Spend spend spend

Today has been a day of spending big but that was always the plan. We haven't done any wood chopping though so not all of our plans worked out. No matter, it's been a really good day. Onwards.

Very foggy start to the day

As soon as I finished the update last night I went to bed, curled up, and went to sleep even though I had half a cup of tea next to me on the bedside table. I had that incipient migraine feeling in my legs and was feeling pretty wiped out. When I was woken up by the puppies wanting out at about 5am I was feeling a whole lot better and, after a little struggle, I got back to sleep. Once again A got up without disturbing me and I woke up pretty naturally, but earlier than I wanted due to the workmen coming on a Saturday. The beautiful clear skies of the night had been obliterated by really thick fog which smothered everything.

Bedroom Petchka

We were heading off to the big hardware store, via the bank, early this morning and one of the things on the list was the rest of the pipes for the petchkas in the living room and bedroom. To help us work out what we would need we lifted the petchka into the bedroom and offered it up. It sits in really nicely, and I'm glad that we're getting new black pipes for it as it'll look really good. We worked out we need 12 more metres of pipes; nothing is small in this build.

Thomas is fully clothed once more

Before we left I got Nikolai to help me, with his colleague, get the back onto Thomas. It wasn't too much hassle with their help but then it was a real pain to get the first bolt in to hold it on. Eventually this was done, we were loaded in, and off we went. The visit to the bank ended up being quite a mission as I had five payments to make and each had to be manually typed in but eventually it was done, I was richer, and we made our way to the big shop.

A testing out her new camera before buying it

When we got there we left the puppies in the truck, bought almost the shops entire stock of black petchka pipes, and then paid for them and stashed them in the truck before heading back in to get the bookshelves and for me to look for a mill (no luck) and a pond filter (a brilliant one was found). We left feeling satisfied, made our way to the electrical store in our local town and spent oodles more money on new cameras (one each) and a microwave. This last is a big concession for me as I didn't want one but it makes so much sense when you're coming in to winter and making big stews that you can then reheat easier. Here is the first picture taken on A's new camera - aren't I looking SHARP.

A beautiful day from in Thomas

After counting out lots of 50 lev notes at the checkout, with a queue developing behind me, we headed towards the local town which Bekir had informed us was having an open day today.On the way A was playing with her camera and snapping random shots of the way there. As you can see from them the weather really had improved since the foggy start and it was even above 20 degrees and lovely and warm. Sure enough as we pulled into the town we could hear music and there was a fayre ground and all sorts of other things going on. We managed to find parking not far from the centre, got our cameras on the go with straps and a memory card for me, and then headed into town.

Bolt cutters for splitting bones, and the head

More goat over the coals

We made our way towards the music, pausing briefly by the goat stall before walking on as it was very busy. After a while we realised that there were no other goat pits around so we headed back to the first one and waited. Then waited. Then waited some more. It seemed that the method to getting served was to push in at the front and the rest of the queue just didn't move, not even the little old lady in front of us (who had also pushed in, as it happens) and when a group of strapping young Turks came over and pushed in I threw my toys out the pram and we left. Annoying as I wanted goat again.

Slightly dry chicken, but lovely bread

We crossed the road once more and headed up the main festival street until we came to an empty table and sat there, ordering some chicken, some bread and two beers. It quickly became apparent why the tables were empty as the chicken had been over the coals too long and was dry and not that tasty. No matter we ate it all as we were hungry from all the spending. The owners were very friendly, took pictures of the puppies (Thelma was in full on sulk mode as she didn't want to walk anywhere and particularly not in crowds) and showed us a photograph of her son with his dog. They are very friendly.

Thelma mid chew, Louise mid beg

The puppies were getting plenty of chance to grab food from us as we were tearing off bits of meat and bread and passing them down. Even they weren't that impressed with the food, however, and after a while they refused any but the juiciest bits. They are ruined, I tell you.

Local kids saying hello to Thelma

Once we had choked down all the food we could we paid up (it wasn't very expensive) and headed out along the road. This time I had Louise on her lead and A carried Thelma who was sulking still. We were heading towards the noise of a band up the road and when we found it they were on a brief break from music making. As per usual the girls got lots of attention and these kids were brave enough to come say hello and ask to stroke them.

Louise singing along

Shortly after this the band struck up again. I had wondered why everyone was stood on the sides and no one was sat down on the benches in front of the stage but it quickly became apparent. It was much much too loud and even where we were the volume was overwhelming. The funniest thing, though, was Louise's reaction. As soon as it started she started to howl along. Once I stopped laughing I got a quick photograph and then we escaped so she could calm down. She was not impressed at all.

Very noisy fun for the kids

On the way back to Thomas we strolled a slightly different route back, first of all dropping a street lower and then (after Louise did a big dump right in the middle of the path that I had to clean up with napkins and then hunt for a bin to dump) through the kids fairground. The music here was really loud as well and we didn't stop long, just time to get some pictures to test out the colours on the new cameras. This one was from my camera.

Whole chicken over coals

The final photograph was as we went past the goat roasting pit from earlier. The goats were all gone but there were now chickens on spits over the heat. A got what I think is the best photograph of the day as she had been playing with her settings a lot. She's much more into cameras whereas I normally use the automatic setting most of the time and here you can see how it pays off.

New arrivals at the neighbour's house

We drove home along the nice newly resurfaced road past the sunflower fields but as we were going past the Little Lady's house we were hailed and encouraged to come out to see what she had to show us. It was a load of tiny chicks that one of her hens had just hatched out. They were in one of the numerous barns and store houses around her yard but she encouraged them out with handfulls of bread.

Little Lady preserving peas

A friendly wave from Usmivka

She was boiling up peas in a cauldron on an open fire in the yard, a load of jars full were submerged fully in water. This is how you do it properly, rather than my effort-full attempts at preserves. There's so much to learn. She offered some to us and will maybe drop it over later on. As we were leaving Usmivka came over to see us and I was able to get a lovely shot of his lovely smile from in the car. They're such a great couple.

The side wall for the drive is done

We got back to find the builders were still there but they had basically finished their work for the day. We unloaded everything then strolled round to check it out and spent a lovely few minutes sat underneath the pear tree enjoying the weather and the way that the driveway will end up looking. Then it was inside for a brew and A at first said she wanted to get out and chop wood but then very quickly agreed when I said I'd rather not. We were both pretty tired so we headed to bed to rest however I ended up not being able to get over and got up after a few minutes so as to not disturb A's sleep more than I already had.

Green water in the pond

I decided that rather than put the side on the wood store, which I'm not totally clear about a design for, I'd head to the duck pond and wire in the external plug socket for the new water filter. As I got down there I found the workmen were heading off, having had a BBQ again on the driveway, and I waved them off then gathered all the tools. It was quickly apparent that the pond would need emptying and cleaning else we'd just be washing the filter almost immediately as it has really scummed up badly.

New pond with the plugs underneath

I sat on a rock to wire the plug up and after five attempts I finally had it all done correctly and had shut the casing. It was then that I realised that I hadn't attached the back of the socket in place first and therefore had a loose socket. Fortunately I was able to secure it with a number of screws have inserted into the wood on all sides and it is pretty safe now. I then ran the power inside, fitted a new breaker and wired it all up. It will have to wait for us to empty and clean the pond before we can turn it on; that'll now happen tomorrow.

Sat together in the sun

Glorious day

I went inside and was shocked to see it was already 6pm and there was no sign of A. I tried to wake her carefully but Thelma had other plans and jumped on her face to lick her; they're lovely, these puppies. Once I had dragged her out of bed I poured as a beer apiece, got the chairs, and we took them onto the balcony on the new tiles to enjoy the still gorgeous glorious day. It was absolutely dead quiet (the ignorant idiots on motorbikes had finally gone away) and we both reveled in this being our home.

Photography

A was also pointing her camera at the beautiful sights and I got what I think is the second best picture of the day of her taking a picture. It'll take some getting used to, and I think I really should play around with the settings more now I have a very good camera to use, but even on full auto the results are brilliant.

There goes the sun

We stayed up there until the sun went behind the hill and then headed down to get our chores done. A did the ducks and chickens while I did the watering round and tomorrow I think we'll be eating some of our own cabbage with our huge Sunday Roast Chicken which we have planned. Dinner this evening was pizza and garlic bread and while it is lazy and may not be good for you it's nice to have lazy food sometimes. I've poured us a small dram of whisky to ease the evening away and A lit the fire, though I didn't think it needed lighting, as she is still waking up after her long afternoon nap. I do hope she can sleep tonight.

So now tomorrow we have a large list of things to do which we didn't do today but at least we don't have workmen around. I will miss them when they aren't here any more, I'm sure, but it would be nice to have more than one day a week without strange men around.