Dateline Mina: The Bura Came (a change of luck?)

Two nights ago the Bura came. Sweeping out of Central Europe in a vast
and agitated movement, sucking the heat from the sea as it swept across
its surface, cooling the air 10 degrees or more. In the morning
everything was clearer and richer in color. The shocking-green pine
trees and the red tile roofs stood dramatic against a deep blue sky and
the sticky hot oppression of the week before was already a memory. I
walked up the hill behind our house to sketch some Christ's Thorn that I
wanted to try to paint. Once there, however, with a clear view of my
little back roof with all its problems, I thought, 'Wot the hell, Arch,
how could such a little roof cause so many problems? Just give me one
strong yeoman to help and I'd soon have it right.' Well, not having a
yeoman, nevertheless, I climbed up on it and started poking around and
swiftly realized that with a little luck I could at least replace a
couple of the tiles that I had broken walking upon it last year and
poorly patched and thus fix one problem – a problem that had resulted in
my whole guest room/ novo watercolor art studio ceiling being almost
destroyed in last Spring's heavy rains. So, this morning when I rose and
with the temperature a delightful 24 (70) degrees at 9 a.m., I grabbed a
hammer and chisel and two spare roof tiles and back up I went. Now I
have been successful and full of new confidence, I plot what to do to
patch up the rest of my roof problems and leave construction decisions
for another year . . . I drink coffee and kick around some stones that I
have piled on our patio (to Julia's chagrin) and that I am thinking of
building into an improved garden wall when a neighbor comes up with a
whole bowl of juicy smokva (figs). With Julia's help interpreting, we
figure out that he is telling us that if we just give our little fig
tree more water - a fig tree that he planted for us unprompted a couple
of years ago – if we just give it more water we may have figs of our own
some day!