70,000 mark reached

First of all, I would like to thank all those regular readers and especially commenters (you keep me motivated) for sticking with me even though I sometimes struggle for something new to say. I really appreciate all of your support and today this humble little story will reach 70,000 page views. That's a big number! So thanks again.


Right, it really is time to get back to healthier eating. I have experimented with the duck eggs and found out what they are good for and what I am not keen on so there are no excuses to keep eating lovely, rich, yummy sweet and savoury goodies.....any excess eggs can be made into cakes and frozen for another time. A time when we are burning off energy in the garden.

Meanwhile.....it was Valentine's day last week. We are old enough to realise that this is just a day for the youngsters and courting  these days, all hype and making single unattached feel lonely. We agreed years ago that we are past all that, but despite everything there is always a card and token something. Dave managed to find a pretty card and put words from stock on the front and I had some cards made, not very romantic to give one I already had, but waste not.... He also found a box of Toffifee which I used to like but as he refused to share, I made a chocolate cake. Then of course, to make sure I got a share of gooey cake I had to decorate it with toffifee so he had a share of mine. Following?

Such a hardship, but we didn't eat it all. Venka came round late in the day with a tray full of goodies, they were remembering Mama and Papa. We had been having trouble with a leaking pipe in the garden, which we didn't realise actually was a water pipe (just a random pipe sticking out of the lawn) and Dave asked Jordan if he would advise on how to fix it. Mad dash to the hardware shop for a joint and a promise to return next day to fix the leak. So, having their brave pants on, Jordan and Venka came in for cake and coffee despite the dogs milling about. I hope they are starting to realise that the girls are quite harmless (after two years) but Bella doesn't really help with her being wary of strangers, plus her habit of staring and huffing at them through the fence. They are fond of telling everyone that Dave climbed Kilimanjaro five years ago so he put the video the climbers had put together on the computer for them to see....but Jordan's eyesight isn't too good and it must have been a bit boring just starting at the small screen. After inspection and approval of the seedlings off they went.

Our little feast, some cheesy bready stuff, wheat pudding, wafer biscuits and a couple of sachets of three in one coffee so popular here.

We missed pancake day! We didn't realise until people started posting photos of their creations on Facebook. But we made up for it yesterday, having them with fresh lemon syrup, simple is always best. Yum.....and now back to healthy eating! Honest! Duck eggs are good for pancakes!

I have been having a spot of bother with my little notebook. It has served me well (and I am using it now) but it doesn't have much power and has no battery so needs plugging in all the time, also I have been getting mini shocks, but not sure if they are coming from the notebook or the fleeces. Whatever the cause, we decided to go into the city of Veliko Tarnovo to get a new one with the money built up from my mini pension. And we didn't get a bottom of the range one either, for a change. I don't know how we didn't notice that the keyboard is furnished with the cyrillic alphabet as well as the 'normal' one, but it stands to reason that it would. It will take a bit of getting used to, some of the cyrillic letters are similar to our's, but in a different place as they have different meanings. I know I should know where the letters are by now, but I am still very much a novice in terms of hours spent using a keyboard. The computer is bigger and easier than my little mini so I will soon get used to it.

A dull day and dirty windscreen (frozen washer) but thought I would take a few pics of the approach to the city, the cliffs are pretty spectacular and so different with the seasons

We are still in our cold spell, with temperatures well below freezing every night and the odd scattering of snow. Yesterday, when the sun came out we had a visit from a sparrowhawk. Thank goodness we had no chicks about! But what a beautiful bird.

Dave has had a new project. With having all those  damned lovely ducks now a solution had to be found to the problem of getting rid of the water twice a day rather than just tipping it out. Fine in summer when we need more water out there, but it was making everything soggier than ever. So he has dug out under the 'pond' and chucked in a load of rubble which was hanging about to make a soakaway, then made the little darlings a patio with some spare bricks. Bless him, he is happy with a project!

A mad dash, they hadn't had a bath for hours!

 We have a bit of a problem with our lovely old apricot tree. Dave noticed the woodpecker having a good go at it and when he looked found lots of little holes, like woodworm. Not sure what it is but a trim is in order and we will try to save it, the garden in front of the house will be bare without it, never mind the lack of privacy, shade and the fact that Splash loves his tree

We have been given the first martenitsas of the year, by Venka's friend Marika. These little symbol of spring come in all shapes and sizes, from a couple of strands of cotton to little dolls, all in red and white. They are worn from March the first until you either see a white stork or a fruit tree in blossom (our cornel is already in blossom!) then it is hung on a blossom tree to bring good luck and fruitfulness in the coming year. Our's from last year are still in the cornel tree.

http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/martenitsa-bulgarian-tradition.html

Smug cat