A wonderful visit

I sat down to write this update on Tuesday evening but then took myself to bed at 8pm so now it is Wednesday morning and I'm going to try get this done now before work.

Wardy and Rosie playing football

At the kebab shop, Rosie refused to smile hah!

One troop of dancers at the dance festival

More of the dancers

More awesome dancing

Every group was given a gift

Wardy calling home

My mate arrived for his visit very late on Friday after a bit of a terrible journey down from Sofia involving getting lost then having a puncture however he did arrive safe and Rosie was very happy when she woke on Saturday and he was here. There was lots of playing and excitement before we headed into town for a kebab at my Dad's old favourite kebab shop for lunch. After that we walked round the corner to the community centre where a Folk Dance Festival was being held. It was awesome. Angela took Rosie home about an hour into the show as she was getting tired but I stayed with my friend until the end and we had a great time. After that we walked home, stopping for a beer, and then it was time for food and then book time and bed. A great day all around.

Rosie walking with Wardy

She's the true ruler

Rosie on top of the tower

Having fun at the restaurant

Sunday was another awesome busy day. Wardy, Rosie and I jumped in Thomas and drove up to Perperikon mid morning for the traditional tourist trip. This is actually the first time Rosie has done this walk. She was very good, walking almost the entire way up and down, and having a lot of fun looking at the ruins and generally being good. Wardy was also impressed with the site (and sight) and it was a great success. On the way back we stopped for lunch at our favourite restaurant before heading back for a sleep. We went out again in the evening to another restaurant for dinner which was awesome but I seem to have not taken any pictures.

Sat chilling on our top bank

A friendly bull up at our other property

The house is still standing... just...

Having a lovely meal out again

A really fun game of Snake - The Board Game

I took Monday off to spend time with Wardy. It wasn't the nicest start to the day so we relaxed for a bit but as it cleared we went for a walk around the land and sat on the little bench on the top bank looking at the view for a fair while, and also playing with the dogs. The workmen did come in but had to leave early again for a family situation which is why I didn't update the blog on Monday. After our relaxed morning we headed over to the other property we have in the mountains and had a really lovely time up there. It was super relaxed with lots of sitting and looking at the view and just enjoying the peace, quiet and tranquility. On the way home from there we were able to collect Rosie from school and she loved me and Wardy doing that! In the evening we went to another awesome restaurant for dinner and then in the evening Wardy and I played some board games in the evening before it was time to head to bed. Another great day.

Starting to dig and clear for holes

Footing ready for cement

Painting the uprights

Rebar gets painted

Over the weekend sadly we lost one of our chickens to an eagle; Monday morning I'd told Bekir to switch over to putting some mesh over the whole of the chicken run and they had gone out to buy supplies before having to rush off as I've said. Therefore yesterday they were in the chicken enclosure once more, this time measuring out and digging holes to put columns into. With a load of holes dug they pivoted to painting the metal with anti-rust paint so today (as I'm typing this in the morning) they can start the cement work and fitting the poles in place. Hopefully this job doesn't take too long as it is starting to get cold and damp for working outside.

So there it is. The men are in already for today and it is a cold and foggy start so I'm doubly gutted they are having to work outside. Hopefully it'll not take long. Thanks for reading, back this evening!

Excellent weekend, and into the gym

 Welcome back to another week after what ended up being an outstanding and awesome weekend with guests and new friends and old.

Back up to Perperikon

Lots of photos

A snake escaping attention

Chicken on the BBQ

Hot afternoon

Our friends had already arrived when I did the last update and after posting I joined Dan for some tea and a natter before turning in. On Saturday we were up early and left Angela and Charlotte with the kids while we headed off to Perperikon and what a lovely time it was. We did not rush up the hill, exploring all the digs both old and new (some that I hadn't seen before) and then climbing right up to the top and having a good look around there. The wet spring and early summer has caused a lot of overgrowth on the top of the hill so we couldn't explore absolutely everywhere but it was still amazing and I saw a couple of snakes, one of which I just managed to catch on camera as it hid. When we got back we decided against doing anything else but chilling and then BBQing and it was I think my best BBQ I've done, as we were totally relaxed and I cooked everything a lot slower than normal. After the awesome BBQ we struggled to settle the children which did impact our evening slightly in being disrupted but we got a fair amount of time on a game Dan had brought called Mansions of Madness that was really great fun - so much fun that I've ordered it for me and Angela to play. The plans for Sunday were changed so there was no trip to the mountain house but it was far more enjoyable to relax in the garden, watching the kids playing again, before they had to head back; I then went over to see SandS who are back for one week only. Rosie went with me and played really nicely as well with their two - it was a weekend of amazing socialising for her. The temperature was super high, though, up around 38 degrees when I got back home after that. All in all it was just a wonderful weekend.

Measuring the balcony for steel

Clearing rubble

Scraping the ceiling

Bekir working on sockets again

And so to today. My early alarm didn't go off which meant I didn't get out to do my garden clearance but I wasn't too upset as I had been so tired from the weekend I went to sleep about 9pm and slept through The men arrived on time and got stuck in to the next task - the gym. Bekir measured up on the balcony and then headed to town with Angela to get materials while Sally and Halil cracked on removing the old paint and plaster, making use of hammer and hammer drill together. When Bekir got back he worked on the plugs inside the entrance which the other two continued shifting rubble and clearing the old walls.

I was on a very long call and missed the delivery that brought the steel however just after my lunch break the truck arrived with four tonnes of sand and the puppies were super happy about this.

Fitting the outside sockets

Channelling for lights and sockets

A mix begins

Balcony time after work

Bekir finished the wiring inside and also outside and now we are left with painting the walls, if we decide to, and putting the shelves and hooks up inside, and then the glazing needs to be done which involves some cement work from Bekir and the lads but that'll be done when it cools slightly I reckon. Bekir then moved to channelling for cables in the gym while Sally and Halil continued the hugely dusty task of stripping the walls. Once they had done this they began mixing up mortar for plastering the walls and then it was the end of the day. I spent some lovely time with Rosie outside and on the balcony and now I'm going to try and get some hobbying done before bed.

Thanks for reading.

Still here

Hey all,

It has once again been too long since I sat down to write a blog post; mainly this is down to both being too incredibly busy but also just there isn't all that much happening on the building to tell you. We've taken this year largely off from work men. Next year is planning to be different; we have a new toilet or two to fit (more on that when it arrives), Rosie's bedroom to build and we want to pull the patio up and pour a flat concrete slab and also secure the edge and tidy the garden a bit to make space for Rosie to play outside. Yes, next year will be super busy.

But for now a few pictures of the thousands that we have taken since the last update, and a few words, and I'll publish. I've not got lots of time to go through everything.

Begin.

PAAAAUSE

Return...

It is about two months since I wrote the above. I wrote a chunk of update and then Blogger decided to lose it and I didn't go back to it after that. So much has happened I'm going to really sweep through. I wouldn't be surprised if the updates are very sparse going forwards, certainly until next year. So, let's get this smashed out and finally published.

Some workers and things

As I've already said we haven't had all that much done around the place but a few things have occurred.

Chainsawing begins

Little Lady getting stuck in

Wood to stack...

... post cloudburst success

Gaming table

Another water pipe fix

First of all we got the Special One to come over and chainsaw all the wood from the trees we had trimmed earlier in the year. The Little Lady came over to help and, with a pause while the Special One recovered from an injury, this was all cut up in plenty of time and we have loads of kindling as well. We also ordered a huge quantity of dried hardwood which Lee came over and helped us stack; the storm hit during this and we were soaked through but got the job done. We have also been playing a game on a table that Lee made and brought over and having a great time when we get time to do it. Finally we have had ongoing issues with the lane up the side of the house and the water pipe there getting broken.

Fitting mesh around the top of the stairs

Bekir's old welder makes a re-appearance

Baby Safe

Peg board being fitted

Ready to fit the drier

Finally fitted, after being sat in the corner for years

Top of the main stairs now safe also

Bekir has been here a few times over the past few months, for a day or three at most at a time. First of all he came over to fit baby proofing on the top of the spiral staircase. We had other gates on order from Amazon however they didn't arrive to be fitted this visit. Another visit involved fitting the pegboard I had ordered for the tool room (this turned out to be the wrong size and so I've replaced half, and am replacing the other half, with the correct stuff). This is a requirement before I can clear the room which will become Rosie's room so it is very important. He also put up the second drying rack (much to A's great joy) and fitted the gate we had bought for the top of the main stairs. The product we bought was so good that we have bought the same stuff for around the fireplace and Bekir has been over and fitted all of them as well. Finally he hooked the garage light up to a proper light switch and strung power for a light in the wood room - these tiny improvements will make winter so much easier for us.

Trench goes in no longer on the road

The leak had become very serious

Work outside my property line completed

Two years too late, the stones arrive

Fire guard in place so the Little Monkey cannot burn herself

The final visit (so far) from Bekir this year was forced on us by the water pipe bursting again and everyone refusing to fix it. I spoke with the water board but had already also lost my patience and asked Bekir to come and move the pipe. This he did on the final day of our guest's visit (more of which later) to get it merely off the lane and reconnect us to the mains without a leak and then the following week he returned and finished the job, putting the free water pipe in once more and also getting the two fire guards fitted. The irony was that after years of complaining about that side lane and no stone being put down to strengthen it, the day after I moved the pipe the neighbour turned up and finally had them pour stones. All this pain could have been resolved if he had done what he promised two years previously but never mind; our water is now much more secure and will never break again. I hope.

Other stuff

A LOT of other stuff has happened as well, though I'm going to scoot through it. Rosie is growing so fast however I'll not be putting many photographs of her up on this blog page - that is not the purpose of this page so please don't ask. There will be some, though, clearly.

Holiday

We finally took ourselves off for a holiday. This was one of the silver linings to losing my Dad. We had house sitters booked and a long trip to the UK planned however were able to re-evaluate and changed this to a holiday on Thassos before returning to the UK for ArdaCon once more. This was the best decision of the year.

Getting on the boat!

The view from our front door

Rosie approves

I'm off for my morning swim

Peaceful morning on the beach

Rosie's first swim in the sea

A rainbow cloud

Zoomed in - how amazing, huh!

Stunning sunset, volleyball and a canoe

The fish van

A happy A on holiday

Suffice to say we had an absolutely out of this world time. It was magical - the location was perfect for us; quiet but RIGHT on the beach, and next door to a very good restaurant which was even happy to deliver food to the table on our porch. Every morning I got to swim and every evening we marveled at the stunning sunset. Rosie loved it, she enjoyed the sea mostly but sometimes the salt in her eyes was too much. The food (though I've not picked any photographs of it, unusually) was amazing and the one little trip out we did was fascinating, to an archaeological site about twenty minutes drive from where we stayed. I cannot say enough what a timely holiday this was, and how much we are looking forward to going back again next year. I love Thassos.

My Mum's visit

My mum came to visit us for two weeks later on; this was as always a lovely time. It's so great she can get over to see Rosie and we love having her here. Rosie was going through an odd time and when Mum first arrived she wasn't wanting anyone but me or A however pretty soon she snapped out of that and was fine again - it was sad to see her cry every time we handed her over to anyone.

Grandma cuddles with a grizzly baby

Three generations - a new chair for Rosie also

Puppies are only happy when the fire is lit

Mum with the Little Lady

We had a lovely trip to Plovdiv on the first Saturday and met up with Lee for lunch at the Mexican restaurant again. The weather, which was pretty bad up until Mum's arrival, really came good and it was a super relaxing visit. We really didn't do all that much, lots of relaxing and reading and very little else. The fire did get lit one evening but more as a comfort thing than anything else. The Little Lady was very pleased to see my Mum over and came to say ciao before she flew back. We're now looking forward to seeing her next year once again.

Guest Visit

The day after my Mum headed off I was driving to Greece to collect our next (and final) visitors. Elizabeth and her daughter were over from the States for the week - it had been about 13 years or so since I last saw her and this was a long overdue catch-up.

A pelican soars overhead

The pelican lake next to the road

Lunch at the lake

The mountain house is a bit worse for wear

Dinner at the Iskander restaurant

Stunning view from the tower at Perperikon

Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast. Nom.

The drive down was easy and I paused for a rest by a lake that had some pelicans flying around. Sadly they were gone by the time we drove back. The visit was again very relaxing and we didn't do much though we did get to the lake for lunch, up to the Mountain House (which had collapsed even more) and over to Perperikon which was stunning and has been opened up even more. Elizabeth also made me Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast which was amazing. Most of the time was spent relaxing and doing school work as it was school time over there for her daughter. I took them back to the airport on the following Friday and waved goodbye; next time we see them hopefully we'll be visiting the States but that won't be any time soon, sadly.

Closing

And so I'm going to wrap this up here. I have over 2000 photographs and videos in the folder for the months since I did my last update and I'm not going to put any more on here.

A huge "mile"stone for Thomas

Rain rain go away....

I'll leave you with just a few more photographs. First of all Thomas went past a big milestone (literally) passing 150,000 miles just at the bottom of the men's cheren put on the way to collect them and secondly the photograph for this morning showing how the weather has changed. We are downstairs in the kitchen now for the winter, with the fire going and the curtains shut. Finally we have said goodbye to Bekci who has gone to stay with another couple up in the mountains not far from here who can give her a better life; it was too much for us to have her and also was worrying with Rosie going to be toddling outside next year.

Let the hibernation begin.