Plodding Along

Changeable weather here again with more storms thrown in for the dramatic effects, in fact we were sat outside last night watching the lightning flash across the fields with the rumbling, rolling thunder right overhead. It was fantastic and again I got off from garden watering duties as the hevens opened and did it for me.

We had friends and family arrive on Tuesday who will be staying for a couple of weeks, so things are a little less peaceful here and it's lovely to see them again. I hope they enjoy their holiday.

Today has been breezy and cool so I managed to get in the garden and clear another raised bed ready for other things to be planted. I have some carrots, beetroot and chard that need thinned out so they'll be transplanted later on once the sun has gone down. We've eaten our first cucumber and tomatoes from the garden and they were lovely. Hopefully there are plenty more to come.

We are having a half pig roast next week and it will be lovely to have more friends around and catch up. As there are a few kids coming I've decided that they will have their own table and picnic food - I'm not the most patient of people and like to eat my meal without a lot of fuss and kids grabbing at things so this seems the easiest option. Plus they can get in the pool and have fun while the adults chat etc. let's see how it goes, I may even take some photos for this blog as it's lacking in a bit of colour lately :)

One Day at a Time

Such a lot seems to have happened in the last week and I'm not sure where to start!

Firstly the trip to Burgas wasn't as bad as expected, ok so I did get lost in the city centre looking for my accountants office but the 3 hour drive there was goos, the roads were good and the scenery was lovely. Friends had given me easy directions as I'm a bit geographically challenged and that made the drive even better.

It was nice to finally meet the guy who does our company accounts too. I usually wouldn't use a company so far away but he is very, very good on price and helpful too, should have our company re-registration done and dusted before the deadline at the end of the year.

The airport was our next destination and I found that easily too, again thanks to directions from friends. Found a parking space, and unloaded the huge amount of luggage the kids had and set off to find their dad, who was waiting for them under the shade of some trees. I stayed with them for a while chatting but left before I got upset. I felt a bit of a coward on the drive home and was quite emotional too but would rather leave a situation where everyone is happy rather than sad. By the time I got home it was dark and hubby had cooked a lovely meal, all the animals had been fed and watered and tucked up for the night too.

I've been trying to keep busy and stay positive but I do really miss the kids, even though I can still chat to them online or on the phone - it's not the same. As it's too hot to work outside for most of the day now I've painted the living room and even made a start on making the curtains I'd promised to do over the winter months. My sister in law, her daughter and a friend with her children arrive Tuesday afternoon so they'll help to keep me busy.

We've had an amazing storm tonight which has saved me watering the garden, even the horses were happy to stay out in it as it kept the flies from bothering them. But the forecast for the next 10 days is hot, hot, hot so I think we'll be using the pool a bit more and maybe even having a siesta during the hottest part of the day.

The Blues

Not a lot of blogging going on this week and to be honest not much of anything else this week. The weather has been glorious but I'm feeling pretty blue. Down, disparaged, discouraged and unable to look to the future at the moment.

The daily teen angst, arguments and everything else that parents go through isn't helping but what's worse is that I've been watching my kids packing their cases to leave on Monday. Instead of having a nice week together, there have been shouting matches, bickering, pettiness and nastiness, plus one or 2 threats of violence. It's all wearing me down and I'm constantly fighting back tears. Maybe I feel worse because I'm not letting the tears flow - I don't know?

And to top everthing off our fridge freezer broke down today and one of the dogs got stung by a wasp! Let's see if tomorrow is a better day. We are actually going out tomorrow afternoon as it's the yearly horse fair in a villge not far from us. Normally it's quite a big event and I do like to go see the horses too.

Speaking of horses, my daughter has ridden our 2 girls (on the lunge) a couple of times in the last week. All was going great until Maya spooked as daughter got on and deposited said daughter on the floor. Poor thing has hurt her wrist (nothing serious) and not been back on since. But at least it's given me a better idea of ghow they react when ridden and I've seen things from a different view (ie the ground) and noticed how they move etc.

Hubby is looking for work here in Bulgaria at the moment and has a few small jobs lined up. It would be nice to find more though. Luckily he has great references from past jobs and word is starting to spread that he's good, reliable and doesn't charge the earth. Unlike some, who are not even trained builders trying to make a living by doing skilled jobs they don't necessarily have the expertise to do.

I meant to post this yesterday but just didn't have the heart, today I really enjoyed getting out to the horse fair even though there were friesian horses there that I couldn't afford (my favourite breed). It was nice to do something different but the yearly horse fair is turning the same way as Appleby fair in the UK and there are far too many stalls selling clothes, melons, bedding etc and of course not forgetting the beer tents that seem to expand every year. One thing different this year was the cordon stopping people from driving up the narrow, cluttgered street near the fair and it was an improvement. The police were there and making their presence known too. 

But, like every other market that goes on where animals are sold (and not just here in Bulgaria), there are always the "Poor" looking animals. Most I have to say were in good condition and there were plenty of people ferrying water to their livestock. Still there were a few that looked emaciated, ill and generally awful and my heart goes out to them. I'd love to bring them all home and make whatever time they have left full of kindness, but I can't. It breaks my heart, but I did notice more people stopping to comment on the bad state of one horse in particular so at least they can see what a horse shouldn't look like.

Internet Madness

Firstly I'd like to say thank you for the recent comments mad on this blog. I have been trying for days to reply to them and have no idea why I can't.........technology eh?

Maybe it's just our almost useless internet connection or this old pc which really should be retired. Please bear with me while I try to sort this out and in the meantime I'll reply to comments here.

Pat & Nev, I'm so glad we got the hay in on time too, makes a huge difference to winter feed stocks and I'm really happy that it's done now. And who knows with all this rain and cooler weather we may even get a second cut of hay. Don't worry about the pectin as I have a load here that probably needs used up. Enjoy your marmalade

Alan Fenn, thank you for your nice comment - ordinary yet extraordinary makes total sense to me and I shall take that as a compliment. I've enjoyed browsing through your blog too and have added you to my blogroll too :)

Jak, please do come and visit us if you have the time - we'd love to meet you. Any day except the 11th July and 19th July would be good. Also if you need any help while you're in Bulgaria please let me know and I'll do my best to sort anything out - house hunting here can be rather frantic!

That's all for today folks. I'm off for another coffee

Where's My Wellies???

Ok so it's now July and usually we have fantastic weather and are starting to wilt in the heat. Siesta's are taken during the heat of the day and it's a mad dash before nightfall to get the animals in, settled and fed, the vegetables watered and tea cooked for us humans......or maybe not at the moment, as we've had awful, and I mean awful weather. Thunder, heavy rain and barely any sunshine, certainly not enough to dry my washing (that is still no the line by the way). Just pretty darn miserable to be honest, but spirits are high here despite the weather.

The kids are having a bit of a party tomorrow and have invited friends round, I've no idea how many and will probably just spend most of my time trying to keep out of the way, not embarass them too much and making a fool of myself with my pigeon Bulgarian.

Hubby is off out tomorrow to give an archery demonstration at a charity event held at Camping Veliko Tarnovo they are having a whole hog roast and I hope the weather is better for everyone attending. Although I'm sure it will be a great event and hopefully raise money for a very worthy charity. So it's just me, the animals and a bunch of teens at home! Should be an interesting day to say the least.

I've had some kind of bug since last weekend and have been suffering migraines, something I rarely get any more but hate having. I expect anyone that has had migraines or prolonged headaches would say the same, but it hit me hard as I felt so sickly with it too, aching and hot and cold. All in all though we've been fairly healthy since living here and I think it's due to the climate and better diet. The lack of takeaway foods has helped a lot! But I have put on some of the weight I lost when we first moved and really should be making an effort to get a few pounds off again. I'm happy though so will worry about it another day :)

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Once again we've had a busy week. Our tractor driver finally turned up so the large paddock was cut for hay, only 2 weeks later than originally planned but at least he did get here in the end. This morning we've been out and forked all the hay into piles to be loaded onto the truck later today when it's a little cooler.

We rarely work during the middle of the day now as it's too hot and there's a high chance of getting sunstroke. This week we've also managed to get 100 kilo's of pork into the freezer, of course this meant that one of my lovely ladies had to go but at least I know she had a very nice life. You really can't beat home reared pork, supermarket pork just doesn't have the same depth of flavour or even texture. Some of the pork will be made into bacon and gammon and possibly even ham. Plus hubby has decided to try making pepperoni and salami too.

I've spent 2 days trying to add this blog post as our internet has been playing up as usual. One day we may get broadband here but none of the companies will or can say when. In the last 2 days we've managed to get all of the hay stored in the barn, and it's lovely just knowing that it's done for another year! I even had time to go food shopping although the garden has suffered a little and needs a really good weeding. So at least I know what's on my job list for the next week or so!

In the garden my pea plants are ready and I've been harvesting them over the last week, also ready are the garlic and onions and I still have a few lettuces to pull up too. The tomato plants have gone crazy and are flowering well, but the pumpkins are trying to take over and have to be pushed back so they don't cover up the aubergines. I've spotted flowers on the chick peas and the galia melons so our diet should be a little more varied soon.

This week we've also made a a start on getting our bungalow ready for family and friends who are coming for a holiday. The water and electric is back on and the few small jobs that needed done have been sorted out. I've been tgrying to evict the spiders that have taken residence there over the winter but may need to do it again - only next time I'll be armed with the hoover lol, then it's a good old clean out, beds to make up and a few more pieces of furniture to add and we should be ready for people arriving :) Better still they are coming with gifts of marmite ......yummy!

Hubby and I are off to a car boot sale tomorrow morning, not to sell or indeed buy anything but just to have a look around and catch up with friends new and old. Let's hope the weather is nice as it has been very windy today, overcast and threatening to rain. On the plus side if it does rain at least I won't have to water the veg plot

Busy Bees

This week seems to have flown by and now the kids have broken up for school holidays too. Summer is truly here but we're still having thunder storms almost every day and there's been a lot of rain too.

Luckily it stayed relatively dry yesterday as we were busy helping lay an above ground pool concrete base. Boy was it hard work lol, the concrete wagon turned up at 10.15am and delivered almost 4 cubic metres of ready mixed concrete onto a large tarpaulin then a team of us had to load it into wheelbarrows and move it to where it was needed. In the UK we'd have probably got a concrete wagon with an extending arm that might have reached the 30 metres or so to the site, but not here, so it was all dumped as close as we could get it and the hard work then started.

Thankfully there were 9 of us, with 6 wheelbarrows and shovels, and we managed to get it all moved and in place before it set. On the downside the company it was ordered from delivered less than they were paid for so the last 8 wheelbarrow loads had to be mixed by hand with hastily borrowed sand and cement. But it's done now, smoothed off and level and just waiting for the pool to be set up once the cement has cured for a few days.

We were hoping to have one of the larger paddocks cut for hay this week too, but the tractor driver has yet to show up despite promising he would be here on tuesday. Maybe the weather this week has put him off as we've had lots of rain and storms so the grass has been quite wet. Hopefully he'll turn up at some point and we can get a good crop of hay ready for the winter.

There are lots of seedlings now in my flower bed, some of which are probably weeds, but they can wait for a drier day to be pulled out. We seem to have an abundance of pumkin plants this year and they are still popping up through the soil. So I'll be looking for recipes later in the year! I'm trying to grow swedes this time and so far they are doing ok. I do miss swedes but the Bulgarians don't seem to eat them and have a variety of different radishes instead. Mostg of the tomato plants are now in their final places, beans are doing well and the peas are starting to fruit now so I shall be picking them in a few weeks. Yet again we'll have a load of plums from the trees and might get round to making wine with some of them.

I've plenty of cucumber, squash, melon, peppers and aubergines growing now. Plus onions, lettuce, garlic, sweetcorn and fodder beet (for the animals). But haven't used all of the garden this season as much of it is in desperate need of being plowed and of course the plow our neighbour has developed a problem and needs repaired. Still there should be plenty of produce to eat and freeze down for winter. I may yet plant a few more things but we'll see how it goes. I'm in charge of the vegetables and don't get any help and there is only so much one person can do!

Since we're rained off today hubby has been in the kitchen and by the aromas that I can smell we are having a curry for tea - mmmmmm. So I'll leave you all now and wait for my plate of top nosh lol