Never got to this yesterday…I was far too busy out in the garden.
Awoke to an absolutley beautiful day…warm, calm..a perfect day for planting. I started planting the roses when I was joined by my Bulgarian expert, Christina. She helped me plant them and showed me how to plant to protect them from the frozen winter that’s knocking on the door just now. You basically bury them….once they’re planted, you mound loose soil right up over them so there’s only about an inch of the rose cutting poking out…..and as an extra precaution, the rose cuttings are waxed. How’s that for damned clever :o)
I’ve got Bill & Leslie in Yambol today buying me some more roses…I forget how much ground I’ve got here…and that’s just at the front of the house….and eight roses added to the two already here, just aren’t going to be enough….so I’m getting eight more to fill in some more gaps. If they succeed, the place should be full of roses next summer, which will be something to really look forward to.
Anyway, from roses to bulbs, edible and not…….Christina then obviously wanted to see what else I had in my big bag of things to plant and then helped me get all the tulips and daffodils in AND then helped me do the garlic…the Bulgarian way. Even with the impending freeze, they don’t tamp things down, just dig a shallow trench, stick the bulbs and garlic in pointing up the right way and then just loosely cover them with soil. I though you’de have to tamp the soil down to protect them, but no…..so not only is everything in the ground, but I’ve also learnt something. Let’s hope they all come up now….the garden will be a picture in spring if they do.
Had another night out in Yambol last night…..quite the social butterfly me :o)
Bill & Leslie were meeting a young Scottish guy that we all met in September, for dinner and dragged me along. A great night surrounded by bloody Scots !! There were eleven of us at the table….seven were Scottish, three of us had lived in Scotland and Margarite, the lone Bulgarian, is married to one….the buggers are everywhere :o)
Worse than Australians…….
Had a really good time…..it has to be said, the Scots are possibly some of the funniest people I’ve come across in my life, so it was a night of much laughter….and plenty of good food and wine. What more could you ask for.
Perhaps another incredibly star filled sky ??….Oh, silly me…..I didn’t have to ask for that, it just was….I got to lay in my bed for a wee while before the wine sent me of to the land of nod, and again the sky was amazing. It’s not black, it’s a deep, deep velvety blue and with its curtain of stars, it almost looks artificial, almost unreal…will never cease to fill me with wonder….just the most fabulous sight to nod off to. :o)
The builders are still here over specifying my back shed…..I went ballistic yesterday because instead of recycling all the timber from the demolition, the builder has ordered new stuff. I asked the builder why he wasn’t using the old, and he replied that it wasn’t good and the shed would fall down. I mentioned that those timbers had managed to keep the damned thing standing for 20 years…he retorted that if he used them, in 20 years it would fall down again….to which I replied (in a calm and deadly voice), ‘I don’t fucking care !!! I’ll probably be dead or living in a different country in 20 years and I don’t give a tinkers toss if the bloody thing falls down then !!!’
Which garnered a stunned look from the builder….I have no idea if he understood a single word I said, but I think he got the message from the tone of my voice and the look on my face.
I was rope-able about it and had a few words to the agent last night. I think he must have said something because I notice this evening that they’ve actually used some of the old timber…not a lot mind you….a fairly obvious token gesture meant to make me happy…it doesn’t.
At least I’ll have a good bomb shelter should the Balkans ever erupt again.
The power has just gone off, for the third time today….this is going to be a test for me…can I prepare a meal and get the house warm with no electricity?….the fire is no problem, that’s already underway…the cooking could be a different matter. Got the gas hob, but no oven, no microwave….and I’ve made a shepherd pie. Can you heat up a shepherds pie in a saucepan without it become a large pile of splodge ??? I guess that’s something I could be about to find out…….And do Leslie and Bill want a romantic, candlelit dinner……for three !! :o)
