16th January 2019

Isn't it great when you have lots of new projects you want to get stuck into? I like living that way - having several things on the go which I can dip in and out of as the fancy takes me, fancies which are usually dictated by the outside temperature and my proximity to the fire at this time of year. I love my log fire. I love that even on the coldest morning I can come downstairs, rake over the embers from the previous night, whack in a few bits of kindling and by the time the kettle's boiled for the essential first mug of tea, the flames are blazing and cosy flickering heat is once more filling the living room. I'm a creature of habit, and so that first 15 minutes of the day is quite ritualistic: go the loo (of course), put the kettle on, restart the fire, treat whichever cat (Poppy or Finlay) may have stayed indoors overnight, to a few kitty snacks, pour hot water into the mug with teabag, bring in some larger logs from just outside the door to boost the blaze, at which point Alfie and the other cat fly into the house - Alfie to the settee, which he tolerates for about 10 minutes before panting to go out again, and the cat to the kitchen to glare at the sibling who has not only slept indoors all night but has apparently just scoffed some luxury kibbles to boot. Finish making tea, put the telly on for the morning news, and the routine is complete. The perfect start to the day.

There's been an addition to the daily routine of late by way of a fitness kick (if it lasts till the end of January it will be a personal record). After having several sessions to treat back pain, which has been getting increasingly worse for many years, and discovering that thankfully there was no nasty physical underlying cause e.g. slipped discs, I decided that I really need to do as much as I can to improve my general flexibility and fitness levels. Someone recommended a YouTube channel to me - Lesley Sansone for anyone interested - where there are lots of fairly short videos enabling you to get fit by walking a mile at a time. And it's so easy! Fifteen minutes between watching films and boom, that's another mile walked, it's brilliant. At other times of the day I'll do a couple of the Bulgarian folk dances I've learned (which can really get the heart pumping) or I'll nip to the exercise bike in the garage and do a quick burst of 100 pedals. Hopefully, as well as helping with general fitness and back strength, this will also whittle down the scary 35 inch waistline I seem to have acquired.

The road to citizenship plods onwards, though I now have a bit of a deadline by which to have all documentation ready. That is the 8th of February, randomly selected for when I'll meet up with a fellow Brit who is also applying for citizenship. Once we've compared notes and agreed that our paperwork is in order we will book an appointment online for heading off to Sofia to hand over said paperwork and be interviewed. To be honest I'm going ahead regardless of what may or may not transpire from the shambles that is Brexit. It's a challenge, and I like nothing more than conquering virtual mountains.

So, what else have I been up to? Well, walking the dogs a little more frequently for a start (selfishly for my benefit, not theirs), and it was on one such walk recently that I spotted these little footprints in the snow:

A friend informs me that they are probably from a squirrel. I guess the sunny day woke it up for a quick forage around. I love when it's snowy like that and you can see so many tracks. Most of them are from hares which have a huge leap between prints sometimes!

I've just realised a lot of today's photos will have 'Pocophone' printed on them. That's my new baby and Christmas treat to myself - a phone with a screen I can almost see without my glasses, and all sorts of fancy photo things like being able to take a slow motion video.

Some projects lurk in the shadows awaiting warmer days, and one such item is a gorgeous old wood burning stove given to me by some neighbours. It was totally caked in black oil to stop it from rusting, so my first job has been to gradually wash off all the grime. And this is the result thus far:

Once it's all scrubbed clean and the loose rust rubbed off, I can use filler and fire rope to make it smoke tight, then I'll paint it in nice black heat resistant paint. The plan is to have a little chimney put into my shed so I can use the stove for cooking in summer or just haing a nice warm workshop space in winter. I'll keep you posted on progress, though there won't be anymore washing down until a very warm day or my hands will shrivel and die.

It's indoor crafty season really, and I finally got round to crocheting myself a pair of slipper socks. A friend gave me several balls of beautiful thick wool in shades of blue, purple and green, so I used some to make the booties, and then went wild with leaves for a decoration.

They are SO toasty and warm, if an inch or so too long. I swear they fitted perfectly when I was trying them on as I made them, but as soon as they were all sewn up they suddenly grew. To protect the wool from wearing out too quickly I've made some soles from some soft suede/leather type material found in a secondhand shop.

I plan to make another pair out of some creamy wool I've got, but they will be embellished with beaded crochet flowers. (Beads are my latest obsession).

We've had a few downfalls of snow and accompanying cold temperatures, and one of the things that always happens when the snow starts to melt is that it drips off the little roof over the front gate and gathers in a nice icy stalagmite right on the path, making entry and exit from the property slightly risky, especially in the dark. Captain Plastic to the rescue and one very flimsy, cockeyed piece of DIY guttering now takes the drips away onto the gravel at the side of the path.

The pets are all fine. The dogs seem quite content to run and snuffle around in the snow for hours, and will often plunge into the densest of thickets in pursuit of a scent trail. Perhaps the jackals venture closer to villages in winter, leaving their calling cards behind. The cats love the snow because it brings the birds onto the seed feeder by the house, and I've already found a few piles of feathers blowing around the patio. I'm guessing the rats and mice are more conspicuous too, as there have been several catches. Poppy enjoyed the remains of one brought home by Molly the other week:

I'm hoping it was the little beggar that discovered and chomped two of my biggest squashes:

I don't know how long it was nibbling in order to have worked halfway through it! Perhaps I should have left this enormous loaf out for it instead:

I won that at a Christmas raffle, and despite giving half away, there's still a hefty slab left in the freezer.

To finish, here's an arty farty picture of the sunset through a sheet of ice I removed from one of the big water buckets:

Strange to imagine in seven months or so how I'll wish for such a slab of ice to curl up in the shade with.