If you have ever seen a flowering cherry tree and thought how wonderful all that glorious blossom is, I’m sorry but I have to say that peach blossom beats it hands down! Coming from the UK, of course I had never seen peach blossom before. Let me describe it to you – it comes out before the leaves so these little buds appear on the bare branches with little tips of pink. Then they all erupt over the whole tree – each one a perfect flower about half an inch across. At first they are a soft pink with a darker pink bit in the middle but then they turn a few shades darker and by the time they turn into confetti, they are almost red. I have 7 peach trees in the front garden and the mass effect of the blossom was truly stunning – it was almost luminous in the sun. Two trees are directly in front of the kitchen window and I sat at the table a few times and just thought how marvellous and beautiful they were. I also cleaned the windows recently, which was a revelation in itself. And of course, the other brilliant thing about these trees is that they will all be full of peaches in September.

Sadly, the pink wonder is now finished but I quite like having random bits of pink and red confetti everywhere.

There is other blossom around – the pears are out and the apple trees, which produce leaves first then blossom, are just showing the buds. And the black plums have a glorious white blossom with a very strong scent.

Briefly on the gardening stuff – everything is very lush and green – not like this time last year when we almost had to use a pickaxe on the soil. The onions are well up and the potatoes have just started to show. Peas and carrots are up and tomorrow is the right day on the moon calendar to get the peppers, aubergines and cucumbers started.

The toilets and showers are as finished as they’re going to be right now. There is no way I can explain what I really want to do with solar water heating and grey water run-off and stuff like that and its becoming increasing difficult as they guys just do what they think should happen. They’re driving me crazy actually but hopefully tomorrow is the last day and I can think and do things on my own. I wish I was good at building stuff. I look at something and I know what the end product should look like but I have no idea how to get from A to B. Why don’t I know how to fit a door frame or tile a shower? Whats the point of all that education if I cant do basic things like that?

I’m still troubled by the unopened packet of Jubilee Clips that Jo left last year. She was confident I would need them and I haven’t – in fact never in my life have I needed a Jubilee Clip (it’s a thing that plumber’s use) so there is obviously something serious missing.

My Bulgarian is still quite terrible. I am ashamed of the fact that I’ve been here so long and still can’t chat with my neighbours. I don’t know how many times I’ve thought that if I just learned 5 words a day, I would improve enormously but everything about life in here is in English – most of the volunteers are English speaking and if they’re not, then English is a common language.

But I do try and I can usually manage the shopping but there is an exactness about how people Bulgarian that is really frustrating. Because so many people around the world speak English, we are very used to hearing it spoken in many different ways and often very badly. But usually we can guess and figure out what people are trying to say. Here, the emphasis must be on the right syllable – for example Brashno is the word for flour. It is pronounced Brashno. If you say Brashno or if you don’t put any emphasis on either syllable, nobody knows what you are trying to say. This happens so many times and I just think ‘maybe you could just guess!!!’

Baba Penka from across the road frequently comes to visit me. She raps on the window with her stick and usually gives me a jar of something very nice then she sits down and starts to talk. Actually I cant always get to taste the things she bring because I don’t have the right taker-off thing for the lids! The other day I asked one the guys on the building to come in and just make sure she wasn’t asking me anything important. After a while he said, ‘this is just blah, blah’. She just talks – non stop. Sometimes I get words, numbers, places, or years and I usually get the impression that she’s talking about things from long ago. I just shake my head and say Da and try to keep up with whether she’s saying a good thing or an unhappy thing. Sometimes I meet her in the street and she just launches straight into a conversation that she’s obviously already half way through in her head.

I have a persistent volunteer! Danny from Michigan has now been here three times – mostly he’s chopped wood – he chopped my whole 10 cubic meters last autumn. Now he’s just been here for a few days (after having been to Korea and done the Trans-siberian ) and he dismantled the horrible ugly corn store. But the funny thing is that once all the bits of metal came off, its was quite a interesting wooden structure. So now its going to be recycled as a Japanese Tea Room or Pagoda or Summerhouse up the field. I found a lovely spot where people can sit and look at the hill. And maybe Danny is coming back for another couple of days – just enough time to put it up again.

A note on feet and international activities. I have wonderful soft feet right now. That may not sound like a major event, but if you’ve been here, you’ll know how easy it is to have ugly feet with dry skin when you’re out in the field all day in sandals or bare feet. But yesterday I received a parcel – from Israel. A volunteer who is coming next week with her child, sent me some really gorgeous things from the Dead Sea. So I pampered my feet with some thick creamy stuff that smelt of minerals and the desert. Then I ate some toast with real maple syrup direct from Canada and thought about the interesting mix of international people and stuff that I have here. I didn’t think about a carbon footprint or anything boring like that –I just enjoyed the gifts.

Ed, Jess, Jo and I are getting a car share together. We’re going to buy a Lada – as you do in Bulgaria. Last week I saw a really cool one with gold scorpions on the bonnet but sadly it didn’t work out. But I’m sure the Universe will provide and the right cute little Lada will turn up. By the way, a Lada costs around 1000 leva – about £400.

If you haven’t been in touch for a while, it would be lovely to hear from you. And if you can’t think of anywhere to go for a holiday this year, how about Voditsa? Lots of love to everyone.

I’m a bit full with people right now –Julie from Israel and her daughter Lielle are here for another few days and I have 3 volunteers who are staying for 3 months – 2 of them are from South Africa and one from Estonia – Voditsa is such an international place! The three new people are staying in the big tent on the field and of course its never stopped raining since they got here.

The animals are suffering from the undivided attention of a 5 yearold girl! Poor jess has been led around with her lead, up and down the field and she keeps looking at me like ‘why am I doing this?’ The cats took one look at this strange new being and disappeared although little Jackie has been captured a couple of times and then nursed (held tightly) for 2 hours – its character building for them.

The 6th of May is St.George’s day – he’s also the patron saint of Bulgaria. There will be a celebration in the square and we’ll all get slapped around the face with a bunch of wet flowers as we get blessed by the priest. Then we get out jars filled with lamb stew – they don’t need much excuse or reason to kill the animals here and then have a feast.

I had my first involvement with death here last week – 2 guys in the street died. I went to pay my respects and sat for a while beside the body. I saw a few dead bodies in Ireland but here they obviously have a different process for doing whatever they do to the body because they were both very yellow and waxy looking. One guy had his eyes open a little bit which was a bit disconcerting. Anyway, I now know what to do at a Bulgarian burial and I think I’ve learned the right words to say.

It made me think about coffins and the ridiculousness of expensive oak caskets or whatever. They are heavy duty cardboard here – sprayed black with a black cross on the lid. It makes you think how silly it is to pay loads of money for a box that’s going underground where its going to take ages to decompose or its going to be burnt. I cant imagine telling people here how much a coffin costs in the UK.

I’ve kind of given up on my book until the next time I have 3 months to spare with nothing to do. Its about two thirds finished but its become a bit of a hassle now so I’ve just put it away. Sorry but you’ll all have to wait for the great literary outpouring for another year.

Another first – we had an earthquake the other day – scary but exciting. I must remember the next time not to stand there thinking ‘oh its an earthquake’ and just to run out instead! My legs felt very wobbly afterwards and I had a wierd headache. Nothing seemed to fall down but everything shook a lot. I guess people who are reading this who live on the San Andreas Fault (hi Simon) wouldn’t be getting excited about a little wobble – but things did shake.

My friend Elaine up the road, now reckons that she is qualified as a slave! She’s just had 2 weeks of the guest from hell! A woman who couldn’t handle any aspect of basic in her life – like not having a flush toilet, a shower, a washing machine- stuff like that – she demanded so much that Elaine ended up crying and to top it all, after 2 weeks when this woman never put her hand in her pocket once, she had the cheek to leave 50leva. You might be wondering why I’m telling you this but I’m hoping that ‘guest’ in question will read this and apologise to Elaine.

Its now a few days after I started this blog and summer has returned. The skies are blue, the sun is shining, everything is growing, there are other things besides cabbage in the market, people have begun to take off their thick woollen stockings and everything feels lighter and happier. The little yellow plums are nearly out – Rakia making time!

My first real activity is going to happen here in July – I’m running a yoga camp with a yoga teacher I met in Turkey last year. Actually we’re doing 2 – one in July and one in September. go to the Yoga Camp page for more details.

Alexander from South Africa - email me or call immediatly please - i made a mistake with the dates.

It was interesting which bits of my body hurt most with all the new activity – my hands and feet. My feet of course had been encased in at least 2 layers of socks for months and my hands had only been used for typing and pressing the DVD remote control. Both were soft and suffered badly by being used again outside. Which always brings me back to that eternal question, why don’t students of Beauty Therapy want to be volunteers here? I always need a pedicure.

The field is looking great –the grass has started to grow and there’s a touch of bright green now. The Drianka tree (or some name like that) actually got its buds ready last August and as soon as the sun came out, they all blossomed. This tree produces millions of very bitter red berries that stain the area for a metres all around it, the berries taste awful although everyone here says how healthy they are. but right now, the tree is beautiful. Little buds are forming on the plums and peach trees so I’ll be eulogising about them all in turn. I have planted a few hundred potatoes and a million onions and lot of seeds are coming up under the cloches.

Everybody who comes here wants to stay! A guy called Gavin came to stay last week. He and his partner bought a house here a couple of years ago but had some difficulty and were thinking about selling it. He’s just spend a week in the village and loved it so hopefully they’ll stick around –we need more people here! I almost have enough volunteers booked in already for the whole summer.

Development in Voditsa – I have been slowly making the right contacts around here and last week I had a meeting with the Deputy Major of Popovo. Although he was enthusiastic, sadly he was stuck in the past with his ideas of development – they are focusing on big tourist facilities and ignoring the needs of small villages. It was very lucky this day that I didn’t speak Bulgarian because the translator, Peter, turned out to be a very interesting community activist and after the meeting, he took me to meet some really interesting people. I am now part of the Voditsa Local Action Group and I am inciting some creative local rebellion. Basically I am encouraging people to ask questions – not something that was encouraged during communism.

This is where you can help if you’d like to support the rural development of Voditsa. Here is the email address of the Deputy Major  vl_ivanov@popovo.bg  If you can spare 5 minutes, send him an email and say things like:
• You love Voditsa
• You intend to come and live there/visit often/have a holiday house/bring friends etc
• You are interested in the sustainable development of the village and the traditional way of life
• You are interested in what the Municipality is planning to do and would like to be kept informed
• You have a couple of questions – ask these specifically:
o How is he going to support the capacity building of the local people to make sure that the villages don’t die
o How is he going to support the setting up of small businesses in the villages

That’s all but it will show him that its not just me asking these questions and it will keep him on his toes! Don’t worry about it being in English

There are many secrets and mysteries here – we have a secret supermarket; a secret hardware shop; a secret hairdressers which I haven’t actually found yet; secret council tax – you don’t get a bill or any instructions on how to pay it; secret electricity/water/phone bills which appear at the post office secretly and you have a short window of opportunity to pay them before it becomes a hassle and suddenly your electricity is turned off and now we have secret internet. The mast is up, one or two people actually have it in their house already, I am on the list but who is running it and what the process is going to be is still a secret.

One thing that isn’t a secret is a new by-law about dogs. If your dog s found roaming around on its own, you can be fined 200 leva and the dog may be shot. It has been suggested to me that this is ‘Tino’s law’ – he appears to have been sowing his seed somewhat around the town. Three puppies have been pointed out to me so far! Its very sad because last week Tino had a life and was a young dude around town, now he has to be tied up – he’s bored and unhappy.

A note to anyone who owns property here and has been ripped off by their agent or accountant. The tax form for a nil return is no 1010a and is available from the tax office here by email. Its very simple and there is an English speaking helpline where they will talk you through it. The number is ….you can do it easily for free. Sorry if this information is coming too late but if you’ve been charged anything more than 50leva, you are being well and truly ripped off.

I’m going to take advantage of the rain today to write some more of my book. I have done 57,000 words which sounds pretty impressive till you realise that is only 139 pages. The book is about all of the houses I’ve ever lived in (36 + a tattie shed up to now) and I’m wondering if I should change the names of people who appear in it. I think I might just leave everyone’s real name because it might be come complicated and I’ll forget who is who!

Interesting car news: Ed, Jess, Jo and me are going to set up a car pool. We’re going to share the cost of buying and maintaining it and it will be here whenever they come to stay. Even when you live here, you don’t need a car all the time so sharing makes sense but if you come here for a couple of weeks and you hire a car, it’ll cost around €17 a day. So if you are planning on coming to Voditsa in the near future and you want the use of a car, you could join the car pool. We hope to get this together by the beginning of may so let me know if you’re interested.
 

But then yesterday it was actually 18 degrees – T shirt weather and of course everything is melting and its so noisy! After the silent world of the snow its just drip drip drip. Its going to take a while for all of this to go and I cant help thinking where is it going to go? I guess it’ll be variations on mud for a while now but hey .. this isn’t spring…. There could be another 3 feet of snow next week but its bright sunshine right now and there’s some heat in it.

I am glad its going away now – its getting dirty and cos it was still deep before the thaw, its really hard to walk anywhere. Its just sort of sinking now and things are becoming visible that I haven’t seen for weeks – saw some green yesterday! We’ve been using different paths around the field mainly because Tino was the trail blazer and I just followed in his footsteps

I am alone in the village now – Elaine and Keith have gone back to Scotland for a few weeks. I think Jorge is quite impressed that I’m staying – he came in the other day to see if I was alright cos he couldn’t see any smoke from my chimney and I’m sure they wonder what I do in here all day –they know I don’t have a telly. I dont know what I do sometimes! I’m not very motivated to do actual work – I haven’t finished the bathroom yet although its getting there. Sometimes I don’t speak to anyone all day and I’m surprised at how that’s OK. I’ve never had the luxury before of just sitting down and reading a book all the way through and I’m getting through a great variety –  Agincourt, The Secret Garden, Zen Archery and a few very thick best selling paperbacks. and I have some god DVDs to watch

We were there for 3 days then we had a epic journey to get back to Voditsa – the aim to set off by 10 was a good idea but a flat tire was the first hassle then trying to find a tire repair place on Boxing Day. Then the brakes weren’t working very well so we had to stop for an hour to get them fixed. We had hoped to be home before dark but it was 4pm before we headed up the Shipka Pass and it started snowing. I then drove in the dark in a blizzard for almost 5 hours – sometimes I couldn’t see the road - but only one little skid. When I finally got to bed much later that night, I could see whirling snowflakes every time I closed my eyes!

If you recall from my last email, I’d had another eventful drive on the way down – I have now figured out the field thing and I did drive across a field. I came to a cross roads, knowing I should go straight ahead but the sign for Plovdiv was to the right. I went along it for a couple of kilometers and then turned back and carried on along the straight road. The key word that is missing from all of this is the word ‘diversion’ because a little way ahead I came to a huge mound of earth and a road closed sign. It was dark by the way so I was easily tempted to go along the rough looking road to the left – ‘no wonder this road needs fixing’ I thought! I was reassured by the lorry in front of me – driving in first gear at 2 miles an hour. In the day light I would have indeed seen that I was driving in a field but like everyone else, I wasn’t going back.

The weather is being amazingly beautiful right now and it raises some interesting questions….. yesterday we moved into major frost – every single piece of moisture on any tree, leaf or blade of grass was frozen into tiny flakes so now the whole place is white but in a different way. With lots of snow you can still see lots of green on the conifers but with the frost, all of the trees are white – its looks like the snow queen has waved her hand. Its been around minus 5 during the day for about 3 weeks but I think it’s a bit lower than that right now so here’s  the question: how come you can step outside in Newcastle, the sun is shining, nothing appears to be freezing but its so cold that it makes your skin hurt. Sometimes this is due to the wind from Siberia coming over the North Sea but even without it, the air can be painfully cold. But its minus 8 ish here now and its cold but it doesn’t hurt. You can be outside for quite a while before it penetrates the layers and of course there is no wind. I’m remembering about weather from geography but how come minus a lot doesn’t hurt?

Back to Christmas – the traditional celebration here was at New Year and they had Father Frost – looks like Santa but he’s dressed in blue. And being Orthodox, they celebrate the Epiphany on 6th January but all the commercial crap that is so familiar is edging its way in. Some people I spoke to are surprised that now they have 3 celebrations now. They don’t really do presents here either – people give each other food at Xmas – lots of Tikivanik – a pastry stuffed with walnuts and pumpkins – very yummy.

I got some really lovely presents – thank you to everyone – I have never been so delighted to receive socks and scarves. And so many delicious treats. I do love the food here but a cheese fest of English cheese, Panetonni and real chocolate just makes it for me!

2nd of Jan
There is nearly a metre of snow outside and its still coming down. Before it got really deep I went to the post office to collect even more lovely pressies including a cutlery tray – Jo of course!

3rd of Jan – I’m snowed in! its been snowing now for almost 48 hours – real professional snow that looks like its here for ever. It’s above the outside tap and there are drifts up to 2 metres. I looked out the gate – after digging my way there – and it was a good 4 foot high and much higher where the snow plough had been back and forth. I had to rescue little Jackie this morning – she couldn’t get across the garden and Jess, who normally loves snow, panicked a bit when she went in over her head – it was funny though.

6th of January
No more snow has fallen but its all still here – its hard to imagine that its going to go away – there is so much of it. It took me almost an hour to dig a route to the compost bin but Tino is a great help – he has made routes through the snow that I just follow. Just found out some of the things he gets up to – Stoika now has a new puppy and guess who is the father! He had icicles hanging off his chin yesterday but the cold doesn’t seem to bother him – he lies in the snow eating a bone or his loaf of bread just as if it was the sunny green lawn.

Jess on the other hand is not impressed by minus 15. We made another first in the village yesterday – they had never seen a dog in a coat! I did think more than twice about actually putting it on her, but she was shivering and she seems likes  it. It was a present from my friends Lynn – its orange with a fur collar –very stylish and it certainly turned a few heads!

I’m getting a bit bored with this snow now – its still beautiful but you can’t go anywhere. Off the road, its still about 4 feet deep but it is starting to go down. This is new kind of snow for me – very big crystal like flakes – very soft and you can’t make snowballs with it. I put Wor Geordie on top of a big pile to see what happened – he sank about 2 feet – I rescued him of course! But it seems to just be shrinking down but still no good for sledging.

I’ve had some lovely phone calls lately as people start figuring out the cheap or free ways to call – its great – thank you.

I have to share with you all my complete pumpkin disaster! As you may recall, I had about 25 rather large pumpkins. I left them out in the barn to dry out and as I don’t have Sky TV I didn’t know there was a big frost due so they all got a severe blast of frost- not good. I put them in the cellar and hoped for the best – didn’t happen. They all began to rot very quickly. I took a few of the ok ones out and put them in the tool room which was fine until it hit minus a lot and they all got frozen. So now I am spared the thoughts of how to cook 25 pumpkins and next year I’m only going to plant 2 or 3 seeds.

I’m excited about my new water plan – Alain (M. Le Chef) told me that his father used to fill up their well with snow – interesting but right now I cant even see the well! But I am going to build a gutter system that stores the water in the well – it should take quite a while for the water to go down to the level of the water table so I can pump it into the field. If I get the opportunity I will put loads of snow in – hoping of course that Jorge and Drago don’t see me and ask what I’m doing.

Just got to tell everybody about these really cool things that I’m wearing – remember leg warmers? Well these are wrist warmers but they’re also really elegant –they’re black and rucked so they’re quite tight and they look great. Corinna from Switzerland had a pair that I envied a lot and she’s just send me some in the post – in exchange for a pair of galloskis. I could sell these things to all the Goths I know!
Chestiti Nova Godini.

I can feel a sense of hibernation coming on – my energy has changed and I’m slowing down. My diet has also changed – it was just the other week that we were still trying to eat all the tomatoes in the garden and having lovely salads now all i can think about is hot stews and soups which is fortunate as I have the ingredients for a great many soups –pumpkins and meat. In the summer I was always up around 7.30 or earlier now I have my breakfast in bed and stay there for ages!

I have a new perspective on this house now – so far I have only really lived in it in the summer and then actually I don’t  live in it – sometimes I’m never in the house between getting out of bed and going to sleep at night so my thoughts then are about the outside and the field. But now it’s the opposite – its too cold to do anything outside so I’ve started thinking about how the house could be more efficient in the winter. Its like life has two very distinct halves here – summer and winter – even though there are 4 clear seasons, spring and autumn are short and then before you know it, its either 45degrees or minus 20.

I bought a thermometer today so I can give accurate temperature readings.

I’m curious now to see which of the trees will be the first to bud in the spring and what happens to the plants sitting in the soil. Some plants are so amazing – how come spinach doesn’t die in minus 10 or when its covered in snow? I’ve still got leeks in the ground and parsnips but probably the most amazing plant is Jerusalem Artichoke. I planted it to see if it was good for shade – the plants grow to 8-10 feet. It was and it also wasn’t bothered with the drought or the heat – it still grew and now the tubers are still in the ground and they’ll stay there all winter till I need them. They’re not everyone’s taste as a vegetable – a bit of flatulence guaranteed- but the garden is going to be full of them making shade next year. I gave some to Vasilka today – she had never seen them before but was impressed by their resilience. Hope she doesn’t mind a bit of wind.

Oh my God-there’s a jackal or something howling in the garden! (real action news!) I heard one the other night but the dogs were out and they went crazy – barking for ages. They often do that, especially Tino as people who have stayed here will know. Now I know that he wasn’t just barking at shadows. He’s locked in the shed right now which is why they’re able to come so close. I just went to the door to see if I could see them and Little Jackie ran in with a mouse and at the same moment Wor Geordie pounced on another mouse behind the logs. Plus Tino was going crazy barking in the shed – peaceful silence one minute and animal chaos the next. It was also too cold to leave the door open to chase the cats out so I’ve shut the door to my bedroom and left them to it. I wonder if I’ll know the difference when I hear a wolf.

It feels a bit like the edge of the world here right now. Not in a scary way but I was just looking up the field and realising that beyond it is woods and wild land. It was daytime when I was thinking that though and now I’m thinking I wont be walking out in the dark again for a long time. I can hear the jackals now down by the spring.

Cant decide whether to keep Tino locked up and they come in the garden or listen to him bark all night or maybe he might get eaten! Jess has developed a new character too – in Ireland she learned how to be an Irish Farm Dog and run after cars and bark at everything. Here there is actually something to bark at plus there are some quite ferocious dogs around here so she’s learning how to be mean and nasty – not often but I have seen another side to Jess sometimes and she’s a bit scary. But I don’t want her to get eaten by the Jackals. It’s a pity I’m scared to go out cos there’s a lovely almost full moon and I do want to see them. I’ll wait till somebody is here.

I’m going to learn a bit about animal tracks – easy to spot in the snow. Keith, my Scottish neighbour who was a gamekeeper and who yesterday sawed through his foot with a chain saw, knows all about tracking –he reckons he’s seen large cat tracks. Keith is ok but in plaster for a good while. But we now know how the hospital system works.

A few normal kind of things that happened yesterday- I got up early and went to the Wednesday bazaar in the village – its just small but has all the seasonal equipment – thermals, hats etc and a good second hand stall. I bought some great green shiny leggings and angora socks. Chatted with a few people, pretended I didn’t know Tino and met Laura. We went for a coffee in the secret supermarket and in my best Bulgarian I arranged to buy some Rakia from the guy who has the eggs. Later as I went to collect it, I passed the little old lady at the Turkish house chopping some logs – the axe was almost as big as her and I commented on her muscles – she responded by effortlessly slicing a huge log in half.. Then I met Norm, the cow guy and he introduced me to his turkeys which I hadn’t seen before. He said he would kill one for me – that was kind but I’ve no idea when he meant which means he could arrive at any time with a freshly plucked turkey. I then bought 5 litres of really nice looking plum rakia and walked home as the temperatures plummeted and everything started to get crispy – then the jackals came out………