23 December 2010

Butchie, our homed Bulgarian street dog.

Many dogs in Bulgaria live on the streets having to fend for themselves daily.
Butchie, our dog was presented to us by a friend and is now our home security.
She is trained like most English dogs and a very calm nature with Milana who finds time to train her.
She has a newly made log cabin home and loves it.
Here she is growing quickly. At six months old now I think she is growing into a fine dog.
First photo is when she had first moved in and only 4 weeks old.


The next are now at six months.




Some beautifull Bulgarian Winter sunsets

Her a few photos of Bulgarian sunsets. Photos were taken while out walking with our dog Butchie.


The next 2 photos was taken by my daughter Milana, she is 2 1/2 years old.


              
She loves aeroplanes .
This is my Daughter Milana...






















     

18 November 2010

320 lumen Dive Torch

A Diving Torch with 320 Lumens.

Color:Black

Brand new W300 Cree Q5 320-Lumen LED diving flashlight.

Perfect fit for home maintenance, outdoor activities, hiking, night fishing, camping, caving, hunting etc.

Emitter BIN: Q5.

Coated glass lens and textured aluminum orange peel reflector cup.

On/Off power switch by twisting the side switch of the torch body.

One mode reverse clicky.

Constant current circuit.

Diving deep is up to 100M.

Brightness: 320 lumens maximum brightness (manufacturer rated).

Lens diameter: 38.0mm.

Compact and portable handheld design.

Powered by 3*AA batteries (Batteries not included).

Durable aluminum body.

weight:281 g

size:20*3.8*3.8 cm

01 October 2010

Internet in Bulgaria

Internet in Bulgaria is among one of the top 10 speeds in the world.
They have upto 50Mb with some companies here.
Different areas of Bulgaria have different connections and some villages dont have internet connection at all.
With the way the world is going within technology advances what will these villages do without communications? The answer will probably be nothig, they will just get on with their lives as they have for decades even centuries.
We live in Pliska the first capital of Bulgaria where luckily we have internet for communicating around the world. It was aproblem when we first arriven last November, couldn't  contact anyone no landline and didn't know anyone from where to source an internet connection.
We have 12Mbs although we can have diferent speeds if we wish. I use a speed checker http://www.speedtest.net/ and sometimes we don't get the speed we pay for, we check often and keep logs of our connection speeds.
Happy surfing all.

26 September 2010

Followers of our Blog

Thanks to our followers of our Blog we are glad you have become our friends here.
We hope to keep you posted on anything happening anything new and anything worth seeing, visiting or doing.
It would be good to have many followers here and some already have become our friends.
If you have articles that you would like us to post please send is the text we will view it and reply to you with an answer.
THANKS for following and we welcome more...

21 September 2010

New Wrecks of The Black Sea

We started at 8.30am from Varna harbour. We was boarding a fishing vessel to search for a new found wreck 15 miles off shore.



There was around twenty divers aboard the boat some with twin-sets some with just one cylinder.
The dive was to find a wreck newly discovered by 4 guys from Bulgaria the day before.
It is suspected to be a WW1 German submarine of 1st or 2nd class. These subs were shore based rapid attack submarines.
The wreck lies in 35m depth. We were to dive in teams of 4 divers for 20 minutes each team.
The visibility wasn't excellent maybe 3-4 mtrs. But this dive was interesting as every wreck diver loves finding new and undiscovered wrecks to dive.
There will be many of these such wrecks in the Black Sea, I was just lucky to be invited to dive this one.
The trip was funded by the Bulgarian Government and made so we could bring information on the wreck to be used.
The day prior to us diving the 4 divers, Orlin a journalist and technical diver, Mitko also technical diver and two other Bulgarians found this wreck and lifted a 37mm deck mounted gun to the surface.
This gun had a brass plaque on its surface that read "Bethlehem 1903".
I have researched this stamp and found it to be made in USA at Bethlehem Steel Co.
The gun will be displayed in Varna museum for all to see.
Orlin is collecting information on new wrecks for I believe a portfolio of Black Sea Wrecks, this will make for an interesting read when completed. I hope I get the chance to help with some more Black Sea finds. Thanks guys.



12 September 2010

Spinal Cord Injury, Sponshorship needed.

The individual affected will lose muscle and sensory control and the vast majority become full time wheelchair users for the rest of their lives. Historically, the majority of spinal cord injuries have been sustained by those aged 15 to 40, with men outnumbering women, although increasingly it is affecting more older people too.


Through its projects and programmes, Aspire offers practical support to the 40,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK so that they can lead fulfilled and independent lives in their homes, with their families, in work-places and leisure time.

One of my friends and fellow CDG "The Cave Divng Group of Great Britain" member is attempting to swim the equivelent of  'The English Channel' 22 miles. Her name, Miss Elaine Hill..


You can help as I am by donating to her super task that she has in swimming 'The English Channel' albeit in the safety of her local swimming pool, we wish her all the luck in completing this task ahead.
You can donate following this link http://www.justgiving.com/Elaine-A-S-Hill


GOOD LUCK ELAINE.....

03 September 2010

Bulgarian hospitality seems endless

Can’t stop wondering at Bulgarian people’s friendliness! If you go to somebody’s house they always will pour you a glass of rakia and give lots of tomatoes and cucumbers from their own garden. If you have a coffee in a cafĂ© with a Bulgarian – he always tries to pay for all of you. If you invite a Bulgarian for dinner at your home – guaranteed he’ll come with food, drink and sweeties for kids.




See this? This is how special a gift can be from a person you’ve only seen once before, but who likes you as a friend from the very first meeting.

This book is handmade by Plamena, my new Bulgarian girl-friend, who I’ve met through Etsy website. She is a graphic artist, she hand-makes paper and uses it for lots of handmade projects.

I am also into “handmaking” and I am going to make her a handmade gift. But shshshsh… it’s a secret!

01 September 2010

A Try at Scuba Diving

Six weeks ago I met my cousin Dean who I hadn't seen for 22/23 years. Wow we had loads of catching up.
He has a home in Medovo Bulgaria. This time I met his brother Lee my other cousin I hadn't seen for 24 or so years. Unbelievable how you lose contact with family and friend with life changes.
I was so happy to meet these friends again after so long. They visited us in Pliska, Bulgaria at our home, they loved it, the country lifestyle, relaxed calm and peacefull.
Before they came to visit us in Pliska we went to thier home in Medovo nr. Burgas.
A nice place and not too far from the coast.
My family have their own swimming pool so we decide before setting off there to surprise them and take my Scuba Diving Kit for them to try diving.
This is the photos of them underwater..They loved it... Happy days for scuba Diving...


On the left photo my cousin Lee Martin & right photo my cousin Dean's daughter Jessica..Well done guys..

A Story of one (number 9) out of the Million Pillowcases

The beginning of the Million Pillowcases Story is in the blogpost below. And it is continuing with one very special pillowcase.


Krivondela, who could not come to the meeting, used this Etsy Event as a reason to go to see her aunty, who is disable from birth, and to gift her this specially made pillowcase.

Aunty was very happy to see her niece, but the pillowcase got the tightest hugs!


Just look how her aunty is happy!

26 August 2010

A story of 8 out of the Million Pillowcases

www.etsy.com - the place to buy and sell handmade worldwide
Etsy is not just a website, it is a worldwide community of very creative people. Etsy orginizers do a lot for their members - there is help with promoting shops and handmade items, but also with making new friends and staying together for lots of good reasons.
One of the recent occasions for Etsians to get together was "One Million Pillowcases Challenge". Main idea of which - is to meet with your local crafty fellows, chat, make pillowcases and donate them to charity. See details here.



And this how our Bulgarian meet up went on:

Etsy – it’s about people and things that are unique and different. I bet our meet up for Million Pillowcases Challenge was one of the most unique and different of all times. Don’t you believe me?

First of all – it was first ever Etsy Meet Up in Bulgaria.

Second – the organizer was Belorussian nationality – nothing to do with Bulgaria – and hardly spoke any Bulgarian.

Third – the chat held on three languages in great mixture – Bulgarian, Russian and English – we all knew a bit of all three.

Fourth – the meeting happen on a Black Sea beach – one of the beautiful things Bulgaria has to offer. (Must note here that in America, where it's all started, etsians would get together at some kind of workshop or somebody's home where they have tools and supplies to make things at the meeting)

Fifth – we don’t have a workshop or anything like this here just yet, so we made all the pillowcases at home and took them with us for a walk and posing on the beach.

Domoshar: “One Million Pillowcases Challenge” – Wow! Sounds so big and serious! Well, our contribution was not really numerous but quite colourful! It was fun, people were really nice, the weather was almost perfect - as you can see it was such a windy day that the pillowcases are about to leave the rope…

I believe the pillowcases number will reach 8 when everything is finalized, as we have six documented here, one like the second one that did not make it to the rope and one waiting at the post office.”

Sixth – it probably was the smallest ever group of people – three members attended! We must know our heroes: Domoshar, Plad and BukiBuki.

Seventh – people who could not come have sent the pillowcases by post to donate to a good cause: annasavenko, KetiNKD, knittingFashion, marialozeva, MilenaCh.

Eighth – we didn’t have any craft shop to supply us with fabric, so we used our leftovers.

Ninth – all the pillowcases appeared to be so different! Not just designs – the sizes! Please take a moment and look at the photos – there is a creative hand and a kind heart behind each.


If you travelled a lot or, even better, lived in another country you’ll know how much the style of life differs from the one you use to in your home country. You’ll be surprised for example if I say that in Bulgaria and other Eastern Europe countries to shop online is still not the most common use of Internet. And to give something to charity – also is something unusual.

We’ve decided to donate our pillowcases to St. Nicolas Orphanage in the St. Trinity Monastery in Bulgaria  where homeless children and adults can find shelter, warm food and clothing. We hope our pillowcases and cushion covers will make their temporary home even warmer.

Plad: “Our meeting continued with a walk in the Sea Garden in a pleasant chat. We’ve exchanged a lot of information and ideas on how to improve our stores and sales on Etsy, shared our knowledge and experience.
I was very comfortable in this company, I felt that straight from the start! We all are very similar with similar interests and with the same passion to create beautiful things. And each of us was looking for a place to show our creations - and here comes the turn to thank Etsy for that place and for uniting us and for the reason of the meeting which gave me that wonderful feeling - I have new friends.”


Here in BG are so many original artists and crafters! But the world doesn’t know about them just because not all here can speak English and use Internet. So to be on Etsy and support an event like this for the people of Bulgaria must mean to think quite wide and open. Bulgarian Etsians supported the idea of meeting and donating with great enthusiasm, and if half of them wasn’t on holidays and the other half didn’t live so far away, we could have a much bigger Event. And next time we will! We are now starting an Etsy Street Team for Bulgaria and a group on Facebook. There was so much positive feedback and interest about it all that we might become quite a strong Etsy community here. Except other reasons to stay together for crafters in BG being in a team will give help, support and Etsy education, because many of them still have limited Internet and language skills.

So, we did it and it was great! And this Meet Up was as different and unique as everything and everyone on Etsy.

Reported by BukiBuki

23 August 2010

Fishing in Bulgaria

This is a fantastic photo of a huge fish from the Black Sea in Bulgaria.
Anyone who loves fishing can expect a superb fishing holiday here in Bulgaria..especially in Varna Mall shopping centre....


Fire

Everybody Loves a fire.....

It was a cooler day than the the past few weeks and only 27 degrees, phew still a hot summer in Bulgaria.
Pliska is a beautifull place to visit for a holiday, its relaxed culture, amazing Bulgarian history and the Bulgarian tourist sites close by.
Though this day was spent tidying our garden a weekly job that is needed.
My day was enjoyable making fires and burning our garden waste.


Although I did manage to send smoke signals to most of the village it was most enjoyable watching the fires burn away, albeit for a short time.

Cant wait for next weeks bonfire.

09 August 2010

Traditional Bulgarian home for sale with large plot. 6000 Euro's.

Traditional Bulgarian house for sale.


It is situated in Harsovo 25k from Novi Pazar, 30k away from Pliska and 45k away from Shumen.

House has beautifull mountain views 4 rooms and one smaller in main building. Each room is aprox 10-14 sq mtr each and the smaller would make a good wetroom/ shower room.

Entry is made from a wooden terrace into a kitchen area.

There is a cellar aprox 40 sq mtr and would make an excellent games room for the person with good imagination or an very large sitting area with stone walls.

There are 3 outbuildings sitting on the plot which are currently used for storage.

The property has water and electricity and is liveable, with little work it would make a lovely home.

Harsovo has a doctor, school, chemists, shop and all local ammenities found in a town.

We are advertising this property for a friend who has no internet and we are not estate agents.

More photos can be mailed upon request please mail us at info @ the-rocking-chair-ltd.com for more details or any questions.


07 August 2010

Diving Black Sea

Good weather, very warm water and good visibility made for a good day today.
We kitted up on the beach 2 yards from the water, this was Anatoli's first dive in the sea after finishing his Open Water course with us at Reefers and Wreckers in Lancashire, England, last year.

We only had a 7ltr cylinder each and wasn't intending spending so long underwater. But.

The temperature was around 36 surface and 28 underwater.
I was in 3mm Aqua Lung shortie and Anatoli in 3mm Typhoon full suit.

Anatoli used my OMS wing and I had to use my Cave diving sidemount harness as I only have 1 BCD here in Bulgaria. No worries I just needed to remove some weight from the belt and all was good.

We spent 1hr 20 min at majority 5mtrs underwater and saw many "Hermit crabs" about 1" homes and there was millions of them, Some larger crabs with strange hair cuts, like mine also.

There was this crab with a Mohican and one with with hair on either side of his shell, these were funny to see.

We then stumbled upon a mussell bed to which I instantly thought "mmm supper" so I started placing the larger of them under my shortie legs and when I had no more room upon looking like I had a muscle problem on my legs I placed a few into Anatoli's BCD pocket. I collected 2 plastic bags and Anatoli a 2ltr coke bottle, these were taken to shore in the name of  "Project Aware" we need to look after our oceans.
We exited the water at 20.30 and it was still warm water, super dive.

Anatoli loved his first diving in the Black Sea and I am sure while he is here we will be doing more dives with him. He is good on air and loves being underwater.      


A good day Diving the Black Sea ( Cherno More)

03 August 2010

A day on the Black Sea

We started from Pliska around 11am. It usually takes fifty minutes or so to reach Varna. We decided on finding a beach a little further north than Varna so the drive took another 15 minutes. We parked at St. Constantine & Helena a very nice and calm tourist area, excellent for sightseeing in Bulgaria.
The weather was superb and not too hot for this time of year, the beach not overcrowded and there was space to place our umbrella & our bums.

This is Katya's father Anatoli who is here from Belarus and will stay with us for a month or so.

Natalia, Katya's mother is also here for a month and will travel back by train on the 20th to Minsk, Belarus. This journey is on a sleeper train and takes 3 days.




We made this photo of Milana and Natalia taking it easy on the beach loungers further up the beach.

We will go back here again as it was a good spot for swimming and next time I will be taking my Scuba Diving equipment as the Black Sea visibility this day was fantastic.

Hopefully I may even get chance to see a few seahorses that frequent the Black Sea areas.
I am allready a Scuba Diving Instructor and will be helping out a dive centre here in Bulgaria called "Deep Blue", they have numerous dive centres here in Bulgaria. Good and friendly staff and I am looking forward to Instructing with them.

Black Sea coast has many oppotunities for all sorts of watersports and fun for all ages...

19 July 2010

Bulgarian restraunt

My mum and step-father came on 16th to stay with us for one week.
It was my step-fathers birthday on the 18th and we was going to eat out, but where do we go.
There are loads of traditional Bulgarian restraunts near us and all looking beautifull.
Traditional decoration, good food and excellent servive. We needed to choose.
We did and we decided upon "Karatchka" quite close to use located just outside Kaspichan.
We have eaten there before and the food service and staff are superb.
Katya and I invited our friends Stanimir & Vesselina, a Bulgaria couple and good friends of ours who own the karting track in Shumen http://www.karting-shumen.com/ to join us.
They hadn't eaten here before but had heard of its good reputation.
John who is now 72 years old really enjoyed himself, eating Bulgarian food, having "Happy Birthday" sung to him by the owner Stefan & dancing with a Bulgarian singer who came to sing to him.
What a good night out and a very nice place to go. Totally reccomended to anyone who is near to Pliska.



There is entertainment there most evenings, a group of girls came for and was enjoying dancing to Bulgarian music in the traditional way. Even Vesselina, Katya and my mum joined in. Milana my daughter was also having a go at the dancing...     

Good dancing all, Hope ya have many more John...

Wine and spirit Oak cask making

Making Oak casks for maturing fine wines & spirits is a very specialised process, today I was one of those making them.

This is making the rings tight while the fire is burning inside allowing for the Oak to become softer for shaping.

Casks here in Bulgaria are made from very old traditional methods used by professional coopers for centuries.

At "White Oak" in Bulgaria the professional coopers have been making casks, and other items over 3 generations.

This was a very interesting adventure in how this process is done & I can tell you as an Aerospace engineer that it was fascinating that they don't use sealants, glues or other chemicals to keep them watertight.

Casks, Buckets, Barrels, Garden Furniture and other items can be purchased online at very competitive prices, posted almost worldwide at http://www.viastars.eu/shop 

Thanks to the guys for allowing me loose on a handmade cask.