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| The (half painted) village church |
Hello and Happy Easter!
Tuesday 11th
The first job on the agenda today was to finish the other raised bed under the vine trellis. We had to work together to do this - we carried down several of the old concrete posts from the campsite and cut them to size using the angle grinder. We needed to make this bed quite tall, because of the different ground levels, so it took us all morning to get that finished.
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| Concrete post bed |
In the afternoon we had a bacon order to deliver in the next village, so we drove over there and ended up staying for an hour or so with the lady who'd ordered it. We'd previously loaded up the van with a heap of junk for the dump, so once we'd left our friends house we headed up there to get rid of it all. Whilst there we noticed someone had dumped a load of big flat stones so we ended up loading the van back up again! 'More stone!??' I hear you cry! I know - we spend half our lives trying to use up all the stone we have in our garden - but these stones are big and flat and perfect for when we want to make our patio, so we had to take them.
By the time we were home the day had got away with us and it was nearly 5 o'clock. We really wanted to start painting the house tomorrow so, with a good couple of hours of sunlight left, we both set to work on patching up any holes in the render on the front of the house. We are leaving three sides of the house as exposed stone so it was only the front that needed patching up. Most of the holes were small but there was a large area underneath our bedroom window that needed doing. Pete also had to get up the ladder to reach several gaps around the soffits. Even so, it was a quick job and we managed to finish on time to have a beer as the sun was setting. :-)
Wednesday 12th
We had an early start this morning as we wanted to get another coat of render on the large patch under the window before we started painting. Once we'd done that we nipped over to the next village as we'd spotted some more flat stone (that would be good for our patio) outside someone's house. Unfortunately we didn't get the stone but we stopped for a coffee and banitsa at the shop anyway. Once we were home the painting commenced! We have decided to use the traditional method of lime wash, not for any particular reason other than we wanted to do white anyway and also it is ridiculously cheap (about £10 for the whole house, with 3 coats.) We are aware that it needs almost yearly upkeep, but we will see how it goes and perhaps we will re-do it with exterior paint one day.
Anyway... we had our extra large paint brushes, music blaring and a gorgeous sunny day, so all was good. Pete was up the ladder again doing the top half of the house whilst I was on the ground and with the step ladder doing the bottom and the balcony. We ended up working until about 7 or 8 o'clock, but we got one full coat finished - yay! It looked a bit patchy, but even this 1st coat has made a huge improvement to the whole feel of our place. (It's also really pointed out how crappy the windows and doors are, but that is another job for another day!)
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| I forgot to take a before, but here is a photo from a few months ago |
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| Et voila! :-D :-D (The sun helps too!) |
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| Looking good... |
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| Welcome to our villa! |
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| Just a bit of clearing up to do.. |
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| Tasty dinner - roast brined chicken with roast veg and lentils |
Thursday 13th
We were invited to a BBQ today at an English friends house - and the weather was perfect for it. We spent the morning cleaning up some of the paint splats, faffing about and getting ready to out around 12. It was in a lovely village, about 40 minutes from us, but in an area we hadn't really visited before. There were a few Bulgarians there as well as a few other expats, most of who we hadn't actually met before. It was a really great afternoon - with tasty food and incredible sunshine - and it was lovely to meet some new people too.
At around half 5 black clouds started to roll over and the rumble of thunder was getting louder so we decided to get home before the down pour begun. Luckily the rain quickly passed and we were welcomed home by a huge rainbow (no photos I'm afraid.)
Friday 14th
Market day. Chirpan was heaving (well, as heaving as Chirpan can get...) as it was Good Friday and the start of a four day weekend. Easter in Bulgaria is called 'Velik Den' or 'Great Day'. They have many traditions to celebrate Easter and it is a real family time, I would say it is even bigger than Christmas. It was a sunny morning so we took our time and enjoyed being out and about amongst people. We got home around 1 and spent an hour or so unpacking and having some lunch.
In the afternoon Pete planted the two new rosemary plants we'd bought at the market whilst I finished off the stone side of the raised bed we're building. Together we then shovelled the earth into the, now finished, bed and finally cleared the area that will eventually be our patio and seating area. At the moment it just looks like a mud patch, but we are still pleased with it! By the time we'd finished that it had started to cloud over and was threatening to rain, so we packed up and called it a day.
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| Rosemary planted |
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| Finished flower bed. The outdoor shower will be over the flat stone in the middle |
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| Patio area all dug out |
Saturday 15th
Storms had been forecast all weekend so we had prepared ourselves to be rained in. However, when we woke up this morning the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Another check of the forecast and it now said it was going to be 24 degrees today! This was great news and we decided we would get another coat of lime wash on the house. For the second coat we watered down the lime even more than we had for the first. This meant it wouldn't dry so quickly (or crack) and it could get into all the gaps of the pebble-dash style render more easily. It also meant that it was much quicker to apply and we actually finished painting by about 2.30.
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| White house |
The sun was still shining by then so once we'd cleaned up we took the opportunity to do a bit more planting in the veg garden before the storms did arrive. We planted peas, beans and sweetcorn and also planted out some seedlings of various salads that had been growing inside. I then bucketed a load of compost into the new raised bed and planted nasturtiums and sweet peas - so hopefully the shower area will look prettier in the summer. We also weeded the veg beds some more (already a daily chore) and admired the few veggies that are already growing and doing well!
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| Another view of the flower bed |
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| Spinach (doing amazingly well), kale and chard |
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| Carrots and radishes |
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| Rocket on it's way |
Once all that was done there was just time to go down the road for an hour to do a bit of gardening there before Pete came home to make dinner and I took Lucy out for an evening stroll.
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| Everything is looking green and lovely |
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| Coming home to our white house |
Sunday 16th
We are not religious (and they don't have chocolate eggs here) so we didn't celebrate Easter this year, but we did decide to have a relaxed Sunday anyway. The morning was a bit wet and grey so after a long brekkie Pete watched a film (that I didn't want to see) and I planted a load of vegetable seeds in pots - including several varieties of courgette and globe artichokes, amongst other things.
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| Inside seeds |
Sadly some of our tomato and pepper seeds have not germinated, which is quite disappointing, but on the plus side the few that have worked are of a black and yellow variety. This is good news as we can buy the standard red and pink tomatoes here, as a small plant, for almost no money. We also plan to buy peppers, chillies, aubergines and cucumbers as small plants as there is just no point in slaving away over seeds when you can buy them like this. The vegetables that we are growing from seed are either really easy to grow (e.g. radish, beetroot, spinach, carrot) or varieties that they don't sell here in Bulgaria (e.g. chard, kale, broccoli, pak choi.) Of course we are only on our second year of growing so it is all an experiment and we will probably change our plans again next year! :-)
In the afternoon the weather had cleared and the sun was attempting to shine through, so we went out for a walk. We didn't go far - just through and around the village - but we took it easy and were out for nearly a couple of hours. Aside from a couple of bored looking teenagers we didn't see many people out in the streets, but there were a lot of cars parked out of many of the houses - families from towns and cities visiting their grandparents for Easter.
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| Easter day stroll |
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| They might be a weed but I like the dandelions everywhere |
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| Gorgeous lilac - we want one!! |
When we got home I made a big selection of vegetable curries for dinner (this is becoming a Sunday tradition!) and then we chilled out in the yellow room and watched a film.
Monday 17th
Today the forecast rain did arrive. There were no impressive storms, just big grey clouds and a lot of rain. Any work was off the agenda and we couldn't even go shopping for a few bits we needed as everything would be closed for Easter Monday. So, there was nothing for it but to have another day in! We did a bit of yoga, computer stuff, listened to podcasts and made a batch of 60 tortillas for the freezer. We ate left over curry for lunch. In the afternoon I started writing the blog and then Pete started to make dinner whilst I took Lucy out for a walk. I rather like walking under drizzle and moody skies, but the dog was not keen and kept urging me to walk faster home!
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| Rainy day (good for the veg though) |
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| Tortillas for the freezer |
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| Wet walkies |
For dinner we had nachos with chilli, cheese and salsa - it was sooo good. I'm just finishing the blog now and then we might have time for another film tonight. Next week is looking a bit grim weather wise, but hopefully we'll get the final coat on the house and perhaps even start on the windows. :-)
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| Nachos for dinner |
A short and sweet post this week. Thanks everyone! xx
