Yesterday - Market Day

Well I can barely remember everything that happened yesterday, as I type this first thing in the morning on Wednesday, but I'll give it a good go and use my pictures to cue myself. I had such a busy day that I think I had about five minutes in which I could have typed this blog and you all know I'm not going to get much done in that time. I have about 23 minutes until I need to make a move and get the boys away and off to collect the men so we'll see how far I get.

Lovely predawn light

I woke up with the alarm and snoozed it once then bounced out of bed (ok, collapsed) to snap this quick picture before getting on with the day. I am now back into doing the watering rounds and so had to be up and out without my super long snooze til after 7. Brew was made, the boys were fed but they gave me a headache with being quite difficult before I opened the gate (I ask them to sit and be quiet and I won't open it until they have done this and today it was like they were taunting me - being quiet until the second I went to unlatch it). Because of this I decided to not take them with me on the watering round.

It is blooming close

The free water has been running at a good pressure recently so I could use the hose to do the Olive trees and the tiny Melon seedlings in two of the raised beds, and also the tomato plants which are looking rather sad and wilted but I am not going to give up on them. I also gave the lettuce a spray and a bit of a generic wetting over the rest of the flower bed and it was nice to only have to carry one watering can around with me after. My first port of call after this was the Zinnia beds and I have definitely got flower buds on a few of the larger plants, with the others rushing to catch up. Brilliant.

Rather a lot of the spiky weeds

From there it was the Magnolias (both still looking bushy and healthy though I do need to make their windbreaks still) and then down to the Silver Birches. These I am now watering a bit less, to harden them as I don't want them too tall and not thickening their trunks, but the main thing I found while I was down there was those nasty spiky plants are thriving and there were LOADS around the base of one tree in particular. I pulled a few up but the rest (as in the picture) were too closely packed to get in with bare hands so I marked that down as a job for gloves and moved on.

Lovely glistening poppy

It is not all undesirable weeds down there; here is a poppy which has just flowered over near the Silver Birches. I'm so lucky to have so many of these lovely flowers around and they always make me smile with their brash flash of colour and the way they survive storms and hail and just pop back up again.

Maybe I should remove this

Finally for this round before I went up and chilled for five minutes before setting off for the men is the poisonous berry plant thing that is growing underneath the tea trees. As was suggested by the helpful commenter when I first asked about this, it has started to go red. There was another one of these out on the lane but it has been pulled out; probably to stop the sheep eating it.

Just as it took off

So once again today I left to collect the men quite early and took the zoom lens with me in the hope of catching the storks as they fished. As I drove round the corner towards their early fishing spot I saw a few of them take to the air and thought I was too late but then I noticed one had stayed behind. I pulled up, put the lens on, got out the car and across the road and as I was about to snap a picture it took to the air as well. It seems I will have to be even early to capture them all stalking around but I do like this shot anyway.

It is being followed

As I was about to go back to the car I saw a flash of movement and there was a black stork flying low over the river. I struggled at first to find him as my lens was on full zoomed in but eventually he was in the viewfinder and I snapped a load of pictures as he chased the first one and then they settled a way up river. As I drove on they were too far away from the road to get another shot so I left that for today. I'm glad I took the zoom though and think that should be my habit from now on.

I viewed this house once

Not far on from there is a turning to a village that I had looked at a house in, the one where we just turned up and asked "which house is for sale" and were showed round by helpful villagers. You can clearly see the house we viewed from the road and this is one of the main reasons I decided to not go for it, however it has a fantastic position to enjoy the morning sunrise and its exposure to the road is only patchy. With the nose I hear in the evenings, though, as I'm trying to sleep and how far back I am set from the ridge (you can't see my place at all from the new road) I can imagine at night it could be quite disturbed. Anyway, I also look up at it as I drive past so thought I'd add that in today.

This was done already

The men were ready as usual and we rolled down the hill, laughing about the late delivery of materials the night before. Bekir said he was in the cafe when they rang and he said he wasn't at mine but they said they'd try anyway. No matter, it was really good to get the materials in early and not be waiting for them today as they were very much needed. I asked about payment and he said this would all be paid for at the end so that is good too. When we got back I was hungry but not for hot food so I made a breakfast of muesli with loads of sugar chucked on to make it not boring and it was pretty good. The men were straight to it as usual however I had other things to do so didn't get any pictures at this stage.

Trimming the next bit to size

After my breakfast I put my gloves on and took the boys with me down to the entrance and pulled up so many spiky weeds. I made a pile of them by the side of the driveway and planned to go down and move them later but that didn't happen and they are still there. I think this is going to be an ongoing thing so I will just have to keep pulling them when they are small and not let them get to the huge dimensions they had achieved down there - one of them was nearly up to my waist!

Right, I have got to here before it is time to collect the men; I do type fast when I'm focused you see. I'd better get a wriggle on and I'll come back and finish this off before my breakfast *hard taskmaster face*.

I'm back and straight onto it again, having got the boys out and finally been joined on Skype for my morning chatter.

So I left you as I was pulling weeds from by the Silver Birches and I was in quite a hurry as my plans for the day were to meet S and S in my local town for market day. I finished weeding and had time to have a shower (which was much needed as it was a warm start to the day) and get up onto the roof to take some pictures of the men at work; I knew that today I wasn't going to be around much and therefore would miss lots of pictures.

And so it was time to leave but I was called by Bekir saying they needed some more nails and I asked him to write his order down so I could show it to the lady in the shop. I left about four times, forgetting something each time and then, while rolling down my new road I stopped and gave one of the really friendly men from my village a lift down into town. I told him I was going to the builders merchant on the way and he said he knew them so came with. It is really nice to be able to help people out like this, and he was teaching me words as we were driving, though I can't remember any of them.

I dropped him off in town and then went and found a parking space and I was quite lucky as I got one really close to the market. I had arranged to meet S and S near my phone shop by some benches there so I waited a bit, then decided to pop in and get some more credit for my phone as I was completely out. A few minutes later they arrived and we headed into the market each with a list. I was looking for some shorts and sandals for both me and my Special Guest (soon to become something else on here, may I add) and also a sharpening stone (after I broke mine) and a sink plunger which I have been looking for for a while. I was quickly successful with the shorts for myself, getting two pairs for 20 lev, and then S and S found a couple of huge cooking pans that they plan to turn into lamps for their kitchen. Creative!

My new sandals

We walked on, it was really hot and lovely wandering around looking at all the sights and smelling all the cooking food, and I managed to pick up a new pair of sandals for 6 lev. This put me 2-1 in front as we were playing a silly game to see who could buy the most items. Or something. From there we climbed up to the top of the market and round, past a food stall with a chap who spoke good English that S and S had met before, but we didn't eat there as I was taking them to my favourite kebab shop for lunch. After this it was down and past a fabric shop where they bought some lovely material, well S did while S and I stood by the second hand power tools stall and I was threatened by the owner with a set of sheep shearing clippers. Funny guy.

Sat in a bar having a beer at 11am

I found a sharpening stone and they bought a larger version of the rug I have in the bedroom and then we were thirsty and decided to adjourn to a cafe for a beer. After a few false starts we found a table in the shade and had a lovely time relaxing and laughing and watching the world go by. I took some pictures for the "Cast of Characters" page as S was a bit miffed at his photograph and wanted one of S to rival it. Good fun.

Munching on the awesome kebabs

Beer drunk we headed over to the kebab shop and, while the "large" wasn't as large as normal, it was very tasty and they were both impressed with it, including the price, and said they would remember that place and go back there again. This is what it is all about, sharing discoveries and widening knowledge of places to go. For example, they showed me a furniture shop in town that I hadn't known existed before.

As we approached it was pointing this way

A few minutes later it had turned round

From there it was a kaufland (new BBQ bought, as well as things on my list) and Lidl shop and then we headed back to mine as it was getting towards 1pm and the men had said they needed the nails quite urgently. I got back, and S kindly brought in the meat and veg I had bought as well as it was really hot and they would probably have started cooking, and then we were off to the garage so they could have a clunking in their car looked at. The guys there did their usual excellent work and fixed a couple of problems immediately but then they found that it would need an order that would not arrive that day so we left their car there and I drove them back to mine to borrow Thomas. On the way we were delayed by the most AMAZING old combine harvester doing a fifty point turn on the road. This thing belongs in a museum but it was bouncing down onto a field and setting to work as we drove past, waving.

Low hanging fruit waiting to be harvested

After a quick check on the progress the men were making they gratefully took the keys to Thomas and headed off, as I unloaded all the non-perishable stuff that was still in the back of Lucy. This morning when I was wandering around doing my weeding I had spotted that there were loads of plums on my trees and they were almost certainly ready for harvesting as loads had already fallen and were rotting on the floor. I had bought 10kg of sugar, and a small kitchen scales, while out and my plan was to harvest what I could and make jam out of it. I grabbed a bucket and went to the large tree next to the green building. Sally did come over and suggest that I shake the tree, rather than just picking what I could reach, but all I was getting when I did that was the rotten, pre munched, fruits so I went back to hand picking.

I thought this was a cherry, it looks like one!

There were so many within reach and many many more out of reach but I contented myself only those fruits within easy reach. I almost half filled the bucket just from this one tree and then I decided to do a recce around the rest of the fruit trees that I knew about so I headed over to the bottom corner near the vehicle gate to work my way up the fence. Am I ever glad that I did this as I found three apple trees, many many more plum trees and what I thought were cherries but are just really red plums. Once again I was limited to only what I could reach and round here the ground is so uneven that I won't be able to easily get a ladder in, unless someone helps. I think I also have some quince trees down there.

My harvest

I collected everything that I could and made plans in my head to prepare the land underneath each fruit tree for next year so I can easily put a ladder up and get more fruit down - we've found loads of recipes to use the plums up with as well but tomorrow (today as I write this) will be taken up with preparing and making jam with the fruit.

By the time I finished this harvest it was pretty much time for taking the men particularly as I had arrange for my friend to come over with Bob of S and his lovely wife so we could go out for food tonight. We were delayed slightly in leaving by the need to waterproof the delivery that had happened while I was out of the materials for the roof including the metal drains, and as we drove out the village they drove past us. This prompted me to put my foot down some and I made the journey to and fro in record time.

The table, mid eat

I got home to find them stood in the garden and though they had already been shown round I did the quick tour again describing plans and getting the usual "it's huge" comments. It is, but it is also perfect for me. Anyway, after a minute or two we were in their plastic electric car and driving down to the restaurant on the river where we ordered a huge spread and had a great time chatting and eating and drinking and listening to the usual singer who struts her stuff on the highest heels you have ever seen.

The conversation continued stood by the cars for a bit and then I was given a lift back up to my village (but not down my track as it was too bouncy jouncy for the plastic car) and I said goodbye and walked the last few hundred yards. The music which sometimes bothers me from the local town (I think - it could be coming from the farm and if it is there will be serious words spoken) seemed really loud but I grumbled to myself and then went in and had a very brief skype chat before heading to bed and sleeping the sleep of the just.

Right, I've managed to hold out until just before the end before giving in and eating breakfast... I'll be back later today with another thrilling installment.