Thursday February 1st

So white rabbits....here's a punch for the first of the month....not sure where these sayings came from but as I get older they keep coming back to me.  February is my month, so many birthdays and lots to remember.  My grandmother, my mother, my daughter, my son, mine, we all have birthdays this month and grandson only missed it by a few days having his birthday at the end of January.  We cornered the market in Aquarian birth signs and all so much alike in many ways yet different in others.  My special month.

So what happened today?  Minus seven on the outside thermometer and fifteen inside at six this morning.  I lit the fire and moved the inside temperature up a few notches but then the sun did the rest for me and it was thirty degrees at one this afternoon and the fire was out.  I put the remains of my supper out for the cat, I'd had advice from a dear friend that I shouldn't feed bread to the birds since it has no nutritional value or calories to keep them warm so I shall have to be buying wild bird foot tomorrow otherside they will get pretty wild.  I tidied round a little, my older student was coming today to copy a disk from the hospital on to a flash drive and we were both going to try to do it.  She arrived around twelve, I made coffee, she loves the house and checked out each room and then we went out to do a tour of the garden.  The list was in....she wants rosemary to make a rinse for her hair and I was happy to oblige, I gave her a plant for the garden from the little house, a cutting I'd taken before I went to the UK and used secateurs to cut her a branch from mine for her hair rinse.  She also admired the winter flowering jasmine that I brought in from the garden and so she went home with a rooted cutting of that too.  I also gave her one of the jasmine plants that I bought the other day from Lidl, the buds are still there but not opening but we shall see.  She also wanted to advise me on a new beauty serum that her friends were raving about, she showed it to me via the internet and it was made by Estee Lauder.  I surprised her by knowing the company and secondly by saying that I used to use it but didn't rate the products and at fifty eight pounds a bottle, I shan't be buying it either.  My night cream is by Nivea and costs me fifteen leva and last for ages...that's more like it.

We tried with the disk and had no joy.  I think it really needs to be copied to another disk and I don't have dual disk drives and no method of burning it.  Off she went with her goodies around two thirty and will speak to her mother and tomorrow I'll take her into Kardjali to an expert in these things that she knows.  I'll await for the message to come through.  As for the rest of my day. I filled up the log basket from the logs that I'd chopped yesterday and the log carrier with larger logs from the little house and use the cut logs sparingly to keep the home fires burning.  I've not thought of anything for supper yet, it will probably be potluck and will go into the air-fryer for speed of delivery.  I've had a very pleasant, calm and enjoyable day.  Viking's series is no more and thank goodness for that, I was pleased to get to the end and might find something more useful to do that watch television when it's cold....or maybe a new series.  LN......It's in the lap of the gods...and Netflix......LN

Friday 2nd February

Sorry it's late, the internet was playing up and I've only just managed to get connected.  Good night's sleep, woke at six this morning, not a glimmer of the day to come but eventually when the day started the colour in the sky were very gentle and the photos don't really do it justice.  It was bleak out there when I eventually took seeds out for the birds so I didn't linger long, I'd lit the fire as soon as I'd got out of bed so it was warm to get back to.  I'd not formulated plans for the day so didn't bother to get dressed and went back to the warmth of my bed drinking coffee and playing games on the Kindle.  Eventually I saw the glimmer of morning so grabbed the camera and took a few, the moon had a halo round it and that foretold the pattern for the rest of the day.  The sun showed it's face briefly but the temperature never went up much above freezing and it was a day for warm sweaters and being inside.  I made scrambled eggs for breakfast and despite the fire my hands were cold sitting in the stairwell while eating it.  I made more coffee, washed up the breakfast things and went to get dressed.

The upstairs bathroom is the warmest 'little room' in the house and a good place to get stripped off, washed and dressed again.  The washing from yesterday was dry so put it away, found a very warm sweater with a hood in the upstairs wardrobe space so that went on top of my fleece pyjama top.  I'd decided to go into Kardjali to pay a few bills which turned out not to be necessary since there was a deposit sitting on the account that I'd made when I went to England.  The phone shop had more staff than customers and we joked about it.  Apparently there are lots of people ill in Kardjali according to the staff, lots of flu bugs hanging around and I did see shoppers with masks on.  From there I withdraw money from the cashpoint and checked my balance and the bank were correct....I seem to have more than I thought I had so no need to get money transfered from my other account.  While I had time on my parking meter I went down to my stationery shop and bought 160 gram weight paper and between us we worked out that to buy two hundred and fifty sheets in a packet was less than buying two hundred loose sheets....it was a no brainer, I settled for the packet.  I also bought white board marker pens in the four colours and somehow I seem to have lost two of them so need to search the car and the front seat.  It's too cold to go out and look this evening.  I went down to the cheapy clothing shop and bought a top for my student for two leva....not exactly braking the bank but I liked it and so did she.

Shopping at Kaufland and Lidl, drove to my student's home and delivered the item that I'd bought for her, stopped for coffee and then carried on to the carshop to deliver two pomegranates that I'd got for her since they were on special offer.  I only popped in, carried on to the little supermarket for bread and spicy sausages and then home to a warm house and a fire that needed love and attention...which it got.  Again not really in the mood for supper....I'll have to go on a scout round for something easy to prepare.  My daughter's birthday tomorrow and it's a milestone one.....I remember mine being supper at a Mexican restaurant and ending up in a nightclub in the centre of Brighton, with the car parked in Nationwide undercover car park and leaving the chauffeur asleep while waiting for us to finish the evening.  Now as a teetotaller I look back and laugh at what we used to get up to, riding bikes to parties and surprised that we got back safely and telling fortunes with one guy setting his sleeve alight on one of the candles.

Seven thirty my time and time to head to the kitchen on that hunt for supper.  LN...I love February....it's got such memories for me.......LN

Saturday 3rd February

Late to bed last night and not necessarily late to sleep,,,,the sofa was very comfortable.  I snuggled down and slept through until seven this morning so I did very well on the zzzz front.  I lit the fire, it was minus three outside, the sun was there but finding it a hard job to climb and get on with its day job...the heavy cloud base on the horizon meant that it had to climb further to do anything like heating up this planet.  Eventually it made it and was obvious most of the day but at sunset it was trying hard but the clouds had followed it.

I made a bacon sandwich for breakfast, could have eaten a second one but too lazy to cook it but I did get on and peeled leeks, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms towards supper.  I found a couple of chicken legs in the freezer, thawed them out in the microwave and set about making the stew/soup.  I put the sliced potatoes and leeks into the frying pan that I'd taken the bacon out of to give them a coating and some flavour and those went into the slow cooker.  I sliced the carrots lengthways and halved the mushrooms and they went in too, I added hot water with a couple of stock cubes dissolved in it and put the thawed chicken in the frying pan to colour it up a little.  Everything in the slow cook, switched it to high and then down to medium after an hour or so.  I tidied the kitchen and washed up, messaged my daughter to wish her a happy birthday, I didn't phone since she might have been having a lie in or on the road for somewhere as a birthday treat.  She was about to open her cards and then going shopping for with birthday money for 'a nice piece of jewellery  so I told her to choose well.

I got wood in, settled back on the sofa and switched on Netflix and I'm back with Peaky Blinders and around one I fell asleep for an hour or so.  There are lots of things I could do but instead I found  book that i'd brought back from England the last time I was there on Reincarnation.  I must have bought the book at least twenty five years ago and it's one I've dipped in and out of and this time I decided to read it from cover to cover especially since I really do have the time.  I had an early supper from the slow cooker, cat has some bones and skin for tomorrow morning since I've stripped down the second leg and put it back in with the remaining vegetables.  I've got my supper for tomorrow sorted.

Six thirty and the sunset looked more like the sunrise, it's only the foreground that makes them different.  I relit the fire and that's chugging along nicely, curtains drawn and I'm in for the night.    LN.....I hope my daughter has had a good day...moon and back Princess......LN

Sunday 4th February

Happy birthday mum, it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up at six thirty.  It was cold outside, minus two again and not that warm inside so I lit the fire to warm the place up a little.  It didn't take too long, I went back to bed with black tea instead of coffee, I'm going to give it a miss for a while...a change is a good as a rest.  The second call to life came at eight thirty, I threw another log on the fire, bacon and egg breakfast with fried bread, washed up and I was set for the day.  No need to get logs in, I'd got enough to last even though the sky was telling me that there wouldn't be much sun about and there certainly hasn't been.  The sunrise was a poor show but at least the sunset tonight was worth recording.

Cat was out and about today and really enjoyed her chicken bits and bones with the chicken juices soaked into the crust of the loaf with hot water on it.  It was waiting for me on the wall, jumped down when it saw me approaching but is still very wary even though I'm carrying food.  I looked from the house around ten minutes later and nothing was left at all...it had scoffed the lot.  I haven't done much today, I played around with ancestry program and filled in a few more gaps but the research is now taking me into the fifteen and sixteen hundreds and you really need to look at the Parish records for those.  The option to look at other people's trees is given and I'm sure a lot of them are fantasy fiction, there are some where the male is married to the male with the same name, I'm sure some just want to get the biggest tree possible.  I don't, there are only about eight hundred people in my tree but it to me a long time to search and one record eluded me for about a year until I found a mistranscribed record and an assumed age on his marriage certificate.....I know he's mine Thomas.

I had to relight the fire around four thirty, it had gone out while I was upstairs but it didn't take long to get it going again.  The chicken in the slow cooker is no more, I reheated it in the pot and finished it all so sorry cat, nothing for you for tomorrow so far.  I went out to take photos of the sunset as it was going down, thought I'd capture all there was to see and as I went out to get wood for the fire I noticed that the sky was red all the way round so back in the house and grabbed the camera and it was really beautiful but it didn't last long.  More like a swansong since the rest of the day has been so poor. Temperature is dropping now.....just after seven thirty, the boiler is on for a bath tonight.  LN.....At the moment...it's going to be another leisurely day tomorrow.....unless..!!...LN

Monday 5th February

So despite my best efforts to keep awake last night I didn't manage it and woke up on the sofa at two thirty this morning.  I didn't manage the bath that I'd promised myself either and left that for this morning. I was most surprised when I didn't have my usual six start but slept straight through until eight thirty and it's been a very relaxed day throughout.  First job was to set the fire for tonight, clean out the ashes and check on the wood situation in the porch so those jobs were added to the list for today.  I didn't bother with breakfast, I'd been outside to throw out bread for the birds and was surprised at how warm it was and was even tempted to sit for a while but the mood soon passed.  I ran a bath at ten and lingered in it until eleven thirty, put a load of washing in the machine and read my book on reincarnation lying on the sofa waiting for the washing to finish so that I could put it on the airer.  I could have pegged it outside but there are little bugs around and don't want to get bitten this early in the year.

So not the best job in the world after having a bath, I decided to clean out the top of the woodburner where the soot collects and this time I did remembered to put on my gardening gloves for protection.  Next job was to get the axe out and chop some of the larger logs for when the fire is a little low, bring in enough starter wood to get it going and some of the really old wood from the wind damaged trees that came down in the last storm.  It's really just to use them up and now I'm set for a blizzard if the weather changes.  By now it was nearly four so I lit the fire and got it going really well, so well that I settled on the sofa with Netflix and followed more of Peaky Blinders.  

Just topped up the fire again, I'm thinking it's time to head to the kitchen and find something to eat.  There is cold ham and mixed pickles but I'm fancying making potato salad.....and only wished that Lidl would reintroduce the potato salad with creme fraiche but apparently it's only for the larger stores or when there is a promotion on.  At well....I've got potatoes and mayo....and the will.  My student tomorrow and more of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the compulsory game of lounge football....it wouldn't be a lesson without it.  LN......I've had a very relaxed and enjoyable day and a beautiful sunset to finish it off......LN

Tuesday 6th February

Another late night to bed falling asleep in front of Netflix but straight to sleep and woke up at seven.  The morning was breaking, the cows had been sent out to scavenge for the day to save on feed and it looked as if it might turn into a good day.  It had been forecast and was plus six this morning outside when I got going, I'd got nothing for the cat so had to break into a packet of ham with a gone-over consume by date.  I took some slices outside, made my familiar noise to attract the thing but nothing emerged from the shrubbery so I put the food down and five minutes later it had gone.  Not sure if it was my cat or not but at least something got fed.  I made toast for my breakfast, sorted the kitchen out from last night, thought about a bonfire but instead decided to watch the last episodes of Peaky Blinders, there were only two episodes to go and I've yet to find out the follow on summing-up film that was made.

I went out and sat on the terrace in the sun and it was almost like a summer's day.  I eventually got washed and dressed to face the world, put the washing away, was tempted to have a bonfire but that will wait for another day.  I didn't want to arrive at my student's house for the lesson smelling of bonfires.  If you  remember I bought two jasmine plants from Lidl at the same time but the one always looked healthier than the other when I got it home.  My ex- student decided to take the weaker one home for her mother despite my best efforts to get her to take the healthy one so when mine started flowering this morning, I decided to take this one to her mother and bring the other one home.  The weak one is to undergo surgery in the morning. get watered with special 'stuff' and see if we can raise the 'almost dead'.

I arrived on time for my student but he'd gone into Kardjali with his father so sort out a bank account for him.  Apparently schools put monthly payments into students' accounts to incentivise them to study.....what a good plan, maybe we can suggest it for the UK in some areas.  We started the lesson late, five minutes football and then on with the book and we managed to read thirty four pages.  I'd not read it before and there's so much more detail in the book than in the film that even I was laughing at some of the phrasing.  Down to the shop by five thirty and home for six, fire going, bolognaise sauce from the freezer, thawed out and served with mashed potatoes from a packet and I was washing up at seven.  I've just watched the 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', I've read the book but it was the first time that I'd seen the film.  In this case I think the book was better.

Just after eight thirty my time, no late night for me tonight, I need to get settled for a good night's sleep.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow except for my bonfire and then the rest of the day is mine but I think I need to chop more starter wood from the old wood left by the builders.  I've also got a lot of wood in one of the rooms in the little house that I could used to save it going to waste.  It's been there for a few years, one of the neighbours said that she wanted it but since she's not been round to collect, I think I'm going to make use of it.  LN......Now back to the warmth of the fire......LN

Wednesday 7th February

Beautiful start to the day, the opening temperature was five degrees but there was still a nip in the air when I went to drop the food off for the cat.  It was lucky this morning, it had more ham slices as an opener and then the remains of this morning's breakfast after I'd eaten all that I wanted.  I'd fried a spicy sausage, an egg and some mushrooms and it got a bit of all of it....lucky cat.  I went upstairs to get washed and dressed, and somehow found myself on the hunt for an elusive roll neck that still remains elusive....it just doesn't want to be found but another one came out of the chest and that's been comfortable to wear all day.

I had my bonfire and it was quite a good burn-up, walked the garden and made my way to the little house with the intention of clearing out some of the old wood but that went by the way again until this evening and I brought in enough to last tonight.  It's very old but throws out lots of heat, in fact it's better than the bought stuff from earlier in the season.  I think I got the previous, previous years wood that had overwintered in his yard....I'll but it later this year.  I put the jasmine into the hospital bay and sorted it out..there are new shoots at the bottom that can see daylight now I've cut the rest back....so it should be fine.  I put cosmos seeds in compost to see if they will do anything, sorted out seeds and I think that it's time that the old ones went and I had a cull.  The other way I suppose is just to throw them at the bottom of the garden and see which ones germinate...a bit early for that but Californian poppies should still do well they're very hardy.

Came inside and settled on the sofa and watch the film 'The Pianist'.  I'd felt I 'd seen the main character before but it took me a while to realise that he was the 'baddie' in 'Peaky Blinders'....Adrien Brody and I much preferred him in the film I was watching.  So I was doing OK unil more or less the end when the emotion took over and I shed a tear for this poor guy, gave myself a good talking to and then went out and got the second lot of wood in.

Six thirty my time, supper is ready and tonight on the menu there's pork spare rib chops in barbecue sauce with a hasselback potato ....and it's a big one.  Got to go, don't want it to spoil.  LN.....Nothing on the menu tomorrow so far just more of the same if the weather is good.......LN

Thursday 8th February

What a horrible disturbed night.  I woke up at two and realised that for some reason my mouth and lips had reacted to something that I must have eaten and I was on the hunt for anti--histamine tablets.  I get this occasionally, haven't a clue what I'm allergic to and neither do the doctors but it worried me enough to not go back to sleep and so I played games until five this morning.  The other remedy is to drink lots of water and with that comes lots of visits to the little room but does flush the poisons out of the system.  I'd  made sweet and sour spare rib chops and nothing unusual in the sauce since I'd made my own so knew everything that went into it.  The potato was sliced and butter added and cooked in the oven so nothing different there.  I did follow it with a shop bought vanilla pudding and I suppose something in that might have triggered and combines with something in the meal...I just don't know.  I went back to bed and slept through until eight thirty, didn't feel good so spent the rest of the morning in bed.  I didn't bother going to the doctor, I've reported it before and it's been put down to the tablets I was taking for blood pressure, the doctor threw her hands in the air and said that she didn't know what the next step was so I control my own intake.  I was off them for a year but England this year was quite trying so put myself back on them for the blood pressure but being back here for three weeks, I'm back and have decided to put them to oneside again.

The rest of the day has been very gentle.  The temperature both inside and outside has been very 'summery' and at seven thirty tonight I have twenty two degrees in the house and ten outside...unheard of for February.  There's been very little winter to talk about and enjoy.  I boiled a couple of eggs around twelve and had them with a slice of buttered bread, most of the swelling has gone down and so far, no reaction to anything I've eaten.  I took another tablet as a precaution, lay on the sofa and caught up on some more sleep. I lit the fire at five but not a huge on, I'm using the very old wood to start it and then one of the new ones to tick it over and it seems to be working.  Tomorrow providing all is good overnight, I'm going to try and empty the room that has the old wood and put it into the large containers I have with lids so if there is anything living in it, it's contained.  I get the feeling though that the wood is so old that nothing would find anything in there worth having.

So let's see what tonight brings.  I've discovered 'House MD' on Netflix, I used to watch it ages ago when a friend from one of the local villages used to deliver it for me on a memory stick.  It's been so long since I've watched it that I've forgotten most of the plots.  The only problem with it is that you can imagine that you have all the complaints going.....I'd have been worried if I had been working on the series.  LN.....No photos....mostly confined to the house and feeling much better than I did earlier.....LN

Friday 9th February

Went to bed at eleven last night, anticipated and got a five thirty start but when back off again until seven and felt much better for it.  Yesterday was another wake up call for me, I rested all day and today I felt the benefit.  I should take more days like those.  The last of the ham went out for the cat, not that I saw it eat it, it could have been any one of them but it had gone in quicksticks.  I made boiled eggs and toast for myself and I really should work on the timings.  They were better than yesterday...too squidgy and today, one a little undercooked and the other after waiting to be eaten was overcooked but the toast was fine.  Washing up done, kitchen finished and presentable for the day, washed and dressed, washing in the machine and time for sofa and Netflix.  I watched two episodes of House MD and then headed out to the little house after tidying up the corridor and polishing my Timberland boots.  It's not cold, wet and no snow around and the boots are very comfortable and I've put elastic laced in them so that they're much easier to put on and take off with the shoehorn to hand.

I took the keys to the outside buildings and opened up the little house and wood store.  I wheeled the empty log carriers from the porch to the appropriate buildings and first job was to split some of the larger logs so that I had smaller ones if the fire needed perking up.  I managed to split about seven of them using the axe and the chuck hammer and that gave me enough to fill up the container.  Next job was to tidy up the second row of logs in the wood store and add them to the first line but what I did notice was that they were really old and probably from two years before so best they're used up.  I filled up the space that I'd made with the wood chopping machine, the collapsible ladder and the hundred meter cable reel, swept the floor and generally tidied up.  The grass mower is now near the door to the back terrace and that will have an oil change and the fuel emptied and refilled but it's too early for that to be done.  The weather's good but it can change in an instant and minus temperatures are forecast for the end of this week and beyond.  I moved two containers of wood from the little house back room into the little house porch and this is really using up old wood.  I did say that I would empty this room but just now there's no where to store it so it's good where it is....a little and often should do it.

I locked up outside and noticed that a wooden board picture had faded in the sun and you could hardly read what it said.  I sat on the sofa, found some rollaball coloured pens in twelve colours and managed to recolour the drawing/printing in more or less the same colours and it's finished and back on the wall.  It hangs on the wall over the narrow bookcase at eye level when you come down the stairs and reminds me that 'no one gets out alive anyway'....quite thought provoking.  That must have taken me an hour or so to do, it's back on the wall and it suddenly hit me that I was hungry so I made tuna and mayo sandwiches, lit the fire and ate them finishing off with a chocolate bar.    The washing is now on the airer in the bathroom, it's seven my time more or less, I've achieved quite a lot and am very pleased that I did the poster thingy.  I've looked at it and was reluctant to start on it in case I messed it up but it's done and I haven't.

Saturday tomorrow, I did think about Greece but the weather is threatening rain so I might as well stay here....there's enough to do and like today, things I would enjoy doing.  LN.....I might even have a day doing my family chart on the white board.....it's much easier than on paper.......LN

Saturday 10th February

Relatively good night until three thirty this morning.  The night temperature is abnormally high, I have winter bedding on and I was roasting.  I went for a glass of water, played games for a while and eventually I went off to sleep again until seven thirty so not too bad.  This morning's temperature outside was eleven degrees, inside twenty six once the sun broke through so no need to light a fire or worry about more wood.  I had enough to last until the end of next week at this rate.

I wanted more than boiled eggs this morning so made a bacon and egg sandwich.  While I was in the freezer I found some bolognaise sauce that I'd made a while back and some sausages that I'd sliced into short lengths and left them on the worktop to thaw for later. I didn't find much to do this morning since there was nothing much to do and the anticipation of putting the ancestry chart on the whiteboard didn't' fill me with desire so I chose not to do it, Netflix went on and I immersed myself in House MD.

I made a few phone calls this afternoon, lit a very reluctant fire at four thirty but after a couple of attempts I won and it's still going strong now.  I put the bolognaise into a saucepan, added a can of tomatoes and one of baked beans and the sausages- and heated it up on the cooker.  When it was bubbling well I transferred it to the slow cooker and left it to do its own thing, all that I had to do was to cook the pasta and I did this around sixt thirty, served up and supper was over by seven.  Washing up done and kitchen tidied ready for tomorrow for Sunday....a day of rest like most days for me over here.  There's usually more to do in winter but it never really got going this year.  I did manage to go for a walk round the garden , I noticed the snowdrops, the winter flowering jasmine that's had a growth surge and saw that the lilac was beginning to bud.  Sunset was as gentle as the morning sunrise, nothing really dramatic about them...they just happened. Probably tomorrow is going to be the same as today except that I hope this nagging toothache has calmed down a little.  Looks like I shall be making an appointment with the man that can sort it out for next week, I think one of the teeth covered by gold crowns is becoming problematic.  LN.....Not good with this sort of pain......LN