Week 58

Welcome to what is now the Pammi blog. As I am working all the news will be about Pammi and her exploits. So here is her news......


Monday we are up early with the alarm as I have an hours drive and start work at 0800. After a quick breakfast Pammi cleans the house and courtyard before making cauliflower cheese for tonights meal. The wine needs decanting into bottles so using a sieve and funnel to separate the pulp and grapes from the liquid she extracts 12 litres of wine out of one tub. It is slow work as the pulp constantly clogs the funnel. The bottles are then stored in the warm of the house to continue fermenting. There is enough grapes still in the tub to make a second batch which we will do later when the tubs are moved into the warmth of the palace. Later in the day she took the dogs for a long walk up into the edge of the forest. It was a very cold but beautiful walk. As usual Marple found a branch to carry all the way, at least it is free firewood when she gets it home. That evening we have cauliflower cheese for our meal with fresh crusty bread. Then an evening of films by the fire.

Icy walk

Wrapped up against the cold. Her first selfie

Bottling the wine

Our first bottle of wine

Tuesday does not get off to a good start as the alarm did not go off but luckily I woke and we only overslept by 15 minutes. Pammi did the daily chores: set up fire for this evening, cleaning and washing up. To improve her Bulgarian language she now listens to a conversation learning CD whilst cleaning. It is freezing cold today but she takes the dogs on a one and a half hour walk again. The countryside looks amazing covered in deep frost which in the shade never melts. Back home she bottles another 18 litres of wine. Then it is too cold to be outside so does some knitting in front of the fire before I get home. She has made a lovely chilli casserole for our meal this evening.

Maizi and Marple having fun

Frost covered thistles 

Lunch for one in the courtyard

Wednesday we are in the new routine already. How quickly we have slipped back into work mode. Alarm, breakfast, work, home, eat, sleep, start again. After Pammi has done her chores and walked the dogs she bottles another 20 litres of wine. There are bottles of wine everywhere. In the afternoon she makes a draught excluder for the holistic barn door and a new dog blanket. Tonights meal is leek pie and mash, real winter warmer food now. Last week the evening seemed so long, now they seem too short and it is soon time for bed. 

Maizi and Marple try out their new bed

Thursday is shopping day so after her chores and taking the dogs for a walk Pammi gets the bike out and cycles off to Opaka for the weekly shop. It is cold and a little windy but sunny so she has a nice ride there. After shopping she stops and eats her banista lunch in the town square overlooking the weekly market. As usual one of the local stray dogs joins her and she shares her lunch with it. When she gets home she prepares our evening meal of aubergine stacks with pasta in a tomato sauce. Unfortunately she forgot about the pasta cooking and it boiled dry. The pasta was welded to the bottom of the pan. It will take days of soaking and scrubbing to get that clean! However the second batch was fine and the meal was delicious.

Lunch in the town square

Ready for the cycle home

Lunch companion

Friday is considerably warmer so she takes the dogs on a really long walk. She walks deeper into the countryside than ever and finds a hunters fire and a stream that has frozen solid. The dogs love it as they can just run free for miles. After her walk she gives the house a deep clean and prepares the pizza dough for tonights meal. Then time for a rest with a book before I get home. We make our own pizzas then sit down to watch a film. We are both exhausted it has been a long week.

Hunters fire

Frozen stream

We will probably just post blog updates every couple of weeks now as they will all get a bit 'samey'. When anything exciting happens we will let you know! Although it is forecast for snow next week so there may be some wintry pictures to show you.

So for now take care everyone and stay warm.

Week 57

Life is nothing but unpredictable.......

Monday is freezing cold. We wake to a very white village covered in sparkling frost. Picturesque but not good for the painting that needs doing. Looks like that will have to wait for a while. So whilst Pammi does the daily house clean, the dogs are shedding their coats now so there is fur everywhere, I cut my hair then give the car a good clean. Anti-freeze and water bottles checked, an extra thick winter coat put in the boot, that is as much as we can do today. An afternoon then of chilling out, internet work and Pammi knitting. It is going to be a long winter.

First snow of the year

Tuesday morning we wake to a thick blanket of snow, it is snowing hard and the sky is full of it. But today I have to go to Ruse for a job interview. In England the country would be at a standstill now but here the roads are perfectly clear and with the winter tyres on the car you can drive perfectly normally. Pammi is at home preparing meals of veggie burgers, hot pots and butter nut squash soup for the freezer. She then spends the rest of the day playing with the dogs in the snow. My interview went well but how I will cope with my limited Bulgarian in the workplace remains to be seen. It continues to snow heavily all day and the countryside is beautiful. They are predicting a guaranteed white Christmas here.

Our snowy lane

Maizi and Marple playing

There are lots of woodpeckers and eagles about now

Outside our house

Wednesday is very cold but sunny. The village looks gorgeous so, unable to do much work, we go for a long walk. We go to the top of a hill that overlooks the valley and surrounding villages that we have not climbed before. We follow deer tracks until they disappear into the thick woodland and carry on until we get to ploughed farmland so turn back. At home Pammi makes us warming soup for lunch then she knits whilst I do more internet work. I send off a couple more applications and am surprised how much work there is here for non Bulgarian speaking people. They could be fake ads but we'll see. The evening follows the usual routine of fire lit, meal then DVD.

The snow is melting already

The village church

Gorsko Ablanovo in the valley below

Hunters tracks into the woods

Thursday morning we wake to another hard frost. It was minus 7 last night but all the snow is gone now. It melted so quickly but luckily with none of the slush that usually happens. It is too cold and icy for the weekly shop to be done by cycle so after a lazy start to the day we defrost the car and go to Opaka. The market is just closing up but walking back through to the car we stop at the donut stall where they are making fresh donuts. I love hot donuts but these were vile. Lesson learnt. Back home we have our soup lunch in the garden, it is very cold but beautifully sunny. It is still impossible to paint so another long afternoon and evening spent pottering indoors. Pammi has made me a cushion so that I can sit on the floor with the dogs in front of the fire at night. How long before they hijack it for themselves?

Frozen fountain. Time to bring it in

My (until the dogs have it as theirs) new cushion

Friday follows the pattern of harsh frost then beautiful sunshine. I am off to more interviews today whilst Pammi is at home doing the daily chores. She takes the dogs up the farm tracks so they can have a good run around before the hunters arrive again this weekend and they will not be able to go up there. Having finished one set of interviews and on my way home I am contacted by another company who want to interview me via skype. So a mad dash home to get set up ready. An hour or so later I have a full-time job. Yikes! This was never part of the plan but makes financial sense and will stop me getting bored. All change again then for everybody. Pammi is so used to me being at home that it will  be as big a change for her as it is for me. But it is not like we are not used to change so here goes again!! A rather subdued evening as I think of the changes to our life again and maybe all the little jobs that I could and should have done now I will not be around all the time.

The girls having fun 

Saturday we are up early and head into Popovo. I have managed to break my spectacles so need some micro screwdrivers to fix them or to find an opticians. Luckily I find the tools I need so that's another job sorted. We have a walk around the shops but as it is now lunchtime most of the shops are closing for the day. We head to find my new place of work so that I can see the state of the roads to gauge my travel time. As it turns out the roads are really good and so will only be about 40kms from home and an easy commute. It is late afternoon by the time we get home. So the fire is lit and the cold is shut out for another day. 

Maizi and Marple enjoy the fire

Sunday I am out for the day doing work related things which should have taken a few hours but ended up taking most of the day. This is going to take some getting used to. Tomorrow I start work so when I get home I get myself prepared for getting back into the routine of work. Pammi has made a lovely bread based meal of dough filled with feta cheese and olives with a couple of salads. It was delicious. After that we sat by the fire with the dogs watching DVD's. The dogs have already commandeered my new cushion.

Beetroot and walnut salad

Cabbage, carrot, lemon and white wine vinegar salad

So a new week, new job, new life again........

Take care all. Keep warm.

Week 56

Dull and gloomy. That sums up the next few days weather. The upside to the dull weather is that it is good outdoor working weather. First job Monday is to fertilize the land that has been ploughed, so I spread the chicken compost that Efan gave us. Then I start to clear the land with the vines in as it is so overgrown with weeds and now the bottom land has been ploughed looks very sorry for itself. The crops that were on this land have broken the soil up nicely so it is so much easier to work than last year. That said it still takes all day to clear just over half of it. Meanwhile Pammi is cleaning the house and holiday let before sowing the onion sets that we bought in Popovo. As usual by 1630 we call it a day, have our showers, meal and watch a DVD.

Feeding the newly ploughed land

Starting to clear another bit of land

Tuesday pretty much follows the same pattern. Me clearing the weeds, Pammi cooking before she helps me finish clearing the weeds in the afternoon. The worst bit of the job is hauling the pulled weeds in buckets down the hill to dump them. It becomes tiring after the first one hundred trips. But we actually make really good progress and have finished the whole piece of land by the end of the day.

Sharpening the garden tools with a grinding stone helped by Maizi and Marple

Another trip with a bucket of weeds

Wednesday Pammi spends the day in the garden tidying up and then burning all the leaves and bits of wood laying around. It will be difficult to get a horse onto this land so are now looking for someone to hire a rotavator from.  I go into Ruse as I have an interview with an employment agency. The winter could be long and boring as we have done most of the work now so we thought it may be a good idea to get some paid work and fill the odd long day. My lack of Bulgarian may be a hindrance but it can only get better. We will see what happens. The interview went well and next week I will go for some skill assessments. Whilst there I get more onion sets and garlic which should all be planted now ready for an early crop in the spring. When I got back home Pammi had just finished when the van came round the village buying walnuts. We bit the bullet and sold them ourselves. We had two and a half sacks and am sure we could have been paid more for them but we were happy as it was free money, all we had to do was pick up the nuts. Transaction done we retired indoors so we had an early meal and shut out the cold for the night.

Thursday we take the day off and go for a bike ride. It is a very cold, damp and foggy morning but we wrap up warm and off we go. We ride to Opaka so that we can do the weekly shop and also have a walk around their weekly market. This week there are about double the normal amount of traders and Pammi bought a body warmer with the money from the sale of the walnuts. Shopping done we load up the bikes, stop for a banista lunch in the town square and then head home. We are now cycling weekly and are getting fitter, Pammi even manages to ride up every hill without having to walk. And there are some big hills!! As we are just coming into the village we see 5 deer strolling across the fields before trotting off into the forest. Amazing, although as usual I could not get he camera out quick enough so no photo's. We were still back fairly early so whilst Pammi prepared the evening meal I went off to get a few bits that we need for the campsite toilet which is my job for the next few days. Then as it is still light I get the mattock out and get up some old vines that are in the middle land that I could not get out last year. There are also a few tree stumps so I set fire to them before digging them out. That land is now the clearest it has ever been. The normal evening routine follows.

Make way, Pammi coming through

Foggy day but still beautiful

This farm is next to a gas station and has a wide variety of weird and wonderful birds including ostriches

Setting fire to old tree stumps

Using the mattock to get the old vines out

Friday is a beautiful day, sunny but cold. Pammi is cleaning then preparing the dough for tonights pizza as well as a delicious ribollita (stew) for our next couple of days lunches. I want to get the roof onto the campsite toilet before the snow arrives that is forecast for next week. It takes me forever to get the materials and tools up to the top land and I must have walked up and down that hill a hundred times. Once organised it then takes me a while to work out how to get the correct spacing and slope for the roof. However after the first row is straight and I am happy with it the rest go up fairly quickly. Well as quickly as they can when you are on sloping land using a homemade wooden ladder! I fell off the ladder so many times as at best only one side of the ladder was propped against anything, the other leg was in mid-air so I had to climb up only one side of the ladder to offset the balance. Luckily there was no-one to see or photograph the pantomime.

The roof is on at last and a different door is being tried. I don't like that plastic above the door either

Friday night is pizza night

Still cooking breakfast outdoors despite the cold mornings

Saturday I am back on the toilet build. I am not happy with the door that I originally intended to use as it was a bit 'manufactured' and as everything on this build is reclaimed or left over from other jobs, I am going to use an old barn door. It goes up easily and looks so much better. Next job is to finish the side walls and put windows in. Again the longest part of the job is moving all the materials and tools up to where I need them. It takes me the full day to get just one wall done as I am using off cuts of wood from other jobs so have to search through piles of wood to find suitable timber. I am quite happy with the finished wall though. That afternoon whilst Pammi is cleaning the house two villagers come into our garden and ask if we can order a prom dress off of ebay for the grand-daughter. Our strangest request yet but we are only too happy to help and it is soon done. They go off very happy. Tonight I am allowed to cook and do us sweet and sour stir fry with rice and Pammis home-made spring rolls followed by a DVD.

One wall finished. Note the slope I have to work on!!

Sunday is lovely and sunny and warm. Only one more wall to do on the toilet but I have run out of wooden planks so have to use a combination of wood and OSB. It will be the wall that will butt against the shower room so is not a problem but looks good for now anyway. By lunchtime it is finished. Pammi has been preparing aubergine stacks for tonights meal and for the freezer. Whilst she is doing that,  Ema that we helped with the prom dress yesterday, comes round with a box of freshly made pastries as a thank-you. They are still warm and are delicious. After lunch we take a stroll around the village but it is very quiet so are back home quite quickly. The rest of the afternoon is now spent writing the blog whilst Pammi knits.

Fresh pastries were delicious

Note the curve of the beams I had to work with

OSB wall

Just needs a lick of paint now 

Next week winter is supposed to hit us with temperatures of minus 7 and some snow. 

Have a great week everyone and take care.

Week 55

A week of good and not so good..........

Monday was a sunny but cold day and M&J were leaving us to go to their next destination. Before they went though we had a nice final walk around the village and took them to see the monuments at the top of our road. It was great having them here and cannot wait to see them again next year. Once they had gone it was back to work, Pammi gardening, then making soup and finally cauliflower cheese for tonights meal. I went off to Opaka to get a new gas bottle for our outdoor cooker then wrote last weeks blog before cleaning the house. In the afternoon it became bitterly cold so we were indoors by 3pm sat by the fire. The cold and dark evenings seem so long now after the summer months. It is hunting season now so we cannot take the dogs into the woods but as winter comes we should be able to get out on more walks which will make the days seem longer. We are up to watching two DVD's a night now. Roll on spring.

Pammi digging the bottom land ready for planting

Tuesday it snows!! It was not this early last year but although it snows for most of the morning it does not settle. We decide to head off to Ruse and are now getting enough shopping to last us two months to save on petrol costs. Also we need to start stocking up on dog food just in case it is the heavy winter they are predicting. We are in Ruse really early and so are back home by lunchtime. I get on with the campsite toilet whilst Pammi makes us moussaka for tonights meal. Another evening of knitting and DVD's.

Walls of toilet starting to go up

Wednesday first thing I shoot off to get a new screwdriver as the one I have been using to put the toilet walls up has rounded off. No surprise there. But of course why have one problem when you can have two. Half way to Opaka the dashboard on the car lights up with lots of warning messages. I pull over to find a liquid pouring from under the engine. Luckily it was only water and I am only a short distance from the garage so top up with water from the local spring and limp to the garage. A water pipe has split which they do a quick repair on and get me on my way. They will fix it properly tomorrow. Once home it is back to work and luckily only an hour or so lost out of the day. It was a really hard frost this morning but is now lovely and sunny. Pammi is digging the garden having already made us squash soup for lunch and bean steaks for tonights meal. I am cementing in all the toilet uprights having made the structure as square as is possible with wonky beams, unsquare wood and land that slopes down and sideways. It is so cold by 4pm that we head indoors.

Cementing the posts in

Maizi and Marple help move materials

Pammi clearing weeds

Thursday we wake to a very hard frost, everything is glistening white. I go off to the garage to get the pipe replaced whilst Pammi makes bean burgers and prepares the pasta meal for tonight. At the garage he is so busy we have to go to a friends of his to use the inspection pit. New pipes are fitted and are soon back on the road. We are seriously considering getting a donkey and cart, it seems like a really good idea considering the car problems and we can also use it for ploughing the garden and keeping the grass cut. Something else to look into. Although the afternoon is very chilly it is bearable and so I get on with the toilet until about 5pm when it gets stupidly cold and call it a day. Pasta for tonights meal followed by DVD.

Leek and Potato soup with goats cheese

Friday is a beautiful sunny day and we are having a rest day of sorts. We are up early to go to Popovo fruit market, post some Christmas gifts (the post is not the best), pay our mobile phone bill and wander round the main market. First we go to the local bakers in Popovo that we have recently discovered and have banista for breakfast with coffee from one of the street vending machines. The coffee is really strong but does wake you up with a huge kick. We sit in the sun in the local park and have breakfast watching the world go by. Then off to do our bits and pieces before stopping in Opaka for our normal weekly shop. We sit in the garden with a nice cold beer, then a stroll around the village , Pammi cleans the house and I cut some wood before retiring indoors when the temperature drops. The upside of the cold weather is the stunning star show every night as the skies are so clear. Tonight we have bean burgers with homemade coleslaw in rolls fresh from the bakery. Gorgeous.

Making the coleslaw

Huge bean burgers

Saturday we are off on a cycle ride. After breakfast which we are able to have in the sun in the courtyard, I check over the bikes whilst Pammi gets a picnic ready. Then TH arrives. As usual we are making our wine all wrong, we should get a rotavator for our land not dig it and our new trees need moving from the position that he recommended last year. We agree and off he goes. The sun is so warm now, a massive change from earlier this week. We cycle to the monastery at Krepcha but keep going through the lanes as it is so beautiful, weather and scenery wise. We stop and have our picnic in a field by a stream opposite a bee farm. The locals go by in their carts drawn by horses and filled with hay for their animals. It is so idyllic. We have to turn around as we have no fixed destination and could keep going forever but we have to also cycle home and we are not that fit. When we get home Pammi prepares the evening meal of vegetable cottage pie whilst I pop off to get some eggs. On the way I see Borko and Ani and arrange for them to drop in for coffee next week, we need help with getting our land rotavated and also selling our walnuts. I am sure we will get ripped off if we try to sell them ourselves. The local gypsy's come round the village every week to buy them and typically none of our Bulgarian friends are around at that time to sell them for us. Home again we lock out the cold and settle down to our meal then a DVD.

Picnic

Honey farm

Our picnic spot

Local horse and cart

A beautiful day

Sunday morning is beautiful and sunny. We have a cooked breakfast of mushroom, eggs, homemade baked beans, homemade rostis and toast with honey from the farm just round the corner. Pammi is gardening today after her meditation whilst I get on with the toilet, putting more wood on the walls and getting ready to erect the door. Late morning Efan comes round to ask if we want him to plough our land. Do we!! Pammi has been digging it by fork and it is back breaking. It will save a weeks work. So later that afternoon he brings his horse and plough round. He even lets me have a go and it is not as easy as it looks but an hour later is it ploughed. Happy days. He even refuses to let us pay him as we gave him our hay a few weeks ago. It is late afternoon now so he wants to get his horse bedded down for the night so will not stay for a beer and the top land will have to be ploughed another day. Getting a donkey is seeming like a better idea every day. We could use it for ploughing too......... We tidy up the tools and clear up for the day before heading indoors for me to write the blog, Pammi is knitting then it will be jacket potatoes cooked in the woodburner for our meal. 

Efans horse keeps our grass down

Efan starts ploughing

He even lets me have a go. It is not easy

Baba B watches us

Pammi plants onion sets and garlic

Next week is forecast to be cold but dry. Pammi can now get on with the painting that needs doing outside and hopefully I will get the toilet finished. But we all know that will change........

Have a great week everyone. Take care.