Week 42

Where did that week go??? Despite the hot weather quite a bit done this week.......

After the usual morning tasks Pammi harvests lots of produce as she wants to preserve more tomatoes today. As Saturdays foray into Popovo to buy jars was unsuccessful I am sent to Ruse to see if I can get some off the market there. It proves difficult to find them and after about two hours of walking what seems like every street in Ruse I eventually find somewhere that sells them. I buy all 26 jars she has in the shop. Back home I help Pammi cut vegetables for the sauces she is making. She makes about 10 litres of sauce today. Then she tasks me with making falafal. They look great but that night when I cook them I use a new oil we have not used before and they are a disaster. Back to our normal cooking oil then. After our meal we go for an uneventful stroll around the village. It has been a pleasant 27 degrees today but the evening soon gets cool although remains humid. A few glasses of vino, play with the dogs then off to bed.

Beautiful sunrise this morning

Some of todays harvest

Yet more peppers

Todays first batch of chutney and relish

Tuesday morning up bright and early as usual. It is forecast to be a scorcher today and it is, in the mid 30's. Breakfast this morning is peaches (from Baba B's garden), local fresh yoghurt and strawberries from our garden, it was sooo nice. Before it gets too hot I want to repair the woodstore roof as it leaks. Whilst Pammi waters the garden I prepare all the materials we will need. After breakfast the roof is still in the shade so Pammi hands me up the new tiles whilst I lay them. It only takes a few hours but as with everything here the roof slopes downwards, sideways and narrows from left to right so was not the easiest to repair. Hopefully it will last the winter now though. Next Pammi does some domestics whilst I make a start on chopping logs to fill the woodstore. By mid afternoon the sun is beating down and I call it a day. Pammi goes off to meditate whilst I grab a book and head for the shade. Tonights meal is jacket potatoes cooked in the clay oven served with a selection of salads nearly all made from our garden produce. Our evening stroll is followed by playing ball with the dogs and watching the stars. It looks like we will get a full moon this week.

Yummy breakfast

Repairing the wood-store roof

The dogs love vegetables, especially tomatoes

A selection of yummy salads

When the alarm goes off Wednesday it already feels like it is going to be a hot day. So whilst I water the garden Pammi gets on with todays harvest. Lots more preserving to do today, we can hardly keep  up with how fast it all grows. We even have corn husks now on our corn stems, they were only planted a few weeks ago and are about 2 metres tall now. I spend the rest of the day chopping logs but the chainsaw soon gets blunt again. I seem to spend as much time sharpening the chain as cutting wood which is frustrating. However I have a new woodcutters axe and it makes light work of the log splitting and is more fun than using the chainsaw. Well it would be if it wasn't quite so hot!! We work a full day today as we want to get these jobs out of the way. After our meal we take a stroll around the village and meet two adorable little puppies playing in the street but sadly (or should that be sensibly) Pammi would not let me take them home with us. As we get home the clouds start to roll in and we are clearly in for some rain. Later that evening it arrives so no watering for us tomorrow. Yay.

Another beautiful sunrise

These puppies were so cute

Thursday starts off sunny, goes cloudy, then is really warm by the afternoon and raining by the evening. At least the weather was varied today and the gardens need the rain so much. Even our lawn is starting to come back to life now. Pammi is making spicy lentils today and is trying a new method of using a jar bath to cook tomatoes and seal the jars. Normally she sterilizes the jars, cooks the sauces separately then fills the sterilized jars. Everybody else seems to slice their tomatoes, fill the jars, then place in a pan of boiling water to seal the jars. Unless we were doing something wrong it seems a longer process so we will go back to our way of doing it. The only up side is that it is totally free as we use scraps of wood on the BBQ to boil and simmer the water. I carry on cutting logs and get the wood store filled with logs and kindling. That evening we have the spicy lentils served in flat bread with the falafel which, cooked in our usual oil, in the clay oven, was delicious. Today was my mums birthday so we phoned her and she had actually received her card although it took three weeks to arrive. Post is at best unreliable here and greetings cards are hard to come by, so in future we will probably just send e-cards at Christmas etc. Later we watch the rain for a while from under the roof overhang then have an early night.

Jars of sliced tomatoes in the jar bath on the BBQ

Containers of spicy lentils for the freezer

Woodstore filled ready for the winter

Tonights full moon

Friday we take the day off from working and head to Popovo market to see if we can get more jars. Thankfully the store is open and we get another forty jars. On the way home we stop off in Opaka to get the few bits we need then go for lunch in the restaurant there. When the waitress takes our order she clarifies whether we want one sandwich or two. I nod my head confirming we want only one. When our order arrives we have two sandwiches. This has happened before and it dawns on us that I am confusing the waitresses. Out here you nod when you say no and shake your head, side to side, when you say yes. I still find it so difficult to remember that. So no wonder they get confused. I ate both sandwiches, all six of them, anyway. Lunch over, I wobble to the car. Whilst we are out and about we decide to head to Ruse and do the monthly shop. A bit early but we were going to do it on Monday anyway so it will free up that day to prepare as we have guests arriving on Wednesday. It is incredibly hot and humid and, shopping completed, we are glad to be home. We are still full from lunch so just have a light snack for tonights tea. Then the storm starts to roll in. It gets very dark and then the deluge starts, big spots of rain at first, then the lightning show, then torrential rain. As usual the electrics go off for a few hours but worse, so does the internet, so no Radio Edna for us this evening. We sit on the steps watching the incredible light show, the dogs have already retreated indoors as they know the signs of a big storm starting now. It is a huge storm and very impressive.

Storm clouds rolling in

The lightning starts

More storm clouds

By the time we wake on Saturday morning the storm has finished. We inspect the garden but amazingly there has been no damage. Pammi wants to do the deep clean of the house today and apparently I don't do it right so I am banished from the house. It is Pammi's birthday next weekend so I go off to Ruse to get her a prezzie. On the way home I see Borko and stop for a chat and to give him some rifle targets that I have had in the car for weeks and been meaning to drop off at his house. We arrange for him and Ani to come over for coffee next week which will be great. It is so hot today and when I get back Pammi has finished for the day. We both spend what is left of the day reading and chillin out. Tonight I make garlic mushrooms (mushrooms are not easy to come by out here so when you can get some it is a luxury) and fried chillies followed by paella (the best ever according to Pammi). By now it is starting to get dark but we go for a quick walk around the block and meet Efan in his cart. He has been cutting corn and his cart is full of it. Eva is staying with him this weekend but is not on the front seat. Efan pulls back a blanket to reveal Eva curled up, smiling and wrapped in a blanket, fast asleep. It would have been the cutest photo ever. It was getting late so we let him get on with his chores and we finished our walk. Back home we played with the dogs before having an early night. It was so humid though that we even had to have the fan on tonight. A few hours later we are woken but torrential rain. No watering again then, every cloud has a silver lining......

Garlic mushroom starters

Wish I could have got nearer for a proper look and photograph the actual bike

Hundreds of swifts

One of the many water springs in the village

Sunday morning comes round and there is no sign of damage from the nights heavy rain. No watering then but I want to photograph the sunrise this morning so am up at six and leave Pammi in bed. When I get back Pammi is up and in the garden. She never did get her lay in and got up when I left. It is a good sunrise and I get a few good shots. After breakfast Pammi harvests yet more produce and starts preserving it. As we have had so much rain recently I hope that the ground is damp enough for me to dig up the remaining rows of potatoes. The rain has not even broken the surface of the soil despite how much rain we have had. But it is easier to dig than it was, so despite how hot it is today, I dig up the last three rows of potatoes, about 50kg in all. That is the top land all harvested now so will need digging over soon which hopefully we will get someone with a horse and plough to do for us. The rest of the day Pammi spends preserving tomatoes and peppers and I write the blog. Tonight we plan to have a BBQ but the forecast is heavy rain so we'll see............

All picked this morning

   

Pizza base sauce

Moroccan spiced sauce

Sunday afternoon chill out 

(or it's all right for some, as Pammi wanted to call it!!) 

Early morning mist and sunflowers

Sun peeps over the village name sign 

Looking out over the top of the village

Another gorgeous day coming

Next week we have more guests booked in and it is Pammi's birthday. Should be a good week.

Hope you all have a great week. Take care.