Oh What a Day & Now Ouch!!!

  

First Rose of the year complete with baby grasshopper. I had to take this photo for my husband, here you are Nige your first Rose of 2010 & it is a beauty!!! Hey I can say that cause I am not a fan of roses, I like the perfume but I think its the thorns that put me off :D Anyway this is a perfect bloom & opened out this morning.

230 peppers & 12 metres of trees, Phew!!!

A very productive morning. Yovo came to help plant the Peppers but all the time I am aware of the very wayward dogs which are likely to wreck them before they have a chance to produce their first fruit bloom! Nigel just didn't have time to build a fence around te plot before he left. What to do? well the only thing I can do is put a wood border around it which may help to deter them running over it. The wood is small tree's cut into 1 mtr lengths, bloody heavy & I had to bring them up from the end barn. Well by the time I finished my body was incapable of moving :D I am such an old fart!!! Still I try! Anyway I am pleased with the result we will find out tonight if it has any affect stopping the dogs if not then I will have to lugg up more & build it up, I really don't want to have to do that!!! 

My uninvited guest, bless  :(

I found Boris fussing & saw this little fella, so Boris moved to the side & before I helped him out I thought I would grab a photo so I chatted away soothingly so not to scare him & got a couple of snaps but when I picked him up I realised that it shouldn't be so easy to get him & on closer inspection saw that he has obviously been caught by one of the catsclue is in the photo! An eye popping out legs not quite right :( I don't think he was dead, yet, but not sure I could do anything so I have put him in the garden & will check later but he is probably dead now.

Well Another day without my lovely husband, hope he's feeling better had a bad migrane yesterday :( One of the last things he sais was be careful you don't want to put your back out when I'm not there haha well guess what....... BUGGER!!!!

First two days alone, Engagement party & Peppers

So Nigel is in UK, interview Tuesday, fingers crossed & I am now a work widow but hope only for two months then he will be home.


Got lots done yesterday in the garden dug over some veg plots planted broccoli cauliflower Pumpkins Beetroot , now lets see if the dogs stay off & let them grow! I am resigned to seeing nothing from them except Pumpkin if I’m lucky!

My main concern is the peppers these are being bought tonight from Jordan who seems to supply all the plants to the village, for us who don’t grow from seed. I have cultivated (is that the word?) from seeds all the above along with grapes, peppers, white runner beans, two types of lettuce & sunflowers. I really only expect the pumpkins to do well though! We bought the tomatoes too & I have different sizes. Last year I had tomatoes that weighed over 2 kilo each!!!! I made great tomato soupa & will be stocking the freezer again this year., I still have peppers I froze but whole ones oh & of course the ones I pickled, still have a few jars of those lol. I grew from seed melon (the smallest in the world but boy they were sweet!) carrots, parsnips, potatoes, garlic(bulb) so this year I hope to learn from last. I will be planting the carrots when I have pulled this years garlic & the peppers will go in tomorrow. I think I have everything growing that I will use often in cooking, apart from potatoes but think its cheaper to buy them ha-ha! I think I have learnt lots, we will see next year!

Before Nigel abandoned me to village life on my own ha-ha, I got him to build me a compost bin. Well its more a compost area penned in that will grow with me!
I have had withdrawals as I composted everything I could in UK. So we are off to a good start again for next year. Also bought some plastic barrels, which I think are for Rakia, took the lids off put taps in & Walla one is catching rain water (so hence its almost empty) & the other is for water that normally goes down the sink! I should save loads on water bills this year which will help pay for the pool water ha-ha. I have been watering the veg & plants with the barrel water then using the hose if I run out!

Ok enough with the boring garden stuff, it ceases to be interesting after a bit !

Yovo & Pavlinka threw an engagement party for Svetlana & Emile today & I was asked along with my camera. Now I wasn’t sure if I was to stay for the lunch or just take photos. I should know really!!!
Well I managed to get a couple of good shots (not in this blog as they will be their special pic's) but it is difficult as soon as they see you go to take a photo they do their stupid poses, trying to be on OK mag hehe!

I had a great time the couple were really happy even if they did look like they had stepped out of “Saturday Night Fever” bless them that's what I like about Bulgarians!!! Some are sooooo over the top fashionable but most are straight out of the 70’s & 80’s. I have never known Svetlana to be sooo happy so Emile in my eyes is a good guy! pavlinka can't wait as she desperately wants to be a Baba so now her daughter is to marry she has hope, bless!!! Yovo is just Yovo he takes it all in his stride with his smiley face & shrugs good naturedly, I am sure he is relieved!  It was great to see Denka their sister in law & Yovo's brother who never says a word, weird, but nice to see him again :) I think a great day had by all.

So some Bulgarian traditions;

1. Pop a large choc in your mouth & let your intended kiss you while sucking it out into their mouth, gag!!!

2. Snog the face off each other while everyone chants something ehhy its Bulgarian I don’t know what they were saying, can someone enlighten me? Uhh ok to start till they got drunker then it was a bit ugh!!!

3. Decorate cart with balloons’ & when driving said car continually honk horn, every celebration does this! Sweet.

4. Feel up your intended woman’s breasts at every opportunity even though her elderly parents & Uncles etc can see Hmmm!

5. Hand around a box of chocs & give each person a kiss, I think the kiss is optional? This is also done if its your birthday name day etc. I like this I have had people knock on my gate just to give me a chocolate for their birthday J

6. Invite at least one person who will get everyone going so it won't be boring!

7. Make sure you stick out your boobs hip or leg, the only way to pose for a photo!

 8. Break out in folk song & play a musical instrument

9. Must have too much food & drink or people will think you are poor!

10. Must suck up to parents when in a drunken state :D

I had a really great day & it was a different mix of people younger with lots of townies so had a completely different feel to normal parties although they are all great!!! They always have one life & soul of the party & today was no different but he was very funny & most of the time I had no idea what he was saying LOL. I love groups of Bulgarians they are always fun in a big group!!!
I love it when they get out the musical instruments & sing folk songs, no dancing though which was a shame, maybe they do it at my house cause I make them hahaha.
When they left Pavlinka & Yovo's they went to Emile's mum's to do it all again & she will give the engagement ring to Pavlinka, ahh I think its lovely!!! can't wait for the wedding its gonna be a hoot!!! Hopefully Nov/Dec.

Well interrupted blog to go buy peppers, 230 plants water crops & feed dogs phew dinner in oven & hope husband on FB chat so off I go.

Vinograd Church, Raising Money & St Giorge Day Service, Tornado & Tomatoes

Wednesday was market day again & again I was there buying more of the delectable daisy’s & some geraniums which meant more pots too. Very, very hot day, not one to be in the car as we then went off to Veliko shopping & in fact didn’t get home till gone 7pm. We got a major bargain in Metro though, with all tree’s & shrubs at only .99 stotinka we bought quite a few among them a Magnolia & a Lemon tree. The Lemon tree is in a pot as it will come in for winter & the Magnolia is in the front as you come down the stairs, hope they do well!!!

Tomatoes have to be planted tonight... We were not allowed to buy them till yesterday the 6th & not before :D We only have 25 hope that will be enough!

Mary came round with two ladies from the school and we have agreed to help raise money for the renovation of our church. We went to a St George day service there yesterday morning, one because we never know when the priest is coming & two we wanted to have a look at the damage etc. The story so far……..
 

The church was hit by lightening last year resulting in a fire. It is also now open to the elements as it hit the bell tower & there is now no cover from the rain, snow etc. The bell was downstairs for a while so they could ring it for services & deaths etc but some little gits stole it!!!!! Stole the church bell!!!!! So now not only do they need to repaire the bell tower & upper floor but they have to replace the bell!!! The villagers are putting their own money in & asking the Mayor & councils for help along with seeing if they can maybe get a grant from the EU. I don’t hold out much hope as we are a tiny little run down village with no worth. We will see!!!!

 

The service is very strange to us & I'm not sure if they are all similar or different!

Nigel walking to church a first for everything :)

I have never been to a church service where there was no worship!!! The priest, who by the way was really nice, did all his very fast reading in a sing song voice which went on non stop for about 30 minuets, most of which was in the back room with lots of sliding doors open & shut. I thought we were going to take communion as he came out & walked round us with a covered cup & covered bowl, but no, he came out with it twice but we did not get to partake!!!! I recognised the word grosne which is grape so he was definitely sing songing about it & was blessing us as he passed by. We did eventually get blessed with Holy water as we kissed a big cross, he flicks you with a bunch of branches & you get drenched LOL,Then when the priest finished everyone had a plastic bottle & they had them filled with the Holy water!!!!!
I need to find out from my Bulgarian friends what it all means!

The inside of our very pretty church.
I am well impressed & very pleased that our little village that everyone puts down, we seem to be the only ones that love our village, has such a lovely church!
In Bulgaria you cannot judge a book by its cover, what a building looks like on the outside is not an indication to the inside!!!

Its all very exclusive not inclusive at all, there was no evidence of a personal relationship with Jesus being felt by the few that were there. The people came & went, all lit candles of differing sizes for the dead, I didnt do this as I dont believe in the candle thing, I guess its a way of raising money & a visual thing for people to focus on but holds no relevance in christianity & the gospel.  They then went round crossing themselves & kissing photo's which were on alters?????
Some people went after doing this others came in for a gossip, others went & did a bit of shopping in the middle then came back for the Holly water LOL All very strange & I would love to know more about the way of worship here in Bulgaria but mostly I would love for my village to be released into a freedom of worship & Love then what a village we would be!!!!!

On the way home I saw a wind tunnel just appear from nowhere as I pointed it out to Nigel it headed for us got bigger & was a small tornado. I am not kidding when I say it changed direction headed straight for us whipping up all the dust from the ground & went through us!!!!! Then dissapeared, Leaving us amazed & covered in dust!!! I like to believe this was the Holy Spirit, this is too much of a coincidence with the thoughts that were racing through my mind after the service & was extreemly weird, even Nigel the ever down to earth Engineer was befuddled by it. Me I am Joanna ever willing to see God & learn new things & HOPE for a better future for us for our village & for the Vinogradians........ You, well you think I am MAD but then I'm used to that :D 

Scrumptious weather!!!!!!!!

The iridescent beetles are back beautiful but very clumsy :D
Oh My Goodness, its Hot, Hot, Hot!!!!!!! 35c minimum each day, in the last three days & today (Tuesday) promises to be just as hot, it's already 19c at 9am .:D I know I keep on but I am still in UK mode & don't expect it to be nice let alone hot! When everyone is asleep in the afternoons I am sunbathing or gardening depending on severity of the sun as in England it could be the last good day lol!


Not much has happened over the last couple of days……..

We have no electric AGAIN, two days now. It goes off at 8.45am till aprox 5pm So no internet & I tried putting the dishwasher on this morning but it didn’t finish in time L Thank goodness I have a gas hob & kettle as the coffee keeps coming J

The cats are mostly in all except Custard who stupidly went off just before we got the dogs up from the paddock on Sunday. They are all in the cool of the house & the dogs are moving around getting what little shade there is till we can put them under the tree’s.

We went to buy the wood for a fence yesterday but there was only a ¼ of a cubic & they tried to charge us for ½ cubic so we came away without & will wait till 15th for the next lot, Pffff, They think because we cant speak fluent Bulgaski that we are stupido!!! We want the cut trees with the bark attached to make a taller fence around the perimeter in the paddock to stop Sophie jumping over & Reggie throws himself over to follow her. Now Sophie is loved & accepted by the neighbours but everyone is scared sh**less of Reg & will hurt or kill him. This means we cant let them roam loose down there, such a shame as it’s a dogs paradise so it’s very important to get it done! We also have to do it up at the house as we have a small wall then wire fence around the top which separates the back & the garage from the main house & front & side gardens. Sophie bounds over the top of this like a ballet dancer & does cat watch through it too. When she see’s or hears a cat she jumps over & chases it so we need it for their peace & tranquillity too. We got the idea from Steff’s hotel when we picked up Reggie. It does the job & looks good too very rustic!!! It will fit in nice with the fence Nigel has built for the Lilies, Chesum & Pumpkin & whatever else may get planted there, as the dogs decimated the area, they liked to fight on it.



We went into Gorna Oryhovitza to do the monthly shop yesterday (Monday), I hate spending so much money in one go & only go when we absolutely have to, unfortunately we had run out of cat food so it was a must! Did pick up 5 very good geranium plants for 1 lev each (less than 50p) so tomorrow its Polski market again to get cheap plant pots.

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Today I will do more weeding round tortoise garden & need to transfer some plants to a shaded area as when the sun hits them they wilt. In the morning they are all perky so dappled shade it is!

Two tortoise found today....  


This one has paint markings on as we had so many tortoise we needed to know who was who :D

We managed to have coffee in three different places yesterday (Monday) LOL the Piano Bar in Gorna which is lovely. The guy Gino lived & had a business in Florida for 10 yrs & speaks good English. His family were very wealthy till communism took over & his grandfather lost everything except their house which is one of the largest in Gorna. He went to different countries to work & send the money back here to try & get the family back where it had been but gave up & came back to his birth town in 08. He has made a fantastic bar top which depicts a Piano. He is a very friendly guy too & its always a pleasure going there for coffee & a chat! The funniest was at the builders merchants but we had the best hot roll for lunch there, Ham & Cheese in a soft sesame seed long roll with two Nescafe 3in1 coffee’s came to 4 leva 45 stotinka (£2).


We went to Polski Trambesh after shopping & while we were having coffee in the piazza I noticed a shop which I am not sure was there before, being nosey I went in to have a look as it had garden plants outside & I could see house plants inside, so 2 + 2 = 4 a flower shop….. No, what I came out with was two new bra’s!!!! Well Hurrayyyyy as I have had only one bra since January, having had all my underwear nicked along with all my good clothes in UK. Not being a petite bra size it’s a bit difficult here as their sizes are all a bit Boris Karloff! Mind you I haven’t tried these on yet :D

On the drive home Nigel decided to try & pull up a small bush that I admire, well it may look small till you pull then its attached to a rather large tree like bush, as they start off down a ravine LOL still the view was lovely. Its really lovely to get out of the car/van along the lanes as we just drive through on the way home, I do really appreciate it but not like when you get out & are among it all with the many different species of birds & the birds of prey. We found a huge patch of wild strawberries will have to look out for them soon!

5 months of Not Smoking!!!! Buggered Hands & Happy May day etc........

Happy May Day everyone!!!! No idea why we celebrate it here or in UK, I guess it's something to do with spring. It used to be a thing in my Mums day with a May pole & dancing but not in mine: (
The temp here is already 23c at 11am in morning & rising by 1c every 15 mins, It's going to be a hot one today: DI am painting the front door but then I want to get on my sunbed for some solar infusion!!!

I bought these to put Honey & Jam in. They are described as childrens cups? yes they have a lid but they are china so not good for small children! anyway I thought they were very pretty & just what I need when we have guests: D

Today I celebrate five months of being a non smoker !!!!! I am so very pleased although at the moment I'm finding it difficult. I am even dreaming of having a puff or smoking socially, now I can't do this as I would be a smoker again: (

More bad news on the materialist belongings front: (I managed to keep hold of my digital camera when we had everything stolen in UK at Christmas. Well now it has decided to break, we have tried new batteries, better batteries etc etc but to no avail. I was originaly hoping it was the rechargable batteries or the recharge unit but no! I seem to be bereft of everything that costs money to replace which means its ireplacable at the moment. Not a happy bunny, I really loved my camera too, Nigel is going to see if he can download something to repair it, fingers crossed X

Ahh butter wouldn't melt, Sophie otherwise known as Houdini

Reggie Roo









Talking about fingers, I have been having bad nights sleep & last night was stupidly bad. not the trigger thumb but the Carpol Tunnel in my left hand which is now affecting the arm. It wakes me up all the time it swells up, goes numb, aches & tingles deep within. I had to take my watch off but couldnt remove my wedding rings. Its horrid as I cant get comfortable & it takes ages then to get back to sleep then it wakes me again, this goes on all night! I have it in both wrists but I think the left is more affected at the moment as I am using my right hand less due to thumb.
I am fed up with being an old wreck of a woman I'm only 51 feel 25 in my head & 85 in my body. I had M.E in my 20's & 30's & have been left a physical mess: (Well I do try & do my bit but have to suffer the consequenses. Oh well off to suffer more consequenses: D
Have a great May Day !!!!!