Todorov Den at Arbanassi

I've just noticed that I wrote this blog post and didn't publish it.......oopps!

On Saturday  March 3rd I headed off to Arbanassi, which is a village about 30 minutes drive from us that is very popular with tourists and holidaying Bulgarians, I met up with 2 expat friends and we had a great afternoon.. Arbanassi is a beautiful place, very traditional looking but also full of stalls selling souvenirs. There are some lovely looking restaurants and hotels, a large castle-like place that is very over the top for my tastes and also riding stables where there are a lot of sport and competition horses kept.

Todorov Den is a celebration of the horse, loosely translated it's St. Theodore day. Horses have their manes and tails plaited and wear red & wed bands to follow the tradition of Baba Marta and then there's a parade through Arbanassi village to the centre.Where the mayor, priest and a large crowd are gathered to celebrate and watch the proceedings. There are prizes for the best turned out horses and each rider and horse are blessed by the Popa (priest).

The weather was sunny, but cold and very windy. Despite that, the horses all behaved really well and a good day was had. Some years there is shojumping back at the stables but this time the ground was too wet to be safe. Some people did get to ride the horses around the yard and the children present all got to pet Gina the Shetland pony.

So a much needed afternoon out with friends, a few laughs and beautiful horses was just what I needed. Here's a photo of the carriage horse pair.

Wandering Photo's

As it's another rainy day my choices of what to do are limited - it's either housework or blogging, and I know which one would win any day!

I've been out with the camera taking pot shots at anything that caught my eye and I thought I'd let you see a small insight into my daily surroundings and how they're changing with the seasons. Then I best get on and clean this house!

The locals will be out later collecting snails as they're considered somewhat of a delicacy here - mine will be staying put in the garden!

Some of the many trees we have are in blossom again, while others have finished already - parts of the garden are spotted with fallen blossom that looks like confetti.

This is our shortcut from the neighbours house - across the paddock, which will hopefully be plowed and have lucerne planted on in the autumn, through the orchard and into our garden.

There's a small cluster of these trees on one part of our land and I've no idea what they are! They look a bit prehistoric, don't produce fruit and are the last to be getting their leaves. The branches are all odd shaped. Can you tell me what it is?