Friday 21st November

I woke up at six, settled down again and it was eight when I woke for the second time.  The fire was still going from last night so I rescued it, made my usual jungle juice for breakfast, left it for a while while I watched the fire and then made beans on toast but only using half a can.  I did the usual rubbish emails deleting most of them, played a few games of FreeCell and then thought it was about time I did something constructive so I found a chicken leg in the freezer, left it out to thaw and with roasted vegetables, that would be supper sorted.

There was no sign of Cat so I didn't put food out since I didn't want to encourage any strays....it wasn't a day for working outside, I had enough wood in the conservatory so once I'd got the fire established I kept if going and it's still going now.  It's not been cold today, just damp and miserable and I was looking for things to do.  I went on to the internet, I haven't got Office on this machine and I wanted to get the house 'help' manual sorted, as I'm getting older and the children will have to sort things out eventually, it's as well to be prepared.  I ended up sorting out the third bedroom which houses clothes, single beds, desk and sewing machine and I suppose it's my third workspace.  I decided to try and bring to life my old computer but there wasn't much joy, the screen didn't appear to be working or I was using the wrong cable, it part booted then failed so I unplugged everything and I think it's ready to be assigned to that great computer grave but reverently.

At one I prepared the vegetables, sweet and normal potato, carrots, an onion and a whole beetroot.  It went in the oven at around one thirty with the chicken leg on top of it but instead I moved it to its own dish, drained some of the cooking oil from the veg so that they would crisp up a little but too little too late.  Some of the vegetables were more cremated than roasted and the chicken was a little dry but Cat will benefit in the morning, it's in a dish already waiting for dawn to break.  I went back to the series I had been watching where I'd slept through parts of it and did a rerun.....I'd missed the ending and as it turned out, I thought it would be better than it was.  I've just finished watching another Netflix one off and again, it didn't really impress me.  I've just fallen upon The Greatest Showman, thoroughly raved about in the press and I've got it ready to run as soon as I've finished this post.  

If the weather is like today, tomorrow....I shan't be doing very much.  I don't need to be going to the shops for anything, have enough food in and Saturday is not a good day...too many people about especially in the supermarkets and the Mall.  Almost seven my time so back to Netflix and the 'ready to go' film, I'm just going to put the boiler on and a bath before bedtime might just be what the doctor ordered.  LN.....A quiet relaxing evening.....and why not.....LN

Saturday 22nd November

Horrible night last night.  I did enjoy, and managed to watch all of 'The Greatest Showman' without falling asleep but then tried to watch 'Matilda' the musical and I'm going to have to reschedule it. .....I obviously fell asleep, went up to bed, slept until two and then Sudoku until four and the next awakening was at seven.  It did interfere with my day, Cat was fed early and obviously enjoyed the chicken bits from last night demolishing the lot.  I'd added water to the hard skin over night and it had softened it ready for instant gratification but the biscuits I'd used to top it up were left...fussy thing.  As for me, I started off with what was going to be plain toast but then I opened a can of baked beans and that saw me through until three this afternoon.  After washing up from breakfast I peeled an onion, a potato and the other half of the sweet potato left over from yesterday, opened a packed of semi-concentrated tomato juice that I'd bought in Greece and two stock cubes and everything went into the slow cooker.  I left it bubbling away, turned it down to simmer and liquidised it....it made a very substantial soup and that should keep me going until morning and I have one portion to freeze down.

As for the weather, it's been a complete mixture today.  Very dull skies to wake up to and I saw the rain front coming in and build until it dropped it on my garden and the terraces.  The wind has been howling all day and is still throwing things around the yard, I shall have to be taking the pots in soon, don't want them flying off the walls and terraces and onto the concrete.  I've only ventured out twice, once to feed Cat and secondly to repot one of the plants from the conservatory.  I'd overwatered it and put too much gravel in so that it wasn't draining away so tried to take the plant pot out of the container by pulling at the plant....wrong.  The poor little plant left the pot so I took it outside to dismantle it, emptied out the gravel, put dry compost in the base, repotted it and secured it with fresh dry compost pressed well down.  It's now back in the conservatory and fingers crossed it should be fine.

Time to put another log on the fire,  it's not cold in the house at twenty three degrees and it's fifteen degrees outside so not so bad for the end of November.  I've been working on the computer upstairs since it has a bigger table, I'm still working on the ancestry chart for my friend and have at last worked out the best method of presenting it to her since she doesn't have a computer.  I'll write it up and attach numbers to the chart for each family so that it's easy to follow the generations back.  I know the families that she's really interested in, the others are just padding, but interesting padding....especially of locations of families...where they came from originally.  

Time to wind down, I seemed to have recovered from my morning fatigue after an upsetting sleep pattern.  No television tonight, back to the computer for a few more print outs to support the research.  LN.....I'll be out tomorrow putting things back where they belong......that wind it really moving stuff.....LN

Sunday 23rd November

Early to bed and early to rise.  It was five thirty but there wasn't much sleep left in me so I picked up the phone that was charging by the bed and played for a while.  There's such a lot of misinformation about the Royal family and the hangers on...can't understood why some of the sites aren't taken down.  I was out of bed by seven, I settled in the rocker and finished off a difficult Sudoku, moved downstairs made coffee, no jungle juice this morning and took it back upstairs and managed to complete the one that I was working on.  

I gravitated to the computer and worked on my friends ancestry, I want to get it completed, or not completed they are never completed, but in a state that she can understand back four generations.  There are so many children, father died and some were taken on by and elder sister and the others stayed with the mother when she got married again.  My friend is a direct descendent from the split family, her grandmother was the baby of the family but did OK for herself.  The problem is, with so many children, on marriage it doubles in size and with the name of Smith, it's been a bit of a challenge.

I gave up on this and decided to unplug the fridge, the ice was in direct competition with the North Pole.  I unplugged it, removed the contents to the worktop, it was a cool day so nothing would come to any harm.....and that was the easy part.  It took me until four this afternoon to removed the chunks of ice from the freezer box but I didn't waste the time in between.  I decided to move the flower pots from the terraces into the little house and I think I've done it at the right time.  The small ones were easy, the bigger ones were more of a challenge, I had to bring in the machine that has wheels on it but getting the pots onto the platform was tricky.  I also have steps going up to the terrace and steps going into the little house so coaxing them over the threshold was tricky....but I managed it.  There are only a few light ones now that I can move without as and when and the finale was moving the wooden chest that sits on the terrace outside the conservatory, I emptied it out, it's on casters so I got it to the little house steps.  I had a light-bulb moment, I used the lid across the steps and pulled it up that way and it worked and don't know where these ideas drift in from, but no need to go back to the drawing board.

Fridge cleaned and contents back home, I warmed up yesterday's soup and was eating it at five thirty and I'd put half a rack of spare ribs in the oven with the remains of the pineapple that I'd bought in Greece and that's now ready to be eaten.  It's been a full on day but I feel better, it's another thing off the list and the stress levels are going down.  I'm going to Kardjali tomorrow, I need some more gift bags to sort out the presents from last year and to add others to the collection to make the presents for my ladies worth receiving.  I also have other presents to buy for the families so tomorrow will be a 'mooch' day.  LN.....Supper is ready....just need to take another couple of pictures.....LN

Monday 24th November

Well I've just spent time writing up my day, the system came back with an error when I was posting and now it's all gone and I have to try and remember what I wrote....so it's going to be a potted version.  Cold morning, only one degree outside and the grass white over, no sign of Cat but the biscuits left yesterday had gone so it must have topped up this morning from yesterday's food.  I put yesterday's washing away that had dried overnight and set off for Djebel after a slow morning start for me after a couple of hours of ancestry and make a few new revelations.  

I managed to park on the main carpark which was pretty miraculous for a Monday and market day, walked to the cash machine, went through a lengthy process to activate the new card and managed a transaction.  I had a few words with the friend that I help with her son's application for a new British passport and apparently it's now on its way back, everything is good.  I also bought Christmas gift bags from her shop which meant that I didn't have to go into Kardjali and I went home instead and will probably go in tomorrow and sort out a few things like buying my bus ticket for Sofia when I make the journey for Christmas.  I'm not driving that far, it's a long journey and if the weather is bad, I don't want to risk it.

Settled on the sofa when I got back and slept though a film, cooked a late lunch, early supper and now trying again to get this to post.  LN ....fingers crossed....it's going to work this time......LN

Tuesday 25th November

This month seems to be galloping away from me.  I'm on target with most of the things I need to do but today wasn't the day for going into Kardjali to get things done.  I was aware last night that I'd eaten or had something to drink that had caused my lips to swell up and it looked like a bad reaction to a botex injection that believe me, it not on my agenda at all.  I took an antihistamine tablet last night and had to take another one this morning.  I stayed without food or drink until late this afternoon, you go through the list of things that you've eaten or had to drink but I couldn't identify what it could have been.  I did have fresh orange juice that I prepared with my juicer and took it neat and that was when the problem started but I'd be surprised if that was the culprit.  So first wake this morning was at six thirty and the second was eight thirty and it's felt like I was catching up with myself from the start of day.  It wasn't until I'd spent the afternoon having a bonfire in the burning bucket and went back upstairs noticing that I hadn't even made my bed.  I questioned myself as to how that had happened but I think it was something to do with the swollen lip and needing to find a reason as to what had triggered it...so I made the bed, propped up my bedtime companion courtesy of my grandson and told him to take care until I could join it.

Somehow I've accumulated lots of rubbish....the weather wasn't good enough to have a bonfire, too much rain about but today was OK.  I'd also shredded lots of personal documentation and I'm not one for using the skip in the middle of the village.....I just prefer to set fire to it.  It was a little windy at the bottom of the garden but it's a tried and tested lid and I do stay down there to make sure that there are no accidents with things getting out of control.  In between times and while I'm waiting I tend to gravitate to the wall.  I've got a favourite stone that I use to climb up but I took care on the way down, it's been so wet this autumn that there is lots of moss growing and I certainly don't want any more accidents this year.  Any way, safely mounted and safely down again, the air was coldish despite a double layer and once the fire had burnt down a little, I moved back to the shelter of the house.

I'd got rid of most of the rubbish and I only have one container of burnt cans from the bonfire that I have to get rid of locally, the terraces look neat and tidy especially now that I've put the garden hose away.  It was difficult to coil up but eventually I managed it and secured it with the rope that I normally use for the nozzle end by the outside sink to attach it to the downpipe, the hose is now in the little house...something else tidied away for the winter.  The others I put away earlier in the year.  Next job was to split some of the larger logs so get the fire going more easily before I put the 'piece de resistance' in place to keep the home fire burning for much longer and provide enough heat for the central heating.  It also depends on the direction of the wind and tonight it's whizzing across the sky, it's a good job the fairly lights are anchored down.  No supper tonight, the swelling has gone down considerably and the red blotches on my arms have almost gone....I really do need to see that specialist but it will be when I return after Christmas.  The specialist is in Plovdiv and I'm not doing that journey this side of my trip to the UK.  

Time to wind down and switch off the computer.....only one photo of my lounge flowering plant...it really is magnificent this year with more flower heads on the on stem.  LN....Must remember to take some more cuttings .......LN

Wednesday 26th November

Well the day started off as if we were going to have a good day, we had blue sky but it soon deteriorated into black clouds and heavy rain.  It's been a day for keeping the home fire burning, hiding under a thick layer of clothing and making sure that you had socks and slippers on.  It was five thirty and dark and I watched the morning come to life, I was going to go back to bed but instead I put the upstairs computer on and carried on with ancestry investigations.  Sometimes you wonder how people managed to get together when they live so far apart and I came across this name that hadn't appeared before in the chart so I decided to investigate it and low and behold, one of the father's daughters relations had married one of the sons of the family and they'd got together as children and probably played together.  I'd asked my friend last night if she'd every heard of this name in connection with her family and she said not and I was so pleased to have worked out the connection that I had to phone her today and let her know.  Another mystery solved and what I like about doing the research, it's almost like detective work and other times you are led up paths and nothing comes of it so on to the next.

I had a brief interlude and put Netflix on, my plans of going into Kardjali had been thwarted by the rain, clouds and general depressing weather.  I lit the fire about eleven and despite my moaning about the lack of sunlight, we must have had some, the solar lights are twinkling on the terrace, I must have been concentrating too much on my computer screen.  I didn't have too much for breakfast, only toast and at four this afternoon I was feeling really hungry so make a huge dish of macaroni cheese which filled up the gap pretty well.  I've only got the washing up to do and that can wait for tomorrow morning....I'll just stay out of the kitchen and not look at it.  Seven thirty my time, I've not long woken up on the sofa, a full tummy required rest and I followed the golden rule.  LN.....Shopping tomorrow despite the weather, I fancied chocolate tonight and Mother Hubbard's goody box is bare....that will never do......LN

Thursday 27th November

What a day, it was dark when I woke up.  Last night, the fire was going well so I decided to move downstairs to sleep, the bed was already made up, the only thing I had to do was to put a fleece sheet over the existing sheet.  I snuggled down, I was early moving downstairs but slept well.  I woke up at six but considering I'd gone to bed early I'd had a good night.  I had to apologise to Ellie as 'she' fell out of bed, this one is a three quarter where the upstairs one is a king-size but there were no complaints....well none that I heard.

I meandered to the kitchen, everything on the same level is a novelty at the moment, the house was very warm and the fire was just in and it didn't take me too long to get it going again.....and it's still going now.  I made coffee, washed and dressed in the clothes that I'd taken off last night on the outside but clean underwear obviously.  As for the weather, it was throwing it down with rain, the hillside had mini-lakes all over it, there were not many animals out and who would want to be out in it....I knew where I would be for most of the day....by the fire.  I made toast for breakfast but then realised that there was only the crust remaining and I knew there wasn't any more in the freezer.  I'd intended going out yesterday but lethargy set in.  The poor lemon tree that sits in a rather large bucket outside between the porch and the stairwell.  The bucket was full and the plant and pot were floating.  I thought about going out and rescuing it but it was too wet for me to be out and about.  There was no sign of Cat, it had obviously found a spot out of the wet and blasting wind and finding food was probably the last thing on its mind.  I put some pork in the slow cooker with a pack of soup that I'd thawed out over night and supper was on its way...it would be ready when I was.

About eleven thirty it seemed to ease, the rain had stopped, the wind had dropped so I quickly put some make-up on, grabbed my purse and phone into the car and heading for town.  As I went through the village I saw one of our local boozy septuagenarians thumbing a lift obviously to go into Djebel and I took pity on him, stopped, insisted he put the seat belt on but I had to secure it, he was having trouble managing it.  We had a bit of a slurred conversation, I dropped him off, he didn't manage to shut the door properly and left it up to me.  I drove to the car-park and turned round on to the road I'd just left and back to the supermarket managing to park right outside the door.  The goody box is full, three loaves of bread and two in the freezer, eggs for breakfast and yogurt.    I also rescued the lemon tree and put three large plastic bowls and this one into the little house over the winter.  

I settled on the sofa and we had another deluge of rain and the wind got up again, that brief interlude was over.  I watched Netflix for a while, realised that it's only two weeks until I leave for the UK and I thought it was three and panic has set in a little.  I realised that I've done very little towards Christmas gifts for the village ladies so I found out the ones that I didn't deliver last year and they are fit to be recycled for this year.  I've found out the wrapping paper, cards, written out my shopping list and tomorrow, whatever the weather, I'm off to Kardjali and everything will be bought, wrapped over the next couple of days and ready for delivery.  I've been putting it off and now given myself a good talking to....and it's underway....Christmas will happen in Dushinkovo this year.

Time to try my supper that's been cooking all day and then to have a bath and an early night.  LN.....Wish me luck with my shopping tomorrow.....I'll try and get into the Christmas 'spirit' and remember to buy some for the grownups.....LN

Friday 28th November

Funny old night, I woke up at four thirty, played on the phone for a while, fetched my feather pillow from upstairs and substituted it for one of the others and went back until six thirty and my real day had now begun.  I lit the fire, it wasn't cold but I was, I made coffee and started to compose my list for my Christmas shopping.  I was on a mission today, I wanted to do complete my shopping except for last minute, I wanted to buy my bus ticket for Sofia for my trip to England and I was successful, in my opinion anyway.  I also managed to remember to fill up with gas on the way back.  I was at the mall at ten fifteen, the rain was pouring down and those plans for the ark need to be updated, the escalator going up was not working and those steps are quite high for an oldie.  First shop was the Ikea equivalent and my best buy, one for me and one for 'not decided yet' was a door stop based on an elf, a very hairy elf and I love it already.  The bill wasn't too high in there and then I moved on to another shop in the mall remembering to buy lots of Sellotape, just in case the old stuff is not sticky any more.  Another couple of shops and then over to my original leva shop that I've been using for years and recognised one of the assistants, it was a close thing, they add up on an adding machine and don't take cards but I just made it.  I put the goodies into the car which was parked near by and walked down to the bus station, bought my ticket and this time I really did scrape the barrel leaving myself very little shrapnel.  The gas station took card payment and so did my little supermarket in Djebel where I completed my list, drove home and I was back for two thirty.

The afternoon was spent removing the price tickets and this year it's much worse.  Everything is duel priced, lev and euro for the changeover, I'm leaving a lev country in December and returning to a euro country and am expecting the prices to rise and at first everyone of the locals will think that the prices have fallen since the euro is roughly half the leva but the money that they have each month will have halved in quantity too but same value.  The presents are all sorted by family and tomorrow the wrapping will be finished and everything labelled.....and the list make of the shortfalls in each present.  There are bound to be a few where I thought I was buying enough and hadn't.  

The rain is still coming down but we had a complete rainbow late afternoon but I couldn't get far enough to get it in one shot so I had to take two.  The setting sun brought on a very peculiar light, quite eerie, but the temperature is still nine degrees outside and so far no frosts which is not usual.  No supper for me tonight, I opened a packed of chocolate wafer fingers and managed to devour one layer thus filling the cavity.  LN.....I shall manage through until morning.....and then let the activity begin.....LN

Saturday 29th November

Not a bad morning but as the day progressed we had more rain and the temperature is really dropping this evening.  It's down to six degrees tonight so I think winter is on its way.  As for photos today, I've been far to busy working in Santa's grotto, I set to after I'd been into Djebel to buy more wrapping paper, no good starting a job when you haven't enough to finish it.

I drove in around eleven thirty, I had a slow start this morning.  I woke up at four and my second night in the downstairs bedroom wasn't as good as the first.  The quilt down here was just so hot so I ended up taking the top layer off and changed everything this morning and put the king size quilt from upstairs to downstairs and I'll see how I fare tonight.  Whether it was because the fire was going and downstairs is nearer the woodburner.  Having said that, I managed to get back off to sleep again quite quickly and slept through until eight....hence my slow start.  I made poached eggs on toast, noticed that Cat was sitting on the grass ever hopeful.  I only had dry food, half of it was taken and the rest has sat on the terrace and I think it's consumed when the pickings in the rest of the village aren't so good.

I drove into Djebel, had a few words with my lady in the car-shop who told me that her son is representing Kardjali in a football match in Sofia today.  He's doing really well, talented in his sport and doing really well at the language school, it must have been all those afternoons that we had football practice after the English lesson was over.  I forgot that I'd spent most of my lev but thought that I would have enough to buy some gift wrap from the shop that I used ages ago.  I asked for ten sheets of what I thought was the cheap stuff but when I came to pay, it wasn't and I had to visit the cash point to finish the payment.  On the way back to the car I went into one of the newer shops and I really should have gone there first.....I'll know for future years.  She actually complemented my of my command of the Bulgarian language, it's probably that she doesn't have any English so is grateful that we can communicate.  I thing the answer is that she listened to me, others freeze when you approach them but I have no problems with her at all.  

I drove home and immediately set to the task I'd given myself.  The gift bags for the ladies of the village are more or less complete, everything else is purchased and just needs wrapping.  I worked on them until four thirty, lit the fire to take the chill off the air without having to put layers on, put the boiler on and tonight I shall be lingering in a hot bath.....bypassing supper....I'm not feeling hungry and if I don't then I don't force myself.

I've just noticed that it's eight thirty my time, time I ran that bath and started luxuriating.  More of the same tomorrow to get all of the presents wrapped and ready, I've realised I have a few more to buy but these are the special ones.  I did manage one pickie....the moon has shown its little face but only briefly....it's gone again.  LN.....The countdown is on...twelve days before I'm on my travels.......LN

Sunday 30th November

Well it was another four thirty start but I was soon settled again and slept through until eight...not so bad.  It was another dull, cold morning, I watched the sheep heading out to feed for the day and even they didn't seem to be rushing.  I had a meander morning, I'd mislaid the bus ticket for my trip to UK, I'd put it somewhere 'safe yesterday when I was wrapping presents but today it was nowhere to be seen.  I wanted to put it with my passport so let the hunt begin.  I'd had a good look for it yesterday or so I thought, I knew where I'd put it but lots of water had gone under that bridge since then, lots of presents wrapped, things moved so I went over the same ground.  Eventually I went to a wooden crate that I'd started to put the wrapped present in for the ladies and low and behold, I moved the first row and there it was so problem solved.  It's now with the passport in my 'to go' documents and I started to breathe again.  Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, fed the cat with more dry food and the taramasalata that I'd bought back from Greece and while I think the fish element went down well, not sure the texture and the colour was appreciated.  Most of it was eaten, Cat sat on the terrace licking its mouth and cleaning its fur, probably thought that the others might laugh at the fishy smell and pink lips.  

I cleared up after breakfast, didn't fancy wrapping more presents for today so went back to ancestry and had a break-through with one of the youngsters on the 1921 census.  I'd asked my friend before who the lad belonged to and she told me the story but I'd forgotten, I wanted to add him to the chart but didn't know which of her grandma's brother he belonged to.  I did some detective work, in the end phoned her and I managed to identify the child's mother mainly because she lived in the area that the relatives lived in before they moved to the later address.  I phoned her again and told her that I'd managed to find the mother and she can't wait to see the chard.  I also cleared up some of my doubts by mentioning a surname and she confirmed that it was relatives of her father so I know I have the correct facts....it's always good to know before you shoot down another rabbit hole.

It was so cold that I lit the fire, took a couple of chicken legs from the freezer and thawed them out, one for today and the other one for tomorrow.  I peeled a red onion and one normal one, a very large potato and half of a very large sweet potato and they were roasted alongside the chicken legs.  I also put in two cored apples with honey and brown sugar and they were pudding with yogurt.....the second leg is in the fridge and the vegetables that are left will probably go into an omelette for breakfast and the bones will go to Cat.  Everybody sorted and so was the kitchen, all the pots and pans washed and put away and clean for the morning.

Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow, if the weather is like this probably another day on wrapping and ancestry.  I've devised a method of writing it up using thick very large paper and I have a thick see through sheet of plastic that I bought to protect tablecloths and table tops and it's been sitting in the conservatory for a few months and then I had a lightbulb moment.....I can roll part of it up and protect it when I've finished one part and move on to the next.  It's still on the drawing board just got to check if it works in practice.  LN.....Eight my time, it's down to five degrees outside so I'm staying in and time another log went on.... LN