Monday 11th August

So didn't need to set the alarm, I woke up at four thirty this morning and went out to look for the two planets and there they were along with lots of other stars in the sky.  It was impossible to get a good shot of the moon, there was just too much light about and as for Jupiter and Venus, they were difficult to get anything larger than pin-pricks from the camera...very much like yesterday.  It's getting dark now and there's supposed to be the meteor shower tonight but I don't hold out much chance of seeing much but I'll make it up to the bedroom balcony and see if there is anything worth trying to take shots of.

I was on to my second cup of coffee and there was lots of chattering of the bee-eaters having their breakfasts but they seemed to be landing more in the trees at the bottom of the garden than the electricity wires but I managed to get a few photos of them.  There was lots of wind about ruffling their feathers giving the impression that they were having a rough time out there and thinking how small their prey was and is, they must have been having a hard time.

I made it down to the kitchen and set to, to feeding Cat and the tortoise.  Cat came off better than the tortoise, I'd still got some hamburger things from yesterday that I'd put aside for today and Cat was out and waiting quite early.  As for the tortoise, I only found one later half way down the garden so that got one of my two remaining tomatoes and it was much later that Avatar gave me a four day old water melon.  I'd gone over to her house to return one of her dishes and came back with it after she'd insisted on giving me a hot filo and cheese roll.  I watched her making another filo dish filled with beaten eggs, some herb that she didn't know the name of, white cheese and mor filo on the top.  She put it in the frying pan, didn't get the height of the gas accurately and it was burning when she came to flip it over to cook on the other side.  At this point I left her to it and came home clutching the watermelon and I'll distribute the loot to the tortoise tomorrow morning.

As for the rest of my day, it's been a killer outside, at thirty five degrees at its peak so after watering the pots and some of the garden shrubs, I opened all the doors to get the draught through the house and it was doing well until the wind gained temperature and I was reduced to a steaming heap on the sofa.  Due to the early start I caught up with a few zzz's but since I had nowhere to go today, I hadn't an ounce of guilt about taking myself off to the land of nod and it was around four thirty that I found some chicken legs in the fridge and had a late lunch or early supper.  There's some left over for Cat for tomorrow and the poor thing has spent most of the day splayed out under the shade of the bushes along the low wall.  

So now I'm going to run a cool bath and get cleaned up for bed.  There's not much moon about tonight so far so I might be able to spot some meteors, I'll let you know tomorrow.  LN.....The deckchair is up on the balcony ready, I might need a blanket but mainly to keep the bugs at bay and a bug spray container close to hand......LN

Tuesday 12th August

So last night I was looking for the meteor shower and saw absolutely nothing, lost interest and didn't fancy getting eaten alive on the balcony so instead came back downstairs and carried on with Netflix eventually going up to bed at twelve....checked on the sky and and still nothing.  I slept well despite the heat and woke at six thirty, made coffee and sat out enjoying the morning, there were quite a few bee-eaters around again, there wasn't so much wind around early on it it gained volume as the day went on.  It kept the house quite cool but it did reach thirty plus during the day.

I was planning to be up and about today but if didn't materialise.  I went through the normal routines, put radio 2 on and had that in the background but suddenly I looked at the clock and the morning was slipping away from me.  I made breakfast settling for buttered toast, washed up and cleared the kitchen and out of boredom put Netflix on.  There was such a lot I could be getting on with but it was just too hot to subject myself to the elements, Netflix went on again and carried on with my series and two hours later I woke up having missed a few of the episodes and looking for something to eat.  I made myself a cheese and onion sandwich and realised that I need to get into Kardjali at some point to top up the store cupboard.....I'm feeling like 'Old Mother Hubbard', the store cupboard is looking bare.  

It was now getting on for four thirty so I had a shower, I'd been perspiring even though the breeze was going through the house....and felt much better for it and much fresher.  I did notice the grass this evening as I was shutting up shop that there was a very vivid yellow patch of flowers making it really obvious that it's time I did get the grass mower out and push it round the garden.   LN.....Tomorrow I'm going to do 'something', an early start to the doctor to sort out a 'funny throat' and swimming might be on the cards....LN

Wednesday 13th August

Well this morning it wasn't a trip to the doctor's surgery, I had a bit of a dodgy tummy so didn't move very far from the house today.  I was up to my usual tricks, balcony, coffee, watering the pots and sorting out the tortoise distributing water melon donated by Avatar around the garden.  There weren't any immediate 'takers' but later I noticed Red, my biggest tortoise was in the side garden, just finishing one piece so I found another and laid it next to it.  Cat was out licking it's lips but I only had boring pellet food and that's been ignored the last few times I've put it out so it went without.  It is a village cat though so would find food somewhere in the village or steal some or maybe do what cat's are supposed to, keep the livestock down.  I attached the extra length of garden house to the usual one on the terrace and gave the sycamore a good watering, I'd noticed earlier that the leaves were looking 'crispy' not badly but thought that a good soak would do it no harm at all and then moved it on to the berberis making sure I missed upsetting the wasp nest that's lingering in it's branches.  I also cut back some of the dead branches from the old lemon tree and removed the grass that took root in the pot and sorted out the new lemon tree.  I've had no success with them this year, when the blossom appeared on the cherry tree and the lemons, we were having gale force winds and the blossom was all blown away.  The same thing happened with Avatar's apple and pear trees....no fruit this year.

I came inside as the temperature climbed, made toast, took my blood pressure and it was a little high and my heart was racing a little so I took to the sofa with my feet raised slightly....drank lots of water and it didn't take long to bring it back into line.  It was at this point that I changed the plan, it was too late now to get seen by the doctor, at eight you've got a better chance of being seen and getting cancelled appointments.  I would phone but the person answering the phone doesn't speak English and I think that I'm my doctor's only English patient so she really doesn't have to bother.  I might have a try at getting a really early start in the morning.

So reading the internet, tonight might be a better night for trying to see the meteor shower, and Saturn is supposed to be close to the rising Moon and with decent binoculars there's a chance of spotting the rings.  I'm not actually sure where the Moon is rising, so that might be a good place to start...and apparently the best time for the meteor shower is about two thirty a.m., but not sure if that local time or GMT.  I have some investigating today or.....I could just ignore it and concentrate on getting a good night's sleep.  LN......Sorry no photos tonight, promise to do better tomorrow.......LN  

Thursday 14th August

So there was nothing to see last night and if there was I couldn't capture it on camera.  The moon was coming up in its usual place, it was still light enough to get a good shot of it so I found the camera, went out on to the balcony and the battery was exhausted, I found my old little one and that was the same and by this time.....I was exhausted to.  I accepted my fate and suddenly noticed that I had the Botox lip again, something I'd eaten had obviously upset it but this time it was on the upper lip which was some how more frightening to look at.  I also didn't feel well so I took my little allergia tablets, eventually got to sleep, woke up at three, back to sleep again and this morning it was still as swollen as last night....so I took another pill.  I only had hot water for my morning drink, didn't want to make it worse, lay on the sofa and slept until twelve.  The weather was perfect for a day in the garden, wind blowing, clouded over and the temperature was down but I really didn't feel up to it and at twelve it was too late....the sun had come out.  I only had limited food yesterday, two slices of buttered toast with nothing on it, and half a can of cold baked beans so maybe that's another thing on my 'prohibited' list....it gets bigger all the time.

Looking like I did i  didn't want to frighten the neighbours so I settled on the sofa in the lounge, rubbed out a couple of the completed Sudoku and kept my brain busy.  I think I'm more or less back to normal now but I've just applied a cream that was given to my by the specialist which is supposed to soothe the trouble area but it brought the rash up even more on my arms so I washed it off again and applied Arnica cream to the area and it seems to be working taking some of the redness away.  I think I might have to take up the offer to go to Plovdiv for the real specialists to try to identify the cause or causes but I'll get to feeling better first, it's a two hour drive there and two hours back and in this heat....forget it.

As for the Sudoku, I finished one and they are 'extreme' but the second one was going OK until the last hurdle and then the rot set in where you change one, and then another and it's in a worse mess so you rub it all out and start again.   Patience is a virtue so they say and that's all I'm going to say.  No supper for me tonight, the cameras are both working so some photos are taken, the garden is watered so I don't feel guilty that I've neglected the pots and they'll recover overnight.  I'm starving myself again tonight and hopefully I'll be totally restored overnight like the pots and I'll see how I feel as to whether I go to the doctors or not tomorrow morning.  LN.....Let's see if the moon is coming up and whether I can get a few pickies and maybe those meteors will be burning up tonight and lighting up the sky....fingers crossed.....LN

Friday 15th August

So I've worked out how to get the rain to fall...water the garden and by the next morning the cushions on the balcony chairs will be wet and so will the table.  It was perfectly dry when I went out last night to take photos of the moon when I'd found the ascension point but as for the meteors, the clouds were gathering and nothing was visible.  I slept well, woke up at three this morning and looked out but nothing happening so I went back to bed and slept through until seven so it there was anything that happened earlier, the clouds would have blocked the view anyway.  I think the next thing to look out for is the Harvest Moon in September.

Along with the rain clouds this morning we had a gigantic wind and the temperature was really down.  It could have been a day for gardening, alternatively it turned out to be a day of putting out the rest of the watermelon for the tortoise, saying good morning to the cat, moving the cushion from the bench on the terrace to the sofa under my balcony just in case more rain came......but it didn't.  I washed and dressed finding out a lightweight jumper and a pair of jeans....it was cold and maybe more like October weather.  What really happened, Avatar came over with a parcel of rice and meat, a small cake and a can of Fanta, there had been a celebration or mevlit and the usual meal was served.  Apparently it is the egg lady's relative that was being remembered....so lunch had arrived.  She hobbled in, complained that her arthritic knee was playing up and had been for a few days so nurse had another patient.  I found a tube of my favourite cream, got her to sit down and put her leg onto the small stool I have, she raised her trouser leg and it was really swollen so I put a good dollop cream on it and told her to rub it in well which she did.  I also gave her the rest of the tube to take home with her and later in the day walked over to see how she was and took over some extra-strength paracetamol that I didn't get on with to take before she had her afternoon nap.

I came home and ate my 'lunch' and that should do me until tomorrow morning.  I've had Radio 2 playing most of the day, took my blood pressure and had to replace the batteries in the little one since I use it as a comparison with the big one.  The clouds this afternoon have been high, white and fluffy but that wind didn't give up, I've been using door stops to stop them banging and Al my Alpaca stopped the main door from almost knocking the door frame out.  Mushroom sits in the lounge and I put the terrace door on to tilt and turn so has had the day off.  It's been another Netflix afternoon and early evening and as stated earlier, I have no kitchen duties tonight.  Almost time to shut up shop, the temperature has climbed to twenty seven degrees, nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so far....I'll see how the weather performs.  LN.....Might just be another lazy day....what the doctor ordered......LN

Saturday 16th August

Didn't even bother to seek out the moon last night.....clouds were out and about and that wind was moving things to new homes.  First job this morning was to go round the garden and put things back where they lived normally.  There were quite a few clouds about this morning, grey ones over the far mountains and quite big ones over head but eventually they all moved away and it turned into a beautiful day, once the wind had died down.

I sot of meandered through the morning, toast for breakfast and remembered to switch on the slow cooker and added small potatoes to pad it out.  I'd put pork in the cooker last night, realised I'd run out of tins of tomatoes so need to do a Lidl shop at some point.  I added a couple of fresh ones, added chicken soup powder to the water, sliced an onion, half a can of baked beans went in along with a stock cube and some barbecue flavoured sauce.  That had cooked last night, I'd switched it off so that it didn't cook all night and now was the time to bring it to life....for a late lunch or early supper.  I've also been watching reels on FB and want to make a morning 'tonic' to take each day and it's supposed to be aa miracle cure and I shall never need a hospital again....I'll let you know about this later.  The only time that I've needed them is when I've fallen or slipped on ice....nothing wrong with hospitals.  

I wrote my shopping list before I headed into town but I should have really checked out the Bulgarian for turmeric powder, I had to get my phone out in the supermarket and then the assistant found it for me.....and the Bulgarian looks nothing like the word.  I also needed bread for the freezer, lemons since the ones that I bought last time have deteriorated with time and more eggs, I had throwing practice over the wall with the old ones.  I chose a brick on the field around fifteen yards from the wall which I use as a target and see how close I get to it.  The first one clipped it, second one hit it full on but the next two went a bit haywire....gloating in early results.

I intended stopping off at the car shop but there was no parking outside so I found another parking place near the cash-point, stopped off at the card shop and bought a birthday card for my female student and a suitable present so into a gift bag with it and I popped round to the house to deliver it.  She'd gone off to Thassos with a group of friends but I woke her mother and father up when I knocked on the door and they offered coffee but as usual I settled for water but out came the chocolates, nuts and goodies which I declined.  I didn't stop long and said fond farewells and that's when I tried to complete my shopping and I got most of it except fresh ginger.  Home around four and noticed that a cow has broken through the fence going though to the old lane running along my wall and my neighbours garden.  If one gets though the rest will normally follow so I might have to be out patching it up since the neighbours have gone back to Turkey.  I put the shopping away, checked the slow cooker and everything looked OK.  Sat down and demolished a cornet ice-cream, played on my phone for a while and then served up early supper and really I should have left the ice-cream for pudding.....not to worry.

Late this evening....I settled into Netflix and got stuck into a continuation of the series that I was watching last night and managed to finish it.  The washing up can wait until the morning, nobody is going to complain about the state of the kitchen.  LN......The gardening is still waiting and it can wait, it's not going anywhere....LN

Sunday 17th August

Bed at twelve last night and slept through until seven thirty.....so made coffee and wandered out on to the balcony.  It was dull when I went out there, didn't see a sunrise but it was pleasant all the same but the clouds dissipated slowly but enough to warrant putting the umbrella up.  There weren't many cows on the hillside, most of them were in my neighbour's garden and left their calling cards all over it when I checked tonight.  I didn't exactly burst into action this morning, I meandered through, stripped the bed down to the mattress and got the first load in and then concentrating my efforts on the kitchen.  I fried up a couple of large tomatoes and had them on toast eating them at the computer with Radio 2 playing and when I'd finished I settled for a few games of FreeCell until I was aware that Avatar was outside clutching a freshly made cheesy filo pastry thingy and I was now wishing that I'd not had the tomatoes.   Her daughter in law who is over from Germany made them this morning for all the family.....and me.  I asked her how her knee was and she said it was much improved, the cream was working and the tablet were marvellous, she felt good and had slept really well.  I should have reminded her that they are paracetamol extra and that she should only be taking one....

First load of washing done and dusted, second load in and cooking so I washed up from breakfast and decided that some of the spices in the revolving spice rack ought to be changed before it became a revolting spice rack.  This in turn led to the cooker top being cleaned and the adjacent worktop cleaned and reorganised.....I shall be forgetting where to find things.  I fed Cat the remains of last night's slow cooker efforts, it ate the meat but left the potatoes but I'm guessing the container will be empty by morning.  Water containers filled up for the tortoise but as the clouds rolled away I'm guessing they were hidden in their sandy holes out of the heat.....I've not seen shell or sound from them all day....not even one.  

A song from Bette Midler came on the radio and I suddenly though that the CD was on 'My Music' but I was wrong.  It was on my other computer and this led other activities, other CD's stored on this old computer that I now decided that I could transfer on to my current computer that I use downstairs or at least put them onto 'My Book, which is a mobile disk drive that flips between all computers.  I also found one thousands plus books in an A-Z format that was given to me on a disk ages ago.  I must check the books out, it could save me lots on Amazon purchases.  While I was upstairs sitting at the computer in the third bedroom I also found my embroidery and the cottons that I hadn't seen for a while and one that I started based on medicine tarot cards so I looked up the card details and found the full poem of which I'd embroidered half and a full reading of the meaning of having the squirrel as you over-riding animal.  I think the message is to have a good clear out and stop hoarding things especially clothes.  Thought for the day!!!

By now it was chugging on into late afternoon so I made the bed up for tonight and left the other clothes on the airer from the second load, watered the pots from the roof water that I've stored, am thinking about supper but after two large helpings of water melon this afternoon with the rind going out to the tortoise tomorrow morning, it's almost time to finish with the computer, close everything down and find something on Netflix to relax into....where has the evening gone.  LN.....Hopefully I shall sleep as soundly tonight as I did last night....I feel much better for it......LN

Monday 18th August

Early start and with conviction.....I drank hot water not coffee, had a shower and washed my hair, I was going to make a start on the admin that has to be done.  It was a cold morning but I watched the sunrise from the balcony, Cat was waiting to be fed, I put out the watermelon skins for the tortoise, made poached eggs on toast for my breakfast, washed up the breakfast things and got ready for Kardjali.  I found out the documents that I wanted, I was unsure if procedures had changed so needed to know if what I did five years ago had changed....and it had.  

I set off at ten and traffic was slow once I hit Kardjali.  I took the left turn towards Kat, the police centre to check on my driving licence and the hardest part was finding a parking place but I was in luck, I just managed to sneak into a narrow gap so didn't have to circle several times.  I found the office, handed over my driving licence and was met by the usual charm of one who's doing a job, not really interested, forget that they are paid by all of us and not interested in trying to communicate.  Fortunately her co-worker still had an element of politeness about her and explained that firstly I had to go to my GP and get the necessary forms completed and hand them over with my licence.....and this is all I needed to know.  Back in the Nipper and upwards and onwards to the doctor in the Polyclinic, I parked up and managed to register for payment to the parking system so that was one plus already on my day.  The doctor wasn't really busy and had time to explain to me that the licence I hold is for 'professional' status and did I really want to continue with this classification or did I just want a driving licence.  I settled for the latter, I didn't think I'd be taking up lorry driving at my age and this was going to be cheaper for me.  The new system meant that she was able to complete the paperwork for me, the only thing I had to do was to walk up to the next floor and have my eyes tested which I did, I only had to read numbers and the classification given was 'needs glasses to drive' which I do anyway.  Back to the doctor, forms completed, had to return to registration which unfortunately had closed for lunch an not open until two o'clock so returned to my car, noticed that the rear tyre was a little low but decided to put more time on the parking and go for a walk about until it was two.  

I walked to my usual optician's practice and shop and made an appointment for early September for an eye test, another box ticked, went on a walk about and realised that instead of doing my usual 'move the car and on to the next stop', doing it on foot was easier than I thought.  I found my usual cheapie clothes shop and Monday was its lowest price day and bought a pair of navy blue patent low shoes, perfect with jeans at a cost of nine lev, found my other cheap jewellery shop and bought two stainless silver rings to replace one that's in the house somewhere but I've not found it yet.  Found the Immigration office and advised that all I have to do is present myself nearer the time of the expiry date and the replacement would be processed, back to the Polyclinic and registration and paid twenty five lev for the documentation and then back to the Nipper and to a flat tyre.  Fortunately I have a machine to put into the cigarette lighter and connect to the tyre and it inflated in five minutes and I was on my way back to Djebel and the garage only stopping on the way to fill up with gas.

The tyre was fixed, I went to see the garage owner's wife and chatted for a while and was home for four thirty, my back was aching with the walking but I had a sense of achievement about the day.  I'd left out a pork chop and by five I'd cooked it with mushrooms and a fried egg, two helpings of watermelon and everything washed up by five thirty.  I settled on the sofa and two hours later woke up, realised how late it was, blog is almost complete and then it will be bedtime and an easy day tomorrow.  LN....We've had sunshine, cloudy skies, thunderstorm and at last rain, not much of it but enough to cool the air so it might be a gardening day tomorrow.....LN

Tuesday 19th August

Cold dull morning, no straying out on to the balcony with a coffee so I went downstairs and made the first of my lemon, ginger, turmeric and black pepper drinks but can't think about it becoming a 'firm favourite' despite the honey.  I know that these things are supposed to be good for you but I shan't be rushing to make it normal practice, I'll settle for hot water instead.

Cat was waiting and I had the rest of the sausage that I'd thawed out for it yesterday and he was soon there when I appeared but stays at least a yard away before the head goes down when I put the dish down....it's definitely an outside cat.  Didn't see anything of the tortoise at all but I put the watermelon rind down just in case anything surfaced.  I fried off around four tomatoes and I need to get more, I've got used to having them on toast, Avatar's plants have almost finished now and with family being over from Germany, I don't go over and visit so often.  She'll be shutting up shop soon as well, these visitors will take her back with them to Germany for the winter and she's threatening that she might not be coming back next season....it gets to be too much like hard work with others visiting and we're not getting any younger.

Not much to report on my day, it was dull enough this morning to get out into the garden and I thought about it but then the clouds rolled away and the sun came out and the temperature did climb for a while but then they all rolled back again and we had rain, yet more rain, a few claps of thunder and around three I must have fallen asleep waking up around five.  Unfortunately the television went on and yet another Netflix series has bitten the dust....such a waste of time but my energy levels are still low and after the walking around yesterday in Kardjali, my back has been given me gyp so I think a hot bath tonight might do it some good.  I'm just about to fry a frozen small steak and the second one will be a change for breakfast.  LN.....Kitchen, eat, bath and bed.....the plan is set in motion......LN

Wednesday 20th August

Six thirty start, I was on the balcony hanging the chair cushions over the balcony to drain and dry off, that's if the sun breaks through today.  Apparently Djebel and the villages towards Kardjali got most of the rain, we got off lightly more's the pity.  None today thought, it was very autumnal this morning, I could hardly see the bottom of the garden and when the sun broke through, everything looked ghostly.  I spotted one of the tortoise through the gloom, not a lot of activity but was trying to warm up I think, it would have to wait a little longer.  There was a slither of the moon a pre-emptor for the sun that was doing its best to have a day off.

I was slow off the mark again, I was late feeding Cat the remains from last night's steak that I had trouble breaking in to so left a lot of it.  Fortunately I'd fried off a lot of mushrooms so I had enough to go at and followed it with ice-cream.  At about ten I went over to see Avatar when I saw her in the garden, her grand-daughter was drying off the garden chairs, we hugged I hadn't seen her for a year or so since she lives in Germany and we had a good conversation in Bulgarian, I find I become quite fluent and again was complemented on how well I was managing.  Avatar speaks normally in Turkish with her family but together we manage to communicate but with her grand-daughter it just flowed.  Mother came out and I asked her why she was indoors, she replied that her husband, Avatar's son was arriving from Germany tomorrow and the house had to be sorted now that her other grand-daughter and the children had left for the Netherlands.

I stayed for an hour or so, fond farewells I didn't want to outstay my welcome and I came back and made breakfast of beans on toast and put the second piece of steak into the slow cooker with the rest of the beans, some tomatoes, barbecue sauce and a little curry powder and that was supper underway for tonight.  The steak was much better cooked in the slow cooker that on the griddle...and there was nothing left for Cat.  Washing up from supper done, frozen chicken out to thaw to go in the remains of the sauce from this evening, one load of washing done and dusted and about to go on the airer to dry overnight.  The temperature managed to get up to twenty six this afternoon and the house temperature is still twenty seven, more comfortable than last night.  I didn't manage a bath last night so I might just draw one tonight and have a good soak with a book on the Kindle.  LN......I think tomorrow I'll have a go at tidying the woodstore and check out the price of this years wood and order supplies for delivery next week...... if we have no rain over the weekend....LN