Nurturing Nature

We saw a teeny tiny owl right at the top of a the tree behind the neighbours’ house at dusk last night, even its little beak could be seen as it called out to its friend a few trees away. This was a delightfully peaceful end to a very busy month which has whizzed by in a blur of DIY, travel and wall-to-wall visitors.

Since the bees have woken up we have been a hive of industry ourselves. The leaf-children (as I call my seedlings) have been coming on a treat under the old windows set up in the garden as a makeshift cold frame. Pricking out is a new term I’ve learnt as well, although I’m still not sure I’ve completely got the hang of it, as I might have planted eight individual blades of grass in little pots, rather than the impatiens flowers that were supposed to have come through…oops.

Leaf Children - out from under glass

Curry arrives at NovoP restaurant - bravo Zlatina!

Jeremy set about making a cabinet for the washing machine, whilst I dusted off the sewing machine and made my first roman blind. We also took ourselves, pencils and a sketch pad off to the restaurant to thrash out a design for the rest of the garden, as it really is time it stopped looking like a woodyard (and wouldn’t it be nice to have somewhere to hang our hammocks?)

How to make a Roman blind...

...without using a pointed stick.

Ivan prepares the carport for concrete

...then takes a well-earned break

Ivan has nearly finished concreting the car port and is also well on the way to putting the foundations in for some more fence. In between all of that he has been lugging some of our many stones (we still don’t know quite where they have all come from) and used them to divide up different zones in the garden which, with much help and advice from M-i-L Sue, now features a colourful herbaceous border.

Planting out the herbaceous border

Anne learns LOTS from Sue

Smile - you've been tangoed

Tom popped over for a few days with his camera and took pictures of everything. We saw our local storks with new eyes, which was particularly amazing as a new nest has arrived on a nearby telegraph pole and we are right on their flight path. (Not so great for the washing on the line, but try not to think about that.) Tom was able to converse with Ivan in Greek who was overjoyed to be able to practise the language again.

Da boyz, hanging in Nesebur

Our storks - in action

Me? Show off?? Never...

We squeezed in a lightning visit to our friends Chris & Cled in Yambol, who we really don’t get to see enough of, and Jeremy spent his birthday at the Milan furniture festival – as you do! We also hung out with the spare parents Anne & John who were perfect guests and excellent hosts as ever, together we discovered a new corner of NovoP: a tiny chapel overlooking the reservoir.

The Ladies

Then came the VIP visitors (no offence meant A&J): Sue and Thelma. A very game pair, they stayed at Maura’s comfortable Apartment Lilia, an ideal location for them to relax in their own space, yet only a few minutes walk from ours. We packed in the sight-seeing; they were subjected to everything from fine dining in Burgas to good old-fashioned Bulgarian cuisine at the NovoP restaurant, bird-watching at Poda where we met Philip the pelican, to strolling through Sozopol and supping wine whilst overlooking the old town.

Lunch in Soz. Gluten free? Not a problem!

Twitching at Poda

Philip! Rescued after flying into electrical wires and now a celebrity and permanent resident at Poda

Technical girls

Sunny beach walk in Soz

Sundowners overlooking the Old Town. Delicious.

Then we ALL took a holiday-within-a-holiday at the weekend and drove up to Balchik to see Romanian Queen Marie’s summer residence “Quiet Nest”, a stunning spot comprising palace and gardens, nestled in the cliffs with beautiful views out to sea. We carried on up north to cape Kaliakra the next morning – so far north we could almost see Romania – and caught glimpses of dolphins in the mesmerisingly clear aquamarine sea. Oh yes, and the ubiquitous shell jewellery and fridge magnet vendors, of course.

Summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania (also
Queen Victoria's grand-daughter)

Balchik gardens

Tulips of ...Balchik

Now I wonder if they're related?

Topiary

Steps to the edge of the world at Kaliakra

And so, packed with yet more inspiration for the garden and a renewed fascination for our avian neighbours we are catapulted into May, when I’m bound to find out that the garden really isn’t big enough for the 15+ lupins I’ve started, not to mention the dozens of pretty annuals. I have a feeling I may be using buckets, teapots and wheelbarrows (watch out Mike) as plant containers this year. Still, the weather’s turned up the volume, so any work in the garden is a joy – watch this space for progress. Much love, and more soon!

Sue looking radiant in Balchik gardens

 

And some rather less welcome guests!

Tags: impatiens flowers, travel, vacation

Spring Into Action

We were glad to spend the first few days of March chez Oxford Sue, having a bit of a sort through and clear out after Grandma’s funeral. We hung pictures, moved furniture, looked through photo albums, retuned the telly, put things in piles, dropped off at charity shops (and bought as well, I confess) and in between all that were able to relax too, with a visit to the cinema to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was great! Yes, the auditorium was a host of silver, bespectacled, fleece-wearers, but I have the feeling we have more in common with this generation than our own! Admittedly we don’t do any baby-sitting of grandchildren…so perhaps that’s where the similarity ends.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Helly’s new beau, Nathan whilst we were over. It was a day filled with laughter, as we did an hour’s walk in sideways rain before we sat down in a very nice pub, put several layers of clothing on the nearest radiator, and watched a light steam rise whilst eating a splendid Sunday dinner.

Nathan's Birthday Lunch (socks on radiator)

Waiting for taxi...it had snowed by this point

The UK was a bit earlier in getting spring started: blossom and daffs were already evident on our trip at the end of February. NovoP only started budding the week before the clocks changed, when the storks showed up to air their nests ready for this year’s brood. We’re on a roll now with blossom and spring flowers all over; even the bees have woken up providing a steady bass line for day to day life.

"Before"

Ths month has been quite heavy on work for both of us, but in between we’ve been racing against the calendar to get seeds started. This time I’m trying a few flowers as well as the usual tomatoes and peppers, and I’m also seeing whether I can propagate more diverse herbs such as marjoram and thyme… I’ll keep you posted. It was time for the roses and clematis to be pruned, too, so I snuck out with my secateurs having checked the coast was clear. Just as I was making my final snips, a baba leaned over the fence to tell me I’d done it all wrong. So after rectifying my actions and cutting much futher back, it’s either dead or we’ll have the best roses in the village. Time will tell!

Stork-pecked

Jeremy worked hard in the garden putting in new wooden borders, whilst I was riding the travelators of Musikmesse. On my return we also reinstalled the solar lights. When unpacking them from winter storage, it turned out we have quite a few. So many in fact, that I could have arranged the Sofia flight to land in the garden.

Foundations

In case the organic side of the garden didn’t constitute enough of a project, Jeremy has set Ivan the task of building a car port. Mainly to get the car off the road to avoid future altercations with dustbin lorries, but also to try and recycle some of the large amounts of building materials that we have accumulated, and we look forward to have some semblance of order around the outside of the house this year. I have to add, it’s nice to hear Ivan’s tuneful whistle from my window upstairs, very reminiscent of our first few months in the village.

Elena has also been busy, organising another show in the village to keep the kids entertained. We have clips and stills of the talented youth by the bucketload, with Jeremy now the established photographer/videographer at these events – and the tallest, whitest person in the room, to boot!!

Taking their bows

NovoP 'review' audience

So with friends old and new, we March into April with this coming month seeing Tom, Sue & Thelma in NovoP to experience spring in south eastern Bulgaria. We look forward to lots more exploring with them all! More soon…but before you go, check out the following clip from the NovoP Review

Freezing February

NovoP 'SanFran' bridge: COLD

We approached February with our loins thoroughly girded; somehow it is even more gloomy and chilly than January here in the Balkans. Sadly we can’t run off to a Caribbean paradise every year, so 2012 has seen us battening down the hatches and sitting it out.

And phew!  It. Was. Cold.

Corks plug the gaps

Attired in numerous layers of wool (and giving each other and the cats regular static shocks), code orange continued and NovoP added insult to injury by presenting a five-hour power cut one afternoon. Of course that writes off the internet and any work on the computer. But what about the heating? Yes, there’s the wood-burning stove, but it’s electricity which pumps the hot water around the radiators, and stops the back boiler exploding. Happily the generator has recently had a makeover (thank you Steve) and once that was chugging away on the terrace, we were able to plug ourselves back in leaving us warm enough to play Boggle by candlelight (until the batteries ran out, that is).

Yet more snow arrived and the cold gets right into our bones. Ice-cold draughts trickle down from the most unexpected places: one lunchtime we spent chopping up old wine bottle corks and stuffing them into the cracks and knot-holes in the living room ceiling, and we have finally started working on Project Skirting Boards to minimise any further heat loss.

Burgas lake: FROZEN

To counter the chill, we have warmed ourselves metaphorically by joining in more village frivolities, including Wine Day which easily trumps Valentine’s day on the 14th. Based on another pagan ritual, this time encouraging the grapes, the mayor of Primorsko and the village mayoress pruned the three best sprigs from our neighbours’ vine and poured wine on them as a blessing for a rich harvest. This was followed by some of the local ladies having a bit of a sing, doing some diddly-diddly dancing, after which all the village bigwigs bundled themselves into the village restaurant. We went too! (And no, we aren’t bigwigs.)

Girls About Village

Local 'Musika'

Todor, Zhechka & Mayor/Mayoress prepare the vine cutters

Todor's vines get the pagan treatment

It was a specially arranged wine-tasting grading the home-made wines of the local producers; according to the news article about the event (omg the village has online coverage!) the amount of sunshine in NovoP cultivates extra-sweet grapes, therefore yielding particularly good dessert wines. It should be noted that this all started before 11am, which despite improving our conversational Bulgarian did preclude us from much further productivity.

First glass of the day! Ivan & Elena join the party

We trolled along to the kids’ show held in the village concert hall organised by Elena. Comprising sketches and dancing, it was so well received by the locals that she’s been given the task of organising another one! This time she’s raising her game and Queen’s “I want to break free” video may be re-enacted on the NovoP stage next month! We’ll keep you posted on that one.

Ivan's surprise exploding muffins

Marin's special birthday cushion

Both Ivan and ‘baby’ Marin have celebrated their birthdays this month. We treated Ivan to a special birthday dinner at the restaurant, which has become our second home and is an ideal as a post-ramble hangout too! We have enjoyed a few invigorating walks at weekends: overlooking the frozen Burgas lake and tramping across the snowy hills surrounding NovoP, both of which are already a million miles from the glimpses of spring and warm breezes we’ve enjoyed in the last few days.

Jeremy & Mike disagree

Snowy Strandzha

Maura flies in for an 18-hour visit to Burgas

BOO!

Could this be thanks to the Kukeri who have been scaring off the winter spirits in their masks and costumes?? Whatever it is, we are nearing the end of February and the scent of spring is in our nostrils, with Baba Marta knocking on the door heralding the next festival of 1st March.

The one piece of sad news this month is the passing of Jeremy’s Grandma ‘Dougal’, who will be given a warm-hearted send-off at the end of the month after nearly 99 years on the planet. She was the first person that we told about our crackpot idea to emigrate to Bulgaria (and was surprisingly supportive) so we raise a glass of Bulgarian wine to her memory.

Margaret Smallwood 1913 - 2012

Tags: Bulgaria, draught, Grandma Dougal, Kukeri, Mehana Terzievi, Novo Panicharevo, Primorsko, Trifon Zareza, village, Wine Day

January Tales

After resolving not to get sucked into a dark and gloomy winter this year, I’m happy to report that January has proved to be quite the opposite: both metaphorically and literally.

Petya washes her hands in her role as 'Village Midwife'

We have enjoyed one of the most social months since we’ve been here, celebrating name days with our friends Yordan and Ivan and their families. Yordanovden has the added curiosity of a priest coming to the village, blessing a cross then chucking it into the reservoir, so some semi-naked teenagers can jump in after it. Apparently if you’re first to swim and catch it, you get a whole heap of luck for the rest of the year. Or pneumonia.

Dancing away the winter blues (in sleet)

I was also invited to join in at the old pagan female festival of Babinden (Grandma Day) which is dedicated to women who help in childbirth. Our good friend Petya ‘played’ the midwife and washed her hands under a fruit tree in the square, splashing water over the gathered crowd for health and prosperity. This was followed by a bit of diddly-diddly dancing in the square and an intense afternoon with 51 other village ladies: all of whom smoked at each other and drank rakia across tables heaving with food. Possibly negating any effects of the earlier ritual.

Me & my good mate Penka on Babinden

We took ourselves off skiing for a long weekend and had an absolute ball in Borovets, having discovered the resort with friends a couple of years ago. We were staying so close to the slopes this time we could have skied back to the apartment had it not been on the second floor, and we revelled in the fact that whilst we were there, we were enjoying the best snow for some twenty years! We had so much fun, we hope to go back again in March – but not with squeezy Marmite this time, which at altitude doesn’t stop squeezing. At all.

Jeremy at the top

Anne playing catch up

Well earned hot wine break at -11C - George's Bar

We are very pleased to announce the opening of a restaurant in NovoP: Mehana Terzievi. Indeed we are so extremely excited that there is a local eatery now, that we celebrated by drinking rather too much wine there last week and dancing the hora (Bulgarian line dance) with the owner. Just the three of us. I can’t decide whether the other diners were entertained or simply bemused by the whole evening, but at least we keep it interesting!

Yay! We've survived January!!

There have been low points. The dustbin lorry drove past the house last week scraping the whole wing mirror and some of the paint off the car, which has meant we’re now wading into the world of Bulgarian insurance claims. ‘Midwife’ Petya drew on some of her other skills, and was a tremendous help filling in the forms and liaising with us and the lorry driver, making what seemed like an impossible task more bearable. Next stop is taking the damaged car to Burgas to show the other chap’s insurance company, a trip we haven’t been able to do yet, as we’re currently up to our armpits in snow.

Blizzards besieged the country last week, leaving a lot of Bulgaria under code orange (whatever that means) and in some cases without electricity and water. We are lucky, in that although we have had power cuts, they haven’t lasted long enough to allow our petchka to boil over (or affect our television viewing) and the internet has only dropped off for a few hours at a time. It has however meant we have not been able to leave the village at all, as the roads are polished to the point of being lethal.

Having said that we have had some beautiful crisp, sparkly white days covered with a canopy of cloudless blue, which have lifted spirits which might otherwise have been frozen solid. Time to slide to the local shop and see whether they’ve had their bread delivery, otherwise it’s plan B: make our own!

Much love from an orange & white NovoP xxx

And this is where we have spent many an evening cosied up in front of the petchka

Merry Missive

Ignoring the fact that we’re galloping towards the end of 2011, we’ve been indulging ourselves over the last few days and making the most of the last hours of the year with the help of some of our Christmas gifts. After a long, scented truffle flavoured bath – being careful not to confuse the bath bomb with the real truffles in the prezzie pile – I have slathered myself in papaya body butter and rose hand cream. Looking at today’s grey, drizzly weather, it would appear to be an ideal time to slip into my new thermal vest (fwoar), put on a few scented candles, start filling in next year’s calendar, then curl up in front of a Miranda DVD!

Seeing in 2011 with Matt & Mel

Shumensko Composer "Pancho Vladigeroff" Museum - brrr

Tim & Julie's catalogue pose on Arkutino beach

Looking back with the help of my detailed diary (last year’s resolution which, rather amazingly, lasted all 365 days) it is astonishing how much we have packed in. With Matt & Mel we discovered the northern city of Shumen in the snow, Tim & Julie helped us explore more Easter walks around NovoP, Simon & Philip treated us to a VIP stay in Sveti Vlas and Moth & Ag redecorated our living room, visited the Tolstoy museum and found out quite how hot it gets over here in summer: “Your father isn’t wearing enough suncream.”

"Yay! We're in NovoP!!" - T&J

New friends Anne & John showed us the delights of Sozopol from their wonderful apartment overlooking the old town and their rustic fishing boat as well as from the unusual vantage point of inside a 30-year-old Rolls Royce, whilst Claire, Jo & Andrew were buffeted on a bright but chilly Primorsko beach and made an admirable dent in the red wine – and meat – supplies of eastern Europe.

Philip & Simon whisk us off our feet

An unusual sight in NovoP

Not all visitors were welcomed quite so heartily, with one family in particular that needed dispatching – before you start speculating, it was the deathwatch beetles. A few 5mm holes in the bedframe belied considerable damage, but we hope to have caught them before they started eating the house. Equally unpleasant this year was finding out what it’s like inside the Burgas psychiatric hospital, but an experience all the same..luckily the unfortunate chap who was admitted is now fit and well again. We’re not at all sure about the ‘friend’ he came over with however, who has since completely disappeared.

Summer fun with little sis (and King Kong)

More exploring - this time in green

Helly popped over twice this year, once in July and again just before Christmas. During the last visit, we went on a roadtrip encompassing Svilengrad to see a 500 year old bridge, then a slightly less impressive bridge in Harmanli, on to Haskovo where we happened upon the world’s biggest statue of Mary with baby Jesus and finally hung out in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second city. Back at the house we also managed to fit in walking, cooking, découpage, reading, cat cuddling, crochet, more red wine tasting and even survived a 1.5 hour power cut!

Gosho & Anne paint the beams

Jeremy handles the tools

The terrace was the Big Job Of The Year, Jeremy having researched and coordinated the roof construction, then building the furniture, comprising two sofas and a parapet, which vastly increase the storage capacity of the house. Thanks to Gosho and Steve for their help! We slept outside for most of August and September, and I can report that November saw me finish the upholstering of the sofa, finally. The premature opening party was held in August with Ivan cutting the ribbon.In between visitors, we have squeezed in a few trips ourselves.

Jeremy at our Hat Party earlier in the year

We went on our honeymoon in February – only 2.5 years late – staying with step-mum Eve in Antigua and soaking up the Caribbean sun whilst Bulgaria was still blanketed in winter. We also helped Jeremy’s mum Sue celebrate a big birthday along with Alison, Charlotte and Peter, taking her to Oxford Prison and quickly releasing her in time for lunch at the Ashmolean.

Birthday Girl Sue

We were also invited to the other wedding of the year, Luke & Louise who met 3 years earlier at our wedding, and it was an honour to be a part of their special day in Bournemouth. Helly had a big birthday herself this year, and we joined in heartily at her fancy dress party. Most recently we spent a white Xmas in a pink village west of Veliko Turnovo, with big thanks to Helgi and Paul for making us feel part of the family for three lovely days.

Helgi & Paul chez eux

The garden has taken up much of our time again this year, providing an array of veg from the usual shopska ingredients to beetroot, spinach, garlic, sprouts, aubergines, sugar snaps, rocket and broccoli. This has meant we’ve had ample ingredients for sweet chilli sauce, aubergine and tomato chutney, as well as trying out new preserves such as plum & apple jam, peach pickle and lemon marmalade.

Rows of veg!

Jeremy has also tried his hand at some more ‘interesting’ preserves including quince vodka and sloe gin, the latter having become a permanent fixture in the hip flask! An entirely vegetarian lent has also broadened our culinary skill set, and the procurement of another silicon muffin tray has led to more variation on the sweet theme…

Oof!

..so thank goodness for yoga, with which we have kept ourselves relatively fit with the help of both Sarah and Linda; and more recently I have been reacquainting myself with massage and reiki – thanks to Elsa for the loan of the treatment table as well as the support.

Sending big hugs to all who sent Christmas greetings, it means a lot to hear from friends and family far and wide. We hope to be able carry on with our explorings into the new year and very much hope that you enjoy a few more festive frovilities, followed by a happy, successful, sparkly 2012. Oh, and if you’d like to pop over to Bulgaria we’d be happy to see you!

With love from NovoP,
Jeremy, Anne, Osem, Sedem & Shest  xxxx

Much love from us both!

Osem

Sedem

Shest

Antigua Feb 2011

With PALM trees!

That’s Jolly Beach bar, rather than a jolly beach bar – although, actually it was quite!

Insanely expensive, but rather nice, apparently…

…which was closed for renovation!

rraarrrr

…at Betty’s Hope, in the renovated sugar mill

YES! Somebody really actually lives here.. wow

Utterly deserted, you can only reach this after a hearty 45 minute walk (or by boat) and it’s really worth it…

….didn’t need Good Luck to eat here, it was surprisingly good!

“Get these mother-flippin snakes out of this mother-flippin bar!”

mid sniff, not her best side…

*sigh*

I know. Seriously. It’s amazing.

- no it hasn’t been tweaked, it really WAS that colour!

…feat. Hans & Sunnyside

The winter of our contentment

“I like to walk on fresh fallen snow
The kind that whispers and speaks.
It sings a song as I walk along
With crackles and scrunches and squeaks”

an excert from Winter Morning Poem by Ogden Nash

Every morning one of us lights the fire, which has become an auto response to the cold, and the morning routine, like brushing your teeth or making a hot drink. If one was to buy a book of poems in say 1930, do you think a little set of leaflets would fall out when you opened the book for the first time advertising leather boots with heels and ski holidays. Maybe not, but if you navigate to www.poemhunter.com, you WILL find said items for sale as if they are natural companions, and when you think of one you automatically think of the other.

The pictures are from Matt & Mel’s stay with us over New Year in Novo P, the snow and winter life in BG.