Saturday 21st October

Another silly two o'clock start but not too long awake and then off again until seven so not bad in total.  I'' check out the sleep pattern and view the analysis later on the Fitbit.  I'm never very good on the 'Deep' sleep and haven't really looked at working out averages....I should do that!!  Coffee, went to do toast and I had little green specs on it so that went out to the birds, they're not so fussy as I am.  It put me off my breakfast so I went into the little house to try to find something that I've put away safely, forgot all about it but on my way back to the house I happened to look down at the back tyre nearest the house and saw that it was flat.  My practical brain kicked it and i suddenly remembered that I'd bought a mini compressor that worked off the cigarette lighter point, never used it and now to track it down.  I found it in the boot of the Nipper, the instructions were in English so I followed them to the letter and the air went in and I turned it off when the tyre pressure reached twenty seven as suggested in the leaflet.  I screwed on the valve cap, grabbed my bag with purse and phones, I was already washed and dressed so headed for the garage.

I was there for around nine thirty and it was suggested that they would make the repair but at the same time change to winter tyres, most other people were doing the same and it was killing two birds with one stone.  The son offered to drive me to the shop to wait with his mother and at first I said that I'd walk up to the town, changed my mind again since I'd taken my Kindle with me so instead sat close to the summer house in the sun. The chickens were out and very active and within half an hour the winter tyres were on, I paid my dues and headed back to the shop to sit with his mother and have a catch up.  I left around half eleven, stopped off at the supermarket and bought a few items and then drove home.  What an exciting morning...I must have bought the compressor around five years ago, never used it but came in really handy.

Unpacked the shopping and most of it went in the 'goody' box.....I seem to be eating far more rubbish these days.  I had toast and apricot jam at around twelve thirty for a late breakfast, very late breakfast and then in the absence of anything more exciting to do I turned on Netflix and carried on with two episodes of my latest series.  I switched off and went outside and did a job that was on the list, the honeysuckle that's slowly been taking over the lounge terrace has now been cut back to size.  The bramble that was growing up the middle of it has now been removed and hopefully it will sent up new shoots from the bottom and produce more flowers.  Not a very productive year for it and now that I can see the underneath, I might even be more ruthless with it tomorrow.  All the debris went over the wall, hopefully the cows or sheep will find it.  Lots of flying things about today...the temperature reached twenty seven this afternoon and it's really confused all those things that were about to go into hiding for the winter.

I locked up and started supper, chicken on sticks with homemade barbecue sweet and sour sauce served with croquet potatoes from the air fryer.  It was tasty, I'm stuffed to the gills and probably won't want breakfast again in the morning.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is the same as it was for today so should be an outside day.  LN......Let me see how many more jobs I can knock off the list.......LN

Sunday 22nd October

Seven start, coffee, games, rubbish collection for bonfire later in the day, washing collection from the four corners, put the remains of the slow cooker out for the cat and some chicken bits from last night and then I settled down back in my bed with my Kindle.  I'd got through to eighty five percent and intended finishing it before lunchtime.  I checked the Kindle and found that I have two more of Philippa Gregory's books loaded so I have more to go at.

I put the load of washing in the machine and knew somehow that something was going to go wrong.  It was a large load, I put washing stuff in the machine in both one and two compartments thinking that I'd been doing it wrong all these years and pressed the 'start' button and it certainly did.  I went back to my book sitting at the table in the stairwell and after around fifteen minutes went to get more coffee and it was then that I noticed that there was an extraordinary lot of foam in the machine.  I let it run its course, opened the door when the machine finished and reckoned that I'd overloaded it and probably knacked it.  I took half of the clothes out and put them in the kitchen sink, put a very low dish that I have to catch the water and opened up the filter compartment at the bottom of the machine.  The water gushed out so I replaced the stopper and emptied the dish, opened it up again and carried on until there was no more water coming out.....and now the moment of truth.  I reset the machine for a full quick programme, didn't add any more detergent and hit the button with my fingers crossed and it ran like a dream.  I removed said washing, replaced it with the contents of the sink and set it to go again.....and another winner.  Both loads are now on the airers in the guest room and should be ready to put away tomorrow morning.  So I boiled a couple of eggs, made some toast and went back to my book finishing it at twelve thirty...panic over.

The rest of the day has been pretty leisurely.....I reboxed the compressor and put it back in the NIpper with the instructions just in case, had a bonfire and then resorted to Netflix and watched Pride and Prejudice.  I thought I'd seen it before but I hadn't seen this version.  Twice today I heard the thump, thump of the helicopters that are round and about,  My student's mum said that they'd been around for a few days and and maybe we are going to be declared a war-zone.  I better get the room under the little house cleared out, make myself a bunker and check the insurance on the house to confirm that it covers war damage. Seven thirty my time, the late breakfast  eggs are sitting very heavily so I doubt I shall be eating later tonight.  Checked my weight this morning and for my daughter, the conversion is ten and a half stone.....better get moving in the garden and stop the chocolate biscuits to achieve target weight.  LN.....Student tomorrow.....more of Matilda...the Witches is finished.....LN

Monday 23rd October

Seven start, coffee and more of the new book...the Boleyn Inheritance....it was difficult to get into at the start but I'm getting there. I made toast for breakfast with triangle cheese spread, cleared the kitchen, put the washing away and just got on with morning things.  I did emails, facebook and got rid of junk and what is it with these idiots....what do they hope to get out of it?  I had a bit of an issue with the cooker and I'm wondering what's next.  Puncture, washing machine and now the back gas ring is difficult to switch on and off and I suspect that there is a build up of grease under the knob.  I took the top off the cooker, removed the disk and the underneath paraphernalia and gave it all a good clean.  I then used a brush to get so grease cleaner at the back of the knob, took the knob off and gave that a good clean too.  I reassembled everything, the back ring lights but didn't stay lit but the front one was OK.  I waited a little longer and the back ring worked....I thought I'd fixed it until I went to use it tonight and back to the drawing board Cecil.

Bored with that, I took up position in the bedroom rocking chair and read for another hour or so, move to the bed and promptly went to sleep again for an hour and then got undressed, dressed again for the lesson this afternoon and set off around two thirty.  I remembered to take the two new rosemary cuttings with me, I'd hurriedly pooted up a money tree plant but thought I'd give that another week even though the roots looked strong and healthy,  We chatted for an hour or so and I went upstairs to the apartment and my student informed me that he had already watched the rest of Matilda, the book that we'd started to read so we changed tack and are now reading one of Roald Dahl's other books.  I've not read this one before, 'Danny, Champion of the World' and we're both enjoying it.  It strangely reminds me of my childhood and the things we got up to like making bows and arrows and making and flying kites, and we managed to get through twenty four pages together,  I know it's got a lot of drawings in the book but loads of fun to read.  We did have the statutory game of football but we don't do it so seriously....I did managed to score a few goals though.

Down to the shop after a lengthy lesson, I sat with his mother in the shop and we started to discuss supper.  I said that I had liver in the freezer and that I was having that for supper cooked with onions and Bisto gravy.  Of course she doesn't know what Bisto is, it's not available here, and she showed me on the internet how they serve theres up with fresh onions and potato croutons.....it sounded very good.  Instead I served mine with croquette potatoes from the air-fryer for speed.  I did take a photo and send it to her....her response was 'tasty'.  I bought leeks on the way back from Djebel and tomorrow I'm making potato and leek soup in the slow cooker and I might even put some chicken in it.  My Little Owl was on the roof as I pulled up outside the house but had gone when I grabbed the camera and got up to the guest room balcony.  At least it's still around.

Soon be time for bed, it's just after half nine and I feel a book at bedtime calling.  LN......I really enjoy my time with my student and I know he looks forward to the lesson too.....LN

Tuesday 24th October

It was another of those morning when I wake up early and dog-doze eventually fully awake at seven.  I made coffee and went back to bed with the Kindle and read for quite some time and finally pushing myself to get up, out and at it at nine.  I made more coffee, tidied the kitchen and then set about confirming that the gas ring was in fact fully functional which it was and made poached eggs on toast.  There was one minor calamity, I placed the 'home made' egg from my student's mum's chickens from the garage, turned my back to start the toast off and heard a 'plonk', the egg had rolled from the worktop on to the floor but fortunately I had others.  It had dropped just in front of the cooker so trying to walk round it was a problem so firstly cleared it up before I went any further and by this time the water was boiling away so in went the eggs.  By this time the toast was cooked so that was ready and the eggs weren't....everything was out of sync.....my little world normally works well and now it wasn't.  So that's now four days when things hadn't, wouldn't or couldn't work as they should....it must be the universe telling me to slow down a little so today I did.

After breakfast I cleared the kitchen, took up position on the rocking chair and carried on with my book after making the bed of course....standards must remain excellent at all times.  After a while I was uncomfortable with my feet on the little table so I settled myself in the lounge where I could stretch out and then spent the next couple of hours half asleep, reading, until more or less twelve.  It's a very muggy day....not much sun about but close, not much air despite having windows and door open...almost thundery.  Imade my way to the kitchen and took the roots off the leeks that I'd bought yesterday with the intention of making leek and potato soup and that was as far as that task went and I'm about to start it now.  I looked at the Fitbit and was appalled that I'm hardly done any steps at all, well you can't when reclining all afternoon on a sofa reading a book and I was very tempted to take my daughter;s advice and make an omelette.....it's our little joke.  I did have a burst of enthusiasm when I noticed that the geraniums were looking very sad and needed deadheading and the rest of the pots were very dry so everything got a good soaking including the mosquitoes that came out in abundance and I noticed that the two lemons on the new tree are almost big enough to start to turn yellow so fingers crossed.  Lots of little ones that will come to nothing but it's the first year so I've left it to its own devices.....next year I'll be removing some of them so giving the others more of a chance.  

I missed sunset tonight and caught the last rays of reddish pink cross the sky, I've heard my little owl a few times today but it wasn't on the roof when I went out to take photos of the night sky....probably out hunting.  LN.....Hoping for a more productive day tomorrow, I listened to my body for a change.....LN

Wednesday 25th October

Well my dog-dozing yesterday and an early night meant that I was awake at four thirty this morning and ready to start my day.  It was pitch black outside and it was seven twenty before there was a glimmer of morning...clock change this weekend should sort it out a little.  I got stuck into my current book, didn't make coffee until six thirty and didn't emerge from my bed until eight...that was early enough for what I wanted to do today.  There was nothing on the agenda, the day was full of possibilities.  The leek tops went over the wall for the cows or sheep and the remains of the liver went out to Cat who was waiting patiently for me to take the food to the food station.

I managed to get a load of washing in the machine, I'd cut up the four leeks last night ready for the slow cooker this morning, grabbed two large potatoes from under the kitchen sink, peeled them and took a chicken leg out of the freezer.  That was when the timings all went to pot.  The chicken leg went into the microwave to thaw, the leeks went into one of the large saucepans with butter and oil to brown and the potatoes went in to brown them off a little.  This all went into the slow cooker with water and milk and now I was still waiting for the chicken, I needed to brown that off before it went in with the other ingredients. Eventually all was assembled, the cooker was turned to high and my lunch/supper was underway.   Around seven thirty I saw that I'd received a message from my student's mum.  I'd bought her a slow cooker for Christmas a couple of years ago and she uses it but only at weekends....she doesn't like leaving it on in the apartment when she's not there.  After the lesson on Monday I was extolling the benefits and having something ready when the finish work around seven saves thinking about it.  The preparation is done and it cooks itself.  This morning there was a photo of tonight's supper that they are having, it was ready to go and at eleven thirty I reminded her that she might need to turn it down to the first setting so that it didn't get cremated before they got back tonight.  I'd done the same with mine and it was ready for about two so I took some of it from the cooker and blended it and made a very tasty thick soup and not sure I want anything else tonight.  The rest will go into the fridge and come out tomorrow.

After my late lunch I settled on the sofa and finished my book...I'm not sure I enjoyed it.  Each character told their own story, all except Henry 8th, and described the interactions of the different queens as they took their place in history and the comings and goings of the courts and family persuasions and intrigues.  I know he had six wives but never studied that period of history at school so it was an eye-opener for me.  I finished it at five more or less, went out look for my little own that I'd heard hooting around the house but didn't spot it and now it's too dark.  We seem to be galloping towards winter but so far so good, I've only had two fires so far and the temperature in the house is very comfortable without thanks to my big windows, inside and outside insulation and thick walls.

Time to switch off and settle in for the night.....Netflix or a new book......not sure yet.  LN.....Gardening or Kardjali tomorrow...it depends on the weather.....LN

Thursday 26th October

Seven thirty start this morning and it looks like I'm back to normal, there was a brightness to the sky which didn't last long.  I've worked out now how to make it rain...you clean the windows or you water the garden and within a couple of days it arrives.  The clouds blew the rain clouds in and blew them out again after only a couple of hours and yes, the wet the grass, it will be greener tomorrow but what we need is a few good downpours.

I put the washing away, made toast with triangle cheese again so that I cut down on the butter as part of my new regime to get down to nine and a half stone or just over sixty kilograms.  It's totally self inflicted, nobody told me that I had to or that it would be good for my health, I still have plenty of clothes that fit but it's a good fighting weight for me.  I do think that the recent weight loss was more due to the workload of logs and preparing for winter, I've read somewhere that it takes three weeks to come off and about the same amount of time to go on to that follows....the men left two weeks ago.  

Today hasn't been very productive at all.  I changed my plans when the weather was closing in...not much point to having to run from shop to shop getting wet in between.  My shopping list was very sparse, I only need onions, coffee and butter for the freezer, I've plenty of meat in the freezer and really need to run it down so that I can defrost it.  In fact that could have been one of today's jobs....throw out everything that's freezer burnt but instead I found a book, yes, a real paper book that my son bought me years ago and I'd never read it.  It's acclaimed according to the front cover, a romance which I don't normally read but I've managed to knock off a hundred or so pages and I'm quite enjoying it.  I started it when sitting at the table under the stairs with my feet on the table and then realised that I'd be more comfortable on the little sofa so changed my position.  By one my breakfast had long gone so I took the slow cooker from the fridge and back to the base and set it to high letting the potato, leek and chicken mixture get up to boiling point and to safety, I'm a bit funny about reheating food.  Half an hour later and I had a huge bowl of the thick soup with two slices of buttered toast.....and so much for today's eating plan!!  I went back to my book, stuffed to the gills I fell asleep and woke up at five, the rain has dried up and now the moon is out.

Funny old day....I have no plans for tomorrow so far but there's still time to make some, break some and then replan...it's what retirement is all about.  LN.....I'm still listening to my body and going with the flow.....LN

Friday 27th October

So I went to bed around midnight, had read most of the day yesterday and watched two episodes of my latest Netflix last night and it didn't take long before I was asleep.  The moon was bright last night and I woke up, felt that I'd had enough sleep, visited the little room, and popped the kettle on.  I decided to check the Fitbit...what a shock, it was ten to three.  I let the kettle switch itself off and decided to forego the coffee, I tried sleep again but nothing doing so I settled for Sudoku, I went downstairs to fetch my book and somehow I got the two stories muddled up in my little brain and it took me a reread of the last few pages to get it sorted.  One is a romance set in the America in the nineteen thirties and the other is a gangster, drug-baron money launderer thriller.  Well it was about three thirty in the morning.

I didn't manage to get to sleep but I did watch the most wonderful sunrise.  There were just so many colours in the sky as the morning evolved and then they dissipated just as quickly as they came.  I made my first coffee around six, was out of bed not long after and started my day.  I threw out some bread for the birds, cat had some chicken bones but there was no sign of it at all.  I dressed for town, didn't bother with breakfast and had about three changes of shirt/over jumper/heavier jumper before I was satisfied.  There was no obvious sun out, that had worked hard at getting up this morning and the wind was cold. Before I set off I wanted to add my card details to the parking payment system, went through the screens and was waiting for my card to be verified and the circle just kept spinning and in the end I phoned Sofia and she promised to get someone from the technical department to phone me back and I was quite surprised when someone did advising me that they were having issues with the system.  By this time I was in Djebel at the car shop, I was asking my student's mum how the supper was from the slow cooker and she said that it was just perfect and now she trusts it to be left in the flat and get on with supper without any interference from her.  We noticed that the market was selling leeks so I went over and bought enough for both of us and left them in the shop until I'd finished in Kardjali.

I paid my house phone bill, carried onto Kaufland and bought a few things and then on to Lidl, I filled up with gas on the way back to Djebel and my leeks, picked them up and carried on home arriving at around three thirty.  Shopping unpacked and started to read my book again and this time no problem remembering the plot, went to sleep, woke up at six and lit the fire, it's ticking along nicely and the house is feeling very cosy.  No supper for me, I've pigged out on cream cheese and breadsticks followed by mixed nuts and raisins...not very healthy but available.  Leaf collecting tomorrow unless the wind makes it impossible and does it for me.  LN.....I managed a few more steps on my Fitbit thank goodness...I was feeling a lazy bones.....LN

Saturday 28th October

So it was back to being a seven start but I didn't go to bed until three, I fell asleep on the sofa, crawled to bed and slept like a baby.  I made my coffee and rescued my book from downstairs where I'd left it last night, I only had a few pages to go and finished it.  I swapped over to the Kindle and settled for a few sudoku, checked emails and other rubbish and then was unsure what to do for the rest of the day.  The leek and chicken remains went out for the cat along with the bread that had developed little green specks and I never do green specks or the hint of them.  I made a ham and cheese omelette instead and sat at the table in the stairwell eating it.  I cleared the kitchen from yesterday and today, cleared out the wood burner and set it for tonight but I don't think there's much danger of lighting it.  I've had windows and doors open until six this evening, it's now all shut up for the night and the residual heat is going to see me through until morning I'm sure.

As for the rest of the day, I didn't do much.  I sorted out some of the folders on the shelving unit on the upstairs landing, found some telephone numbers that I need, one to find out if I can get insured if I decided to take the cruise in November,  I've used them before four years ago and let's see if they are still in business and can provide the same service.  I also found some photos of the year ahead of me in the primary school and there's a site i can post it to.  I remember some of the names and it might jog other memories for parents and teenagers now, photos of parents and grandparent are normally looked on fondly.  I also found out the laptop that I bought in error thinking it was smaller than the one I bought when I was in the UK, I need to sort it and getting it set-up so that it makes a good standby should anything happen to the other travelling one.  I started but didn't finish, it's a job for another day and I went on to play some old CD's with a view to transferring them over to the memory stick that I play in the cars....and decided I need a new memory stick so moved on.  The Fitbit bleeped at me so I walked the garden to get the steps up and sat on the wall, I really do like living here.

At five I nibbled on more breadsticks and finished the cheese, I guess it's going to be another day where I don't bother too much about supper only ten pounds to reach my target and it doesn't sound much if you say it quickly.  I went up stairs to prepare the blog and noticed the full moon just coming up over the mountains.  I grabbed the camera and went out onto the balcony and took a few, and then noticed that the sunset was making beautiful colours in the sky over the garage.  The sun had gone but it had left a short lived legacy,  Within five minutes the moon had been gobbled up by the clouds, move along, nothing to see here and how it's pitch black outside.  LN.....The boiler is going on tonight, I want to luxuriate in a hot bath with the Kindle......well not quite....I want it to stay dry.......LN

Sunday 29th October

Woke up at five which would have been six so not too bad and the first job was to go round and change those clocks that aren't controlled by somebody else, whoever they may be.  I did remember to change the timer control on the boiler, why pay for expensive electricity when I can get it at cheap rate overnight.  I made coffee and went back to bed and played games, watched the sun attempting to break through the cloud barrier and it was much later in the day when it managed it.  As it warmed up, the mist started to rise and I sat out on the balcony enjoying the sounds of the birds foraging for breakfast, I heard the owl but didn't see it and there were a couple of woodpeckers knocking seven bells out of the walnut but again they were hidden in the branches.  I made more coffee, washed and dressed and for some reason settled myself at the desk and went through my treasure and memory box and it suddenly occurred to me that the children needn't send any more mother's day and birthday cards, I have so many to choose from.  Why keep feeding Moonpigs coffers when the cards are late anyway if at all they arrive.  It's not Moonpigs fault, the Bulgarian postal service really is rubbish.  

At twelve I made it downstairs and decided to walk the garden and found Red near the workshop terrace.  Where she had come to a halt there was hardly any greenery so I found some dandelions, broke them off and put them down near her with a dish of water.  She had the greenery but then sauntered off down the garden, she's the only one out and about, I've not seen shell or nail varnish of the others for a month or so.  I had a bonfire, sat on the wall surveying the estate and the local villages and noticed that the building work on the first house in the next village is really underway.  There was lots of banging last week and it made me realise that my neighbours must have been really annoyed with me when my work was underway...I think they've forgotten it now though.  I came in, settled in front of the tv and put a film on and promptly went to sleep for a couple of hours catching up on the ones that I'd missed this morning and then had a burst of energy.  I went out to the little house, took the strimmer and fitted the battery and did the stray dry grass in the drive which took me all of a couple of minutes.  I went back in the little house taking with me some weigela cuttings that I've had soaking in water and potted them up using the new compost.  I've put seventeen in, let's see what grows, watered the seven rosemary that have taken and potted up two more that were in water with the others.  My propagation centre is in operation!!  I'd also noticed that the kerria and the  berberis have new shoots so I dug a couple of each up and now they're in compost for my student's mum for the garage, I've got more cuttings to take including the Choisya which I absolutely love...but enough for today.

Tools away and everything locked up, not sure what supper is going to be and I can't say that I'm really that bothered yet.  There were the last rays of the sun colouring the clouds to the east and three planes lit up with red trails as they headed south.  So now we're on our way to winter, the mornings are better but the evenings are longer, better get my rug making kit out or start concentrating on my family chart again.....I need to write it up properly thinning it down to families.  It's far easier to understand and get on one sheet of paper.  LN.....I'm kitchen bound, hunger grubs are nibbling.....LN

Monday 30th October

So my body had not adjusted to the change of clocks...I was awake at five this morning, coffee, back to bed, sudoku, washed and dressed and at seven I was clearing the kitchen.  At eight I was having a bonfire and sitting on the wall watching the sun on the mountains and the mountains through the mist.  I went back to the house and cleaned and trimmed the leeks that I'd bought on Friday, peeled a couple of potatoes which went into the slow cooker to make soup.  I took some chicken pieces from the freezer, thawed them out and that went into the slow cooker, cranked it up to full and that was ready by one and some of it became lunch with smelly blue cheese added.

At ten I was clearing the leaves from the workshop terrace and I suddenly remembered that the door to the room underneath the little house didn't open the last time I'd tried it.  I'd mentioned it to the men but nothing had happened, it's not that I want to store anything in it but a closed door becomes a challenge for me.  I fiddled with a piece of wire, oiled what I could see, realised that the door had dropped so by lifting it and giving it a good kick, success.  It had opened about a foot and there was lot of rubbish behind it.  I oiled what I could see of the lock, swept some of the rubbish out of the way, lifted it some more and eventually I was able to get inside and saw that the top hinge had come away from the door frame and that's what caused it to jam. As I said, I don't need to get in there but tomorrow I'll find some larger screws and see if I can fix it..  I locked up, nothing to do until the next time.  I went back to clearing the leaves and that continued until lunchtime, some leaves went behind the shrubs and should stifle the new weeds when they start to push through in spring until I eventually I decided that they were probably better over the wall for the animals.

Tools away, I blitzed part of the soup and had it with blue cheese and then had a shower and washed my hair, I had my student at three in Djebel.  I don't have to do any preparation now that we are reading books and I don't give him homework, he's learning German at his new school and he gets enough from that.  I arrived on time, we read three chapters of the book and went back down to the shop at around six.  He's got a football match on Wednesday and I might just drive over to watch him.  

The rest of the soup is warming up for tonight, seven thirty my time and it's been an action packed day.  I;ve managed my ten thousand steps, broken down the door and worked out how to fix that problem, cleared the leaves and hopefully will have a good day tomorrow with more of the same.  LN.....Thirty four degrees in the house and twenty four outside...not bad for the last day of October.......LN