SUMMER SOLSTICE UPDATE 2007

It continued to be a warm Winter - mostly around 16 degrees - and the new woodstove was a blessing, warming the kitchen on a fraction of the logs needed by the open fire.

Stella, who very bravely visited in January, found it cold and spent the last two weeks of her month in Split, which, I fear, she would not have found warmer. One Suday she, Mojmir the joiner, and I, tried to enliven the sombre villagers with the Okey-Pokey, however that is spelt!

Recently, Lorna visited again and left even more enchanted with Potok than she had been last year.

My village friend Slavica, completed the olive-pruning for me, that is she did the final 10% of which I was unsure. Later, she made the neglected lemon trees look a treat! In between, her nephew and two friends completed the orange and mandarin trees.

I kept extremely busy over April so as to leave Potok immaculate for Slavica to take over when I made my annual MOT trip to the UK.

In Southern Germany I was searched by the Zoll. The two officers eagerly opened all my small containers, thinking they had found drugs, and found only peanuts, sunflower seeds and dried fruit! Anyway, they were very polite and carefully directed me back to the autoban.

On my return on 12 May, the air was agiain filled with the scent of orange blossom. There was a full crop of beans which I asked Slavica and her sister to pick for themselves, and the medlars were ripening fast, followed by the cherries. I struggled to catch up with the work until the heat defeated me and I started to restrict my time outside. My hours now are 05-09 and 19.30-21.30. My daily swim is an immense blessing especially when I combine it with a beautiful coastal walk, though it is fast becoming too hot for the latter.

Already the market stalls are loaded with early figs, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and melons and my courgettes and cucumbers are so prolific that I have hardly enough accessible friends with whom to share them. The tomatoes, peppers and aubergines will soon be in similar quantities. A heavy crop of grapes, figs and olives is on its way.

I look forward to the coming of Bob from Swansea who is kindly joining me over the Autumn. Another pair of hand will be a blessing and he will cover for me while I return to the UK for a week in October.

Alone, I can never keep up with Potok so no matter how hard I work, it is difficult not to feel a failure. However, there is joy and strength in working with the seasons and the elements. Being more focussed, my life seems to have more purpose than it had when I was engaged in a number of less demanding projects. To enable guests to experience Potok is, I feel a great privilege.