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| View of the village |
Hello again! This week has been a slow one - we've felt a bit lonely having no guests here with us and, disappointingly, our volunteer we had booked in was a no show. It has been another hot and muggy week so we've been doing bits and pieces but in general taking it quite easy. However, as of this week we are feeling much more motivated to get stuff done and work has already begun upstairs - exciting!
Saturday 16th
After I posted the blog last week we didn't actually do any more work but instead we took Lucy out for a walk around the village. I had plans to follow a track I'd seen so we could discover some more local walks but that didn't work out. We bumped in to a friend from the village (he visits on weekends and speaks better English than us) and he invited us to have a drink with him at the bar in an hour. So we carried on to take Lucy for a shorter walk than planned and then bumped in to another friend from the village (he speaks no English at all) who talked at us for half an hour, about anything and everything, until his wife called him in! So by then we just had to quickly walk home, grab some money and head out to the bar. Poor Lucy wasn't impressed with her walk at all! Anyway, we had a few beers with our friend at the bar, who is a really nice and interesting guy, before going home and eating a late dinner.
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| Evening stroll |
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| Many House martins |
Sunday 17th
We got up relatively early today and I went straight into the orchard to finally finish breaking up those branches. It took me a couple of hours to finish that and meanwhile Pete was spraying Borax all over the toilet block - this was a much easier and quicker job than we expected and we would like to try and do it regularly to ensure the wood is really protected. Pete also loaded the van with rubbish for the dump.
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| Lots more kindling |
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| Bigger logs for firewood |
After some brunch we drove out to the dump to unload a van full of rubbish that had been sitting in our garden since last year! Back home it had become a very hot afternoon so we pottered about and I harvested some veggies. I decided to pickle some chard stalks as I am struggling to find anything imaginative to do with chard and I found this simple recipe online. We haven't tried them yet so not sure if they'll be weird, but the chard has already grown back twice since then so I'm not too worried even if they're disgusting! I also pitted a load of plums that we'd harvested from the garden down the road - they have been frozen until we have more ingredients to make chutney.
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| Spot the squash growing on the fence |
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| Aubergines on their way |
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| Toms are slowly ripening |
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| Vine tomatoes too |
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| Peppers |
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| Today's pretty harvest |
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| Bag of pitted plms |
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| Pickled chard stems (and some beetroot for colour) |
In the late afternoon I went down the road for a couple of hours to do some weeding and water the lawn. Whilst I was out Pete got started on mowing the grass in the orchard (our mower blade is still broken but as we don't have a proper lawn you can't notice the uneven cut.) When I got home we ate an absolutely massive pizza that Pete had cooked and then watched a film and had an early night.
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| Mowing man |
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| Enormous pizza |
Monday 18th
This morning I spent a few hours in the house doing a big clean and tidy up. Whilst I was doing that Pete had the job of changing the compost toilet tank for the first time. It turned out to be a very easy job actually - there is no smell at all and he fitted the new tub with no problems. He also finished mowing the areas in the orchard that he'd missed yesterday AND drilled a hole for and fitted the plug into the metal bowl we want to use as a washing up sink for the campsite - a very busy boy! Once we'd finished our jobs we had a coffee and brunch break and then nipped into Chirpan very quickly to grab a few bits we needed today. Included in this was some netting to cover the full toilet tank, a new toilet seat (the one on the compost loo has mysteriously broken) and bolts to finish the gate and archway.
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| Lovely looking orchard |
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| Homemade sink |
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| New toilet tank in place |
Back home Pete cracked on with building the archway whilst I replaced the broken toilet seat and covered up the full toilet tank with mesh - this will keep it aired but free from bugs. I then came down into the garden and cleaned the chicken coop inside and out as we are getting some new chickens this week from a friend who no longer can keep them. The ground was covered in a thick layer of old food waste and, of course, a load of chicken poo - which is perfect for the compost bin! :)
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| Chicken run is cleeean |
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| Two buckets of goodness for the compost bin |
Once I'd done that I helped Pete out with the last few bits on the archway and then we cleaned up and called it a day. The archway looks great - and will look even better when painted and covered in vines. It was a lovely evening with a nearly full moon sitting on the horizon. We had a salad and meze style dinner and had another film night. Whilst inside we were very surprised and happy to hear the sweet, sweet sound of rain falling - although it was a shock and I had to run outside to make sure we hadn't left anything out that could get ruined. I also had to move the gazebo as the washing machine wasn't protected and was getting very wet.
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| Wooden archway (for vines) looking great |
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| Lovely sunset before the rain |
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| Big moon at dusk |
Tuesday 19th
We didn't have to water our friends lawn this week so there was no 6am start today - although we did set the alarm to try and get up early anyway. In the night the gazebo had actually blown away and broken so the first job was to put up the other, bigger one - this is better anyway as it will protect the washing machine properly now. Sadly there was no other evidence that it had rained at all - the veg and surrounding country are still looking as thirsty as ever!
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| New (dry) washing up area |
We then spent the morning doing the usual washing up and chores and then, at about 10, we popped over to SG to pick up the chickens. I don't think our friends were expecting us as they'd let the chickens out of the coop for the day so we had to chase them and try and round them up. We tried this for a good half an hour but the chickens were too fast for us and in the end we decided we'd collect them tomorrow morning when they were still in the coop!
Back home Pete got started on making the gates for his archway - this is a priority at the moment as we want to have the chickens free range without them eating all our vegetables. I also started to re-make the screen I'd started to hide the tank and 'backstage' area of the compost loo. I'd decided to use thin baton instead of mulberry branches as they are very cheap and I think look pretty good. I got about half of this done and then we decided to go to Chirpan. We had a friend (Jamie) arriving today who was coming to stay with us for one night whilst on his travels around Eastern Europe. He was hitchhiking here so we weren't too sure when he'd arrive but it turned out to be perfect timing as he text us just as we were finishing our shopping - we'd bought a huge water tank to collect the water from the shower and sinks in the toilet block.
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| Starting to make the gates |
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| Half the screen is finished |
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| Huge water tank getting loaded into the van! |
We picked Jamie up and bought him back to ours where we had some lunch and caught up after many years. Me and Pete then decided to quickly finish making the gates for the archway whilst Jamie chilled out and relaxed in the garden. Late afternoon we took Lucy out for a walk and showed Jamie around our village a bit, including introducing him to Hristo. We then had a lovely evening with yummy BBQ food, lots of wine and a bonfire (the evening temperature dropped slightly for a couple of days so the fire was good.)
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| Jamie and his sign for Chirpan! |
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| Evening around the fire |
Wednesday 20th
We had a bit of a lie in today after a late night, but were up to collect the chickens from SG at 9.30. We've now got one more hen, one young chick (not sure if it's a boy or a girl) and a big cockerel! They're nice looking birds - all with pretty black and white feathers. We put them into the run with the others and spent breakfast watching them try to settle in. For anyone who hasn't had chickens you would not believe how violent they can be! The cock seems fine (he has already had his way with all the hens!) but the new hen and the chick are straight to the bottom of the pecking order - it's a bit sad to watch.
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| New cockerel out and about, new hen and chick hiding in the corner |
Anyway, we couldn't sit around and watch them all morning as our friend wanted us to mow their lawn for them today so it was back to SG for a hour of gardening before coming back home, picking up Jamie and going out again to Chirpan. Jamie was hitchhiking north so we left him on the side of the main road after helping write his new sign in Cyrillic! It was great to have him here and see him again after 7 years! :)
Once we were home we spent some more time watching the chickens and found that the new hen could fly better than our hens and had figured out a way to escape over the top wall! We managed to put a stop to this by laying down some fencing over the wall so when she flew up she hit into it. Aww, I hope they settle in soon - the hen who used to be the lowest in the pecking order has turning into a right b****!!
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| Hollyhocks I planted from wild seeds - apparently they don't always flower the first year. |
Anyway, enough about the chickens, I spent another hour finishing and putting up my screen - which, I must say, looks fab. Pete was up the top of the land at the entrance of the campsite - there is a big lump in the road which is very dodgy to drive over unless you have a high clearance - so, as the weather was slightly cooler today, he'd decided to dig it out. It turned out to be an old stone wall that must have been driven over so many times with a very large vehicle, so it was pretty hard work to dig it out. Luckily we didn't need it dug out completely, just flattened enough to make sure no one gets stuck when driving over it. Once I'd finished my panel I went up to help Pete and I raked out the stone and earth whilst he dug it. This didn't take too long to do once we'd finished Pete drove back and forwards over it several times to compact it down and it was done.
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| Toilet tank now hidden from view |
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| Flattening out the lump on the road |
I went down the road for a bit to water the lawn and then came back to make dinner - it was definitely my turn by now! I made a courgette feast with a warm grilled courgette salad, courgette fritters and cucumber yoghurt - it was actually very tasty. We then had another chilled evening and earlyish night.
Thursday 21st
Today was very hot and muggy and we spent all morning just faffing about and not doing much at all. At around midday we decided we'd have a go at getting started on work upstairs now we knew our volunteer wasn't going to be here to help us. We moved around the last few boxes and bags of walnuts from the upstairs rooms and got it properly cleared. We also taped plastic over the kitchen door to try and avoid to must dust going in there. I then got up into the loft - possibly the worst place to be on a 35 degree day - and started to clear it out. I passed down to Pete all the big stuff and then started sweeping up the thick layer of dust, rat poo, dead bugs etc that covered the entire floor. We also took some time to have a proper look up here and figure out what we are doing - we know we want a vaulted ceiling in the kitchen and a small mezzanine level for another spare bed, but we hadn't actually been up here to work it all out yet! We've had to change our original plans slightly after looking properly, but we can still have everything we want so that is good. I managed to sweep about two thirds of the floor before getting too hot/sweaty/claustrophobic. Pete also came up with the big drill and reciprocating saw with the intention to start cutting the ceiling out - but it was way too hot and stressful so we decided to sack it off and leave it for another (cooler) day.
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| Dirty, dark loft |
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| Eurgh |
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| The kitchen is sealed |
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| This will be our lovely kitchen.. |
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the garden and then, as the kitchen was still closed off and we were feeling lazy, we went out for dinner in Chirpan. It seems quite luxurious to eat out when we don't have loads of money - but at £10 for two massive meals and a couple of drinks each you can't feel too guilty! It was a nice evening and we were pleasantly surprised how busy the restaurant was - it is odd how noticeably busier summer is in Bulgaria than winter!
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| Evening view of Chirpan |
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| Dinner out |
On the way home the moon was the biggest I've ever seen and it was a beautiful deep orange colour as it sat right down low on the horizon. We then turned a corner to see a huge blazing fire out in the fields, which we drove closer to have a look at. It was a controlled fire, so not scary, but it looked amazing in the middle of complete darkness. An interesting drive home!
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| FIRE! |
Friday 22nd
Market day. We did the usual shop and were back home and unpacked by about 1. We then spent the afternoon hanging out - I finished my map of our village and pinned it up in the toilet black whilst Pete used up what varnish we had left over on the gate and archway and then stencilled and sprayed signs for the toilet and shower. All of which looks really good!
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| My map |
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| Pete painting the archway |
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| Shower |
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| Mixed use bathroom :) |
In the evening we had an early dinner and then got ready to go out to a jazz concert in Chirpan. This is the 3rd year of the annual Lavender Festival for this area - the festival is getting bigger each year and this year there were different events happening all weekend. We decided to go to the jazz concert to see what it was like and we picked up S & G on the way. We were there a bit too early - the band was still setting up - so we went and had a beer around the corner whilst we waited. The concert turned out to be very good - there was a jazz band and a poet and it was set in a small amphitheatre in Chirpan museum. Once the poet had finished the band kept playing and people got up to mingle and have a glass of wine - a really lovely evening and a nice change from our village bar!
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| Jazz concert in Chirpan |
Saturday 23rd
We'd been invited to M & D's this morning for tea and cake before the days lavender festivities began. We went over at about 10 and stayed for an hour or so until they and everyone else headed off to another village to go and see a retro car show. We'd decided not to go as it wasn't really our thing but thought we'd come back to the festival later in the evening.
We spent the day slowly working, although the temperature was rising again after a couple of cooler days and today was a scorcher. I started by making another screen (matching the first one) to go on the front of the toilet block - again to hide the 'backstage' area of the compost loo. It was a quicker process this time and I had the whole thing finished and in place in a couple of hours.
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| All screened off and looking trendy! |
We then together got started on building the washing up area for the toilet block - this is just going to be a separate unit with sink, drying rack and bins and recycling. The land where we want it is completely unlevel but instead of Pete killing himself digging in this heat we decided to use the same method that my dad had shown us when actually building the toilet block. So we laid out 4 stones where we wanted the legs and then used baton to prop up 4 bits of 4x4. We then cut to length and attached the sides so they were level. We also used some thin planks nearer to the ground to help support it.
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| Two legs propped up |
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| Sides on, finished for the day |
By the time we'd done all that it was getting on for 5 o'clock so we packed up, got clean and made some dinner. Just as we'd finished eating Hristo came over and asked us for help with his computer, so we went over there and ended up taking an hour to fix his problem. We know nothing about computers really but we just Google the problem, follow how to fix it and Hristo thinks we're geniuses!! Anyway, by the time we got home it was nearly 7, still about 30 degrees and we decided that we couldn't be bothered to go to the lavender festival. So instead we stayed up ourselves and had a lovely, relaxing evening with a few glasses of wine under the stars.
Sunday 24th
We had a chilled morning today and enjoyed eggs and coffee in the sunshine. Pete then went up to finish what he could on the sink - that involved bolting it all together, sawing off the tops of the legs and putting in noggins for the actual sink. He said he didn't need me to help him so I was down in the garden pruning back a few trees and bushes that have got out of hand. I then decided to make a fire and burn all the left over leaves and twigs from the walnut branches as they were sitting in an ugly pile at the bottom of the campsite. It was a hot day but it wasn't too windy and there were a few clouds coming and going so doing the fire wasn't too unbearable. It took me the rest of the day to do and I also cut back the newly sprouted fig bush that is trying to take over the garden.
At about half 4 we were both finishing up with our work when our neighbours (chainsaw man and co.) came over to invite us round for a beer. We made sure the fire was safe and then we followed them over. We all sat inside (which I still find weird on such a beautiful day but it was SO much cooler), had a few beers and they offered (force fed) us lots of food! We managed to chat away in our basic Bulgarian but usefully one of the women knows quite a lot of English so that helped when we got a bit stuck. After a couple hours we decided to make a move before they opened another 2 litres of beer!
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| Drinks at the neighbours |
Back at home we got the BBQ going and Pete cooked an amazing chicken and Ouzo stew over the fire - it was delicious. We've made a new weeks resolution to get up at 6.30 and get work done before it gets too hot - so it was a film and an early night tonight in preparation for the morning.
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| BBQ |
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| Yum yum yum yum yum |
Monday 25th
So the alarm went off at 6 this morning and after a short snooze and a cup of tea we were up and at 'em by 7 o'clock. After a quick mosey around the garden, harvesting a few veggies, we were both up in the loft to start cutting the ceiling down. We gave up on sweeping the rest of it and just cracked on - by 7.30 we had no more ceiling. We stopped then for a quick coffee, breather and to let the huge amount of dust settle down before heading back in to clear out the wood and get down the remaining edges. This took us to about 10.30 when we finished and sat down for breakfast. We are SO pleased with it so far - I love the beautiful old beams. :D
After brekkie we did a few bits and bobs around the house and then I spent the next few hours writing the blog whilst Pete got a courgette, tomato and plum chutney on the go, played guitar and had little siesta. At about half three we got all set up .to chainsaw the wood from the ceiling into firewood, only to find that our chainsaw wouldn't start. Pete thought it was probably the spark plug but we didn't have the specific tool you need to change it. So it was a quick drive to Chirpan to get the right tool and we were back within an hour. I stopped at the garden down the road for an hour or so to water the lawn whilst Pete went home and fixed the chainsaw - with success! Yay!
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| More chutney on the go |
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| Ready to chainsaw... with no chainsaw |
Once I was home I made a simple dinner including a tomato salad with only tomatoes from our garden (delicious) and sweetcorn that our neighbour had given us. We then sat out under the stars chilling out whilst I finished the blog.
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| Healthy and (very) local dinner! |
That's all folks, until next week! Chao! x
