herewith a peek!

I s'pose these can be found anywhere.... well, just so you know, they are here too

Jean-Pierre's turn to do the laundry

Varna - so pretty

Dobrich- so far an absolute NO NO. We were not impreseed with this city at all.

Varna holds the third oldest Roman Ruins in the world... and this is a genuine "Ruin".... go figga.

Dobrich - one block of blocks upon each other ...eek1

more eek!

Varna has a beautiful centre... We realy liked this city.

So slack so slack!!

I understand that I have been extremely lax in updating you on this site.... excuses could be many but then again they could be of no consequence either. I am in love with this country. I love the people... weather is still a little warm for my liking but the temperatures promise to plummet soon... YAY! no seriously, I enjoy cooler weather above the hot humid sticky stuff that seems to signify the continuance of summer. Today I sat in the middle of a park with multiple choices of wifi connection.... free and no password needed either. What a bllessing that was. Okay that means absolutley no excuse for not updating this blog.... sigh. No, it is not a slog, this is a little space of creativity for me in a busy world. Pictures will follow with next posting as I am sitting at a PC that won't accept my camera card.... so till a little while... stilll withing this day's clock.....

what an honour

 
Being in a 'strange' land, meeting different people, hearing odd languages... what an honour!

Coffee ~ not quite a cup full but enough to put hairs on one's chest!

We have travelled rather extensively and apart from China, I believe this is the next in line for labelling a "confusing place".

Some local clown decided that those who cannot read their language can get lost~literally!

 But I honestly would not want to trade it for anything else right now. Having the assurance that we are where we should be at this time brings an incredible amount of inner peace.

honey pots - for honey in yogurt!

I am so thrilled with the progress being made with learning the language that I can visibly see a very large hand at work. It has basically taken ten days to be able to read the language and write it to a satisfactory degree. This is a huge help while driving (we rented a car for a few days) and for finding appropriate busstops! In a nutshell - God is good!

boats in Nessebar Harbour

a pretty

more birds! oh yes and a windmill upon entry to Nessebar Town/Island

 

A wonderful sense of history even if it is not my own...

Boats is boats is boats

Old town of Nessebar

birds, peppers and caravans

On the menu today....

Okay... so Jean-Pierre and I went to a restaurant for lunch today. Up until now we have been buying breat cheese and sausage, supplimented by plums and figs, and generally eating on steps of wherever we find ourselves and from the trunk of the rented car (which we had for three days). Dragging our hot and perspiring bodies out of the sun and sitting down on a comfy couch under the shade of an umbrella this afternoon, was great till the lady brought us the menu. It was in Bulgarski.... no ANGLISKI!
 So... confidently Jean-Pierre instructs young lady to hand it to Yours Truly! Well it took me a while to figure that I had the BEVERAGE menu first... then when I opened the other one... I was able to find dishes that I recognised! That was a wonderful feeling!
 This is what Jean-Pierre saw :
Cалата 
Спагети
лазаня
пица

And well... Rita had no trouble, well sure it took longer than when reading English... But Rita saw
Salads
Spaghetti
Lasagna
Pizza... so easy!
One can even throw in a side order of Potato чипс!

 This is a sign on a construction sight - Prodava Apartments, shops, offices and garages.... see?

Though the food was good, we still enjoy the local fair. Either a пица slice or a Kebab! Great value for money. And finding a 'spot' makes it taste better!
 

Plovdiv, Smolyan, Smilyan and more

stunning views

Amazing..... fabulous people, dodgey carpets on floors , good mattresses, suspect pillows, precarious stretches of road, hair-raising corners,

life

 

optional traffic lights, scary alphabet , majestic mountains, old people - lots,

limited comprehension, much laughter, more guessing, some Mime, no make that much Mime,

something edible?

oh yeah! tasted great though not sure what they are/were

incredible sights, 

new friends and much much grace.

new reading material for some.....

Bulgaria here we come!

It feels as if this has been such a long time coming. The first thing I saw when awaking and looking from the train window was a field of sunflowers.

Which in itself was not so spectacular, as it is the end of their season, but the Bulgarian language book that we 'found' while in India two years ago has a picture of sunflowers on the front cover.

can you spot the Harry Potter book?

Reading here is proving extremely challenging but something I intend to conquer in the next couple of days. After that I will concentrate on the actual language! So far I have picked up that there are many recognisable 'English' words encased in a Bulgarian pronunciation, which is a huge help.

  I think I am falling in love!

and so...

So in a land where fasting all day is the norm, and breaking fast in a celebratory fashion is something that is anticipated with glee, is where we find ourselves..... eating Turkish Delight in the the land of the Turk!

What an interesting place – nothing like what I thought it would be like. I somehow had an incredibly ‘backward’ expectation to say the least! Here the tourists are ‘vol op’ and the locals range from absolute arrogance to humble servitude within the space of four coffee tables....admittedly the coffee tables are surprisingly small.... a little in the Vietnamese tradition, for those who know.

We have decided that the food is wonderful, the music suspect and the people interesting.Lifestyle is appealing as everything happens in a really 'Laid Back' fashion including imbibing tea. Though one has a tendency of letting one's tea get cold.....

Language is not featuring as I decided not to try and conquer it as it is bound to confuse me next week when we go to Bulgaria.

another day closer...

Checking in, checking in.... Rita to Base Rita to Base.... Wednesday evening and all is well. Erm all is probably not so well for everyone, like Granny for instance... see, I forgot to warm her dinner and take it in to her - AGAIN! Two nights in a row, she sat in her daughter's Recliner waiting in vain for someone to bring her dinner. If anything this treatment should up her motivation levels to start doing things for herself again.... one can only hope! Oh yes, and  today we were 'fortunate' enough to catch our house keeper helping herself to Rita's wallet.... ah yes, there were consequences! Wherever we are , lives change, what can I say?
We had another board meeting last night and it was great. Great people, great goals great team... did I mention great? Sigh.... and tomorrow is our last day before heading off to Turkey, Bulgaria and the UK.... starting to think along the lines of what bag I should pack my things in.... oh, and I should do some laundry.....Rita checking out..... лека нощ

bits n pieces

look what I found in our garden last week

Our new skyline --- pretty!
And..... we have a thief in our midst!

 This little Scallywag has stolen his heart... and mine too... sigh, and I don't even like dogs!

frrrizzztsebvb bbnvc

 ʎɐqǝ uo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ ʎnq ı ǝɯıʇ ʇsɐן ǝɥʇ sı sıɥʇ

not todo list

Most of us have a 'list' of things we want to do.... well this week Ifound myself in a situation where I crossed off something on my what NOT TODO LIST!  It was scary, embarassing and shaming to say the least, no you will certainly not get any more details regarding this other than to say that some things have the ability to change one's plans in an instant! Change one's outlook on life entirely and make one vulnerable as one never believed one could be. That 'one' being yours truly! I thank God for faithful friends and His intervention wholeheartedly!
Whew.... next week is most welcome!