Friday 1st April

So what April Fool items are appearing in England on this special day?  I must check out the newspapers later.  They don't seem to be as funny as they did before but I think the best one is on the Lidl website in Bulgaria where they are offering cat scratching posts.  Now dogs and cats here are ....well....just here and I really don't think there is going to be much demand for this product.  Perhaps I should just offer myself up as an advisor.

This morning Bekir received a telephone call from the postman to say that there were letters for me to collect and could I do it soon because he was going into Djebel so in the car I got and yes there were two.  My bill from M-tel which somehow has the gigantic amount of 1500 leva but then is discounted to  show the usual amount.  Goodness knows what is happening to their computer but I think a well placed bomb would sort it out but perhaps I shouldn't be saying that in case somebody does and they come looking for me....oh well.  My other one was a parcel from my beautiful Princess and is for Mother's day.  I am saving it for Sunday but have thanked her in advance by text really to let her know that it had arrived safely.  Her reply was that she was panicking since she only posted it last Friday so not bad at all.

The digger didn't come today and we have had no phone calls to say when...All the shrubs are moved except one but it shouldn't be in the way but there again....I might just.  This morning I have sorted a lot of the windfall roof from the barn and it's now stacked or burning as we speak.  The wind is cold today so I thought I would light it so that the men can at least come in for a warm although Sally is so thin it probably goes straight through him before he notices.  

Onwards and upwards....the second coat of stuff is almost complete.  They do work hard and very thoroughly....hats off to them if you are wearing one....and so to find something else to do....so many choices....

Friday continued

Good news....the digger comes on Monday and we are also digging out the new toilet pit at the same time as shifting the stone and rubbish from the front of the house.  The scaffolding is down and that was an operation in itself.  I could hardly watch and the chunks of wood that they use are like...heavy and they have really worked hard this week.  

I have got rid of one of the bramble patches this afternoon and unfortunately I uprooted an hedgehogs nest in the process.  I was a bit concerned for the beauty but left it alone and when I went back about thirty minutes later it had toddled off so no harm done there then.  

Dropped the men off tonight, just got in an poured myself a beer and my neighbour arrived with a dish of hot banitchka which went down very well.  Homemade is so different than the bought stuff.  So on to my website, CSH website and then I'm off to bed....tomorrow I can lie in...no men to pick up and I mean that in the nicest possible way and I can meander in the garden or just go into Kardjali for a jaunt.  I might even take myself of to Assenograd and get some shrubs and annuals since the garden is looking pretty bare.  Let's see what tomorrow brings and how I feel.  LN ;)

Saturday 2nd April

Well....it was a turn round with the weather this morning and the clout that I took off....ne're cast a clout 'til may is out....had to go back on.  Haven't a clue what a clout is but the vest, t-shirt and sweatshirt was reassembled and attired.  It was windy and cold and so much so that I had to light the small woodburner in the kitchen but with wood from the roof it was almost painless...free heat....yea.

Summoned up the courage to work in the garden this afternon and have found some lilac that I've moved into the hedgeline, removed the stone from round the old outside toilet and now have leveled the ground but I think there is more work to do.  I came in because the wind grew really cold and it was whipping round the urals so my fire and what is in the slow cooker couldn't be ignored.  I've just cooked the pasta and that is now finishing off with the spicey sausage with Indian seasoning, tomatoes and honey....now part of my repertoir but not to be ignored at any time.  Beer is flowing apart from the fact that I am running out and I missed the disco magazine this afternoon so I might go to bed sober tonight... :-/

Tomorrow I have my lesson with Gouljan and since it is Mother's Day which is not celebrated here I shall open my present from my beautiful daughter and then I am out for a meal tonight in a restaurant that I have not been to before....The results will be published.  It is recommended by Gouljan so we'll see.

So Neil Diamond is pumping out his stuff.  I have 130 songs by him and at the moment Forevever in Blue Jeans is belting out and I always think of it as a 'Rever in Blue Jeans'.  Now I know not what a rever is but it comes in the same category as a clout and I shan't not worry about it.

Back to the kitchen Cinders....my supper is bound to be ready by now....LN....I have to eat and then relax with ...well a drink....LN....

How about this for an April Fool's joke?

[url] http://transitionculture.org/2011/04/01/trialling-the-relate-lettuce/[/url]

Sunday 3rd April

Good one Joanna....I'll remember it for next year ;)

So today it is cold, windy and all the bits of styrofoam that the men left scattered have gone on to the hillside.  I thought at first it was snow....fooled me.  When Sally was cutting up the blocks on Tuesday he did look a little like a snowman as the stuff clung to his overalls and where was the camera....flat battery.  If I have put it on to the computer to take photos off you would think that it would recharge while it was attached....wrong it depletes it and then I see something that I want to take and ....stuffed.

Can I just say a special Mother's Day greetings to my daughter and daughter in law this morning.....and to all other mothers out there.  I opened my parcel from my Princess and two cards, one from her and one from CJ to nanny and a book entitled 'A Book for Mum'.  I filled up at this point and emptied a little.  The card was typical and so I shall just quote it for you:


So the next question is.....how much? ;) ;)

I have just received a phone call from my son and their card is still on the way via snail mail.  Normally takes about seven days so we'll give it another few.  Had a little conversation with my grandchildren who have both got colds so my thoughts go out to Luey.....children and colds....to be avoided at all costs and I reminded Evie P that it was her feet that are supposed to run not her nose.  I left my son to explain that one.

Having seen the stork it's time for the Martinitsas to come off and I have yet to decide where to put them....I have five cuttings that I took last year that have survived the winter so they deserve some recognition and my broad beans that have also survived might even be up for a reward.  I don't even like them but everyone said that they wouldn't make it through but not only have they made it, they are flowering.  And I suppose one for my sweat peas that are still there despite my best efforts to kill them off through lack of attention.

Pictures first.....it's cold on the landing and I'm going to light my big fire....and then snuggle up with my new book.

Monday 4th April

Weather has completely changed for the better again....wind from the south so that can't be bad.  Picked the men up promptly at 8.00 this morning but there was not mobile wagon for their breakfast so I offered to take Bekir into the next village and that shop was shut so we ended up in Djebel.  Not that I was exactly dressed for Market day as I had been whisked out of the garden when the hunger pains started.  They ended up having hamburgers with half a loaf each....as is pretty normal in this neck of the woods.

So what have I been doing in the garden?  Still digging up the wayward damson suckers and planting them in the hedge.  I decided to remove all the dead wood that has been added by previous generation and also some by me, restraighten the old wire fencing until I get it replaced when the men have little else to do.  I took down my outside rubbish burning pit in preparation for the digger coming and just as I had finished....we had the message that it would be here on Wednesday....ah well.  I shall just have to save up all the empty bags that the men are producing, the old wood and have a great big bonfire when the digger has been....smashing..nothing like a good burnup.

As you can see. the scaffolding is up again but this time of the other wall.  They have worked really well today and it's winter coat is on now that it's spring and tomorrow they drill and fill, then the mesh wrap and then the first coat of the finishing and finally the second.  

Lovely night tonight as I was driving home and just caught the sunset...early night for me....I'm feeling a touch nacked, it's been a busy day....nothing for supper tonight....feel a bit of a dodgy tummy coming on...so I'll starve myself for a change....LN...a demain.... :-/

Tuesday 5th April

Picked up Gouljan on a mercy text and headed for Rogoche and she was going to wait for a passing vehicle to take her into Djebel.  Now on the way she saw the milk collection wagon and said that that was going to Djebel so could I stop.  Now this vehicle is going at one hell of a pace and almost attached to my exhaust pipe so I did the only thing I cold think of....applied my hazard lights and brake lights.  Now this beauty indicated that he was about to overtake so I stopped in the middle of the road so he couldn't and told Gouljan to get out NOW.  She did and that was the last I saw of her......I cancelled my hazard lights and carried on to pick up my men....I just hope he was going to Djebel.

So on the way to my house we got the message that the digger would be here at 8.30 so at eleven I suggested to Bekir that we find out where it's got to and we were told 1.00 and it arrived at 11.30.  This is Bulgaria.  Now a digger brings out a crowd and the neighbours came to watch the sport and direct operations.  I had put Bekir in charge but it was a fight to the finishing post....Emaulat decided to take a break during operations and I caught a shot of that....Bekir was a little concerned that we were very near Star Mush's famous well and Sally just enjoyed the sport.  So what have they achieved?......I have a new toilet hole in the ground which if I have the runs from now until I am a hundred I'm sure I'll never fill....the big tree stumps have been removed which would have taken me ages to grub out, the brambles are less than they were....and most of the walls/ rubble from the north side of the house has gone. When he left I spent a couple of hours tidying up the lane so that the neighbours could get through and I think I've decided to have a gate where my old garden used to be so that visiting 'gypsies' can get their caravans on to my land....makes sense now that it is down....A nice stone wall and a grand entrance....

Pasta in the spaghetti bolognaise in the slow cooker....I'm hungry, thirsty and am about to satisfy my body's demands....LN....

Wednesday 6th April

Went into Djebel with a shopping list and came back with everything including a prescription for Sally that had gone down by 40 stotinki...how good is that.  Got new drill bits since the stone fair wears them out, nails so that I can reconstruct my fence now that the digger is no longer around and today I tidied the garden of all the old wood from the hedge, cut it into petcka size pieces and delivered it to my Avatar....she's a good girl and gives me eggs and the likes so I like to give something in return that is useful...and wood certainly is.

Her grandson has done a so-so job today according to Bekir.  They are young, they spend a lot of time on the telephone and they are not sure what hard work is....but at 25 leva a day I can handle that.  Perhaps by working alongside Bekir and Sally he might find out and tonight I said to Bekir that even though he is the grandson of Avatar...if his work is not up to their standard....I can say bye, bye...not a problem for me.

I went out to move a couple of trees that were removed yesterday and lo and behold, my front tyre on the jeep, driver's side was down.  I got out my foot pump and the sheep farmer insisted on helping and then demanded that I go into Djeble straight away before it went down again which I dutifully did.  It turned out to be the valves that needed replacing on two tyres and my question was, why didn't you do that when you replaced the tyres...lateral thinking..... :-/  Two tyres, ten leva not going to break the bank but the inconvenience of it all.

Phone Gouljan to see if she wanted a lift since I was in Djeble at the time of shift end, came back, delivered cut wood to my Avatar, tidied up a few rogue shrubs that the digger had missed and rescued another that I didn't want destroying......and now my supper is ready.....I have a whole heap of wood that has been removed from the old roof and I'll put pictures on tomorrow......Rain has been forecast so I might not have men or help mate tomorrow....let's see how the day pans out....LN ....I'm into supper and a little drinky poo.....

Thursday 7th April

I'm going to try and post the pictures first and then give you the script later....I have to take the men home....so now I'm back, I've pan-fried spare rib pork chops and fried a couple of eggs, got the woodburner going and now just filling in where I hadn't the time before.

Two men collected, one walked across the road and three for coffee and breakfast.  Men worked on house and insulation and while Bekir was finishing off Sally has even raked my garden and I didn't notice until he had gone so a big thank you on Monday.  As for the demolision man, Sally had to come to the rescue and at one point there was so much dust that I was shouting to see if he was OK.  So the roof is down, Avatar's grandson has done a good job but youngsters do not like too much work.  Roof down though....ready to sort out what I want to do with the house....it's on to the drawing board and see what comes off....

A lovely one this morning.  Bekir had found a photograph of my sheep farmer taken when he was about 20 years old sitting on a donkey....in his underpants trying to look very cool.  There were others in the photo, with a little bit of editing and cropping we have....one lad on a donkey...blown up into A4 and framed.  Now this guy takes the mick out of everyone so we thought this was a just reward.  This photo has been shown to the favoured few but at lunchtime Bekir said that I had a 'visitor' that wanted to speak to me so in my broken Bulgarian I told him that I had a photo of him which he said was impossible.  I waltzed in the and came out clutching the photo wrong way round to my buzoms and slowly turned it round.  He just didn't know what to say and he recognised the other person as being a police officer in Djebel so perhaps I should carry it and when stopped and asked for my documents.....display the said photo....how cool would that be....

So I'm off to bed...water bottle goes before me...washing cooking....LN

Friday 8th April

No men so expected to sleep in and...no...awake at 5.30 ready to start the day.  Tried going back to sleep but eventually decided that my DS brain machine needed to get into action but didn't have any record scores....maybe next time.

Lazed around until 12.00 trying to decide what to do but I did put chicken and pork in the slow cooker with spices and thought that I could have the chicken for lunch and let the pork run until night time and put some rice in with it.  Cleaned the house so that it looked reasonable, builder's rubbish capture in the hoover bag and now deposited on the bonfire talking of which it was a mare to get to going and is still not up to speed.  I have so much to get rid of and it's a pain.

Reconstructed my fence as a cow deterrent and now have to decide whether to have an entrance or not.  Not really pressing, low on the list of priorities but needs to go on the master plan.

Wood chopped for tonight and both fires going.  Last night it really went cold and it was uncomfortable....just try it tonight...I am prepared with wood also stored in my sand sack that I managed to keep from the deliveries.

Anyway short post tonight....I was almost asleep this afternoon in my chair but then kicked in to say 'no'....get on with something.  In my brain it's Saturday with no men being here....but only Friday.   Well the noisy sheep are wending their way home....it's the lambs making all the noise trying to find mum.  LN...I'm off to tend fires and sort out supper.... ;)

Saturday 9th April

So this morning I was full of beans, well not literally.  I was out in the lane at 8.10 sorting out all the rubbish that had been left behind after the digger did its stuff and my fence construction.  How many lightbulbs does it take along with polythene sheeting complete with old jumpers and odd shoes to construct a three foot high bank.....I failed to count but I decided that that was my task for this morning...my man that takes his cow for a walk helped me pull out some suckers that had grown to about four feet high and he is most impressed with my work on the lane.  In fact it looks better than it did before the digger arrived.  Not content with the lane I set about the front hedge and my neighbours hedge....I'm just hoping that I shame them into making the street as tidy as their gardens and houses.  If they can't see it, it doesn't exist and one good wind on the rubbish tip and I get it but they merrily cart their wheel barrows along to it and I think I'm going to put up a sign saying that if they dump their rubbish in my drive it will be disposed of properly....little grrrr.

Bonfire....had to be done and I've got rid of all of the tree trimmings, trees and the roots that I have dug out and the digger removed.  It is still going now but I've fed it until there is nothing left.  I've sawn up enough wood for a couple of days and both fires are going.  It's a lovely night but it as a habit of turning chill quite quickly so I thought I'd be prepared.

Now my little neighbour arrived when I was dirty from working in the garden and sawing wood with some supper.  She came with banichka and baclava for a desert.  Now it's my belief that dental decay is due to this desert...you can almost feel it attacking the dentine so, at the ready, eat, eat, eat and then out with the toothbrush.  I moved them over to my dishes and washed hers, her telephone went and then off she toddled.  So for supper tonight I have spicey sausage with pasta, banichka and baclave but firstly must dry my hair after my wonderful shower.  I feel scrubbed and am a little shade of pink after the day in the garden.  It's not been too hot, slight wind but that's the quickest way to colour up.....hair drying time....supper time....drinky time....and then bedtime....that's the life and tomorrow I think I am in to Kardjali...LN....let's see what tomorrow brings....and promise some pickies....I've been a bit too busy to take them....LN

Sunday 10th April

Again I was up with the lark but went to bed with the sparrows at 9.00pm.  I did a couple of sudokos on my DS and a few germs and then set to work.  I had this idea that the outside toilet would look better with a door and after my visit the other evening decided that despite that it is only used by the men, that it needed a makeover or rather a lot of hot water pouring down it and a bottle of bleach.  job done.  It now has a door on hinges, a toilet roll holder and a fastener so that if you are in...you can secure the door.  Not that there is much chance of any interuptions in this part of the world. My avatar came round and asked why I had only a three-quarter door so I took the male stance and said ....why?....and took the female stance and said ...why again...????  She laughed and considering it has been made out of old wood from the roof..cheap as chips.

I had a mercy mission this morning....Gouljan cancelled our lesson which was OK but then phoned to ask if I could take her into Rogoche so that she could meet a new man from Assenograd in Kardjali.  Now Assenograd is a long way away even as the crow flies so I don't hold up much hope for this one.  I just reminded her that the taxi was off this evening if she is coming back from Kardjali....it's been a beautiful day in the garden and the beer was out at 5.00 and I do not drink and drive.

So my other neighbour came round with some ....pumpkin and stood in the kitchen while she talked through the procedure.  Now I have used up all my sugar and I have put it to cook on my little woodburner.  I asked how long and she said until it is soft and it's still cooking now.

So tonight I have my other spicey sausage with potatoes and that baclava.  I've not even tasted it yet...my toothbrush needed recharging. ;)

As for pickies....the ones that I took didn't do it justice so my camera is out tomorrow....promises....LN....I'm off for a shower.

Monday 11th April

Well up at silly o'clock, like 4.30 but no like 4.30 so played with my DS, tried to go back to sleep and no could not do...losho..really bad so recognised that today was going to be a day that just panned out...accepted it.  So if you remember yesterday, my neighbour decided that the last of my sugar had to be put into my pumpkin and boiled for three hours and I still don't take to it....(but I did it)  so my trip to Djebel this morning was to get sugar so that I could brew some coffee for the lads.  I phoned D of S and he said that he was on his way to Djebel in about an hour so I popped in and he arrived home just before me with the Japoica 'stolen' from the school grounds in Samodiva.  I did bring him to task..his email said that he had been digging and had 'got me a bit' and by golly it was...one rooted but I'll work on it and it will produce lots more babies.

Went to Velicdenche, the next village following Dom to a market garden.  I got tomato plants, two varieties, peppers, two varieties (hot and normal) and cucumbers (despite the fact that I don't even like them), well someone might.  They were in a warmed polytunnel and I had the idea that they would be OK in the garden...wrong...with that wind blowing I potted them all up and they are in one of my yet to be finished bedrooms...poor things....

Well the men were impressed with my fence but not so sure about the Clochmerle door on the loo...I think I have to add more planks but considering that they had a net curtain before that swung in the breeze, it has to be better...in my opinion anyway.

They have spent the day working on the balcony and the roof applying insulation and doing the under eaves woodwork and at one point I though Sally was up for rescue.  I think the work is so fiddly that Bekir was losing it a bit but at 7.15 tonight I suggested that they went on their way and since it was pay day....it put the icing on the cake....unfortunately the local in their village was not open for trade so they couldn't get to spend even a stotinki....well there is always tomorrow at breakfast.

No photos....and again sincere apologies....I had to saw enough wood for tonight and a little in reserve....Bekir did offer to bring his chain saw and do a couple of hours for me but I said that I would rather him get on with the job in hand.....makes more sense really.  The sheep farmer told me that I was mean because I wouldn't give him my sunbed....and I accepted the complement with good faith....there is another one but I have to get it back and then he is welcome to it....it's in someone else's garden so the men are going to investigate...

Now supper, brandy in hot water....the wind has been bitter today but when it dropped it was pleasant....it's from the north....and that sounds as if I am having brandy in hot water for supper....no....spicey sausage, pasta and it should be about ready now.  LN and I'm sorry to have let you down with pictures...tomorrow is another day ;)

I am not that keen of pumpkin in dessert but dried or roasted it is much better.

Tuesday 12th April

Thanks for the tip Joanna but I think I'll give it a miss in all it's forms...it holds nothing for me.

I had to dig the car out this morning...there was frost all over the windows and was it cold.  I fell asleep in front of what was a fire when I went to sleep but when I woke up at one in the morning in front ot the wood burner I was frozen and looking at the white grass this morning I know why.....thank goodness I potted up the plants that I bought yesterday and brought them inside otherwise that would have been a waste of eight leva :-/

Picked up the men this morning and straightway they were into the upstairs outer blanket and today the scaffolding went up again only this time it is to scale the heights of the south front.  I did suggest that we just put Sally on the pulley and move him along but Bekir took pity on him and decided that we would do it the easy way....looking at the contraptions they have built to get up there, I think I would prefer dangling from a rope.

I did Djebel to fill up with fuel, bought a new pick axe handle since the last one seems to have gotten broken when the roof came down and got back to the house and found some inner tubes for something as I unpacked the car....I knew not where they had come from, scratched my head and assumed that I had picked up somebody else's shopping and was confused as to which shop would have had that on the counter for me to have picked up a bag.  I started to explain it to Sally and Bekir and problem solved.   Bekir had got them that morning and left them in the car until I took them home......phew....I really didn't understand how I could have acquired them.

Had a good day in the garden.  I have weeded and reconstructed the one that had to be dismantled because of the digger coming in and the plants will go in when there is no danger of frost....not going to get caught out. ;)

Hamburgers and fried eggs on toast for supper tonight.  Not healthy but quick and with the big woodburner going I have moved my arm chair back in front of it with my footstool but I am not going to let myself go to sleep in front of it tonight....mainly because it looks like it might be another frost.  Now to post some pictures that's if the connection stays up...we have had a new mast put up and everyone raves about it....I seem to have had more problems with 'dropping off' and then having to reestablish.....let's see how we go on....LN in anticipation.....

Wednesday 13th April

Woke up at 6.10 and drew the curtains looking out on to the garden, went to the kitchen, made coffee and got back into bed and noticed that there was a cow in my garden.  Leapt out of bed and saw that there was not only one...there was a bl**dy herd of them and where had they come in?  They must have tiptoed right past my new cesspit dug out.  So I tried to get them to break through the bottom fence but it shows how good my fence building skills are....they couldn't find a way out and I didn't want to spook them with that 'pit' in the garden especially since there was a calf with them.  Eventually one broke through the fence half way up the garden, a couple followed but the rest just lay down as if they were declaring squatter's rights.  I went off for the men leaving one cow and a calf, not belonging to the cow but they had gone when I got back....So the sheep farmer came into my garden and saw that I was mending fences so I let him have it....his theory was that this is Bulgaria and they have a right to roam, I declared that only the Italians have a 'right to Rome' but straight over his head.  It was declared  by the EU that on 1st April all cows should be escorted at all times.....so I told him this and he said that it was my responsibility to provide a stockproof fence and that he didn't have cows in his garden and my response was that if your cows were escorted I needed have a fence at all.  His response was that it was an EU ruling and I reckon he should stop taking the subsidies if he doesn't want to play by the rules...just my way of looking at things and I'd love to march an errant cow back to his garden and let it in just for the hell of it... ;)

So today I ended up going into Kardjali with Bekir to source some outside tiles for the window ledges...it was mentioned yesterday and suddenly became a priority today so off we went.  I picked the best of a bad bunch and they don't look too bad.  I was looking for brown but then thought about it with the dust and the way that it swirls....I think I made the right choice.

Men home, supper cooked and eaten, first brandy and hot water on its way down....fire going and house lovely and warm despite the wind whistling outside and it looks to be heading for a storm.  Most of the house is now wrapped in the white stuff and tomorrow  it will all be finished and then on to the wrapping and finishing.  I want to post some pickies of 'before' and 'after' to show you how far we have come.  I was looking back at some of the earlier entries this morning and it even surprised me....I'm so please that I have the diary.....you just forgt the detail.

Anyway....LN.....I'll be off to bed soon.....tomorrow is another day, another start and early alert for 'cow watch'.  LN

Thursday 14th April

And we thought we had left it behind and turned the corner into spring....wrong...there is snow on them there hills and sleety rain down hre.

The cows spent a very pleasant night protected by my fence having found one gap where I thought they wouldn't.  I had five little ones in as well....the upside....my garden is now mown and I can see where the ones that they don't like are left so i suppose I could plant the garden with only those and ....no problem.  Men are not working today since it is raining and cold....with the promise of work tomorrow if the weather is fine.  Looking at the long range....I think we are in for a wet spell and there was thunder and lightening this morning which showed the cows up well.  I threw a few bricks but didn't make much of a difference.  You would think that if they saw one making a getaway that you would just follow but they just stood staring hoping a hole would appear in front of them....hammer and nails later...firstly breakfast.

Cows aren't a problem here as they are on chains, not that really stops them if they want to wander. We were having an evening meal at a friends house and suddenly they all got up and raced away, the cows had got fed up of waiting outside for folks to come and collect them to take them home for bed and so they decided to make a move for themselves.  ;D. Pity there isn't a ruling about all wild boar have to be led or in a stock proof place that would help

Thursday continued

So about another kilo of nails of various sizes and half a ton of the wood that I thought I had for my woodburner and I think I've strengthened it enough.  I'll let you know tomorrow... :-/  Had a phone call from my restaurant lady and I think she was bored.  Her son that runs the restaurant with her has decided to go and work in England since there is nothing to be found here.  I watched Bulgaria/Turkish dubbed TV for a couple of hours, we communicated of sorts and then I headed home since I was cold in the restaurant and once my fire is going, home is warmer.  As I pulled up in the car my next door garden neighbour wanted to show me something and the blasted cows had got into his garden from mine and trampled down his polythene things....I told him whose cows they were and I think he is gunning and I'll help him....in theory his border with mine should have been protected....just because they come through mine it's not my responsibility.

Any way home, warm fire, Will Young doing his stuff and supper over.  Pork in tomato/brandy sauce sauce with pasta and chilli sauce.  

LN...I have an invitation to an early supper tomorrow but dependent on whether the men work or not I might not make an 'early' supper so I have left the acceptance pending until I look out of the window and get a phone call from the men...

LN.....I'm into the evening and am now on cow watch...so far so good.... :-/

Friday 15th April

Have my boys worked hard to day or what....they have put in 11 hours work.  I picked them up at 8.00 and dropped them off at 8.00 tonight and so we all have done a 12 hour day.

I now live in a white house, not the White House but for the next few days it will be a white one.  They have applied the new tiles to the window ledges and i'm still not sure if I like them or not but perhaps they will grow on me.  I must remind guests not to put things down on them assuming them to be flat.  They are purposely angled just off 'flat' so that the rain runs off them and away from the windows.  There was a lovely conversation between Bekir and the sheep farmer and the bet was placed and it was all to do with whether the way that Bekir was tackling the job as to whether there would be water entering the house.  I think the odds of one sheep and five leva were placed but I'm not sure who placed what and I don't really care.  I trust Bekir to have made the right decision.

So I decided not to rush the lads into an early grave and go for my early supper at Nikolovo....I would have made their early supper late which for a first meet up isn't good.  Formulated a plan and the proposed curry is in the fridge and will come out tomorrow and is supposedly much better the second day.  I have warned my avatar that I shall not be home tomorrow so if there is no car she knows not to worry....almost like a mum she is.  My other neighbour had some bad news today.  Apparently her grandson has bought a flat in Kardjali, has had lots of work done on it and has found out that the 'notoralian act' or official legal stamp to own a property is a forgery and they have lost lots of money on it....so it just doesn't happen to the English....they do the dirty on their own as well...

So I'm off to bed.....I settled for cheese on toast because it was too late to cook, my hottie is in bed waiting for me, not that it's cold but just comforting even though the zebra is warm as toast without the cheese.  Lazy day tomorrow...shower, hair wash, pedicure, hands need sorting, so it is a morning for me before I set off.  LN...my bed calls...

Saturday 16th April

Well the best laid plans of mouse and men and me....my visit is off.  He has just acquired three huskies with a view to breeding and unfortunately one of the little ones just didn't make it through yesterday so he was up all night tending to see if it could.  What a shame.....lovely little thing but I don't suppose there is anything like an animal postmortem here to see what the cause was.  Another time so I decided to work on my garden and my French beans and garlic are in and a new bed established.  Because the level of the land to the east of the house is high, my original garden has had to be dismantled and the level dropped by about two feet so that it is below the level of the concrete floors.  So tomorrow I continue and move the soil to its new resting place...a woman's work is never done.

Hoovered through this morning but I'm not sure why I bothered.  It's been blowing a gale out there despite the sun and every time I opened the door...in it came again.  It will be better when they put down the concrete by the front door....that is the next job after they have finished my overcoat.

My pasta is cooking ready to go with my pork in tomatoes and red wine, my fire is going and I'm going to have that shower that I promised myself for this morning.  As for pedicure and manicure....they can both wait for another day....I'm gardening again tomorrow and not sure if I have a Bulgarian lesson or not....admirers seem to take precidence these days and why not indeed.  I have plenty of books to look at and verbs to learn so it's really down to me....LN.....supper and a shower calls....just a few pictures of the 'White House' which won't be white for long believe me and the one of the local trying out my sunbed just had to be captured...I did threaten Facebook but this is enough.  

Sitting here I can see some very confused sparrows walking along the scaffolding.  I think they were ear-mrking the area for nesting but now that the tiles are covering the bricks....tough....this is my house,,,,LN ;)

Sunday 17th April

Cold, cold wind but glorious when it dropped.  The sun was hot and the wind fluctuated from north to east but then decided that it would stick to the north.

I lit the fire this morning and it has been ticking over all day so first job was to get enough wood cut to last the day and then I got stuck into reconstructing the garden and now have the top bed completed and planted out with nasturtiums, honeysuckle from the parent plant and sweet peas that have wintered indoors.  Not sure if it is too early to put them out but they looked pretty sickly where they were so they have to chances.  Either they will or they wont.  I've also attached the root from the old grape vine that has been hanging around since I dug it up.  It resembles a phoenix come dragon but I think beauty is in the eye of....not everyone's cup of tea so to speak.

I've also added more wood to the fence and strung up supports for the honeysuckle, sweet peas and nasturtiums so we'll see how they do.  I've also planted three climibing gourds which did remarkable well last year and I spent the time researching what to do with 'butternut squash'.....wrong but I did have eight gourds until the  cows invaded and trod on four but I still have the other four and one of Sally's pretty little ones is going to be opened up for the seed and we'll see what they do.  I've also put up a metal support that I brough out with me purchased in Ikea for £1.00. Really very attractive but it was in one of their sales.

Had my Bulgarian lesson this afternoon and it was all about Easter and how they celebrate it here....bit different that in England where the objective is to get as many Easter Eggs as possible before Asda/Sainsbury or any of the other providers run out.  I also learnt from the test that we translated how the date for Easter is set....and this I didn't know.

So not much happening tonight.....I settled on eggs mayonnaise for a late lunch and not much enthusiasm to do my else yet a while....probably bacon and eggs.....a little later.  LN....early start for the men in the morning (weather permitting) although it's looking a little drab tonight.  LN...I'll let you know. ;)

Monday 18th April

Cold, wet, miserable weather and Bekir has predicted SNOW so they are staying in bed this morning.  No workers so I have the day to myself.  I have just spent 35 minutes doing the Daily Mail online 5star sudoko and it's obviously not wake up time in GB since today's puzzle is not displayed....so I'll just have to wait.  

And yes looking out of the window there is sleet falling and so was one of the internal stone walls in my wreck earlier this morning.  I heard a rumble and went up to the top landing and saw the damage.  Most of the good stuff is supported by acrow props so not damage done but the wind is still howling so we'll see what's left of it by the end of the day. :-/  

Looking at the Kardjali weather prediction on D of S's website, we are going to get the same for the next two days so I better get out there with my waterproofs on and start sawing wood enough to keep me going until the sun starts doing what it's supposed be doing at this time of the year.... :-/

So I'm just going to get the remainder of the bacon from last night....yes I succumbed to bacon and eggs and fried bread last night and I'm going to have the same this morning.....down to it...breakfast, wood and then we'll see what happens next....

I think your Baba Marta has deserted you.  Snow here in Samodiva!  Easter = First Sunday after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox (21March).  One of the few things I remember from RE classes in school!  Your other red stuff will have to wait until the weather gets a bit nicer as I am staying in today by the petchka.  Guaranteed rain for the next two weeks Annie always brings Welsh weather with her.

Monday continued

Well you heard it here first folks....Annie brings the rain with her.  As for Baba Marta....it's because I took all those Martinitsas off and strung them round the trees!!

Pickies of the day....the confused sparrow looking either for a new home or one that he had started building and please note the blue sky which has now gone for what appears forever until Annie goes home.... :-/

Tuesday 19th April

It is so cold again and raining on and off all day.  Not nice at all.  The sheep seem to be running in all directions just to keep warm and thank goodness this year the farmer hasn't shawn them.  Last year he did it early and then we had a really cold spell.

Put some beans into soak last night and have made a bean and bacon thick soup which was for tonight but I felt so cold at lunchtime that I set about it and there might just be enough for tonight if I pad it out with pasta.  

So no men again....it's too cold to work outside and when I suggested that there were other jobs they could do inside Bekir said that those jobs create too much dust and are better done outside.  I think they like the break really.  They do have work of their own to do and really I should be getting ready for my visitor next week.  All my clothes have to be moved upstairs so that the bottom room is free.  He prefers a dark room so up I go.....I just hope the sun comes out otherwise I shall be investing in an electric banket.  

Now this new 3G mast that has been installed might be OK for some.....I have gone back to my original settings since it has been on/off / no connection for most of the morning.  D of S and my sheep farmer rave about the speed of the new mast but for me it has been a right pain.  The trouble is, I come on the overlap of the two so if there is a slight improvement in one, then it switches and drops off the other but then it tells me that someone else is using my connection...how?  Haven't got a clue since access is via a dongle......doh...

So I'm off to tend fires and throw another log on....LN.....it's a slow news day :-/

Wednesday 20th April

So this morning's task was to get enough wood to see me through the day.  It was damp and the rip saw was just sticking to it so I resorted to part sawn...and the the axe came into play....result....I have enought to keep the small and large wood burner going but I really do need the blades for my recipricating saw that are coming out courtesy of my next visitor....on Tuesday.

The rain eventually stopped late this morning but the wind was in full flood until at least five this afernoon.  And it's a cold wind.   I wasn't lighting the little wood burner but this afternoon the wind was ....so cold ....so it had to be started and the difference it makes to the kitchen is amazing....and not only that but it seems to assist the other in its attempt to keep the house warm.

So I checked on my garden today and the garlic that I planted is just showing though but I think my tomatoes, peppers and cucumber are staying in the house for a few more days yet....we're guaranteed sun for the next four days but I'll check out the wind factor before I do some serious planting...My onions are doing well as are my over wintered broad beans and my shrubs are doing OK.   I put out two nasturtiums and they seem to be holding their own so I might put out the rest.  The sweet peas seem to have a better colour on them now that they are in open soil so I am keeping my fingers crossed....I am a novice at this gardening lark....I spent my working life on computers and systems...so bear with me ;)

I have Visioed the plans for the wreck and I'll see what Bekir makes of them when they return to work....I have two different plans for the roof line and the one decided on will be the one that makes most sense on construction...I just trust his judgement.   I just see it as five concrete supports, concrete crossbeams, windows and a roof....that's the beauty of construction in BG....I suppose in the UK I never had to think about it..I lived in a house that was complete....and now everything seems so easy....it's probably not but that's the way it appears.  OK so a stone wall is half falling down...remove the other half and stick in a support and windows....and then we'll make good.

Enough ramblings...I have just had the mother of all omelettes.....onions, spicey sausage with a dash of chilli washed down with a little ....red....

LN....fires and empty glass spring to mind and both need attention ;).... ;)

Thursday 21st April

So I did not have a phone call from Bekir this morning so I phoned and yes they could work....so in the car at 7.40 to drive the 15k to get them. I only knew that there had been a frost because I had to remove the ice from the windscreen and it wasn't obvious since it wasn't white over and there was a beautiful sunrise with the moon still up.  When I got there they thought I had forgotten that we had to go down to the builder's yard since I turned up in Beauty but we still went.  We needed two packs of 4meters of the under eaves tongue and groove so I said no problem, cut it into 2 meter lengths and we can open the sunroof and it can stick out of the top which is exactly what we did.

Today had been a bit of a fiddly day and I could hear them huffing and puffing but it got better as the day wore on.  I set to and got out the wood preservative and sorted out the wood so that it is ready for tomorrow and nipped in to Djebel when they ran out of 2cm thermo jacketing so that they could finish the outside.  Tomorrow should see things speed up....the net coating and then the two layers of 'stuff' should be quick that's once they have the under eaves wood work done and my is it high up....I did suggest that we strung them up on wires and forgot the scaffolding but it went down like a lead balloon.  

So from Djebel I phone Gouljan since it was about her finishing time but she had got a private student so wasn’t ready to come home.  So I said, another time, but then at 6.40 tonight I got a phone call saying that she had missed the bus and could I pick her up from the next village when I was coming back from delivering the men.....things get really complicated her sometimes but mission successful....they are home, she is home and I am home....  

Hamburgers for tonight, the fire is going, the glass is full of beer, enough wood cut for the next few days so I'm going to enjoy the rest of the evening.... LN

Friday 22nd April

What a day...it's been really busy today and I made an executive decision to employ two new workers.  I watched Sally's face.  He looked at the stone and rubbish that had to be removed before the concreting for the garage can go in and believe me, every picture tells a story so I recruited two if the lads from the village just to put a smile on Sally's face and put Bekir in charge of the whole affair.  Unfortunately I had to step in and go out to work with the new recruits.  When I say separate...stone from polythene from glass from dirt....they seem to have a problem so I had to work alongside to show them the easy way to do it....time management.... :-/

Jobsagudum....everything achieved and pictures tell a thousand words.  Went to see D of S tonight since Annie is over and came back with books and a yellow cherry tomato that will astound the locals so I'm told...just can't wait where D of S lost his cucubers to the frost ...mine are bedded in in my indoor garden...bugger the polytunnels....I'll stick to what I know best....

Saturday 23rd April

What a super day.  I was out at 6.30 this morning and had a bonfire to get rid of all that rubbish that was accumulated yesterday and then I went out and cleared the lane of Star Mush's rubbish from his hedge that runs down the lane and burnt all that as well.  The smoke was going out over the hillside so no complaints from anyone.  Then set about digging up some wild rose bushes that were just in the way and clearing an old concrete path  from the side of the house.

Popped in to see D of S last night and came back with four books from the 'library' and one down already.  It was such a beautiful day that I got my 'armchair' out in the sun and started on 'The Alchemist' and after finishing it I'm still not sure of the message. Annie loved it, Dom thought it was a load of rubbish but since he believes in nothing except physics and mathematics I'm not surprised that it did nothing for him but as for it being a 'classic', think it might need to be reclassified.  So the library provided me with four books, one down and three to go and the next one that I'm reading is again about the second world war.  Born at the tail end and really know nothing about it.  Hitler opened it up for me and now I can't seem to get enough of it.

So this afternoon the plan was to meet up with Gouljan in Djebel at 4.00 and we were going in to Momchilgrad but at 4.40 I was still waiting on the carpark and that's not something I'm really in to.  Cinders is usually late but this time I decided that Momchilgrad wasn't really on the cards so home James.  She was apologetic but they only work for so long.  Got back and finished the book and as I said, not sure of the message and then got enough wood together for tonight.  So much outside and so little inside.  I think I have to get a chain saw.  The reciprocating saw is OK but not really heavy duty.

Tonight, some of the local hamburgers from the slow cooker but I fell asleep in front of the fire and have just opened and eaten a tin of pineapple rings.  The intention was to eat half and put the rest into the remaining hamburgers for tomorrow but the temptation was just too great.

So LN.  It is half past ten for me and as I said I am late tonight and ready for bed....Tomorrow's work is scheduled unless the weather and the book are good and I might just have a day off... ;)

Sunday 24th April

Happy Easter to family and friends and everybody else and enjoy this happy time.  Eggsactly what was ordered...brilliant weather.  I'm off to the restaurant this morning for 'Special Easter bread'.  Not sure what it is but I was invited so I'll go.

I was sitting reading at 6.35 this morning drinking my cuppa when I heard this almighty clang.  Now both of my cars are off the road but it sounded like a 'catastrophe' so out I went in my PJ's and the bus had stopped about ten metres from my gate.  The driver was walking along back from where he had just come, picked up what appeared to me metal, hence the clang, and threw it on to the grass verge.  He got down and looked under the bus at the back and front and then drove off.  I've yet to go and investigate but the sensible thing would have been for him to put them in the bus so that it/they could have been refitted.....perhaps he'll pick them up on his next trip.

Eight o'clock my time...reading the book 'WE' by a Russian and was apparently George Orwell's inspiration for his 1984.  The author decided to leave the country and was granted permission by Stalin and died in Paris. I decided the war record wasn't an Easter day book..... ;)

Monday 25th April

Busy morning...market day in Djebel and Dom and Annie picked me up.  You know what it's like though...you go shopping with someone else and throught all the meandering and coffee stops you forget what was on the list that you never wrote.  I have forgotten to go to the cash point and get the money out to pay the men for last week but I don't think they will mind too much...it was a short week anyway because of the snow.

There is a lot of banging going on today.  The rest of the undereaves wood work is being completed and I sort of put the workload up when I said that it would look better in short lengths when they could have just put some long ones in....he who pays the piper and all that....and in the end we all agreed it would look better.  It was quite funny today....I heard words that I don't think were meant for my ears and lots of muttering.  The wind was whistling and it was a bit cold up there and Bekir seemed to be hanging on by one leg trying to get a nail into a piece of wood in a very difficult position so in fact they were both in a difficult position :-/.  I didn't like to get the camera out though...that might have been the final straw so when they have finished I will take the picture and describe it in more detail.....the lights are going in today and Bekir had forgotten where the switch was for the outside garden light....or rather arc lights as I'd like to call them....I'll have to be careful that I'm not mistaken for the airport at Plovdiv and something lands in the garden...helicopters OK apart from the electric cables but as for anything bigger....it's about 100 kilometers north boys and girls.....

Beautiful sunny day apart from the cold wind and only a few very high clouds.....am I ready for my visitor tomorrow?....Well as I said I have moved my bedroom upstairs but the boys are working on my bedroom balcony so the hoover is the last thing that is coming out....no point doing anything while they are in and out.  Tomorrow I will take the dust off the lounge and give the house a quick hoover before I set off for Kardjali in the afternoon.  The bus arrives at approximately 5.00 tomorrow night so I've worked out if I do my shopping before then I can still get home by 6.00 ish to deliver the men home....I think supper is going to have to be a ready cooked chicken or perhaps I'll check out the freezer this evening and slam something in the slow cooker in the morning.....now a plan is taking shape....

LN....I'm off to take the men home....

Monday update

So on the way back it was decided that we need a few more materials from the supplier in the morning so I had to go to the cash point tonight just to make sure that there is enought in the kitty.  So went to the bottle bank to get rid of the evidence that was rattling around in the back of the car, got my money and there is my village 'bad boy'.  This one drinks and then drives his car, is a local shepherd, father owns a large flock and I'm trying to pair him off with Gouljan.  Unfortunately I think he was a little worse for wear when I saw him tonight in Djebel but since he had asked for a lift, how could I refuse.  He put his bag of bread in the car and proceded to go into the local supermarket coming out with a bottle of the 'hard stuff' and got into the car.  We tried German, of which I know little, Bulgarian of which I know sufficient but not when it comes out slurred.....I no understand drunken Bulgarian.....but the subject of Gouljan came up and it was established that she was a very beautiful woman which I must tell her the next time I see her.....so this match maker was trying to pair him off but I think the rakia would have to be addressed first and then would he be such a 'bad boy' with a sparkle?  Must ask her ;)

So tonight it has to be an omelette since there is nothing defrosted although it nearly all was yesterday.  I moved the freezer out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen and forgot to plug it in.....doooohhhh.

This time for sure, LN.....I'm off to the kitchen....

'

Tuesday, 26th April

So I have got chewed off today by my guest not refering to him by name...can I now say that his name is Martin.  He arrived on the  12.00 o'clock bus from Sofia and is firmly established in my downstairs bedroom and has challenged every decision I have made... but on the whole he thinks I have made a cracking job of the project.

What have I done today?  I have investd heavily in Billaa and Lidl especially in the food and drinks department but at 3.00 leva a bottle it just had to be done.

Men are deposited home, supper was spicey sausages with bread and a bottle of the red and what could be nicer and now Martin has settled down after having spent numerous hours travelling but appearing one hour earlier than he should thanks to easyJet he is now snoring away.  I'm just finishing  my page...checking emails and the likes and so to bed, sleepy head...LN

Hi Mum, just catching up with your news and wondering when the new patio is being done?!!

Back at school now but off Friday and Monday for Royal Wedding and Bank Holiday.... Had two lovely weeks off work and managed to catch some sunshine.... It was glorious.....

Love you, moon and back,

Princess xxxxxxxxxxx :K)

Wednesday 27th April

As we speak Princess, the patio has now to be dug deeper if you know what I mean and is due to be completed next week....and so to peace and quiet.... ;)

I've had a very good day in the garden and have dug up several lilac plants and they are now planted in the hedgeline....I've also planted up twenty five gladioli bulbs and the freesias are going in tomorrow....as for fetching the men this morning...I think I did it on fresh air and the light didn't come on once but I wouldn't risk it on the way back.  I drove into Djebel at five and filled up.

This afternoon there was a bit of a funny.  My sun lounging local arrived in the garden with a very big rabbit by the ears.  I got the gist that Bekir had bought it from Emaula and it was going to be put to death in my garden.  Now I threw a wobbly about this....don't introduce me to a rabbit and then take it down my garden and kill it, food or not, so I told them to come back later. Now I'm not adverse to animals being killed for food, I love meat, always have and always will but don't introduce me to it first....Hello, this is.....we're just about to take it's life away...

So off they went, but came back later tonight and Martin informed me that they had done the deed by the bus stop and Bekir came up to get changed clutching a polythene bag.  I related the story of my pet rabbit, Smokey that my father killed for food when I was about eight and it was served and could I eat it?   No, and no again.  How can you be expected to eat your pet rabbit.....child's logic.  So I took them home and I asked him if it was the rabbit in the bag and he said that it was his jacket.....again I asked him and then more or less demanded that I see inside it but was denied the priviledge.  So when I arrived home, my Avatar's dog shot to the hedgeline by the bus stop and two cats sped away and when I checked it out, there was the rabbit skin and the inside so tomorrow, if the dogs or fox hasn't disposed of it, I dig a hole and bury the rest of it so that the flies don't become a nuisance.  I know it's nature but not in my garden.

So supper was beef in tomato and onion sauce with pasta...delicious washed down with a little of the red stuff..LN everybody.....tomorrow is another day.  Men to work, shopping Kardjali, and into my second hand shop since I haven't been there for a few weeks....there might just be something that I just can't live without ;)

Thursday 28th April

Well the royal wedding tomorrow and everyone out here seems to be more excited than I am....are you going to watch it?  Am I buggery.  I suppose the wedding fever has hit because it is attached to a public holday and great PR stuff that.....enjoy.

So what have I done today?  I have built me a polytunnel and my tomatoes and peppers go in tomorrow for a month or so so that they get a bit of a headstart.  It was built under the auspices of Bekir who said...why so high...you only want it for a month or so....so down it came.  We got rid of a pile of logs today, Martin on the saw and me on the despatch and stacking to the old house.  The scaffolding is part way down...it is only up so that I can work out the angle of the garden lights for maximum effect and hoping that I'm not mistaken for Plovdiv airport, and boy do they light up the garden.  

So tonight we have a good fire going, supper was ham with onions, pineaple, tomato and chilli served with pasta and it was delicious....desert was home made yoghurt, mine with cherries and Martins with banana and Bekir's acacia honey....we know how to live....

So my scaffolding is down tomorrow and then we are on to the concreting of the patios so that the dust stays outside...Can I just say a quick hello to Jerry, a neighbour who has joined the site.....hope all is well with you and yours and I promise a few photos later....my camera seems to have gone walkabouts....

So drink, fed, really sleepy after a good day in the garden....LN.....pickies tomorrow....

Friday 29th April

So today the intention was to go into Kardjali after picking up and sorting the men but at 10.30 I was still on site.  Bekir decided that we needed a little bit of plumbing stuff but instead of that we came back with some 3 meter lengths of plastic drainage material so that they could work to their hearts content without me having to rush off every hour on the hour for bits.  As well as that I came back with some compost and was advised that the amount of sheep in the village would have provided what I had just paid out for free.... I eventually got off to Kardjali, we were running out of wine, and so to the second hand shop and got Martin a body warmer for the princely sum of 10 leva and it's reversable so when he gets the one side dirty I have told him to turn it inside out. ;)

I had Emaulet in today to work and he cleaned out the two rooms of the wreck so that we could put the wood from the scaffolding somewhere dry.  All cleared, all stored, all OK.  I thougth the boys had finished at about 5.15 but at that point they decided that they were going to concrete the side by my vegetable garden and the well....and it is done.  They were late leaving tonight but a good day's work by the three of them.

So today we had the circular saw and the reciprocating saw up in the garden and got rid of a lot of the pile of wood.  The straw from the wreck has all been burnt and is burning now and at last the wreck can be worked on once the concreting is complete on this one...

So I'm going to go downstairs to see what is happening to my fire...there is someone else in charge of it and not me and that's not good....Supper was sweet and sour pork....delicious and out of honey so tomorrow I have to go out begging.....LN...a woman's work is never done.....

Saturday 30th April

This morning I slept in until 7.00 and I was awakened by Martin who I thought was either having a bad dream or ….well I wasn’t sure what was going on but he was chasing cows from the garden so this morning’s task after breakfast was to animal proof the hedge line again despite the fact that I thought I had done it….bastard beings.

So this morning I decided to deliver some wood to my neighbour that kindly supplies my yoghurt but she wasn't home so I ended up dropping it off at the back of her house but I was spotted by her next door neighbour that was delivering tea buy the cup to my other neighbour.  As well as wood I was dropping a box of 'thank you' chocolates but since she wasn't home I was left with an empty wheelbarrow and the box so I was invited in for a coffee morning with the rest of the ladies.  I sat down, handed over my box of chocolates and then it was decided that we would dress the 'Anglechanka' up so my neighbour went into the house and came out with a pair of Turkish ladies trousers and I had to put them on over my padded combat trousers much to the amusement of the ladies since I was like the proverbial stork and balancing on one leg to do it and then she went inside, came out with a headscarf and dressed me accordingly and even brought out a mirror to show me what I looked like....they are lovely....’choc guzel’ in Turkish...I had perfume applied and went skipping back up the road pushing my wheelbarrow in full Turkish garb and I have worn it for the rest of the day.

I eventually found my Avatar and delivered her chocolates and now only one to go for my drop-on-carry one neighbour…..you can’t do one without the others.

Wood cleared to day, passageway of the wreck sorted so that when you take anything in to store you don’t have to watch your footing….supper tonight is just about ready and is sweet and sour pork with rice….it was good last night with pasta so we’ll make it a bit different tonight.  Pictures will be on tomorrow since I am having a mare of a time with the internet….sorry….