Spring-Summer plus progress

The colours are absolutely incredible. Most gardens boast a plethora of bulb flowers.

Even the ones that nobody ever plants are enjoyed... 

Some so yummy looking.... you want ice cream now don't you?

Green...

 

more green...

Day or night...Beautiful.

Jean-Pierre is now the proud owner of a ....ROOSTER???

YEAH! After all his hard labour  he has been rewarded with a rooster that when touched or moved, flashes red eyes and crows... THREE TIMES!!!

Here we were feeling a little like the story of the Elves and the Shoemaker,

 the only difference being...

Deshka and Stefan are not elves and neither are they making shoes! They came to cut down our very own little but growing jungle. Bless 'em.

More Antics happening in kitchen very soon will show the final result.

Meesta up to his tricks again... Bless 'im too.

 

 

 

bumper update...

This is what we saw...more is what we would have liked to capture, but we were arrested by a friendly villager who insisted on becoming fast friends! He stopped his car in the street and started chatting away in really fluent Bulgarian...go figga. He insisted that we exchange phone numbers, said he would call next week with a time that we go with him to his home and share a meal. Then wanted to see the progress on the work in the house, then upon leaving, after proclaiming how good this old place could look, insisted on giving us his "Bulgarian Bread" which had been keeping him company while riding shotgun in his rather dodgy car. love it!

 Progress is sure albeit slow in the kitchen area. Jean-Pierre simply loves to be able to solve problems that arise...bless him.

 From Dimiter and Marianna's kitchen, the view of their garden is a magnificent blast of colour. Last Thursday we had dinner with them... two hours of solid Bulgarian, no hope of translation besides that which you can come up with on your own, is ENOUGH! We were exhausted when we got back home. But had a great time.

This still remains pretty, 

Our Bulgarian 'home' - spotted from the forest on the northern edge of the village, thanks to the blue window frames!

 Early morning walk on the top of the village Saturday morning. What a lovely time of day. Sitting with my back against a tree listening to the birds...among the birds, one only could I recognise... a cuckoo!

And that's just because it speaks the same language as my mothers old wooden clock ...

on my way home...

At home... still loving it.

Marvelous inventions

WOOD

What a marvelous phenomenon... have wood - have heat.

yay!

The sun showed herself his morning, so promptly the washing machine got loaded, but alas, before the laundry was done, the rain came down...so did the temperature. But... because of marvelous inventions like wood...No problem.

Work in all formats...

Friday saw our garden happy neighbour arriving with gardening tools, energy and 

bright smiles to get some planting done...

This is where the pumpkins have been planted... Deshka also informed us that it could snow on Monday...

Kitchen is looking better and better with each passing day.

So much nicer to prepare food without bare walls which disperse at regular intervals their makings onto the counter tops...yes we even have counter tops!

Deshka was quite correct! This is the sight we awoke to on Monday morning.

A little distance away.

Catching you up

So I know this is the second posting on the same day... but wait, there's more.

While work started in the hallway and the kitchen area I was relegated to "camping" in our 'lounge'. A generous term if ever there was one. But lunch and dinner for four was no real problem. (refer to posts from March 2012 and see that I have done done much more in very much trickier circumstances)

This is the 'work' that badly needed repair.

 This is what it looked like before...After pictures will be sure to follow.

We did have some happy helpers.Lady with power tool=mess

We will persevere!

And continue through to the kitchen in full.

Time spent ...good times

This is a DAY OFF... note Jean-Pierre's attire. He can't wait to get back to work. Not true, we made a quick decision to go and see how much snow was left on the mountain pass... not much as you can see. It was rather a quick melt, as just three days before this picture was taken, this area was covered in snow. And sunshine seemed but a distant dream away.

Doing the 'sightseeing' thing with friends before they return to a constantly 

sunny, warm country...(boring)

Blessings!!!

We are the proud owners of a sewing machine!This is going to be a great help. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you....you know who you are.

And just before our dear (now departed) Friends returned to SA, they decided now would be a good time to turn this little 'sanctuary' upside down, to make their presence known, to be sure.