Boy I Am So Lucky To Be Living Here!!!!!

An October morning by the Yantra
Above Photograph taken by John Dennahy

Todays sunshine & blue sky

We had this snow a couple of weeks ago! I know the world climate has gone MAD!

I was just looking through some of my blog's & realised wow, this is not a holiday blog, this is my LIFE!!!!!
Like everyone else, life can seem mundane. I agonise sometimes that my life has meant nothing to no one! I haven't invented a cure for anything, I haven't changed the world, I have not been important in anyone's life, I am not a famous artist, designer etc! I have made small differences but nothing that others would have done eventually anyway, & then everything I did, was , as it says in the Bible, just for a season. My only accomplishment has been giving birth to three children, which then enabled another 3 people, so far, to be in existence & please God they too will populate etc. So I have partaken in populating the earth & one day maybe a distant relative will find the cure for cancer or something, then I would have accomplished something vicariously from my truly mundane life. My life has not even been exciting, unlike my mums, so I have reached the status of boring old fart! Well now lets see I am not as boring as some, even some I know :-) When I look back, my life with Nigel has been exciting, well for us any way! We have traveled loads & seen the other side of life, which for me is very important. We can all go on holiday but mixing with the real people behind the tourism tells a very different story. That's why I think we have settled very well into life here. We love Bulgarians & their way of life. Sometimes we get a bit frustrated with some of their ways, but then we have to kick ourselves & get over it, it's Bulgaria!
Then looking over this blog & seeing things, pictures, I thought wow, they could be holiday photo's!!!! We are so lucky/fortunate/blessed, which ever way you look at things, to be living this life! Yes it may be unstable at times, there is no financial aid blanket to catch us when things are tight, which can be & often is a challenge, but its a wonderful life! I know its not for everyone, it's rougher, different, challenging but it is also quiet, relaxed, sunny, sociable, happy & very, very different ;-D
I am so happy to have visited the countries we have, meeting the people we have, eating the foods we have. I think it paved the way for us here. All those countries we said although we loved them we could never have lived in them, till we came & looked at Bulgaria. One look was all it took!!! Wasn't that a song?
Well if there is one thing I can pass on through this blog, its this. Come take a look, you don't know what you are missing. Not everyone will love it but if you have adventure in your blood, love green open lands, would love four distinct seasons, yearn for the good life, Have dreams, want more out of life &  more than just a beach on holiday (though we do have that too), then come take a look! Hey I sound like a tourist brochure ;-D Just look at the main photo of the Yantra river. This was taken one glorious autumn morning this week. The colours this time of year are wonderful a mix of golds, reds, bronze, yellows & brown as well as green, gorgeous with the sun shining on them. Then winter brings us a glittering bejeweled palace

 The local & still normal mode of transport.

Sitting at traffic lights next to or behind these is still funky to me, love it. That's ok for me to say but sometimes we pass them on the way to do some shopping & then pass them on the way back when we have finished but they still haven't got to the main road!!!!

Last Christmas morning, it was 24c

This is our village school, Christmas morn, smart hey!

Sunshine filled winter days eating hot corn with garlic sauce, scrummy

My bonking tortoise, Spring is in the air, lol, brilliant!

Summer sunflowers as far as the eye can see, love this season!

Winter means digging out the paths

Growing things I have never even seen before! (These are Quince)

Growing stuff I love, but have never considered growing!

I love growing the chillie's, they always turn red & when dried I grind them for use all year

Daily pickings meant daily preserving & cooking

The harvesting got larger & larger every day :-) & so did the cooking & baking

I spend alot of my time during the harvest season trying to find different things to make with the crops

I don't have to agonise over what to make with our grape crop, Vino & Rakia, under construction now.

 Pumpkins & Butternuts are my fave though as there is so much I can do with these :-)

So when you hear me moan, take no notice, remember its not a real moan its just a grumble from an old fart who has forgotten just what we have :-)
Winters coming & in England I would be dreading this, but not here. Here we hibernate after preparing for the worst & hope for the best, its an adventure & we are warm, so what!!!!! We look forward to spring coming & awakening the countryside & property, work starts again & life goes on with sunshine lifting our spirits, so come on winter, lets party!!!!!