Birthday celebrations.

So today I want to start with just  a few photos that I found still on my camera from my last holiday visit.  As I had left my camera here the last time I hadn't actually had an opportunity to look at them until now.

So, a few from our day out at the lakes and reservoirs not far from here.  Such a stunning place.

Beautiful setting from the roof

What a lovely area

After our day out I had decided to treat the Mr to dinner at one of the fish restaurants he had told me about, so we arrived and ordered a beer.
About a half hour later, this way the view.  Not a bad way to spend an evening at all.  The food was amazing too.  If I remember correctly, I had brown trout and he had catfish.  There wasn't much left at the end.

Dinner by the lake

I still laugh about this.  You do see some very strange things around, but this really made me laugh:

Lion Dog!

Anyway, enough mad dog antics.  Now to the present.

Yesterday late afternoon I got ushered out and down into town under the pretence of a couple of hours sat chilling out in one of the local open air cafés.  We had a couple of drinks, watched several wedding parties tooting their way through the streets (something I find lovely here), chatted and left for a walk around the park.  

Storm brewing

Something wasn't making sense and I started to get the feeling that the Mr was up to no good.  He was acting very oddly indeed.  Delaying going for a kebab when I said I was hungry.   Whilst standing looking at a map of the region in the town square, it all became clear!  He had invited a few friends out that evening so we could all go to dinner to celebrate my birthday.  Sneaky!  but also a lovely gesture.  I really was thrilled.

The sneak!

What a lovely evening I had.  I got given gifts, ate and drank and laughed.  Wonderful surprise.

After a lovely evening I did something REALLY stupid.  Whilst heading to the loo I spotted a pretty big spider in the hallway.  So in my wisdom, I turned off the light from the camera and tried to get a pic (in the dark) of this huge 8-legged monster, when I stepped forward I kicked the step and actually ripped the top part of my toe off.  Ouchies!!

Ouch!

Not a good end to the evening really.  And so I washed it, sterilised it and wrapped it up before heading to bed.  Still a great way to spend my birthday eve!

This morning I woke around 7.30, which is late for me.  I hopped out of bed and hobbled (slowly) to the loo.  When I got back there were stirrings from the boss.  He sent me back to bed and brought me coffee.  Bless.  Today was about what I wanted to do, so I chose to de-fur Ralf as the poor little bugger has been struggling with the heat.  So we clipped him, showered him and then it was time for the river.  This is what we saw and did:

Sent in to check the depth.  Me not stupid!

Arm bands are so last season, darling.  Floating shoes are the way forward

I had hoped these were Egyptian Vultures, but we think they were storks

Storks

So, I am getting this done and out of the way as the chicken in the oven is starting to make me drool!

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend!

A x

EDIT**

And look what just arrived from the little lady next door.  How very lovely of her!

We really are very lucky with the neighbours!

I'm in and settled, here are some shots!

So, a week has gone by since my arrival, can you believe that?  It has flown!

Anyway, I will start with the thing that most amuses me, even after a week of seeing it.  These little buggers are everywhere.  Every time you take a step, about three of them jump out of the way.  Some, I'm not sure if they are crickets, grasshoppers or locusts, but some have the most amazing colours when they jump.

Is this a cricket?  A grasshopper?  A locust?  Too many bugs!

So, just an idea of what goes on during the week:  We have four builders - Bekir, Sally, Orhan and Mahmet.  They all work like little Trojans, all day every day and really do earn their money here.  I struggle to sit for any length of time in the heat of the day, but they just seem to get on with it all and take regular breaks when it gets too hot up there on the roof, which is pretty much ALL the time.  of course, there is little in the way of health & safety here, so we often see them climbing with fantastic agility and balance it frightens me at times.

Bekir:  Who says Bulgaria doesn't have monkeys?

Over the last few days we have seen and heard a lot of military aircraft in the area.  Today, when I went to the roof in the hope of capturing one of these very loud and very fast planes, I spotted a wasp on top of the beam.  I am pretty pleased with the picture I got.

Wassup!

And finally, the ever evasive swallows that I have been trying to get a decent shot of in flight since I started coming out here.  Here's the little bugger.  Soon they will be flying south in search of warmer (haha) climes!

In flight

And that's it for tonight.  I have been pretty slack in my photo taking this week as I have been focussing on setting up my remote work, but hopefully this is all sorted and I can actually start to show you what a beautiful place I now live in!

Ta ta,

A x

Day 1: The arrival

I stepped off the plane and could not believe the intensity of heat.  It was off with the sweatshirt and out with the vest as soon as I hit the ground.  Wow, what an intense heat, even after the warmth of London in the previous few weeks it was pretty hard to adjust.

After the initial catastrophe in the car park waiting to get out of the barrier, we heading home.  The windows were down and the breeze, well, it was just a blast of hot air:  the sweat began.

I waved off my plane and left for my new home!