Organising Christmas In Bulgaria, Shopping For The Snow!

Photo, with kind permission of Kenneth Taggerty

We are still enjoying lovely sunshine. BUT the snow is on it's way along with freezing conditions. Now is the time to be thinking about making sure we have store cupboards full. So I am busy making a list for my next shopping trip & hope I am in time!

Saying that, the weather is so good I didn't have to light the wood burner till late afternoon for a few days! Dogs are enjoying all day in the garden, which makes a mess of the paths. They play fight all day & the pathways get full of dirt & leaves, so I have been out sweeping the pathways outside the kitchen. Not that this will do much good as tomorrow it will all be scattered again!
I don't mind the snow here, it's not like the UK, but I don't like the rain as my house really suffers from the wet muddy conditions. I am really praying that next year will see the house area paved, which will help keep it cleaner.
I am still battling this blooming virus. Some days I am OK just tired, then others (today) My head pounds & I feel rubbish. Still it is better than it was & I am not the only one finding it difficult to shift it!

Ice skating in Rousse.

We had a day out in Ruse with friends. It was the first day we actually felt cold & thought winter was upon us but then the temps rose yet again :-) We had a great day, very tiring but very enjoyable. We started at the market, which was great, probably the best I have been to for convenience, quality & diversity. We had a blooming brilliant lunch from a kiosk, mmmm cold do with one right now, it was pork escalope in a really soft bap that was more like a wrap full of chips & salad. Sort of on the lines of the kebabs we can get here but far, far better & much more tasty & filling! I shall be on the look out in future. We also went ot the Mall, wow it was much better than the ones I have been to before. There is a fantastic cafe/bar with so many gorgeous cakes, unbelievably scrummy & off course as soon as we saw them we all had to sit & partake along with a coffee. unfortunately I didn't take a photo but take it from me wow!!!! I had a peach cake & the others had mixed fruit.

They have erected an ice skating rink outside the Mall, fantastic but there was only one person on it? I wonder if it gets busier or if it is too expensive for the locals, I would have thought it wouldn't be as its a city with lots of work for people, maybe it was just too early & is busy later? What a great thing to have. When I was young I had a major trek to go scatting in Streatham & would have to walk home, this was a five hour walk!!!! But I loved going, sounds mad now though!!!!!!

After doing our main shop, in which I left my very expensive Radley bag(my one & only expensive bag) hanging over a chair, while we had a drink in the middle of shopping (I love that!!). It was handed into customer services thank goodness, we did the necessary Metro stop, before going back to Sue &Arthur's for a lovely fried bacon bap & gooey cake to finish off the day. Lovely & just like a Christmas shopping trip should be alla Bulgaria. I love this country!

Its fantastic this year, Bulgaria seems to have woken up to Christmas. I don't quite know what has happened, but I have never seen so much Christmas stuff in the shops & in the markets, it's brilliant. It also is not over kill like in the UK which makes it even more special. Its great to get that Christmas spirit feeling, it has been missing in previous years & I didn't realise how much I would miss it. This said it spurned me on to get the decorations & tree up, feels a lot like Christmas is coming now, I am really looking forward to it this year!!!!!

Lots of work has been going on here. Nigel has been very busy but its all stuff you can't see, things that need to be done in prep for winter. Like chopping wood, mending fences & roofs, fixing the pump, mending the water tank, It's never ending when you live in a village. He fell off the ladder a while ago & hurt his bum (no meat) but it is still giving him jip. I think it's more the base of his spine :-( We will keep an eye on it. The next, very important, job is to bottle the wine & get the Rakia made. That is on the agenda for tomorrow while I am at my friends. Something very exciting is happening with her, I will give you details in the next blog & report on how it went. I too have some exciting news but again I am sworn to secrecy at the moment, but I am very honoured ;-D