Tuesday 21st October

It's just hit me....where is this month going?  It will soon be time to book my ticket to the UK and at least get a few things organised.  I really need to prepare a checklist for when I'm in the UK...there are a few things that I need to get sorted to make my time there easier to jump over several hurdles that I can see coming up round the track and better know the course than try to negotiate everything in the home straight.

As for today, there was a hint of morning in a red band of rising sun, the clouds were still in evidence but the day got better but not much warmer.  I fed cat the last sausage, fried tomatoes on toast for me since there were no eggs and those are top of my list next time I go into Djebel.  I hadn't made my mind up what I was going to do with the day, I'd walked the garden, heard my neighbour hanging around with the hammer and assumed that she was still repairing the fence to keep out the animals.  She's made a good job of clearing up the old footpath down to the next village, she'd cleared the bottom of their stone wall and put lots of branches above it and now it looks from my side  impenetrable.  I suppose we need to see what it fares like in the winter when the animals are foraging where they can.  On the drive back from Djebel I noticed that the hay that one of my sheep farmers had put ready to feed his sheep during the winter was already being attacked by cows....they go where they want and little stops them.

My day was directed by a message from my friend with the flower shop in Djebel.  She's asked for help with her son's passport and she'd already mentioned Tuesday and it was a two part message.  Firstly I'd asked her if she had a supplier for honey, you can buy it from the market but you don't know the providence and she said that she had a contact in her mother's village.  She'd gone ahead and ordered and brought me two jars at what I thought was a reasonable cost for home produced.  The second part of the text was that she intended getting the passport application off and was I available so I dressed for the weather and set off.  We were doing well until it came time for payment when firstly she tried her Bulgarian card and that didn't go through, she tried again and then decided to use her UK bank account and from that one the payment was gain rejected but I wondered if the system had timed out and it was necessary to start a new application.  She tried to telephone her Bulgarian bank and everything was automated, no 'person' on the end and there are times that the system just hadn't been programmed with a solution and nobody to swear at.  Eventually she gave up and said that she would do it tonight from home, I paid for the honey and set off for the car shop after leaving the honey in the Nipper on the carpark.

It was good to see my student's mum again, we chatted for a while and them my young student appeared, they'd been on a march in Kardjali since it was 'Kardjali Day' and I noticed that he was wearing a new jacket that wasn't like anything I would see him in normally.  Apparently uniforms have now been introduced, the company delivering the uniforms hadn't met the deadline so other jackets were substituted and these go back when the others arrive.  Unfortunately the prices appear to have rocketed , fifty lev for a t-shirt with a logo, and it appears to be a 'mix and match' the families buy what they think they will need and the one with the logo is worn on top of everything else.  Doesn't appear to be much joined up thinking.  I couldn't get over how tall he's grown though and told him he's to stop growing...and that was an order....he was making me feel quite insignificant....just a little old lady.

I bough firelighters, I was down to my last packet, walked to the Nipper and intended stopping at the supermarket at the bottom of the town but my plans changed.  I should have gone to the little girl's room before I left the car-shop but didn't and thought that walking round the supermarket was risking it a little so the eggs are still on the list for another day.  I was home by five, first job was to locate the green dish that used to sit under the green flowerpot that the freesias are in so I looked round the terrace.  I made the mistake of looking for a normal sized saucer but noticed that there was a smaller one that was the same colour and I remembered that it always was smaller.  I substituted the current one with the one from under the green pot, green pot and green base had now been reunited and bot are sitting in the porch on the window sill.  There are still lots of sun daisies to flower and to date no flower buds on the freesias but the sun and heat in the porch should trigger them.

By now I was beginning to feel hungry, it had been a long time since breakfast and I found a packet of macaroni cheese and all it needed was seven to nine minutes in five hundred milliliters of water, stir gently until the liquid had been absorbed and then enjoy.  Not bad but if I had had more cheese I'd have added it but since I'd put in nine minutes of effort into it....it went down OK.  The dishes can wait until tomorrow, the fire is going but the logs are too big so not doing a lot for the central heating but the house is warm enought at twenty three degrees.  LN.....it will soon be time for bed anyway, almost nine my time and then I'll curl up in my 'nest'.......LN

Wednesday 22nd October

Not a bad day today at all.  There was a hint of what was in store, it picked up mid-morning and we had a very good afternoon.  There was still a chill in the air but I didn't light the fire until six this evening.  Cat was around but obviously got hungry before I got my act together so ended up roaming the village and now seen her since.  I was cooking my tomatoes on toast at around nine thirty after supping my honey, salt and sugar mixture to set myself up for the day.  I've also put some cloves in to soak, the locals make this drink with some red fruit and clove water and I must really find the recipe.  We had it at the mevlit I went to at the weekend and it reminded me that I wanted to do it.  

I went out to take some photos and my neighbour was just coming back from foraging over the road for mushrooms.  I said that I thought there were some in my garden so I went down the garden to look and she joined me and we went on the hunt together and found some really big ones at the first pit-stop and then others and she had quite a haul.  We were half way down the garden and Haciber put in an appearance, never comes round except to find out what's going on.  I'd also pointed out some medlar fruits that I wasn't interested in, they seemed hard to me but the secret is to pick them and store them until they ripen off the bush so she'll be coming back for them.  I don't mind, I hate things going to waste.  

I went back to my chopping getting enough smaller wood so that there was some heat coming off the fire at night.  There's plenty already cut but I'd rather be chopping it before the snow arrives and storing it ready and I've developed the technique.  It's easy to spot the ones that the axe goes straight through but the ones with twisted grain take longer.... I'm refining that that technique using the axe as a wedge and hitting it with the lump hammer....seems to work OK.  I left ones that I'd chopped in the log carrier in the woodstore and wheeled in one container full of chopped wood and another of last years medium sized or starter wood.  The rest of the afternoon I lay on the sofa with a couple of really difficult sudoku, managed one and rubbed the other one out three times until I was nearly through the paper so I might need to print it off again.

I've just been out and checked the sky, there's supposed to be a 'happening, just after sunset but unfortunately we have a mottled sky so not managed to catch sight of anything.  I'll check it out on the internet later, someone is bound to have captured it.  LN.....Nothing planned for tomorrow, I'll see how the mood takes me.....LN

And the photos

I hit the wrong key and it posted before I'd added them and there's no way back without I delete it all and start again......bear with me...

Thursday 23rd October

My biological clock was or circadian rhythm was working true to form this morning...my internal alarm went off at five minutes to seven and I'd slept straight through again.  It must be something to do with autumn descending, me taking it easier or just the calm after having completed all the documentation and permits to do 'stuff'.  Only thing left to do is pick up my residencia and after my run-in with the office and authority, I should have no problems there....fingers crossed.

I made my usual starter drink, took it back up to the bedroom and sat in the rocking chair watching the morning come to life.  It looked like it was going to be a good day but I've been caught out before but in this case it delivered what it had promised.  I made my last tomato on toast for breakfast, no sign of the cat this morning but this afternoon as I was making my way from the little house to the terrace it slouched across the yard and later I spotted it against the inside front wall of of the house looking quite sad and forlorn.  It seemed to have come from the garage where there is a box in a sheltered position so perhaps I'd disturbed it rattling around in the woodstore.

Today I was going to make one of those air-rooting things out of a plastic water bottle.  I'd cut the bottle how I thought it needed to be done, then couldn't get my brain round it but persevered.  Unfortunately my neighbour from next door arrived and I thought she had come round for lavender for the seeds and to also hang in the house while she's not there to keep it smelling of something pleasant.  I filled a box with this years trimmings and she took a look round the little house, leaving the lavender on top of the compost bin.  I went towards the woodstore to get the loppers and she followed me and she proceeded to tell me the history of the barn and the old man that used to work there.  I suppose it would be good to sit down with her and get a potted history of the house before 'me' and write it down for posterity.  I'd forgotten but I think she really came round for the medlar fruits to store for the winter so I went back to my task and she went down to pick the fruit at the bottom of the garden.  When she'd finished she came to 'help' me with my project and most locals have a habit of taking over thinking that I'm from the 'city' and don't know how to do things.  I put up with a little intrusion but eventually took control and finished it my way.  Off she went back home with her fruit and lavender and I gave her some wire that she can secure it into bunches with  to hang up inside the house when she leaves.

I cleared away around five thirty, did a last walk of the garden with the camera and noticed that one of the yukka that's currently in flower has put up a new spike and was quite surprised that it had.  Photo shoot over, I locked up outside, locked myself in for the night and lit the fire which has sprung to life and crackling beautifully.  Pork chops to go into the air-fryer tonight with a few potato wedges....I'm not that hungry but if I don't eat I'll end up in the goody box later scouring it for something sweet.  The temperature had dropped to sixteen outside and twenty five in....the beauty of the house is that the windows harvest the heat from the sun and the insulation keeps it in....result.  LN.....Just put this morning's washing away. about to cook the pork and then into the evening.......LN

Friday 24th October

I woke up strangely at three thirty for not reason at all, read for a while, snuggled down again and it was the normal seven o'clock.  I opened the curtains, made my way on to the balcony with the camera, noticed a planet but not sure what it was but when I magnified it to take the photo I think I've ended up with a jelly bean....so you'll have to make  do with the unmagnified....that still looks like a jelly bean. I meant to check out which one it was but I've been so busy today that I'd forgotten about it until I came to update the blog.  

I had quite a laid back morning, it was around nine when I got dressed, I'd been downstairs and made my morning 'beverage' using soaked cloves as the basis for my honey, salt, tumeric and pepper starter to set myself up for the day.  It certainly gave me energy, for some reason I decided to empty the large chest in the downstairs bedroom, to put the bed linen upstairs so all in one place, sort out the gifts that I'd been presented with and box them up together and I was amazed what I came across.  I have a waterproof cover all that I must have bought from one of my cheapy shops fairly early on since that was at the bottom of the chest and long forgotten about.  I also came across a black quilted floor covering that just might cover my sofa in the winter lounge without many changes needing to be made.  So once I got down to the bottom, certain things went into the washing machine and still waiting to be put on the airer but I'll take the first load off and then make the substitute.    I've also taken a large container of what I thought were chicken legs but turned out to be chicken breasts from the freezer, they're thawed out, in the fridge and two will be put in the air-fryer when I've finished the update.  

Having run out of steam I decided to put Netflix on and started watching After Life but was disturbed around three this afternoon by my first student who was insistent on teaching me English while she practiced her English.  I'm not sure who won in the end but we're still friends now after getting on for sixteen years.  She's living in Germany with her husband and are visiting her parents in the next village and they were the ones that brought me chocolates that I left two in the box just incase they did visit.  As for the chocolates, I offered but they insisted that they were mine and they are no more.  I'd also invited them for a meal and we'll see if they can manage to fit it in before they go back to Germany.  They left about six, I lit the fire before the evening temperatures dropped and I shall be going back to After Life when I've cooked the chicken breasts.  LN.....What started out a good day, turned into rain around lunchtime then cheered up again this evening......late or early April showers.....LN

Saturday 25th October

Again a three thirty start but managed to get off quite quickly until six thirty and I appear to have been ahead of myself all day.  I stripped my bed and got the nest and the bottom fleece blanket into the washing machine and underway, made my drink of lemon juice, salt, ginger, honey and hot water and even prefer that to coffee to get me on way way for the day.  I've brought the little juicer into play but think I might have to set up and use the one I bought about seven years ago and it's still in the box.  I think it's fear factor, not sure I can reassemble it after I've taken it apart to clean it which I'll have to do if I use it.  I'm all for the simple life!!

So yesterday's washing away, new washing on the airer out in the conservatory.  I didn't bother with breakfast but I did move to the downstairs bedroom and finish tidying out the storage box that I'd emptied yesterday finding lots of goodies and now it just contains knitting wool and some of the pressies that I've had given to me over the years by the ladies of the village.  The summer bedding for the downstairs bedroom has all been moved upstairs to the guest room, that chest has been sorted into pillow cases, bottom and top sheets and quilt covers.  The heavier quilts have moved to the other wooden chest and I get the feeling that I'm either doing a late spring clean since I was off my feet earlier in the year of but I think I'll regard it as getting ahead of myself for next year...and why not.

The rest of the chicken breasts that I'd put overnight in the fridge went into the slow cooker with onions, carrots, stock cube, water and onto the high setting and bubbled away until two this afternoon when I added a packet of chicken soup to it and that eventually became a late brunch.  I filled my time with a bonfire a bonfire, I'd got lots of rubbish in the conservatory that had started to take on a life of it's own and now it's no more.  I did take a bunch of lavender from the little house and hang it up to clear the air, leaving the door open.  I checked out the contents of the bonfire container and there was no danger and fortunately the wind had dropped.

After the chicken casserole lunch I was searching around for more washing.  I 'd foolishly put on a pale grey polo neck, tried desperately to keep it clean but no way, I made up a light load, made up my bed for tonight and put the new washing in place of the old.  I did have trouble getting the kingsize duvet into the duvet cover and eventually it fit 'Cinderella', came down and set the fire for tonight after splitting a few logs and replenishing the stock in the conservatory.  

I settled on the sofa and watched the end of Ricky Gervais 'After Life' and now sure how he got three series out of it for Netflix, switched if off and promptly went to sleep, I'd had a long day.  I've switched the slow cooker off, the casserole will be portioned down and put into the freezer until I forget about it and feed it to cat and lit the fire and a gentle heat is providing me with twenty four degrees inside and it's down already to thirteen outside.    LN....Slow start but it turned into a beautiful day, I even managed to sit out on the bench and take in the rays....more of the same tomorrow please.....LN

Sunday 26th October

This morning was one of confusion.  For some reason I thought I'd woken up late, accepted it put put radio 2 on and they mentioned something about the clocks going back and then the penny dropped.  I adjusted the automatic clock/ weather station and that hadn't accepted the update so I manually readjusted it having checked my phone and computer and yes, I was working in old time.  Not that it meant much, time doesn't mean much out here...the day is mine all mine.  Before I came downstairs I turned my nest forty five degrees so that the feather channels were running the right way on the length of the bed.  I'd put it on the bed wrongly last night and my feet popped out of the end so note to self....correct in the morning and I'd remembered.  I washed dressed, but before I did I hopped on the scales and it's the numbers are going in the right direction but after what I've eaten today, I leave the next weigh in for a couple of days.

It's been a drab, miserable, cold day.  The sun did come out mid afternoon for a while but then the clouds came over and so I lit the fire and it's ticking along beautifully.  It doesn't have to be roaring up the chimney for the pump to kick in, that's the beauty of it and it just takes the chill off the air and it's pleasant to look at.  I've spent the afternoon with my sudoku, a soft pencil and a rubber and am tackling one of them for the fourth time and unfortunately you only notice the error in the last few entries.  It doesn't help that I'm popping up and doing things in between so sometimes lose the thread and end up with two of the same numbers in the column....so back to the drawing board Cecil.  I walked the garden to take the photos and I noticed that Mr/Mrs Mole have become very active now that the ground has softened up.  The old tunnels must have disintegrated so they have to renew.  Time to get the powder out that I bought in the summer and hopefully they will move bit I doubt it....live in hope and die in frustration.  I just have to make sure that I avoid the soft spots when walking down the garden.

It's six o'clock more of less here and it's pitch black outside and so much so that I've out the fairy lights on in the porch to brighten the place up a little.  I did fetch a table lamp from by the computer on the upstairs landing and plug it in down here....it means that I can see the difference between the 'Delete' key and the 'Backspace' without adjusting the angle of the screen.....doh....I should have done it sooner.

I had a message from my friend who was trying to renew her son's British passport to say that she had managed to get the application to complete.  We tried on Tuesday but the interruptions from customers in the shop made it very difficult so I suggested that she left it, she did and she succeeded.  The problem wasn't with the application but with the cards she was using and I think the system in the UK wasn't connecting properly with her bank here or the bank in UK.....any way...problem solved...she can post it tomorrow from the post office with 'signed for delivery' for thirteen lev not the one hundred and twenty that the local company wanted from me.  I think she was concerned whether it was safe or not but it only took six days for mine to arrive so just as quick as a courier service.

So the food that I cooked yesterday is in the freezer, I've got three meals waiting and one in the slow cooker for tonight.  Must admit though that the pancakes went down well, they were in memory of the death of her father and it was more pancakes with her mother's 'mevlit' only last week.  I think she enjoys cooking pancakes.  Time to shut up shop for the night, I suppose I'll be flying in old time for a few days until my body clock adjusts and now into the long winter nights.  LN.....Shopping tomorrow, Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard is looking bare!!....LN

Monday 27th October

Disturbed night again....I went to be at ten thirty (updated time) and woke up at one fifteen and all the sleep had gone from my body.  I'd settled down well, done my deep breathing exercises to help me get to sleep successfully and so picked up my phone.  Nothing for it, I went down to the kitchen and made a health drink, used up the last of the lemons and added cloves. sea salt, turmeric, ginger and black pepper, hot water and took it back upstairs with me.  At three I thought it was about time to try again and the next time that I woke up it was seven thirty so not bad.  

It wasn't too bad a morning, the clouds were dark but there was a blue band over the mountains and the sun was straddling the gap.  The birds were active, firstly there was one of the wire, then two and suddenly it was full of them but something startled them and we were back to one.  I'm surprised how many there are but the crows seem to prefer the industrial landing station, not so bouncy as the electricity cables.  The sheep came bounding down but after awhile there was a change of strategy and they all appeared to be going back to base but then they headed down towards the river between me and the mountains.  I didn't have breakfast, lit the fire since the house felt cold so got dressed and put an extra sweater on.  I had the intention of getting out to the shops early but the more I thought about it the less I wanted to do it so I settled down on the sofa and put Netflix on and fell upon a film about a baseball player who rose to the top despite a disability and still coaches now....quite touching in places.

At two I decided that I really needed to get to the shop for more lemons and vegetables for my superfoods, turned on the slow cooker so the chicken and vegetables would be ready for when I got back.  I remembered that I'd offered my HP printer to the garage shop, they only have a printer not a scanner printer in the shop and I don't make use of it now that I've got my Brother printer working again.  I searched for the installation booklets that came for it, a power cable, parcelled it up and loaded it in the Nipper.  I wrote my shopping list, stopped at the shop first and we chatted for a while, I turned the car round and headed back to the supermarket at the bottom of town, loaded up the trolley following the list, checked out to the tune of sixty leva which was very reasonable for what I had and drove home.  The fire was hanging in there, the rain had stopped but everywhere was damp so I quickly got the fire going again, a little chemical artificial resuscitation and everything is back to normal.  

What was a late lunch has now become supper and it's ready to serve.  Kitchen duties call and another free day tomorrow unless I managed to find something to do it the weather picks up...and it will have to.  LN.....I might have a day on documenting the family chart.....it's time that I did.....LN

Tuesday 28th October

Back to a seven start and very welcome it was too. It was a very leisurely start and the atmosphere has remained the same for all of the day.  I noticed cat out on the terrace very early on waiting for food so the chicken in sauce that I'd left last night was dished out.  Cat came immediately to the dish, picked the best bits, left the bread, a very fussy cat and obviously not ravenously hungry.  I suppose with so many feeding stations around the village it can afford to be.  I went back to bed taking my holistic mixture with me and settled down in the rocking chair just enjoying the morning.  Hunger kicked in and for this morning I settled for a fried tomato on toast and I checked the time, it was ten and I was still in PJ's and there really wasn't any rush about anything.  It was another damp morning, it had obviously rained overnight and it was cold.  My phone reported only four degrees, which went up to eight degrees and is still showing the same...it feels like there hasn't been any movement....just not much sun about.  One positive thing...the sun daisies have started to flower in the conservatory despite that there's been little sun today.  It might have something to do with me watering the pot with beer and water yesterday.  I did it mainly for the freesias that are growing in the same pot but if it helps the other...so be it.  I shall have to remember to collect the seeds, the flowers are beautiful.

I cleared the kitchen and had a general tidy round, lit the fire at eleven and thought it best that I had a shower and washed my hair and then I might think about driving into Djebel and visit the hardware shop for a few things including rodent poison to put down in the little house, more mole deterrent but I really couldn't raise the effort.  I set the fire but it wasn't long before I was lighting it, warming the house up before I spent the day on Sudoku, Free-Cell and other time wasters.  The mojo just wasn't kicking in this morning.  I had my shower eventually, realised that it was time that I thought about getting Bekir to install a grab rail in the bathroom as a safety measure....I really don't want any mishaps this side of Christmas or even afterwards.  I was lucky last time....nothing broken....it could have been different.  I did have a conversation with my flower lady going over the documents and the procedure for sending off her son's passport from the local post office.  All sorted now and I outlined what she can expect to happen, the emails that she'll receive at every step and what to expect from the courier and the return of the documents and the new passport.

I dried my hair in my bedroom, had dressed in a warm sweater and again sat on the rocker but this time I took my Kindle and I'd found a 'Kay Scarpetta' book that I don't think I've read or of I had it must have been a long time ago.  I'm on chapter five and I've had no flashbacks....so far, so good.  Cat returned around four, picked through the dish from breakfast but found nothing new then shot off somewhere.  I settled for a packet of nuts and raisins that I'd bought yesterday and don't thing I shall be needing anything later...it's almost six my time and this could be a twelve hour fast if I leave it until morning.  

We're now back to a cloudless sky and the crescent moon shining against a navy blue sky.  There was a hint of red in the sky but very little where the sun was setting.  Those mountains were still shrouded in cloud coming in from the west so all can change.  Looking at the sky now, I'm thinking it won't be long before we have our first frost, it feels as if winter is really on its way.  LN.....Time to find something to watch on Netflix....I tried to go back and watch Peaky Blinders but I think it's going to be Outlander.  LN.....Quick cup of coffee, the solar coloured lights really stand out now that it's black as pitch out there and I'm settled in for the night....LN

Wednesday 29th October

Another seven start and really cold this morning at minus one point five degrees in the next village according to the internet.  Because of where my weather station is positioned, I made it plus two degrees.  It was white over, there was frost on the grass and no sign of cat at all not even for a late feed.  I washed and dressed and had a late breakfast of yogurt and honey, made my bed and tidied round and then took up position on the rocking chair with the Kindle and settled in to my current book and now at chapter fifteen.  I had a WhatsApp interlude with my flower shop owner in the village and said that I'd be popping in to see her later in the day.  Reading took me up to twelve and along with it came hunger gripes, the early yogurt had done little so I headed back to the kitchen and baked a potato in the microwave, opened a tin of tuna and made a large bowl of tuna, potato salad positioning myself on the sofa and thinking about driving into Djebel to get the few things that I'd not got the other day.

I made my list and set off around two thirty, I parked up by the mosque and made my way to one of the larger 'dinky do' shops that sells everything.  I asked for what I wanted in Bulgarian, the shop is so large that you can spend a lot of time looking and still have to ask.  I was directed to the shelves just behind the cashier, I picked up three gas lighters and a canister of gas for when they run out and the cashier asked me 'why three'.  One for inside, one for outside and one as a standby when either of them break.  The cost for the three and the gas was still only eleven lev which in English works out about five pounds.  I just don't feel ripped off here and she asked me how I was and said that she hadn't seen me for a while.....you feel missed here.  Back in the car and parked up outside the garage shop, I popped in, realised she was busy putting an order away so I moved on to the hardware shop, I wanted heavy duty rat and mouse poison so bought two different sorts.  I don't have a problem it's really to avoid problems, it's for the little house and the woodstore and while I'm going to be away in the UK, I don't want the mice to play so to speak.  Next port of call was the chemist and I've bought throat tablets that I use ready to take to the UK and I'll leave some there for my daughter.  They were prescribed by the doctor for when I went down with Covid a couple of years ago but I always keep some by me....brilliant things.  I put all the goodies in the Nipper, left it where it was and walked over to see my flower shop lady to check that the passport documents had been sent and they had.  She said that she had been in the local supermarket to her and that there were English people in there and did I know any that were in the area.  I said I didn't and joked with her that they hadn't asked permission to visit the area and we laughed about it, mandatory passport control should be applied to protect the village... .  

Back to the Nipper and turned the car round making sure that I didn't cross the central white line by going round the car-park,  There were lots of police around from the time that I'd hit Djebel and I wasn't sure what checks they were carrying out.  They didn't stop me, probably recognised the car and I carried on to the supermarket at the bottom of the village and bought fruit that I'd forgotten yesterday, oranges, apples, bananas, two packet of prunes and  mushrooms and again, that lot only amounted to five pounds.  I set off for home and had a really pleasant drive through the lanes, the sun had set but the sky was blue and the moon was just showing up,  Shopping away, I made a coffee and settled down with series four of Peaky Blinders after I'd lit the fire.  LN.....A very relaxing day.....got everything from my list and served by really happy, pleased to see me, people.....LN