Blog
120. Winter in Bulgaria
*Big meat-and-pastry-and-cheese-related sigh* Well, that’s another Christmas and New Year finished. How was it for you? Wild and indulgent? Quiet and contemplative? Ours was somewhere in between: quiet and indulgent. I’d planned to do so much over the break. We...
119. The universe has my back?
I always go through a bit of a self-help phase around Christmas/New Year, and this year is no different. On a recommendation from a client, I’m just about to start reading the brilliantly titled The Universe Has Your Back, which will apparently help me...
118. Christmas countdown
Snow and ice on the village river Number of times it has snowed since my last post: Dunno, lost count. Three? Four? It hasn’t snowed for three days, though, which makes a nice change. Temperature this morning: -9°C. Brrrr. Number of days without our big...
117. Visualising a tropical beach
If I could type under my duvet, believe me I would. As it is, I’ve spent many a morning this past week working in bed, with a duvet and blanket over my legs, laptop on my lap, and fingerless gloves on my poor frozen crone hands. Yes, I’m back in the Bulg after my...
116. Important cider news
There are about 37 other bottles lined up in our hallway waiting for shelving space. It's a sight to warm the cockles. I’ve been remiss in updating you all on the cider progress. Bad Auntie Bulgaria. Bad. We finally got around to bottling the cider around about...
115. Pottery addict
I love Bulgarian pottery in an almost unhealthy way. I mean, it’s not like I want to cover myself in Vaseline and roll around on a set of plates while listening to Sade. But … almost. The in-laws came to stay recently, so we took them on a day trip to Troyan...
114. Should’ve worn my dungarees
Lordy, it’s been a while since I last wrote. Now, what have we been up to… Claire 1 – 0 Goats A herd of goats broke through our fence and trampled around our garden. ‘Help me,’ cried Rob, as he struggled to round them up (and I just stood there taking photos). ‘Er,...
113. Seasons and cider
Isn’t autumn the best? I love the change in temperature, clothes and food. I get strangely excited by getting out my favourite jumpers, wearing woolly hats again, the first lighting of the woodburner, harvesting squash, making toad-in-the-hole. It’s like living in...
112. The bucket list
God, I hate the term ‘bucket list’. In terms of annoying things people say, ‘bucket list’ is right up there with the likes of ‘nom’ and ‘cheer up love, it might never happen’. But I fully embrace the idea of a bucket list. Something about this time of year always...
111. A very Bulgarian party
Party essentials, apparently. Every now and then Bulgaria rises up and slaps me in the face (figuratively speaking) with a reminder of just how different life is here. Like whenever I see our neighbour riding his donkey past our window. Or that time a dear...
110. August roundup
Crumbs, it’s the end of August. Where did that go? It’s been a lean month in terms of exciting Auntie Bulgaria news, as I will now demonstrate: Birthday Weekend (because one day isn’t enough). Oh, how I love Birthday Weekend. I’m not much of a diva in terms of...
109. Tomato? Tomato.
When I was a student, I read a play called Blue Kettle. I don’t remember much about it except the words ‘blue’ and ‘kettle’ began to randomly replace other words in the dialogue until, by the end of the play, ‘blue’ and ‘kettle’ were the only words left. Literally...