Saturday 1st November

Five start, back to sleep and it was eight thirty when I was up and about.  I had quite an active morning, washing put away and another load in the machine, I made my morning jungle juice but this time I grated fresh ginger, fried tomatoes on toast for breakfast, washed up and everything finished just before ten.  I was on a role.  I was then trying to think what I would do to fill the rest of my day.

Kitchen was the first to get tidied, next my bedroom, bed made and side table sorted, bathroom spruced up, there's only me but I make an effort to keep on top of things.  I'd laid the fire yesterday but hadn't lit it, it wasn't that cold last night nor this morning despite the temperature station recording that it was only three degrees outside.  I put 'BBC Listen Live on' until it became just noise and went back to the quiet of my abode, cat was out there but I searched the fridge and the freezer but found nothing except dry food and it turned its nose up at that but still kept demanding something else.  I advised it to go search the rest of the village.

It's been a complete lazy day, the book is finished and I intended trying to load more on to the Kindle from my computer but it just didn't want to play.  The other one was simpler to control and I wasn't in the frame of mind to sort things out that could become very complicated.  I sat outside for a while in the sun, toyed with the idea of taking the Nipper in for a tyre change and then forgot all about it, thought about taking the Beast for a spin to keep the battery up, but again, I wasn't in the frame of mind to do anything so decided to do nothing.   I found solace in a difficult Sudoku and managed to complete one of many that I've rubbed out and started again several times.  I'm even keeping a tally of the ones that I've managed.

The television went on at three and I continued with Peaky Blinders, my present addiction and despite having watched it a few time, never get bored with it....the characters are absorbing and the series compelling.  I did managed to switch it off around five thirty, hunger called and I put two chicken breast fillets in the slow cooker, a potato in the microwave and both seemed to ping at the same time.  I added butter to the potato and mayo as a side dish, refreshed my coffee and sat in the peace and quiet on the sofa to eat and inwardly digest.  It's now eight my time, hope the weather is good tomorrow, I've really got lots of gardening to do.  The roses all want cutting back and it's time some of the pots came in to the little house.  I've been lucky so far, we've only been teetering on the frost point but it could be any day soon.  LN....Early night to get my strength up for some of the bigger pots......LN

Sunday 2nd November

Had a silly night or morning with Peaky Blinders last night.....I knew it was getting near the end of the series but determined to see it through.  Half two when I got to bed, slept through until five and then back to sleep until seven thirty and kept going well all day.  It's been a most productive day.  I watched the morning sky but it was up and about it's business before I was but the sky was very blue, very sunny and the day felt very gentle.  I also noticed something feeding in the grass but everytime I managed to find it with the camera, it ducked out of view and it took three attempts and it was only when I looked at the camera confirmed what sort or bird it was.  I washed and dressed, noticed that the folded sweaters in the upstairs bedroom shelving had become untidy so refolded them and put them away neatly, did the same with the towels in the bathroom and followed this practice through the rest of the house during the day.

I'd forgotten that I had mushrooms in the fridge so peeled half of them and put them in a saucepan with butter and a little oil, remembered that I'd bought bacon so opened the packet and took three rashers, cut them up into pieces and added them to the mushrooms and had them on toast.  Different way to cook them but saved using the frying pan and the bacon was just as good.  Of course, the local bacon isn't as good as English bacon but I'll save that thought until I get there for Christmas.  Having finished breakfast and washing up done and put away, I moved to the downstairs winter bedroom and had a general tidy up in there.  The top of the chest had become a dumping ground since I'd moved upstairs and now there is room to put things down, storage boxes have been sorted, clothes hung up, documents that needed to be kept, filed and all clothes where I can find them.  From there I moved into the conservatory, re-organised the shelving unit and changed a few things around and next thing is to label the coffee jars with the contents.  It's just made me realise how much coffee I've got through since I've been here and the jars are all the same, Gold Blend purchased now when on special offer in both large and small sizes.  I shall be looking out for more soon, I'm down to two jars but at half price, offers are well worth looking out for.

I went on to the computer to check emails and suddenly thought that I'd check out the cost of flights to the UK and do a comparison between flying from Athens or Sofia and Sofia came in cheaper but not by much.  With Sofia departure and arrival is a well travelled route and so I decided to stick to what I know.  The website has changed and I had quite a few problems but eventually I sorted it out and booked outward and return at sensible times to make it down to Bulgaria and home.  By now it was heading for one o'clock and as I checked the weather station it was showing Saturday, November the 1st and I thought that I'd started the new month for this blog early and it had all gone pear-shaped....checked and it was the weather station not getting updated from Germany and now every thing showing correct, it must have been a glitch.  As for the rest of the afternoon, I started a new series on Netflix but only watched the first episode, my neighbour came round with some fluffy pancakes and I had them for a late lunch with honey and hen got my head down for an hour or so.  I had a catch-up phone call from the UK which took a while, printed off a few more Sudoku challenge sheets from my daughter so will have my evening cut out.  I don't need supper, pancakes are sitting heavy and maybe yogurt later.  LN....I've had a surprisingly active day for a Sunday...it's supposed to be a day of rest.....LN

Monday 3rd November

Up and dressed by seven thirty, wall to wall fog so didn't bother with 'morning sun', there wasn't any to be seen.  I made my usual jungle juice for breakfast to set me up for the day but I think a bottle of whisky would have done me better except that a) I didn't have one and b) I don't drink.  I sat on the sofa and settled down to complete a Sudoku, there was nothing really pressing to do but then I looked at the woodburner and I hadn't cleaned out the pipes from the woodburner to the chimney but I can change the tense of the verb....I have now.  I needed both little step-ladders to reach the pipes to the wall to the bathroom and a chunk of wood to bash them so that they detach from the chimney entry point in the bathroom.  It all worked, I lifted them down into a plastic bucket, managed to get them outside, separated them out so make them easier to clean, fetched the wire brushes from the woodstore and set to.  Everything cleaned in quicksticks and then the woodburner itself was in for a spring clean...or more like... winter clean.  It doesn't take long but it's the preparation, all the removable plates to be removed, tools to scrape the soot off the top of the burning compartment when the smoke goes through, you have to go in through the top to get at the inner workings and when you think you've finished, there's always that last bit and that's when the hoover comes into play.

I took the hoover outside when I'd finished and gave that a good clean and I must remember to get everything back inside and I just have.  The plastic parts are dry but the filter needs a little more before I put it all back together again.  At three I'd knocked off a couple of the difficult Sudoku and decided to have a wash and brush up and take the Nipper in to have it's winter tyres put on.  The Nipper started OK but when I got to the centre of the village is started misfiring and making funny noises and I had two choices, turn round or risk it down to the garage where there was a chance they could fix it ....so I risked it and got there.  Eventually they finished the MOT they were working on, I'd opened up the bonnet at this point to have a look and I noticed that the oil was a little low but nothing to create the problem that I was having.  It transpires that it wanted new plugs but added to that, the electrical connectors from the plugs that keep everything going looked like they were playing up so will need replacing.  The plugs were replaced but another link in the chain will be completed tomorrow,  The car is in the garage, hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow when the new parts arrive and the son from the garage dropped me off in the town to get a taxi.

I got in the first one, I had to put the seat belt over my head, they obviously don't get used much, we set off and I almost offered him my glasses.  It was a good job I sat in the front, I could help him out along the dark lanes since I knew the road, I pointed out that there was a car coming towards us that I spotted through the trees so he moved to our side of the road.  Another car pulled onto the road from a farm and without lights and we negotiated that successfully and the lights came on behind us and then a motorbike was coming towards us without lights and by now, the light was going fast.  The finale was me spotting a grey cow coming out of the bushes in front of us so I just said 'cow' in Bulgarian and 'slow' and we managed to avoid it and it and us went peacefully on our way.  I was pleased when we pulled up outside the house, I paid the man and wasn't ripped off, I think he thought that I'd earned the local fare.

I went in the house and noticed that the clock wasn't showing the correct time and that was a battery problem and I had a replacement that I fitted immediately.  The only problem is that the pendulum is difficult to reattach to the clock and I think I need to have a look at it when I've finished the update.  There also seems to be a problem with the weather station and that was showing a different time to everything else that I possess so that needs a fresh start where everything gets reset.  Supper is ready, I've got a casserole in the slow cooker that is ready to serve, just got to post the pictures and since they were taken on the phone I've take photos of my phone so they're not so good but it was that or nothing....big sorry.  LN.....I think it's time to relax after a busy relentless day......LN

Tuesday 4th November

Eventually got going around six thirty, not a lot happening outside, not much of a sunrise but on the whole, a very productive day.  I watched the birds, heard the woodpecker but didn't managed to photograph it, cat was sitting on the log cluster but didn't manage to catch it and I remembered that I had the remains of my last night's chicken supper.  I added dried cat food to the dish and it had two choices, it would either pick through it, which is what I expected but wonder of wonder, it ate the lot, must have been hungry and desperate.  I went into the lounge a little later and there was cat curled up on the cushion on the outside bench under the balcony so obviously had had a busy night, topped up with food and was now sleeping it off.  

I made toast and Marmite for my breakfast, did a load of washing, it was a cold old morning so I lit the fire around eleven so help the washing dry and to at least be warm sitting around.  I put the Beeb 2 on for background noise, played around trying to get books on to my Kindle but for some reason it didn't want to play so it might be that it's linked to Amazon.  I caught up with FB, answered a few messages and at twelve received one from the garage to let me know that the car was ready and ready for collection.  By now the rain had started to come down fairly heavily and by the fire wasn't a bad place to be and I toyed with the idea of leaving the Nipper where it was trying to work out the best method of attack.  I thought about driving in in the Beast and leaving the Beast in the garage and bringing the Nipper home and going into Djebel on the Friday bus to get the Beast home.  In the end I phoned a taxi company using a number that I had in my phone and explained that I wanted the taxi from Dushinkovo to the garage in Djebel.  I asked if he knew where I lived, that I was the English woman and he knew my house, said he would be here in fifteen minutes or so and true to form, he arrived on time.  Another kamikaze driver, a couple of swerves when he was demonstrating that he knew how to drive on the other side of the road as we do in England and proceeded to show me.  

Got safely to the garage, nobody else there, Nipper was waiting for me, the owner started it, he told me the total, plugs, two new electrical connections to the engine, winter tyres put on  and winter checks completed.  I didn't have enough money on me so paid half of it and drove to the cash-point and then on to the garage shop and paid the remainder to his wife, I sat with her, they were shutting up the garage early and going into Kardjali to get a few things.  There was no one around, it was still pouring down as I drove home, perked up the fire, checked supper that I'd put in the slow-cooker this morning and settled down on the sofa and I've started watching Outlander again.  Fire going well, washing dry and ready to put way, there's enough supper left for a cat's breakfast, I've put the boiler on and I'm off for a bath.  LN.....Just got the winter checks to get done on the Beast, all weather tyres  already fitted....I hear the bath calling....LN

Wednesday 5th November

Cold miserable morning and although not raining it wouldn't take long to appear.  I checked on the bench and cat was asleep on the cushion, it was still quite early and I left it sleeping and when I checked later the eyes were open, peering at me with the head resting on the paws.  I had food left over from last night so warmed it up a little, retrieved the bowl from the terrace and put the new stuff down and added some of the dry food pellets again not knowing if they would be touched or not, but they were....only a few remained.

I made my drink with a lemon, salt, cloves and honey, added hot water and then waited for it to circulate the system before I made coffee and toast and marmite for my breakfast.  It was too cold and wet outside to do anything so I settled on the sofa and watched more of Outlander, the house had maintained overnight heat and tempting as it was to strike up the fire, I left it for a while.  At round nine thirty I felt this almighty 'bump', it came out of the blue so I went outside and checked the walls.  It felt like something had rammed the house, but nothing was amiss.  I also went upstairs to see if the hanging clothes rail had detached itself from the ceiling but again, nothing had changed.  I put it out of my mind but then a message came through asking if I had felt the earthquake.  I responded with a message saying that I'd only felt a bump, not a quake but apparently it had struck over the Greek border and had affected as far afield as Turkey.  It was only four point three on the scale, quite a considerable 'bump' and no damage recorded.  

My next alarm was seeing my local mayor outside on the terrace so I went out and fortunately by this time I was dressed and he had again received a message from the Immigration head guy asking if I could send a picture of my residency card on Viber to his office.  I replied that I didn't use that app. but that I would copy it and drive to Kardjali with it.  I was in the Nipper at two and heading to town, I parked up, the parking payment app. was playing up so I risked it, walked to the office and knocked on the chief's door.  He shouted to go in and when I did there were two other officers in there, I handed his the copy I had taken of the document and he responded that he wanted my passport not the Bulgarian document.  I replied that wasn't the information I'd received from the Cmet but he mumbled that someone had got it wrong so my response was that I'd made an unnecessary journey.  There was no apology and in fact, the Cmet had had a wasted journey too. I was seething, responded with I didn't use Viber and did he have an email address but the more I thought about it, I really didn't want a copy of my new passport on the internet so tomorrow I shall make another journey to Kardjali and  they can make the photocopies.  I got back to the car, fortunately I'd not received any parking fines and drove home and was back her for three thirty more or less.

By now it was time to light the fire, my brain was mulling over the events of the afternoon and I was really angry at the incompetence and more so because I'd checked with the mayor when he arrived and he confirmed that it was my registration document that I had to take, there was no mention of a British passport.  Back to the television, at five I realised that I was hungry so opened a can of beans, put some bread in the toaster, lashings of butter and beans on toast was ready in quicksticks and demolished just as quickly.  Yogurt and honey sprinkled with ginger powder to follow finished it off and tomorrow morning early I shall be in the Nipper with my passport and I shan't be handing it over quietly.  I need to know where the error was made.  LN.....I just hate inefficiency.....LN

Thursday 6th November

Funny old day, early start then went back to sleep until eight which put me behind somewhat.  I wanted to get to the Immigration office in Kardjali early to submit photocopies of my British passport.  I'd handed it over to them in the office the day I'd had it returned to me from the Passport Office and the person responsible had failed to copy the necessary pages required.  Getting anyone to own up to it was impossible and passing on the wrong information to my Mayor who gave me the message was also similar to pinning the tail on the donkey.  I explained to the assistant that I didn't sent in the information in an email, I really don't want my passport particulars on someone else's laptop....not safe in this day and age.  Before I left the office I asked for confirmation that the date given to me to pick up my new residency card still stands explaining that I didn't want another wasted journey for something that should have been a simple process...it turned out to be very complicated.

It was another rainy day and I decided not to stay in Kardjali but to get back, light a fire and have a restful day.  I stopped off at Lidl, spent more that I should have done or expected to do but have enough meat from the reduced to clear section for the next couple of weeks.  From there I stopped off and filled up with gas, it had run out on my way home yesterday so that was another job done.  It was now heading for twelve thirty so made a decision to go to my local restaurant for chicken leg and rice which would mean that I wouldn't have to cook a meal tonight and instead settled for cheese and onion sandwiches.  I lit the fire around three and it's been going well, it's twenty degrees inside and seven degrees out but everything outside just feels really cold and damp.  I actually put my pyjamas and fleece coverall on around six after I'd topped up the log carrier in the porch to keep the homefires burning.  LN.....No photos tonight, took some of the leaves in the park in Kardjali but on my phone and not managed to get them off to post....I'll do better next time.......LN

Friday 7th November

Another day for hugging the fire finding to do 'stuff' inside.  I cleared the kitchen after feeding the cat and myself, bacon and fried tomatoes for me and cat settled for the left over chicken and cat biscuits.  I did managed to peel a slice of bacon that had become dry so when out to find cat, it had gone to ground having finished breakfast but with a little calling,it appeared, snaffled the bacon and went back into the shelter of the wall.  I didn't wake up until eight thirty this morning after stupidly watching tv until early this morning and as such have been catching up with myself for most of the day.  I found the spicy sausages in the fridge, half a red onion from last night's supper of cheese and onion sandwiches, sliced the onion, skinned the sausage and put them in the slow cooker with a tin of tomatoes with added onion and garlic.  I bought the can yesterday, normally settle for ordinary tomatoes but and I'll be reviewing them tomorrow...supper is about to be served.

I sorted out the wood in the conservatory and laid the fire ready for tonight.  I realised there wasn't a lot chopped so I headed out to the wood store, cleared two of the log carriers and I now have one full of fairly large chunks that the axe had now effect on and one that has the chopped fillers that should keep the larger chunks firing.  I think some that was delivered was from last year and is really seasoned, maybe I should be ordering another ton of this years, to make sure I have enough to last but with three weeks over Christmas and New Year taking me to the UK.....I should be OK....and why give myself more work.

So after the effort of chopping wood I decided that I would visit my ancestry site and do a bit more digging.  For some reason I'd developed an aversion to spending days trying to sift and achieve, the accident last year did more that just hurt my spine, it dampened my spirits and I suppose Netflix took over.  Today I've managed to print off and splice together the family chart so that I can write it up and just follow my father's line back to the sixteen hundreds.  The fact that I've added all the marriages and their families has made it difficult to write up the chart but now it doesn't seem such a challenge.  I'll be making a start on it tomorrow so I'll let you know.

Again no pretty views to photograph and cat wasn't feeling like posing, I think it's developed an aversion to having pickies taken.  LN....Time for supper, poke the fire and take advantage of it.  It's ten degrees outside so not cold but damp as you like...or don't like.....LN

Saturday 8th November

It's just been one of those days.  It started OK, I was up and about by seven and making my morning drink, I played on the phone and then made breakfast of fried egg and bacon and all was looking good.  I picked up where I'd left off with my ancestry programme and was starting to write it up from the printed 'stuck together' pages making more sense of it as I went.  It's difficult when there are lots of families involved, it only takes someone to get married and then you have their family to fit into the chart and in the case of my relatives there were lots of children, most of them got married and then they had children.  This was actually curtailed, the internet went down or so I thought so I phoned the garage to see if theirs was up and it was.  This led me to believe that I had a problem with my system, I tried to restart it but I couldn't remove one of the cables so I phoned the company as as far as they were concerned it was my problem not general.  The engineer phoned me back after saying that he would be with me in half an hour since the company had realised that the fault was with the antena that serves my system, not the Djebel one.  He told me to hang fire, it would be up soon.  He phoned me back to check that it was working and it was and that's what I like about my local company, they know me, they know the house and they provide brilliant customer service.

I then set about sorting out the printer that's attached to my main computer.  Since it had been repaired I hadn't used it on that machine, it works with everything else over WiFi  but there was a message on the screen that there was an update waiting so I set about updating it, it uploaded OK but then I had to locate the password for the printer and enter it into the system which I did and now everything is working properly.  It means that I can use the big machine to do ancestry work, the desk is much larger up there and more room to spread 'stuff' out.

I had a visit from the grand-daughter of the lady who's mevlit I had been to a couple of weeks ago, this time she was round with another goody bag to commemorate her grandfather's passing and it was from granny as well.  I told her not to deliver anymore or I'd have to go on a diet.  At four I lit the fire, what looked like a promising day had turned cold, rainy and back to being generally miserable.  I ate the contents of the goody bag and at six I was cooking chicken in cornflakes in the air-fryer, serving it with mayo and setting myself up for the evening.  Pitch black outside, not a star in sight in what should be a very interesting sky if you could get beyond the clouds.  LN.....Better luck next year......LN

Sunday 9th November

Usual routine this morning, jungle juice consisting of orange juice, lemon juice, salt, ginger, pepper, cloves and turmeric, I took it up to bed and savoured it.  I'd used powdered ginger this morning so no much 'sludge' in the bottom except for the cloves which are big enough that I was able to strain it though my teeth.  It wasn't such a bad morning. there was sun, not much mist and I was very tempted to take a trip down to Greece, I made a bacon and cheese omelette and by the time I'd finished it, washed up, showered and washed my hair the mist had come in or come down and you could see very little of the hillside so that put the idea out of my mind, I put the television on and settled in to watch Netflix while the washing tumbled in the machine.

I got dressed settling for a pair of tights and a fleece jumper, I wouldn't be lighting the fire until late afternoon but I set it ready so that all I had to do was put the fire lighter to it.  I suddenly had a burst of energy, took the hoover from the bedroom and hovered through downstairs and my biggest problem is collecting up the long hairs, I need one of those machines that chop up the hair as it's collected, I've seen them advertised and must investigate.  

By now it was heading up to twelve o'clock, the clouds and mist had lifted and there was a blue sky, no saying how long it would last but I'd decided that I was a home bird today, it was cold out and so I lit the fire.  It didn't take long for the hot water to start circulating through the radiators and taking the chill off the air, I thought it was sofa and back to Netflix but the internet got the better of me and it didn't come back on until four thirty.  I was tempted to phone up to see if it was me or the antenna but it came on again so I'm guessing that it's the same problem as yesterday.  I've just brought the washing in from the conservatory and it's in the downstairs bedroom by the radiator, it shouldn't take too long to finish off, fish finger sandwiches for supper followed by an apple sliced into a bowl, topped with more ginger powder and honey and popped in the microwave so that the honey melted and the apple had softened.    LN....Time to switch off now and settle with Sudoku.  I have managed to complete two of the 'extreme' ones this afternoon....quite and achievement.....LN

Monday 10th November

I was awake at half five, made my morning herbal brew and took it back to bed and at seven went down and made coffee.  I put the washing away and got on with chores, made breakfast of beans on toast and sat at the table in the stairwell eating it.  I cleared out the fire and set it for later in the day, the way that the weather was looking it wouldn't be much later in the day.  We were back to low clouds, there was a hint of pink first thing but it was downhill after that.  It appeared to be growing lighter and I was drawn to the mulberry tree and the leaves against the grey sky looked magnificent and later I noticed the maple by the well, unfortunately didn't have my camera with me but that's turned a beautiful shade of red.  I'll try and catch it tomorrow.

I concentrated on using the remains of the beans putting them with chopped red onions, a spicy sausage, a packet of chicken soup and macaroni into the slow cooker and setting it for high and then turning it down to medium.  I left it bubbling and decided to have an early supper at two in the afternoon and it definitely filled up a gap.  That's the trouble when the weather is miserable, cold and wet, thoughts turn to comfort food and this was definitely it.  I appear to have made enough for the five thousand so that's tomorrow sorted as well.

The rest of the day was taken up with Sudoku and Netflix, I lit the fire at around four, the water was buzzing round the system around four twenty and thank goodness it was.  I snuggled down, not quite under a blanket but might as well have been.  My phone went off and I answered it and I picked up a few words, the lady was speaking very quickly in very proficient Bulgarian so I told her to stop.  I picked up immigration so gathered it was about my new residency card, I asked her if it was ready and gathered it was so I've arranged to go in and collect it tomorrow....I don't like being without a valid card, things get really complicated even though it's the fault of the immigration department that they couldn't get the new one ready before the previous one expired.  They forgot to photocopy one of the pages of my new passport, it's a new design and they weren't ready for it....not seen it before.  It's still raining, it's still cold and miserable and hopefully we might have a few good days, we've had none so far in November.  LN.....My feet are turning webbed and foot rot appears to be setting in.....LN

Tuesday 11th November

Early to bed, early to rise, but far too early to get out of bed so head down and it was a couple of hours later when the day started for real for me.  I opened the curtains to check on the weather and I saw something that I hadn't seen for a while.  A glow of morning sun behind the clouds, a touch of blue sky, the clouds breaking and glimpses of the sun and then it was covered again by dark clouds but the rain stayed away.

I stipped the bed and put my first load of washing into the machine, went down and made my health drink and took it back upstairs and sat on the rocker watching the morning.  The second load went into the machine, I made coffee, put the first load on to the stairs to dry and dressed for town, I didn't have breakfast.  I was driving into Kardjali just before ten, stopped off at the car-shop to see if she wanted anything from Kardjali but as usual she didn't so I carried on and was parking up by ten thirty.  I walked to the immigration office, I only had to sign for my new card, it's much better than the old one with a much larger photograph and it's valid for ten years...ever hopeful.  I'm guessing that they didn't want to see me again in five years time, I was originally told that the ten year card was no longer issued....but hey....I've got one.  I went back to the car and decided to try Kaufland supermarket, I've not used it since the upgrade of the store and I shan't be using it again.  It's just not an easy place to negotiate but there was a funny incident...a man was coming towards me down an aisle and the planners had put a thumping great girder in the centre of the aisle and his trolley wouldn't go through and it was so central that I couldn't get through either.  Having worked in Supermarkets and store refits in my previous life, it brought great mile to my face which the man saw and we both sort of put our feelings on our face at the same time.  We turned round and went our separate ways and wondered why they hadn't built the store fittings round it and hiding it leaving the aisle clear.  Planners egh.

Back to the car and drove to Djebel, stopped off at my little supermarket and got everything else I needed and the prices are much better, the girls working there much more polite, friendly and understand customer service.  I shan't be rushing to Kaufland anytime soon.  Home for one, shopping unpacked and put away, set the fire for later, made coffee and stretched out on the sofa and put Netflix on.  Eventually got round to making cheese and onion sandwich for lunch, made up the bed, lit the fire, put the slow cooker on with the remains of last night's supper which will do for tonight.  LN.....All documents complete.....I can now relax for another ten years on the document front.....LN

Wednesday 12th November

It was a restless night and an early morning start.  I was awake at five thirty and got going quite quickly, I did have a nap over a Sudoku this afternoon but then came to again and carried on with the good work.  Firstly though I made my morning herbal brew and took it upstairs, I'd already made my bed so sat on the rocker watching the rest of the morning come to life.  It was wall to wall mist, I'd gone out onto the balcony around two this morning and took a picture of the shrouded moon, it took me a while to get back off to sleep but eventually I did although it was short lived.  I put the washing away and got on with setting the fire and generally tidying round, washed up from last night.  I changed the cloth on the table, tidied up the cables, put my phone on charged and Sudoku was an easy option...or so I thought.  I was working my way through the Telegraph ones that had been rubbed out several times when it usually fell apart on the last few entries.

I noticed the rubbish bin in the conservatory so picked up the fire lighter, the basket of rubbish and headed down to the bottom of the garden and the burning container.  I'd put the lid back on it from the last time and fortunately despite the incessant rain over the last couple of weeks, it didn't take long to light and was soon destroying the evidence....bean cans, potato peelings and onion skins.  I let it burn without the lid on and watched it for a while, put the lid on and sat on the wall enjoying the view, the blue sky and the beauty of my surroundings.  I left it to its own devices and tackled another job that I should have done probably in the spring.  Some of the large buckets had accumulated lots of rain water almost brimming over the containers so I took a hammer and a nail, drove the nail through the containers at the bottom and the water started to come out.  I'll made a better job of it for next year.  I toyed with the idea of bringing in the plant pots but it still seems early, the temperature went down to eight degrees overnight and despite the sun it's not climbed much higher but I'd dressed for the weather so didn't get cold.

Everything locked away by five, I lit the fire and it's ticking along in the background.  I made a cheese and onion sandwich about an hour ago so that looks like being my supper for tonight....I'm not in the mood for cooking and I certainly won't starve.  I think a bath might ease out the aches and pains, my back has been given me a few twitches today....time to put the boiler on.  LN......Another gentle day tomorrow, if the weather is good I'll be out with the loppers, if it's not I'll be catching up on the ancestry that I've committed to for a friend......LN

Thursday 13th November

No sunrise to speak of ....it was probably going on but well hidden by the morning mist and it took ages to burn off.  It was only one degree outside according to my phone and it didn't go up much all day.  Health drink becoming the norm, it was just before seven when I was sitting on the rocker drinking it and I've now taken to adding clove water to the mix, I've a jar steeping cloves and use this to have it ready available to mix with the rest of the contents.  This morning I grated fresh ginger that I'd bought a couple of days ago, it was really fresh and eating the dregs from my drink made up for the fact that I hadn't got round to making breakfast.  I disturbed Cat when I was throwing out some bread for the birds, I noticed that the food that I'd put out yesterday had disappeared and I wasn't sure if Cat had had it or one of the others.  I put more out, it was only the dry stuff but any port in a storm so to speak, if Cat was hungry it would fill the gap.

I did my usual chores, set the fire for later, the house was still warm from last night so choose not to light it and didn't do so until just before five this evening.  I made bacon and fried tomatoes for breakfast and was washing up at eleven so really late but then set about making soup in the slow cooker for supper.  I peeled carrots, potatoes, an onion and beetroot which left me with very red hands, put them all in the slow cooker with water and left it to its own devices.  I took a spicy sausage from the freezer, microwaved it to thaw it and added it to the slow cooker and by four thirty I was blending half of the contents of the slow cooker, served it with the sausage that had been removed before blending and a chunk of bread and it was delicious.  The remains of the slow cooker I also blended and that's now in the freezer for another day.  I should make more for the freezer, it's wholesome, filling and with really little effort.

I went out with the camera to catch the sunset and surprised Cat yet again lingering at the corner of the house so I went in and found the dried food, the cooked skin from the sausage and left Cat to it and when I checked, everything had been eaten so nothing for an vagrants to scavenge on.  LN.....That bath that I was having last night didn't materialise so it looks like it's on for tonight.....LN

Friday 14th November

Beautiful morning, not a very good night.  I had the most vivid dream that I couldn't escape from, woke up two or three times and have felt unsettled for most of the day.  I should really have gone out into the garden, found jobs to do there are always things to do, some more taxing than others but instead I chose to chase the renewal of my health card, I found telephone numbers on the internet which advised me that I'd tried to dial a 'wrong' number.  I searched for new number and eventually emailed the 'Help Line' with a reply that they were unable to assist with my request.  No wonder so many people choose to give up....everything is so complicated and if a telephone number is no longer active, update to a new number or suggest solutions....just my complaint for the day!!..

This took me to more or less lunchtime so I got on with the things that I usually have completed mid morning but Cat was earlier to the breakfast buffet.  I checked for the cushion on the bench around eight this morning, Cat opened the eyes, got up and stretched so I filled up the bowl and Cat gingerly approached, ate most of it but still a 'scaredy cat', and there is still food in the bowl.  I guess that the rest of the village still support it and it would now go and 'do the rounds' so to speak.  I made my normal jungle juice, settled for toast for my breakfast and that's done me through until now.  I snoozed for part of the day on the sofa, tried to watch Netflix but wasn't in the mood to chase down a new series, nothing on offer 'newly added' incited interest and that will obviously take more time.  I settled on Sudoku and I have two more to rub out and start again and on the whole I haven't felt that I've had a very successful day....but I suppose we all get those.

I've just lit the fire, am waiting for the 'super moon' to start to rise up, apparently it's the closest it will be to the earth this year and hopefully I shall see it come up over the mountains.  It's a clear sky, there are stars out already at six thirty my time but I've just checked on the time of the moon rise, tonight and I'm not sure I can stay awake that long and it's the 'crescent phase' so might or might not see anything worth recording if indeed, I manage to wake up.  There must be a full moon somewhere.

The air fryer has just pinged, chicken on skewers are ready along with potato slices and I shall not heed the warning about mayo being bad for me....my life in my hands....but the minimum quantity will be squeezed out of the 'Healthy Option' bottle.  LN....Supper and then a Netflix search in the absence of a moon watch.......LN

Saturday 15th November

I left the curtains open last night just in case I woke up and spotted the moon and sure enough I did. it was dark, cold, the mist was hanging over the mountains and the moon had a halo round it.  Lots of stars out and I'm still none the wiser which were the planets, Aquarius is supposed to be very close to where I was looking but I couldn't make it out.  I need an expert to point me in the right direction.  Anyway, I recognised the moon and took a couple of pickies just in case and as promised, but it certainly wasn't as dramatic as I was led to believe.   Coupled with the fact that it's only a third moon and I hadn't got my measuring tape with me, it looked the same as normal to me.  I did manage to get back to sleep but once disturbed, the deep sleep eluded me and at six I was on my phone playing around.

I got up and made coffee and took it back upstairs with me, the outside temperature was one degree, mountain to mountain fog but it eventually cleared and we've had a pleasant day.  I fried off mushrooms and bacon, was going to make an omelette, forgot all about it and put a couple of slices of toast in toaster and had the mushrooms and bacon on toast.  Thinking about it it was probably much better for me especially on brown bread, the white that I'd got out of the freezer a couple of days ago had green specks on it so it's now sitting on the grass for the benefit of anything that wants it.  Cat wasn't around this morning but the food from yesterday had gone but I didn't stress myself, she eventually showed up this afternoon and so I topped up the dish and there's nothing left.  I've just checked the cushion on my bench under my bedroom balcony but she hasn't come home to roost yet.

As for the rest of the day, I settled in to a little housework, fetched some small wood in, set the fire for later, added the rest of the details required for my flight to the UK and that was quite eventful.  I was unable to get into my email account on my old machine and tried several passwords but none worked.  Eventually I resorted to changing it which meant that it stopped working on this machine....how complicated can things get.  Eventually I managed to add my passport details and print off my boarding passes to that's another thing off the list ticked off.  

Supper is in the oven.  I haven't done roasted vegetables for ages and I have potatoes, onions, carrots and beetroot along with half a rack of pork ribs with savoury spice on them and the other half went back into the freezer for another day.  It should be ready any time soon, the fire needs another log on it to last me until bedtime, temperature outside is dropping and currently nine degrees but according to a friend from Latvia, she woke up to snow and apparently it's been spotted in the UK.....winter draws on.  LN...Time to check supper, then back to sorting out the paperwork for my family chart and return chaos to order....LN

Sunday 16th November

It's not seemed like a Sunday today....Dull old morning, I spotted the grasshopper or locust, I didn't get that close but it's mighty big and still there now, I've just checked.  It was dark when I woke up, made myself my usual drink adding lots of fresh grated ginger, turmeric, lemon juice, salt and pepper and it really does start the day off well.  I made the bed as I got out of it, that's when I spotted the large thing in the corner of one of the large windows to the balcony and it's still there now.  It's still ten degrees outside according to my weather station, cat didn't sleep on the cushion last night and must have found a warmer spot, maybe it's headed to the garage housing the Beast, there is still the 'nest' that I made up for it last year.

The mist eventually cleared, today I was expecting a friend to arrive but there wasn't a time put on it.  She was supposedly out on the town last night in Kardjali and had booked a room in the venue so I didn't expect her early so I had a lazy morning.  I filled up the bath, left the boiler on for top-ups and emerged fully soaked around nine, dressed for the weather in jeans and long sweater, made toast for breakfast, set the fire and I was now filling in time before she arrived.  I've been doing a family chart for a friend for a while but not completed it and I've not been very active on the ancestry front.  You have to remember such a lot and having been away from it for a couple of months, it's almost like starting from scratch again.....you have to get to know the characters.  I'd dug out the print-offs yesterday and started to sort them into centuries....the research is back to the middle seventeen hundreds and in those days that had lots of children.  It didn't help that the name was 'Smith' and it seems that in one particular village they are all related so it was 'wheat and chaff' situation but all's good after a day of it.

My friend arrived around ten thirty so ti was down tools and coffee on the go.  We caught up on her exploits, and I related my brush with immigration and she said that she's found a new little supermarket in Greece and we've planned a visit on Wednesday.  Apparently the fresh meat counter knocks spots off the butchers here and minced meat is exactly that so I better sort the freezer out and make some space.  My village friend came round with fluffy pancakes in memory of a passing from one of her neighbours.  She noticed the flowers on the terrace so I said she could have a pot, but not today since I had a visitor,  She said that her mother had had a fall and her knee wasn't so good and did I have any cream which I don't...I've not used it for ages.  She's obviously used up the tube that I gave her so I better buy another and take it down to her mother at some point.

Now to go and do something with the remains of the roasted veg from last night.  I did far too much so tonight the rest will go into an omelette to use them up.  I have to go and poke the fire, it's burning but not very brightly.  LN......Tonight I shall be cutting, gluing and pasting sections of the family chart on to a large sheet of paper so that I can get it to the stage that I can put it into Excel, add hyperlinks to make it easier to understand.  Press the link and the children pop up and can be made to disappear again....it only life were like that......LN

Monday 17th November

I didn't have a very good night, I fell asleep on the sofa early, woke up and went to bed and not an ounce of sleep in me so played reels until three, back to sleep and woke at seven so good the zzz's in but in patches.  Managed to get through the day without resorting to an afternoon nap and did some quite strenuous exercise this afternoon.  This morning was the usual morning routine, I had saved the remains of yesterdays jungle juice containing mainly the grated ginger, added hot water, lemon juice, sea salt and that was sufficient to 'break my fast'.  I didn't rush to make breakfast, I put the washing away, made the bed and was cooking the rest of the mushrooms and the remains of the bacon, making toast and setting myself up for the rest of the day and it was eleven thirty when I was washing up the breakfast things.

I played around with ancestry for a while, photo copied my new documents and laminated them ready to pack for the UK,  tried on a few clothes that I've not worn for a while, I'm taking limited luggage so want to pack what I really need, no space for 'maybe's.  I sorted out my make-up bag and cut it down to one of everything instead of what the make-up bag currently contained, found a mirror that stays together not separates into two sections and then went on the hunt for a book that I have to return.  Unfortunately I'd put it somewhere 'safe' and it took me a couple of panics to find it but now it's where I know it to be with other things that I need to return before I set sail for the UK.  I received a missive from my local post office, a photo of the letter that has only taken one month to arrive, via snail mail, so I messaged back to say that I was on my way but when I got there just before three, the office was all locked up.  Now on the door it gives the afternoon hours of work as three until five so I phoned the young lady, who doesn't speak English and gabbles in Bulgarian and asked her if she was working this afternoon.  I took it that she wasn't, not sure if she was on holiday or ill so I said that I would go to the post office tomorrow morning at approximately ten so that should give her time to get herself organised, fingers crossed she's there otherwise I shall be waiting for her after my next phone call.

When I got back I decided to fill up the log carrier that only had a few logs in so trundled it from the conservatory to the woodstore and I noticed how many leaves had found their way into the garage and all over the yard.  Knowing that the cows are good hoovers I used the barrow and the scarifier to move them outside the gate and onto the grass so that the wind blew them away from my drive and fortunately the cows got there first.  Next to split a few logs, I've done lots of them but it's easier to do them when there isn't snow around and winter's on it's way nobody wants to be out when it's minus five outside in the snow.  I wheeled the logs into the conservatory, got the fire going,  made sure everything was locked up, made a coffee and messaged a couple of friends retarding the return of property and apologies in advance that I shan't be able to get to see people in the UK over Christmas, I have work to do in the UK.

The wind appears to have gotten up again, there will probably be another pile of leaves to move in the morning.  If the weather is good tomorrow, I intend getting the plants in just in case the temperature really drops and the hope of salvaging them disappears.    The fairy lights over the two fir trees are being tossed around with the 'breeze', they might be down the bottom of the garden if the wind keeps at it.  LN.....Post office then pottering, plants in, benches in water bottles filled from the spring and Wednesday, the new supermarket that my friend has found it Komotini....the sausages are supposed to be good......LN

Tuesday 18th November

Woke up early but did go to bed after waking up on the sofa yet again.....I'm managing my sleeping allowance in stages...or rather not managing it.  I need another good Netflix series that manages to keep me awake until I decided when I should be going to bed.  I slept really well until six, tried to bed down again but it wasn't happening so I settled for reels and FB, out of bed by eight and then the usual routines kept me busy.  I think I went to be too well fed last night.  I was working on ancestry and it's now at the stage to start writing it up but I've got to break it down into pages and families, my friend is not computer literate so I'll make a hard copy but with feeds to the next generation.  It's an easy way for her to follow the years back.  I made the mistake of winding down with a series I'd half watched before and that's when the attention went and the sleep bugs took over.

So to bed at twelve and awake at six, and eventually I managed to get to the bathroom and decided to sort out the medicine depository under the washbasin but firstly I'd noticed that the water was slow to go down the drain so I found a packet of sink blocker in the kitchen, first unscrewed the water catcher under the washbasin and gave that a good clean, screwed it back together and put the crystals down the drain and slowly turned on the tap and got water into the drain and I could hear it bubbling away.  It's good stuff and works well.  That was when I noticed the container with the tablets in so I got rid of anything that had an expired sell-by date and they're already in the burning box so now I know that everything is current in there.

Next job was to go to the post office to get my letter from the bank so I phoned the girl and we agreed on twelve thirty and since I had time to spare, I went into Djebel, paid my phone bill that's not an automatic payment from the bank and is my reserve phone only costing three pounds a month.  Stopped off at a couple of friends shops killing more time and met up with friends that I'd not seen for ages.  I went to the chemist and bought some more 'Reparil' gel but didn't manage to deliver to my neighbour, I'll save it for when her daughter is here at the weekend.  I dashed into the supermarket for some bread, I was down to dregs this morning, and then carried on to the post office and the young lady wasn't there as arranged so I phoned her again and she said that she was on her way.....it appears that the hours of work displayed on the door don't mean a thing so I shall be moving my post to Djebel post office, they work to normal hours.  So I opened up the envelope and there was only one card in there so I told her that there was another on the way and asked if she would phone me when it arrived and hopefully be there to hand it over....or am I asking too much.

I came home, phoned the bank and advised them that I'd received one card and could they please take the block off it so that I could use it....I wasn't sure how it would be accepted at the cash-point if the block was still in place.  While I was on I asked the clerk it he could check my balances, I don't get bank statements to Bulgaria but I've changed that now..........On checking the balance of the second account, he noticed that no interest had been added since August, said he'd never seen it before and wanted to pass it on which he did.  It was investigated and another person advised me that it was being paid into the other account so now problems, the figures add up.  I've now requested monthly bank statements so I know where my money goes.  

I then looked at the desk and decided that it was time that I had a cull of 'bits of paper' and spent a couple of hours and it's looking much better...time well spent.  I've just  lit the fire, the wind appears to be in the wrong direction so might need a little more starter wood to get the heat up.  We've gone back to normal, dark clouds, spots of rain and clouds and I've just checked the weather for Greece, I'm going down there tomorrow with the friend who's found the new supermarket, Thursday looks better but but we'll just have to run between shops and eat inside not out on the terrace in Fanari if we get that far.  Added a photo of my sister and myself, it was her (heavenly) birthday yesterday....and this is what I put her through as a sprog.  LN....I've just put some really dry old stuff on the fire....it's looking better already....I shall have hot radiators......LN

Wednesday 19th November

Washed my hair and had a shower, I was off to Greece today with a friend to visit a supermarket that she was introduced to by another friend.  I was over at her house by ten as arranged and she said that she'd had a message to say that the border road was closed earlier but that it appeared that everything was back to normal and the day out was on.  It was a dull old morning on my drive down but it wasn't raining, visibility was good and the sun was trying hard to peep through but not quite managing it.  We set off and took the backroad down to the road to Greece and as we reached a junction, there was an old man thumbing a lift and I'm quite used to men flagging me down when I'm going into Djebel with only two buses a week at that time in the morning.  One on Monday and the next on Friday, market and mosque days so I usually stop, she was reticent but she gave way, there were two of us and we both looked healthier than he did.  He was so grateful and we dropped him off where our roads separated, he wanted to go into the town and we wanted the highway to Greece, he thanked us and went on his way.

As we hit the road to Greece we fell upon the reason that the road had been closed, the fog was really thick and the authorities had probably waited for the morning to build before the road had been opened up.  There were the usual maniacs around, we took it steadily, turned off towards the market in Komotini and unfortunately took the wrong turning to where we wanted to be.  I take my hat off to my chauffeur, she worked her way through the backstreets and low and behold, the supermarket was before us and there was a Mall in close proximity so we went there first.  They had the usual shops that we have in Bulgaria but they're not ones that I normally go into, I've got too many clothes to think of buying more.  We stopped for a coffee, it was good enough to sit outside and I everyone that we met that morning were pleased to be working, had smiles on faces and nothing was too much trouble.  The second good point was that most of them spoke English but at least I am able to say 'thank you' in Greek so felt I was doing my bit to even things out.

Back in the car and we drove to the supermarket and my friend likened it to 'Sainsbury' and I was struck by the openness of the aisles and the cleanliness and that there weren't that many people there that morning.  I found the fish counter by the smell and we moved on to the fresh produce and the quality was just so good.  I bought pomegranates, lemons, pineapple ready cubed, green apples at half the price than they would have been in BG.  I also bought beetroot, sweet potatoes, ordinary potatoes at a fraction of the price.  Water was only one euro fifty for twelve small bottles and it was strange to see tins of English brands, baked beans and corned beef, shampoos and shower gels from Spain and when we arrived at the meat counter they had real beef and pork and it looked like a real meat counter.  I selected a chunk of beef and had it minced freshly in front of me so that you know what you are getting.  Minced meat in BG is such a let down, and having got my one kilogram of beef for fifteen euro I managed to get six portions out of it and it's now in the freezer for whenever I need it.  The exercise now is to compare the prices of equivalent items for value and price differences.....identify what needs to go on the list for our next visit. One comparison we did do was on Ariel washing powder, the same product, six hundred ml. more in the Greek pack for two euro cheaper.

I drove home along the road where the Beast had it's catastrophe last year and it brought back not so good memories.  No issues tonight though, I unpacked the shopping, lit the fire, put away most of the shopping,  we'd not had lunch so I settled for toast with Taramasalata (fish roe) that I'd bought in Greece.  For dessert I had the fresh pineapple with Greek yogurt and it was so much nicer than the Bulgarian yogurt.  Fire going well, hot water belting round the system, I'll tidy the kitchen in the morning, the washing that I did before I set off is ready to be put away and tomorrow there is absolutely nothing on the agenda....so far.  LN....We shall definitely be paying the store another visit...well worth the drive down there.  LN

Friday 20th November

What a busy day, lots achieved but it's been a little jumbled.  Firstly the weather hasn't really helped, it was similar to April showers, fine then throwing it down, then fine again and back to square one.  I did take advantage of the rain, I was tempted to put the water barrel back under the downpipe from the roof but that seemed a lot of effort since I'd cleaned it and put it away so instead I put one of the large grey storage pins and save the water that way.  I was amazed how much came down from one downpour.  The container was almost full and I transferred it into eleven litre bottles and I filled three from one session.  The container was now ready for the next downpour and collected for free from the roof, the filled bottles have gone into the little house to water the flowers over the winter when I'm here that is.

I tried to start the Beast but without success, I intended to take it for its winter check-up so that frost can't do any damage.  The hardest job was lifting the bonnet, I really had to put some strength into it, the easy part was connecting the contacts to the charger and I did various other jobs while I was waiting for it do get enough charge to start.  I was waiting for things to do so I looked through one of the data boxes that I have and came upon an old photo of the lady from the village that's recently passed away.  I remember when the photo was taken, the tree in the yard had blossom on it and she was determined, along with Haciber to make some tea for me to sample.  Now I'm not really into local customs without they have been tried and tested before hand by me and it was along time ago in my early days in the house..  It was a lovely photo of the one that has died but not too good of the other so I found a frame that made it possible to cut away the part not required and job's a gud'un.

So the charger did its job, the Beast engine turned over so I bagged up the pomegranates that I'd bought for the garage along with some of the green apples and set off for Djebel.  My lady was very pleased with the offerings, I told her all about the supermarket and now she's eager to try it, asked me its name but it was all Greek to me.  Sorted now though and details sent through eventually but this programme that intercepts access to sites was still challenging me as to whether I'm human or not....a good idea that can seriously upset to put it politely.  The anti-freeze is sorted, the engine oil and gear box oil checked and all OK, I shall probably leave it at the garage while I'm away and put the little one in the garage where it will be protected.  I was amazed I managed to get the Beast into the garage first time without having to nudge backwards and forwards, I haven't lost the touch.

Back home, fire lit and going well, Sofia hotel booked,  for toasted cheese sandwiches for supper, I wasn't in the mood to prepare a culinary delight.  I might just have to have another dish of the superb Greek yogurt with honey.....just to confirm how delish it is.  LN.......Photo delivery tomorrow, now to start on the manual of everything pertaining to the house as a 'just in case'.......LN

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