What a (birth)day!!!!

Today has been a hell of a day, I'm certainly pleased that we took the weekend to celebrate. It started out and ended brilliantly, it was just the bits in the middle that were tough. But onwards, and you shall see why.

The beautiful pre dawn

Such a bright sunrise

Just before we knew she was sick

So first thing we were both up really early as last night was a crazily early night. We were up at about 5am as Louise woke us but we weren't sure why at that point. The sun rose and it was glorious but chilly so we waited a little bit before going onto the balcony. It was still a bit chilly when we went out there so it was my turn to cuddle Louise but then when we put her down she threw up several times in short order and this was the start of the most stressful thread of what ended up being a stressful day.

It's a very big unit indeed

These units are looking awesome

Hikmet gets going on the scraping

Egg in a cup for breakfast

One of the puppies throwing up, even twice in short order, isn't so unusual that it really worried us then so A went to collect the men and I did my chores with Louise trotting around after me as normal. When A got back we distributed the tasks and the men shifted the units around to clear space for them. I helped to carry the two in six hole units into the Games Room but A was busy cooking my breakfast so there's no picture. And what a breakfast it was - Egg in a Cup is my favourite way to start the day but it's a mission to make so I always appreciate it when its made for me. Hikmet, after helping with the shifting, got stuck into the next horrible task we have for him; scraping walls in the corridor. He does get the worst of the jobs.

This BLT was so awesome

Louise does not like visiting the vets

The morning was crazy busy with work and also the fact that Louise kept throwing up and throwing up. It started to really concern us so after lunch (a lovely Bacon / Lettuce  / Tomato wrap I made myself) we headed into town with both the girls to the vets. We tricked Louise by taking another route to the vets but she started to panic as we parked up. I carried her in and calmed her down and she was very good through a temperature test and then there injections. Thelma had her ear checked and they were also a little bad so she got some drops. It was a panicky moment for us both and continued through the day.

Hikmet is scraping

Mesut edging the Art Room

So close to completed now

We spent the afternoon alternating between thinking Louise was recovering, and then she threw up again. It was not a very happy afternoon. Progress around the building was going well, though, with Hikmet making better progress than expected on the scraping around the corridor while Mesut had finished the tiling in the Art Room and was now completing the edging; what a trooper. In the Games Room Bekir was making a really good go at finishing the tiling; unfortunately he ran out of tiles.

Poor sick-note Louise

Hikmet up the scaffold

Relaxing in the garden again

Flags being beautiful

Louise was feeling very sorry for herself and we were getting very worried, particularly when one time she threw up there was a touch of blood in the bile. We were pretty sure that it was not from her stomach and Bekir suggested a splash of milk and this seemed to settle her stomach a lot. Back to the building progress, we had Hikmet up a scaffold scraping the top of the walls (the ceilings are so awesomely high here) and the tiling went on until they ran out of tiles; back to the shop tomorrow. A took Louise outside and she was running around and barking and looking so much happier which was a relief. I also noticed for the first time that the flags are showing colour now finally.

The table full of food from the neighbours

What a lovely time that was

A huge lettuce as a gift

When I got back from dropping the men, which was only interesting in how long it took for me to drive back down the cheren put behind another vehicle, we headed over to the neighbours for a meal. I nearly share my birthday with the Special One however sadly he was still at work and not home yet however they wanted to celebrate with me so it was just a meal for me and A and it was a lovely time with lots of laughter; the food was great and they bought me a bottle of Rakiya which I will take with me to Islay to share with my friends over there. As we left we were given a lettuce to transplant into the garden which A put into a spud tower while I waited on the Roof Terrace, but more on that in the next paragraph.

A beautiful way to end the day

Savoring the nose on this super beer

Very happily pouring this wonderful beer out

The sun descends

Very pleased for this flower

Good night

I had saved myself a bottle of the Islay Ales, just the one, for a good time and this evening was that time. I took myself onto the roof terrace to get a picture of the sunset and then we decided to take a beer up and enjoy the evening and take some time together and just enjoy the evening. It was stunning, and the beer was awesome. We spotted some poppies growing in the big mound of earth at the back. Eventually the sun went down and Louise was shivering and we came inside and so I've been able to get this update out, even though I didn't expect to write it up.

And so there it is; the day is done, and now I'm heading to bed. Thank you for reading, and the birthday is done.

Working, London and a birthday

It's been a while since I updated as I've been so incredibly busy with work. I actually haven't got all that many photographs or videos at all from the last ten days as it feels like all I've done is travelled or sat at this desk. Now I am sat back at this desk for you lovely people getting this update written. I hope you appreciate it.

Tomatoes and peppers from the garden

One batch completed

A box full of beer

Goodness inside

A bearded man with a beardy bottle of beer

Out for dinner again

My Beef Iskander

She got pancakes with chocolate sauce

The update is bookended by tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. Our raised beds (and the long bed down the side of the fenced garden) have started producing a huge harvest. These pictures are from a week ago last Monday and as I type this A is making more preserve to follow this lot. I'll get involved once we have to take green tomatoes off as I want to make some more chutney this year. I had another awesome arrival as well that day as my beers from Islay Ales arrived after being safely couriered across Europe. These have now gone into storage to wait for cold weather and Christmas. I was working all day, which will become a refrain during this update, and we headed out for dinner to have Iskander and Kunefe. Unfortunately they didn't have Kunefe (which outraged A) however she made do with some very lovely pancakes.

Getting ready to start on this

The Beorn as Man figure

A beautiful sunset

I've got a picture of a lovely sunset from the Tuesday, as well as evidence that I tried to do some hobbying that day, gluing together the Beorn and Bear model which A is going to be using once I've finished it. On the Wednesday we had a delivery of wood, the second batch, which Bekir came over with and we dumped outside the garage for us to eventually store inside as our long term supply. And that is it, other than working. I really was very busy in the job I'm doing at the moment and it was a bit rubbish with me stuck to this computer and A sat downstairs.

Sat on the 5am bus again

The seat I always get

First night dinner

I'm a trend setting hipster, donchaknow

An awesome and exciting group of people

Two colleagues hard at work

The alarm went off at 4am on Thursday morning as once again I was getting the early bus to Sofia to fly to the UK, though this time to London for business. The bus journey was pretty scary as the driver kept trying to over take on blind hills and corners and having to swerve to avoid killing us (and oncoming traffic) and then on the flight just as I managed to drop off some kid came screaming up the aisle, stopped, and yelled back at his dad and so I was rather shattered by the time I arrived at my hotel, post train and underground. I had a shower, a nap, then made it into the office for a brief conversation with the guys there before taking myself for beer, a burger and a read. The next day was the beginning of the main meetings and I was most impressed with my "hipster laptop bag" (seeing as we were in Shoreditch) but less so with the breakfast. The next two days passed in a blur of meetings and discussion but were so super productive and it felt really worth while having travelled over. We went out for a meal on the Friday night to a very nice restaurant and after that had a few beers at a pub as well.

It rained. Hard.

Thelma doesn't like thunder storms

Melon grown in our garden, and Oranges - A trying to keep me healthy

Home made bread butty, brought to my desk

She's an artist!

A celebration whisky that the week is over (for a day)

All in all it was a great weekend but by the time I got on the plane back home, after a 2am taxi pickup for a 3.30am bus to Gatwick, I was pretty tired. Sadly once again I struggled to sleep on the flight and then on the bus as the air conditioning on the bus didn't work when the bus was driving fast (and they do like to drive fast). Still I was home half an hour ahead of schedule and so happy to be back. After a shower the first thing we did was get into the pool and we lay there for a fair while relaxing and enjoying being together again. The next day it rained and rained all day, with a storm as well (which Thelma was very unimpressed about) but I didn't see much of it as I had entered into my really busy schedule of 14-16 hour days that I have kept, with barely a break, on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday this week. It was worth it as I was able to demo the software I was writing yesterday afternoon and people seemed very impressed. A has taken the week off which is frustrating as I'm so busy however she has discovered an incredible talent for drawing and has produced loads of superb artwork through the week. Such a talent!

A getting ready to unwrap her presents, with help

Sat on the balcony having a brew together

We're about to harvest all them there tomatoes

All of them!

Mixing up a storm

And so to this morning and what a morning it was. It is A's birthday today and so I woke her with coffee, puppies, and pressies in bed. You wouldn't really have known who was supposed to be unwrapping the presents as Thelma in particular did most of the tearing. She then settled down to chew and all the bits of paper while A relaxed and we both laughed at them. Such funny girls. For the first time for ages A and I went onto the balcony with our morning brews and sat and enjoyed the warmth, peace and quiet, and relaxation. It was lovely. Then it was time to go out and harvest the tomatoes which I mentioned earlier. We managed to get a lot, and there are loads still not ripe (and even some flowers still blooming!). Before she got on with processing them, and I came upstairs to type this, we went onto the patio with a brew and A played tug with both Rambo and the girls. They love that toy! Since then I've quickly typed this and A has put two HUGE pans of tomatoes on to cook down. Brilliant.

I'm going to leave this there; it a few hours SandS turn up to puppy sit and we head out to a hotel for the night and I cannot wait! I'll see you again next time, thanks for reading.