PICTURE FOR A WINDY DAY

Olives, acorns and leaves are flying through the air, mama mia, although the winds are not as strong as forecast -- so far. We are in the curve of a hill which means that the winds either twirl along it in whirlwinds which can snap off trees and make hair stand on end, or, they can blow straight and go past us. They are always gusty, never a steady blow. It roars through the tree tops and the noise makes the cat and the dogs nervy.

I took refuge today in a sheltered neighbour's yard, well above their house. This little building was always a great curiosity to me but I guessed that it was what the Scots would call a "bothy," a place for itinerant workers to stay. It is very small, two stories, two windows on each side and -- three doors. This is excessive for such a tiny building.

But, I was wrong and not for the first time. It is an olivaia and has always been used for olives. Olives spread out to dry on the floor upstairs, pressed by the monks downstairs.

Going by the windows I'd put it's age in the late 1700s and guess that it was built as a needed extra building by the much older monastery which is a stone's throw away. (It has been divided into three apartments.) This little building has an old grape vine growing along it, is made of brick, much patched with concrete. It is built on a slope, which most buildings in our neighbourhood are, and it is entirely uninhabitable.