Welcoming new arrivals

It's been another day where we have both struggled to motivate ourselves to do anything very much that we were supposed to, me probably worse than A, but still it's amazing to be here and these couple of days of slightly worse-than-expected weather and slight lack of energy have caused us both to comment on how different this year is to last; last year bad weather was a terrible thing mainly because we were going back to England. This year, however, we have no such plans and so the over cast and intermittent rain is less of a problem. We are now so focused on the home we are building that the weather is secondary. Anyway, that's the philosophy over with, on with the blog.

Making sure the rodents cannot nest in the cooker

Back to last night and there was one chore which A had been planning on which she got round to before dinner. We want to seal up the cooker as we're worried that rodents may have got in it while it was stored outside since March. I suggested taping tin foil to it but we decided this was probably overkill so A just got the packing tape out and sealed up all the holes she could find. As of this morning this had not been disturbed but we'll keep an eye on it just to make sure. I think if rats killed another of our cookers I would go nuclear and fumigate the whole village!

Superb roast just before serving up

For dinner yesterday we put the chicken in that had originally been planned for Sunday. It was cooking away as I was working in the afternoon and distracting me with how amazing it smelled. We didn't have much veg in so it was roast tatties, peppers and some marrow on the side which while not traditional ended up being gorgeous and the potatoes were just exceptional. I'm making myself hungry now just thinking about it.

About to let the new arrivals loose

We didn't stay up that late again last night; these early starts are prompting early finishes, and I think we both slept pretty well and we were up before the alarm went off. We had time for one brew before A was prompting us to leave to head to market. We took Thelma and Louise with us and walked them on their leads up to the chicken seller which did provoke some strange looks. I left the choosing to A but then named our two new additions myself while she was popping up the road to the shop for eggs and bread; soon we won't need to buy eggs I hope.

Ginger and Baker - our new chickens

So let me be the first to introduce you to Ginger and Baker, or two new (final two?) egg laying chickens. The introduction to KitKat seemed to go well and we've popped in a few times since and they haven't been pecked yet I don't think so fingers crossed they'll settle in easily and not cause problems. Ginger is a very friendly bird who seems to like company and she tried to follow me out of the compound a couple of times bless her. Our next feathered additions are probably going to be two ducks and then I think we'll be done for this year.

She's remembering the left over chicken she got last night

While we were in the enclosure letting them out and making sure they were eating (they got straight to pecking at the food) the girls were obviously outside and KitKat were hovering checking out the new arrivals. Louise was particularly interested in the birds behind the fence as you can see. Just out of shot, Thelma is laying in the sun and relaxing and ignoring all the excitement. She is such a chilled out puppy.

Nearly to the ground

As we walked back past the windows into the kitchen we watched as Nikolai used the big pneumatic drill to attack the stones in the last of the arches to be done. They had arrived while we were in town at the market and just got stuck straight on with the work. Once again progress has been pretty good today and the room is really taking shape; more pictures to come.

Tasted as nice as they looked

I made some bacon and eggs for us both mid morning which set us both up for the day; there was no desire at all for the melon this morning from either of us mainly because it wasn't that nice weather. I can see if the temperature does rise this week (and it is forecast to be a scorcher tomorrow apparently) we will probably chose to have the water melon but for today a good honest bacon and egg butty (with extra brown sauce for A) hit the spot.

Stacking rocks from the interior wall

Only two men had arrived first thing and no truck so rather than delay starting they were piling the rocks up in the window waiting for the van to arrive so they could load them in. This is the kind of thing I like to see in a workman. I think maybe my Bulgarian let us down here a little bit as they may have asked to borrow Thomas and the trailer to load with rocks but after a few minutes of miscommunication they gave up and just did this stacking thing. Never mind.

It's slowly taking shape!

The weather hasn't been all bad today and we even had enough water to run the washing machine and wash the sheets I had brought from England. We hung it out in strong sunshine over lunch and then on our walk back went in through the kitchen to see progress. What a brilliant thing and this look of happiness on A's face is certainly not made up. The arches (even if they are lower than initially suggested by these builders) are just so brilliant. They are exactly what we wanted.

The chimney which we may need to reconfigure

The chimney has been damaged by the knocking down of the wall next to it; there are now cracks and gaps pretty much all the way up. This does show that it wasn't very well constructed though and looking at the bricks we both think that they are not actually fire bricks. I don't know how much "finishing" the builders will do in this section of the work (I only employed them to knock the walls out and dig out and replace the floor) but this may give us the chance to reconfigure the fireplace so we can actually have the open fire we originally wanted. We'll see.

This will be the end of the kitchen

So it got near the end of the day and I popped out to check the chickens (they were fine) and see what was going on. I found that the nice smiley workman (I need to find his name out) was getting well on with putting in the new wall in the corridor which will be the end of the kitchen and will have double doors (insulated interior doors) that will mark the edge of our "heated apartment". It's great to see the shape and size defined and I am so pleased A had the idea for extending the kitchen like this; it looks absolutely fabulous!

Three archways nearly finished

I also popped into the kitchen main and got a picture showing all the arches, and how much light they are letting through from the back wall (the sun goes down in that direction, not matter how cloudy it is you can still see the shadows) and again it highlights and reinforces what a cracking layout this is. Realise as well that the windows on the back wall are hopefully going to be extended so there will be even more light coming in. I'm very excited and as I type this I can hear A going on her own round of inspection, with the girls, and exclaiming out loud just how epic it is.

Another tomato plant

With the working day over I suddenly got a burst of energy and followed A out the house to go and do some more interesting things. The first on the list was to transfer the tiny tomato plants which have recently appeared in the raised bed into the hugelkultur. We found four of these surprise additions and they are now safely bedded in down one side of it. I have loads more clearing to do on it and I really need to decide what else to plant, if anything this year.

A toad just in the undergrowth

The rest of my energy was taken up with finishing off the humanure collection point. While I was rushing around gathering tools and the final lengths of wood so I could cut and fit the middle dividing wall A got the camera and followed the girls as they went bouncing around in the long grass near the front fence. She disturbed one of the many inhabitants of our wonderful land just by some fallen logs and snapped a picture. This one is a biggy; I doubt he's been inside the house yet but who knows.

Really close to finished now

The humanure divider didn't take much time and while we were on with this the little lady came over with more cucumbers and she stayed to check the chickens (she's very happy with the progress that KitKat are making, and liked the look of Ginger and Baker as well), see the progress made on the kitchen, and watch as I fitted the divider and then used zip ties to secure the Ralf-proofing to an old window frame for a gate. It turns out that there is a little bit more work needed to ensure the puppies can't slip down the front into the collection point but it is very nearly done indeed.

So now the potatoes are bubbling away next to me and my beer is waiting to be drunk so I'm going to sign this off and get on with my evening.

Men back at work

What a day; I've been like an excited little boy all day today however before we get into that there is a fair bit to talk about yesterday evening, after the blog was published.

Final glimpses of the sun

As expected the clouds cleared during the evening and by the time we had eaten and settled there was quite a sunset coming on. A went onto the roof terrace with the camera while I was doing the last tasks towards publishing the blog and I was hurrying so I could join her before too late. I did everything in record time and legged it up and was in time to watch the final act which was pretty lovely indeed.

Like lightning, that chicken!

After this it was time for our chook wrangling; I think they are OK with being in their coop but they are still a bit nervous of being put in it; I hope we're not scarring them for life so they avoid it in the future but we cannot leave them out not after the fox sighting. They are pretty quick when you are chasing them but are getting easier to catch; I honestly think they are more comfortable around us every day. Now they just have to start laying.

Ready to ride round with the cooker

We were just heading back inside after this when the Other Brother appeared at the side gate and asked if we wanted to move the cooker so I ran in to get the keys and hitch up the trailer onto Thomas while A went over with the camera. When I got round there they had already unwrapped the tarp from around it and were waiting to lift it into the trailer. It only took the two brothers to do this; after four of us struggled in the snow. I didn't have any straps so sent A to grab some but then the Special One just hopped in the trailer with the cooker and said "dobre" so I got A to go to the gate so we could drive straight in and it was off. While we were loading the kmet had appeared from somewhere and he hopped on the back of the trailer, with the Other Brother, to be driven round in style.

Unloading between two of them

I pulled Thomas right up to the front door and swung round as far as possible so the carry distance would be reduced as much as possible. This time the Kmet insisted on being involved in the carry and I couldn't get anywhere near them to help as they were in and putting it down near the back wall very quickly indeed. I did help reposition it inside but for the most part I was merely an observer. They waved goodbye and left immediately after this and I presume maybe now the hay is in it was really getting in their way. I'm glad we have it back; we can now rat-proof it and store it carefully until next year.

Really misty start to the day

It wasn't a late night last night though I had the pleasure of talking to a mate about a gig in Sofia he was wanting to go to with me which kept me up a little later than A. I slept well, though I did need water a couple of times and had to go refill which was a challenge as the water was still completely off so I had to heft the large water bottle. I did this without spilling any which, when you consider I could barely see, was rather a success. We woke up to a very heavy mist which didn't shift for quite a long time. It ended up being a three brew morning before any progress could be made, largely I think because of this heavy overcast.

Straight to their food

We headed out to let the chickens out of their coop after the first brew and A refilled their food bowl so as soon as they were out they went over and pecked away. It's lovely to see how well they are settling in and A is sure that they are really starting to fill out as well. People who know about chooks; does this mean they may be about to start to lay? I hope so; I want my own eggs!

Today I had to go see the solicitor in town about the bulstat (bulgarian company registration card) and the company stamp that is needed to be applied to official paperwork like the bank stuff. Before I left however I had an urgent task to complete for work so I set to that and it took me longer than expected though not entirely because I struggled. First of all was the small issue of breakfast where I started out cutting up some melon then realised it wasn't going to fill me up so fried bacon and an egg for a butty. Then about 8.30 the workmen appeared and this distracted me again as I had to explain to them (the owner wasn't there) exactly what we were wanting. They set to immediately with the machine to break up the raised ledge and I helped the foreman to draw all the shapes in all the places for the alterations. It was really good to be involved at this stage and there were a couple of things I helped with that may have delayed them if I hadn't been there to point it out.

Come on; finish it quickly!

The water came on which was cause for celebration, a shower for A, and the washing machine being run; it's amazing just how much this means to you. Eventually I got my work done and committed so I jumped in Thomas to go to town. First I was stopped by the foreman just to check a few details and then I got to the gate to find that they had left it open and Rambo's ball was lying on the lane outside. I ran up to the porch to find Rambo dozing on his bed which was a relief so it was back down to the gate, shut it behind me, and rolled down the hill to town. On the way across the bridge I stopped to get a picture of the new bridge which apparently is the key to our returned reliable water supply returning.

I parked up eventually, it was REALLY busy in there today, and walked over to the solicitor's office. He was dealing with another customer and then when he finished we walked up to a shop to get the stamp sorted for my company then went back and printed and signed some paperwork for the bulstat. It is never a quick visit with him but it's always nice and he had a good laugh at my attempt to say "drunk" in Bulgarian which is "pian" but I said "piano". Anyway, after all this was done (my stamp will be ready in a week) I said goodbye and went past the post office to pay the electricity bill (7 BGN, about £2) and post some documents to my accountant. I then wound my way through closed roads (via the window people who said that they'd be over tomorrow to look at the next windows to be done) to the main road and over to the shop in the big town to buy the petchka we wanted. This was also super quick but we ended up with a crowd stood around the truck trying to get it to fit in safely.

Putting the final hay on to cover the humanure

I was gasping for the toilet by this time so I drove as quickly as I could without swinging the car and damaging the petchka and when I got back it was pretty much lunch time. The trip out had taken a bit longer than expected but all my non-legal related chores had only added about twenty minutes tops. I made myself some lovely cheese and tomato butties and cooked A up some super tasty pasta and we sat together to finish it off which is just lovely. I then did a little more paid work to keep on top of it and went to do the humanure. We still haven't finished the new collection point so I was having to try and fit it into the already pretty full old one. There was quite a lot of food as well, mainly rolls and things from my journey, and it was quite a challenge to shove it all around but I did fit everything in eventually. It is now totally vital that we have the new collection point completed before the next emptying cycle.

Spying on the girls between the corn leaves 

Look at my stick!

The cutest thing they do; running with the same stick

Mercury with his lunch

The big lump with the smaller lump

While I was doing this A had the camera and was playing with the puppies and taking lots of pictures. I've selected a few of my favourite and now I wish I could get them printed onto canvas. I'm loving the ones I did before I left and maybe I will order a few which I can bring back after a whisky festival. Yeah, that's a good idea.

I spent the rest of the day working on paid work but there were enough breaks and trips down to check on the progress being made that I was able to help out again a few times. The video above is super long and I'm sure no one will watch it however it was amusing to me. It started off with Nikolai and a huge lump hammer knocking the bricks out then he started with a pick axe then he was going to stand on a table but I persuaded him to use the scaffolding which I brought down for them so he was up on that with the big pneumatic drill attacking the reinforced concrete and then he went back to the pick axe and finally they all realised suddenly that the concrete went a long way up and was actually part of the structure of the building. At least they realised this before bringing the whole thing down on our heads.

Bang smash crash boom bang

For those of you who can't be bothered with the video above is a picture of Nikolai in full flow with the lump hammer knocking bricks out. He is a big lad and wielded that thing like it weighed nothing. The effort was strenuous for him though and he was gasping for breath a lot of the time.

Seriously thick walls

The foreman had stayed all day and had taken it on himself to chip away at the dividing wall which we are knocking arches into so the two rooms and corridor can be turned into one big room. This wall is made from stones and is really really thick. It is part of the earthquake protection for the building and we were quite strictly limited in the percentage of the wall we were allowed to remove. At the end of the day I went down there with A to check on the progress and she was amazed and almost in tears with how it has all come on even in one day. There are a couple of things which have had to be compromised on for example the reinforced concrete which stopped them knocking out the whole wall earlier in the day also ran around and meant that the archways cannot be quite as high as we were expecting. The fireplace as well will need a slight redesign as the chimney sits at 90 degrees to the expected angle however we can still have a lovely fireplace and it may even make the nook nicer.

Anyway, all of these things are lovely problems to have and I'd rather be learning and making choices like this on the fly rather than having had the place done to a drawing which (in our case at least) was out of date before it was even printed. I forgot until just now that actually the window people turned up today so they were shown what we wanted this time and left saying they'd be back in about two weeks to fit everything. Once this round of windows is in we'll only be left with the ones on the back wall of the kitchen, the ones in the entrance hall and the actual back door but all of these are very dependent on our plans for by the back door so may wait another year. I'll probably pay the company off for the balance after this next round though as they have been super patient and excellent to boot.

Dumping the final load for later removal

We waved the workmen off and then the Little Lady was at the gate with the tarp which had been wrapped around the cooker so we invited her in to show off the progress and she was suitably impressed. We really need to learn the words for "kitchen" and "fireplace" and other things like that, however. It was a struggle without them. It started to drizzle around this time and this steadily increased as the thunder rumbled around.

I'm going to leave the blog here though other things have happened since then; you'll just have to wait until tomorrow. From a rainy Bulgaria; good night.

Not a day of rest

So after then excellent evening yesterday which ended up quite late for us we headed to bed and I think both of us slept pretty well. I woke as the sun was coming up but then went back to sleep and when I next came to the sun was well up in the sky and into the clouds that were starting to blow in. The forecast was for thunderstorms later on but OK to start the day and that seemed to be what we were getting.

Hard work makes me happy (and covered in hay) 

A hefting her part in the hay move

Our day got off to a completely different start than expected when we were about to feed the girls, after letting the chooks out again, and I was just wondering downstairs to see A who was outside when we were called by the Little Lady to go and give a hand with unloading a huge hay lorry parked up by their drive. We both got stuck in with a will and hefted and hauled bales until it was all moved and stacked in their barn. There was too much to fit in there and so some had to be left out in the yard.

Sweeping the leavings off the truck

It was about half an hour of strenuous effort involving the Special One throwing the bales off the lorry, the ladies passing them inside the barn, and me helping Usmivka and the Other Brother to stack them to the rafters. When the lorry was fully unloaded the Other Brother got on the truck bed and swept a loose leavings out onto the ground. This kind of thrift, where you get everything and don't waste anything, is something I really appreciate. The job wasn't finished yet though as we went through all the loose hay pulling out the bits and pieces of string mixed in; no cow wants to chew on string.

Super productive greenhouse 

Can't quite reach the top

With the job completed the Little Lady took us around her garden to show us their new calves (which will be meat soon) and then round her excellent garden where she showed off her polytunnel with already huge and red tomatoes (she gave us one as a gift) and peppers, and the 8 foot high pea plants which have shot up in the past few weeks. These people really do know how to grow and we need to watch them and learn.

Where the cooker will be stored

We had both been feeling quite dozy before the call for assistance had come and now we had had that burst of exercise we had some energy. One of the main things that we wanted to achieve today was to bring the cooker over from outside the barn (where we had just put the hay) so when we got back to the house and had fed the girls we started to make space to store it by moving the laycorn boxes from where they have sat since I arrived here 15 months ago or so. We didn't stop there and kept tidying in that area and then went through to the kitchen and cleared it out preparatory for the workmen who are supposed to start tomorrow digging out the floor in there. We then took a few other bits and pieces from around the house which lives in the garage.

I got all the bits and pieces out for the new junction box and started watching videos and reading instructions online. My main task for the day was to get the electric back into the bedroom and as I was very nervous I read lots and then decided that the only way to work out how to do this was to look at the other box, done by Steve last year. I had to turn the electric off to open this up and just as I went to do this we were called again by the neighbours and so headed over there where we were treated to an incredible lunch (including an amazing jam made from rose hip fruits which put my attempt to shame) and also had a lovely time with their other guests who were the ex teachers from the school and their daughter.

It was lovely to sit there eating and chatting (the daughter speaks really good English and said that she would start to read this blog so "Hi!") but when the next round of guests arrived we made our apologies and headed off. When we got back all of our motivation had completely disappeared and we were feeling pretty exhausted so after we both fell asleep on the sofa we decided to go rest for a bit and as the thunder rumbled around us, with a few big bangs that were pretty close, we dozed for a while and when we got up felt much more alive.

Nice and clean guest room 

Our bedroom is now better also

While we waited for a call from the Other Brother about the petchka I decided that I wanted to achieve something and the mess of a guest room and our bedroom had been dragging on my mind for a while so we set to. There were loads of clothes in both rooms that we had no need of, dust everywhere from the unfinished walls and ceiling in the guest room, and just general mess and clutter preventing things from moving. We just attacked the problem steadily, sorting through the clothes, filling suitcases with things we'll no not need til winter, or maybe ever (a whole suitcase full of socks when I never wear them out here!), and the rationalising our clothes into fewer wardrobes so we have more space. I also go Henry out and hoovered up everywhere and now the rooms are both tidy, our clothes are easy to find (or stored) and when Bekir and Sally come back to finish the rooms we will be able to clear out those rooms much easier.

The petchka we want for the living room

At some point earlier in the day (I can't remember when now) I headed into town to try and buy some more flue pipes so we could move the petchka in the bedroom to its final location, some picture hanging kits and a few joint strips for the wiring in the roof. When I got there I found that the petchka we have wanted for the living room is on sale and so I think I'll be heading back tomorrow to pick it up. Other than that it was a totally useless journey with only the joint strips to show for it. Never mind.

From blue sky round to dirty thunderstorm black

The weather had been bouncing around all afternoon with the rumbles and a few downpours and this actually made us a bit happy as it meant no watering round, and also cooled off the humidity a little bit which had been quite heavy in the morning. I headed onto the balcony at one point to get some pictures of the storm as it gathered and it was pretty awesome how the blue sky contrasted with the huge black cloud over the hills opposite.

So much fruit on the pear tree

While I was out there I remembered to get a picture of the pear tree and all the fruit which is on it now. How amazing this is to see, after the tiny harvest last year; we will have to get harvesting this so I can make more of the pear preserve which goes so well with fresh yoghurt. I love seeing the land producing things; it's free tasty stuff.

Pictures above my desk

The other thing which we did today was to put the picture of Mo up next to the Wasted World from the studio and the other painting done by my friend Crisi and now the landing looks amazing. I kept walking around today and stopping as the three pictures caught my eye; they look really smart up there and now I'm going to have to get more pictures up around the place as they liven it up and also put our stamp on the property.

During the afternoon the two ex teachers came over again to have a look round and see what had been done since last year and they said so many lovely things about the plans we have and what we have achieved. They were particularly taken with the roof terrace and the views from up there and also were amused that we are doing all of this just to have a house for ourselves. It is always lovely to show them around and feel the connection with the old use of the building and it renews my determination to have a room with the museum stuff that I have been saving. We promised to see them again next year when they are back and hopefully by then there will be loads more progress made.

Snuggled puppies

And so it got to evening and we had a meal made up of left overs from the BBQ which was just perfect for how we were feeling after such an itty bitty day. The rain was still falling quite heavily but we still sat by the back window and once again discussed and agreed that this table and chairs would stay here. We also both love the sofas on the landing too so that will be factored in to the plans. The girls had been off their food a little today but this evening they ate their dinner like the hungry little creatures they are. They then curled up on their sofa and A covered them in the rug as it made them look even more cute.

And so the day draws to a close; the clouds have blown over and the sun is now shining so we'll be off up onto the roof terrace shortly to watch the sunset and drink the last of our beer before bed. This week promises to be a really busy long one, particularly if the builders do start, and both of us had plans to do paid work over the weekend but completely failed to do any so that won't help.

See you tomorrow.

Plenty of gosti

What a day, it's really late as I start typing this so I'm going to try and be brief but you know what I'm like; I'll probably still be typing tomorrow. Onwards without delay.

Super tasty pork dinner

So now I try and remember last night and I look at my pictures and find that we had pork with onions, marrow slices and potatoes and I remember just how gorgeous it tasted. Once again, and as our habit is going to be for dinners, we ate at the table and watched a very disappointing sunset.

Don't even THINK about taking this bone off me

The girls got to chew on the bones from our pork, one each, and Rambo got two. He ate them so fast that when A went out to check on the neighbour who had come over to get some blossom from our tea trees he had completely devoured one by the time she came back in. The girls loved their bones also and spent the whole evening gnawing on them until very little was left. The night was undisturbed in the large part however A was up at 5.30 with a sore tummy and I slept in til quite a bit later when I woke to find myself alone. I got up and went looking for her and eventually found her out with the chickens; at least it wasn't that she had left me, huh.

First ever mains electrical work

I was in slave driver mood this morning as I had a very definite list of things to achieve. The most important was to get the armoured cable that was taking power to the bedroom and re-route it in the way I had originally planned so that on Sunday I could try and get the distribution box installed and have safe power into the bedroom. We turned the electric off at the pole and, with some nerves I must admit, I went into the splitter box and separated out the cable we were moving. I didn't kill myself and we had the power back on within about twenty minutes so that was really good.

Breaking out the original wiring

With this completed and as a proper workman we stopped for a brew before starting the next step which was to chip out and disconnect the wires taking power into the bedroom. This had actually been cemented into the wall and so we used a hammer and a chisel to carefully remove the mortar and free up the cables for untwisting.

Labelled the earth wires

It turns out that the plug sockets have been wired in earthed which is great. I'm not very confident on this whole electrical thing and so I started off suggesting that we label everything. I wrote the labels but my writing was way too messy so A took over and we did the earth cables before noticing that the colours for the bedroom feed three core matched the colours in the armoured so we didn't bother labelling any of the other feeds.

Happy man with armoured disconnected

After some graft and much sore knees from the awkward position I finally managed to extract the cable from the junction box and so we moved on to pulling it through and freeing it from the path that Bekir had put it. This didn't take long and we then fed it back down towards the junction box Steve put in so I can connect it all up tomorrow. Finally I fixed it in place for the first couple of metres in the roof going towards where the sub-junction box is going to be before stopping for breakfast.

A wasn't feeling that well sadly and so while I ate bacon and eggs she went to bed for a bit. I was sitting on the balcony, which is nice as I've not done that much, while she was in bed and able to talk to me when Thelma started barking at something down the side of the house. We just thought it was Rambo but then the Bulgarian phone started ringing and eventually we spoke to Bekir who had been ringing and realised that he was at the gate. He had dropped round, on his way to market with his son and friend, to come and talk about the work that we need doing. We explained the urgent tasks and he said he'd be over 6th July to start work. This is excellent as we need the bathroom and guest suite done for my parents' visit.

The cable reached the point we aimed for

When he left we headed back into the attic (A was feeling better by now having finished off my bacon butty while I spoke to Bekir) and we completed the task of running the armoured cable over to the correct place for the distribution box. I now have the really hard part of this job to do which is actually putting the box together and then making sure it works and doesn't blow up. That is for tomorrow though.

Nearly over the edge

There was time for a quick (cold) shower (we STILL have no reliable water and it is getting worse and not better unfortunately) before we headed out for our first gosti of the day. We have been wanting to go see A of S for a while and this weekend was the perfect opportunity so we got ourselves together and went to leave. I heard a strange noise as we were going and looked up and saw that the new chair A had bought for the roof terrace had been blown over and was almost over the edge. We ran upstairs and managed to save it; the wind had really got up by this time! After this excitement it was a pleasure to drive for a while as we took the long scenic route to our friends house and when we got there it was lovely to see her and to have a cup of coffee sat on her terrace. This is actually the person who's blog I first ever read about Bulgaria all those years ago.

We finished our brew and headed off to Isat's to pick up a new burning drum as our existing one is falling apart. He was eating his lunch when we got there so we waited a bit but this is no hardship here and you just learn the pleasure of not being in a rush. He came down from the cafe shortly and was happy to sell us the last drum he has for quite a cheap price. After shaking his hand and getting given his new card we were off home, via a friend's house who he had asked us to photograph to check on its state, and we got back very hungry and gasping for food.

I made us a pasta meal from the dried packets and then A headed into town to the shops and left me to do a few bits. I fed the girls and then took them outside for their toilet while I went on the swinging chair and almost dozed off. When I woke up I found the girls gone but they had only gone up the side of the chicken house towards the washing line so that was OK. Rather than go in I cleared out the wood from the trees which had come down in the snow and been cut up by the Special One and which was tangled in the weeds to either side of the gate. Next I headed inside and tried to get the pictures in the frames I had bought but found that some of them were not the right size and anyway all the dust around was getting everywhere and making them look rubbish. Finally I started on the other job I'd set myself which was to clear the non-computer stuff off of A's desk but after moving the speakers the whole dust and mess thing got to me and I sat down in a huff on a comfy chair, with the puppies on my lap, and read my book until A got home.

Cleaned and tidied

I was feeling tired and lonely (I know, I've only just finished three months without her but it's funny how you can cope and then suddenly you can't) and when she got back she told me to go rest so I went to try and do this on the swinging chair but the wind was up and I just relaxed rather than sleeping. After a bit I gave up and went to bed and slept really soundly for an hour and I woke up feeling much more positive and happy. A had arranged a surprise for me this evening which was a BBQ with the neighbours coming over so when I woke up I got involved and tided and cleaned the landing and Room 13 so we would have somewhere to sit inside if the weather proved too bad.

Roof terrace ready for party

We got the roof terrace ready with chairs and recliners and the parasol and the swinging chair and then the BBQs and then suddenly, before any food had even started to be cooked or even the BBQs lit, they were on their way over. I lit the BBQs very quickly but then the Special One came and took over and we split the two BBQs so he was doing the chicken and I was doing the burgers.

Superb kartofe

They had been told that all the food would be provided by us however it is a measure of the people that they refused to turn up empty handed. The star of the show was these lovely potatoes that I wolfed and so did A. We also had some very lovely cooked meats and cheeses which went down well and when the burgers were finally ready they also were appreciated.

The girls chewing a bone with grandchildren in attendance

For the past few we have forgotten to the give the girls the bone we got for them from the restaurant we went to with SandS and their friends. A had the brilliant idea of distracting them with it while we had the BBQ and so gave it to them and they spent about the next three hours chewing on it and reducing it steadily with their small teeth. The grandchildren of our neighbours were enthralled with the puppies as you would expect and barely left them alone. Fortunately Thelma and Louise are really good natured and put up with the fusses from particularly the little boy who just loved them.

Having a great time

Usmivka and the Little Lady had not come over for the first part of the evening as it is Ramadan and they are fasting (which is something I am certain I would not be able to do - I barely survived from breakfast to lunch!) however we had a great time anyway and really enjoyed being on the roof terrace until the clouds came in again, the wind picked up,and we were chased downstairs onto the sofas I had moved onto the landing for that purpose.

Aftermath of a pretty good sunset

After a lovely time sat there, talking about the pictures on the walls and the recording studio amongst other things, we noticed that it was nearly time for the fast for the day to finish so A went up to start the BBQ again for Usmivka and The Little Lady while I sat with our gosti. Eventually the Special One went up to take over the cooking again and after a while we headed back up there where I was just in time to catch the end of the sunset.

Ghostly Usmivka stood over the Little Lady

I went down to control Rambo when they walked over and then we sat on the roof terrace in the gathering gloom while the meat was cooked on the BBQ. They were both quite quiet and tired having not eaten all day and were obviously looking forward to their dinner. I took a few super long exposure pictures, hand held camera of course, of the group which came out as you would expect and then it was time to go downstairs for them to eat. I put everything away from the terrace and joined everyone; A took the opportunity to give the gifts we had bought for the ladies and they loved them. Then, as soon as the final bite was eaten, it was home time and we hugged them goodbye, waved them off, and I came upstairs to start on this.

I'm going to sign this off quickly now as I have another long day tomorrow but first I want to say what a wonderful and lovely surprise it was for A to have arranged this evening for me. It is something I wanted to do all last year and never managed to and much as I am not a great socialiser I love that family and love sharing time with them. Anyway, bed time.