Week thirty one.

We have had such a lazy week so I apologise that it's alot of chilling and not much to write about!

Leaves coming off the walnut trees.

Monday

Today was spent with Pete mostly in the kitchen preserving and me downstairs in the toilet scrubbing the dirt off and doing a few last finishing touches - like putting the beaded curtain and mirror up! I was quite excited to finish the bathroom so have taken these photos before it was properly clean, but still here are a few before and after pictures of the bathroom... :D

 

 

This view doesn't exist now - we have a wall there

 

So yeah, there are still a couple more bits to do (door, finishing airing cupboard etc.) but we think it is looking good!! Pete was very busy upstairs as well boiling the quinces from our own trees in the garden to eventually use and make quince jelly and membrillo. He also finally finished the rosehip cordial AND made 12 jars of green tomato relish. Yum yum yum! Oh and for lunch we had fig chutney and goats cheese sandwiches and it was delicious.

 

 

As far as I remember we had a chilled evening in, in front of the fire.

 

Bilko loves the telly.

Tuesday

 

It was another gloriously sunny day and we had a fairly chilled morning - I did some washing and had a big fire to burn all our rubbish, whilst Pete was doing the next stage with the quinces (using more of my tights!) We then had an early lunch with more goats cheese and a winter salad with beetroot, carrots and radish - mmmm!

 

Quinces!

Chilis hanging in the kitchen



 

At about midday we set of in the van to see our friends A & GW who we haven't seen for months. They about an hours drive away through Chirpan and then up into gorgeous hills and forest. We had actually never been to their house before so when we arrived they gave us a tour and we had a cuppa. They have also got a new puppy - only about 6 months old - but she is a massive fluffy dog (can't remember the breed - sorry GW!! :)) and already bigger than Lucy. We all went our for a walk with the dogs into the forest behind their house and their pup was loving having Lucy to play with! We also did a bit of mushroom hunting as A & GW had seen mushrooms growing but weren't sure which ones were edible. Well there were alot of mushrooms everywhere but we were quite excited to find loads of Saffron Milk Caps everywhere in forest - which Pete says are meant to be tasty and are really expensive in England!

 

Pretty red vines

Lovely big pup!

Stunning walk

Loads of mushrooms - not all edible!

 

Back at their house it was starting to get dark and they invited us to stay for dinner, which we happily accepted and spent a lovely evening around a big bonfire, eating very lovely food. A really great day :) They also kindly let us take the mushrooms home as well as giving us lots of nice insense and some home grown squashes!

 

Wednesday

 

So we had a pretty relaxed day today, just pottering around the house and doing bits a bobs of house work. We finished off the quince stuff and made the jelly and the membrillo. I put the slowcooker on with chicken and all our foraged mushrroms - which was alot! And that was almost it - lazy I know! Pete did get up and silicon the gutters where they were leaking, which did really need doing, and we got the drain cover on in the bathroom which looks fabulous. Pete also dug around the outside taps so he could lay some concrete blocks - this is because we need to surround the taps with insulation in winter so they don't freeze. We're not sure if this will be enough but we will have to wait and find out! In the afternoon Pete took Lucy for a walk and went foraging for more mushrooms, whilst I cleared the hallway and decided to hang some our stuff on the walls! Including fairylights and a big curtain to cover the front door and hopefully keep the draft out.

 

Quince jelly

Membrillo on the go

Look at the blue mushrooms top left!

 

 

Blocked in with insulation over the top - more insulation to go inside later :)

Big curtain to stop draft.

Oh yeah and there were hundreds of ladybirds EVERYWHERE today!

 

We had another chilled evening and ate our stew, which sadly wasn't that nice. :( The mushrooms had a very over powering taste and it just wasn't that tasty - which is a shame because those mushrooms are everywhere! Oh well.

 

 

Thursday

 

And another quite chilled day - it doesn't make for good blogging but we've been enjoying the sunshine and having a great time!! There were a few small jobs done like plasterboarding the window reveal in the yellow room and making the 'plug' for the man hole of the septic tank.

 

 

As it was bonfire night S & G were having a party (it was also their sons 16th birthday) and because none of us had celebrated halloween we decided to dress up! We don't have much in the way of fancy dress cloths but I wanted to wear glitter and after putting loads of glitter on my face I decided to go as a firework! Pete got creative with his pyjamas and went as a wizard! We spent the afternoon getting ready and then set off to S & G's when it got dark at about 6. Everyone looked really good with amazing face paint and S cooked an incredible curry - so good, we haven't had a proper curry since England! They also had fireworks, bangers, sparklers, sky lanterns and a bonfire. It was great!! We didn't stay outside too long though as it was cold and kareoke was calling us in the living the room.

 

Dressed up and ready to go!

Everyone else looking good too!

Great curry!

Birthday cake

Kareoke :D

Big dog!!

Friday

 

We were up actually quite early, but didn't get out too early as we have a hot shower now and taking ready gets longer! We also had a quick look at the manhole cover before we went out - and it fits perfectly, yay.

 

 

We didn't actually spend too long at the market today as we didn't need much food, but of course we did a bit of builders merchants shopping and also found a new clothes shop. Back at home it was yet another chilled afternoon! We did put up a bit of plasterboard in the airing cupboard to cover some of the insulation, but that was about it.

 

 

More pretty red trees

Plastic vines - we miss showering outside so much!

Our friend DW is sadly leaving us to go and live back in England next week so we thought we'd have one last Friday night at our village bar when all the locals would be there. It was a fun evening and we even ended up getting dragged inside the pub to sit with everyone - which was nice and warm but also very smoky, which was not good. We also met a very friendly policeman, who was very very drunk and offered to drive us home at the end of the night (we said no)!!!!

 

 

Saturday - Sunday

 

It wasn't a particulary late night last night but we had a bit of a lie in anyway, and only got up as we had to go to Chirpan again to print some tickets for Monday. Saturday here is a bit like Sunday in UK and everything is either shut or shuts at lunchtime. DW had recommended a printing shop so we headed there only to find it was closed. We tried a couple of other places we could think might do it, but they were all closed as well. Argh! We ended up trying one last shop where we could see a printer on the desk - and the guy was nice and spoke English and directed us to an open place around the corner. So that was successful and we celebrated with lunch in a cafe as it was such a beautiful day again (it has actually been 15 to 20 degrees every day this week which is amazing.)

 

Average Bulgarian wiring for a block of flats.

 

Tonight we were going out drinking again! This was DWs proper leaving do and she wanted to go out clubbing in Chirpan. We hadn't actually done this yet, so were quite intrigued to see what it was like! We went out at about 8 to S & G's where we had a drink and S gave me glittery green nails! :D

 

 

We got a taxi in to town and started at a lively bar that had a DJ and cocktails. When the bar was closing we walked up to the club, but apparently were too early as it was almost empty - BUT we weren't allowed to sit down as everywhere was reserved! It was a very wierd club with no dance floor - only tables - and table service. But the music was mad Bulgarian pop music and we ended up having a good night a bit of a boogie :)

 

Sunday was a day in again and in the afternoon we dropped Lucy off at S & G's so they could look after her whilst we go away to Sofia for a couple of days. Oh there was an amazing sunset which I took loads of photos of too...

 

 

Monday

 

The alarm was set for 4.30am this morning as we needed to get up and leave at quarter to six to catch the train. We packed our bags, loaded the cats bowls up with food and water, same for the chickens and set off to Chirpan in the dark. We stopped about 10 minutes walk from the station to leave the van somewhere more public and stop at the early morning bakery for some food for the journey. We were a bit eager and got there nearly half an hour early, but we had a coffee and ate our pastry whilst waiting. So by car Sofia is just over two hours away, but by train it somehow takes 5 hours!!! The journey was good though - we slept for the first couple of hours and then read and watched the gorgeous mountain views go slowly past.

 

Sunrise on the train

Scary building from the train

 

We arrived in Sofia at about 11.30 and got a metro ticket for the whole day and got the underground to just next to our hostel - how different already to our days in Izvorovo! The hostel was cool and in a good central location, so we headed out, on foot, to this big market I'd read about in the guide book. On the way to the market we passed through a middle eastern area of the city and were very excited to find cous cous and sumak - things you can't find anywhere in Chirpan! The market was also really good and we ended up buying some beautiful rugs for about a fiver each.

 

 

At about 2 ish we stopped back at the hostel to hang out for a minute and get changed for the evening. We then headed a different direction into town, to the more commercial centre which we visited last time we were here.  After stopping for a coffee we decided to wander some back streets and ended up finding a small strip of trendy looking cafes and bars, so stopped there to have some early dinner. It has been such a hot day and we even sat out all evening to eat without being cold.

 

 

After a yummy dinner and a cocktail we decided to get back on the metro and track down the venue for our gig. We were going to see Jose Gonzalez in a small warehouse venue quite a way out of Sofia centre, which, to be honest, we were doubtful of being real/finding it! But we followed my Google directions and found a group of trendy Young people waiting outside a venue! The place was actually really cool and the gig was fantastic!!! A fantastic night! We found our way easily back the hostel and went to bed.

 

 

Tuesday

 

We got up quite early so we could have breakfast in the hostel, where we met a nice American guy who said he might visit us on his travels! At 9 we headed out, back to the market we went to Yesterday as we liked the area and wanted to wander around there again. We got a stopped for an espresso and creme caramel and then, about 15 minutes later, discovered an Iranian restaurant which Pete insisted on going into for another breakfast of lentil soup! It was delicious but we were both stuffed when we left and had to go back to the hostel for a quick lie down before checking out.

 

 

We had to check out at about 11 so we made our way to the train station, but had 2 hours to wait until our train, so got comfy in a cafe and waited. The train was un remarkable again - we slept, read and looked out the window. It was a bit quicker this time though and we met S & G in Chirpan to pick up Lucy and ended up stopping in Flamingoes for a snack as it was getting late and we didn't want to cook when we got home. Back home we said hello to Bilko and went straight to bed to watch a movie. What a good day out - Sofia is a really great city, very pretty and cool and the gig was fab! :)

 

Underground station

Train home

Another gorgeous sunset from the train

Wednesday

 

So we wanted to get back to work after such a long week off! We started with taking the old down pipes off the house as they were bent and broken and doing nothing. It took a while to fit together the new pipe as they are very badly designed, but annoyingly we didn't have the clips to attach the thing to the house so had to leave that for another day. We decided to drive to SG to collect a load more wood  to chop. This took a little while to get as we also stopped at the dump and then bumped into George and then DW on the way home! George took us to the goat lady again and we got more cheese AND her phone number so we can call her whenever we want cheese!! Back at home we bought all the wood in then got the chainsaw out to saw all the wood up together and stack it in the barn. Now the wood pile is really starting to look good - and there is still even more to come!

 

At the dump

Working in shorts - so hot today!

 

By now it was already getting late but Pete mixed up some concrete to finish the bottom of the window reveal in the yellow room, whilst I started to prepare dinner. I made another winter salad and wrapped up potatoes and butternut squash in foil and we went outside to have a bonfire so we could roast our veg. It was a lovely warm evening until the sun went down, so when the food was done we moved into the yellow room to eat. We had the roast veg and salad with goats cheese and it was absolutely delicious. The evening has been spent writing the blog and watch TV. Pete has just done his shin in by walking into a big log outside, so hopefully he'll be better tomorrow.

 

We will cover this up with a nice big cushion :)

 

 

Thanks for reading again everyone!!! xxxx :D