Week 34

Wow it has been so so hot this week with temperatures between 29 and 40 every day. Great when you are holiday and just have to lay in the shade all day with a nice cold drink but actually having to live in those temperatures is another game. It is incredible how your energy is just sapped by doing the most menial of tasks. Walking out of the house is like someone has put a hot hairdryer straight into your face. But I am not complaining at all. The sense of wellbeing that the sun gives you cannot be understated and we are learning to adapt to the intense heat. We get up early, do a few jobs then laze around reading or do inside work till late evening when we water the garden and play with the dogs. And the freezer has become invaluable, not just for storing all our veg (the freezer is large, over 200 litres of space, but it is already over half full) but for keeping water ice cold. Well anyway, on with this weeks blog.

The storm did not materialise Sunday night so Monday we were up at 0600 to water the garden. Unfortunately the hose we have is not long enough to reach all the garden so I have to take the trolley laden with empty bottles down to the spring to fill with water. Fine going down hill but pulling about 40 litres of water uphill is not, but at least it is keeping me fit. The watering takes a few hours then it is breakfast time. Scrambled eggs on toast with apricot juice and tea. We need bigger tomato plant stakes as the plants are getting so big, so despite the heat that is my job today. However the heat beats me after a few hours and I stop to do some internet work in the cool of the house. Just as TH arrives. He has a wander round to make sure we keeping on top of things then kidnaps me in his car and takes me to his house. After a tour of his land and a look at his new chicks, he gives us a bottle of homemade tomato juice, some apricots from his trees and more linden branches. Back home I sit in the shade and strip the blossom from the branches ready to be dried out. Pammi meanwhile is in the cool of the holistic barn doing Reiki and meditating. Mid afternoon we are both exhausted and chill out in the shade for a few hours until TH and Thomas pop in. Thomas says we have the wrong netting on the tomatoes, despite having the netting that we were told we specifically needed and even purchased from the shop we were told to get it from, by him!! Hey ho. He gives us some garlic, courgettes, cucumbers and gherkins from his garden and they are both on their way again. It is still a bit daunting how generous everyone is and when we try to give a gift or do a favour they are very reluctant to take them. After tea we go for a stroll around the village and saw Efans goats grazing in the wood, they have grown so much. By the time we get home the sun has gone down so we can water the garden again. An hour or so playing with the dogs and sitting in the hammocks then it is bedtime.

Baby turkeys

This swan is made out of an old tyre

Efans goats

Off to the spring

I forgot to mention that we also got our first two bookings from real customers, not family or friends. We are so excited and cannot wait for them to arrive next month.

Tuesday up early again and by 0800 it is 32 degrees, that evening it is 38 degrees at 2015. It is so hot we just cannot work so we make the most of the day by going into Ruse to sort out the business bank account. All we want to do is change the account from a company shares account, which we had to have to register the business, but has a monthly fee, to a normal account. After about two hours it is finally sorted. Then we pop in to see Moni and Zo at their office before grabbing a bite to eat, after which we do some shopping. By the time we get home it is quite late but TH must have been watching for us because we had only been back a few minutes when he arrives. He drops off more cucumbers and courgettes then off he goes again. There is a full moon tonight which is stunning but partly obscured by clouds. Once they go though the night sky fills with stars and the moon is full and very bright. It is a stunning night and the cooler air is very welcome.

Full moon peeping out

Pammi enjoying the cool evening

Wednesday we are up early again. By 0800 it is 36 degrees and by 1100 it will be 40 on the thermometer which is in the shade of the courtyard. But we have a few jobs to do and the first is harvesting. Whilst Pammi picks, I start podding peas and then cutting beans ready for freezing. She goes to meditate whilst I prepare the veg for her to cook later. Pammi is freezing bags of mixed veg for soups or stews so that in the winter each bag will  be a meal that we can cook in the wood burner. Whilst she cooks, in the kitchen not because of the sun, I fill the bases of the sunshades we bought in Ruse yesterday with sand and cement. We stop work by mid afternoon and settle in the shade to read for a while. As usual after our evening meal we water the garden before sitting down to watch the sky fill with stars and another full moon. It is so nice and the temperature so comfortable that we stay out till midnight.

A regular reading over the next few days

Peas and beans

Spring onions and celery

Ready for freezing

Now that's a courgette

Thursday morning soon comes round. It feels even hotter today so after a bit of weeding and sweeping paths and Pammi doing some Reiki, we call it a day. Ominously the water is running very slowly from the taps this morning which normally means the water is about to stop. Sure enough, just as the sun gets hotter the water supply stops, it is off for four hours. Thank goodness for the spring. Later that day Moni and Zo pop in on their way to another village to try to sort our electricity bill out. We had no bill nor a meter read for 5 months. Then we got a few bills all together. Then the electricity bills all went online, not through the post as before. Whilst all this is going on there is a bill outstanding that we were not aware of. Moni, as the point of contact for the electricity company, has had a call to say they are coming to cut our electricity supply off today! No reminders, no contact. They will just cut you off. I tried to call the electricity company to no avail so quickly paid the outstanding sum online. Thankfully nobody came to disconnect us and we have heard nothing since.

Coloured jars with the top off of solar lights inserted

Relaxing in the shade of the vines

Friday already. There are a few bits to harvest today which we do first thing. Peas, broadbeans, fine beans, onions and lettuce. Pammi uses some for freezing and some for tonights BBQ. After that she meditates then does some more Reiki. Despite the heat the front of the house needs strimming as does the neighbours so that is my next job. An hour or so later the strimmer makes a horrible sound and starts to vibrate violently. This is not good. It transpires that I have hit a rock with the hub that holds the blade in place and it has ripped it apart. Thank goodness that was all it was, I had visions of a big repair. So a trip to Popovo and an hour later it is fixed. Once home I get the remainder of the strimming completed, it takes longer to do the neighbours fronts than it does our own but I like to give them a little something back. Just as I finish Baba B and her daughter Dora come up the lane and I invite them to our BBQ this evening. Pammi has made a beautiful dish of fish on a bed of shredded carrot and courgette with a good sprinkling of paprika and other herbs. There are potatoes with peppers, onions and chilli as well as a Shopska salad (cucumber and tomato with feta cheese) and a large egg salad with olives. For starters I made Tarator, a Bulgarian cold soup dish that everyone eats, apart from Pammi who hates cucumber, in the summer for any or every meal. It is yoghurt, diced cucumber, dill, garlic, walnuts and olive oil. You can also add water to make it a bit more soup like if you wish. It was delicious and we spent a lovely evening in the shade of the courtyard.

More veg

Strimmer hub ripped apart

Note Pammi without any Tarator

Saturday continues the trend of hot hot hot. Up at 0600 the temperature is perfect, warm sun but with a slight coolness in the air. Last thing at night or early morning is definitely the most productive and pleasant time of the day. As we were entertaining last night we did not water the garden so that is my job whilst Pammi does the weekly deep clean of the house. Next year we are going to install a watering system of pipes that trail around the base of the plants so that we just turn a tap and all the garden is watered at once. Hopefully the top land will be water fed by waterbutts using the pipe system. However we have noticed how quickly the water evaporates in this heat from the waterbutts, I estimate that we have lost at least 5 litres per butt this week, that said we use so much water that one 56 litre butt only supplies one days water. Those jobs done we crash out in the shade for the rest of the day. The hinge on the front door snapped off this morning so after a call to Borko it has been arranged to be have it repaired next week. We have another BBQ tonight of aubergine, courgette, peppers, chilli and beetroot grilled in the fire served with peas and broadbeans in a lemon dressing. Just as we finish our meal Baba B calls Pammi to the garden wall. We are invited round for drinks. However when we arrive it is clear we are about to be fed. There are 3 huge salads on the table. To be polite we had a small serving of each, our second evening meal in less than half an hour. The salad dressings were gorgeous and I even went back for seconds. Then the main course arrived. It was bowls of pepper, onion, tomato, eggs and serena cheese smothered in melted cheese. It was delicious and I devoured mine but Pammi was beaten by the amount of food on offer. It was all washed down with homemade Rakia (Bulgarian whiskey) and wine made from her garden grapes. We spent a lovely few hours there even managing to have half Bulgarian, half English conversations, a first,  before weaving our way back up the lane to our house. Dora's husband is a baker and gave us two huge traditional sharing breads to take home. When we got home the star display was spectacular so we had a night cap looking at the sky as it was the clearest and fullest sky we have seen this year.

Last night no watering was done again so we are up Sunday at 0600 to get the job done. Between us we water the garden then Pammi weeds the kitchen garden whilst I clean and sweep the courtyard, palace and footpaths. The rest of the morning is spent writing the blog whilst Pammi picks some veg, then meditates before we chill out in the afternoon. We have a BBQ of vegetable kebabs and beetroot burgers for lunch which as usual is delicious. Just as we are eating a stork glides right over our heads before soaring off into the distance. They are so jurassic. We then retreat to the hammocks for a siesta. Late afternoon TH comes round, wanders round the garden, tells us we need a swimming pool (we so know this and have discussed it loads but can we justify the expense??) then is on his way. Pammi has lost her glasses and we can only think she left them next door last night so off she goes to see if they are there. As she opens the gate Baba B, Dora and Danni are there. They have brought back Pammi's glasses as well as a bottle of beer and a huge bag of walnuts. We then all spend the evening skyping Baba B's daughter and watching Mickey Mouse videos on youtube for Danni. When it gets dark they go home which gives me the opportunity to finish this blog whilst Pammi plays with the dogs. No watering again tonight so we will be up early tomorrow. It is a beautiful cool evening, the jackals are crying in the forest, the village dogs respond to their calls and the stars start to fill the sky. Life is good..............

  

Our first chilli

Today's harvest

More peas

Kitchen garden looking tidy again

This lizard was so brave. It came right up to the house from the bottom garden, then turned around and scurried off again. Lucky for it that Marple was asleep indoors.

BBQ lunch

Stork overhead

As Disney would say, 'that's all folks!' (too much Mickey Mouse I think). Have a great week and thanks for reading.

Week 33

We left you last Sunday just as we settled in to watch a storm and what a storm it turned out to be. It lasted hours and the thunder, lightning and rain just went on and on. It was torrential, easily the heaviest we have had so far, you could not see more than 10 metres and the thunder was right overhead so the noise bounced around the valley. Even the dogs went inside the house as they were scared.

Maizi & Marple playing pre-storm

The now familiar view of a storm from the outdoor kitchen

Monday we wake to a new world. It is scorching hot with no sign of last nights deluge and thankfully no damage. First job today is get the business registered on Airbnb which we are told is a really popular website. As usual this takes a couple of hours by the time you have uploaded all the photos. TH then pops round to tell me that our top land needs to be weedkillered (is that a word?) or sprayed with weedkiller. But I cannot get him to understand that I have other priorities and anyway that area is going to be the campsite so I want grass up there. In the end it is easier to agree but I tell him it will be another day. He will be onto a new task for us tomorrow so will forget all about it I hope. Both of us spend the day weeding and Pammi then harvests potatoes (which everyone tells us not to freeze, but we have and they tasted fine) and peas for freezing. For tonight's tea she picks courgette, lettuce and spring onions. Not long after we have finished our work for the day it starts to rain. Good, no watering needed tonight then.

Our first beetroot

Shelling peas

Todays harvest

Clearing the vines

Another storm

90% from our garden

Tuesday is forecast for sun and showers and they are right. It is sunny and hot then rains, then sunny and hot, then rains again. More weeding for me today whilst Pammi plants another 34 tomatoes into the piece of land I cleared the other day. I soon get the weeding finished, the land slopes steeply and is not fun to work on so I get the job done as quickly as possible. Once done I cut a load of peppermint from the garden for freezing along with flat leafed parsley and some broccoli that Pammi has picked. TH then pops round and gives us some dill and fresh garlic and then is off on his way. TH and his wife are so generous to us, I think they think we are useless so have sort of adopted us. Once the herbs are all prepared for freezing I get round to a job that I have meaning to do for weeks. Give the car a bit of TLC. There are a couple of fuses that need replacing, so a quick youtube search to identify where and what fuses do what (how would I ever had done that before the internet, there are no manuals here), then top up the water bottles and check the oil. According to the dipstick it is nearly empty. Ooops. Off to Opaka then to get some oil. 1 litre later and now it indicates that it is full. Not possible. I check it over the next few days with a hot and cold engine, after short and long trips and everytime it either reads empty or full. At least I know there is some oil in there. Teach me for mending things that aren't broke! Tonights tea is pasta with fresh broccoli from the garden. Yummy.

Herbs ready for freezing

Squash and pumpkin beds weeded

New tomato plants in

Todays entry I thought would be a bit more interesting if you could see almost hour by hour how our day fills up. As it happens this turns into an epic day. Not every day is like this and it is coincidental that I had pre-chose today to do this but it does show what can happen......

0600 - Alarm goes off

0630 - Me weeding the beans on the top land, whilst Pammi picks beetroot and lettuces, then plants more lettuces and herbs

0745 - Efan pops in for a chat on his way to graze his horse. Then I prepare breakfast

0805 - Breakfast of egg on toast with apricot juice and coffee

0840 - Me back to weeding. Pammi washes up, prepares the lettuce for lunch and then weeds the bottom garden

0955 - My weeding finished. So harvest strawberries and potatoes. Then fill all the waterbottles for the potting shed from the waterbuts

1145 - Tea break

1215 - I strim the lawns and Pammi carries on weeding. I then prepare lunch

1415 - Lunch of salad from the garden

1445 - I rake the lawns whilst Pammi washes up

1500 - I prepare the dill for freezing whilst Pammi picks spring onions, broadbeans, peas and cabbage for tonight's tea. Then I beat the rugs to rid them of dust. Next job is to fix a leaking tap in the kitchen but I don't have the right tools so I do enough to stop the leak but will need to get the right spanner.

1700 - I light the clay oven as we are having jacket potatoes tonight. Meanwhile Pammi prepares some of the potatoes I picked earlier for freezing. She then gives the house a quick hoover.

1715 - Play time with the dogs

1730 - Pammi's shower time

1750 - Playtime over I do the washing up from Pammi's potato prep

1800 - Pammi goes to meditate whilst I take a shower

1820 - Playtime with the dogs again

1835 - Time for a vodka and tonic in the hammocks and playing with the dogs

1935 - Tea Time. Jacket potatoes with a pea, mint and mayo relish. Salad, homemade coleslaw and french stick.

2030 - Efan comes round and has some food and a glass of wine with us (our first dinner guest)

2115 - Efan and I go off to collect his horse from grazing. Then up to his house where he gives me a sack of chicken compost for the garden. Pammi does the washing up.

2145 - Back home to sit and chat with Pammi for a while

2205 - Samantha Skypes us

2220 - Back to the hammocks with a glass of vino and play with the dogs

2350 - Bedtime

All these from just one row

Preparing potatoes and beetroot for freezing

Playtime and chill time

Efan and his horse

Thursday is extremely hot, by 0830 it is 37 degrees. Pammi does some weeding where it is a little shady and I go up to the top land to chop some trees that I cleared a while ago into logs. But it is soon way too hot to carry on working so we call it a day mid afternoon. We need some groceries so make the most of our afternoon by going to Opaka to get a few things. Not long after we get home TH pops in to make sure we have weeded correctly, which we have for once and he seems impressed by the amount of work we have got done despite the hot weather. Efan then pops in to see what we have been up to. The evening is incredibly hot and we stay up very late just so we can play with the dogs when it is cool, when it is this hot they either stay indoors or on the cool floor in the palace, so it is good for them to be able to get some exercise in the cool night air.

Efans goats are growing up fast

Bob (beans) need weeding

That was hard work

Friday is another beautiful day and we wake to 37 degrees again as we have had a bit of a lay in today. It is crazy hot by the time we had breakfast of boiled eggs and cheese with bread, juice and coffee. We decide to spend the day chilling in the sun. But neither of us stays still for long and Pammi has to meditate so whilst she does that I shoot off to Popovo to get some new boots from the market. They have none which given the weather and time of year I am not too surprised. But I do get a water melon from a guy who has a trailer load of them and they are crazy cheap, less than 1 GBP for a 5 kilo melon. Wasted journey over, I go home and resume chilling with Pammi. That evening we are watering the garden when TH pops in to scold us for not finishing the weeding today. Does he not know how bloody hot it has been?? So he wades in and starts weeding the lower bean and potato beds himself in exchange for a cup of chamomile tea, fair trade I reckon. He soon forgets about the weeding though, has his tea, then off he rides. Not long after he has gone Efan and Eva his granddaughter arrive outside. We have wild Chamomile growing outside the gates, so after he has given me a lesson on how to pick and make tea from them off they go. As the evening cools we have a BBQ. I make tomatoes stuffed with feta, peppers stuffed with tomato and cheese, new potatoes with garlic and herbs, salad (prepared by Pammi - she said I had to write that as it looks like I do all the cooking), grilled aubergine slices and grilled whole chilli's (the chilli infatuation continues!!). We sit up late into the night enjoying the cool air and listening to chilled out music in the new sunlounger area under the stars. A great night.

Saturday is crazy hot again. 38 on the thermometer in the shade with a feel-like temperature of 43. Neither of us can work outside in this heat so Pammi cleans the house but does not want me in the way. So I am sent off to Ruse to buy myself a new rifle. Wow, those subliminal message tapes must work. Not sure why I got the green light on this but I am in the car and on my way before she changes her mind. I spend a great day in every gun store I can find, ending up in a store I have used before where, after a long 'discussion', two other shop keepers and a policeman turn up to advise me on what to buy. None of this in English but I am getting used to making sense of some Bulgarian words. Eventually I get a nice new rifle complete with telescopic sights, a box of ammo, targets and case. Sometimes it feels like I am in a 'boys own world' dream. I get to use industrial strimmers, chainsaws, axes and have guns. I am so lucky, I hope the dream never ends. That night Pammi has made us a gorgeous ratatouille out of just left overs from the fridge (see she does cook). Another lovely evening watching the stars, which incidentally our neighbours just do not understand. They cannot reason why we have no TV and spend nearly every waking hour outdoors. We love it though and would not want to live any other way.

Fresh watermelon for breakfast

Sunday we wake at 0600. The temperature is perfect for the gardening we have planned for today. So we roll over and go back to sleep after letting the dogs out to play. When we wake nearly two hours later it is, not surprisingly, very hot. Idiots. Still the extra sleep was so nice and we are staying up so late we cannot expect to be up at the crack of dawn and not be tired. Breakfast of watermelon and omelette finished we both get into the garden. I notice that there is a stack of branches outside our gate. No idea what they are or from whom so I drag them all in and leave them by the gate. Pammi gets weeding and me tying up the grapevines when TH arrives. The branches are from a linden tree and the flowers need stripping and drying out in the sun to make herbal tea. Guess who spends the next few hours stripping the flowers off, yes the rest of my jobs are on hold for now. When they have all been stripped and laid out in the sun I resume tying up all the grapevine branches, they grow so much every day. Next job is to weed the strawberry bed. By now the sun is so hot it is time to call it a day. Pammi goes off to meditate whilst I spend a few hours zeroing the sights on my new rifle. When that is done I make us lunch of egg mayonnaise salad. After lunch Pammi cuts down some old dresses to shorten them as it is so hot and she has no need for long dresses here. With the material she cuts off she makes fabric ties for the plants as they grow so fast and we keep running out of ties. I spend the afternoon writing the blog which can take up to 4 hours with uploading photos etc. The wind is getting up in the garden so maybe we will get the storms we were supposed to have last night that did not happen. If not we will be watering again tonight. Deja vu.

Stripping linden flowers

Linden flowers drying in the sun

Candles melt even in the shade. I should have realised really

Tying up the grapevine branches 

Pammi picking more produce

The incredibly hot weather is forecast to last well into next week with average temperatures of 35 degrees every day. It takes some adjusting to and it is not all roses, but we are so so lucky to be having this life.

Hope you all have a great week. Thanks for reading. Take care.

Week 32

Blog time again folks, the days just speed by. But it feels like spring is going and summer is following but a short distance behind as the storms are fewer and the temperatures are rising. Most days have been around the 30 degree area and night-time around 14 degrees.

That said Monday started very hot and sunny and we were out working by 0700 but only a few hours later we had big storms again, followed by glorious sun, followed by storms. Pammi made a start on harvesting our potatoes from the top land so that we could make space for the tomato plants and peppers that are still in the potting shed. Although not large, the potatoes are ideal for salads and freezing for the winter, which after harvesting them she then spent the rest of the day boiling then freezing them. Meanwhile I got on with lowering the mudbrick wall and then topping it with roof tiles. After a few tries I finally worked out how to get the angle right and managed to get them finished just as a big storm started. Whilst the rain lashed down I finally cleaned all the grout from the floor tiles in the Palace, another job that I had been ignoring for ages. When the rain stopped Efan popped in and I even got a bravo for my wall tiling, my first Bulgarian compliment! Then off up to Efans house, Pammi being told to bring her harvesting basket with her. He then let us pick as many raspberries, cherries and strawberries from his garden as we wanted. It is the beginning of June and the raspberries are going over already. Once he was satisfied we had taken enough we were allowed home. So whilst Pammi continued cooking I got on with making plant canes out of the tree branches we had chopped down last week. Then a huge storm rolled in and that was game over for the day other than to sit and watch the rain from the sanctuary of our outdoor kitchen.

I think we are about to get wet

At least we will not need to water tonight. 

That stream of water from the guttering was from less than a few minutes rain.

This barrel was totally empty before the first storm of the day

Potato harvest from just a few plants

Mudbrick wall topped with roof tiles should preserve it for a while

Last nights storm was really heavy and unfortunately some plants were damaged and some tomato canes were torn from the earth. So a few quick repairs are the first job of the day. Luckily we only lost one plant and the rest were just knocked down so will recover. It is a beautiful morning but obviously the ground is far too wet to work on so Pammi does the domestics whilst I erect and paint the final fence panels for the sun-lounger area. Efan pops in again and has started to teach us a Bulgarian word a day, interesting as he has only one English phrase 'come on baby' so whatever Bulgarian word he teaches us we have to guess the English equivalent. Cannot see this method of teaching ever catching on though!

Final panels up and being laquered

Peas from the garden

Wednesday up nice and early, breakfast of fresh fruit from Efans garden with yoghurt, followed by boiled eggs, cheese and fresh bread, washed down with strong coffee and apricot juice in the courtyard is a lovely start to the day. But we have to crack on. The weather forecast for today is rain but it does not look like it will rain yet, as it turns out it is glorious all day with temperatures around 28 degrees and clear blue skies. First job is to get another coat of laquer on the panels which is soon done and they look great. In the garage we have an old oil drum which I then cut down to make two BBQ's, not lengthways but around the middle, the idea being that we can have one BBQ for meat eaters and one for vegetarians. A couple of bars are then cut to sit across the rims of the barrels to sit skewers and grills on. I then use the old bricks that I cleaned last week to make a table for it to sit on. Totally free and looks great. Whizzing through the jobs today!! Onto the tomato canes which all need cutting to the same height as they look awful and are driving Pammi insane. Also all the gardens here are totally symmetrical and so so precise. It makes you smile but also realise what is important to the villagers, their houses are make-do and mend but the garden, that will feed and provide you with food through the year are immaculate. Know who I think has got their priorities right. But it turns out both my hand saws are blunt and need new blades and when I go to use the chainsaw instead, overkill I know but needs must, that refuses to work too. The motor is running but the chain is not moving. An hour later of dismantling and fiddling I can see the problem but have no idea how to fix it. How can you put a tool away after it has worked fine all day then you get it out again and it is broken? Anyway this looks like a warranty job for the next time we are in Popovo. Off to Opaka then to the builders merchants to pick up some new saw blades and get a few groceries in the centre whilst we are there. A successful shopping trip and we are home again in less than an hour. New blade fitted, I get the stakes all the same height in no time and whilst doing so get a couple of oil drums alight burning all the old rubbish that we can to save space in the waste containers in the street. Nobody else seems to do this and they even put old garden waste in the containers which seems crazy as the bins fill so quickly and the waste could easily we dumped to decompose in compost heaps or in the woods. There must be a reason why they don't though. Work for the day finished. After our evening meal which we eat as usual in the courtyard (we could not imagine eating indoors now, even during the storms we always eat undercover outdoors. How quickly you adapt to your surroundings), we go for a stroll around the village. As usual all the villagers are sat outside their homes on benches on the street just chatting with each other. We bump into TH and then Efan who is grazing his horse down the lane. Back home we sit in the courtyard and enjoy a glass of wine under the stars.

Not a very good photo but this bird is an incredible bright yellow

New BBQ

Old twisted and gnarly wood beam becomes a solar light holder

All nice and neat

Thursday is a scorcher. Breakfast in the courtyard at 0730 and it is 25 degrees already, it is going to be a hot one, although storms are forecast which thankfully never arrive. Of course the downside to no rain is two hours of watering every night, next year we will put in a network of ground level hosing which will be connected to waterbuts and a standpipe, so it will just be a case of turning on a tap. Already we have learnt so much on how to improve and make more efficient our garden for next year and are planning it already. We forget sometimes that we have only been here a short while and this is a massive learning curve for us. We both do things everyday that we have never done before but by trial and error we get there. To make the most of todays weather I decide to do some woodwork on the gable end of the Palace, but is about 10 meters high and I have no ladder that big. I do have two homemade wooden ladders that I thought I could nail together and would just reach. But after nailing them together and then collapsing as I was going up them, I abandoned that idea and so that job can wait for another time. Efan told us the other day that we should not put our tomatoes and peppers in the top land and that they should be in the bottom garden. But that meant clearing a new piece of land so that became my job for the day. It did mean however that I could do that and finish burning all the rubbish we needed to. Meanwhile Pammi makes some empanadas and quiches for freezing. Already we have a good stockpile of food for the winter. She picks brocolli, peas and peppermint for the quiche which we have that night for tea and it is gorgeous, with really refreshing flavours. By early afternoon it is far too hot to work in the sun so we retire to the sunloungers for a lazy afternoon before our scrumptous meal and, after watering the garden, an evening watching the stars and the dozens of fireflys that visit our garden every night now.

Empanadas filled with chickpeas, peppers, onions and tomatoes

Brocolli, pea and peppermint quiche. Delicious.

Friday is a hot one and we get up early as we plan to do some work in the morning then try out our new BBQ area in the afternoon. I give the new tomato beds another dig over to breakdown the soil, this area has never been dug and although the soil is dark and rich, just below the surface is bricks, broken tiles and other building debris. It is tough digging, especially as the temperatures start to nudge 34 degrees. Pammi is weeding which is another of her full-time jobs, along with cleaning, freezing produce, baking, planting and still finding time to meditate every day. At lunchtime we stop work. I make some vegetable kebabs whilst Pammi prepares new poatoes with chilli. We also have some homemade beetroot burgers which we take from the freezer. The BBQ is a success and works great. After an afternoon of jazz music on the laptop, BBQ food and ice cold beer we are feeling very relaxed, a much needed break and a really different day for us. Our evening stroll, followed by a sit in the cool shade of the courtyard completes our day.

New patch ready to be cleared

All cleared 

Pammi in the new sunlounger area

BBQ in progress

Kebabs, new potatoes and fresh chilli's 

Maizi and Marple take shelter from the sun

Just chillin with Maizi

Saturday is forecast for thunder and rain all day so I head off into Popovo to get the chainsaw fixed. As it turned out the forecast could not have been more wrong and it was a hot and sunny day. As usual I have to wait around for the chainsaw parts to arrive but it is amazing that they will fix these things for you there and then rather than them having to be sent away for weeks. Whilst there I visit the veg market but apart from local strawberries which are in abundance, there is very little local produce here so I buy a few not so brilliant carrots, which we have to have as we use them as dogs treats and the girls love them so much. Four hours later the chainsaw is fixed for no charge and I am on my way home. I stop off in Opaka to see what veg they have and manage to get some apricots and some fresh chillies. Back at home Pammi has done her morning meditation and is doing the weekly deep clean of the house. It is amazing how dusty everything gets, in the winter from the log fire and in the summer from the dry dust in the air. Saturday night is now construct a pizza night so that is what we do from local fresh crusty bread. Most Bulgarians are obsessed with hot chilli and raw garlic and have dishes of them at the table with every meal. The garlic here is fresh, not the dry bulbs that we were used to in the UK. They are almost slimey here, they just pop out of the skin by squeezing and are incredibly flavoursome. Chilli is another matter. I am trying to accustomise myself to the taste whereas Pammi is not so keen. So now at every opportunity I will bake or fry or grill or have raw, chilli. Tonight is no exception and I make a spicy pizza for myself. Wow, it was hot but I think my tastebuds are now getting used to them. I may make it as a Bulgarian yet. Then we have to water the garden, despite the huge storms we have had recently the ground dries out so quickly in this intense heat. Then a nice surprise when Samantha Skypes us. Later as we are sat listening to evening radio in the courtyard Efan and Eva, his grand-daughter visit. We get the swing out for her and give her some chocolate ice cream which after a few attempts to get her to try, she eventually does. The bowl did not last long. She is only about 3 and is really cute and very shy but by the end of the evening we are getting her to at least say hello and thank you in Bulgarian to us. We even teach her how to shake hands. Then off they both go to collect Efans horse that has been grazing just around the corner. We stay up till midnight as the air is so warm and the sky so clear that there are thousands of stars tonight.

Salad and Potatoes from the garden with homemade pizza and chilli's

Maybe that was one chilli too far

Eva on the swing having ice cream

Efan and Eva. How does she stay so clean?

Sunday morning we lay in till 8am and the sun is streaming through the windows. A leisurely breakfast of egg on toast, coffee and apricot juice in the courtyard confirms that it is going to be a scorcher of a day.  Pammi takes the rubbish to the container and meets Efan who gives her a ride home in his cart pulled by his horse which she loved as it was her first cart ride. This morning Pammi wants to weed and I have to get the blog written as well as a few internet based tasks that need doing. One of which is that we can now pay our electricity bill online. The guy still has to come to read the meter but no money changes hands unlike the water man who comes every month with his little brown book, takes the readings then calculates what you owe, pay him in cash, sign the book and off he goes till next month. By lunchtime it is too hot to work in the garden any longer and Pammi calls it a day. As a treat we head for the restaurant in Opaka for a meal but there is a wedding on so detour to the local swimming pool instead as they have a new restaurant there too. What a find. The pool area is gorgeous with lots of sunbeds, a bar and large restaurant. There is an extensive menu and we both order a fish dish, chips and a salad to share. As usual this is far too much food but it is really well cooked and very fresh. It is even served in the right order and with our meals coming out at the same time. Another first. Somehow though my diet coke order got translated into hot chocolate, not what you need when it is over 30 degrees. But is was very nice just the same. Having eaten we then headed home for a few hours in the sun. But as I write this the wind has picked up, the sky is black and thunder is rumbling just over in the next valley. We are about to end the week as we started. At least no watering tonight. Every cloud as they say..........

The swimming pool at Opaka overlooking the stunning countryside.

 We are so lucky to have this just down the road. 

Our first plum tomatoes

2 days ago this was a flower. It is now 15cm long

Peas

Cabbage

Vine leaves bigger than my hand

So for now we will bid you a safe and happy week. We are going to sit and watch the storm now from the outside kitchen with a glass of something cool and refreshing..........