UP AN OLIVE TREE

This is Renato. He lives in the village in the valley but his olive grove is up here in the hills near us. He is 73-years-old. Three years ago he fell out of an olive tree and broke a leg but it didn't put him off climbing trees for very long. His knees trouble him, too, but that doesn't stop him from flitting from branch to branch with the agility of a teenager. I wouldn't be able to get up that tree without a chair lift or a tow bar.

It was hard to get a decent shot of him because he never stopped moving for an instant. Snip, snip and the branches fell to the ground like mini meteors. The non-productive small branches are removed at this time of year to make picking olives easier a few weeks from now.

The talk was of the raccolta (olive harvest), which will be early this year and of the vendemmia (grape harvest) which is in progress now. The cold spring played havoc with the grapes and it is not a good year. The word, raccolta, means "collection" and could be the local word for the olive harvest and not used elsewhere.

Renato mentioned the fact that he could not get any help picking olives from his son, now 40, and none from much of anybody else, either. They all liked the olive oil well enough, however. It's the old story, isn't it?

Renato works for other people as well and I can see why. He works fast and efficiently.

This is a view of the whole tree: Top of the tree. And this is the one full face shot I got. Middle of the tree. If you have the time, do look at the mid-tree one to see what a sweet fellow he is.

The sun is shining today, a great relief from the cold downpour of yesterday.