Sunday 11th July

Five thirty start and for goodness sake, it's Sunday, the day of rest and it's been anything but.  I thought about phoning my friends in the next village, my little Chuwi computer kept telling me that it was running out of space and so much so that it stopped working.  This machine I keep on the desk downstairs and only do emails, FB and keep track of my Fitbit reports and I couldn't understand why I was having problems with storage so I was going to ask if I could take the machine over so that he could delete anything that needed deleting.  

I made bacon and egg for breakfast, it is Sunday after all, washed and tidied the Kitchen. washed my under quilt from my bed thinking any minute either it was going to be too heavy for the drum but the machine managed it.  I was just pegging it out when I heard a car pull up and the latch on the gate go and lo and behold, my friend was paying me a visit so my first words were that the message had got through the ether and it saved me a phone call/  I told him that I was about to phone him and he gave me that quizzical look that says a thousand words and it's not the first time that it's happened.  Spooky....

I made coffee and we sat on the terrace for a catch=up and then we moved inside so that he could check out the machine and he couldn't find anything that could be deleted.  It's a duel boot machine and he reckons that it's due to the requirement of Windows and despite the fact that there's a card in it, it's just not seeing it so time to buy a new one next time I'm in town.  He offered to help with moving some of the furniture for me in the lounge but I really wasn't sure that I wanted to do it and needed to measure things first...no point in trying to get a quart into a pint pot.  Off he went, my Avatar came round asking me if I would take her DIL into Djebel for some shopping and I agreed that I would be ready at two fifteen.  Five minutes later she was back, her DIL didn't want to go but could I take her tomorrow and I said no.....I don't like Djebel on market day, there's nowhere to park and we do have a bus on a Monday so she wasn't exactly stuck.

Left on my own I started to move the furniture to where I wanted it to go and I like the result.  The old shutters that I used as shelving are now in an 'L' shape as are the two sofas and I've moved the TV in there and settled down to watch the men's final.  Again I got disappointed in the play so I cleaned the lounge windows, liberally applied shoe polish to the old shutters and by then the standard of play had improved so I went back to watching the tennis.  Suddenly there was a loud bang on the stairwell windows so I went to see shat it was but it was too late, I saw the black cat running off with it in its mouth so not sure what it was but I consider now that it's more like a takeaway around here.  Hoover moved into the downstairs bedroom, mop and bucket in the porch, polish back in the box and I'm just about to find something for supper before I settle down to the football. LN....Too busy for pickies.....lounge ones to follow when it's finished.....LN

Monday 12th July

Another five thirty start and maybe it was the excitement of the tennis and the football.  I must admit I get very disgruntled when they seem to be taking a long time to win anything when I've seen them play better.  I even decided to take time out and have a bath getting back to the tv at the extra time stage and then when it came to the penalties, I almost switched off....I almost knew the outcome.  Yes they've done very well to get as far as they did...'nuf said.

I made my coffee and woke up for real on the balcony, toyed with the idea of having a shower and washing my hair but it looked like it was going to be a sweaty old day and a I had a few things still to do in the house.  I went out looking for the 'family' but nothing spotted so walked down the road to see Avatar to see if she was setting in.  DIL came out from the house carrying coffee and said that she'd resorted to Turkish coffee and needed Nescafe so I offered to give her some, went home and got it and it was duly delivered.  Avatar opened up and said that because the trap door to the attic had been closed there was no air to circulate and the house was damp and smelly.  The roof had also leaked and come through into the rooms to the right of the entry door and clothes were ruined.  Poor woman, she gets scooped off to Germany for the winter with the family then comes back to sorting the place out and she's not a spring chicken.  I do make her laugh though, she understands my Bulgarian 'speak 'and I tease her.  DIL said that Avatar's bank car had expired and she had no money so I suggested that she looked under the mattress where she normally keeps it...

I came back and made a bacon and cheese omelette for breakfast, washed and dressed for a day 'doing' and set about finishing off the lounge.  I made a few adjustments, moved a table between the wall with pictures on it and the end of the one sofa and it looks more balanced.  I then tackled the three containers of ornaments that I've collected over the years including around ten tea-light holders and now they're put away until the next power cut....they don't need to be on display.  I repotted the giant flowering cactus that sits on one of the low shelves and that was a bugger...the thorns are lethal but that's now done and into a new container with new compost.  It was at this point that the television went on and I nodded off the an hour or so...and I felt much better for it.

Tittivating most of the afternoon, it's been quite a hard slog getting to this point, it's been almost a week since I started preparing for the decorator to arrive.  Too much at my age but at least it's done.  Ice-cream and blackcurrant juice this afternoon and there's a possibility of peanuts for supper.  Tomorrow I'm going to look through my cache of  material to see if I have anything suitable for covering both of the sofa otherwise it might be a trip to Kardjali to my favourite material shop and they can make them for me to save the aggro.  I also need a new cover for the sunbed so if I go I'll take the original so that it can be used as a pattern.  And then maybe a day at the pool is on the cards.  LN....A successful day.....LN

Tuesday 13th July

Another early start but I'm getting very used to them by now.  Coffee, more coffee and I was out watering the garden to top up from last night.  It really looked like it was going to be a hot one and I wasn't wrong.  I didn't bother with breakfast, dressed for Djebel and walked the garden to see if there was any activity from the family.  I haven't seen Rosy for a couple of days or so and I do like to check up on them.  I noticed a tortoise that I didn't recognise and without nail varnish and I believe that someone is donating to what they perceive to be a good cause.  It was by the gate, had a cracked shell was trying desperately to get out so I opened the gate and off it toddled.  I have enough.  I looked towards the garage and noticed another one heading between the front wall and the garage door and then Blue appeared from inside the garage and was in hot pursuit of the newby.  He tried to mount it from the side, she moved and he slid off, she went under the greenery at the bottom of the tree and he tried again, headbutting her shell and again she was having none of it and shot under the leaves in the gap between the front wall and the garage. At this point I was still organising my hose pipes so I'd already unlocked the wood store and had used the back door on to the terrace and low and behold there was another one, without nail varnish and now I'm really convinced that someone is putting them in my yard for safety when they find them on the road.

I'd had enough of tortoises so went over to check if Avatar wanted anything from Djebel but she'd already left for Kardjali, obviously going to get her cash card sorted with the bank.  I was in the Nipper around ten thirty, had written my shopping list and my main task was to get two connectors to add another hosepipe to the collection so that I could water the bottom of the garden and to sort out the insurance for the Beast. it was about to run out. First things first and I handed my documents to my student's mum so that she could make a start on it, I went to the hardware shop and got a couple of connectors which are in fact the wrong ones.  I wanted to join the pipes using eh end pieces but she gave me inline ones which meant taking the end pieces off which I've done as a temporary measure so the shrubs have had a good drowning.  I had to walk to the cash point, three in Djebel, one not working so there was a long queue at the second so I headed to the third.  Back to the shop and the documents are done and the money handed over, I stopped off at the little supermarket for more bottled water and a few more things and I was home for two thirty.  I'd see the water repair van around and I'd given my spare bottle to Avatar so had to add to my supplies.

Had a nap this afternoon after lunch, it has been well up in the thirties and woke at five, garden sorted and watered, I heard a rustle in the leaves under the low wall and saw that it was Rosy so I know she's OK.  So now I think I have two more in the garden making a total of five.  I asked my student's mum to write out a notice in Bulgarian and Turkish to tell my neighbours to put the tortoises somewhere else...my hotel is full.  Lunch was pretty filling so I'll be picking later.  LN.....Tortoise watch in the morning to see who slept where.....LN

Wednesday 14th July

Silly four start and I have to thank the dog in the next village....noisy critter.  Why do they have dogs tied up outside?  I didn't managed to get off to sleep again and it has seemed a long day....well it was until I fell asleep this afternoon after working in the garden this morning.  I was making breakfast at seven, bacon sandwiches with brown sauce, messing around with hose pipe connectors and realised that I had a box of bits but not the ones that I needed.  I soon got bored with that even though it was very pleasant sitting on the terrace with the umbrella keeping the sun off the sofa and the breeze from the hillside was wafting the aroma of honeysuckle over to where I sat.  

I moved the hosepipe with its temporary fix to the larger buddleia and gave it a good soaking and then moved it to the little garden near the woodstore and attached the spray sunk into the garden after I'd trimmed back the wild plums that seem to have put on so much growth and removed the grass that had sprung up.  As I walked under the cranberry I kept hitting my head so that got a hair cut as did the wisteria, event though the seed pods were very pretty.  It was rampant and smothering everything else which is great if you have a place for it to go wild, I reckon I put it in the wrong place to start with, I should have put it down the bottom of the garden where it could have roamed at will.  I did managed to catch sight of Rosy and Blue heading down the garden but in opposite directions,  Maybe they have arranged it that way to confuse me but as for the others, none spotted.

I came in at twelve and settled down on the sofa, slept for a couple of hours.  It was still too hot to go outside and work so I put Netflix on and found something to watch which was passible but not enough to keep me glued to the next episode.  At six I headed out and got the mower into action and the main lawn is finished.  I started on the second lawn, came in for a drink and left the mower going and because there was no air circulating, by the time I got back to it the thing had stopped.  I tried to get it going again but without success so I put it away for the night, tidied the tools and packed up for the night.  

Fried spicy sausage with onions and boiled potatoes with mayo for supper and I couldn't manage it all.  Mrs Cat is in for a treat in the morning, she's got the remains of tonight's supper, the skins from the sausages and a cheap pizza that I bought yesterday from Djebel, put it in the fridge and promptly forgot all about.  I'm now going for a shower and to wash my hair, it's been such a sweaty old day.  LN....Grass to finish in the morning then possibly swimming pool.......LN

Thursday 15th July

Six thirty start this morning so getting better.  I was out to the garden for seven thirty and had finished the grass by nine and had accomplished almost seven thousand steps on the Fitbit.  I stopped for a breakfast of fried tomatoes on toast which was really appreciated and then moved outside and finished the strimming of the road side and the lane...somehow today I felt energised and I was doing it before the heat took over.

I moved inside and did some tidying of the porch and found six pairs of lightweight slippers that I used for guests so they went in the washing machine and  pegged out and I've just fetched them in now.  I didn't really bother with lunch and it's just as well, my garage friends have just phoned to go out for supper tonight and I'm meeting them at eight thirty so this is quick and getting ready will be even quicker.  I didn't made the swimming pool today, it was one by the time that I thought about it so I settled in to my new lounge that I absolutely love, found something on Netflix and binged and would be still there now except for the phone call for supper.

The new water features in Djebel are lit up at night so I'm taking the camera with me and will be posting them later.  It's supposed to be quite modern for Djebel.  LN...I'll update you later.....LN

And the pickies

Lovely evening with the family....the restaurant was busy with lots of people that are not living here but visiting locally....gearing up for the next festival.  Home for eleven, where did the time go?  LN...And now to bed.....LN

Friday 16th July

Another six thirty start and it was out on to the terrace with a coffee, Rosy was out early and munching on a wild plum and Blue was down the bottom of the garden taking the sun.  As for the other one I didn't see it until around twelve when heard a rustle of leaves behind the compost bin and thought it had got into an impossible position so had to move one or two large stones from the area and I checked to make sure it hadn't fallen in it's back escaping from the cul-de-sac but no sign so it must have negotiated it well.

Again I was messing around with hose=pipes and the linking thereof and managed to find a short piece that I bought last year so that it's not trailing all over the terrace and onto the grass.  This one just takes it down the steps so with my new jointer....I jointed it and one hose will now do the garden by the workshop terrace.  I watered the rest of the garden, didn't bother with breakfast and settled down to sort emails on the little computer and somehow  found myself on my ancestry program and checking out the relatives of my sister's husband's family and took them back a hundred years or so.  At this point I hadn't even got dressed and was still in my night attire, toyed with the idea of getting stuck into something but instead made the decision to get my backside into gear and head for the swimming pool.

It was now half twelve so I took the back lane down to the main Greece road and it was a race-track.  Fortunately most of it was going in the opposite direction but the queues on the border crossing must be ginormous...there didn't seem to be a lull in it at all.  Kardjali was jammed both ways, in and out and I had to get to the other side of it for the swimming pool but once I turned off it was a pleasant journey.  I parked up and there were lots of sunbeds free so I paid my fees and settled myself at the far end of the pool in the shade.  I can get sun on my balcony so I stripped off, carefully laid out my things enjoying the space round me and got in the water.  Surprisingly it wasn't that cold just refreshingly so and I must have been in there going backwards and forwards along the width for a good forty minutes and I only think of the health benefits.  It loosens up the joints and keeps things moving.  It was really quiet until two with a three year old girl turned up and while the little one was no problem, mum had one of those voices which sounded like a cat scratching down glass.....I think you get the picture. A few more people arrived and the two beds after the table under my umbrella were now occupied and the older man was one who insisted on taking phone calls away from his ear and if I'd have understood Turkish, I would have got both sides of the conversation....so it was time for another swim,

Leisurely going backwards and forwards allows you to watch the rest of the sun worshippers.  The majority were all young and most of them were  on their phones....they just can't be away from it and relax.  The family left at four with the child, I packed up and left at five thirty, had a word with the owners and confirmed that the other road ot of the pool wasn't in use.  I'd seen a taxi take the long road so I thought there was something going on.  Filled up with food from Lidl and gas for the Nipper and home for six thirty.  I'd bought a bag of onions and I didn't realise how big it was until I got home so Avatar is now the owner of half a bag of onions.  Not in the mood for supper...too hot to eat, I'll still to fruit juice.  LN....Love my swim days...so relaxing.....LN

Saturday 17th July

Seven start. coffee on the balcony and then it was back to bed with silly games until eight thirty and I've been playing catch-up all day.  I cooked poached eggs with ham on toast for breakfast to set me up for the day and it did me through until supper time.  I was out with the hose-pipe, it is so dry.  We complain about the amount of rain we get and about the amount of rain that we don't get.  Still, it's not so expensive here unlike the UK.

So the rules have changed again....one day we're on the green list and now we're not.  I've tried to keep on top of them so that I can think about a trip to the UK but the last thing I want to think about is a fourteen day holiday with ten days quarantine even though I've had my vaccine and have my European certificate.  Having to think about having tests is such a put off for me...I like things simple.

Washed up from breakfast and yesterday, well there is only me, general tidy round and decided to put the curtains back up in the downstairs bedroom.  All the curtains came down when the decorator was in and now they're back up again.  It was so hot this afternoon that I decided to settle in and carry on watching the series that I'd watched yesterday and I was just about to fetch the washing in when there were cars pulling up outside and I there were people at my gate.  Fortunately one spoke English and it was the son of the couple that used to live in my house so I said that they could come inside the garden and have a look.  They were all from Turkey and were staying in Krumovgrad with his mother in law and they were over for the holiday and had come up to see his old home.  He surprised me by saying that his mother looked at my blog every night and was keeping tabs on the house.  I found that quite flattering.

Off they went, I put chicken with vegetables to roast in the oven, I'd promised to supply my Avatar with food for the night since most of her house is undergoing renovation and not much in the way of cooking was being done.  I delivered it at seven thirty and she invited me for pancakes in her garden but I hadn't eaten my own at that point so I thanked her and carried on home.  It's turned into a very sultry sticky night so I might be running another bath and lying there in the cool water before bedtime. It worked well last night, I didn't put any bath stuff in, just washed down with lavender soap and there was no itching from the bites.  Two nights before I'd more or less scratched holes in my legs and though about wearing gloves to sleep in.

Just after nine my time, these updates are getting later.  Haven't seen hide nor shell of the family today...they must have found dark places to hide in.  LN.....Time to relax.....LN

Sunday 18th July

Seven start this morning so I made coffee and went back to bed...it is Sunday after all.  There were a few clouds about this morning and it made a pleasant change from searing heat and a cool breeze helping it along.  I somehow forgot about breakfast, the thought came into my head but I took a few things out to the workshop and found myself picking up the old carpet that I put down to keep the dust at bay and hanging it on the washing line....and that was the story of my day.  On the upside it's been quite productive though not everything done in the correct sequence but there again...what is the correct sequence..

Avatar paid me a visit to return the dishes that I'd taken over last night with food in and later in the day to see if I had any red pepper that I could let her have.  The only packet that I had was unopened and I must have had it about five years and she complained that it was brown.  I opened it up, she tasted it and found it to be OK so I told her to take it, I never use it anyway.  I looked over to the wall and there was Blue attacking the fallen wild plums that he was making quick work of and as a treat, I went in the house and found a couple of apricots that were just going over.  I put them down in front of him and again he demolished them pretty quickly...not quite hand fed but am I spoiling them?...not sure but does it matter.

It had got hot outside so I came in and settled on the sofa and watched Netflix for an hour or so and then went out and dug the grass and weeds from the under the garden of the main terrace and rescued the fuchsia.  Unfortunately it was getting attacked by the weeds and I've now got a problem with the mole that is determined to undermine some of the plants.  The mole smokes are coming out tomorrow and the mothball powder to see if that will help.  More weeding done and then back inside for a drink and more TV and back out again and this time I attacked the old veg bed.  The poppies have really gone over and there didn't seem much life in them so they're now over the hillside and those beds have also been weeded.  As I was putting my tools away, I noticed another tortoise this time by the old toilet on the other side of the garden....and it was Rosy so I went back in the house and brought out another couple of apricots.  She hadn't quite got the hang of eating them, Blue stuck his claws into them and she just kept trying to break through the skin and eventually managed it.

It's settled into a beautiful evening, we had a session this afternoon when things were flying about in the garden but it's dropped now.  The carpet is still on the line fortunately  and will hopefully stay there until tomorrow when I'll have a go at washing it.  Again I've not done anything for supper, it's just too hot to eat so I'll have a cool bath and see how I feel later.  LN....Another day of gardening if the weather is good.......LN

Monday 19th July

Six start and I was drawn to the sun that was about to be swallowed by the clouds so I had to grab the camera...it was about to disappear....  and it was missing until lunchtime more or less.  I went out and walked the garden with my coffee cup in my hand, spotted Blue near the mulberry and he was on a mission to find food or a female and I shall never know which.  The sheep were out and about early with the dogs protecting them and several of them had bells on which added to the peaceful morning.

I made a bacon sandwich for breakfast throwing the old sliced bread out to the birds and carving up to find the soft bits in the one that my Avatar had given me on Saturday.  It was unsliced hard as nail on the outside but with a relatively soft inside so it did the job admirably.  I dipped the bread in the bacon fat to make it even more tasty and added brown sauce to finish it off and sat in the stairwell at the table checking out my Fitbit statistics from yesterday.  I'd knocked up around six thousand steps pottering but today wasn't going to be a record breaker, I could feel it in my bones.  I'd slept OK but I felt stiff in my joints so I was going to have a really leisurely day.  I did the usual emails and FB updates and had a shower and washed my hair at twelve.  Instead of letting it dry naturally I got the hair dryer out and that was after I cut about three inches from the length.  I toyed with making a trip to the local hairdresser but it was Monday and busy in Djebel so it will do until I manage to make an appointment.  It looks so much better anyway, I've been lazy with it of late, swimming at the pool and not rinsing it off so today it was conditioner, conditioner.

I settled for white blouse and local patterned trousers, scooped my hair up into a chignon and settled on the sofa for a Netflix binge.  I've come across a new series to me called Blacklist and you know what it's like...you become comfortable with the main characters and it's easy to press the 'Watch next episode' button and the afternoon has gone.  It's probably done me a power of good and relaxed me.  My mental list of things that need to be achieved bugs me occasionally and I start putting timings on them.  I have a lot of jobs that won't take too long to do, imagine myself doing them and then beat myself up for not doing them.....it stops now.

England seems much further away than it did before....I wish that the European vaccine certificate could be acknowledged and that a journey to the UK would be simple...but it's not.  I've also got another beef.....I consider UK to be in Europe but no it supposedly isn't.  If I make a phone call to the UK it's classed as an international call and in my humble opinion it shouldn't be.  Has Brexit changed everything?

So now into the evening, I should sleep well tonight, today has done me good.  LN.....Peanuts and an ice-cream will suffice for supper.... LN