Saturday 11th October

Spectacular sky this morning...I noticed the red tinge before the sun came up and I was out on the balcony with the camera.  It didn't stay around for long, the clouds took over, it cleared up this afternoon and I had a good day in the garden.  I seemed to be on the ball this morning....I was dressed and cooking tomatoes on toast at around eight thirty, washed up and a second load of washing in by nine and putting it out on the airer by nine thirty.  I did have a lazy session on the phone and catching up with messages and that took me until around ten thirty and was having a bonfire around eleven.  I cleared the container in the porch of around two weeks of rubbish, there were a few bits of paper that I didn't want to put in the skip in the village and now it's sent into the atmosphere....much safer.

The lavender is all cut back and stored in the little house....I need to suspend it to dry it out but I need to get rid of the last two years of it first.  I used to make lavender bags but never got round to it last year or the year before.....sometimes the will to do something is strong but the commitment to finish the job has decreased with the years.  I took the loppers down to the bottom of the garden and cut back the suckers from the wild plums and made them back into a hedge round the bottom garden.  I also dug up one of the shrubs at the bottom of the garden that suffered in the summer and I didn't think there was much coming back from it.  Instead I cleared out the cut out I'd made and planted a yucca that had been sitting in a bucket waiting for a home and now it's got one.  Another job that I did was to take down the terrace umbrella...I opened it up to make sure that it was dry and set about dismantling it taking care not to end up falling off the terrace.  It's a heavy old thing and firstly I had to remove the weighted concrete slabs that hold the base in place and once this was done, it sort of fell forward but I managed to control it, umbrella first into the little house and then the base along with the other one from the first one that I bought.  I seem to be accumulating mowers, strimmers and now umbrellas.
  
I was surprised that it was four thirty by the time I'd finished the jobs that I wanted to do and I also brought in one of the benches to protect it from the weather as we seemed to have bypassed autumn and in the first throws of winter.  I came in and settled on the sofa with sudoku and caught a glimpse of someone in the yard.  I went out and was surprised to see the local Mayor, he had a message for me from Immigration that I was to go in and see someone on Monday morning.  I think it might have something to do with health provisions so I'm taking one of my forms with me when I go to the office.  My health care is supported by the UK, I submit a form and the cost are sent on to the UK....that's all I can think it can be but it will be sorted on Monday.

Not much of a moon out tonight, the clouds have come over again, it's down to nine degrees already and I did light the fire early so it's twenty two degrees inside.  I've put the boiler on, after a day in the garden I fancy a bath to ease out the aches and pains that seem to develop after some tasks and I think the umbrella might have that effect.  LN.....I didn't realise how late it was.....soon be time for bed.......LN

Sunday 12th October

Well that request to go to the Immigration tomorrow morning gave me a disturbed night.  I had my bath, snuggled down into a warm bed, lay there for around twenty minutes with no sleep in me, switched the light on and played Sudoku until silly o'clock this morning.  I woke up at seven, went back off again and eventually got out of bed at nine and started my day.  I made my health drink putting a little too much shredded ginger in it but managed to get it down, not sure if it's doing any good but I'll keep at it for another week or so.  I washed and dressed by ten, intending to go out and have another day in the garden but the plans went haywire.  It was rather overcast outside, threatening rain which didn't materialise.

I found some pork chops in the freezer and unfortunately four had turned into one big one so I partially thawed them in the microwave enough to prise two of them away from the others and put them to thaw.  The other two went back into the freezer and will come out at a later date I'm sure.  I had a tidy round, I had a good day yesterday and remembered that it was Sunday after all, a day of rest but unfortunately I ended up watching Netflix for most of the afternoon.  It was a Turkish drama which was doing OK until the last episode which didn't end, in my book, as it should have done.  I started supper around five thirty, the chops had fully thawed out so I set about pan frying one of them, the second one is in the fridge for tomorrow, I made a sauce with tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, onions and a little vinegar and the chop is ready, the heat is turned off and it's waiting to be served with the sauce, potato wedges and a little potato salad, Lidl special.

Time to wind up, supper is in the dish, my hunger is rising to the surface and time to switch off although I really didn't get switched on for most of the day.  LN....No sign of Cat today, obviously trying out a different supplier......LN

Monday 13th October

Well it truly has been the 13th for me.  Normal routines, had a shower and washed my hair, I was off to see the head of residency to find out why he wanted to see me.  I drove into Kardjali, went to the large car-park and paid for my parking on my phone which saves a lot of time, walked to Immigration taking with me lots of documents just in case.  I was directed to the head of departments office and the reason for my being asked to return was given as, 'you didn't return on Friday with the form fully completed'.  No one had asked me to return or so I thought, the last thing I was told was that the new card would be processed and available after one month.  I took out my form and in Bulgarian it was explained that the form was automatically filled out from the computer but that I had to agree that the details were correct in some cases and make entries in other boxes.  I was told that it was to be completed in Bulgarian, I said that I would find this difficult and was advised to find someone and pay for it to be done.  This was the lady in the office, I sat down with my form, switched to Google translate, attempted it and then decided to knock on the door of the Head of department and tell him that it was impossible for me to complete it, he took pity on me, cleared a space on his desk and we did it together.  I also pointed out that there was a notice board with 'How to complete the documentation' which was aimed at European Citizens which was a complete joke....it was all printed in Bulgarian.  Now if the Roman alphabet were to be used, in any language, most europeans would be able to give it a go.  In Bulgarian, not a snowball in Hells chance.  Anyway, the head of department had the chance to use his English that he'd learnt at school, we had a good conversation, I handed over the form to the lady in the first office who somehow had changed her attitude and said that she knew my house in Dushinkovo and it was opposite to her 'one time' mother in law who happens to be my Avatar.  Small world.

Form submitted and the residency card will be available from the 13th November and I mentioned that my current one expires on the eighth and she said not to worry, there would be no repercussions.  I should have asked her to sign a declaration to that effect but now I'm not just an old lady who's bothering them....I 'know' the head of department.  

Next stop was my Monday cheapy shop ....and I managed to pick up a pair of brown leather and suede boots for nine lev which is cheap in any ones reckoning and they fit Cinderella.  I didn't bother to do any more shopping, I was in the Nipper and heading home, I'd found the morning stressful and wanted just to relax.  I was doing OK until I saw an offer on one of my friendly sites, had to order one but that came with complications.  It wasn't being sent to me, it was a gift so I double checked the address and postcode where it was being sent, I had to register a new card and I tried to process the payment, it was denied by the bank.  I ended up phoning the company, I'd bought things from them before, ordered it on the phone and the payment was taken but I was advised to contact my bank to ensure that the other payment hadn't gone through even though the system told me that it hadn't.  Technology egh!!  It's great when you're young but at knocking on for quite a few years....I'm finding things more confusing and sometimes the systems don't update quickly enough and then you get locked out and have to start the process all over again.

Eventually I put Netflix on and settled on a film with the Peaky Blinders star, Steve, and was sadly disappointed.  It might be acclaimed by some but it's looking at a society that I don't recognise anymore and really don't understand, so I switched it off, cooked the second pork chop in the air-fryer, had it with a slice of bread and supper was over, no fanfares just accomplished.  Quite late my time again, nothing to do tomorrow except my grass should I accept the challenge....it's more weeds that are pushing up very strong heads, the grass is only just coming through but I have a shade of green throughout.  LN....Fire going well, house toasty and I've got another container of logs in the porch....I might stay up all night just feeding the beast....LN

Tuesday 14th October

This morning it was an early start but somehow I fell asleep again and it was seven thirty when I started my day.  It was another dull old morning which sort of got better but nothing to write home about so I didn't.  I washed and dressed, made poached eggs of toast for breakfast, washed up, put a load of washing in the machine and got it out on the airer in the porch and now it's ready to be put away.  Everything was very leisurely this morning, no getting stressed out with bureaucracy and left over attitudes and thinking about how I could thank the ones that helped me out yesterday.  

I settled on the sofa with the last ipad I purchased and tried to get the hang of it to get things set up for ease of use and to help with day to day targets.  I didn't get very far, it wasn't intuitive so I abandoned that idea and went in search of the documents that I couldn't find the other day.  I sorted through suitcases and travel bags and eventually I realised that I'd put them so safe that the likelihood was that they would never see daylight again but luck was on my side....all located, all present and correct and the idea was that things like this would have a safe space where all precious or important things go.  That's going to work then, the idea is good but so much depends on the execution.  After sorting though the traveller's cheques that I still have and quite a lot of Swedish Kroners, I should really do something about them but it's that old round-to-it that a lot of use get cursed with especially with age.

By now the weather had picked up a little so I took the umbrella pole down from the balcony from my bedroom and stashed the pole and the umbrella in the little house.  While I was there I set about getting ready some more small starter wood and generally tidying up the area and checking how much I had left from last year.  I've not got enough and I'm tempted to ask one of the villagers to come round and help me cut some of the medium branches from the tall trees but having said that there's quite a lot in the little house, really old stuff that just needs sorting....there's always something to do, there's no one to delegate to.  I went back upstairs to the bedroom and sat in the rocking chair looking out on the garden and took a call from my daughter.  She'd mentioned in a message that she's developed Covid and would phone if here throat had eased off a little, she phoned so I presumed it had but she sounded croaky.  Apparently her and her husband had gone down with it last week, he's managed to work from home, she had to come home to protect the rest of the colleagues.  She said that this session was much worse than the last time round especially the throat and we reminisced about the Tyrozets tablets that we used to buy for all throat infections and now they are no longer available.  I'll take some of my Bulgarian ones over at Christmas as a stand-by for them...they are brilliant.  Her present should be delivered either tomorrow or the next day, I just wanted to surprise her and she really appreciated the thought....cheered her up no end.  There's no special date...only a special daughter.

I spent an hour or so messing around with logins and passwords and eventually sorted out the issues.  I didn't do what I was hoping to get round to but tomorrow is another day.  I did managed to speak to Bekir so see when he was able to come round to clean the chimney for me and do a new odd jobs like the underwork top strip light.  I played around with it this morning and managed to install it but I think it probably wasn't good when I bought it, I might very well go into Kardjali tomorrow and buy a new complete unit....and Bekir will spend less time messing around with it.  They seem very busy at the moment with work, him and his son, working on properties in their village, he's always in demand.  Supper was easy for me, beans on toast, ready in quicksticks, eaten without any fuss, washing up done and now I'm settled in for the night.  LN......Fire going well, water going round the radiators, time to get into PJ's and switch off with Netflix.....and sorry....no pickies...promise to do better tomorrow.....LN

Wednesday 15th October

Half past seven start, another dull old day but it improved as the day wore on.  I made a lemon, sugar and salt mixture before I set into the coffee routine and that seemed to have the desired effect, I washed and dressed and went downstairs and put the washing into the basket to get put away later.  I didn't bother with breakfast but as I took the washing upstairs I noticed cat on the terrace and felt guilty, I had nothing ready for it seeing at how it turns its nose up at dried food so I found a sausage in the freezer and thawed it out.  I took it out to the terrace, put the dish on the concrete and noticed that cat was looking a little fatter than normal.  Now it could have puffed out because it was cold or it might in fact be pregnant which would once and for all sort out the dilemma as to whether I need to be changing the pronoun.  

I sat in the stairwell at the table and was amazed to see lots of tits bobbing about and taking insects from the crevices on the little house.  They also went into the bird feed stand and it forced me to try to find something to put in that so that at least I could try to get some photos which I didn't managed to do.  It did occur to me that now cat had another food source, either the bird food in the feeder or the birds feeding on the food, I'd have to keep an eye out for it.  I got a little active with the hoover this morning and did downstairs and the porch, the rest can wait for another day....why cram all of the fun into one.  I even emptied the machine out onto the hillside so that it's ready for next time.

Totay became a mammoth task.  I'd mentioned that my desk has become a dumping ground and I set about sorting it and I should finish it tomorrow.  I just love books, and start a new one for different things but now I need to amalgamate everything that I need into one source so that I can find things more easily.  Things on bits of paper are OK until you forget what it relates to and bits of paper get lost so one book, each with its own section and one entry for each except for the odd cross references.  The sorting has been done, the rest of the books will go to good causes.  I had a notification from the Post Office that the parcel that I order is set to be delivered tomorrow and unfortunately my daughter will not be available so I had to make an amendment  to where it was being delivered.  This got a little confusing, my daughter firstly though it was being delivered today so said she would be eagerly waiting for it but then read the message again so I moved onto the second state and confirmation letters were received that the changes had been made.  No wonder they're behind with their deliveries.

I'd had enough so switched on Netflix and finished the film that I'd started last night, 'A Beautiful Mind' got quite sentimental towards the end of it.  I've seen it before but had forgotten the end and all was well and ended well when he received the Nobel Prize and thanked his wife.  Closely after that I phoned a friend, she'd just returned from shopping and had frozen chips not put away so I phoned her back and we had a good catch up.  After that I had a phone call from Avatar in Germany and despite the language barrier, we managed to speak for around ten minutes and I related the story of her daughter in law (ex) giving me a hard time at Immigration but after my conversation with the head of the unit, her attitude changed and we had a civilised conversation.  I've now sent Avatar a link to WhatsApp and I'll wait for her to respond.

I shan't need supper, I opened a tin of tuna and poured it into the remains of the potato salad from Lidl and that will see me through until morning.  Pork chops already thawed out for tomorrow and the slow cooker and that will probably involve Barbecue sauce and seasoning.  My neighbour is back from Turkey into the concrete roofed building that belonged to Stara Mush next door, I asked if it was damp inside and she said no so I went no further.  LN......At least I've made a start on the heap that I called a desk.....wish me luck for tomorrow's endeavours......LN

Thursday 16th October

Half past seven when I woke up this morning and I felt much better for having a good night's sleep.  I hardly seemed to have stopped today except for when I nodded off for 'forty minutes' while reading a very old magazine....well it was about relaxation techniques and this one seemed to work.  I had a very productive morning, I noticed cat on my way down the stairs, snuggled in next to the house between the bench and the flower barrel, so as I was getting my bacon from the freezer I found another sausage for her.  My daughter says that I spoil her, I say I don't, cat normally gets the scraps since a nose has been turned up every time I've put dried food out....but this was an exception.  Bacon and egg for me with fried bread and bread for the birds with a hairy growth on it.

This morning I'd decided to make up the downstairs bed with the winter bedding, zebra sheets and quilt cover and so they went in the washing machine to freshen them all up.  I stripped the bed completely, turned the mattress over and top to toe-ed it to even the load and had nothing to do until everything was dry and it will be tomorrow by the time it's aired.  I found the winter weight quilt in the guest room in the chest and that's fluffing up nicely and I realised what I was doing.  I was delaying getting to grips with the paperwork, books and things to be thrown but tomorrow is another day.  The pork chops that I'd taken out of the freezer yesterday went into the slow cooker with curry powder and ginger powder, a chopped onions and a tin of chopped tomatoes and a final splash of barbecue sauce.  I turned it to high and left it to its own devices and then to the desk....and work obviously interspersed with one load out and another into the machine.

The desk it sorted, new empty books have been removed under the coffee table near the sofa, the only job left to do is to sort out one address book from the old ones that I have, passwords scribbled in various places instead of just changed on the original and I realise I'm getting too old for some of the technology that's around.  I also cleaned out the woodburner properly and under the flue going up to the chimney pipes but the mood didn't take me to take all the pipes out and clean them.  I'll do that when Bekir arrives to clean the chimney and make a day of it.  I also filled up the log basket, brought more starter wood in and uncovered the logs that remained from last years cutting back of some of the big trees.  I should have enough in to last me until the weekend....as I said ...quite a productive day.

Emula arrive just before supper to let me know that there is a 'Mevlit' going to be said for Remsier, it's been a month since her passing.  She was one of the ones that welcomed me when I first came to the village and I remember her trying to get me to drink tea made from the linden tree in the garden which I never did get to like.  She with Haciber took over the kitchen ladled in the sugar until it was like syrup but that still didn't convince me.  So tomorrow I'll be at the house at nine thirty more or less and it will be a good opportunity to get back into the village and meet up.  Quite a pleasant sunset, the clouds were disappearing along with the light and it could be quite a cool night.  No frosts so far...could this be the night...time to throw another log on.  LN.....It was pleasant sitting out on the bench in the sun on my balcony mid-morning...that sun was quite hot.......LN

Friday 17th October

It was very dark this morning when I opened the curtains but I noticed that the moon was up and about so I went down for my camera to take a shot.  Sod's law...by the time that I'd got back upstairs, the clouds had set in, so it was a matter of standing there until it appeared again.  It eventually did, it took it's time and I was out on the balcony for what appeared ages until I managed to take the shot and then it was between the clouds.  What looked initially to be a cloudless sky just wasn't.

I snuggled back down into bed and tackled some sudoku that I printed off last night and after three attempts at different ones I marked them all as 'to be rubbed out' and restarted.  They are the killer ones from the Telegraph so I know what I'm letting myself in for and don't get too upset when I screw it all up.  At half eight I got washed, dressed and ready for the Mevlit or otherwise described as the prayers said after a month of passing to wish them well on their way.  I mentioned yesterday that I fond memories of this lady that went far too soon but in the latter years she hadn't been well.  I left the house at ten in the Nipper and parked up outside the house.  I could have walked but intended going into Djebel for a few things after the service.  The service was held at her house, I met up with the farmer's wives who were just setting off over the road and went inside the house with them.  We were the first to be ushered into the room set aside for the women, I sat on one of the beds, the farmer's wives ended up helping with the dishing out of juice, gifts and food during the service and slowly the room filled up with the older ladies of the village and some of them I haven't seen for years since they closed the little mosque down in the village square.  There must have been around eighteen of us in the little room, few sitting on seats and the rest on the floor and it amazes me how flexible some of the older ladies are.  I was looked at strangely as if 'what she doing here' by some but welcomed by others and I remembered some of the response chants to the service that was being conducted in the next room and loudspeakered into the next room and the outside of the house.  The final offering was a polystyrene tray of meat and rice and I put my shoes back on, put my goodies into the Nipper, exchanged a few words with the ladies and the men waiting outside and set off for Djebel.  

I parked up at the supermarket and bought lemons, tomatoes, carrots and was surprised how good their vegetables looked compared to Lidl, the last few times that I've been in.  I've worked out that they must have a fresh supply delivered on Friday when the market comes to town....worth remembering.  I also bought a few items for the goody box....I've been rather frugal and watching my diet but today wasn't the day for it.  I'd bought bread for my Turkish neighbour and took it round, I'd not been invited into the garden before and was amazed how big the plot was.  Unfortunately the house remains flat roofed without any woodwork or roof tiles and I was invited into the two rooms on the first floor and it's very basic....only two bedrooms either side of the door and a shower but no water inside only outside.  She has grand plans but I think when they come over from Turkey the husband thinks he's on holiday and not too interested in doing much to the property.

So this afternoon I lit the fire, it wasn't cold in the house but I rubbed out the sudoku and had another attempt at one of them and still not solved....annoying but not infuriating...it is what it is!!..I've made the downstairs bedroom up with the 'nest' blankets but it's not time to move down yet....I like my mornings upstairs.  LN....It's been a gentle day and they do see the departed off in fine style......LN

Saturday 18th October

Funny night last night...I went to bed at a fairly reasonable for me, went to sleep but then woke up two hours later and not much sleep in me.  Eventually I went to sleep again and woke up this morning refreshed....upwards and onwards into the day.  I eventually came down stairs around ten, cat was sitting waiting for me on the terrace and I realised that I didn't have much at all for it so attacked the freezer, frozen bacon for me and a sausage for cat and as per normal, cat got sorted first.  I added baked beans obviously warmed up, bread, dried cat food and what was left, dried cat food, bread and beans so that went over the wall for the 'not so picky'.  I sat down to bacon and egg, washed up, did a load of washing and as I was hanging out in the conservatory I realised I'd had visitors that had left a present not taken anything.  I'd not heard a thing, I must have been upstairs doing 'stuff' but I opened up the package and I have a new candle in a lovely container, chocolates and some hair shampoo.  I'd already messaged the provider before I'd found the pressie, it was from Guildjan, my friend from Germany who tried hard to teach me Bulgarian but I really wasn't good at homework.  I think she might have left Bulgaria in total despair and has now landed herself a really good job in Germany.  We exchanged a few messages, I've invited her and her husband out to supper at some point when they're over here but I know they have family to see so it's up to them.

Supper went into the slow cooker mid morning and it's ready now more or less.  Pork fillet with tomatoes, carrots, peas, potatoes, smoke barbecue sauce, tomato sauce and tinned chopped tomatoes.  I'm not sure cat will approve of the selection tomorrow morning but all will be revealed...fussy little thing.  The next thing I did was to delve into a storage box that sits in my bedroom and I really thought time it was sorted out.  It had lots of records that I'd printed off of the family history, I'd tried to type it up on the computer but it really needs a professional program to do it justice or lots of paper and patience.  Winter is coming though so now it's the time to hunker down and just get on with it and today was a start.  There are lots of old wills, birth and death records and some families that seem to stretch on for miles with lots of children.  It's knowing when to finish with one family record of a brother or sister and concentrate on my immediate predecessors.....and I've had a good first day.

I chopped all a few of the larger logs when I loaded up the log carrier for this evening.  It's not that I didn't have enough of the smaller stuff but I seem to have even more of the larger.  By doing them a little and often, I'm evening them out so I'm not landed with too many as the winter gets harder to get them into the house.  I'm settled in for the night, fire going well, but I've realised that it's time I brought a lamp down to sit on the desk in the stairwell, now the nights are drawing in, the upstairs stair light is not enough.  LN.....Time to serve up supper and then go on a hunt for the lamp.....LN

Sunday 19th October

Happy heavenly birthday to my dad.....and it wasn't until I started subtracting years that I realised how old he would have been.  He left us just before he would have been eighty years of age, I said that we would be arranging a birthday party for him and he said not to bother, he wouldn't be here and he was right.  I've considered this and so please don't anyone offer to arrange a party for me this close to my significant birthday....let's make it 'ad-hoc'.  Strange thing happened this morning, I was looking for a belt to wear with a pair of trousers that just need that extra to keep them up and I went to my 'belt' collection and chose a rather bright orange one and looked at the buckle and written on it is 'Harry's Horse'....so I wear it with pride today.  It was one from one of my cheapy shops, it's going to come out every year from now on.

It's been a cold miserable day apart from that.  Cat was sitting on the terrace waiting for the delivery to arrive and I delivered the rest of the food from the slow cooker which wasn't appreciated at all.  Cat moved away from the dish, sat down again obviously waiting for something else so I went out, picked up the dish, threw it over the wall and brought the dish back inside.  I haven't seen it since...it's obviously not hungry, if it was it would have scoffed the lot....I feel that is going to be a shortage of offerings, there are plenty of other places it can scavenge.  I only had toast for breakfast, I toyed with things to do, started sorting out the pile of papers but then realised that it would be easier if I checked what was stored within the ancestry programme before I stated throwing things away.  Joy oh joy...they've changed the look and feel of the programme, the country select drop down menu automatically defaults to USA which set my teeth right on the edge.  You have to select it each time you search so I started looking for a way to change the default settings but that wasn't one of them.  It's going to take me quite a while to get back into it by the looks of things, and printing out the parts of the screen to copy them over proved more difficult, I'd forgotten about how you can open up different family groupings from the little markings by the side of the 'grandfather' of the family but I'll just have to work on it.  

I decided to have a walk down the garden and spotted my neighbour cutting very spikey bushes to fill up the gaps in her hedge to stop the animals trespassing.  She was harvesting from the fields surrounding my garden and thank goodness that I've got walls.  I remember when I first came and no soon had I blocked the fence than a cow would pop it's head through further along the length of the hedge and one morning I woke up to find that one of the cows had got its head stuck through the fence and Bekir had to set it free.  Anther time there were around twelve cows asleep in the garden when I opened my curtains.  The wall was the best money that I spent on the property apart from the roof of course and all the other improvements.

I lit the fire around four thirty, there was no sun to heat the place up but it didn't take too long to get it going.  I was getting my internal heating with lots of coffee but at five I succumbed to putting two chicken cutlets into the air-fryer and six minutes later topping it off with some spicy potato wedges and within the space of about ten minutes tops, I was eating supper and felt much better for it.  The fire is going well, the water heater is on for what is going to be a long leisurely bath tonight and not too late to bed.  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so far, I'll see how I feel in the morning as to whether I go out or not, I need eggs but I might be required to help out a friend with a British passport for her son on Tuesday so the eggs can wait.  LN.....It's been a good day and the ancestry system can only get easier from now on.....hopefully....LN

Monday 20th October

Seven start, slow start, it was cold out and a dreary morning.  I played silly reels for about half an hour, made my way down to the kitchen and took my usual lemon water with salt and sugar which is supposed to have beneficial results for a lazy gut...and it seems to be working.  Cat was out and about sitting on the terrace looking at me but i had nothing for her, there was nothing left from last night, I'd had chicken fillets in cornflakes with spicy potato wedges with mayo and that was put away swiftly with no thought for cat.  I washed a tomato and fried it off in the bacon fat from yesterday and had it on toast but only one slice....apparently white bread causes 'spikes' ....I must stop watching this 'information' but the tomatoes are good for you.

I washed and dressed quickly, I didn't have the bath last night and for the most part lazed around in the lounge until the urge to walk the garden raised its ugly head.  I'd seen lots of 'white blobs' in the grass yesterday and on investigation they were mushrooms and talking to my neighbour yesterday she had collected some form the hillside and intended cooking them for supper last night. I gave mine the once over but I'm not really into collecting 'stuff' and am more likely to poison myself.  There were all sorts, some with brown dots on them, large pure white ones and I was going to ask my neighbour but she'd caught the bus into Djebel this morning...it was market day....to catch up on the gossip.

Around eleven I moved into the lounge with my printed off sudoku, rubbed out a few that I'd attempted and was determined to complete one this morning.  It becomes a bit of a challenge after three attempts and for some reason, I attempted it logically and must have just found the right path instinctively and I sailed through it....first time...well first time since I'd rubbed it out last time.  By now the weather had picked up so I fetched in some logs and set the fire for later when the air was beginning to chill.  I thought about carrying on with my ancestry stuff but really couldn't raise the effort.  Sometimes it just get confusing and I felt this was going to be the day that it was.  I haven't really done anything with it for about six months or so but I have sorted out most of the documents into piles to be sorted, the folder is ready to file them so there is some improvement....I can now see the wood for the trees or at least I believe so.  This afternoon I found myself looking at the hanging rail of clothes or rather coats that I've accumulated over the years from my cheapy shops and having lost weight can now fit perfectly into some of them.  No longer is the plan to make the leather ones into handbags, well not until I start putting on the weight over winter.  

Nothing springs to mind for supper but having said that I'm not that hungry at the moment and will probably made cheese on toast later or make up a packet of macaroni cheese that I've just remembered I slipped into the trolley on the last shopping trip.  If I don't like it I can always try it out on cat in the morning.  LN.....Djebel tomorrow to help out a friend with her son's passport and I might just carry on to Kardjali for a mooch and I might even take the Beast for a trip out......LN