The first week of the visit

I'm sat here early on Sunday afternoon after a lovely soak in the pool; it's the end of the first week of my parents visit and what a lovely week it has been. I've got many photographs to work through so I'm going to just crack straight on, trying to wind my memory back on Monday evening after I published my previous update.

Another panorama from our balcony

Golden as the sun descends

Rose reflected from the clouds

Monday evening was another glorious evening and we spent a little time in the pool which was really starting to slide as the stones underneath it settled away. I ended up ringing Bekir and asking him again to come over on Tuesday and, bless him, he agreed to and to bring a helper so that took a lot of pressure off me as I worried about the damage to the pool from the uneven strain. Later on in the evening the sun went down in a blaze of glory, reflecting off the clouds around the horizon, and we headed to bed earlier as the next morning I was going to be heading over to collect Bekir plus one.

The men get stuck in to the task at hand

Bekir makes the wooden forms, careful to get them level

Rambo helping as Bekir starts spreading the cement

Carefully working to get the platform level

A platform waiting for our pool

So many footprints from chickens, ducks and puppies

There is no need for an alarm during the summer as the sunrise wakes us at 6am every morning and I was off and on time to collect the men, even getting a chance to briefly stop at the top of their cheren put so I wasn't too early. As I rolled into their village I thought I saw Sally walking along the road a bit further up but couldn't quite see; it was, therefore, a huge pleasure to discover that it was Sally as we drove back out after I picked up Bekir and Hikmet. I paused to say hello and he was looking very healthy and happy; it was superb to see him! When we reached the Old School there was some conversation between Bekir and myself around what solution we would use to solve the sloping pool problem. He suggested building a concrete frame and filling in the middle with the stones but after some thought I decided we really needed the solid solution of a complete cement base. He agreed and went down the hill with A while I helped Hikmet to shovel all the stones out of the way. It took them all day to do the work but they did finish it in the one day; this was very important for me as he had done us a favour taking time out of his own busy schedule to solve this problem. I waved them goodbye as A took them home and finished up my working, my final day of this contract. There was much hilarity later on when we saw just how many animal footprints were setting in the material.

The puppies welcome my parents

Dad gets his pressie

Showing off how big it is

My parents landed safely in Sofia in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday and they made it across town in time for the 10am bus that would get them to our town for 2pm. The morning involved  a few bits and pieces of paid work, some tidying and then I headed out, slightly late, to go past the courier, bank and shops before meeting them at the bus station. Unfortunately there was quite a bad accident on the motorway (20 cars involved but no one badly hurt, from our research) and this delayed them by about an hour. I parked up under a tree in the shade and read my book and then their bus pulled up and I jumped out and gave them both a big hug. It was lovely to see them but even more excited to see them was Louise. They were quite tired after the long journey so we had a relaxing time drinking a brew while Dad opened his Christmas present. It was a quiet evening but lovely.

Thelma helps us lay out the insulation

A gets the ring pumped up

It refills

Drilling out for the gazebo legs

Relaxing in the pool with my mum

We woke on Thursday to the decision that the pool should be put up ready so we set the insulation onto the now dry concrete platform and then spread the pool out. I started blowing the ring up manually but very quickly decided to bring Thomas over and pump it with the power-pump. As we started putting the water in A very carefully smoothed out as many wrinkles as possible and I helped though I wasn't as good at it. We then left it filling and got on with the rest of the chores. I had collected the gazebo from the courier the day before and so, with my dad pouring water to lubricate the drill bits, I set out the fixings to tie the legs onto the balcony. I had to pop out to buy more drill bits as the tiles are so hard I blunted several. I filled each hole with silicon and pushed wall plugs in and left it to go off before screwing each leg in place. I did make quite a bad positioning on one leg which meant I had to re-drill for that leg. After this effort it was another relaxing day and later in the afternoon, once the pool was once again filled, I went in there with my mum and we enjoyed cooling off.

Four identical main courses, and why not

A superb Kunefe for dessert

My chocolate souffle

The aftermath of the huge fire

We went out for our dinner in the local town but just before we left we saw there was a huge fire over in the direction of our builders merchant. We were overtaken at speed by The Other Brother and didn't link it at the time but when we were sat at the restaurant we could watch from our table as the huge quantities of black smoke billowed into the clouds and then slowly changed as the fire service did their thing. We had four Iskander and then split our dessert choice with A and my dad having Kunefe and my mum joining me with the chocolate souffle. We decided to go snoop at the fire after the meal and found that one of the wood yards was still in flames, with several tenders spraying water, and a very concerned looking Other Brother; suddenly we realised this was a yard owned by his boss and that was why he had been speeding into town. It looked like a truck of wood had gone up in flames, or maybe one with hay on it. Either way it was burning until late that night.

All the swallows sat on the wires

Suddenly the flock takes wing

The sun emerging from behind some clouds

I sat in and chatted to Sassy for a bit

A very happy A inside our gazebo

Getting ready for the first of many meals in the gazebo

A and I were up early on Friday and were out on the balcony with the aim of getting the gazebo set up in time for breakfast. The swallows were all sat on the wires just next to the balcony and then suddenly they took wing and swirled around; for a while we thought this was them leaving having completed their nesting and breeding process but they are still around now. The sun was rising and it was set for a warm one so we worked together to fit the cover and walls on the gazebo and had it done before the parents appeared having had a relaxing start to their day. It was epic to sit inside and eat the tasty scrambled eggs A had prepared and to not have any flies around us at all.

They look serious, they're just sipping and enjoying

Pork and spuds and it was AMAZING

A squeezing lemon onto her stuffed mussels

Settling in under a tree

We took ourselves out into town for lunch but our first destination didn't work out as the cafe we were aiming for, where we watch our gigs, wasn't doing food at the time. We are lucky with eateries however and we strolled across the road and had a superb lunch of soup followed by a slightly more solid meal; I had a wonderful pork and potatoes dish while A went for the stuffed mussels which she said was even better than the last time we were there. After our meal they all went off into town while I sat first of all under a tree (until ants attacked) and then on a bench in the sun and finally into the shade and I was really nodding off and feeling exhausted. They weren't able to sneak up on me, though they did try, and then we had some ice cream before getting back in the car and driving home. When we got home we all were tired and went for a short nap which ended up lasting far longer than expected and it was 5.30 or so before we were up and about again.

Are we going to have hot dog on our BBQ?

Afternoon sun glints past my dad as he reads

A getting use out of her new BBQ

Moon top left, smoking BBQ centre

Louise is such a pretty puppy

A glorious golden sunset

Superb BBQ with the remnants of our BBQ sauce

After lunch none of us were particularly hungry so this late start to dinner was not a problem. Our plans involved the new BBQ, bought by A and put together by me the other day, and so I lit it while A put together some of her patent awesome burgers and then we spent the intervening time enjoying the weather, the fly free gazebo, and the smells as our food cooked. It turned out to be the best BBQ that we have had so far; the design of the BBQ allowed the chicken to cook slowly and it ended up with crispy skin and well cooked meat; that is not very easy to achieve on a BBQ. The utility of the gazebo really proved itself as we had no bother at all with flies, such a contrast to the last time A and I tried to eat out there when we were tormented beyond endurance.

Wow what a long update this is going to be; here we go, into the weekend...

Clouds cling to the top of the mountains opposite

A whole lotta fun swinging

Climbing up the steep path

The blue arrows says "up there"

My parents just before they climb

A was having a great time

Amazing panorama at the top

On Saturday A decided she wanted to try and find the castle that we had failed to get to a few weeks ago so she did some research and found what she thought was the route to achieve our goal. It was a glorious morning and we didn't hurry out the door but set off about 11 or so, with very excited puppies on board, to drive across to the village below the castle. It turned out that A's searching was absolutely correct and we were able to drive along a quite bumpy logging track until suddenly arriving at a hunting lodge (with swings for the ladies) at the bottom of the path up to the castle. This was quite a climb, at times very steep and slippy, and we were all struggling at times to keep going though the trees kept us cool. At the foot of the final climb to the actual castle I had a bit of a wobble (I am not good with heights) but I struggled up and was so pleased that I did; what a view, it was like being on top of the world.

A being crazy stood right on the top walls

Such a high spot

This was as high as I managed to get

The fortifications are actually quite extensive

My dad searching for his cache

A admiring the view

It was a stunning location and so worth the climb up though I was already fretting about getting back down as my fear of heights started to nag at my mind. I managed to get right up to the top part of the fortifications though I didn't do what A did which was to climb onto the walls; not a chance of me getting up there. My dad had a geocache he was trying to find as well which sadly he didn't manage to do and then, just before we began our descent, a Bulgarian couple appeared and joined us scrambling over the rocks. As it happened the walk down was far easier than I expected and my fears were unfounded. We paused for a rest at the lodge at the bottom before heading home after such a lovely time out.

All four of us in the pool

A got the puppies to join us; they weren't that pleased

Getting them all to laugh for the photograph

A few clouds gathered, the sun still showed though

Thelma is so keen to play ALL THE TIME!

Pegged down the gazebo

We were all ready for the pool when we got back, even my dad (who is not known for swimming) was keen to get in and cool off. I got the tripod out and took a few photographs of us all together in there; none of them caught me tripping and falling as I got back in the pool, sadly for you. We stayed in for a while and really cooled off. Dinner was a lovely chilli eaten sat outside under the gazebo again; I admit to making everyone laugh and pull silly faces before taking this picture. It was so tasty and afterwards we sat and relaxed, Thelma still keen to play, until I went in to bed at about 8pm as I was so tired. I drilled out some more holes for the hooks so I could put the guy ropes out on the gazebo and this has made quite a difference to how stable it is.

The first sight of the Stone Wedding

Me and A stood together with the puppies

My dad finally finds a cache on his holiday

Puppies found some shade

With my Dad

Mum having an explore

Beautiful shapes of the rocks

The Bride and Groom

Such a stunning region

My parents in front of the Bride and Groom

And finally we reach today, after about four hours of typing for me (not that quickly and with distractions like the Tour de France which is on my other screen) and it's been another wonderful day again. We headed off a bit earlier to our destination, a location called The Stone Wedding. It was a far shorter drive than we expected and, with some guidance from the guy sat at the little stall pointing us to take the correct track, we found ourselves standing amazed looking at the stunning rock formations. There's an interesting story to this location which you can google yourselves if you are interested and it really does live up to its billing. We spent an hour or so walking around taking lots of photographs and struggling with the heat which was building all the time. The puppies were struggling and took all the shade they could find, also drinking lots of water whenever we offered it to them. We were alone for most of the time we were there and just as we left a coach party appeared; perfect timing.

Since then A and I have had a lovely soak in the pool, some tasty lunch, and then I've come up here to type this up and watch the big stage of the Tour.

This caterpillar was gone a second later

I will leave you with this picture of one of the new chicks sipping up a huge caterpillar that fell out of the tea trees; they are growing so fast now and Kit has firmly kicked them out of her protection - she keeps chasing them away from food. It's a hard life being a chick.

Time to go and have a BBQ. Thanks for reading.