07/09/09 Dateline Milna (or Euro: 09/07/09)

Late afternoon, 89 degrees F, 34 C, but pleasant in our house and a cool
breeze on the Riva (waterfront.)

Slept all day after arriving last night.

Composing this offline for a 'pirate' posting when the neighbors
wireless network comes on.

Big fire on Brac last year. We could see its blackened traces on the
drive from the ferry yesterday evening. It started of all places at
Milna and burned for two weeks almost to Supetar, 18 or so kilometers
away. Slavko says it was started by a crazy guy who I must have seen
before -- long stringy hair, missing two front teeth,etc. He was
evidently burning brush when the wind caught his fire and spread it.
(This was the same guy who burned down his neighbors storage building 10
years ago cuz he felt he was owed some money!)

There is some variation of this story every year. Two years ago it was
Solta, our small neighboring island: smoke darkened the sky above the
Mina Riva for a couple of days, lending a fantasic atmosphere to my
evening pivo (beer). There was also a small burn on Brac that year.
Three years ago, it was Hvar, if I remember rightly. Four years ago, it
was a careless cigarette-smoking Frenchwoman on Vidova Gora on Brac.
That one caused a lot of damage, burning through valleys and denuding
hills for many kilometers. The number of stone mounds and walls exposed
was staggering.

As you can see from photos, we have quite a little jungle growing on our
small patio. And this is AFTER Julia weeded. In the one photo, you can
see the fig, peach, and lavendar crowding the back way to our house.
(My escape route.) In the other photo, see part of the bumper crop of
peaches that we have this year.

By the way, Julia had this place sparkling! What a joy! The only thing
to dampen (!) it is the water damage to the back room and some other
walls. Gotta really look at that roof we had our Bosnian crew put on.

I am glad to say that after an absence of two years, Milna still looks
the same to me. Even the same old folk on the benches, steps, and
wandering the Riva; it looks like thee frantic development of the past
several years has stalled for a little while at least.