What a wonderful day

This day has been so brilliant it actually started off last night. There were some random flashes of light which kept occurring and the normal night birds and the Spring Peeper were unusually quiet. Then Rambo started barking and the sum total of this encouraged me to get out of bed and go and see what was happening. What a great decision. First of all the stars were out really brightly (as was Mars) and we spent a lot of time just stood staring at them. Secondly the flashes turned out to be really distant lightening - so distant that even in the dead quiet there was absolutely no sound of thunder. It was forked and sheet and flickered for ages until bed called again.

Later in the night, after the flickering had stopped, the Spring Peeper started up and then some of the other nightlife sparked up and that serenaded sleep finally our way. The morning "fear of work" hooter from the factory across the valley indicated in the morning that it was eight o clock and shortly after the usual impetus of a morning brew proved too great. Of course, first of all the morning ritual of feeding Rambo had to occur however this happened after the brew and also after I had hung out all the washing that had gone over the night. This was very much done on the hope that the one weather site forecasting good weather today was telling the truth and my eyes were lying as it was heavy overcast and even slightly misty when we were doing it.

Rambo, of course, wanted to be involved however I wouldn't let him out until we had finished; he is just too bouncy in the morning to have around when you have clean clothes and he would definitely have slobbered everywhere. After feeding him it was time for our own breakfast and, contrary to our original plan where I was going to cook a fry up the decision was made to go for porridge and what a good idea; it was really tasty and set us up for what would be a very busy and active day.

A picture of the fire, and me taking a picture of...

Before doing anything there was a huge pile of burning to be done so we carried all the bags out the back and after a few attempts I managed to get it going and within very short order it was blazing away as usual. It's really good having a guest here because she is able to get pictures of me taking pictures and that is kinda cool on a blog. For example here is the fire going and me taking a picture....

... a bee collecting nectar

.... and here is the little bee that I was photographing. The sun had broken through by this point and lots of bugs and critters had decided to come out to play in it and we spent quite an enjoyable period of time just potter around taking photographs of various things as they became apparent. For example my guest spent a load of time getting REALLY frustrated while trying to photograph the swifts that were darting around everywhere.

My guest taking a picture of some birds, probably

The sun really was coming out now and the fire was burning well. I threw the two empty cans of expanding foam onto the fire and legged it and we waited to try and get a picture. The first one blew with such force and noise that any picture would have been shaky and anyway there wasn't much of any visual indication. The second one blew its top off in a smokey spiraling motion but we were still shaken by the first bang so no camera was ready. I love blowing things up!

Basketball support, rubble pile, tree and the view

As were getting ready to leave for walking Rambo I snapped another of the view of the valley and my favourite tree. I really can't get enough of this view and make no apology for boring you with many photographs of the same view. I love it here.

Fortunately that wasn't over us

My guest had brought a couple of gifts for Rambo (always come bearing gifts, as they say) and one of them was an extending lead for walking him which was used for the first time today. We went through the village (putting off the Little Lady who offered us coffee; I said we'd come after walking Rambo) and out up the track I had driven last week with The Other Brother when on the wild boar tracking evening. As we climbed out of the village the clouds gathering in the distance looked very ominous however it was lovely where we were and I was glad of my shorts and sandals.

Butterfly, settled for a second

As I said there were loads of little animals making an appearance again and my guest was assiduous in taking pictures of as many things as she could. This was a particularly lovely picture of a little butterfly that was flying around.

Bird life

Just on the way up the lane towards the centre of the village we spotted a song thrush sat in a tree and, while I was attempting to control Rambo (he doesn't like sitting at the best of times, particularly when you have only just started walking him!) my guest took a large number of pictures of which this was the best of them. It sat still for quite a long time, which was helpful.

Mountains still hogging the clouds. Thankfully

It was still really cloudy around the perimeter of the valley however above us there was sun and warmth and LOADS of flies from the cattle which were attacking me and Rambo but not my guest. I suppose this was because I was wearing a black shirt and they seemed to just want to land on it and not move. The view back towards the village was really stunning, with my house the furthest building, and the hotel my parents stayed at in the far distance.

Two beautiful beetles in the blossom

As we were climbing we noticed some beetles collecting nectar from the trees by the side of the track. They were beautiful with the most iridescent colourings; and they were HUGE. There were loads of them, flying and settling and then flying again. There were also some tiny bees that we couldn't get a good enough picture of sadly.

He only likes dirty water

The main target of the walk was the lake I had driven past and stopped at with The Other Brother and we reached it far sooner than I had expected to. Rambo had been jumping in all the water he could possibly find on the way up and, after checking that it wasn't too deep, he was also allowed in here. He had such a ball and kept jumping out, shaking himself dry all over us, then jumping back in to get wet again. Typical dog. You should see him fight when you try and give him a bath.

Pastoral beauty

The sheep dog had been taking his charges out for their day as we left my land (they had been clumped together at the bottom of the lane, watching us) and as we got near the top of the climb you could see that the cows were out as well. The herder had his fishing line out and was attempting to catch something for his dinner that night. Such a peaceful and relaxing sight.

A seed pod gets taken underground

Continuing the theme of little animals I noticed that my guest had stopped and was taking some time photographing something really close to the floor. It was only when going through the photographs that I saw that it was another ant hill and they were carrying a seed pod down into the depths, maybe to feed the queen or even use to shore up a space under the ground.

Me and Rambo

Another benefit of the fact that I have a camera toting guest is that you get pictures of me. Look at this one. Rambo was, on the whole, very obedient on this walk and we even let him off his lead as we got to the very end as there was no livestock around and he kept running round us in circle and almost tripping us up with the lead. As you can see from this picture he was also very damp from jumping in as many puddles as he possibly could; very much like a small child would do.

This cow means business

We were nearing the edge of the village when we came across a herd of cattle who were watching us very suspiciously. Rambo was suddenly being a naughty boy and I was having lots of trouble controlling him. He seemed to think that these cattle, semi-wild as they are, would treat him as a long lost friend and not in the way they would; by trampling him and charging us. As it was this one did turn and come towards us in a warning manner and as I was trying to control Rambo, my guest snapped a cracking photograph showing just how big its horns are.

He really didn't want to listen

I was left with the unenviable task of trying to tell Rambo off and keep him controlled; forcing him to walk behind me for a bit and generally making him know who was boss. The problem was he was far too interested in chasing after the woman who was with us than listening to me and after a while too much time had passed from when he had been particularly naughty so we had to just let it go.

Birds having a bath

Bearing in mind the trouble she had gone to in attempting (and failing) to take pictures of the swifts earlier, when I saw that there were a few having a bath in a puddle ahead I pulled Rambo away to allow some pictures to be taken. Finally, a good photograph of them. They move so fast. Just round the corner we bumped into the old kmet again and a lad who I presume is his son. He was very pleased to see us and came to say hello to Rambo. It seems I am slowly becoming accepted into village life, which is good.

"You looking at me?"

Just round the corner from there Rambo almost stepped on a proper sized tortoise, what our little one will probably (if he survives) look like in about forty years or so. He was sunning himself and allowed the indignity of being photographed for about two or three minutes before deciding enough was enough and heading into the undergrowth. Another example of the amazing flora and fauna we have in this area.

As soon as we got back and let Rambo off his lead we were hailed by the Little Lady who shouted about coffee and said something about five minutes. I didn't totally understand so we sat in the sun on the tabletennis table and waited. A few minutes passed and I put Rambo away in case she was going to come over, but then she came out and beckoned us so we walked across and into her house for coffee, ayran, and a lovely pancake. This was my guests first real experience of just how welcoming and generous they are and she liked everything we were given. The granddaughter and grandson were there, she sitting in the corner studiously doing her homework, and he trying to keep watching cartoons while the Little Lady fed him his lunch.

The new chair!

After about half an hour or maybe more I made our excuses and we left, with kisses and hugs from her,and headed back to the house. We had chair building to be getting on with. After a fair while, all of it in the baking sun so much that she has burned and even I'm feeling a little glowy on the back, and with a fair few curse words when things weren't done quite right, we finally achieved completion. Typically the clouds were coming over and it looked a lot like rain so we shifted it in under the porch just in case. It is so comfortable, and I'm really pleased I got it.

Some of our dinner

We rested for a bit after this and then I started doing this blog (hours ago now) while she got ready and then we headed out for dinner. We hadn't planned on going out this evening but didn't have anything easily at hand to cook. OK, we did but I couldn't be bothered. When we got there the sun was still out and it was lovely and warm but it quickly headed back behind the hills so the table we had chosen outside became too cold and we moved in just before the salad was brought out. I ordered for both of us (though she did pick something random which was super nice) and it was all so tasty though as per usual there was too much of it. We ate as much as we could possibly fit in without being sick and then paid up and left.

Most amazing view

As we were starting to run down the view behind me caught my attention and I went outside to take a picture. It was like an oil painting and you should be amazed that there is only one picture of this as every two minutes it was different and awesome and I wanted to go out and take more pictures.

Two storks flying into the distance

I did scrabble for my camera a bit later on when two storks flew over following the line of the river. I was too late to get a good clear shot however you can see them in this one, through the glass of the restaurant and therefore with lights from inside reflected and disrupting the picture. The same singer was performing as had been here when I was eating with Georgi Stankov of "Bulgarian Properties for Sale" and family and we both really enjoyed listening and being amazed at how she could walk in the six or seven inch heels.

And so we came home and I've just had a lovely glass of whisky and she is outside on the new chair reading while I finish this. It has taken a massively long amount of time this evening as we've also sat and listened to loads of music that I have recorded and produced was back in the day; a lovely trip back down memory lane and bless her she was nice enough to say she liked it. I hope she does; some of that stuff is really personal to me.

Anyway, enough of today. I'm bored of writing this and you're probably bored of reading. Tomorrow is another day. Here's to it.