions and tomato sauce and made a barbecue sauce to go over the chop.  Croquette potatoes went into the air fryer and it went down very well.  All that's left is the washing up and that might even wait until tomorrow morning.  LN.....I've had a very relaxing day and am starting to get over the hectic four days with my builders.....and preparing the garden for winter......LN

Sunday 15th October

So it was a six o'clock start, a few games and made coffee and took it out on to the balcony.  The sun had some heat in it already and I thought about a day topping up my tan on a Greek beach but then realised that yesterday I'd had visitors and I was ashamed of the windows that were in desperate need of attention.  It's such a huge job when I start mainly because I have such a lot of large windows and eight of them are almost impossible to reach inside and out.  We can but try.  I fist of all set myself up for the day with boiled eggs and toast, washed up and then started the task in hand.

First off I did my bedroom inside and out and that's one of the easy ones because of the balcony.  Next I moved into the guest room and again the balcony makes life easier and the small windows are no problem at all and the third bedroom the same but I have to be careful when I open the balcony door....no balcony to I hang on tightly.  Porch was next and that seems a lot of glass for such a small area but done and dusted, the door and outside to the lounge is finished and only inside to do, the stairwell downstairs is done inside and out and again I have to think about the inside upstairs that are very high and outside I managed but might need going over again.  Why do I start these jobs but this time it wasn't so painful..I used water with vinegar added, a cotton dish cloth and my trusty tool supplied by the garage that they use when cleaning cars.  So all put away for tonight and everything back to normal outside, just kitchen inside and out, downstairs bedroom and that will be it for another year....don't want these jobs to come round too often.

This morning's eggs are sitting heavily under a packet of chocolate biscuits that I devoured in an interlude with Netflix this afternoon.  LN.....Task will get completed tomorrow and then I have more gardening....all go here......LN

Monday 16th October

Another early start but spent the first light on the balcony watching the morning.  The sun put on a brilliant introduction to the day, the main act wasn't so good, rain drops just after I'd finished the windows and then it went very cold so it was boots and sweaters on for the rest of the day.  I made a cheese omelette for breakfast, the bread had a hint of green about it and was disposed of over the wall...sheep and cows aren't fussy...I am.  

I didn't prepare a text for my student, we'd finished the Witches and I'd bought three more Roald Dahl books back from England and he was about to choose which one we went forward with......did 'Eany, meany, miny, mo' over the three books and Matilda was selected.  At the language school in Kardjali that he's selected, English is not taught in the first year and both he and his mother wanted to continue with the lesson and it's fine by me.  The days change, he still had his football training and matches to fit in but he's doing just fine....he's a determined young man for a thirteen year old.  We had a good lesson, he reads with intonation and laughs which proves to me that he understands what he's reading.  I help him pronounce the super long words but so long as he gets the gist of what is happening that's all that matters.  The grammar can come later at school.

We finished the lesson around five, I went down to the shop to be with his mother.  His father and brother, my ex student, arrived at six when they shut the garage.  I overlapped for about ten minutes, left for home, called in at the supermarket at the bottom of town and bought spicy sausage that I could cook quickly tonight.  I did them with onions and opened a can of baked beans and it all went down well. I lit the fire as soon as I got home and fired up the wood burner, it's the first of the year for since lst winter, the pump kicked in, the radiators got hot and the house felt very cosy.  LN......Time to throw another log on......LN

Tuesday 17th October

Happy Birthday to my granddaughter who is eighteen today.  My son says that he can't believe it and I commented that I couldn't believe he was fifty this year and I wasn't teenager when I had him so that makes me very old, on paper but not in real life, fortunately.

Seven start this morning, lots of coffee and caught the sunrise from the balcony even though it was a little nippy.  I suppose we can expect it but it was four degrees overnight, nineteen in the house and that's thanks to the first fire of the season.  I was burning the dead walnut tree branches last night and I went through them very quickly so today after breakfast I decided to sort out the logs that were scattered and needed splitting and get a couple of boxes of starter wood sorted.  This weather isn't going to go away.  Yesterday my student's mum gave me three eggs from their chickens and we joke about them being 'home made'.  This morning I fried off half a sliced spicy sausage and fried one of the eggs, took a photo and sent it to her thanking her for the pressie and the response was that she thought it looked 'nice' and it certainly was tasty.

So fire cleaned out and laid ready for tonight, I filled up one of the log containers with wood from must be four years ago from the designated bathroom in the little house.  I remember stacking that wood and it filled the room almost to the corridor so it's done well.  That load is still in the little house, I decided to use up the walnut first before we start on the good stuff since it burns so quickly.  The weather was quite good but clouded over by four so I tidied up and came inside and lit the fire.  The radiators are still warm now even though the fire has burnt down so I might just have to put another couple of logs on so it lasts through until bedtime and that won't be too long.  

So cleaning the windows did the trick....it started raining around four thirty and it's still raining now but it's very light.  The plants will love it, natural water and I might have grass again soon instead of crispy brown stuff with just one or two patches of green where I've forgotten to turn the hose off.  The man came today to read the water meter, he didn't raise his eyebrows so I can't have used that much and it's really not expensive here.  I pay anything between, four and eight pounds a month so well within budget.

No supper so far, not really in the mood.  I was doing well with the tidying until I found myself juggling with a fairly large log that dropped from waist height on to my little toe and the next one to it.  It didn't really hut at the time but as the evening has gone on, it's beginning to throb a little.....that will teach me.  LN.....Not sure the sunrise will be magnificent tomorrow....time the chair came in from the balcony and the bench put in the little house for the winter.....LN

Wednesday 18th October

Seven start, very dark, raining and not a mountain in sight even when it got lighter.  Coffee, washing into the machine and I could have hung it outside around nine, the rain had stopped and it was drying up the terrace but instead, on to the trusty airer in the guest room and it can go into the bathroom now that the fire is lit.  I made beans on toast for breakfast forgetting that I was going to put them into the slow cooker with the spicy sausage for tonight's supper....I'll think about something later instead.  I got out my old Apple iPod, selected artists and had Michael Jackson playing at not quite full volume for about two hours.  He was so talented and the variety of music that he wrote is difficult to believe and the words were shere poetry.  The child that had no boundaries and never grew up.

I cleared out the log basket intending to fill it up removing one huge log left over from last year intending to split it into three.  I got the axe, had three or four swings at the log and I didn't even make an impression on it so that's now in the woodstore and I'll use the reciprocating saw on it when I'm desperate and all the other is used up.  I removed the carpet that sat under the log basket, took it outside and gave it a good bashing, cleaned the floor and put everything back.  The log basket is still empty, I found the log carrier with the remainder of the walnut that was already in a log carrier and wheeled that into the porch, topped up the starter wood and eventually lit the fire around six tonight.

The weather got better, hints of blue that didn't stay around long so I sat at the computer on the landing and played around with ancestry and confirming facts that could have gone either way.  It's one thing investigating but I've been a little undisciplined and now I have a chart that's difficult to sensibly write up on one page.  I need to separate it out into different strands but winter is coming and the afternoons and evenings get long so at least I have something to work on.  The fire is going well, the boiler is on and I'll be soon heading into the bath taking my Kindle with me.  I've resurrected a book that I started ages ago, 'The Other Boleyn Girl' by Philippa Gregory, I'm really enjoying it and it gave me an idea for writing up an ancestry chart.  I could list the Kings and Queens of England to the side of the chart and it gives more of an idea as to what was going at the time they were living.  I've gone back to early sixteen hundreds with some of my family and that's the time that the author is writing about.   LN...Sorry no photographs today, not really much to see. ...I'll try to do better tomorrow......LN

Thursday 19th October

So it was another funny night, I went to bed at midnight, woke up at two thirty, snuggled down again and eventually came to the surface just before seven.  Wall to wall mist first off and eventually it cleared, the sun climbing above the cloud bank but the Greek mountains were hidden for quite some time.  I didn't get up to much, I remembered that it was the day my father was born one hundred and ten years ago.....it all seems like yesterday since he was here and it is, I get flashbacks of the food mum prepared, he always got the biggest chop but mum always had the bone to nibble at....dad never would.  I have such fond memories of him in his latter years and the older I get, I realise I get more like him everyday....and he spurs me on when I have difficult jobs to do... 'just get on with it' until it's done.

So today wasn't a busy day, the usual happenings, coffee and more coffee, the washing got put away and I cooked breakfast.  I also put the rest of the spicy sausage into the slow cooker with diced potatoes and onions and a can of tomatoes, Worcester and tomato sauce and that was going to be supper.  I emptied the ashes and set the fire for the night and now the sun had come out, I settled down on the rocking chair in my bedroom with my electronic book and carried on with the story of Henry 8th and his conquests, wives, mistresses and court antics.  Supper had sorted itself out. I turned the slow cooker off at five thirty and served up a bowl full and I still have some left, probably for Mrs Cat in the morning.  She'll probably pick the meat out and leave the rest but something will have it and there's also the last of the ham...it's time that that went too.

Washing up done, I've got to find something reasonable to watch on Netflix.  I really do miss Transponder TV, haven't managed to sort out an alternative yet but haven't tried over the summer but now winter is on its way, it's worth investigating.  LN.......Time to close the PC and head downstairs to the fire...time to throw another log on.....LN

Friday 20th October

Another sleepless night and not in Seattle....played a few games and eventually got off again and didn't wake until eight...late for me.  Coffee, the sun was up and that front was still being held back by the Greek mountains but the wind was blowing a gale out there.  I didn't bother with breakfast and had a late brunch of toasted cheese sandwiches around eleven after I'd had a shower and washed my hair.  It was such a lovely day that I sat on the rocking chair in the bedroom and carried on with my book and was at peace with the world and all it's friends.  That's what I like about my hillside, not many neighbours call, not much traffic to make any noise and I can please myself if I get up to anything or nothing.  Today it was all about nothing and I was reading until one this afternoon.

Sitting at the computer I looked down the garden and thought I saw one of the tortoise so I grabbed the camera, unlocked my exit to the outside world and walked down the garden.  As I got nearer I noticed that in fact, it wasn't a tortoise at all but a clump of dried leaves from one of the trees so I inwardly smiled to myself and convinced myself that I should be wearing the appropriate glasses at all times of the day.  I carried on down to the wall, took up position on said wall and checked out the hillside watching the animals topping up for the day.  As I walked back I noticed that some of the bushes are now taking on winter colourings, the pots are still flowering especially the sun daisies and I should really be collecting more seeds from them, they make such a wonderful display all summer long.  

Phone call from Princess this evening for a catch-up, half-term starts today and she sounded as if she really needs it.  School isn't what it was when my children were small and definitely not the same as when I was.  Different sort of pressure these days.  Now to go back to the film that I was watching earlier.....I've decided that to watch films on Netflix is easier that getting into the rut of washing a series, you get drawn into it and binge watch, fall asleep, miss half the story so have to go back and work out at which point you nodded off.  I think I shall be sticking to my Kindle and reading now that the nights are drawing in and there's less to do outside.  LN....I detect another leisurely day is imminent.......LN