Last two weeks.

Yes, I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a month.  I am a terrible person who needs a boot in the backside.  Here goes:

So the last two weeks in Bulgaria were pretty hectic, all in all. Just before I revisit those days however, I forgot to show you the AMAZING photo of me wing-walking a MIG!!!  I forgot, somehow, to put this in the last blog - total shame on me!

Wing-walking a MIG!

And also a sensible one with the lovely Mr!

MIG Cuddles

We were determined, most of the time that we would not allow ourselves to get too down at the prospect of going back to the UK and after spending a small part of the morning on the balcony with my coffee one day on a weekend, we both said we would spend as much time out there enjoying the place as we could, despite the drop in temperature in both the morning and the evenings.

Here's looking at you, Mr

Spending five minutes at 6.30am watching the sun come up outside your bedroom is not a bad way to start the day.

Beautiful sunrise

So anyway, the preparation was beginning a good couple of weeks before we were set to leave.  Himself was off out around the huge amount of land, determined to gather and use as much of the fruit within our boundaries as he possibly could.  This has been a pretty interesting exercise this year in that we now know what we have, what we like, what we have too much of and what other bits and bobs we want to grow.

So, yes, Himself is doing the gathering.  It was determined very early on that this was a blue job, not a pink job, as my arms and legs and feet and toes and face and pretty much every bit of me really refuses to get cut, scratched and ripped to pieces.  So there.  I like jams and chutneys and all that, but I am pretty fond of my skin as well.

Where's Wally?

So, as well as the sunrises, the sunsets were important to capture as well.  Memories fade so quickly when you move to new places and I wanted to have some shots to look back on and remind me that it wasn't all a dream.  To remind me that this will be my permanent home in just a few short months.

I love this sunset

When I reminded him of the fact that I would be there permanently next year, look what happened to his face!!

Not a happy Mr

Haha.  I am only kidding.  At least, I hope I didn't jinx it anyway.  We of course had our days when we were a little down about it all, but often a cuddle and a few kind words helped lift the mood and as we had promised, some time outside lapping it all up.

These little frogs seemed to multiply every day and were what entertained me whilst the Mr left the men home and I sat out on the balcony.  They floated like they were dead and also sat on the rocks in Rambo's "pond" until he went for a paddle and then they would hop off and hope to avoid his huge feet.

Peeping

So, most evenings were spent trying to capture this:

More sunset

My favourite sunset

And maybe some of this:  

Moon

So, as I said at the beginning and to which you have seen no proof, we had been mightily busy on the run up to leaving.  So much so in fact, that I have no photos to show you of all the hard work and the sweat and tears shed in the process of clearing up the outside of the building from both rubbish and wood, which we stored away so as to avoid it rotting over winter.  Of course, if you backtrack through the Mr's blog, you will see plenty of photos of me doing all the work I talk of.  

Yes, I know, he is going to put bag of white powder or something in my suitcase as we travel through border control on the way back, just to get me back for all this cheek I'm giving.

Whilst over in Bulgaria I have seen a few things that I have never actually had the pleasure of spotting in the UK, most likely because of the pace of life and the fact I have never really and truly appreciated my surroundings, because let's face it, the UK is also very beautiful in places, but I guess you see and hear things differently when you have the time and a lack of artificial noise around you.  Here is one of those things:

Woody Woodpecker

In between all of this getting ready to leave, we had some very dark and sad days.  Little Ralf, pictured below, went missing.  We got up one morning and he was just nowhere to be found.  We searched and searched, called and whistled, walked up and down mountains and drove around all of the local villages and dirt tracks, asking anyone who would listen if they had seen him.  We were devastated.  I cried a lot.  We both spent days staring out the window in the hope that he would return.  I sat on the balcony for hours listening to the barks around the area of the dogs you really never pay much attention to and more than once I was convinced I heard him and legged it up and around the mountains in search of him.  Nothing.  

Ralf - my Buddy

There came a point when we had to call off the constant search and realise that if he wanted to come back, he would, if indeed he could.  I am still pretty devastated about the little guy not being a part of our little family any longer, he was my little buddy and I miss him terribly, every day.

Earlier in the year I missed a couple of local village fêtes which occur throughout the local area over the warmer months.  I was most disappointed at the time to not have seen or experienced these spectacles.  So as you can imagine, I was like a child at Christmas when I heard there was one in our friend's village close to our leaving date and I hoped against hope that we would have time to pop over and soak up the atmosphere.  And what an atmosphere!

Atmosphere

I certainly was not going to go hungry either - I was slightly concerned what everyone else was going to eat though, but it turns out I was able to share:

My lunch - where is everyone elses?

I gave up a morsel of the goat's leg to the others:

Goat's leg

Hah!  All joking aside, what a treat.  The whole community pulled together and joined in with both the preparations and the celebrations, we even recognised a few faces, such as one of our builders.  The local mayor (kmet), centre shot, making sure I get enough goat.

Goat on a spit

After we had eaten our feast and drank a few beers, enjoying the sun and the banter, we headed around the back of the old school (yes, there is one in need of renovation in most villages) to witness a wrestling contest.  There were all ages, genders and sizes taking part and it was all in good spirits, by most.  There may have been a couple of testosterone filled teenagers getting a little bit lairy towards the end.

Here are some shots of the young ones:

All tactical

All testosterone

And then, enter the heavy weights!  These two guys were absolutely huge.  Solid.  The first one was a local and had he been wearing green, he would have passed for the Hulk himself!

The Hulk, in blue.

They battled and grabbed and there was lycra and ooooh....

All muscle

The grab

The throw

But in the end, sadly for the locals, the out of towner won on the day. His prize?  A sheep.  Yes, A SHEEP!

The winner

We were thinking of our other little buddy whilst we were out celebrating in the neighbouring village and stashed the goat leg bone in a bag for Rambo.  He is such a lovely big dog and was very appreciative of our gift to him:

He can smell it

He is also very protective once you tell him it is his.  See the face on that when Himself got a little bit too close? Haha.  He's like me when it comes to food :)

Step away from the bone, Dad!

And so I draw to a close.  I bet you are glad.  I dream of this view.  This is my favourite view in all the world.  Not because I think it is the most spectacular, not because it is historic and not because it will take everyone's breath away, but because it is now what I consider home.  I cannot wait to get back there.

View

The next time you read something I write will be about our epic drive back to the UK.  I can guarantee much more grumpiness in that one.  You can't wait, can you?

A xx