Thursday 21st September

Another gentle day, again I was out on the balcony watching the emerging sun.  I made coffee, didn't put too much effort into the morning, eventually made a cheese omelette and that saw me through until four this afternoon.  I spotted a tortoise down the bottom of the garden so went down to see which one it was and it was Blue, CS showed himself much later as did Green God but it took until late this afternoon before I spotted Rosy emerging from the under the horizontal juniper bush.  I've noticed that the shrub that I cut back from the little house terrace is on its way to the bonfire.  It had a severe attack of honey fungus so I need to dig out the remainder and get rid of, probably putting bleach on the little square bed that was cut out in the concrete to take a shrub.  I'll check up what Monty would do!!

While on the terrace I noticed a little red robin on its back and I reckon it probably flew into the glass window.  I tried to pick it up with the shovel but it took to the wing and this has happened before, they sort of get dazed, come out of it but then fly away and off to safety.  Unfortunately this flew under the bench so I tracked it down, it had turned over on to its back and I'm guessing it had done something to its leg, the wings looked OK but the poor thing just couldn't stand up.  Eventually it took flight again and landed near the low wall and then I left it to its own devices.  I could no nothing for it.  It did spur me on though, the grass was peppered with weeds so I got the mower out and set about the little house grass.  It was very hot out there, very dry, lots of dirt being thrown up and eventually it ran out of fuel so I took a break.  Two litres of water for me and some for the mower and I set about finishing the first grass and moved on to the big house grass.  All done except for under the big house terrace and the grave garden, but I did that only two weeks ago so that can wait until I again get inspiration to achieve.

Machine away at four, stripped off in front of the washing machine and straight into the shower, hair done, ears thoroughly prodded and poked, that dust gets everywhere.  I scooped my hair up into a knot and didn't bother to dry it, put on a lightweight pair of trousers and a loose shirt and settled down to watch Netflix.  I've got nothing current on the go and was flashing around trying to find something I'm not seen before and came upon 'The Forest', watched one then switched it off and made cheese and biscuits with silverskin onions and that will do me until tomorrow.  The cruise is on hold at the moment, the prices have gone up not come down so I'm investigating an A-Z tour of Tunisia with a flight from Plovdiv that has a good price quoted and also listed is a similar package for Djerba. I'll give them a call in the morning.

Eight my time and no sleep today so might have a good night tonight.  It's very muggy tonight, the windows and doors are open but very little wind so that sheet might be coming out again.  LN......I've managed my ten thousand steps today....I do love my Fitbit....it provides me with a daily challenge......LN

Saturday 22nd September

Horrible night last night.  I went to bed at eleven thirty, woke up at two with not an ounce of sleep in me, played games and Sudoku until five and eventually got off again and woke up at seven.  The sun was just about to climb the sky, a few clouds about so more coffee and then down for breakfast.  I did a little tidying like putting the washing away from yesterday, toyed with the idea of stripping my bed and getting the bedding in the washing machine but changed my mind....it will keep for another day.

More coffee when I was downstairs, used the rest of the can of beans and popped them in the microwave, made toast and that was breakfast, done and dusted, washing up done, kitchen tidied and then the day was all mine.  Firstly a bonfire remembering to run the hose down the garden just in case...everywhere is so dry that it's a good precaution to take.  I didn't find any of the tortoise this morning, by now it had clouded over completely and they were probably lingering in hidey holes waiting for the sun to come out again.  I eventually got my act together around one and headed into Djebel, I'd thrown the rest of the bread away so needed more, I took chicken wings out of the freezer to thaw for tonight and they're now in the oven with diced potatoes and onion....and that's supper.  

First visit was to the garage shop, I hadn't seen the family for a week or so and wanted to catch up on how my student was getting on in his new school.  He is doing well, trying to bring it in line with his football training and that's going to be the rub.  The good news is that he wants to carry on with his English lessons so that's been arranged as per usual for a Tuesday afternoon.  The school specialises in languages and in the first year they concentrate on German....he has approximately fifteen hours of German per week, one lesson of English and one of Bulgarian.  I suppose he could teach me German.  I didn't realise but he was working in the fishing shop next door and only found out when his mother received a phone call saying that my student could go and get his hair cut.  We both thought that it didn't need it and when he came back I asked him which one she'd cut.  It's all the fashion now..very short back and sides.

I stopped off at the supermarket to get a few things before I went home, the clever own has marked out parking bays parallel to the road but in true Bulgarian fashion, nobody seems to be taking any notice of them.  I couldn't, the guy next to me had parked at a forty five degree angle, which makes more sense when reversing out so I followed on with the same logic.  Bought goodies for the goodie box, eggs and bread for the freezer and I'm all topped up again.  Supper is ready, a gardening day tomorrow cutting back the lavender and strimming round the flower beds.  LN......Fingers crossed for a better night....LN

Sunday 23rd September

Five start and the stars were brilliant this morning, the air was so clear.  I opened the balcony door, iI had been another muggy night and then lay dozing until six thirty when I made my coffee and settled in for a few games of Sudoku.  I didn't achieve any record times but I'll keep trying.  I started to circulate around eight, made more coffee and remembered that I had chicken bones with crispy bits on for Mrs Cat and had put aside potato and onion that I hadn't managed last night and that was made into an omelette for breakfast.  Washed up from last night and put the kitchen back in order, walked the garden and saw CS and Blue in the bonfire garden but no sightings of the others until this evening.  I watered the pots and the indoor plants, the spider plant was looking very 'grey' so a litre of water has put it back to green and it's looking much happier.  I noticed that the orchid has three spiky bits growing from the base and I must look at my garden encyclopedia for a few clues...they aren't my specialist subject.

I dressed for outside and even put socks on so that my feet didn't get black as the ace of spades but instead took to the sofa around twelve and carried on watching what I'd started last night.  The heat of the sun had picked up and I had no reason to be out in it, the gardening could wait until later when it had cooled down a little.  I did have an afternoon nap and had to recap one of the episodes, munched through a small packet of biscuits and even had crisps so no supper for me tonight.   At four it had finished and armed with my hedge trimmer I set about cropping the lavender and all four bushes are harvested and are dry already so will just need hanging up.  I think the ladies are all having lavender bags in their Christmas stockings but that's a job for when the nights get longer.  I also trimmed some of the wild plum trees and headed down to the bottom of the garden to remove the old stalks from the helibours so that the new growth can come through.  The wild roses were trimmed and the trimmings tossed over the wall, I found Little Purple who is now repainted and renamed since I couldn't find the purple nail varnish.  It's now Little Turquoise and I moved it to the horizontal juniper bed for safety while I was out and about with hedge trimmers.  Further along the back wall I spotted Green God and on closer inspection I notice he was bothering Rosy again.  I'm not sure he's ever managed it but he does keep trying.  The hedge trimmer ran out of juice and walking back up the garden I noticed a giant caterpillar on one of the big weeds so I took a picture of it.   I put the tools away and the hedge trimmer back on charge, fired up the internet but as yet haven managed to identify the caterpillar.  Seven my time, not really hungry so I shan't be cooking tonight.  LN      Back on the 'identifying caterpillar' trail...I'll let you know......LN

Sunday 24th September

I was awake this morning at six, there was a brightness to the sky but the sun didn't rise until after seven. I 'm following the rising point at the moment and am amazed how far it travels.  It gets me thinking about the whole universe and reminded m that I found a book that I'd written my address in and I could have only been seven or eight.  My name, street name, town, county, country, the world and the universe. The stars used to frighten me, I always felt that there was something else out there and the Milky Way seemed endless....and it probably is.  I can't imagine anything without a boundary...everything needs a boundary so that you can realise how vast it is.  It was just one of those mornings .....when you wonder what the master plan is or was!!  It's wonderful what goes through your head sitting watching the world come to life from a balcony in Bulgaria.

Coffee, more coffee and toast with marmite and from my desk on the landing I noticed one of the tortoise out and it normally results in a walk down the garden to see which one is out and about.  This morning it was Rosy and I noticed that the nail varnish was getting dull so I reckon she's digging her hidey hole somewhere in the garden. Two seconds later and there was a screechy noise coming from by the wall and poor Blue was doing his damndest to have his wicked way with a tortoise that I hadn't seen before.  I pondered this for a while and I can only think that my neighbour with the garden next door had popped it over my gate when she found it in her garden.  I feel sure that it couldn't have got in under the wall, the footings were too deep.  Only one thing to do....it's now been named 'Red' after the character in 'Orange is the new Black' and has been painted with red nail varnish.  I haven't seen my neighbour to ask her but will when I see her.  The thing is, it's much bigger than any of the others and really, Blue didn't stand a snowball in hells chance.  While the nail varnish was out they've all been freshened up, easier to see which ones emerge first after the winter.

I did a bit of a clean through this morning but again it was too hot to be working outside.  I settled on the sofa at twelve thirtyish and started searching Netflix for something interesting and less taxing that some of the rubbish on there and the film 'Scent of Woman' popped up.  It's one of my favourite films, almost brings me to tears in one or two places and if you haven't seen the 'tango' scene, worth watching.  That finished around four-ish and no afternoon snooze today so off with the TV and I ended up watering some of the shrubs that are looking jaded.  The tamarix is almost non-existent, the new wisteria looks OK but has been topped up, the both buddleia given a good soaking and so have the forsythia and the newly planted yuccas.  I know they say that yuccas need nothing doing to them but it won't hurt to give them a helping hand getting established.  I've just had a telephone call from Bekir and he's coming round tomorrow with his son so it's time that I started making a list so that I don't miss anything......I could possibly help him but if trees have to be pollarded, his son is stronger than I am.  

Seven my time, I have hamburgers out thawing ready for tonight and found a bag of chippies in the freezer so some of those will go in the air-fryer.  My monday is sorted already, early tortoise watch to see if Red makes another appearance with maybe Blue slipping and sliding and if Green gets the scent or CS....it could be carnage.  LN.....Better set the alarm......LN

Monday 25th September

Update on the caterpillar photo.....I did a reverse image search on Google and low and behold it came up with 'Spurge Hawk Moth...I've never heard of it before but every day is a school day so they say.  I'll have to look out for the moths when they're active.

Six thirty start this morning and I remembered that I had the men coming and hopefully armed with the chainsaw.  I'd written my list of things that I want doing, two and a half trees down today and the gate specked out for repair.  They soon settled in again, his son has not worked here before except when he was fifteen with no interest at all of working with his father but now he sees the sense in it.  Bekir was up the Linden taking down branches, I remembered that my lady with the cows wanted the leaves so Bekir made his way to her house near the square and up she came with string and lots of energy.  She bundled it up, attached it to her back and walked around one hundred and fifty meters home and then came back for the next.  As they were cutting, we were clearing, they broke for lunch and she was by this time feeling a little tired as was I.  The wood had found itself in various parts of the yard so while they had lunch under the mulberry on the grass I cleared the wood that had been put outside the gate and stashed it inside by the wall.  I added to the pile the others by the side of the house so that at least I can get the car in and out should I need to.  The set to again, she didn't come back until late this afternoon after they had gone, took one look at the pile and loaded up one for her back and off she went.  They carried on after lunch, the second tree was down and before doing the final clear he cleared all the gutter for me,suggested that we wash the tiles but I said that rain was imminent, why pay for water.  

Now onto the mulberry and this was going to be easier, everything was going over the wall for the cows and sheep, they insisted on salvaging some of the bigger trunks and that will be chainsawed to size, the rest by the wall is down to me and my reciprocating saw at my own leisure.  Off they went, it's been a good day and that's two and a half things off the list.....only six and a half left.  We've still got the walnut to go....that just needs a health check and trim....he knows these things, I don't.  I now have my view emerging of the hillside and tomorrow it will be complete.  It's going to take me a while to get used to the pollarded trees in the yard but it was a necessity....if we have heavy snow it would have brought them down.  Men are back tomorrow, I'm in need of a hot back to soothe away the aches and pains that bending and stretching brings on and maybe a little Deep Heat down the one side.  Rosy was the only one out and about today and my lady from the next garden didn't put Red in with the rest.....goodness knows where she came from.  LN......Kitchen and I'm on the hunt for food......the boiler is on for the bath.......LN

Tuesday 26th September

Six thirty start after a very long Badedas bath last night.  No aches and pains this morning so I must have done something right.  I made coffee did n't bother with breakfast and was opening up the house and workshop when the car pulled up, the men were here.  The yard was still in a mess, I was waiting for my lady from down the village to collect the leaves and she didn't turn up until late.  I carried on with the reciprocating saw and the pile of logs by the front wall, it didn't look like the pile was going down but the heap behind me said that it was.  The workers were finishing off the mulberry, tidied up the walnut and haircut the acacia and I'd happened to mention that my shredder had never really worked since I'd had it and the son being an engineer was keen to get it going.  Screwdrivers and the likes came out, it was completely apart and now Bekir had joined in the fun and I left them to it.  My next input was required when I was asked if I had a soldering iron so we searched the two likely drawers and no go.  The son had found that a joint had come loose and somehow another method to restore contact was devised,it was put back together again and it worked, the only problem was that it wasn't chipping, it was squeezing the juice out of the branches.  All screws removed and it was decided that the cutting blades had been inserted backward hence it was mulching not cutting so blades reversed, everything put back and it worked.  Meanwhile my lady had arrived, she managed to take three loads and two of acacia and then I set to clearing the rest of the leaves from the yard and putting them over the road into the field for the cows.

It's been a full on day....Bekir started to work on the roof repairs, birds had dislodged the tiles and put nests under the eaves.  They were removed, tomorrow we have cement repairs to really pee them off, the wood had rotted where the water had got in so the wood's being replaced tomorrow but wee needed special nails.  Off we went to Djebel, nails purchased, bag of cement purchased and I ought a new outsidel ight, the sensor has stopped working and it remains turned off at the moment.  When we got back the son had taken possession of the reciprocating saw and I think he was surprised at how good it is.  They swear by chainsaws here but this comes a close second and is less unpredictable.  Off they went at five, they appear to be working winter hours,for me there was lots of daylight left but perhaps they were tired.  I carried on tidying up the heap that is still to be cut putting the very light stuff to one side, the working wood chipper will do that tomorrow.  

I've cancelled my lesson with my student for tomorrow...it's best to be here when the men are working.  I know where to find most things except for my camera that I was using this morning.  There are only photos from late in the day....I'll post the others when I manage to find it but it's too dark to be traipsing around the little house in the dark with low lighting.  Supper was chicken goujons done in the air fryer...not exactly gourmet but adequate.  LN......Another night and I might even made this a bathnight as well.....LN

Wednesday 27th September

Woke up at seven after a good night and the first thing that came to my brain was my lost camera.  Well nothing is actually lost, mislaid is one word for it so I had another search and this time took in the little house and workshop but nothing.  I suddenly remembered that I'd shown the photo of the big caterpillar to Bekir and the response was that there were lots of them in his village...and I'd never seen one before!!  After that 'aide to memoire' I asked him if he remembered anything and I asked him and his son to look out for it around the place...just in case.  They got on with there work and I got on with preparing the woodstore to take the newly acquired timber from my trees, I'd gone upstairs to make sure that everything was where it should be before the roof repairs were underway and suddenly there was a cry from Bekir for me to go downstairs.  The camera had been found, it was on the windscreen of the Nipper between the washer blades and that's oneplace I didn't even think about....but I will next time.  I can only think that we were intent on going into Djebel to get some very small nails, I thought we had some so I must have put the camera on the bonnet while I went to check, went back for my purse and forgot all about it.  Thank goodness they've resurfaced the road, otherwise I would have lost it.  

The rest of the day went smoothly, the roof repairs were done, the new sensor light that I'd bought yesterday was half fitted and they were just coming back from lunch....I'll rephrase that, the son was and he asked me where his father was.  I guessed, didn't tell him but he'd probably gone upstairs in the little house and gone to sleep and I was right.  His son didn't seem to happy about it, they'd had a long lunch, well one of them had.  The lamp was eventually set into selection mode, but I had to us Google translate from English to Bulgarian so that the son could sort it out and while we were doing that Bekir had got it working OK.  So next job was the gates, they've been up a long time and age has taken its toll and three repairs have to be undertaken.  I remembered where I had timber of the right dimensions and one new rail that I had and they made a start but no way could they get it finished before they left.  They secured the gates so that the cows wouldn't get in and that also meant I couldn't get out.  I'd thought about going out for a pizza in Djebel but that idea was put on the back burner.  I finished off the last of my logs after the men had left, stacked them, swept the yard and dumped the leaves and dust over in the field opposite.  I never feel guilty, the cows appear and no traces are left.  Settled for tuna, onions, potatoes, beetroot and mayo for supper, it's what my student calls a 'mishmash'.  More logs to do tomorrow, there are walnut, mulberry and acacia yet to go and fortunately I got the men to throw most of the small stuff over the wall and not a leaf was in sight, the cows and sheep have demolished the lot and only small branches remain which don't look out of place on the hillside.  The men will be finishing off the gate and the only jobs remaining are to clean the chimney ready for winter and check the water levels in the expansion tank and clean the plastic tube so properly see the levels.  

I've had a good day....clocked up over twenty thousand steps today and am on for a record week.  Hopefully I can manage to beat my Princess.  LN.....The men will be doing the donkey work of getting the wood up to the yard from the garden where they left it.....not it's bathtime.......LN

Thursday 28th September

So I had my late bath last night and slept through until seven thirty and had thirty minutes or so to jump to before the man turned up.  No lingering this morning over coffee, I washed and dressed quickly and had already opened up the little house and workshop by the time they'd arrived. The gate was their priority, mine was having a bonfire and getting rid of old wood and household rubbish, potting up more cuttings and planting my freesia bulbs ready for the spring.  Next job was to sort out the wood that I'd cut yesterday, try and get it in an organised fashion in the woodstore which I did.  Out came the chipper and I set to clearing the pile of thin twigs, might as well made them into a mulch for the garden hopefully to suppress the weeds,  I was reminded that I had four more heaps that needed sorting, sawing and chopping at various points in the garden but I reckoned it was down to the men to get it up to the little house terrace.  I felt that the son was reluctant to do it but eventually he had to, we were busy with chimney cleaning and I was on standby with the bucket, kitchen soup scoop since that fits much better into the soot outlet hole in the bathroom than anything else I've got.  Bekir said that there was lots of stuff in the chimney but I didn't see much of it my end.  He asked if I'd had it done last year which I did and insisted that they'd made a bad job of it but there were no problems that I could see my end.

So chimney sorted,  I realised that I#d not got enough money in hand to pay the men so a visit to Djebel was on the cards.  I left at three thirty and hopefully the men could find things to do and I was back for four twenty and suddenly remembered that there was one more job to do.  The central heating has an expansion water tank over my main boiler and the pipe that shows the water in the expansion tank get quite dirty so needed cleaning out.  It's a job that I'm used to doing with Bekir and we got on with it without any issues except that he forgot to have a bucket on standby for when it removed the one end of the pipe fortunately I could put my hand on a container that we could use.  All sorted, the list is complete, I paid the men, off they went and I went to see what I was left with on the workshop terrace.  They'd chopped about four logs with the machine and that was about it, the heap is not in any real order so my first job is to get in into big, medium and small and work my way through it.

It was still light so I found the old engine oil and gave the gate a coat so that it will soak in and hopefully dry overnight.  The rust remover came out along with a metal scourer to take the rust off the stainless house numbers on the gate but more is required to get them up to standard.  It's not been such a fun day, I cleared most of the thin stuff this afternoon with the brush wood chopper and felt a little let down and maybe it's time to find other workers to cultivate.  It's not the same as the Bekir and Sally combination. One more push over the next couple of days and then I'm ready to think seriously about booking a holiday, it's been a stressful few days.   LN.....Now where can I go...checking out a cruise or there's an interesting holiday going out to Egypt.....and why not.....LN

Friday 29th September

Really good night last night but fell asleep with Netflix, staggered up to bed, straight to sleep but woke up at five this morning.  I tried to get back to sleep again but there was nothing doing so I managed to meander through until seven when I sat on the balcony and watch the morning come to life.  It was so beautiful out there, the clouds seemed to change colour as the sun got more vibrant, it looked as if we were in for a bit of a cloudy day but no, it turned out fine.  It was a little nippy out there so I didn't stay too long in my jim jams and went back to bed and played a few more games of Sudoku.  No men this morning, the day was mine and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.

I was originally heading into Kardjali to get more blades for the reciprocating saw before I tackled the heap that the men had left for me.  Instead I dressed for the garden and boiled a couple of eggs for breakfast to have with toast to fortify myself for the task ahead.  I went out to check on the gate and it's going to take a few days to dry off completely and I should really make a sign to let people know that it's still wet. there's quite a brisk wind and lots of sun so hopefully it shouldn't take too long.  I set up the electrics on to the wood store terrace, changed the blade in the machine but it's not the same as I used before so I really do need to get the strong ones.  Instead I cleared the smaller branches  and cut them into starter wood with the long handled cutters, found more boxes out and I'm really running out of space.  It's the difference between English and Bulgarian mentality....they do not throw anything away that can be useful whereas I got them to throw the last of the branches over the wall for the cows and sheep.  It seemed more important to me to feed the poor things that search all day for anything to eat even raiding the rubbish containers.  How much starter wood do you want?  I put a big log on and night and keep the home fires burning.  I cleared up the old wood from the gate and the demolished table and benches that suffered as the tree branches came down and had a bonfire.  I put the bottom from the old burning bucket on top of the new burner to make sure that no sparks flew, everything is still so dry.  I watered the garden shrubs that matter, watered the pots on the terrace and in truth I was delaying starting the heap and eventually gave up and replayed the episode of the series that I'm watching on Netflix....I appeared to have slept through it last night...I was tired.  Another couple of episodes down, Haciber came round with a bun and some chocolate stuff in a bottle that I immediately poured away.  I opened the gate for her and told her to go wash her hands, there was a slight tinge of black there....oh dear.

Went back to the bonfire and burned another load of old wood, cleared up the area, came back to the wood store and put the electric machinery that I'd put out mid morning...it can wait for another day...I really didn't feel up to it and I wasn't happy with the other blade so definitely Kardjali tomorrow.  Another reason for going is that the goody box is empty and so is the fridge...four days of the men and I seem to have neglected everything else.  Heading up to eight my time and to ten thousand steps on the Fitbit today, I should get there if I have an omelette for supper so my daughter tells me.  LN.......Bath and bed....I need another few days of gentle exercise...the last few days were intense......LN

Saturday 30th September

Well today has been an unexpected and perfect day.  I woke up at seven, sat on the balcony and watched the sun come up and then meandered through until around nine, made toast with jam, washed up from yesterday and had the day before me.  I toyed with the idea of going in to town, didn't bother washing my hair and having a shower and dressed for the garden.  I was still undecided what to do and suddenly I was getting ready for Kardjali, I'd written a list and decided to fulfill it.  I remembered that I'd promised my student's mum some wax that I had by me, she makes creams from it, and then carried on to Kaufland.

I parked up, the coffee wasn't on special offer so I left that for another visit, I found a couple of very big stainless pots on offer that I'm going to use for house plants, bought a few other items and then moved to the town centre to sort out my mobile phone bill that I'd tried to do over the phone.  The assistant was no use at all, the telephone message that I got from them advised me to go to the shop so I tried to pay and she responded that the bank would take payment tomorrow so there wasn't a problem.  I left the shop no wiser and I'll trust that between the bank and the phone company they can sort it.  I doubled back to one of the cheapy clothes shops that I haven't been in for ages and found a couple of men's long sleeve shirts, both cotton, an evening top and two leather belts which totalled just over six leva....cheap at half the price.  From there I drove to Lidl, did a normal shop mainly for the fridge and freezer, stopped for gas and arrived home at around three thirty.  Five minutes later the phone rang and I was invited out for the evening, my student had been playing football in Burgas and would be arriving back in Kardjali around six.  I had a quick shower and washed my hair, drove to Djebel for five, we arrived before the boys returned so went for a walk to one of the local parks, I have photos but not managed to get them off my phone and I'm too tired to really try.  The coach arrived at six and we all went to a local Turkish patisserie and lingered over Turkish tea and cakes and then carried on to the Shell garage and to a fast food place with a really good menu for eating in or take away.  The selection was good, the food was excellent, I didn't managed to eat all of mine so have that to look forward to in a short while, back to Djebel and I arrived home around nine.

I'd left the porch light on but my outside intruder light came on and did what it was supposed to do...came on, stayed on for a while and then automatically turned itself off.  It's now been tried and tested.  I feel so relaxed that it won't be long before my little head hits the pillow, the last few days have been full on.  LN......Good company with good people can make you feel that way.......LN