93 Days Down.......63 days To Go, The Great Escape, Stupid Pump & The Muffin Snaffler

Today is the first day of no sun this month, overcast but still very warm & horribly humid! We are due a storm but it was supposed to be tomorrow, ha!
Well here we are back to square one which makes me very happy, it took a long time to get back here!!! Now I can count down another month & woohoo will be on the home stretch. mind you I finished the last blog by saying the pump was working, well its not!!!! It decided to not work again & its not going to change its mind. This could be very bad news as if we need a new pump this must mean one more week in UK & then it starts again moving away from our goal, again! I have set Nigel the task of tracking down costs of pumps in UK as they could be cheaper & better quality or do we, as Nigel suggested, buy another of the same so we have one for parts???? Decision’s decision’s! In the mean time I have a bathroom with no water & no hot running water downstairs. back to the way it was when we first arrived, its not too bad I am coping fine just as long as it doesn't blow up completely. The remedy at the moment is plug the pump in while I have a quick shower or to flush the toilet etc then quickly turn it off as soon as I have finished

This week has gone by really quickly it seems, in one way I feel like I have been busy & then when I think back over it I think I have stagnated a bit, either that or its just a lapse of the memory! It gets a bit fuddled when you spend a lot of time with just yourself for company. The only time I hear my voice is when I talk to the dogs & they don’t answer back!
There has been a few instances this week where I have had conversations on the phone & in person, unfortunately I probably do most of the talking & bore others to death hahaha it’s just so good to talk when I can, so to those who find themselves at the receiving end of my warbling’s I apologise unreservedly but I don’t think this will change till Nigel is here to take up the slack!!! Sorry Nige you are in for a few days of head ache city when you get home :D

This has been another very hot week with no rain yet, everything is suffering & it was pointed out to me that the conker trees in Gorna are all dying, I hadn’t noticed but it’s true!!! Also when you get out of Gorna they are fine, anyone know what is happening or is it happening where you are???

Monday & Tuesday I spent in or reading by the pool.


Sophie has taken to spending most of her time this side of the wall & also has not been off visiting village friends as its too hot! All the dogs spend the day just sprawled out on the tiles or any shaded coldish place they can find, well I say coldish even the cellar room is hot so no real relief for them.

The pups are very funny they sleep then wake & fight then sleep then wake & fight & so it goes all day. You suddenly hear little snuffling hahing noises & little grrr hah hah grrr hah hah. They are so cute. Kamishka has reverted back to commando so I have to try & cut her off, needless to say I don’t succeed very often.
Minishka is already learning commands & will sit when told I just have to teach her to stay now, She responds when I call her & knows NO & Ne, they are bi-lingual :D A very clever little girl & very affectionate. Kami is too but she is still scared, hopefully she will be ok as she grows knowing I haven’t hurt her, I give her cuddles when I can catch her but she's not at the responding stage yet just the commando moves haha!

I was fully intending to go to Gorna Oryahovitsa on Wednesday, it was a lovely day & I was going to mooch around finding places & streets as part of my mission to know the town & it’s layout, best laid plans & all that! It was a bad day for me emotionally, a family thing, & I knew if I went in I would at some point embarrass myself as it was I spent the day howling & instead of taking me ages to recover I did it in a day!!! This is happening a lot lately & I think God is strengthening my soul & my emotions. When Nigel first went to UK it took me a month to come to terms with it then I would have an ok day then off I would go again into the pit. Now I have one bad day & weyhey I am OK! It’s the classic rejection thing I have battled it all my life (I had a great dad don’t ya know) & even in my 50’s it still has a go especially when I am vulnerable as now. So no Gorna I decided to cheer myself up & do some baking I had peaches, plums & apples so made Muffins. I have frozen some for Nigel, soon I won’t have any room in the freezer!

Atanas & Kamilla came in to see me Wednesday evening their pup, Kami’s brother, is poorly he wont eat his bread, I told them he needs milk & soak the bread in the milk too. Apparently he is doing nothing not even barking so I suggested he may have worms & gave then half a tablet which I broke in half again & told them to give him one then in two weeks the other! Now this is easy to write here, but to get this across took lots of gesticulating & repeating the same words over again as its amazing how things get lost in the simplest of translations. I had shut Reg in the kitchen while I let them in the gate, as everyone is scared to death of him, when I went in to make the coffee he had eaten 8 of the Muffins, papers & all! Ooooohhhhh I was not best amused! I really enjoy My neighbours company even though they have no English & my Bulgarian is lots of words but no sentences I shove them together so on a good day it's pigeon on a bad day its gesticulations. For some reason every time they come over they sweep my paths, which is great I go in & make coffee & they set about sweeping & cleaning & washing, all very strange but very helpful especially as my near neighbour' pear tree is shedding its leaves all over my paths, that along with the grape vine makes a constant mess so they save me a big job for that day! Atanas must have left the back gate unlocked when he put the garden waste on the compost heap & while I was upstairs that evening I heard the handle on the gate & knew Sophie had opened it to get through!!!! How did she know?????

Needless to say when I got down all the dogs were out in the paddock area the pups came to me & Sophie was there but agitated & NO Reggie, Oh Dear God!!!! This is not a good thing its a very bad thing! Look at him would you want him bounding towards you in the dark with no tail he looks like a baby bear & he is so big even the brits are scared of him!!! I took our million watt torch & called him for hours but no sign! The Village Dog gossip was circulating & Sophie was going back & forth but he would not come home! I eventually went to sleep amidst the doggie chatter to wake at 3.15am & a barking at the front gate, yep bold as brass he pushed his way past to his supper which I had left on the garden table no hello Mummy nothing!!! still he was home safe in one piece & full of grass seeds :D

The garden is not doing great I have had to pull my Pumpkin plants as they were full of Mould & the leaves were dying. Now I have had mixed advice so I did what I thought & pulled them! The internet research tells you to pull but people I have talked to said they were fine but it spreads by air to chilies Peppers etc too & I have noticed some plants have it too. I have left 5 Pumpkins out to ripen 3 of which I think are still getting nourishment from a bit of the plant we will see, but I had chilie's growing next to them & I don't want to lose another whole crop also the peppers are not far on the other side if I lost them I would be truly gutted after the loss of all our tomatoes & most of the Grapes!
On the up side I found a Cob Nut tree or Hazel nut :-) chuffed about that, this is a tree that sort of started to appear last year but I thought it was the roots of the tree outside coming through the wall so this year as Nige is not here to deal I ignored it. I was walking in the garden chatting to Nige on the phone when I saw some nuts on the ground, I thought they had been dropped by the squirrel that is here but then I found more & more!!!!! Well pleased, now I know what it is I can nurture it!!!

Our Village school is being renovated & very lovely it is too. I am so pleased as so many village schools are closing down & we are basically getting a major upgrade!!!! It has a new roof new render new double glazed windows & doors new paint job thats all on outside, not finished yet but looking good I hope they get the clock to work too. The inside is having new wood doors & doorways not just door frame but wood paneled doorways new floors the walls are all being re plastered, re wired basically everything a whole new school!!!!! They have employed an new IT teacher which we have the opportunity of renting our spare room to but I really am not sure about this, it is the only spare for family & guests & would mean no B&B, also when we renovate our bedroom this winter we will have nowhere to go????? I just dont know what to do!

I went off to Gorna Oryhovitsa on Friday I had arranged to have lunch with The couple I had met the week before. I love the walk to the bus stop the scenery is lovely, & the bus journey too is lovely, I look forward to it!!!! It still gives me a sense of freedom too, I love where I live! The Storks have abandoned their huge easter bonnet nests & its a sad sight to see them empty & no flying storks overhead!
As you can see from the photo it was a gorgeous day & the temps were really high. I had to lock Sophie in the house as she follows me to the bus stop & its there that people steal her cause she is a lovely looking dog as well as a very friendly lovely girl! They think they can breed from her & want a dog that looks like her. The thing is if they looked after their dogs they would have a beauty like her, she would in their hands end up bedraggled thin & unhappy!

Here are some photo's I took on my way home




The old jalopy, but much more comfortable than the new bus

Its not that green as we have had no rain for over a month, but just wait till we do!!!!

It's still very beautiful though

My Village in the distance

My Village built on a hill

I have been missing My children & grand children a lot lately, all to do with being alone & being emotional it makes everything so much worse but I have spoken to my Daughter Rhea & little angel Molly which is good. Rhea has just moved from Worcester to Bristol & is waiting for the purchase of their first house to go through, I hope it will be soon, so they can get settled!

Yesterday (Sat) was our 6th wedding anniversary, Bloody happy day :-(
Horrid missed Nigel so much. Had a cry in the morning but then sorted myself out & baked some celebratory muffin's  haha Nigel can have his when he gets home in November :D Then got to chat to him on the phone last night along with my mum & step son Sean, Lovely!!!!!
So Newman next year we had better do something special to make up for this years debacle I bagsy a weekend at Balchik :D xxxxxxxx

86 Days Down 70 To Go... Happy Birthday Mum, Preserving, Mooching Around, no Bloody Voda in Bathroom

I have been preserving again, although had I known all the faffing that went into pickling garlic I may have started at 4am!!!!

Oh boy, hours of peeling the blooming cloves & that was after blanching the blooming things, but it will be worth it!!! I picked this small Pumpkin to make chutney but didn't use it after all next week!!
I think what I have learnt is only do one thing at a time.

I was actually doing chutney too so when I had finished I was exhausted with it all. Think I will wait a while before I do the rest. That's the problem here there is no such thing as seedless! Grapes in the garden are all seeded so for grape cake hundreds of gapes have to be deseeded by hand. Same with the cherries! Still, two lovely jars curing in the fridge & lots of rather warm chutney for Nigel.





I can’t eat onions, & after just licking a teaspoon of some of the sauce I had two days of pain so none for me then  I have just bought 2kilo of large plums & will see if I can make some fruity chutney just for me :D
I can't wait for a proper kitchen with lots of lovely work space & a proper sink with a spray attachment on the taps for cleaning off the dirt! Ohhhhhhh, I can dream the dream ........ I love cooking & in a proper kitchen I would love preserving & baking all the produce from the garden but its is so flipping basic with no space no cupboards no proper sink no draws, & certainly no work triangle, too hot i the summer & too hot in the winter, need aircon to cope, haha all very depressing really but needs must I have to cope with what I have for a good few years yet :-( But I can still dream the dream ...
My Mum celebrated her 86th birthday on Friday...
Happy birthday Mummy, I love you so so so much!!!! Miss you terribly can't wait to see you so hurry up!!!!!
Had a very lovely day out Friday. I went to Gorna on my todd first time I didn’t meet anyone there!

Got the new bus again, had to take this photo of the drivers cuddly toys!!! Although I am not sure you can see them properly there are two on the right one on left & some around mirror along with Bulgarian & European flag! We also have English music radio blaring not a bad experience but the old jalopy is more comfortable with bigger seats & more leg room shame they cant integrate the two then we would be coooooking!!!




I will say sorry now for the quality of the photo's taken on my phone, which is now old as phones here in Bulgaria are stupidly expensive, & the very strong sunshine!
I wanted to go to Gorna to mooch around, find my way & the little shops & alleyways you always miss when you are on a mission! My sense of adventure is as high as it was when I was just a little girl but My sense of direction has never improved in fact I have been so terribly lost out on my own like scarily so that now fear & anxiety combined with bad direction can hold me back. So my mission is to find all the lovely little places to eat, drink & shop! I will rediscover my love of mooching!! So I didn't get lost but I was constantly making myself aware of where I had come from & where I was going, when I know one area like the back of my hand I will explore off it! I have already found a new quicker way to vet instead of having to walk the long way round ha!
Then Thursday night the battery lead blew up literally smoke sparks which were looking like flames were coming out of it :( I really was annoyed one because it cost 40lv & I had only had it two months & two I really did not want to go on a mission & there was no way I would find the computer shop easily! I was thinking about where to start when I had what I now consider an epiphany, yep thats the word alright. I decided even as it seemed an impossible shot to have a quick look on the market stall that sells second hand leads ancient but new radios bits & bobs of stuff you would find at one of those car boot tables that hold nothing of interest or value :) you know the ones! Lo!!!! guess what, the first things I spy a whole batch of power leads woopwoopwoop! 1lv each they fit & worked, I off course bought two & could really have kissed that man!!! instead of 40lv it cost me 2lv aprox 80p& thats with a replacement, so a bloody good start to the trip now I could relax into it & boy I did just that :D
I had a good old mooch through the market unfortunately the only thing I saw that I would want was too big but some great clothes if you are on the small side! I explored the roads around & where they went & was gratified to know I remembered where to pay electric if I miss it at my post office here, which believe me is very very good. No warnings here just cut you off bang wollop nada!!!

There are some interesting buildings in town not least this chateu type roof, I must find out what it is?

The shops around the market join in too

This is a littlre rug shop I found that has some really funky rugs in, I am going to take Nigel in when he comes home, have seen a great one for the bedroom! & check out the prices as when I asked, the person who knows was not there, typical!!!!

I did something I never do, I heard people talking in English & said hello!!! They were here outside this restuarant & were a really nice couple, I have their number in case I get very lonely & need to talk, how nice is that & their email add so we can arrange lunch here! I am so glad I was brave :D









I think this may be a place to frequent on my next visit, it looks comfy cosy to although you cant see it through the suns rays, I love these two photo's nothing I did could stop this effect, nice!

This area is shops & cafe's, very pretty I like it a lot!

I decided to have an icecream as it was so lovely & I hadn't had one since last summer. I chose this stall as she had no customers & I couldn't see that she was any different & she has my fav flavour

Mmmm Coconut & Caramel with strawberry sauce, it was delicious & only 1 lv

I sat here watching the world go by

Sitting watching the waterfall on my own with an ice cream, very enjoyable the weather was glorious & not overwhelming

I made my way around & found another way to the vet's this is what I saw.....

The vet treating a horse out on the car park, Love it! You won't see that in your English vets :D Off home now all sorted

Time for coffee so it was off to the "bathroom"
Its very relaxing place to read \& serves a nice Milako s cafe

I really enjoy it here with itschill out music & it brings me closer to Nigel, I think this was the last place we had coffee out together & exactly the type of ambience we like!!!

Looks good too which is why there is always people frequenting this cafe

So then home on the old jalopy but not before I went back into the market for plums & peaches. As I was getting on the bus Pavlinka was there with Emille, coming to the village for the weekend, so the day was rounded off nicely with a couple of drinks in the Mehana & an invite for rakia on Saturday!

Best day yet...... to be ended with no bloody water to the bathroom as the pump decided to throw a wobbly!!!
No way I am going to let it get me down yet, will speak to Nigel see what can be done!!!!!

Saturday I spoke to my Mum & Nigel as mum had her birthday party, always good to hear their voices & chat as it brings me closer to them for a short while! then off to see Yovo Pavlinka, Svetlana & Emille. Had a very interesting feast & heard a very strange story. Anton's friend had a pig & his pig broke his legs! now pig is kaput! I couldn't get to the bottom of how the pig broke his friend legs, was it while they were killing it or did he charge him or did he bite him in a frenzied attack??? I will never know but there is a guy in my village with two broken legs from his pig !!!!.

So I had salade then luke warm potato & fide soupa then cold chips with luke warm fried egg plant & peppers x 2 helpings then my own perfectly made rice pudding :D then burnt cake smothered in a very thin choc coating which I think was to disguise the fact it was burnt, which was impossible to do! Very nice Rakia, fantastic red wine & funny chatter all in all a good evening!
And today well have spoken to Nigel & Mum again, lovely!!!!! & all of a sudden the pump decides to work????? Strange, very strange :D

Overcaste, Cooking, Hot burnie Chilli Another Day Down

Well today is overcast, thank goodness, so I am taking the opportunity to pickle the garlic & make some chutney, recipes are on my food blog. So I picked the first of my chilies, oh that’s if you don't count the one Kamilla picked & ate seeds & all, nearly blew her head off hahaha. That’s how I knew they were particularly hot as she loves them & is used to them here so I guess if they are too hot for her they must be far too hot for me! i cut 5 small chilies from the plants & didn’t think anything of it till I washed them then my face started to burn in one place! I realised it must be the chilli so I washed my hands & face, but as I sit here typing this my hands are burning. I haven’t even cut them yet :-( think I need to wear latex gloves. The ones I have picked some are for the pickled garlic & some for chutney, I'm not used to chilli this hot, ooh err!


It's still flipping hot though 32c but better than it has been as we have cloud cover. Knowing my luck it will rain tomorrow as I want to go to Gorna to mooch round the market, you know do something normal & girlie, it's been a long time since I have done anything or gone anywhere just to mooch. Oh I miss shopping lunches & coffee shops with my girls!!! :-( When we lived in Bognor Regis we had the beach & a small town all within two minuets of each other. When I left my first husband & rented a lovely Victorian flat the beach was at one end of my road & the town the other I was literally 2 mins from both the best of both worlds, I miss Bognor for the very quaint town but mostly my lovely beach. I loved sitting there in the midst of a storm wind so strong it blew us off our feet just trying to get there then watching the lightening out at sea. Then the summer walking along the sea shore to go shopping for food or to see the doctor, it took away the mundaness of everything! now why did I go back to there, oh yes missing my girls & shopping trips! I have just realised I haven’t been on a beach with any of my grandchildren :-(
We moved here from Worcester in the midlands its a lovely market town, well city, but its a city pretending to be a town haha lets say a flipping big town with a cathedral which is what classes it as a city. It still has a village mentality & that’s what I like! I also love the history & the way it has restored all the old buildings even the shops are really ancient. I had a shop in the road where King Charles hid from Cromwell. With cobbled streets the river Severn at the end of the road, oh I loved it there sad I have no reason to go there again now! So back on the subject lets hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow so I can get out for some fun.

Right thats another day down, this week seems to have gone quite quickly maybe its because I have spoken to Nigel, my step son Seany, my daughter Rhea & last but certainly not least my lovely little Molly Moo, it helps, also with it being so hot I have been very tired & so I slept more ;D

Tomorrow is my mums 86th birthday, if your Balinese its her 87th :D We are very happy that she is still with us as we practically lost her a while back but she defied all logic & the doctors, she is very strong my mum!!!! It's great that Nigel has been able to see her every other weekend while he has been in Uk. She lives in Hastings so it's a long old treck to see her but it's been great for them both & Seany has been most times too enjoying running on the cliffs that overlook the sea, I miss my Mum :-(

82 Days Down... 74 To Go, Kamishka, Heatwave, Too Hot To Cope, Falling Down Water

Phew, it’s been hot, hot, hot everyday now all but one in the 50c area off the thermometers, yes I have more than one lol.
I love the heat & sun but it has kept me indoors more than a couple of times, todat included. I think because it has been constant day in day out with nights at 28c & sleeping with difficulty, the fan going all night, takes its toll & I am exhausted! Once again I am so pleased that at this time I am not raising livestock!!!  Friends of mine have livestock & Veggie patches it must be really difficult. I have done no gardening or housework & my cooking & baking days have not happened!!!

So day 82, thats 3 months :-(  I have passed the halfway mark, woopwoop, & now the countdown really begins! I still won’t be surprised if Nigel ends up stuck there longer so I am not counting my chickens just yet but if this happens I don’t want to know till nearer the time as I will cope better if I only have a couple of weeks to go instead of adding the extra to say 4 weeks as 6 weeks is such a long time. So I am looking at the moment at just over 10 weeks now. I am finding it difficult still but not impossible I would rather Nige was here as its such a good life with him in it but everything seems empty without him! I find myself looking forward to next year when he will be here to share things with. I know, well at least hope he will be out working but that’s ok, that’s normal I get to share my day with him over dinner or with friends. It’s not the same and anyone who has a partner working away will know some of what I mean its made harder by not having any family here or close friends  but as I say I am coping a dam site better than most people would if they were left completely alone with only a smattering of an alien language. Makes for some fun on occasion haha!

I can’t wait till November except then we will be heading in for the winter & I am not looking forward to that from then on we all are just waiting for April to come. This winter should be better as we will be better prepared with a four wheel drive car & able to get out & about! I just hope this winter is like the 2008-2009
which was sun sun sun the whole way through & crisp & dry!!! We had to wear our sunnies the whole time! Last winter was the worst wet grey misserable & coldest for a very long time. We had snow for months as it started here begining Dec then when we went to UK for xmas it snowed there the whole time then we came home & it snowed or stayed the whole way through, a very long cold winter!!!! We crashed the car on the ice & the van is really bad in snow so I was stuck in the house for months!
I got the bus into Gorna again last week to meet my friend Lisa & her daughter Rebecca for coffee, then a shopping trip in kaufland. It was really nice spending time with them, but oh my goodness it was sooo hot!!!!! The bus was a new, well newish one with proper aircon nice seats & was the drivers pride & joy, it was also cheaper than our normal jalopy by 70 stot which is quite a bit normal price 4lv this was 3,70lv but it didn’t handle the roads as well as the jalopy! Still nice to get out of village, I'm going on Friday this week so I can mooch around the market.
My next door neighbours have been coming round for café in the mornings. They are desperate for work & we have said when Nigel gets work if he needs a help then we will give them the job of labourer which they are very pleased about but Atanas cannot understand that no he cannot go & work with Nigel in UK! I have told him Nigel is an engineer & works for a big company but they can’t comprehend this.

A couple of evenings they’ve come round with Lemonade biscuits & sunflower seeds & said “mnogo toplo outré studeno beira “ so I said “ Da us mese sedem chasa” Loosely translated & filled in means, it’s very hot tomorrow we will bring cold beer, yes & I will provide the food at 7 o’clock.This we did,on Friday & a great time was had by all. Now I don’t like beer but I drank it out of politeness, yes I have good manners my mother taught me well!
I made a salade from cucumber, pepper, tomato & lettuce all from the garden with some olives oil & vinegar dressing, I put out the pickled peppers & Gherkins I made last year. Hard boiled eggs which I dusted with paprika pepper & bread. I had also made a Bob just in case they were large eaters, you can never tell here & had a jar of my plum compote ready to serve.
While we were eating I heard them say the salade was very good & the word rakia, now Rakia goes well with salade so I went & got ours to serve with it. Our Rakia is very smooth as we have let it mature for 9 months, I can drink it neat but it’s also good with water so I went in to get some for Kamilla.. I filled a small individual jug with water for her Rakia forgetting the way they drink here. Bulgarians are very different to us & I forgot the way they do stuff. So kamilla drank the water from the jug! I didn't want her to feel silly so I went in to fill a large jug with water & on the way back out I fell, up the step through the doorin all sorts of directions & in very slow motion chucking the water all over me!!!! I smacked the fly screen door with my face putting my tooth through my lip & cutting it slightly on the outside, this was the most painful at the time after the embarrassment of it all I was drenched from head to foot but dried off as it was very warm, as the evening wore on it got funnier & funnier in my mind, quite spectacular in fact :D The next day was a different story as the bruising started to come out & the jarring of the body became more evident. Basically it was the left side of my body apart from my mouth which was the right???? All the aches & pains & bruising has settled now. The back of my hand was the worst though & still hurts today. The reason for this spectacular Minishka had chewed my flip flop & it decided to break! Oh it could have been so much worse!
I got to meet their new addition a baby karakachan pup, he is very beautiful so I had a little play & he went back home with Atanas chuntering something about Karakachan. Back they came next morning giggling between them while I busied myself getting tha cafe & putting out the choc wafers. They were chatting about their pup I thought & I gathered it has fleas & needed treating I said yep I would do it, well more like dad a & actions etc LOL. So they got all excited & off went Atanas & came back with a blue sack. He motioned for me to look inside & there was this adorable little pup!!! Getting her out she was crawling with fleas so much so they were dropping off her, so so so many! I gave her a good old puff & rubbed it in, I think she is too young I think but she was pretty poorly with it all & needs must! I asked who’s pup is she, well apparently She’s MINE!!! Oh dear!

So here we are again! Another little Newman, she was very scared & had the commando moves so I would have to catch her & then she would cry & shake really hard  She still sucks he milk & sticks her nose & mouth right in the milk to get it & she was so listless & just found a very narrow corner to squeeze herself into & stay quiet. She has moved on so much in such a short time  She has a mix now milk, bread soaked in milk & dry dog food soaked in warm water. She fills her belly runs around like a mad thing barks & growls while play fighting with me & Mini & runs to me for cuddles & greetings.

It really warms the heart to see such change in these pups!!!! Minishka is great but really worried me with her food aggression which she has learnt off Reggie  although Reg is ok with me its dogs well the pups to be precise & he nicks their food so she has had to do the whole warning thing. Then I saw what may be part of the problem, a huge tape worm hanging out of her bottom, urrrrghhhhh!!! So I gently pulled out what I could & had a worm tablet left so I cut it in 4 & gave the pups a piece each, well all I have done since is clean up puppy pooh with long worms in blahhhhhhgggggghhhhh! So they should be feeling a lot better soon! & thankfully they are poohing outside now. As you can see she shares the bone nicely now food well she still protects it from Reg :D
Sophie has been nicking sheep parts bones with rotting flesh attached ugh she bought back a leg bone a whole leg which they all took turns with. I only knew about it because Reggie growles & barks at bones :D quite a scary thing. Lets put it this way I wasn't going to take it from him! anyway they all ate this. Then that night she got herself a rather large head & ate the lot minus the teth which I found the next day ugh! The sound of crunching bone was quite disturbing ha. A couple of days later there was a rather unpleasant smell permeating the air, I couldn’t place it but when I took Reg down to the tree’s the next day he found it for me, Sophie had got another head but this was only half eaten & was stinking & disgusting! Well he was not letting it go so I left him to it till he got fed up then kicked it out of the way. The problem is Sophie eats these but instead of being good for her she gets a poorly tummy & goes off her food & starts being sick but there is not a lot I can do to stop her, she is obviously a scavenger!
Thank goodness Sophie has started to be kind to Kamishka up till now she has ignored her, so now we have two happy sparky little pups!

73 days down...83 to go, House of Pooh & Wee, Maya, Oh Bugger Out Go the Tomatoes & Sun Sun Sun

Well what a lot has happened in a week!!!


Firstly I said in my last blog hopefully the vulnerability I was feeling would only last a couple of weeks, well it went quite quickly I think because so much has happened it sort of got thrown away with the rubbish! I feel fine now, thank goodness & at 73 days in I am used to being on my own! I don't like it but I can do it!!!!

Well last Monday evening Maya & Sophie fell out big time I think over the pup but I’m not sure! It took more than two buckets of water to get Maya to let go & when she did Sophie was spurting blood from her neck, so much so I thought it was an artery & that she was dying!

I just got a mound of bandage & chucked loads of cold water on her neck with it. I phoned my neighbour & we went in search of the vet who I knew was in UK but Atanas was having none of it. So we traipsed round to his farm with me getting angrier each step to find ho hum he wasn’t there!!! The policeman wasn’t there either which I didn’t want him so while I was getting downright murderouse I walked off & phoned Mary! Good old Mary always good in times of trouble here. Mary phoned her friend who gave her the number of a vet, she phoned & he went to his surgery in Polski Trambesh while Atanas got his brother in law to take us there a 20 min journey, great what can be done when we all work together! Sophie had 4 or 5 injections & an antiseptic spray, none of which she liked! I cannot put a collar on her for a while & she is still 7 days later feeling a bit under the weather but I think she is fine at least she is still with us!
Which unfortunately is not the case for Maya! Maya had to go back to the rescue center as I cannot put Sophie at risk like that & she also after this had a fight with reggie well its too much stress on us all. The problem being perhaps something to do with her condition or state of mind which can be changed with Homeopathic meds which she needs anyway. The staff at the center do not have the time or resources to see this treatment through which is why she came to me & Bulgaria is lacking in homes for stray & abandoned animals so it was likely she would be put to sleep 
Both myself & Nigel were upset at this & have agreed to a plan B The center will hopefully dependant on finances Sophie proof my existing front fence to stop Sophie getting out the back & a basic dog enclosure will be built to enclose Maya & she will have Reggies kennel which he won’t use as her home. She will be able to run in the paddock & with good weather I can observe her symptoms so she gets the right treatment. The general consensus is she will be back mixing with the other dogs very quickly, I hope so!!! A quote for the work is in the offing so we hope this will be under way shortly! Maya was collected on Wednesday & didn’t want to go, bless her it was heart breaking she wouldn’t let anyone take her except me then when she realized she was getting in a car she sat down in the gateway & would not budge for anyone  So very sad. Sophie was also very upset. So to say I am happy with plan B is an understatement

So this week has been sun, sun, sun woop!!!! so for me sun = book & pool & a happy girlie!!!! Housework wel I finally got around to that yesterday well some & now it will wait again for another overcaste day :)
I also took the opportunity yesterday while the sun was in to pull up my tomato plants over 70 plants all ruined by the three months of rain here. This is not usual for Bulgaria & we have lost our main crops, very gutted!!!! The grapes are looking very bad although some are starting to turn black (they are black grapes for red vino), I must keep a good eye on them & as soon as they are ready I will be harvesting them, that’s if there are any left by then!

Next doors pear tree is losing its leaves too, the pears are ok & look really good but the tree is suffering its like autumn here with all the leaves shedding from that & my vines!My pear tree’s have come to nothing all I have this year are apples which I hate so I will be making plenty Dorset Apple cakes this year!
So this week I have compoted some very strange fruit, no idea what they are & will await Nigel’s return before trying them.

I have been assured by plenty of villagers that they are mnogo houbovo (very beautiful) & they are good for upset tummy & runs :D So I have made three large jars just in case LOL. Also working on the premise that compoted Morrello cherries are gorgeous as opposed to spitting them out with a vengeance when picked from tree so these could be similar, I hope.

I havew also been told they are like Plums so maybe they are the Morrello of the plum family?

Does anyone know what these are called????

I also made Tomato soup from the only tomatoes I managed to save from my vines I have put it down in freezer till Nigel’s return, that should warm his cockles. It’s very delicious too Mmmm!

I have bloged the recipe, try it its easy peasy & flipping delicious, even if I say so myself! :D

Use fresh tomatoes though!!!!








I was invited to Yovo & Pavlinak's for coffee Saturday morning. I haven't seen much of them as they have been so busy in their small holding & have canned hundreds & hundreds of jars of veg for the winter, so it was nice to see them, Coffee for them is a big thing, not like us :(  I would guess its a bit like The english inviting someone for afternoon tea, only at 9.30am!
We had Bulgarian coffee with goat milk (from Yovo's goats) cirene goat cheese with great hunks of cold fried bread & honey from the Nicki the neighbours bees & tomatoes strangely all very nice although I'm not quite sure about the honey on cold fried bread but it wasn't disgusting. I am sure though with a diet that high in fat could be the reason behind the high blood preasure they both have & if they are not careful which they are not a heart attack at some time! I worked on the premise that once a year won't hurt, hopefully!!!
I came home laden down with 3 pounds tomatoes ,2 pounds peppers, a large jar of goat milk, two big lumps of goat cheese, 3 cuecumbers & 2 slices of fried bread!  I promptly gave the dogs the milk & when I put the rest in the fridge found Reggie had eaten the cheese :(   little bugger I was looking forward to that with a salad as its soooo much nicer than the stuff you buy in the shops!

This week has been the house of pooh & weewee's! I am training Minishka who is a girl not a boy as was last reported lol, so name change from Minishko to Minishka! So tiny pooh's but pooh's none the less & wee wee's everywhere :( lots of poping on end of nose & taking outside to dirt area & finally we are getting somewhere yeay she is a clever girl!!!
Sophie is a really good mummy & they play all evening when the sun has gone lots of play fighting chewing of Sophies ears & legs etc. She also likes to chew my flip flops, not so good!
I had forgotten what fun a puppy is she is hilarious!!
Now we wait for Maya.......

66 days down... 90 days to go Minishko & Poorlyness

Well after 66 days I’m feeling vulnerable again  I was hoping it would just be a couple of days but as I’m poorly its running on a bit, so….. I will give it a couple of weeks. I have plenty to keep me busy do hopefully once I feel better it will go away or at least not be so debilitating.


I am a bit poorly, can’t tell what is wrong but I am looking GREY & have a temperature which means I’m sweating loads & have no energy I would say a virus these are the main symptoms but really feel unwell with it too. I did sod all on Saturday & yesterday I managed to cook a rice pudding & blog it, then I needed a 3 hour sleep!
So the last couple of days have been very blah & sooo much more emotional what rubbish!!!!! Loads of crying but I have to look on that as positive I believe its better to cry it out helps to cleanse the soul of the pain!
Missing little Hope & Molly so so so much! All sorts of poohey feelings about myself, they always creep in when I’m vulnerable. All the people who know me back in UK will say oh your so strong well I am but also I am not! Me I am many faceted, but at least I know this which means I am not insane, so all good hahaha

Yesterday there was a lot of commotion outside & the dogs were warning people kids I think but I ignored it all inevitably they went away then were back again a little later. I couldn’t make out what the noise was but boy were they noisy! The dogs again had a moan then again it went away I then noticed, after my sleep I think, a noisy strange sound. Now we have some unusual birds here & they are always catching me out when I think people are whistling over the wall, their way of informing you they want you to open the gate, or fighting animals & sometimes people arguing hahaha so I assumed this strange sound was a bird if not then it was from next doors pig. Needless to say I ignored it until Reggie got quite vocal & Sophie’s bark was more a come here mum sound. My interest peaked I went to see what the fuss was about expecting to see a bird only to find a tiny pup sitting in front of the van making this weird noise.

Poor little boy, I went round to pick him up & he hasn’t stopped wagging his tail since! So all the commotion earlier well obviously kids were given the job to get rid & they knew where he would be safe.

Sophie has adopted him & is his mummy & licks him till he is sopping wet. Maya is jealous & keeps barkin at him & Reg is Reg he is ok as long as he stays away from his food :D Oh boy another adventure they certainly keep me busy.

Nigel & I have named him Minishko for Tiny. He is very young but I hope he is no less than 8 – 10 weeks old he has a few scabs which I’m not sure if they are from other dogs biting or fleas, a scar on his head & a limp on his front leg.

I have been feeding him dry dog food soaked in water to soften it & he loves it he has also had a good pooh not too soft or hard looks good & normal to me so I think he is otherwise quite healthy just needs feeding up & lots of love oh & castrating when he is old enough! . I have emailed my friend Jane who lives in the Vidin region to check up on what to do & so far so good she has also given me some helpful suggestions! Jane & her husband Pete have saved many dogs & now have 9 themselves. It’s very difficult here, dogs & cats are treated as vermin it’s a different culture to us but they torture them & seem to get great pleasure from this. Most Bulgarians seem to be scared of dogs. All village homes have dogs but they are even fearful of their own dogs so they are chucked chunks of bread & chained up never getting affection & treated badly! Lots of dogs are taken out of villages to be killed by wild animals or beaten & tortured by humans then left to starve to death or be mauled or killed by packs of wild dogs. I can’t even tell you the horrors of the isolator’s which are meant to help them & all they do is torture & kill!!!
How can we turn a blind eye????? We can’t! I find it hard there’s no help here as they think I am mad to have more than one dog and especially mad as all mine are big & scary :D Stops the buggers breaking in though!!!! Just have to watch out for poisons & the Houdini who is Sophie, roll on November when Nigel can sort out security for Soph.
Reggie is not feeling well poor boy :-(
He has a dry nose which is also running & is very moany to the other dogs just being near him, he has a cold I think. He still has an appetite so I’m not that worried & am keeping an eye on him.

Sophie is just being fed dry food at the moment as she was off her food big time after she was stolen. I have had to feed her & follow her around with the food encouraging her to eat it was taking ages to get her to eat & a couple of times she flatly refused. Sophie would eat her supper which is just dry biscuits so I stopped mixing the dinner with water & bread she just has it dry & now she is eating fine!