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Elsa Peters living a new life in Bulgaria  /  My Diary by Elsa Peters  /  FEBRUARY 2019
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 1, 2019, 3:51pm
Friday 1st February

So goodbye January...I've not enjoyed it, it's been wet, lots of rain, the wrong sort of cold and I'm pleased to see the back of it.  The first of February has been pleasant, I woke to sunshine, no rain and it's been in the plus on the thermometer and a day for doing 'stuff' but I've actually done very little.  

I've done some reading, some games, no sleeping, got the logs in, tidied the kitchen and that's about it.  I've put everything together for a bonfire but never got down to the bottom of the garden to do it.  I've just enjoyed a 'gentle' day.  I'll try to do better tomorrow.. ;)  LN...Fire, food. a little TV and bed....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 2, 2019, 5:08pm; Reply: 1
Saturday 2nd February

So I woke at six this morning and caught a glimpse of the crescent moon that was hanging low in the sky.  I grabbed the camera, went up on to my upstairs bedroom balcony and went out to take the photo.  It was cold out there so I didn't longer long and I was back downstairs and into my second bed with the Kindle.  The curtain between the bedroom and the view was closed and suddenly I looked up and I could see morning breaking so I jumped out and back into camera mode.

So now my internet has gone down and I take to Word to complete the update.  I marvelled at the colours in the sky and the morning on the pond in the next field made it look like a lava slick.  I knew the sun wouldn’t be around for long…there was the dark band of cloud that would hide it from view the higher it climbed in the sky.  It dissipated quite quickly and about the same time I heard the bread van so headed out for more fresh bread, eggs and a cheesy bun which was allocated for breakfast along with bacon and an egg.  Delicious…  I read for awhile after breakfast waiting for it to warm up outside and peeled some vegetables and put them in the bottom of the slow cooker and put a chicken leg on top of them.  Supper was going in.

Eventually I headed out complete with my rubbish container…it had to go but unfortunately I hadn’t put any holes in the bottom of the burning bin and it was full or water.  First job was to get it on its side, empty it out before I could get the fire going….and eventually all was good.  While I had the garden fork in my hand I cleared out the old daisy heads clearing space for the daffs that are coming up, found two patches of snowdrops and two winter flowering jasmine shrubs that were just coming into flower and put the debris into the burning bin.  As for the flowers, there’s always something having a go for it in nature.  

Down on the sofa this afternoon, head down and I was awakened by Haciber bringing me a dish of strawberry syrup…we were doing OK in Bulgarian but as she got more excited about the news she reverted to Turkish and I ended up nodding and doing my best with body language.  I washed her dish up and off she went.  I went on to watch the rugby, have my supper and fortunately the internet has just come back on.  Seven my time and I’m pleased that I’ve made a start on the garden even though it’s still winter in my book.  A few more nice days are forecast and then we go back to rain, snow and dropping temperatures.  LN…Fire top up time….LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 3, 2019, 4:42pm; Reply: 2
Sunday 3rd February

Happy Birthday my Princess...Age is not a problem unless your a cheese...so they tell me and hope you've had a super day.

Seven thirty start and the sun was up but soon to be hidden but the clouds and they've been hiding it for most of the day.  It's not been cold, a tad windy but I've spent the day in the house or the Nipper so no problems there then.  I finished the remainder of the cheesy bread for breakfast, decided that I was heading to Kardjali to pick up the weather stations for inside and outside temperatures and radio operated up to thirty meters...result.  Saves me having to go out and look at the other thermometers.  There was lots of bird activity in the garden and the field next door today and the starlings were having a whale of a time feeding and dipping in the ponds.  It's quite a big flock and they seem to flit between the electricity cables, ground feeding, taking off in groups and close formation flying.  It's a joy to watch and photograph.  The jays were out and about mainly ground feeding and I had the woodpecker visit the lone pine but no camera to hand for that.

I was in the Nipper for eleven and headed for Kardjali.  I decided not to do much other shopping...I was on a mission.  I'd made a list and only wanted potatoes, carrots and I decided to try celeriac which is a first for me and two of the weather stations, one for me and another as per a request.  I got to the checkout and the girl was  merrily totalling the bill but I requested that only one of the weather stations was on my bill, so I thought she was taking one off my bill....wrong...I paid for the second one separately so that there would be a receipt for the guarantee and it wasn't until I got home that I noticed that she'd charged me on my receipt for two plus the separate one.  I'd  paid for three.  I also noticed that one of the packages had been opened so I compared the contents with the other one and the batteries had been half inched.  So I chewed it over for a while and then decided to head back into Kardjali and get it sorted...no sooner the word that the blow.  Explaining it to an overworked employee was difficult but in the end I had the original with the receipt, the cost of the one without the batteries and the rectified error refunded so I headed back into the store and found another one and this time checked the contents of the box.  The checkout operator that had done the original transaction earlier in the day was just leaving and I explained the problem to her and she remembered that she hadn't deleted the one from the bill...and her advise was that I should always check my receipt.  If she'd have done her job properly....I would only have had to return one through the lack of batteries.  Stopped and filled up with gas on the way back at the grand cost of nineteen lev which was two trips to Kardjali and one to pick up Bekir for the chimney ...I call that good value.  So home and I decide to try to programme my weather station and I've put it to one side....couldn't get my head round it.  

Checking out the bird pickies and was unsure if the fluffy one in the pear tree is a jay or not and went on the hunt for the bird book.  It wasn't where I searched first but I have found my new reading glasses that I thought I'd lost on the hillside and they were in a glass case.  I also found things that I didn't even realise I'd waylaid.  So it's been a win some  lose some day but not bad outcomes.

Supper ....not sure yet...I have to investigate and see what I can find.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so far.  I'ts time to get the fire stoked and settle in for the evening.  LN....Enjoy the starlings......LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 4, 2019, 3:58pm; Reply: 3
Monday 4th February

So happy birthday mum, it would have been your day today.  Just to let you know that I'm thinking about you... ;)

What an exciting morning.  It started very genteelly...back to bed with a coffee for a read, I cleaned out the fire, emptied the ashes and swept and cleaned the floor in the lounge and moved on to the  conservatory.  I'd not bothered to get dressed at this point , Princess phoned, I went into the house, I must have had the house and Nipper keys in my hand, put them on the table while I was on the phone and promptly went back into the conservatory and shut the door behind me....wrong.  I did have keys to the workshop so got the ladder out and climbed up on to the spare bedroom balcony hoping that I hadn't locked the door....but I had.  I moved the ladder to my bedroom balcony and made the climb but again, the door was locked.  I did have the Beast keys so I knew that Bekir had a complete set for my house, I couldn't phone him both phones were in the house.

Set off in my PJ's but fortunately it's a very long top with a snowman on the front so looks fairly respectable.  I drove to Bekir's village and the restaurant man told me that Bekir had gone to Fotinovo, he phoned him for me and five minutes later....Bekir was there.  He went to his house, came back with the bunch of keys, I drove home and I was in in quicksticks.  I checked Bekir's bunch and he has two for the house and now one of those is sitting on the workshop bunch and I'll return them to Bekir after I checked the others.  Ladder away, washed and dressed, washing done, logs in and ready for poached eggs on toast for breakfast...I needed it.

The rest of the day has been pretty chilled.  It's been a beautiful day and I should have done more with it but I didn't....I stretched out on the sofa in the sun and read for a while, eyes down for a full house, woke up and played Soda Crush and got several games under my belt but gave up when I had to eat all the chocolate and those that play it understand what I mean.  I'll try it later.  Washing in and on the airer, I think it's fish finger sandwiches for supper so I'm heading for the kitchen.  I've lit the fire for background heat...it will soon be time to get in my PJ's again.  Those from this morning are washed and ready for the off again but I think I've covered all bases now.  LN...Ms D or S' comment...Muppet...and I'll second that....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 5, 2019, 4:52pm; Reply: 4
Tuesday 5th February

Another silly night.  I woke up at four and I was sweltering in my bed and so much so that I had to throw off one of the quilts.  It was a balmy overnight temperature of thirteen degrees...unknown for February.  I settled down again and managed to get off and woke up for the second time at seven, the sun was already up but there was a layer of fog covering the fields and mountains.  Move along...not much to see.

So shower and hairwash, I managed to cut a little more than I wanted to off the ends but eventually straightened it up.  I spent time thinking what to put on....with the temperature yesterday up to thirteen in the day I layered up so that I could take off if necessary...we were off to Haskovo this morning to meet with the diplomatic staff from the Embassy in Sofia so were going to inform us of what we could expect from Brexit and any mutual deals they were forging with the Republic of Bulgaria.  Only nine people signed up and turned up, the buffet catered for around forty and I was very tempted to take a doggy bag home for my ladies...but I didn't.  The meeting concentrated on residency cards, health insurance and driving licences and the advice was to make sure that all the above were in place in preparation for...we know not what.  I get the feeling that Bulgaria is thinking about protecting the Bulgarian rights for those working in the UK and the diplomatic staff were looking for assurances that we also would be catered for after Brexit. All my ducks are in a row so all that I have to make sure is that if there are any changes that I know the steps to take and they're certainly not bloody great big ones over to the UK.  

So meeting over, we went for a walk in the square, managed to locate the car and then did Kaufland and Lidl and then back to Kardjali.  As you know I'd had trouble setting up my indoor /outdoor thermometer but that's now done but unfortunately it's picking up Germany's automatic time zone so it's back to the drawing board Cecil.  Supper for me was a couple of ham baguettes and that will suffice  until morning and I know that I'm having kippers since I bought some from Kaufland....on special offer.  One for the freezer and one for tomorrow.  

Fire is going and it's twenty three degrees in the house and it's almost seven.  I might have to find out my skimpy nightwear if it carried on like this but I doubt it will but like the old adage says...'N'ere cast a clout until May is out' and that won't happen until after Brexit... ;) ;)  As for the diplomatic staff...very diplomatic,...we didn't learn much new but I think they did and now to relax.  LN..Gardening if it's good tomorrow....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 6, 2019, 4:21pm; Reply: 5
Wednesday 6th February

Bed at eleven last night and I couldn't understand why there was an alarm going off at one...then it filtered in.  The new weather station providing temperatures outside and in had somehow got an alarm set and I remembered that three goes at the set/reset button would silence it...and it did.  My only issue with it this morning was that it was picking up automatic time from Frankfurt but with a little fiddling it is now showing the correct time.  Clever old me....It was almost thrown to the hillside on Sunday when I tried to set it up...I am feared of it no more.

Seven start and I heard the patter of rain on the terrace and after a few really good days it wasn't really appreciated.  I got the fire going around nine and it's been going all day since.  Breakfast of poached egg on toast.  It was going to be sitting on ham but I forgot to put it under the egg...next time.  So the rain turned into sleet, turned back to rain, turned to snow and back to rain again.  The starlings were having a field day but there weren't many other birds about.  My next achievement was to sort out the camera display.  My Sony is brilliant but sometimes when you touch one of the buttons buy accident you get a load of technical information about the shot you're taking on the screen and there's no getting rid of it without getting deep into the menus....or so I thought.  I Googled it, found the button I was supposed to press and hey presto.  I'd taken a few of the shots in Haskovo yesterday without seeing the view on the display and again this morning but now I know which one to go for...problem solved.  I caught sight of a jay but it had moved by the time I got the camera out.  There was a lonely crow on the electricity cable and an assortment of very drenched birds in the walnut.  Maggie made it's way there but I think the snow had caught everything out.

I did think I might get to potting a few seeds up that I've got lying around but it was only a thought and didn't materialise into anything concrete.  I've chugged along with Game of Thrones book five and am up to seventy five percent and getting into it more than I did first time round.  Snow has stopped...it's damp, cold and likely to remain that was for the next few days according to Accuweather.  I've got a whole load of roasted vegetables in the oven...carrot, potato, onion, beetroot and celeriac which is a first for me and I put a chicken leg on top of it all.  It's beginning to smell good up here on the first landing and should be ready around six thirty.  A little mayo to top it off should do the trick.  LN...Funny old day...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 7, 2019, 4:42pm; Reply: 6
Thursday 7th February

So I was just nodding off last night and ....the alarm went off again but this time I've well and truly fixed it....I hope.  At least the alarm symbols have been removed from the display.  Unfortunately it took the sleep out of me so I started playing Soda Crush and I was knocking the games off and in the end had lives still banked but I had had enough so tried for sleep once more and this time it worked.  Seven start, washed and dressed and for the rest of the day have done very little.  It's been another cold old day.  I didn't manage to get the outdoor thermometer outside but managed to hang it up in the conservatory and it's registering ten degrees less than the house so I can knock a few more off and reckon that it's around two or three degrees.

I did manage to get the logs into the conservatory, put the new potting compost in the little house and checked out the plants that are stored there.  All seem to be doing well but we've still got a few more weeks of lots of minus values.  I sorted out the kitchen, made a ham baguette for breakfast and stationed myself on the sofa with the Kindle and that's been pretty much the total activity for the day.  I think most of the exercise today was making coffee and walking backwards and forwards between the sofa and the microwave.  Not much avian activity in the garden today...too wet and cold for them to be out....so the camera has been pretty redundant.  Tonight it's supposed to go down to minus two but with a little sun tomorrow so maybe I'll be stirred into action tomorrow.  LN...Supper time...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 8, 2019, 5:44pm; Reply: 7
Friday 8th February

What a silly night but at least I'd managed to sort out the alarm on the weather station.  At two thirty I was wide awake with no reason to be so except that my little head was whizzing round insignificant details that should never have been concerns.  So I decided to read for a while and I was still reading at four so rallied the fire round, and went back to reading.  At six I was up and topping up the fire, emptying the ashcan, first load of washing in, washed and dressed, shopping list written and ready for the bread van at eight but never even heard him. It was cold and dry, a little blue sky, snow on the mountains, took bread out of the packet and it was tinged with green so out on the hillside with it.  I'm sure the birds won't notice,  I took a couple of slices from a fruit loaf and put it into the toaster and that was a mistake.  I was a lovely shade of dark brown...really dark brown so I sliced more from the loaf and had it with butter on it.  And still no bread van.

My challenge today was to find out why I had paid two taxes for the rubbish containers last year and determined that I would only pay for one this year.  I knew that I had to complete a form, I knew the name of it but what a helpful lot they are at the council office.  It transpires that because they have it registered that I have two houses in one garden, I have to pay twice.  I explained that no one lives in the house but he was having none of it last year and didn't tell me about the declaration that had to be made.  I now have the form...it can't be used for this year but for next, so this year I shall still be paying two taxes for rubbish and no rebates when they get it wrong. Paid my phone bill, posted off a birthday car and spent an hour or so with my student's mother in the shop and it started to snow but only in the wind and had stopped by the time I  got home.

I relit the fire, settled down on the sofa and got my head down for a couple of hours to catch up on my night time wasted hours.  Haciber came round with a packet of biscuits...another Mevlit in the village, sweet and sour pork in the oven for supper and I had a half packet of potato wedges that went in but I ate the pork even though it was tough and left the wedges...they tasted of the freezer.  

Rugby tomorrow...nothing else on the agenda.  LN...Le weekend looms...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 9, 2019, 4:47pm; Reply: 8
Saturday 9th February

Today has a special significance for me.  I was given this date of confinement for both of my little, now big, ones but one chose to come early on the third and the other on on the thirteenth.  After a boy and a girl there were no other varieties in those days so two years and it was all over.  Both mid forties more or less, employed, tax payers and with children of their own, and I still remember this special day.

I settled down in front of the fire last night at nine thirty, promptly nodded off, woke up at eleven thirty and took to my bed and read until one thirty.  I really should take to my bed straightaway and see if I can manage to get eight straight hours not in sessions.  So up at six, the fire was still going so I made coffee and sent back to bed but not an ounce of sleep in me.  Out of bed at seven thirty, washed, dressed, I collected the rubbish from the bathrooms and kitchen and put it out in the conservatory and the bonfire came later.  I went down to the bread van and he had uncut and cut which was unusual so I had one of each and put the sliced into the freezer.  I walked back from the van with my painter who has got a job for the next three months working on the roads.  It's community work paid for by the council so it's good to see that the extra money I'm paying for my rubbish collection is going to someone I know. ;)

Kippers for breakfast but I got fed up with the bones so the rest of it went over the wall for the cats along with last night's potato wedges.  It was a gentle morning and the sun broke through so I decided that I would spend some time in the garden in the fresh air...so I lit the bonfire.  It went well and I got rid of all of it including the old foliage from last year that was covering the flower beds.  There were lots of green tip hidden including daffs, hyacinths, tulips and irises.  It's a pity that we've had the lull and I hope the snow that's forecast will not set them back.  I cut back the wild blackberry that insists on finding its way through the forsythia and that looks like it won't be long before it flowers.  I managed to knock a nail in the grape vine by the little house and the outside thermometer is up and running so at least I have a true reading of inside and outside now.  I turned the outside water on from the connection point in the bathroom, filled some ten litre bottles up and watered the plants in the little house.  They all seem to be doing well and I did remember to turn it off again...it's supposed to be down to minus three overnight. I also collected the soil dug up by the mole, filled three pots up and planted up some seeds that I'd brought back from Greece.  I discovered them in the pocked to my body warmer when I was out the other day.  Fifteen seeds in and fingers crossed.

So it was up to twenty six in the house today and the temperature outside out of the sun was five degrees but it felt much warmer in the sun.  The kippers had lain heavily today and with a snack of Ryveta and cream cheese this afternoon on the sofa...there might not be much call for supper.....I'll see later.  Accuweather reckons that it's going to be a sunny mild day tomorrow so I could find something else to do in the garden.  LN....Rugby is about to start.....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 10, 2019, 4:19pm; Reply: 9
Sunday 10th February

Very restful night's sleep but was awake at five so got the fire into action.  I checked the thermometer and it was minus four outside and twenty in so not bad going.  I went back to bed with a coffee and my book but by six thirty I was ready to start the day and hungry.  I hadn't bothered with supper last night, thought I'd give it a miss but the worms were nibbling.  I'd got bacon in the fridge so I fried it up with an egg but while I was at it I decided to get supper into the slow cooker.  I chopped an onion, put it in the breakfast pan with more bacon, fried it off, into the slow cooker with it a tin of chilli beans, a dash of Worcester Sauce and tomato sauce and I left it to do its own thing all day.  It now ready for when I'm ready.

As for activity today I went out at nine with the intention of doing something in the garden but soon came in again.  It was a bright day but a very cold wind and it was still on freezing.  I settled down on the sofa for a while, caught some of the Andrew Marr show until I got bored with it and went back to the book.  I seemed to meander through the rest of the morning and at one thirty my time I checked out the time the rugby was to start and I gave myself an hour and a half to get out to the garden and dig over the vegetable patch and don't I know I've done it.  My back is aching...it's the first real exercise I've had so far this year and it's very early in the year for me to have done it.  A little achievement.

The rugby is on, England are doing well so far, the fire is lit, the boiler is on for a bath to ease out the muscles and supper is ready and there should be enough for tomorrow as well.  Lovely gentle sunset and in fact....it been a good day.  I'm on standby tomorrow....I might be going in to Kardjali...I'll wait for a phone call.  LN...Soup and bath but not at the same time...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 11, 2019, 4:39pm; Reply: 10
Monday 11th February

So that bath last night didn't happen....I saw that one of the stations on TV-Catch-up was showing Matilda so I watched that and it took me back to when my grandson was small and we used to watch the video...over and over again.  We loved it.

I woke up at two this morning and convinced myself that I needed to get back to sleep and I did...six ten on the second awakening.  The fire was just in so I nurtured it to life. It had been a warm night in the pluses  but that wind was biting when I went out to throw scraps out for the birds. I made coffee and went back to bed with my book...Games of Thrones is finished and I still wonder why I bothered to re-read the last book.  A lot of the good characters have been left out of this one and hopefully, the last in the series will bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.  Everyone has waited so long for the final chapter...I just hope that the fans will not be disappointed.  So now I've gone back to the Jim Butcher series...wizard extraordinaire..and I like them because it's easy reading unlike G of T where there was such a lot of descriptive text.  It reminded me of Jean M Auel and her Ayla series of books and having to flick over several pages to get back to the story.  

I took lots of pickes of the morning sunrise.  it turned from red to pale orange and grey and the sun eventually did break through the clouds but it wasn't enough to tempt me out for garden activity...that wind was really cold.  I had my bath at eight, lingered until nine and dressed by nine fifteen.  It had started to heat up in the house so I put a small log on the fire and then left it to do it's own thing until four this afternoon when I started it off again.  I was on stand down from Kardjali and I checked my car documents and I don't have to renew my car tax until April so I'll do it with my house tax in March.  I didn't even bother to go to Djebel.  

We're supposed to be in minus figures tonight, I have enough bean soup from last night in the slow cooker and it's ready when I am....to be served with a chunk of bread. Not sure if it's Kardjali tomorrow....I'm waiting for the Librarian to let me know.  LN...And now to settle in for the evening....LN

Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 12, 2019, 6:05pm; Reply: 11
Tuesday 12th February

Monday night for me is TV night....'Only Connect' and 'University Challenge' and then to bed for a really good night's sleep.  I woke up at six, rescued the fire, made coffee and headed back to bed.  It was nine when I emerged from the nest and the Librarian was on the phone...her car was ready for collection so we agreed to meet at ten thirty at hers.  I was a little early and headed up to her house, rang her number to see if she was still there but I'd missed her at the restaurant on the turning.  I headed back down to the main road and she was walking towards me so I picked her up and we headed up the death highway to Kardjali.  

First stop was the garage to pick up her car and we left it in Kaufland car park and then set off for the rest of the challenges that lay ahead.  Firstly to the hospital reception to get the forms to allow is to get tests done for obtaining a Bulgarian driving licence.  We had two doors to go through, the eye test and secondly heart, lungs and a few prods.  We didn't have to wait long, two consultants that looked like they've been there since the days of Communism but they signed the form...so issues with that.  We moved back to the reception desk, got the official stamps and we decided to have lunch at the hospital to save time, bean soup followed by creme caramel with a total value of six lev.  Good value even at twice the price.  The optician had indicated an eye test on the form so we hopped round to my optician and made an appointment for her for next week.  So over to KAT and the girls were so helpful....my lovely man was there and we joked about needing an addition to my licence so that I could fly a helicopter...he said he had one so we were covered.  Forms completed and she picks up the licence in one month.  Kaufland and to her car, I said cheerio and went to pay my phone bill, bought new perfume and a sweater that didn't come from a charity shop, filled up the Nipper with gas at the fantastic price of eleven lev and stopped off at my garage shop for a chat and chocolates.  


All objectives achieved...one happy Librarian and I've got my new perfume that I spotted in a shop in the centre of Kardjali.  I used to use it when I was nineteen...I just hope it's not out of the same batch.  Supper was creamy brie with biscuits....the bean soup is still lingering in the gut.  Planning some of the rest of the week around a day out with Mrs D of S at a time and date to be fixed and it's supposed to be sunny and cold until the twentieth of the month.  Might include a trip even further afield.  LN....Eggheads is on.....LN
Posted by: tabs, February 12, 2019, 11:02pm; Reply: 12
Quoted from Elsa Peters
Tuesday 12th February

Monday night for me is TV night....'Only Connect' and 'University Challenge' and then to bed for a really good night's sleep.  I woke up at six, rescued the fire, made coffee and headed back to bed.  It was nine when I emerged from the nest and the Librarian was on the phone...her car was ready for collection so we agreed to meet at ten thirty at hers.  I was a little early and headed up to her house, rang her number to see if she was still there but I'd missed her at the restaurant on the turning.  I headed back down to the main road and she was walking towards me so I picked her up and we headed up the death highway to Kardjali.  

First stop was the garage to pick up her car and we left it in Kaufland car park and then set off for the rest of the challenges that lay ahead.  Firstly to the hospital reception to get the forms to allow is to get tests done for obtaining a Bulgarian driving licence.  We had two doors to go through, the eye test and secondly heart, lungs and a few prods.  We didn't have to wait long, two consultants that looked like they've been there since the days of Communism but they signed the form...so issues with that.  We moved back to the reception desk, got the official stamps and we decided to have lunch at the hospital to save time, bean soup followed by creme caramel with a total value of six lev.  Good value even at twice the price.  The optician had indicated an eye test on the form so we hopped round to my optician and made an appointment for her for next week.  So over to KAT and the girls were so helpful....my lovely man was there and we joked about needing an addition to my licence so that I could fly a helicopter...he said he had one so we were covered.  Forms completed and she picks up the licence in one month.  Kaufland and to her car, I said cheerio and went to pay my phone bill, bought new perfume and a sweater that didn't come from a charity shop, filled up the Nipper with gas at the fantastic price of eleven lev and stopped off at my garage shop for a chat and chocolates.  


All objectives achieved...one happy Librarian and I've got my new perfume that I spotted in a shop in the centre of Kardjali.  I used to use it when I was nineteen...I just hope it's not out of the same batch.  Supper was creamy brie with biscuits....the bean soup is still lingering in the gut.  Planning some of the rest of the week around a day out with Mrs D of S at a time and date to be fixed and it's supposed to be sunny and cold until the twentieth of the month.  Might include a trip even further afield.  LN....Eggheads is on.....LN


Only Connect and Uni Challenge also a Monday night  ritual for me. I'm quite good on the board and the missing letters but mostly useless on rounds 1 and 2 with the occaisional brilliant week!

Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 13, 2019, 4:44pm; Reply: 13
Wednesday 13th February

So after a very laboured labour 46 years ago my first born came into the world at three fifteen in the morning, nine seven and I settled for French knots since we'd just joined the Common Market.  I was offered blanket stitch but it seemed so old fashioned... :-/ :-/  As for you Tabs....it's been such a long time that I've heard from you...it's good to know that you still pop in.  

Silly old night again.  Two o'clock wake up and I read until six and went off again until seven thirty,  The Fitbit doesn't know what to make of it and I must have been so still watching TV this lunchtime that it put it down as an afternoon nap and honest, I wasn't.  The height of my activity today has been from the sofa to the kitchen to the log store and back to the sofa again.  I've got two of the log carriers in the conservatory so I should be alright if it does decide to drop a load of snow.  We've had flurries all day that have amounted to nothing, the temperature has not got above one degree, the wind has been howling and the birds bombing the cat for the bread that I threw out first thing.  I did manage to cook bacon and egg for breakfast and used the remainder of the bacon for the base for a vegetable soup.  I peeled the rest of the celeriac, an onion and a carrot and into the slow cooker with half a bag of frozen peas.  And that's ready for when I'm ready.

I spent part of the morning trying to send a gift voucher for my son by email from a well known site and boy was that a challenge.  Eventually I managed to do it and sent it on to him by email...I've never had these problems before...why do they keep changing things.  The rest of the morning I spent looking at You Tube.  I'd bought some glass paints yesterday from my stationery shop and thought I better look up the technique and then it got complicated showing me how to make my own flexible paint and I was too cold for that sort of nonsense.  I was intrigued by making concrete flower pots using material and shapes and coming up with other items such as candle holders but it needs to be warmer for me to become creative.  I have a little house crying out for a home industry when the pot plants hit the terraces in the spring.  Let the creative juices flow...but not yet....much too cold.

The plans I'd made with Mrs D of S for Friday might be on hold...I think she's gone back into hibernation and I won't be long following her.  Sunday trip to Greece is still on...weather permitting and according to Accuweather it's gong to be sunny but cold and that's OK with me.  Supper time and then a snuggle by the fire and hopefully I won't get the first two hours of sleep in.  I'd like to see a decent report on my Fitbit tomorrow.  LN....Kitchen calls....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 14, 2019, 5:29pm; Reply: 14
Thursday 14th February

Six start and I went through all night...the fire was still in so I put another log on, made a coffee and went back to bed to play Soda Crush.  It's a funny old game...I think because you refuse to buy other lives it let's you win and then you move on to the next.....and it starts all over again.  I eventually got out of bed at eight thirty, washed dressed and sausage and egg for breakfast but the first egg broke so that's the one that the cat had along with the bits of sausage that I burnt.

So today I printed off this years Baba Marta cards but I had to change one of the cartridges first and now I have very blue fingers.  I've a couple of birthdays that I had to get cards sorted for and a present for my local birthday buddy.  I eventually managed to get out to Djebel, I needed gift bags from the leva shop, envelopes and hoped to get the birthday cards in the post but the post office was closed even though it should have been open but this is Bulgaria.  I managed the gift bags and envelopes and delivered the birthday buddy present to her father's shop and as I walked back to the car I bumped into her coming from school.  She was with a couple of friends so I wished her happy birthday for Sunday and decided to stop at the currency exchange shop to get some euro for Sunday.  

Nipper put away, some good shots of the sunset, lit the fire...it's supposed to be another cold one so my trip out with Mrs D of S is on the back burner at the moment.  A decision will be made tomorrow.  The remains of yesterday's soup is almost ready for tonight...I like this 'making it one day and there's enough for two'.  A few more cards to write and envelopes to address and all go in the post tomorrow..let's hope it's open.  LN...Supper and relax...LN
Posted by: tcinbg, February 15, 2019, 5:04pm; Reply: 15
I like making it today and there is enough for 3 days better.  ;)
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 15, 2019, 5:21pm; Reply: 16
Friday 15th February

Happy birthday to my grandmother...nice memories of when I used to stay with her while my grandfather went out for an early evening drink with my father on a Saturday night.  She was the one that let me be adventurous.  My mother brought some wax matches back from an Italian holiday, I used to cut the heads off them, pile them on a silvered tray and light the stalks pointing in towards the heads.  A little mini explosion...I must have been eight at the time and allowed to do experiments.  She let me be me and with only two days between our birthdays...my soulmate.

So I looked out this morning and put on the outside floodlight and it was chucking it down.  This looked like it might be messing up plans for today.  I lit the fire, I hadn't banked it up last night so had to start from scratch but it didn't take long at all before the water was belting though the radiators.  I made coffee and went back to bed and read for an hour and despite the weather, I decided to have my shower and wash my hair just in case the snow stopped and I could managed to go visiting with Mrs. D of S.  At eight I dropped her a message, she thought it would be nothing to stand in our way but she was wrong, it still kept coming down and we decided against going.  It's now been rearranged for Monday...according to Accuweather it should be sunny.

I settled for scrambled egg for breakfast and have been filling time all day.  I had a conversation with my student about going over to their house tonight and that I thought it was best to call it off.  The snow has cleared but if the temperature drops tonight and it starts again...it wouldn't been good driving back through the forest at ten or thereabouts.  So new arrangements have been made and I'm seeing Mrs D or S tomorrow weather permitting and supper will be rearranged for next week. I can't be bothered to cook tonight since I've been picking all day and settled for brie and crackers followed by mini chocolate cakes.  No soup in the pot for tonight, Trevor... The rest of the evening is going to be spent on a little TV and a little reading.  LN....The plans of mice and men egh...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 16, 2019, 5:05pm; Reply: 17
Saturday 16th February

Restful night's sleep...woke up at five and decided there was another hour to be had so I headed back to the land of nod but that was after I spruced up the fire since I wasn't sure how the day would pan out.  Washed dressed and ready to face the day by seven, it looked as if it might turn into a lovely day but there were a few clouds out there to start off with but all came good in the end.  It was cold though...only one degree outside and it's stayed at that despite the sun.  The wind has been very cold.  I heard the bread van and headed down for a few items and delivered the soup dish to Haciber and put a few ready mixed coffee sticks in the bag for her.  You have to put them in a bag so the rest of the crew don't see them....certain things remain private.

Message from Mrs D of S confirming that they would be over later in the day but that she was having a slow start.  At nine thirty I took the Beast into Djebel with a little shopping list.  I wanted a cake and candles, so that I could get the little one to blow them out later, and the cake would feed the ladies of the village tomorrow.  I bought ham and cheese and cheesy things for lunch and ice-cream.  I was back by ten twenty and so I was just waiting.  I didn't have to wait long, they were here by eleven thirty so we must have crossed on the road as she headed for Djebel.  The little one settled in very quickly and gave me the card that she'd made me and my new name is 'night-night' apparently and it's pretty close to nana when you're only two and a half.  She settled in very quickly considering  that I don't see her very often, we walked the garden and she remembered that I had a toilet upstairs and wasn't content with using the one downstairs.  Lunch was ham, cheese, potato puffs and I'd bought her a special apple juice drink in a sports bottle but that didn't seem to want to work so we found a cup.  She liked the cheesy bread that I'd got from the bread van that morning and really did well with her food and the strawberry ice-cream slipped down.  The finale...I put candles on the cake and lit them allowing her to blow them out...again and again and again...it was such fun.  I cut them a chunk to take back to Mr D or S and off they went just before two.

I cleared the table and washed up and decided to check out the television and didn't realise that the indoor athletics was on from Birmingham so I've had a very restful afternoon and the highlight was Laura Muir attacking the mile record.  So it's dark, the sun went down very quickly and the three quarters moon was in a very clear sky.  It's still cold and can only get colder tonight and tomorrow I have an early start.  My friends from F want to start at eight thirty but it looks like it might be a very sunny dry day in Greece with a visit to a garden centre, the market and the fish restaurant if it's open.  I've picked up my euro already for the market...the card will have to come out for the restaurant and it will be the second time I've been there, the last time was with Princess and family when they were over in October.

Not really interested in food, I had chocolates from Mrs D of S for my birthday and they somehow found their way next to the computer as I watched the athletics and I have nothing more to add.  It's the Voice tonight so I'll be settling in for that but not sure if the bath comes before or after.  LN....Decisions, decisions....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 17, 2019, 6:08pm; Reply: 18
Sunday 17th February

So it was an early morning start for the birthday girl....I lit the fire. made a coffee and went back to bed to fill in the time between waking and diving into action.  At seven I burst into action, washed, dressed, cake for my compatriots in crime for today and into the car by seven forty five.  It was a cold old morning, minus four when I set off but if promised to be a splendid day.  There were no hazards along the way apart from the clock that is still showing the old time so when I got to the village I stopped and reset it and was at the rendezvous point as arranged.  I went in and there sitting on the worktop was a big heavy birthday pressie for yours truly and it was a couple of hanging baskets and a bag of compost so that's part of my week sorted out.   What a lovely surprise...

We set off more or less straight away and headed for the border and onwards to Greece.  I'd invited them for lunch at a fish restaurant in Porto Largos but firstly we had to negotiate the market and sort out the bargains from the not so goods and this time I kept my purse firmly in my pocket.  I've really been spoilt by Mania in BG....and when you're having to pay in euro...it appears to be twice the price.  So onwards and upwards and we followed this up with a trip to a couple of garden centres and I was amazed at how low the prices were and most of the plants appeared to be very healthy.  I was approached by the manager when one of the assistants told him that there were English people in the store and he asked me how I found his nursery.  I said I was very impressed by the plants but because they didn't have any trolleys or carts that we had bought less than we would have done and explained that in England all nurseries provide trolleys to go around with.  He understood immediately and said that he had been in England earlier in the month and was expecting twenty trolleys that week....job done.

Back to the restaurant and by this time it was heaving.  There were no tables outside and very few in but we were seated almost immediately.  We didn't get everything we wanted...the sardines were out of season, the only moules were served with rice, I ordered a whole squid grilled and a plate of prawns in garlic and we had a Greek salad and chippies that I requested without oregano and at this point the owner remembered that I had been there before.  I've worked out that if you complain in a positive manner that you get remembered for the right reasons...result.  The food was amazing, beautifully cooked and served and worth another visit later in the year.  

Back via the lakes and the flamingos to Fanari where we found a place in the sun to have a coffee, looking out over the sea from a raised terrace.  Back into the car and over the border and home for five and the temperature out of the wind was still very reasonable for February.  Into my car and home for six, my fire isn't all that willing to go tonight, it must be the direction of the wind.  No supper...I really pigged out today....I have cake for my ladies to take round tomorrow and I also bought a kilogram of clementines to hand round to them as well.  The cauliflower cheese that I intended making with the small cauliflowers that I brought in the market will be brought into play tomorrow...Do I feel another year older?  No...the spirit is still young, a little wiser maybe but not a lot.  I've returned the telephone calls that I've missed since I've not been here to take them, the cards are probably sitting in the post office but I'll find out tomorrow and I've had some lovely messages on FB.  LN...I've had a lovely day....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 18, 2019, 5:25pm; Reply: 19
Monday 18th February

So after the excitement of yesterday, I'd like to say a thank you to all the messages on FB wishing me a happy birthday.  I had conversions last night with Princess and various friends and I went to bed feeling very relaxed but unfortunately the sleep bucket was full at about five.  I made coffee, went back to bed and was out at seven, cut up the cake and got it in little plastic containers ready to whip round the village with it.  Out into the Nipper by nine, distributing to the needy along with the clementines from Greece and was heading for Djebel by nine thirty.  I met my painter along the way and gave him a lift to the mayor's office and a little further along the road I met up with the mayor's father and took him into Djebel.  I stopped off at the car shop and the garage owner was there so I told him that I suspected that the brakes needed attention and the handbrake certainly did.  He set off for the garage and followed him and met up with Mrs D of S and the little one at the garage as arranged.  The rest of the cake was left with the garage...they would demolish it for me.

So we drove via Momchilgrad to our destination and stopped at the watering hole so that Mrs. D of S could fill up the blood nicotine level.  Ten minutes later we were at our destination so that the children could play together.  They live in an old school so the children had plenty of room to run around in but the little ones native tongue is Danish and the soothing tones of English did nothing to calm him when mother went out of the room.  I shall have to learn more words of Danish.We had coffee and went out into the garden so that the children could play on the swing and slide and chase big bubbles.  It was a lovely day but under the huge pines, not much heat got through and I was pleased when we drew it to a close, got in the car and headed home.

We stopped off at the garage on the way back, the car was ready and they had replaced the front brake pads.  I paid the bill and dropped to see my student's mum at the shop and she had a present for me.  I stopped chatting for a while and realised that I had letters to post so headed for the post office at four and it was open...what a surprise.  There was a police check on the way back but I was waved through...I'd shown my documents last week.  Lit the fire when I got back and that's ticking along nicely, I don't need supper....no need to fill up unless the tank is empty. I shan't be late tonight....I'm feeling a little jaded after a couple of early mornings and very active days.  LN...Nothing on the agenda...gardening tomorrow..LN


Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 19, 2019, 5:30pm; Reply: 20
Tuesday 19th February

So bed by eleven, awake by one, read until two thirty and slept until six thirty...and Fitbit tells me I had a good night....paaahhh.

Coffee, bed, reading but up and at it by seven thirty, did my morning tidy, laying the fire for tonight and emptying the ash can, topping up the log basket ready for this evening.  I put the washing away, the washing up dishes into the cupboard and was about to put the rubbish bin out but decided to cook breakfast first.  I had eggs, ham and cheese so I made an omelette that went down very well and I sat in the sun at the table in the winter lounge in the stairwell and had a relaxing morning.  Washing up done, kitchen finished off and my next task should I care to accept it was to empty the bathroom bins and have a bonfire.  

I settled on the sofa until it warmed up outside but at ten I decided to make a name for myself.  I filled up the log carriers, chopped some small starter wood. grabbed the burning rubbish with the fire lighter and headed down to the bottom of the garden.  I removed the metal that provides the lid to keep the rain out and put the rubbish in the bin and it went first time and that was a surprise.  The burning bucket had quite a lot of rubbish on the floor from where I'd had to tip it out when it was full of water so I went and grabbed the garden rake, sorted out the metal that wouldn't disintegrate, took a bag from the conservatory and filled it up with the old tins from previous burnings.  I put all of the metal rubbish together and headed down to the container at the bottom of the village and dumped it...another job done.  Next job was to look at the jasmine that's overwintered in the little house, give it a haircut and see how it develops in the conservatory.  I also chopped up some long plastic gardening supports and used them on the freesias, the lounge plant and the jasmine.  I'll have to get some more for outside when I'm next in town.

I came in at three, tidied toys away and took to my book and settled in for the afternoon snooze.  Back to my book and now finished it and on to the next but not until tomorrow..I've read enough for today.  I've now got to find something for supper and it's going to be a picking session...no hunger pains at the minute.  Lovely weather today and a full moon tonight and I was surprised just how large it appeared.  As I lay on the sofa I caught its reflection on the window looking out on to the little house...very strange...all in the wrong place.  LN..More gardening tomorrow....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 20, 2019, 4:17pm; Reply: 21
Wednesday 20th February

Not a bad night and awake at six thirty.  I did get up in the night and I thought I'd left the hall light on...the moon last night was so bright that it's even been commented on on the internet and it looks like it could be the same tonight.  It's not up yet but I looking out for it...not quite a blood moon but close.

I missed the bread van this morning...he was early and I was late getting dressed but his standards so I made do with what I had in stock.  Breakfast was poached eggs on toast and again I waited for it to warm up before I went out gardening.  I had no wood to get in..I'd let the fire go out early.  The house maintained twenty three degrees last night after yesterday's beautiful day and it was nine outside at six but by last night just before bed it had gone down to two degrees and overnight it went down to minus one and it was white over this morning.  February has turned into a delightful month after such a bad start when it was cold and miserable.  

I was out by ten and have been pottering in the garden for most of the day.  The old zinnias have been removed and the seeds put to one side.  The birds have feasted on them all winter but not what's left are mine.  I've cleared out the bed that is where the old burning pit was and I'm not too sure about the plant that I bought from Greece.  I't supposed to be frost hardy but the temperature in January when I came from the UK went down to minus seventeen so that might have been just too much for it.  I do have one in the little house that's started to throw out some shoots so I shall be taking cuttings probably next week.  I'll give it a little longer before I attack it.  I've potted up the buddlea cuttings that were sitting in water for the winter and throwing out leaves...they have two choices...either they'll root or go to the great plant heaven.  I cleaned up the winter flowering jasmine and attached it to the fence and as I pulled up some of the longer branches noticed that they have rooted so they've been removed from the parent plant and are sitting in their own little pots...six of them in the little house.  I've also potted up six other plants that shall remain nameless until they get bigger.

Back to the Kindle this afternoon and started the third in the Jim Butcher series and you've guessed it...eyes south but only for an hour or so and then back out to the garden and tidying...so much to do and all the time in the world to do it.. ;) ;)  I keep eyeing the bench up in the grave garden.  It started life as a potting bench, got cut down to a garden bench but it was one of the first things I made and I've learnt how to use bigger nails now.  I'll probably make a new one...I think it's too late for a restoration project.

Pork for supper tonight with chippies and baked beans ...I'm not feeling adventurous and not too hungry at this point but I have put the water heater on for a bath.  I had a dull ache on my right shoulder blade and it's moved up towards the neck.  I think the cold wind must have caught it yesterday so bath and cream if I can manage to reach to rub it in or an arthritis tablet should do the trick.  LN....Supper, bath and bed.....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 21, 2019, 9:25pm; Reply: 22
Thursday 21st February

So another lovely day in Narnia...the sun was shining after last night's fantastic moon and there was no need for a fire.  I was out for supper tonight and thought I'd be coming back into a cold house but wrong....it's cold out but warm in so in that case...I'll stay in.

I haven't done a lot to day.  Scrambled eggs for breakfast and I did manage to start the washing and then the power went off which is the second day running.  I reckon they must be doing some work down in the next village.  It came back on gain but it meant re starting the washing machine so it really is as bright as it says on the packet.  I stripped the bed and washed the duvet cover, sheet and pillow cases, everything dried and back on the bed.  I more or less needed double pegs for everything ...it was blowing a gale out there.

I had my afternoon nap...the washing up is yet to be done and it was over to my local family for supper for six this evening.  The older one is getting married on a date yet to be disclosed and the younger on is helping out with the planning for a guest list of  approximately four hundred.  This is Bulgaria...  Lovely food, lovely company and we watched 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' but in the case of Bulgaria it translates as 'Who wants to be rich' and the top prise is one hundred thousand lev and in some cases...not worth turning up for.  Eleven twenty and time I hit the sack...lit's supposed to be very cold tomorrow with snow showers...back to winter me thinks.  LN....Time to batten down the hatches again....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 22, 2019, 5:49pm; Reply: 23
Friday 22nd February

So last night I had the great idea of watching Question Time and what a mistake was that one.  Fiona Bruce or whatever her name is is so aggressive, making her mark on a programme that she's wanting to succeed at and with respect....she keeps closing people down.  Unfortunately it started lat and finished even later...I should have just gone to bed when I got in from my student's family.  So when I got to bed I ended up playing Soda Crush until I'd had enough but the downside was that I was awake at six thirty...managed to take photographs but I've felt jaded all day.  

I made an omelette for breakfast, cleared that away and used the beef that I'd taken from the freezer yesterday and made a curry and that's in the slow cooker and ready when I am.  I think I might have put a little too much curry in it but I'll have to wait and see....I haven't tried it yet.  The rice is sitting on the top of the woodburner absorbing the rest of the water and that should be another ten minutes.  The rest of the day I've spent reading and trying to catch up on the lack of sleep from last night and just as I was nodding I had a phone call from the UK telling me about a program that was showing on Yesterday TV.  It was a release of the Communist Bulgarian records but by the time I'd tried to find the channel, I think it had finished.  

I lit the fire around five this afternoon...I'd checked Accuweather and the outside temperature is destined to drop to around minus six tonight and not likely to rise much above it tomorrow and we could be having snow....and I thought the spring had arrived.  The rice is ready, the curry certainly is and I'm getting that way.  LN....Home day tomorrow if it snows tonight....LN

Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 23, 2019, 4:22pm; Reply: 24
Saturday 23rd February

So I was awake very early and put on the outside floodlight  to check on the weather and it was throwing it down and blowing a gale.  I managed to get a few shots of the snowfall and stayed far enough away from the window to stop the flash coming on and I love the one from the stairwell.  It shows how the snow was being buffeted around and the result this morning was that there were bare patches and drifts be they only small.  I was out of bed by seven thirty this morning and noticed that I didn't have any eggs so was planning beans on toast.  I got washed and dressed only putting my padded trousers on top of my pyjamas...I had no intention of going out today and very little change of getting there if I'd wanted to.  No snow plough, it's Saturday and I was very surprised when I heard the horn of the bread van.  I grabbed my purse, put on my big yellow jacket and my snow boots and headed out not finding time to get a hat and gloves on and my goodness was it cold and blowy out there.  There were very few of us down there, my young friend invited me for coffee later and I laughed and her and said that I was not moving from the house today and I hardly have.  I remembered the eggs and two fresh loaves so the old bread went out for the birds but sadly no takers and very few birds about.  I did see my robin pottering down by the pots around the windows but I don't think it would find much to nibble on.

So I stuck to my guns and had half a can of beans on toast for breakfast and threw the remainder in last night's curry.  That's in the slow cooker and should be ready in the next hour or so.  I've done some reading, playing games and just stayed warm today.  The outside temperature has remained at minus six all day and the inside at around twenty one so not so bad.  Tonight it's supposed to drop to minus eight, the sky looks full of snow but there's none supposed to drop according to the forecast.  I did managed to get the snow shovel from the little house but only moved the snow away from the door leaving the fly screen in place....I toyed with removing it but haven't bothered...I'll see what tomorrow brings.

So I've just finished watching the France - Scotland rugby and warming up for the England - Wales probably fitting a bath in between that and the Voice later tonight.  Quite a turn-up for the books...last week we were sitting in the sun on my birthday in Greece and now we're freezing in the snow.  What a difference a week makes.  LN....Terraces cleared tomorrow ...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 24, 2019, 5:18pm; Reply: 25
Sunday 24th February

So that bath that was promised last night didn't take place...it's not that I got to watching anything in between it was too cold to strip off and get in there.  I was undecided...I wanted to wash my hair and I usually do that in the shower not the bath so I decided to leave the decision until this morning not struggle with it last night.  Congratulations to Wales...they deserved to win...and I'm sure Mrs D of S enjoyed the game.  I watched the Voice and this is where you can really appreciate how the singers have come on from the auditions with the coaching and then it was time for bed with a book at bedtime and off to the land of nod around twelve, waking up at five and convincing myself that I needed more and off again until seven twenty...result.

It was cold when I got up so I lit the fire that was well and truly out....not even the remnant of yesterday's fire.  It soon got going....the temperature had dropped to sixteen in the house but was minus eight outside.  I watched the temperature go up to nineteen while I sat on the sofa and read my Kindle with my morning coffee but it took a while to get there.  I'd closed the curtain between the fire and the stairwell so nothing had got through last night.  Outside it was a different matter, it only got up to minus four all day and started to go down again around six my time.  It's destined to be another cold one.  I only made one sortie outside to fill the log carrier and had to clear the snow from behind the Beast so that I could get up to the wood store and back again and the wind was icy.  The concrete going up to the wood store was solid ice so I took my time...didn't want any accidents and as for clearing the terraces....another day...another dollar.  

I had my bath mid morning and lingered for a couple of hours refilling the tub when the water cooled down.  I washed my hair, slung a towel round it to take most of the moisture out of it, slung a towel round me, grabbed my clothes and got dressed in front of the fire putting the wet towels and dirty washing in the machine and getting it going.  On to the airer with it and that's now dry enough to put away.  Out with the hair dryer and now feel clean and refreshed.

I watched a little of the rugby this afternoon, read some more, toast and pate on the menu for tonight...I've not done enough exercise to warrant a big meal and haven't got the energy to get stuck in in the kitchen.  My hardest work today has been keeping the fire fed...it feels like it's been none stop but I did managed to get in a container of the old wood from the little house and I'm burning that as well to eke out my purchased wood.  So few photos, very few birds about again probably huddled up somewhere to keep warm just like I am.  Looks like I'm a home bird for the next few days.  LN...More snow threatened for tonight....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 25, 2019, 5:56pm; Reply: 26
Monday 25th February

Another very cold night but fortunately there was a glimmer of red from the wood burner at seven so it didn't take long for the house to get back to its reduced but adequate temperature.  The wood was in and dry and I've still got the two log carriers sitting in the porch.  The wool sweater went on as soon as I out of bed to maintain the night-time warmth and the purple Ugg boots went on.  I opened up the curtain to let some light in but there wasn't much about and the snow was falling but ever so gently and it kept up until around eleven.  Trouble was it covered up the ice so I had to take care when I was outside.  Having said that....there wasn't a snowball in hell's chance of spending long out there.

Washed and dressed which meant just putting extra on top of the others and down to the fire and sofa and I've spent most of the day reading and playing games and imagining what I could be doing and actually visualising glass painting the pots that I've put ready but my brain wasn't really in to it so I didn't.  Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, kitchen tidied, logs on the fire.  I did make a little effort and emptied the bathroom waste bins and wrapped up like Nanook of the North and headed down to the bonfire.  The ground was really crunchy under foot and there was no way I could clear the terraces....they are pure ice under the thin layer of snow.   I had a visitor this afternoon, Haciber came round with a late present for my birthday of a dish and a mug...very sweet to remember it.

I put food out this morning but the birds ignored it.  They were more interested in the buds on the forsythia except for the robin and sparrows who managed to find old bread on the terrace.  I'm not sure the sparrow could managed to get it down it's little throat.  I decided that I would throw the bread and old rice over the wall...the birds would be less disturbed over there,  There was a bit of a scrap on the terrace...a black cat and small white and ginger one were vying for the best place to spend the night on the terrace.  I chased them off, they sat on the wall, waited for me to go in the house and came back again.  I was out there again with the black pepper to deter them...I hate the smell of cats spraying the outside furniture to deter other cats.  Not sure if they're out there now...most probably.  Fish finger sandwich at four thirty so no supper required...Logs have just gone on the fire to keep the temperature up.  Nothing doing tomorrow, the road isn't clear enough to get out and I've nothing to go for.  LN...Cabin fever is likely to set in...LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 26, 2019, 4:38pm; Reply: 27
Tuesday 26th February

So watched my favourite programmes last night and didn't get one question right on the Only Connect but did better with University Challenge.  It must be an age thing....I got a few they didn't.  I also watched the foundlings and their search for the parents on ITV.  Fantastic painstaking research using DNA..it's not only Jeremy Kyle that can do it then!!

Bed by twelve and I was straight through until six thirty this morning.  Coffee, rescued the fire, it was down to sixteen degrees inside and at that time was minus seven out and was a tad cold.  The sun was up and with it went the temperature and by ten this morning I was up into the twenties and it climbed steadily all day.  I've let lethargy overtake me for the last few days.  No chance of doing anything outside apart from the basics so today I was determined to clear the ice from the terraces so that they could dry off in the sun and most of it was achieved.  I did the clearing with the garden spade and the snow scoop but even the spade threw up an element of resistance...we had had some really cold nights.  I finished off outside bu about one thirty and reckoned that it was a good idea to go sit in the sun on the outside furniture and read my book for a while.  I was soon in for my windproof jacket , that wind was brisk and cold and I was out there for about and hour until the wind really got up.  After that I settled myself on the sofa and continued reading and then visitors arrived demanding coffee and a change or room was in order.  We took to the lounge and chewed over the fat until tobacco got the better of them so we headed out onto the terrace and I found a couple of pairs of plastic shoes that fitted the bill perfectly.  It was beautiful on the terrace,  there was heat in the sun, the wind had dropped and the view of the mountains just perfect and after an hour or so they left.

I spent the afternoon on the sofa reading and playing games...I'd done everything that I needed to.  I did have a visit from a couple of gypsy ladies who were showing me what appeared to be authorisation to fleece me of cash but I said that I couldn't read it and didn't understand it.  The quiet one got out a jar of something and I'm not sure if she was selling or wanting more of the same and I recognised the word 'pari'...money so said that I was English and didn't understand and off they went muttering.  I'll give to charity as I see fit and unfortunately I just don't trust that it would go to a good cause if I handed over cash to the pair of them.

A trip to the market in Greece might be on the cards for Saturday.....it depends on the weather.  I do like the Komatini one more than the others we've been to but the Sunday with the fish restaurant is worth the extra kilometres.  When you find a restaurant full of locals...you know it's good.  One of my Baba Marta cards has reached it's destination and was proudly shown off in a photograph and it will soon be time to hand them round and receive them in return.  March is a happy time of year in Bulgaria.  I've had an early supper of pate and toast so am not really in the mood for anything else tonight....so far.  I might be frying a mound of chippies with mayo if the idea takes root later.  LN...Fire needs sorting....the temperature is dropping again....LN
Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 27, 2019, 5:29pm; Reply: 28
Wednesday 27th February

Five thirty start and trying to get out of a recurring dream and not having any success.  I can't tell you what it was about...can't remembered but it was very frustrating at the time hence the early start.  Coffee and back to bed after getting the fire going...it was a cold old morning and there was a stiff breeze.  When I started to circulate I noticed the moon was still up and thought it was worth taking a picture....it's strange to think it's the same size as it was a couple of weeks ago but we just can't see it.  The perception is that it's not there...but it is.  We started off with very fine powdered snow which suddenly changed to very large flakes and I noticed that the container that sits outside the porch door for the empty cans was not where it should be but had found itself on the terrace in front of the stairwell windows.  I'd heard something rolling around last night and now I knew what it was and eventually found the lid..  

I made scrambled eggs for breakfast in the microwave and threw most of it away.  I'd not paid enough attention to it and it was hard and in clumps so I'm thinking the eggs weren't fresh even though I'd only bought them a couple of days ago from the van.  Maybe I'll have to change my supplier.  I'd noticed that the water from the kitchen sink was reluctant to flow away so this was going to be my first task of the day and something else to add to my CV.  I tried first with the drain cleaner stuff and the plunger but to no avail so I took the screw out of the middle of the drain and it all seemed to fall apart.  Not a pretty sight.  I did remember to put an empty bowl underneath to catch the water and the gunge, there was certainly a lot of it and I cleaned the individual pieces and managed to put it together again remembering the seal and all's good.  I finished off the kitchen and was drawn to the sofa with a book and eventually got dressed at eleven.

I dressed warmly..it was one degree outside and about twenty in but I still felt cold today...maybe it was just one of those days.  My only activity has been keeping the fire going, a little snooze around one and then reading, tv and games this afternoon.  I think it was a down day after managing to sit out in the sun yesterday...such a contrast.  Chicken leg and roasted vegetables in the oven for supper and should be ready soon.  I toyed with the idea of Kardjali tomorrow and wrote the list out but I;m thinking it's better to go on Friday...Baba Marta day and I can hand out a few bracelets on my journey following the tradition.  That will be after I've done my ladies.  Tomorrow I will find something creative or artistic to do...the sould is in need.  LN....Supper needs my attention...LN


Posted by: Elsa Peters, February 28, 2019, 5:13pm; Reply: 29
Thursday 28th February

Last day today and then we're in to March and it's celebration day tomorrow.  The happy time when everyone gives everyone a wrist bad for heath and good wishes for the rest of the year.  It can only come off if you see a stork or a new fruit tree in blossom.  Not much chance of either at the moment...it's been a beautiful day but with a cold wind.  I was working outside with an extra sweater on, thought about taking it off but thought better of it...I didn't want a bad back.

So I'm ahead of myself...six start, fire rescued and a couple of small logs on there to keep it in until the house warmed up, coffee and back to bed with the Kindle.  I played a few games of Soda Crush but I've met a bit of an impasse on the last game...the lives run out before I manage to finish it....it's a tad frustration.  I read one chapter of my book and decided to face the day.  I made toast and jam for breakfast, the sun was up so the fire could go out and in quicksticks the temperature went up to twenty five inside but lingered around two degrees out eventually getting up to eleven degrees this afternoon.  I received a phone call from the post office and headed out in the Beast to pick up my mail.  Three belated birthday cards and three letters from the bank in the UK....thank you Princess, CJ and my summer guest.  I fried off some meat and an onion and into the slow cooker with it with a tin of chilli beans....it will be ready when I am.

Today's idea of doing something creative or artistic didn't reach fruition....I ended up clearing the workshop patio, removing the dead leaves, chopping up some of the wood ready for the fire and sorting out the flower pots.  As I was clearing the leaves from round the winter flowering jasmine I found a couple of well rooted runners so they're now in their own pots and fingers crossed I'll have some new plants.  I moved some logs that had been cut last year from the trees at the bottom of the garden and had sat on the terrace.  They're not in the wheelbarrow in the garage drying off.  Everything tidied, rubbish taken to the bottom of the garden and I had a super bonfire, I came in around three thirty, settled down with a coffee and was surprised when the Librarian arrived with a belated birthday present.  We chewed over the fat for an hour or so and off she went, got the fire going, the rice has been brought up to temperature and is sitting in the saucepan on the top of the woodburner and absorbing the water.  I seem to get better results using this technique.  Haciber came round when the Librarian had left bringing me a pot of pumpkin in syrup....it is probably good with local yogurt.

Kardjali tomorrow clutching my list...and I might just have a stroll round the market and the cheapy shops...Supper is ready.  LN....Need to get this posted...LN
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