Friday 21st June

Well there's not been a lot of activity today.....it's been much too hot to do any work in the garden and too hot to sit in the sun without there's a pool to cool off in.  Maybe I should invest in one.  I was awake at five thirty, put the washing away from yesterday, did another load to sit on the airer in the guest room, washed up from yesterday and did emails and it was still only eight and wondered what to do for the rest of my day.  I had breakfast of eggs with mayo on toast only because I'd boiled six and they were sitting in the fridge.  I sat at the table in the stairwell eating breakfast and watched the temperature rise knowing that my work outside would be very limited.  

I did a walk of the garden and saw none of my dependents.  I filled up the dustbin lids with water for them, there are four around the garden and either they'd stayed out of the sun or found a cool place under the soil in their winter homes.  I put the old umbrella up on the balcony, went down to get a bottle of water and came back to find it inside out but still standing.  I was tempted to put the new one up that I bought the other day but I didn't want the same thing to happen to this one.  There was quite a breeze coming off the mountains from the north-east so I mended the old one with hair bands, took my book outside and settled down on the bench for an hour or so but soon came in.  I'd already made my bed so I thought why not lie on it so I did, picked up my book and it was one when I woke up.  Advantages of the Kindle, it closes down when it spots inactivity, the pages don't get bent if you sleep on it and it remembers what page you were on.

I toyed with the idea of making the candles this afternoon but in fact I did nothing again, back to my book, watered the garden when the temperature dropped, filled up the watering holes and yet again, it's been up in the thirties today and still no signs of the 'gang'.  Garden and pots are watered, favourites for me are the oleanders, lots of flowers and not demanding and the honeysuckle perfuming the balcony.  Made tuna mayo for supper with carrots, onions, potatoes,and beetroot and one dish to go over the road for Avatar which is sitting in her fridge.  Mine is now devoured.  LN.....I think a nice long cooling bath is called for......LN

Saturday 22nd June

Six start again this morning and it was threatening to be another scorching day...and that's what it turned out to be.  I'd thrown a bit of a wobbly last night, the dogs in the next village were barking for all they were worth and it was around ten last night so I stood on my balcony and shouted 'shut up' to any one that might hear me.  They were also talking very loudly, the talking stopped but the dogs didn't but to add insult to injury, one of my other neighbours had the strimmer out at eleven.  It's one thing to wait until the sun has gone down but it's another to wait until the moon is fully established. Some people are just inconsiderate and it seems to be the ones that are new to the village.  I'd taken lots of pictures of what appears to be called the strawberry moon but my camera hadn't picked up the colours.  To the naked eye it was more like orange than strawberry coloured ...I'll have another go tonight with my little camera or maybe I need to adjust the colour settings on the big Sony.  

Another warm night but having said that I didn't sleep badly, I had a late tepid bath last night and felt much better for it settling off quite quickly.  I could have a shower but the bath lasts longer, it's upstairs so I can tumble into bed when I've dried off.  I read for a while but it wasn't long before I my head hit the pillow....this heat saps the strength from you and I notice it now that I'm older.  Nothing much about this morning, sheep coming along the roads with the guard dogs, car horns hooting for them to get out of the way and the cows being released on to the hillside.  I'm sounding really grumpy which is very unlike me  and I'm putting it down to the weather.

I didn't bother with breakfast and settled for ham sandwiches around eleven.  Delving in the fridge I noticed that I'd bought chicken sings from the local supermarket the other day and had done nothing with them.  I washed them, put them into the frying pan to brown off and then into the slow cooker and I have supper ready prepared and accompanied by a slice of bread, no need to stand on ceremony, it's only me this evening.  I watered the pots and noticed two male lizards obviously rooting out the insect from the terrace and taking water from the bases of the flower pots....you're very welcome boys. I also gave the Nipper the once over, there are a few birds that appear to use it as target practice.

The was candles are still sitting on the worktop but I really couldn't be bothered to make them into insect deterrents...as we say in Bulgarian....drug put...another day.  LN.....Now for supper and back to my book and then another bath before bedtime.....LN

Sunday 23rd June

Five thirty start and another sweaty night and day time temperature today was thirty three outside and thirty two in.  I was drinking my second cup of coffee at eight, decided to walk the garden and feed the cat with the bones and scraps left over from last night...I was on the hunt for tortoise.  I spotted Green first in the Grave garden and realised that it was tracking Blue and I've really given up trying to sex them.  I found Blue clattering shells with Red the other morning and it's by far the smallest of the group and Red the biggest.  They'll be using pronouns next!!  Red this morning was between the front wall and the garage so I put another dustbin lid out with water in it so now we have them sited over all the garden.  I also managed to clear the cobwebs from the outside of the upper large windows on the stairwell, I'd found a brush and in the woodstore found a long handle that screwed into it or so I thought but managed to join the brush and handle with elastic and it did the job.  I also removed two of the hanging wasps nest from the stalks to the annoyance of the wasps but they were catching on the door fly-screens anyway.  Much safer out of the equation.

On my garden walk I found that I'd lost another fairly large branch from the garden against the long wall so I twisted and turned it, used the long loppers to get the majority down and the rest came away quite easily.  The whole lot of them need to come down, I could do it with the reciprocating saw but I need someone else to be here to pick up the pieces if it goes wrong.  Alternatively we have lots of chainsaws in the village and it would only take around twenty minutes to fell them and I could do the tidying up...no change there then.  I was drawn today to the cornflower bed, they appear to have gone over and are crowding out the shrubs that I planted there.  I've now thinned them out considerably and have put the wood chips from last year over three sections and really watered the area well.  I've got some advanced seedlings that I could do with moving and it might be on for tomorrow after the water has soaked in and the wood topping saturated.  

About eleven thirty I went into the house, it was getting really hot out there, settled on the sofa and got stuck into my book.  I snoozed for a while but settled for cake and ice-cream to revive me and carried on reading....there was really nothing else to do and there was quite a through draft in the house.  I went out again around six, watered the garden again, lobbed the faded cornflowers over the wall and a few down the bottom of the garden to seed under the wall ready for a second flowering this year or starters for next.  I had a mishap with the garden spade.  It's an adjustable one and only about four years old but for some reason the handle adjusted itself of the spade and I couldn't see how it went back together again so I found a hole in the hande and one on the lower part of the spade, lined them up and added the screw.  It's not longer adjustable but there again, I never adjusted it anyway.

I came in at eight, tools away, hose pipe switched off, pots dead-headed and flowers to transplant all watered ready for tomorrow.  Not interested in food, it's still too hot to be thinking about food so it's going to be another coolish bath, more reading and then to bed.  I've just noticed the time, I'm late tonight.  LN......Despite the weather I feel I've achieved more than I have in the last couple of days......LN

Monday 24th June

Eight start this morning but I must mention that I woke at one thirty and was reading until three.  I'm not sure if it was because it was so warm last night but I think it had something to do with it.  I did the usual chores, emails etc and nothing very exiting there, less junk than usual but the permanent delete button works really well.  I fed the birds, filled up the water bowls for the tortoise and anything else that wants them, forgot to put out the chicken bits for the cat but since they're in the fridge it can have them tomorrow.  I watered a a few things but most still had water in the underneath bowls but did do the little gardens that have the shredded wood round them to make sure that when I come to move the seedlings from one bed to the next, probably tomorrow, they'll have a reasonable start. No student tomorrow, the day is all mine.  I stripped the bed and got the first load in the machine and they'll be a second load to follow.  No effort here though, on to the clothes airer and I'll be using the same bedding to make it up for tonight.

It's my first student's birthday, he's twenty six and it reinforces how long I've been here.  It was eleven years ago that I took him to the UK for a holiday, first time on an aeroplane and we both have lots of memories of that.  I sent him a message wishing a happy day, he responded and I told him to not enjoy himself too much since he has work tomorrow.  His response was that he has work everyday and I replied 'normal', he replied 'that's life' and my final comment was 'tochno'...or 'exactly'.  It's nice to have that sort of bond. I went over to sit with Avatar in her garden under the grapevine.  I mentioned how well they were doing this year, she looked up and hadn't realised how many there are.  She goes back to Germany at the end of August so I said that I'm going to put a stall up and sell them and keep the proceeds.  Of course I'll do not of it but I do like to tease her.  One of the locals is selling tomatoes and she said that she'd have a few from him but that I normally get them for her.  He delivered three kilograms, charged her for them and I must take a few of them off her hands.  They do taste much better that those from the supermarket.  I came home again, had a yogurt for breakfast and have dropped a couple of pounds so want to keep going.  I then set about making a clove and coffee candle that's supposed to keep the mozzies away, I finished it but made more mess that enough and it took me ages to clean up after myself.  I'll see if it works before I make any more.

I took to the sofa around one thirty, read until I fell asleep and woke up around four, made up the bed and put the rest of the washing away and back to my book.  I had a phone call from the UK which finished after an hour, I phoned back but said that I'd just seen Red trying to climb the steps to the little house terrace so ended the call and lifted it back down to the grass with it's little legs going ten to the dozen.  I've taken to wearing gloves, they have so many ticks on their feet, best avoided.  As for supper, again not really interested but must go and put something in the air fryer.  Eight thirty my time so must get this posted.  Nothing on the agenda so far, swimming on Wednesday already on the calendar.  LN.....Might meander into Kardjali tomorrow.....LN

Tuesday 25th June

Five thirty start again and it seems to be following a trend.  I didn't bother with coffee this morning, I seem to be having more of these red blotches appear and this is one thing that I want to eliminate to see if that's the culprit.  At first the doctor and I thought it was the blood pressure tablets but since I'm not taking them any longer that one's been put to bed.  I've changed my washing powder more times than I can remember and I'm running out of new 'varieties' now and that doesn't seem to make any difference.  I think it's time for another session with my doctor and probably the specialist in Plovdiv that she recommended.

I did my usual walk of the garden and found Rosy tucking into one of the bread roles that I'd put out yesterday for the birds so I drenched them with water so at least they were soft and found her a huge bunch of dandelion leaves that she could tuck into.  Blue and CS were canoodling under one of the bushes in the Grave garden and I'm not sure if it was pre or post nuptials and which one was the perpetrator.  There were a few clouds around this morning and there was a wind blowing so I confirmed the old trees hadn't come down as I did my morning check on the garden and filled up the lids with water for the tortoise.  Ay seven thirty I was boiling eggs and making toast for breakfast and that has seen me through until now.  The washing up still waits for me to burst into action but it's not been a very active day....the idea of Kardjali came and went and the only thing I'm lacking is bottled water but the local water is just as good and colder when it comes out of the tap.

I've finished book three of Game of Thrones and started book four but I skipped through the first two chapters.  I might regret it later but reading about the character that I'd become acquainted with was more interesting....back on to old territory.  Of course, you've guessed it, I woke up on the sofa with the little Kindle on my lap, checked my phone for the first time today, it had been on charge and I hadn't got round and went back to my book.  I've just done the evening walkabout, the gardens that I've been adding the shredding to look better for it now that it appears to be holding the water instead of sending goodness know where.  The flower beds will all get saturated with cow droppings in the autumn, there is no body in the soil and it really needs improving.  Most of my flowers are flowering despite of my tending them this year and fortunately the shrubs take care of themselves since lots of them are taken from the forest anyway.  My favourite is lavender.....no problems at all and useful for the bees.  I did move a few Iris bulbs into the newly covered little garden, it started off that I was pulling the dried leaves up and inadvertently pulled a few bulbs up as well...I call it unintentional gardening.  I had to spray myself with anti-mosquito this evening, they were really out in force when I was watering the pots and there were a couple of lizards avoiding the spray.

The mosquito plus have gone into use in the bedroom, the fly screens do an excellent job at keeping them at bay but the odd ones have been known to disturb my sleep.  Eight thirty my time, time to look for something quick for supper, have a shower to wash my hair and ready for bed and yes...back to my book. LN..... I really must work out a Netflix subscription......LN

Wednesday 26th June

Another early start, I didn't have to be anywhere until ten this morning so I played it cool Rodney.  Washed, dressed, plaited my hair with style, packed bag for the pool, found the list of shopping that I had to do for Avatar when I'd finished my swim and that was my morning done.  I did go out and fill up the water bowls for the tortoise, I only saw Blue with the white tip to its shell vert near the front gate munching away happily at a very reen patch.  I had to move it since it was very near the Nipper, more frantic leg movements, little feet full of ticks so it was a good job that I was wearing my gloves again.  I was in the Nipper for nine-thirty and arrived in the target village at one minute after ten....I was a minute late, refused coffee and settled for water....I'm sticking to my plan.

We had a choice of venues but chose the Encheve which only charges four for a swim if you're having lunch so that was a win-win.  There was a very varied menu, I settled for a cheese omelette which could have been cooked better and we shared a plate of chips and a Shopska salad.  So lots of swimming before lunch for me and lots after for both of us, we sat in a shaded area and around an hour on the sunbeds and were both surprised when we realised that it was almost five o'clock,  Back to Kirkovo village and to the supermarket and I managed to get everything that was on Avatar's list, back to Fotinovo and saw Bekir and his son working on the house next to the drop off point.  Bekir was up on the roof so I didn't have chance to speak to him properly and when I left he was nowhere to be seen.  Another time.

Quick journey home, shopping delivered and debts settled, garden and pots watered and outside the wall I spotted another tortoise which wasn't mine so I left it outside.  Too late to bring another one into the group at this stage of summer.  Washing done and drying for my next pool day, showered, shampooed and in my pj's and shall be taking to my bed pretty soon with my book.  There were a few clouds about today but that didn't interfere with what was planned. LN.....I think I need a shopping trip, goody box empty and tonight I fancy something salty like crisps and don't have any so looks like I;m continuing the weight loss programme.......LN

Thursday 27th June

And another disturbed night, I fell asleep early, woke up at one, read until three, managed to go off again and woke at five thirty.It's left me feeling jaded all day so I didn't get up to much.  It's been another scorching day, I did see three tortoise this morning but I've not managed to track down Rosy......CS was the first near the garden by the long wall, Red was behind the pipe and in the shade of the honeysuckle again my the long wall and Little Blue in the Grave garden.  I pulled off cherries remaining on the tree and fed them decent ones, there didn't seem much interest when I put them in front of their noses but I noticed as I went to top up the watering bowls today that most of the cherries have gone.  

I changed the bottom sheet since I've had a few sweaty nights and into the washing machine with it and was putting it away at three this afternoon....all to wall sunshine and thirty two degrees inside and out.  With the doors and windows open there was quite a bit of air flow but the breeze fell away this afternoon and the air became stifling.  My only meal of the day has been breakfast at eight thirty this morning, I used the fresh bread to make toast and poached a couple of eggs and that went down well and that's been it for today.  I put music on the computer on random play and listened to songs that I've not heard for a long time.  I've had most of my CD's that I managed to copy over from my original Apple iPod to my computer so I'm going back twenty if not more years and some when they started to play I had to check back to see which album they were from and who was singing them.  I felt it was a bit like 'I'll name that tune' and in some cases, I couldn't.  

I went over to give Avatar her change from the shopping and watching Turkish television for a time until I could stand it no longer and came home.  I checked my emails and came across one from the ancestry company I use giving me yet another 'hint' so I logged into the programme and realised that I have the information already in my tree.  Even though I've marked my tree as 'Private', I'm sure that the way that you can now search other trees that my information has got out there and this hint was back from sixteen fifty six.  With a little bit of backdooring I managed to find out that this hint has been generated from an offshoot of the family in America that I was in contact with around eight years ago,  It did cause me to look at a few reports and follow a few enquiries and it kept me busy for the afternoon and out of the sun.

I watered the garden this evening, moved one of the oleanders that's not flowering into the sun and gave it a good watering.  The rest of them both in the garden and in pots are doing superbly.  I did remember to put on a thick pair of socks and tuck my trousers into them and change to a long sleeved thin top before I went watering to stop the mossies having an early supper at my expense.  Back to my book and yes, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until eight thirty hence the late post.  Sorry no photos, I'm falling down on the job and promise to do better next time.  LN.....I think it's going to be a pool day tomorrow not long now before the children finish school and then the pools get crammed ......LN

Friday 28th June

Five thirty start and stayed in bed reading until six thirty and then it was all systems go.  It was a dull old day so I reckoned that the pool was out and it was also blowing a gale and it seemed like a good day for taking the talk stalks from the grass so that less weeds would get settled.  I set myself up, was outside with the mower at seven and firstly tackled the yard, not much grass but things that bash into your legs when you walk across it but it's a problem no longer.  From there it was the grass between the house and the wall and when I reached the Grave garden I ran out of cable so I moved the reel from the tard to the workshop terrace, left the mower where it was and set it up to go by the cherry tree.  I was doing well, I spotted Green by the old rose under the grass but then it struck me how much dried grass there was from the rose to the wild plum tree at the end of the Grave garden.  I cleared the rubbish from the little beds, Green moved over to the back wall so I had a clear run at it but it took me until six this evening to clear the old weeds, trim back the iris and clear out the grass from the stone circles.  Normally these have flowers in them so I've watered them well, put some compost on them and will dig them over tomorrow and I have plants that I can put in.  The problem was that we had so much rain at the beginning of the year and thought that summer would never come and when the sun came it came with a vengeance and turned it all to dried grass.  The upside is it's easy to remove but just slow.  

I did have one or two breaks and the first was to go to see Avatar and see if she could spare some natural yogurt.  I knew that she had plenty, I'd brought her 2225 grams of it yesterday and even she doesn't get through it that quickly.  I took my chocolate breakfast cereal over with me and had breakfast with her, she offered me more to bring home but that's the way that I shall be buying it in future.  The large pot is only eight leva where the small pots that I normally get are about two and I can finish one off in a sitting.  I think I'd got it in my head that it wouldn't taste so good but it's much better and local, not brought from Germany.  So back to it until two, in for a read and water, fell asleep until four, went out again and finished it throwing the rubbish over the wall for the cows, everything packed away and I feel that I've had a good day and just need to plant a few things out in the spaces after I've dug it over.

It turned out to be a very hot day but the wind made it bearable out there and most of the time I was working under the trees.  The pots are watered as are the plants that I shall be moving to the forked over beds tomorrow, the hibiscus had had a good watering as did the big choisya that was looking a little wilted.  Djebel in the morning, I'll be doing the rest of the grass with the petrol and there's very little left in the can.  I also need to put some in the Nipper....I think I accidentally hit the gas button and switched it on to petrol and before I do anything I need money from the cash machine.  I also need to buy more of the Arnica cream, since I've been using it I've had no more of the red lumps and my skin has not been itching at night.  First time I used it, it was by accident but now it's slapped on each night.  LN.....Depends on the weather, it might be Kardjali before Djebel, I'll see how the mood akes me.......LN

Saturday 29th June

So last night I took a late evening ride in the Nipper.  There was a heck of a racket coming from dogs somewhere along the road to the next village so I drove down to investigate what it was all about.  I soon found the field, it contained about thirty bee-hives and one enclosure with a wild boar in it and around five or six dogs going frantic, a lady with a baby and a gentleman with a car and so I parked up, put my window down and made it very plain that I was listening and watching what was going on.  At this point the man took off one of his shoes and laid into one of the dogs not that it had much impact on the others.  I didn't want to be the one to started anything so I just sat there, they were obviously confused as to why I was just sitting in my car, they were joined by another youth from the first house in the next village and at this point I drove off.  I turned round at the bottom of the next village and drove home.  The dogs have been exceptionally quiet today so I think they got the message.

I had a bath last night, applied the Arnica cream and slept soundly until seven this morning when a couple of rooks were fighting to gain the top position on my lonesome pine.  It was going to be a hot one today. I couldn't make my mind up what I wanted to do so I wrote a list and realised that if I started the grass I'd probably run out of petrol so that was the first thing I needed to do and also get some for the Nipper.  Before that I needed money from the cash point so everything flowed beautifully.  Cash point, went to see my student who lives near the bank and she was off to Greece for the day with a friend, petrol, turned round and popped into my student's mum's shop and my ex older student was manning the fort, mother and father had gone away for a couple of days while the youngest is on the Black Sea with his football colleagues.  We chatted for a while, I happened to mention that I'd had trouble connecting to Netflix because I didn't live in the same household and he said that he had a subscription and he added me to his.  I finished my chopping, drove home, car and shopping away, too hot to work outside so tried my Netflix and for some reason it didn't let me sign-in to the new subscription but allowed me into the old one as Mummy P so I settled in and watched a six-part series, slept through some of it but I didn't miss much.  

Over to see Avatar tonight to relate the story of me spying on the livestock and she said that one of our neighbour's daughters was going to complain to the local council about the noise from the dogs so next visit I'll take my camera to provide photographic proof.  Chicken wings for supper with bread and mayo and that now provides breakfast for my cat.  Nine fifteen my time, pots and garden watered, water bowls filled for the tortoise and all's good in my neck of the woods.  I might see if I can get back into Netflix but it will soon be time to get settled.  LN..... Gardening tomorrow if the weather clouds over......LN

Sunday 3oth June

Early start to the day, I was up and about at five thirty, out on the balcony at six with my coffee and book.  I toyed with the idea of starting the grass really early but it did take until seven thirty before I was trying to fire it up.  First job was to clean the air filter, I knew everything was dusty the last time I'd used it, I'd filled up the machine and emptied the can before I went into Djebel to get more but as I pressed the impeller to bring fuel through to start it, all I got was air.  Next step was to empty out the fuel, I needed to put it upside down to see underneath where the impeller sits and there was the little hose, floating in mid air and not doing what it was supposed to do.  I reconnected it, filled the mower up with fuel yet again, pumped the impeller and I had fuel to the spark plug and and behold, a working machine....let the work begin.

I did the little house grass first, all backwards to how I normally go about it but with the temperature climbing rapidly, I didn't want to be out there long.  I'd wasted enough time already.  The machine was only cutting off the flower heads from the weeds and I was following the weed heads more that I was following the cut of the mower.  I did up to the pine and then moved over to the other grass and again worked up to the mulberry and then had to stop for water intake.  There was a breeze this morning but nothing that was cooling.  I put the umbrella up on the terrace and sat down for a while in the shade but realised that it was all down to me so went out there again and finished to where I'd left off the other day when I'd been distracted by removing the old grass and clearing the flower beds. I move back to the lonesome pine and after half an hour or so had finished the rest of the little house garden.  Tools away by eleven, fuel container away in the wood-store, I swept the wood-store terrace and the little house terrace but have yet to get it into a wheelbarrow and over the wall or over onto the field opposite.

At eleven thirty I popped over to see Avatar and she was just coming back from the mobile shop with quite a full bag.  We sat in the garden, she offered me breakfast which I refused and then threw me over a shop bought chocolate filled croissant that she bought from the shop.  I thanked her, ate it, she threw another one at me and I threw it back, she thought one wasn't enough and threatened to throw it again and I said that it would still come back her way and we both laughed about it and she didn't throw it.  I set off back home, had lots of water, stripped off and put my clothes in the washing machine and set it going and had a shower and washed my hair.  So much dust from the garden and I didn't was any more than was necessary in the house.  

I settled on the sofa and thought I try my hand at Netflix again and unfortunately, the troops had been out and Mummy 'P' wasn't having any of it.  I gave my students log in and password a go and again it said that the password wasn't recognised so I switched it off and went back to me book consoling myself with a bowl of natural yogurt and honey and why not.  I found some tomatoes in the fridge and decided that they were passed human consumption so put them out for the tortoise and filled up their water bowls but I'd not seen scrawny neck or shell of them all morning and only spotted Rosy around five this evening at the water site by the wild plum but she left the tomatoes alone and off she went towards the bottom of the garden along the low wall.  That sun has been vicious today.

Eight o'clock my time and I've not had a sleep today so should sleep well tonight.  Swimming tomorrow and I might have the company of my old student's girlfriend if she remembers if not, I'll be doing it on my own just for the sheer hell of it.  Once my grass is done, nothing else much to do, too dry to move plants from one place to the next.  LN.....Let's see how it pans out.....LN