Week 30

That felt like a waste of a week but what can you do when the weather is so bad and all your jobs are outdoor ones. This is how I intended to start the blog this week but looking back we did get quite a bit done......

The week started off amazingly hot with Monday nudging 30 degrees. We had the day off and lounged around in the garden all day. Indulgent but we felt so much better for it.  In the afternoon Moni and Zornitsa popped in as they were staying at the Ranch which is in the next village and today is a national holiday here.

Pammi and Maizi relaxing

Having an icecream in the shade. Must think she is on holiday!

 Maizi just wants her ball thrown for her.

Tuesday started off hot and sunny and true to form as of late, by the afternoon heavy thunderstorms arrive. The storms are so intense and arrive in seconds going from scorching hot sun, the sound of rumbling in the distance, then a huge deluge of rain. It is really nice though to sit on the steps and watch the lightning bounce around the valley. But before the storms arrive I managed to get all the strimming done and cut lengths of wood to finish off the edging of the wall insulation which I have never got round to doing, whilst Pammi carried on weeding the potato jungle.

Still weeding, they grow as fast as you can pull them out

Wednesday is a complete wash out. It does not stop raining all day. So Pammi spends the day tweeking her Reiki courses and I set the business up on holiday internet sites like Trip Advisor. Despite the heavy rain it is lovely and warm and early evening is spent on the steps watching the downpour before we have our evening meal under the cover of the outdoor kitchen.

Freisha 

Tennis ball sized radish

Thursday is forecast for more heavy rain and I am stir crazy so go into Ruse to collect the brackets and paint that were out of stock last week. Yes, they were out of stock this week too. But I got a new colour for the wood panels which will reflect the sun and look great I think. The brackets will be in stock next week, allegedly. When I get home the weather is lovely and Pammi has even been gardening. We sit out in the sun chatting for a while but it lasts only an hour or so until the rain starts again. The lightning storm is spectacular. It is over in the next valley but looks like a massive light show through and over the forests that surround us. Sadly many villages are being flooded by this torrential rain. The roads out of our village are running with thick mud where the tractors are working the fields and all the pot holes are under deep water so you need to drive with even more care than usual. But we are so lucky compared to many villages. We cook our evening meal of homemade bean burgers in the clay oven and eat outside as it is so warm. The rain just does not stop though.

Marple enjoys a rest in the sun before it rains again

We are getting to pick strawberries daily now

Friday starts off dry, at last the rain has stopped. For all of half an hour. We are sat in the courtyard having breakfast of homemade beans on toast (try it, just beans with passata, basil and a pinch of chilli. You will never eat tinned beans again) when it starts again. I write what I can of the blog and do some internet work. Meanwhile Pammi cooks some meals for the freezer before going to work on her Reiki courses and write the Chakra meditation programme for a new day course. I even had time to go and have a gong meditation in the holistic barn which is soooo relaxing. The afternoon brightens up considerably and I manage to get outside and do some work on chopping more fire wood and leveling out the land at the front of the house. The new fencing is far too wet to work on. Then down to the spring to wash the car. It is so hot in the afternoon. This weather is crazy. But no complaints here. We can spend our evening at our favourite activity, eating in the courtyard then watching the stars.

Too common a sight this week. Rain sodden plants.

Saturday and no rain just sun, sun, sun. Oh yes baby. First job is another coat of laquer on the edging for the house insulation wood before putting that up later in the day. Next I get on with clearing up the front of the new sunlounger area which is totally overgrown and covers a mass of wood chopped down earlier this year. It is a slow laborious job stripping twigs from branches for kindling then cutting the branches into logs. But in years to come we will be glad of the fire wood, it has be dried out for a couple of years before we can use it. Then a quick strim and it looks so much better. Next job is a low level fence to finish off the edge of the new area which takes no time at all to erect. Meanwhile Pammi does the weekly deep clean of the house, then de-shells lots of walnuts before taking a few very well earned hours rest in the sun. A very productive day. We then went off to collect some fertilizer and fresh bread from the local shop in Opaka. They had this lovely crusty bread fresh in so we sat in the courtyard and made pizzas that evening. They were gorgeous and we spent a nice relaxing evening in the warm evening sun before taking a late evening stroll around the village. It was dark by now and there were dozens of fireflies everywhere, like little dancing lights everywhere you looked. A simple but great night.

Unfinished edging before

Nice neat edging now

Edge of sunlounger area before

After. Still got to move those huge beams though

Working on the new fencing

New edging fence

Snacktime. Fresh walnuts, olives and goats cheese

Construct your own pizza night

Sunday is an absolute scorcher so we head out to research some walks at Cherven and Nisovo. We find the visitors centre at Nisovo and get a really useful map that shows local walking and mountain biking trails as well as lesser known tourist attractions. A really useful find. Then off to Cherven for a walk along the river and a picnic. Then back home for an afternoon lazing in the sun. Next week is forecast to be around 30 degrees every day so everything should dry out nicely. But for now the garden is far too wet and sludgy to work on and the wood needs to dry out before I can paint it. Just to finish off the blog now and then fajitas in the evening sun.

There are hundreds of dragon flies at Cherven

Just what every garden gazebo needs - a concorde

Looking up to Cherven medieval village

Picnic by the river

Thanks for reading everyone. Good luck and ride fast but safe to everyone at the Isle of Man TT. Take care all and have a great week.

  

Week 29

Well this week did not go exactly to plan, as usual!

Monday we went to Ruse with Monica to officially register our business. Moni had prepared all the documents and we were in and out of the notary office in no time. Then off to the bank to set up a company bank account which you open with a set number of shares in your company, it is then closed and your shares refunded. Then your proper business account is opened. Its a bank. They open and close accounts all day you would think. Well probably just one a day, as it took hours to open and close a single account. Then they charge you a crazy sum for doing so. As Pammi says, just go with it. Finally that was done then off to the lawyers who double check everything. Well charm was not high on the lawyers personality traits and despite her being as officious and rude as possible we finally had all the paperwork approved after a couple of adjustments. Then pay another huge sum of money. This was turning into an expensive day. But for now we were finished. We officially exist as a Bulgarian business. To celebrate we all go out to lunch and Moni takes us to this restaurant with a lovely garden courtyard. But as all three of us are vegetarian there is a limited menu and the only vegetarian dish is off the menu. So bean soup or nothing. We decide to leave. Off to a favourite restaurant of ours but again the menu today was lacking in vegetarian dishes. We ordered what we could which was fine until the chef offered to prepare us something specially. Happy days. It was a fine bean, pea and cheese dish which was gorgeous. After lunch Pammi and I went off to do our monthly shop and to buy a freezer for all our upcoming produce. Then home. That evening as we sat in the courtyard we saw a firefly. We have seen it nearly every night since.

Tuesday was a lovely hot day and I spent the day preparing materials for the new fencing in the sundeck area. We have decided not to take the mudbrick walls down but to encase them in wood paneling and cap with cement and roof tiles. The bottom of one of the walls would not support the fence idea we originally had and the wall above the garage is too flimsy. We will have to rethink this next year so for now we will mend and make do. Pammi spent the morning making Mediterranean chutney and then back to weeding. That evening TH comes round to tell me that I am making the fences all wrong as we expected he would.

Radish and spinach pasta

Wednesday and the freezer is due to be delivered. It is a large chest freezer and usually they just deliver to the garden gate so we have no idea how we will get it up from the entrance to the palace where it will live. The delivery arrives mid morning and the driver is so helpful, he helps me carry the freezer right in to the Palace. We are so grateful that Pammi gives him a big bottle of beer.

 As usual I have been unable to buy all the materials I need for the fencing locally and as our plans have changed slightly I have to go off to Ruse to get some brackets. Typically I cannot get the right amount despite going to every store in Ruse that may sell them, despite huge DIY superstores I cannot even get the right size bolts I need. Whilst I am gone Pammi's day is spent in the usual way  - breakfast, cleaning, meditating and then gardening.

Our daily salad with lettuce and radish from our garden and walnuts from our neighbours garden

This beautiful lizard lives in the potting shed

Thursday is a beautiful hot day and I manage to get the preparation of the fence parts completed before assembly can start. Then it is off to Opaka to pick up the bolts I could not get yesterday. Of course they do not have enough but I get what they have. On the way back I pop into Opaka centre where they have a large market on a Thursday. We have never been there early enough to see it as it finishes at lunchtime but there was a good mix of stalls so was worth a visit. Back home I start drilling the metal fence posts and manage to burn out 3 titanium drill bits in no time. What the hell do they make these posts out of? So work on the fence comes to a grinding halt, so frustrating. It goes without saying that Pammi was cleaning, meditating and gardening, same as yesterday, same as tomorrow and probably the next day.

2 huge lettuces from the garden

Friday we pick fresh strawberries from the garden and have melon with them for breakfast. They were gorgeous and a good start to the day. Then off to Ruse to get drill bits, this is beginning to feel like a daily commute. I buy four of the most expensive professional drill bits I can find and am assured that these are impossible to break. We'll see. Back home they are great and slice through the metal. At last we are making progress and I manage to get a couple of panels made. I protect the rear of the panels with a lacquer but it is new wood and soaks up the paint. I quickly get through all the tins we have. We have tried on many occasions to get this paint locally with no success so yet another trip is planned for Ruse tomorrow.

Fresh from our garden for breakfast

Saturday morning up early and into Ruse. Would you believe that the store had none of the paint we needed. This job is turning into a nightmare. I get the closest colour I can find as it is only for the back of the panels which will be against the walls and therefore unseen. There are still no more brackets in stock, they will be in next week. Back home I assemble and paint a trial panel. To our utter horror the brackets will not support the weight of the panels. Disaster. A few struts around the garden, sitting with head in hands and some choice words I decide to rotate the brackets from side to front and see if that helps. The idea being that gravity will force the brackets downwards and hold the panels. Amazingly it works and they are rock solid. Game back on. Luckily I had decided to move the car out of the garage as I would be drilling support bolts through the concrete above the garage roof. Thank goodness I did. When I went to put the car away that night there were chunks of masonry all over the garage floor.

This tree stump was growing up out of the garage roof and had to be cut away. Of course you could not get a saw close enough so I had to axe it out.

Lacquer going on to seal the new wood

Sunday is a scorcher with temperatures of 27 degrees. I manage to get a good number of panels up before I ran out of bolts. Back then to Opaka to get more. I buy every nut and bolt they have in the size I need but it is still not enough. But for now I can crack on. Late afternoon and we have a heavy rain shower before it is beautifully sunny and hot again. But by the time it stopped I had put all my tools away, so time to write the blog then. Pammi has spent the day weeding the potato plot which is a mammoth task. It will be interesting to see how much these plants produce as they have had no attention from us, no weeding or watering compared to the ones in the lower garden yet they look just as strong, if not stronger, than the pampered plants.

Getting ready for the paneling to go up

Nowhere near finished but you get the idea.

Aubergines being planted out

Lower garden looking good. We now have 84 tomato plants outside with 36 in the potting shed. Pammi thinks this is excessive but Bulgarians grow tomatoes and beans by the field for their own consumption.

Broccoli coming on

Broad beans

New baby lemon

Pammi weeding the potato jungle

Tomorrow is our first day off in two weeks, cannot wait. Pammi may still be in the potato jungle this time next week..............

Happy Birthday to Minty for Tuesday.

Have a great week and take care all. 

Week 28

Wow. Another week gone. Doesn't seem five minutes since the last blog but here goes.......

Monday's weather set the scene for the week, scorching hot in the morning with heavy hail, rain, thunder and lightning storms late afternoon. But it has not hampered our progress this week. Pammi cleaned the house and then tended her veggies. Whilst she did that I put up a new fence in the dog area to keep them in and safe, a neighbor had his dog killed by a jackal recently so I want to be sure the fences are as secure as possible. Once the new fence between the dog area and campsite was up I made a new gate from the dog area into the vineyard which turned into an epic job. The gate could not open inwards because of the chimney stack and because I had to enlarge the existing gate, it would not open outwards due to a bank of soil. So dig out the bank then. If only it was that simple, just under the soil was layer upon layer of sandstone. Another five minute job turns into hours. Hey ho! But at least it is done now and any water flowing down the hill drains into a soakaway not alongside the house wall. Then it was time to let Maizi and Marple try out their new play area. They went crazy with all the new smells and being allowed into an area they were previously excluded from. Marple is an escape artist and true to form within a few minutes had managed to crawl through the smallest hole ever in the perimeter fence. Another job for tomorrow then.

Maizi and Marple love their new area

Tuesday starts as an absolute scorcher again. Pammi gives the holistic barn a good clean and then makes a lovely spinach and rocket filo pastry dish before starting work on planting out yet more tomato plants, but this time in the kitchen garden. Meanwhile I put up as new perimeter fence which doesn't take as long as feared. All secure, I then start work on the area which was an old barn and will  become a new sunbathing area. It catches the sun late into the evening so will be a nice area for sunbeds, a dining area and BBQ. First job though is to clear the mountain of wood, most of which will become kindling. 

Spinach and rocket flan 

I tried to make a radish omelette which didn't really work

Marple saw a lizard here and is now obsessed with trying to catch it

The kindling store - almost enough for Pammi as she does like to use a lot of kindling

Wednesday is an exact replay of yesterday. Pammi planting and me clearing the new sunbed area. Another beautiful day and we are both getting really good tans now, coupled with eating lots of our homegrown salad every day we are starting to feel quite healthy. Famous last words!

Thursday we go off to Popovo to the market as Pammi wants to make some chutneys. But the markets are pretty bare with the exception of local strawberries which are in abundance. Every field we pass on the way to Popovo is filled with fruit pickers or people working the land. We pick up a few vegetables but none of the ingredients she needs. Back home Pammi starts the massive task of weeding, like everything else they grow so quickly and is almost a full-time job just weeding. I carry on sorting the new area out. It has been hot and humid all day and we have a massive storm that evening but have our meal in the outside kitchen watching the storm. It is incredibly heavy rain which fills the waterbuts in just one storm. I am filling every bottle we can find with rainwater and storing it, as sooner or later the rains will stop and we will be glad of the water for the garden.

Hail stone

You can just see Pammi trapped in the potting shed by the huge storm

The water streams off the new roof in minutes

One village has hail so bad in northern Bulgaria that they use snowploughs to clear the roads of hail. There was damage to cars and buildings. Mad. 

Friday is hot and humid again. Pammi is feeling really ill today and has to spend the day in bed. So unlike her. So I spend the morning clearing the new area, sawing wood and filling our third log store. In the afternoon I go off to buy materials for the new wooden fencing that will replace the mudbrick walls that used to be a barn, more of that next week hopefully. Pammi feels a bit stronger by the afternoon, I think she may be overdoing it a bit in the really hot weather and comes and spends some time reading in the garden. We have our evening meal under the outdoor kitchen again watching the storm. It is still so warm and as soon as the storm finishes it is really hot again. It is lovely watching the storms and afterwards the air is filled with a really fresh scent from the trees of the forest. The scent of coriander from our herb garden wafts around the courtyard after the rain stops. We are blessed to live here.

Our third log store will soon be filled

Chives getting a good watering

More hail

Beautiful sky after the storm

Saturday morning Pammi is still not feeling great but is at least up and about today which is a relief. She is a real trooper. I realise that I have not ordered enough wood and race off to the merchants before they load the lorry with our delivery. I just make it as they are about to leave and we load the correct amount this time. I also pick up new drill bits for the 275 holes I will need to drill, but at 80p for two drill bits I am not filled with confidence that they will last long. Needless to say when I start to use them that afternoon I break both of them and two additional ones just drilling holes in metal tubes. Frustrated I spend the rest of the day cutting 160 x 2 metre lengths of wood for the new fences. I will get some quality drill bits when we are in Ruse next week. It has been 29 degrees today but within minutes it changes to a black sky and you can hear the thunder fast approaching. It was a big storm followed by two really bright rainbows. We sat on the steps with a beer watching the spectacle of fork lightning for over an hour. We lost electric power for about three hours but as we were just watching the storms it did not really matter. When we finally got our electrics back we had a nice long shower before sitting down to watch the Eurovision song contest on the internet (we have no TV). Bulgaria had an entry for the first time in about 5 years and came 4th. It is a great song and could have won but Poli did really well anyway.

Storms are coming

A glimmer of brighter weather coming

Double rainbow

Today has been very very hot again. Pammi is weeding and planting out as usual. I finally finish clearing the new area. It has been a mammoth job and taken nearly all week to complete.

This will become a sundeck and BBQ area

Finally cleared. The walls will come down next week hopefully as they are mud brick and brick which will not last another winter. I am not looking foward to this job although it will be the last major project - I hope!!

Just finished weeding the strawberry patch - a lot harder than it sounds as the earth is like clay. The smile is one of pure relief

Time to strim again

This morning I started to fill an old inspection pit in the garage with all this old concrete

We are harvesting lettuce, rocket, radish and spinach daily. The odd strawberry is ripening too with quite a few about to turn red. Grapes, apples and broad beans are all bearing produce, there are flowers on the tomato plants, the squash and pumpkin seeds are all coming up. Cauliflowers, cabbages and potatoes are all growing at a rate of centimetres a day.

Lots of new shoots on the lemon tree

First flowers on the tomato plants

Broad beans

The tomato beds

Herbs around the edge of the paths so that as you brush against them you will get the scent

Beetroot

Apples

Well that's it for this week. Tomorrow is another milestone when we officially go and set up our business. We have had lots of interest from the new website so fingers crossed...........

Take care all. Have a great week.