Taking The Smooth With The Rough

Things weatherwise have been very up and down here lately. Rain one minute and sunshine the next and it's driving me mad - yesterday I managed to get outside and do some much needed weeding and caught the sun, today I'm indoors with a jumper and long pants on again. Grrrr hurry up summer!

But at least the time we're having to spend indoors is helping hubby recover from his broken rib/ribs. He's feeling much better but not totally healed yet. He's sleeping a bit easier and right now is in his workshop doing something - sometimes I worry that I married the mad inventor lol. At least he is much happier though and has a few jobs lined up soon. While he's been laid up he has been experimenting with making smoked bacon, ham joints and gammon which have all been a magnificent success. It's lovely to have some really good tasting pork products as that's one of the things we really can't buy here.


I've started tentatively planting things outside and all of the flowering plants have been evicted from the house too. I'd planned to get the tomato plants in the groundd today as they really need a larger space but the weather seems to be playing a few tricks today and we're having sunny spells interspersed with quite heavy rain. We've already had a few meals with some fresh produce from the garden - just radishes and a few baby lettuce so far, but it's a start and there should be plenty more over the coming months.

There have been some tough decisions to make this year so far and it looks like the kids will be heading back to the UK to finish their education. It makes me sad that they won't be here but it is probably the best option for them. The education here is good but the school really isn't pushing them enough and they seem to spend half of their class time asleep, drawing pictures or reading books. It's not fair to try and keep them here when they aren't really making any futher progress at school. The finer points haven't been decided yet and we're not sure when they will be going.

Anyone For Waterskiing?

It's rained and rained and rained again this last week or so. The ground is waterloged outside and the sky is dull. Temperatures have fallen so we've had the woodburner lit most nights, it really doesn't feel like May.

Tomorrow is a national holiday here in Bulgaria so the villagers will be celebrating with friends and family for Georgiov day. It's a bit like St George's day in the UK. This is the time of year when usually you see more people out and aboutg but due to the weather most are staying indoors. I don't blame them either, even the chickens are looking pretty miserable and egg production has dropped too.

I finally gave in and bought a new keyboard for the computer, unfortunately it seems to have a minor problem and occasionally throws an extra 'G' in when I'm typing, it's not too bad but does mean I have to check anything I've typed for mistakes a little more carefully than usual. But it does have it's plus points as I now have the Bulgarian alphabet on the keyboard too - just in case I ever manage to learn enough to type a message or e-mail!

There have been a couple of trips into town this week, more than usual and tomorrow I'm off out for an hour or so to go meet someone who is interested in buying one of my saddles, fingers crossed all goes well. Hubby has some beautiful longbows and one flat bow for sale that he's made over the winter and I have to admit they are wonderful things. Almost makes me want to take up archery, although after my last attempt I think it's wise that I just be content watchingand let hubby get on with it lol

Hubby is feeling a little better but still won't take any notice and not try to do small jobs like splitting logs. It drives me crazy but there's nothing I can do and I do realise that the inactivity is getting to him too. It was probably worse today as the satellite tv had been disconnected because I hadn't paid the bill - easily fixed and after a short trip to town to pay a few bills it was back on within 3 hours. It's not the best system in the world but it does give us something to do when we can't get on with jobs.

Royal Wedding Day

We've spent a fair amount of today in front of the television, apart from my weekly trip to the market this morning and the normal rounds of animal feeding, watering etc. The kids went off to school this morning and are at a party in town right now to celebrate Gorna Oryahovitsa's holiday so it's been really peaceful here, although I have to go and pick them up soon. We've channel hopped between the royal wedding and the semi finals of the world championship snooker. So it's congratulations to the happy couple and I'm hoping that Judd Trump gets into the snooker final!

Hubby injured a rib or 2 over a week ago and is still in pain so should be taking things easy at the moment. He's not enjoying the enforced rest I must add and keeps trying to do small jobs even though he's in pain. Hopefully he'll start to feel a bit better soon and things can get back to normal here.The neighbours have offered their advise and told me I should be massaging his back every day to help the healing.

Yesterday I managed to get the shopping done, paid some bills and also the car insurance. The weather was wet so it wasn't a wasted gardening day. I also did a good deed for a neighbour and found one of his pigeons that has escaped, caught it in hubby's fishing net and took it home for them, job well done and an extra round of coffees this morning in the cafe by way of thanks :)

Temperatures are still quite low for the time of year so my vegetables, with the exception of the garlic, aren't doing wonderfully. But there is plenty of time for things to catch up luckily. At least the grass is growing well which means the horses and donkey are stuffing themselves every day and coming in at night happy and full.

We're hoping to leave one of the paddocks for a hay crop this year to help cut down on our winter feed costs. I must admit that feeding the animals here costs a lot less than the UK but only if we buy at the right time of year and in bulk, plus of course it's all dependant on the weather. If the hay crop gets ruined then everyone else is having the same problem too.

Ticks??? Yowl

Most of the animals are settled at the moment and it's lovely to see them enjoying themselves. The cats and dogs are spending much more time outside, but we have to check them every day as there are a lot of ticks around at this time of year. The cats seem to be affected the worst and daily come home with at least one tick attached, despite having flea and tick drops put on less than a month ago. I'm not keen on putting collars on cats in case they get stuck somewhere so will just have to keep up the tick watch and remove any I find. we find hat Kiltix collars work very well for the dogs and also keeping the 2 Spaniels coats short makes it easier to spot anything that shouldn't be there.

What have you been up to today? Did you get to watch the wedding?

Spring Photo's

As the weather is a bit cooler today I'm indoors and have some free time to post the long promised spring photgraphs of things around the garden. I'm still experimenting with the camera but do like the photo's I take so I guess that's what counts :)

I have a few small experiments going on in the garden this year too with one or 2 of the raised beds, lots of old straw bales and copious amounts of well aged compost. The neighbours still shake their heads and think I'm mad but at least they laugh about it now and occasionally agree that some of my methods do actually work. Mind you it's just occasionally, the rest of the time they just can't make their minds up about what I'm doing at all. It's fun to keep them guessing though :)

The daffodils and snowdrops are all finished now but there are signs of life in the flower garden again, small seedlings are popping up everywhere and the peony roses are getting taller daily. Some of the seedlings may well turn out to be weeds but it's a waiting game at the moment. My vegetable seedlings are still indoors as the nighttime temperatures haven't been great here, they are rising but slowly so hopefully in a couple of weeks everything else can go into it's final place in the garden.

And finally a lovley photo of some of the local girls (and my daughter) in tradtional Bulgarian costume, going round the village singing and dancing for Lazaren day. They had a great time and came home with loads of sweets, some money and 2 dozen eggs each!

Catching Up

After a few awful, wet, cold and quite dreary days and the meterological people issuing a code yellow for bad weather, the weather today has been lovely so we've spent the whole day in the garden catching up with things and dong what seemed like small jobs but are the type that really make a difference.

The dog proofed fence and gates are now finished and look very nice if I must say so myself,  it certainly makes the garden look different and now I don't have to worry about big Spaniel paws trampling on my vegetables. Baba our little Bulgarian dog is not too impressed though as she can no longer go up the garden to bark or disappear off down the field unless we're out there with her. Not that she goes far or runs away but it's just nice to know she can't come to any harm.

Also finished is hubby's new BBQ, oh how he does love a good BBQ as many of our friends will confirm. When we first moved here he built a very nice BBQ in the corner of our yard that has served us well for 3 years but was looking a little tired and really wasn't in the best place so it was time for something different. After demolishing and recycling parts of the old BBQ he got straight to work and built a new, improved BBQ in our animal free garden zone, and boy is it a sight to be seen, very nice with lights and everything plus a few special touches......now we just need to start using it!

I've spent time today weeding the vegetables and flower bed, plus generally pottering about. The kids have been into town for a friend's birthday so it's been lovely and peaceful here too. There are still a lot of flowers to appear in my garden hopefully but the vegetables so far seem to be doing ok. I have a whole load of tomato, pepper, chilli and other things to plant out soon but need to put a bit more work into the raised bed area and find enough space for everything. My sister in law left some vegetable seeds last year when she returned to the UK, which had gone out of date, so thinking that they wouldn't germinate very well I put the whole lot in the soil and left them to it, now I have an abundance of swede, cabbage, broccolli and various salad leaves popping up everywhere! But if we don't manage to eat or freeze it all I'm sure I can find a few pigs that will help out.

Speaking of pigs, they are all doing fantastic, putting on weight steadily and getting up to mischief as usual. Hubby built yet another pig feeder today, so let's see how long this one lasts before they dismantle it!

Blossom Everywhere

I love this time of year, all of the plum trees are blossoming and the bees are busy pollinating the flowers. The smell is fantastic, even my small lemon tree has burst into flower. As the weeks go by other trees open the leaves and petals so the landscape is constantly changing from one day to the next. The garden is coming to life and soon it'll be madness trying to get everything planted and keep it watered.

We've had a busy few days and got a lot of jobs sorted out. The small trees and weeds have been cleared from the back of the barn, hubby's lovely hammock hanger is having a makeover and will become a much more useful thing over the next few month (more on that another time). The posts are in for my paddock, so I may get some riding done this year hopefully. I'd like to get back in the saddle but need to build some confidence first in an enclosed area.

I've added some old straw bales to the vegetable garden 1) as a border between different areas and 2) because some plants can be grown directly on top of the bales. Means less bending to weed and although the bales will only last around 2 years, once they have finished being used for planting the should be broken down enough to benefit the garden as compost would. Many barrows of our lovely compost have been added to the raised beds and new areas that I'll use later in the year.

I've been planting herbs and more tomato plants (cherry tomatoes this time), weeded parts of the flower beds and also netted the strawberry plants to try and keeps the dogs off them. Last year our strawberries were eaten by the bantams but since we don't have any loose chickens now (they're only allowed out to roam under supervision and spend the rest of the time in their large pen) hopefully we'll have a nice crop of strawberries to eat soon.

Last week I did take some photgraphs to post here but alas I'm yet again on the slow old laptop as our keyboard has mysteriously been broken on the pc! So bear with me and I promise to get some piccies uploaded sometime in the next week.

Easter will soon be here, but before that is another small event - it's my birthday tomorrow, another year older and possibly, maybe a little bit wiser.....or not, who knows? We're not doing anything special (unless it's a secret) but may have a wee drink or 3 to celebrate. The weather isn't wonderful this week and has been windy and much cooler, so we're still lighting the fire on an evening and eating lovely comfort and warming food. Roll on summer and salads!

I'm off back to the garden now to wheelbarrow more compost for the raised beds - lucky me :) But if you get a chance I'd like you to have a look at one of my friends blogs http://misswhiplash.wordpress.com/ It's not what it sounds like but amusing, well written and truthful, I like it anyway and hope you will too.

From A Different View

For the last week or so we've been without internet. A problem with the supplier meant we were disconnected and needed a new contract. On the plus side it meant more time to get jobs done around the place and on a rainy day I rolled up my sleeves and got baking. Hubby has been busy creating things and we almost have a dog proof garden fenced in just for us humans to enjoy. He's built a water feature from recycled items and it's working really well, he's also made a lovely frame for our hammocks that reminds me somewhat of a maypole, but looks very nice. A little more work to level the ground below it and we'll be almost set for summer :)

The kids have been on spring holiday from school but are at the point where they refuse to help with anything and I end up frustrated and shouting at them, which turns into an all out war sometimes grrrrr. Being a parent is the hardest job in the world and there are times whether I wonder if I'm doing it right or making a complete hash of things! But at this point it's much easier to walk away from a teenager who's shouting in your face and go dig a patch in the garden - certainly helps with anger management and it's good for the garden too. Occasionally they will do small jobs but are now much more interested in music and eating judging from our food bills.

I now have onions, fodder beet (for the pigs), peas, sweetcorn and a whole range of other things planted in the garden. The over wintered garlic is shooting away and I wish I'd planted more of it (note to self for next October - plant more garlic!). Tomatoes, peppers, chillies, aubergines and courgettes are starting to show themselves, whilst the radish and lettuce are growing nicely and should be ready to start harvesting in a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to preparing a meal straight from the garden. It's going to take a bit longer to get the main growing area into shape this year as our neighbour's tractor has broken down so he's unable to plow for us, such a shame but it does mean I should hopefully be able to work off some of my excess weight digging and turning the ground over.

Sometime next week I'll get out with the camera and snap new pictures to put on here, I had planned to sit outside and blog today from the laptop as our new internet connection does not need to be tied to a electricity supply but the signal was not good and I kept losing the internet, still it is nice to be back outside in the garden most days and even better to be able to see new life growing everywhere. My favourite plum tree is just about in blossom at the moment so by this time next week we will have a confetti look everywhere. It's amazing how much plants and trees can change in such a short time and it gives us something different to look at almost every day. Well that's break time over so it's time to head back into the garden for an hour or so before the animals decide it's time to come in for the night.