Lots to do and make

I've had a busy week again but don't seem to be achieving much when I look around the place. Yet the house is pretty clean, the stables are mucked out daily and I've been cooking and baking too, plus managing to fit in shopping, bill paying etc.

Paying bills and shopping usually means a trip into Gorna Oryahovitsa for me, apart from the electric and water bills that can be paid at the post office in the village. Yes we have shops here (approximately 9 of them) but they all sell the same things and cater for basic tastes. Which is fine for essentials like bread and lentils, but for anything other we do need to travel about a half hour in the car and hit the supermarkets in town. It's something of a mini day trip and I actually enjoy getting out and about for a while.

So today I've been to Kaufland and Lidl supermarkets and stocked up on a few items, plus the weekly village market this morning so a busy day. Home to offload the shopping and store everything away, then outside in the sunshine to shovel muck and get the stables all ready for the horses to come in for the night, and once all the animals were settled and fed I made a lovely brocolli and sweetcorn soup for tea.

We've had the fire lit every night for over a week now as it's much cooler when the sun sets. Daytime temperatures are still quite nice and we've had a flush of grass on the field and paddocks. I have a few late planted peas showing themselves and the lettuces and garlic are all in and ready to overwinter. We won't be having any of the vegetable patch plowed this year but will be starting to spread manure in the next week or so to try and further improve the soil.

My sister in law and brother in law are on their way to Bulgaria in a van and should hopefully arrive by Monday, so we'll be having a nice reunion for a couple of days before they have to leave. Then we'll be one dog less as Fudge is going with them to start his new life in the UK. He'll be missed, especially by his constant companion Butch, but will at least be back with his owners. I've also got new Wwoof volunteers arriving on Monday, a couple from New Zealand who are eager to do a bit of work around the place and learn more about Bulgaria.

I'll blog again soon and let you know how we're all getting along :)