Week 52

At 0315 this morning, exactly one year ago, we arrived in our new home in Bulgaria and our life here began. It has been an amazing year, we have made some great friends and learnt so much (but so much more to still learn). We love our life here and could not ever imagine living anywhere else. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible especially Moni and Borko.

On with this weeks blog then............

Monday started off a nice warm day so after a breakfast of homemade beans on toast it was time to start clearing the top land in preparation of making it into the campsite for next year. After a few hours of strimming it was evident that I desperately needed a new blade for the bush cutter as well as the chainsaw needed a link taking out of the new chain I had bought. So late afternoon whilst Pammi painted the wood in the courtyard area I headed off to Popovo. The chainsaw was repaired for free and a new bush cutting blade was bought as well as getting the petrol can filled so that tomorrow I could just get on with clearing the land. The nights are drawing in fast now so by the time I got home the working day was over. Pammi had been busy earlier in the day making a quiche as well as a potato and leek gratin for this evenings meal which was delicious. Then it was an evening of DVD's and Pammi knitting.

Making the most of the sun to paint the courtyard woodwork

Getting the hay ready to bale

Tuesday is another sunny and warm day, we can even have our breakfast and lunch sat outside. Pammi is back on painting duty after having done her meditation and daily chores whilst I get on with the strimming. The new blade on the strimmer is so much bigger than the old one and is so much sharper that it gets through the rest of the land in no time at all. All the grass is put to one side as Efan wants it for his goats whilst the rest of the leaves and vegetation is burnt in a huge bonfire. Efan comes down late afternoon and teaches us how to bale the hay including me doing a running belly flop onto the hay to flatten it down which Efan and Pammi found very amusing. Later Efan brought his horse and cart down to move it all off up the hill to his house. By the time we have finished it has been a long twelve hour day.

The first of many bonfires this week

Pammi baling hay

Efan tying up the bales

Wednesday the forecast is for a nice morning then heavy rain in the afternoon, so up early and then get on with strimming the lawn. Just as another large bonfire is lit the rain starts and soon becomes too heavy to work outside, although the fire is raging so does not go out. So Pammi goes under the courtyard cover and makes a chickpea and leek pie for tonight's meal whilst I go and tidy the potting shed. This does not take as long as expected and as there are no real jobs to do indoors now I decide to go off to get the tyres changed on the car. By November 1st the Police will start checking that you have winter tyres on your vehicle so, along with everyone else this afternoon it seems, I try to find a garage that can fit me in. Eventually I find one so they swop over my summer tyres for winter ones and we are legal again. Until midnight tomorrow that is, when I have noticed that our car insurance runs out, we have stickers on our windscreens with the date of expiry which is really useful for someone like me who rarely checks these things. That is a job for tomorrow now as it is too late to get it sorted today. 

Before, campsite is overgrown

After, starting to look like it should

Thursday is sunny but cold so we get up early so we can get into Ruse, get the car insurance and get home again. Mission accomplished we are now legal. Back home, whilst Pammi cleans then meditates I get on with cutting up the old trees that have been felled in the vineyard. There are a lot of branches that need stripping as the twigs will make good kindling but it is a very long and boring job. The upside to this job is that we get more firewood, it enables us to make an entrance to the campsite and we get to pick up lots more walnuts that we could not see before. As I am picking the walnuts Efan calls us up to his house. There has been a lot of jackal activity recently in the forest and given the opportunity they will kill Efans goats and chickens. He has set traps on his land and this morning has found a jackal in one of the traps. We had never seen one before but now think that when we have previously seen foxes it may well have been jackals. We are going to double check all our perimeter fences now as we need to protect our dogs and already we have found that something has gnawd through the new fence and made a good sized hole. It has been a cold day today so jacket potatoes tonight are a good winter warmer meal followed by a film or two.

The ground in the vineyard is steep and uneven so big bags are the only way to get the logs down to the woodstore. The dogs love it up here as they have gotten a real taste for walnuts 

Well earned tea break

Friday is really cold and the forecast is that it will freeze tonight so after Pammi does the deep clean of the house she makes some spring rolls for tonight's meal then harvests the last of the produce. Leeks, beetroot and squashes are the last to be picked, that is everything harvested and preserved now. My day is spent cutting down old trees, raking leaves, setting bonfires and collecting walnuts. There are not many more to fall but we are getting about half a carrier bag full a day at present. We should easily have two sack loads to sell. By the time we have finished preparing all the leeks and beetroot for freezing it is another late finish and is starting to get dark. So Chinese stir-fry with spring rolls then a DVD to finish our day.

Plenty more wood for the store

All cleared for the first time since we got here

Last of the beetroot

Leeks all in

Moving the squashes to the potting shed, helped by Marple

Saturday morning we wake to a frozen landscape, the first real frost of the year. Everything is sparkly white, even the water-buts have frozen solid. Just as well Pammi harvested everything yesterday. Today's job is to make some gates for the campsite as for now I have just cut away a bit of the fence and we have to climb through then secure it again every night. I am making the gates from angle iron that we have in the water room so only have to drill about twelve holes in each gate for supports etc (the gates are larger than normal as we hope to be able to get a horse and plough through them to work the soil where the potatoes and squashes will be next year). But silly me I only have one spare drill bit and as we all know a drill bit lasts about six holes here. Sure enough I break both drill-bits before completing the first gate (and these are supposed to be good quality drill bits). So I finish cutting all the parts to size for both gates so that when I get the drills all I need to do is assemble them. Pammi is knitting in the warm of the house so does not want to venture out so off I go to Ruse with a list of bits we will need. I need six large farm gate hinges but it takes a visit to five stores purchasing one here, two there etc before I can get all six. But eventually I get everything we will need and head home again. Before it gets too chilly we go for a stroll around the village but there are not many people about. After our evening meal we settle down to watch a DVD and unravel huge lengths of wool into balls, oh the excitement of a Saturday night in our house!!

Frozen strawberries

One of the wood-stores covered in ice

Sunday is the anniversary of our first year here so no work for us today. The clocks went back last night so we are up early, before it really gets light. We have a traditional Bulgarian breakfast of bread dipped in egg then fried but have to eat indoors as it is a bit too early for the sun to have warmed up yet. After breakfast we go for a long walk across the fields and then back up into the village. On the way past the shepherds house his huge dog and her four large puppies come snarling and gnashing out of the garden at us. Pammi eventually gets her heart rate back to normal and we carry on unscathed. As it is our anniversary we decide to stop off at the local bar, despite it being early morning, and have our second Bulgarian breakfast of the day. Coffee and a nip of brandy. Well it is a cold morning. So we order our drinks, which turns out to be the equivalent of a triple brandy, and sit outside and watch the world go by. A very kind man even stopped in the shop and bought some chocolate for us. Today is also the annual village day and we hoped that there would be some sort of celebration in the village but we were told that most people just celebrate it in their own homes. Maybe next year we can organise something as a community to mark the day. When we get home Dora and Danni pop in. It has warmed up a bit now so we have coffee and play with Danni in the garden before he picks some flowers to take back to Baba B. Pammi and I then have a tapas lunch in the courtyard as in the sun it is quite warm. We have potato bravas, garlic mushrooms, devilled eggs, stuffed mushrooms and stuffed peppers. Yummy. The rest of the afternoon Pammi tidies up outside and plays with the dogs whilst I write the blog. It is getting quite cold now despite the sun, so the fire is about to be lit and we will shut the cold out for the day.

Crocuses still out

Pre-hound of the Baskervilles incident

No brakes or gears but at least he will not get dehydrated on his bike ride

Corn fields 

2nd breakfast of the day

Well that is another week and our first year over. Thank you to everyone for making us so welcome here and making it so much easier than it could have been. On into our second year then.........

Take care all.

      

Week 51

Despite the beautiful weather outside today, it is blog time again so here goes....

Monday we take the dogs for their annual vaccinations in Popovo. We were a bit apprehensive as we did not know what to expect or how our dogs would react to the vets. However we need not have worried as the vets were lovely and the dogs both behaved themselves. The only strange thing being that an operation was being performed on a dog in the waiting room! But everything was spotless and cost a quarter of what it would in the UK. When we got home we took the dogs for a walk around the village as it was such a lovely day, but with all this mornings excitement they were soon exhausted. The afternoon clouded over so Pammi got on with her knitting whilst I started to advertise the campsite which we hope to have up and running for next year. We have some great walks, cycle routes, bird watching and fishing here so I am advertising on as many of these forums as possible. That done it was early evening so we had our meal then settled down to watch a film.

Autumn is here

Tuesday is another beautiful day so Pammi and I decide to go for a walk. But we did not get far before K&C called to say their van had broken down and could I help. So a quick trip to the garage in Opaka and someone would come to look at the van later today. As is always the case, K&C had real need of the van today as they had to pick up some packages from Popovo, so off we went. Errands soon ran we were back home. Pammi and I resumed our walk and completed the walk that we had cut short when E&A were here. We found an amazing stone cross in a field which was dated 1909. I have posted on our village forum for information about it as it would be great to know the story behind it. Today was so warm we were able to eat our lunch outside before I washed the car and Pammi meditated, then knitted again. 

Love to know the history behind this cross

Awesome clouds

After about an hour the lane ends at a huge field

Wednesday we go to Ruse as Pammi wants some new shoes and it is a good excuse to catch up with Moni and Zo. So after putting the world to rights with Moni and Zo we go shopping. It is quite cold today so don't hang around too long. As usual though by the time we get home the afternoon is nearly over and I have to take K to collect his van from the garage later. Another chilly evening so another film and knitting night.

Thursday the weather is chilly but bright and we plan to be in the garden all day today. After her meditation and daily chores Pammi gets on with tidying the kitchen garden whilst I strim the dog area in the top land. Typically I run out of petrol with about two meters left to strim so another trip to the gas station at Opaka. The up side of strimming that land is that there are walnut trees up there so we get a good sack full of fallen nuts that were hidden under the leaves and tall grass. The dogs come up and play for a while, trying to find walnuts as they have both developed a taste for them. Pammi and I then enjoy an vodka sat at the top bench and just look out over the village whilst the dogs chase each other and eat yet more walnuts. You can train dogs to do almost anything so maybe we should nurture their walnut finding skills to earn us some money. Nearly every house has their fire lit, there are many bonfires where residents are burning leaves and garden debris whilst elsewhere we can see people chopping wood. 

Would have been safer with the visor down then I would not have cut my nose with flying debris!!

All neat and tidy again

View over the village. This land needs clearing again though.

Todays harvest of walnuts drying in the sun

Friday Pammi wants to do a deep clean of the house. Also there is a steam train coming to Ruse from Varna to celebrate 150 years of the railway. It is a 1942 steam train built in Germany and they are charging 1942 prices to ride on it. The main celebration day is tomorrow in Ruse but the train is supposed to be passing through today on its way to Varna. So camera in hand off I go but as it turns out the train is not coming today. At least I was not the only person waiting for its arrival but we still left with no photo's. Home again we have lunch of potato and leek soup in the courtyard before Pammi continues in the kitchen garden and I strim the lane. Baba B comes out and gives me a bottle of her wine for doing her grass which we will save for a special occasion as her wine is gorgeous. Last job of the day is to service and clean our cycles for tomorrows adventure. Everything adjusted, oiled, cleaned and inflated we are as ready as will ever be. It is quite late by the time we finish so indoors for tea and an evening on the settee.

Beetroot in the kitchen garden

Last of the lettuces

Saturday is a bit cooler but perfect for our planned cycle ride today. We intend to cycle to Opaka, only about 22kms but as we have not cycled for over 12 months this may hurt. A lot. But the incentive is a nice meal and glass of beer at the restaurant there. After breakfast we set off, slowly. The route is mainly uphill with the odd glorious downhill section that we are extremely grateful for. It was amazing how much more we saw and noticed things we had never seen before although we have driven this route hundreds of times. Everybody either stopped and stared at the crazy English people or wished us a good day, but we make it alive and without the need for oxygen. We cycled triumphantly into Opaka town, parked our bikes in the restaurant garden and dismounted, salivating at the thought of our first cold beer and the meal to come. But this is Bulgaria and as we all know our plans never quite work out. A member of staff comes out to tell us the restaurant is closed today! NOOOOOO. Plan B then is to go to the supermarket buy some bread and beer and have a picnic in the village square. It was lovely and sunny and warm and we sat eating watching the world go by. The only downside for us being that a pastry I bought was full of meat so a stray dog had a lovely breakfast for once. The beer was cold though. Picnic over we cycled home again which seemed to take no time at all and we both arrived in one piece without any medical assistance. Coming through our gate the walls of the house were covered in ladybirds, we had never seen such a huge mass of them before. A quick google search told us that as the temperatures change the ladybirds seek the aphids out to eat and are attracted to light coloured houses. It was just like a plague but they are harmless to humans so we just let them be. Pammi, the dogs and I all went to the top land collecting walnuts again and to watch the village for a while in the hope that the ladybirds would all be gone soon. But it would be dark before all they left. Over dinner tonight we decide that next spring we will get a couple of goats so that we can make our own cheese. Efan is the man to talk to about this so that is another job for next week after a bit of internet research to see what we would be letting ourselves in for.

Pedal faster Mary Poppins!!

Picnic in the village square

The ladybirds start to mass on the walls and windows. 

There were thousands of them but only on the sun facing walls

Sunday all the ladybirds are gone, we have a lazy breakfast in the courtyard then coffee up the top land as it is a beautiful day. The dogs help us collect walnuts, well they eat a few whilst we bag the rest. Next is wine duty, every day we must stir our wine to aid its fermentation and we have covered the vats in blankets to keep them warm. We have a taste but it is a bit sweet for our liking, although it is a lovely deep red colour. We will get Baba B to take a look tomorrow and tell us what we are doing wrong. The rest of the morning Pammi spends making a pumpkin pie for lunch whilst I write the blog and the dogs sunbathe. This afternoon we took a stroll around the village before chilling out in the garden.

Opaka square

Cooked Sunday breakfast aided by Maizi and Marple

Well that is it for so far today. Next week we have been here for exactly a year, where has that time gone??

Take care all and have a great week.

Week 50

Autumn has arrived, the leaves are turning golden, days are generally warm but evenings are very chilly and smoke is now drifting from almost every chimney in the village as everyone lights their fires and return indoors.

Monday is a typical autumnal day so is perfect for starting to clear the old crop plants from our land. We harvest all the remaining tomatoes, the majority of which are green, the peppers and the chillies. Just beetroot, squashes and leeks remain. Tomorrow Pammi will have the last preserving day but today is spent pulling up the old plants, weeding, storing all the stakes and pulling up the paths. I pull up the old tiles we used as footpaths whilst Pammi cleans the mud from them. There are so many of them and takes a good few hours, next year we will definitely lay less paths. The evening is far too chilly to eat outside so we retire indoors, eat our meal then watch a DVD. Incredibly A&E made it back to London today after hitch-hiking across Europe in only 4 days, there are some very kind people out there.

This is the preserving pile

These we gave away to friends. Yes, that is a washing basket full!!

Last of the peppers and chillies

Tuesday starts off lovely and warm with bright sunshine so we can have breakfast in the courtyard once again. Coffee and toast consumed we can start work. Whilst Pammi makes the last sauces for preserving I carry on cleaning the mud from the tiles used as footpaths. It is so nice today we can even eat our lunch outside in the courtyard. The afternoon is spent preserving the tomatoes as sauces in jars whilst I prepared the chillies and peppers for freezing. But heavy rain rolls in just as we light the BBQ to sterilize the jars. Thankfully the fire was big enough not to go out and we managed to get all the preserving done. There were so many green tomatoes that we gave a large amount away as we just did not have enough jars or space to store any more chutneys or sauces. It was quite satisfying to think we had now preserved all our crops for the year and it will be interesting to see just how long it all keeps us fed for. Pammi makes us a lovely leek and potato gratin for our meal and just as we finish K&C pop in for a drink and to fetch some of the green tomatoes as Caroline wants to make some chutney. After a catch up on how their renovations are going they go home and we shut the evening chill out before a night of films again.

The last jars of the year being filled

Jars of relishes, chutneys and sauces

This is about half the crop of squashes so far

Wednesday is overcast and chilly. There are lots of little jobs to do today. First job of the day is a quick trip to Opaka for some grocery shopping. That done, we go home and whilst Pammi does a bit of cleaning I harvest what few walnuts there are lying about in the top land. We have had a few strong winds lately that have dropped the nuts from the branches but there are far more empty shells laying around than full ones. The nuts are definitely far smaller than last year but the birds and squirrels are taking the best for themselves. We have enough for our use and one full sack that we can sell later in the year but for now they are all drying out in the palace. Next job is to bath the dogs which normally Marple hates but today they both stay perfectly still whilst I wash them, maybe it is the warm water on this chilly day that makes them both behave so well. The car is the next to be cleaned before the final job of the day is giving myself a haircut which Pammi then has to inspect and trim up any bits of hair I have missed. Afterwards Pammi meditates then goes indoors to do some knitting in the warm. After our evening meal it is more knitting for Pammi whilst we watch another film.

Thursday morning we are up early as I am taking K&C to Targovishte to register their English van on Bulgarian plates. This is going to be fun! So whilst Pammi has a day cooking empanadas and quiches, K and I head off. Last time I was at the KAT office I spent six hours just getting new plates, this is a bit more complicated so have steeled myself for an all day session. Amazingly though when we get there, there is no queue and we walk straight to the window. Paperwork handed over all is looking good. Then we are directed to the bank teller to pay. The banker is not happy with the paperwork and, as it turns out not all the documents are available, they will not transfer the van to Bulgarian plates. Knew it was going too well. We will have to come back again when K has the necessary documents. Still, not a wasted trip as we both then go off to do some shopping before heading home. That evening Pammi and I go to the local bar for drinks with D who has a holiday home here and a couple of other English residents from the village, A & L. Before long we have the locals drinking with us and an evening of Bulgarian song and dance soon follows. It was a great but very late night.

At the local bar

Friday is another lovely sunny day but we have a bit of a lay-in after our late night. We both spend the day gardening, Pammi weeding and me strimming the lawn. Late afternoon Vesco, Dora, Danni and Baba B all come round for coffee. As Baba B is a wine making expert we ask her and V to take a look at our wine as we really have no idea what we are doing. They use a hydrometer to measure the amount of alcohol in the vats and after a sample of each vat decide that we need to add some sugar. Also the microbes need killing so V will bring some solution tomorrow that we must add to each vat. It is getting chilly again so they do not stay too long but it was lovely to see them all and so kind that they helped us with the wine. We too soon head indoors for the night. These colder, darker nights seem to really shorten our working days now but best we get used to it, winter is coming soon. Rice with spicy chickpeas for our meal gives us a nice warm glow and we batten down the hatches for another night of films.

Lawns neat and tidy again

Saturday V is coming round to sort our wine vats out for us. I dissolve 2 kilos of sugar into each vat whilst we wait for him to arrive, meanwhile Pammi is doing the deep clean of the house. V brings with him a wine paddle for stirring the vats twice daily and gives it to us as a gift, so so kind. He also adds an acid solution to the vats which smells incredibly toxic but apparently is harmless and just kills all the microbes in the wine. He stays for a coffee but is off to work today so soon has to leave. I am told that we have to have a hydrometer for testing our wine so whilst Pammi is still cleaning I nip off to buy one. Easier said than done. I bump into a number of friends in the village and on the way to the shops, then have trouble finding anywhere that sells them. What should have been an hour trip turns into more than twice that and by now most of the afternoon is gone. Once home though we decide to have our evening meal in the courtyard whilst it is still slightly warm and sunny. We have quorn steaks (that Samantha brought over with her), chips (cooked in the clay oven) and the last lettuce salad of the year. It has been a week of things being done for the final time, including Pammi having her final glass of white wine, a sure sign summer is over. After our meal we took a stroll around the village and saw Efan and Eva but nobody else as they are all indoors now. Temperatures drop really quickly in the evening now and in fact it is so cold tonight we light our wood-burner, but two logs later the house is so hot we have to take a couple of layers of clothing off. Maybe we are not totally Bulgarian yet and must wait a while before it is cold enough for the petchka (fire) to be lit.

Using our new wine paddle to stir the wine

Last glass of white wine for this summer

Tonight we had a full moon

Sunday morning is bright and sunny. After breakfast of fried egg sandwiches we get on with more weeding. However our time gardening is soon cut short when there is a big rain shower which sets the tone for the rest of the day, bright sun followed by heavy rain. So we call it a day and write the blog and update some webpages whilst Pammi does more knitting.

Weeding before the rain stops us

Leeks, squashes and beetroot

So that is another week over, how quickly they go, a couple more weeks and we have been here a year. Unbelievable.

 Take care and stay warm all.