The title of this blog is inspired by the gorgeous aroma that the four tea trees in our front yard are emitting with such power and profusion that you can smell them everywhere on the property; the living room is particularly gorgeous smelling at the moment.The blossom has lasted longer this year than I remember it doing in the past couple of years and I'm so chuffed my parents got to experience it.
Tuesday Night Clouds
After publishing the blog on Tuesday I was out on the balcony and roof terrace a couple of times with my camera getting pictures of the show that the sky was putting on.
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| Different cloud shapes in the distance |
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| Stripes in the sky like a brush |
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| Clouds glowing with reflected sunlight |
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| The final act |
First of all there were some interesting shaped clouds that A spotted and called me out to see then she saw some interesting stripes, like someone had waved a brush through the clouds. The clouds were quite thick towards the horizon and were swirling around in the distance before suddenly the sun popped out below the dark raft and illuminated the day for the final time. It was a very pretty display indeed.
Wednesday
After a relatively good night, not disturbed this time by Sassy, Wednesday dawned before the alarm with a gorgeous orange sky. Unfortunately I was too lazy to get up and take a picture and by the time I woke again it was gone.
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| Early fog as it burns off |
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| More of my pathway trench is dug |
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| Sally hefts the metal bars |
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| Beginning to dig out a trench for cement |
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| Tiles laid down to work out angles |
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| And the first cut is made |
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| Thelma stole Rambo's toy |
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| On top of the pile of stones |
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| Tiling master |
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| The first pole is upright |
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| Mum starts to help clear the hugelkultur |
It was gone behind a steadily rising tide of mist which coated everything with a damp layer before burning off. I was outside digging my pathway again and it was so wet that I had to put my wellies on as I got covered in mud and grit while only wearing my sandals. I had a good go of it, though, and did about 1.5m of deep digging which was about my target. I sweated loads again. Sally was getting stuck in to the creation of my vine frame and took the metal poles I'd bought on Tuesday and began to clear away the location where they will be planted. Inside Bekir made a start on tiling the floor of the bathroom and after offering up the first row he started trimming a few tiles for the not-square walls. Exciting times. Outside Sally had dug out his trench for the width of the frame and set the first of the upright poles into cement, keeping it vertical using some wooden outriggers. My mum went out for an hour or so but it was very hot indeed so she sensibly didn't stay out that long, weeding in the hugelkultur. We are going to make use of this again for peppers and tomatoes I think before covering this all over with a polytunnel at the end of the year.
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| A very tasty tagliatelle for lunch |
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| Golden domes glistening on the orthodox church |
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| An impressive facade to the museum |
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| One of many displays from our own village |
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| A home/workshop from our village from 5000BC |
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| Wonderful dragon carving |
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| An old loom |
I was stuck to my computer all through the morning and come lunch time was ready for a break as it was more hassle and almost no progress. We had rearranged our museum visit from the day before and so were meeting Lyubo at 2pm in town and the decision was made early to go for lunch in town before hand. We ummed and ahhed and finally settled on the little cafe we had been to at the beginning of my parents' visit and what a good choice it was; all of our food was very nice and the service was excellent again. After this we strolled to meet Lyubo and he took us on a slight detour to see the huge orthodox church in the centre of town; it was gleaming in the sun and very impressive. From there we walked through the old tobacco processing quarter, now very derelict but the buildings are still impressive, and finally got to the museum which is another wonderful building designed by a Russian and set in gorgeous grounds. We paid our way in and rapidly found that we were the only guests in the entire building so had the whole attention of the staff. Each floor had a different subject matter and there was a good smattering of English Language labels, though not everywhere. Lyubo was super helpful with this, and some of the staff also had some English and we did OK. The most exciting thing for me was seeing all of the ancient (as in, 6000 BC) artifacts that have been recovered from our very own village. When they heard where we lived the staff smiled and nodded as they knew it well. Once we had done the tour we went to the little shop so my mum could get a gift (the person behind the counter was a published author on archeology and very knowledgeable) and then we said good bye to Lyubo and made our way home. It had been a longer trip out than I had expected but very much worth it.
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| Amazing progress on the bathroom floor |
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| The three upright poles are in place |
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| Sally stretching string to calculate where the cross piece will go |
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| Workers on the roof of a neighbouring house |
When we got back we found some awesome progress had been made; the bathroom floor was almost entirely completed and looked amazing and outside Sally had put up the three main supports and was using a string to calculate where the top pieces would go on the frame. I was just in time to give him a useful hand on this task. I also got back to a huge pile of work which totally engrossed me until it was time for the men to go, a leaving which was then delayed as a lorry was delivering wood and tiles onto our lane and had blocked it entirely. These supplies were for use on the empty house that is our close neighbour, next to the Little Lady's house, which A has wanted to buy before now. The chap who owns it, who lives in Turkey, is having the roof renewed so he can come back here on holidays.
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| A struggle to light these in slight rain and gusty wind |
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| These clouds appeared just as we decided on the BBQ |
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| Puppies wanted to join in |
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| Sun show once again |
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| They work while we eat |
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| There goes the sun again |
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| And the day is done |
Eventually we managed to make our way past the truck and I took the men home and when I got back I found it cloudy and the BBQ decision still very much in the balance. We started the chicken off in the oven and then after a while I went to try and light the BBQs and it started raining. I waited a bit more then just went for it and finally got them lit. It remained a bit cloudy but fortunately the rain passed quickly and in the end we had a lovely time eating out and enjoying the last meal we would have as an entire family for this trip. The food was pretty good though I did overdo everything slightly as I was unsure of the state of the coals and then the sunset was just stunning and we all ran around with our cameras taking pictures. After eating we went inside away from the insects that were starting to swarm and read before it was time for bed.
Thursday
I can't remember how well I slept for the most part but I know that Sassy is getting closer to the stew pot as she woke me at midnight and at five by banging. Once again there was a stunning sky and once again I was too lazy to get up to photograph it; this is becoming a habit.
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| Mum gets stuck into the weeds on the hugelkultur |
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| I need to get a head band to keep the sweat out of my eyes |
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| Making good progress on the path trench though |
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| A good amount of bare ground for us to plant in |
When A left to get the men she didn't only leave me outside working but my Mum, who had gone out about fifteen minutes before, working on weeding the hugelkultur again. It is a good time to get things done before the day gets very hot but even so by the end of the dig I was sweating and pretty exhausted. I'm glad that I've got a few days off to let my muscles recover but next week I want to have this dug right up to the raised beds. Mum cleared the front third of the hugelkultur which was excellent as now was can put some of our seedlings in there.
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| The first crossing piece goes up |
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| Welding them into place |
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| Cleaning up the old plumbing pipes |
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| Drilling into the wall to secure the top beams |
And so to the progress of the day which I missed mainly because I was busy working and actually having a good productive day for once; one day of productivity a week is great, huh. Anyway Sally was back on with the vine frame and had put all the uprights in place and the cross pieces which he first wired into place to get everything right (I helped him stabilise them on one of my visits while he measured up again) and then he got the welder our and fixed it all together properly. I had to go to the shop for a new drill bit for him so he spent some time cleaning up the old water pipes which we are using for the top rails but when I got back he drilled the holes and fixed everything securely in place. All that is left is to trim off the excess hanging into the garden, fill and seal the holes in the wall and put the metal frame on the top. It looks great already.
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| Longer stakes for the tomatoes |
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| Much better supported, using strips of A's old t shirt |
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| The spuds are definitely ready for harvest |
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| Another wonderful fruit of our garden |
A had a nice restful start to the day but then took herself outside to do a job that I had been meant to do but hadn't got time what with how busy work has been this week; the stakes for the tomatoes were not tall enough and so she went around and replaced them with better taller ones, and also staked up some of the smaller plants that now need the support. She also dug out the early spuds and we had a good haul - we planted about 2kg of seed potatoes and got about 6.5kg back. I'm not sure how good that is in reality but we are very happy. We also have another cauliflower that is very much ready for eating. It excites me so much to have our own produce on our plates.
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| Lunch time and the wall is begun |
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| End of the day and it's nearly finished |
Last but by no means least inside Bekir was cracking on with the tiling at a great pace. He finished off the floor tiles before starting on the wall with the big window which has quite a lot of fiddly detail like around the taps for the bath. We had also bought some detail tiles to go around the edge of the window and they are looking wonderful. It's so exciting to see this coming on so fast now; I wish it had been ready so the parents could see it before they left but now they'll just have more to look forward to next year.
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| An omelette pie |
I'd had to go out during the afternoon to visit a notary to get some documents signed for my company and Lyubo again very kindly helped me. When I got back with the items that Bekir and Sally wanted I was straight back to work and then it was time to take them home. I attempted to start this update when I got back but my heart wasn't in it so this has mostly been written on Friday morning. We were going out for dinner as a "last supper" type thing and what with how gorgeous it was we decided to go eat outside our favourite restaurant. We eventually managed to get into the shade, even at 7.30pm it was still about 28 degrees and the sun strong, and we had a lovely time. I ordered my awkward omelette again and this time I got a mound of pork, mushroom and onion with the omelette draped over the top. What fun.
It was hot enough last night to have the fan going for the first time really in earnest and it showed its worth by cooling us down really well, and very quietly indeed.What a good investment. I'll leave this here now though as I want to enjoy the rest of my parents' visit as later today they go home.
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